Come Love A Stranger

Thirty three

Mariah opened her eyes when she felt her feet on the ground, they were in her balcony and from the looks of the sky, she could tell it was the wee hours of the morning and slightly relieved that her family didn't have to look for her or get worried over her. She looked up at Alador but he was oddly quiet and seemed to not be consciously with her. She reached forward and touched his hand, he stiffened and looked at her, she smiled to him and reached out to caress his face but he avoided her touch just before her hand could touch him.

Mariah was surprised at that and immediately asked, "Alador, what is the problem?"

Alador sighed and closed his eyes, "I know what you must be thinking now."

"What?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her, sighing, he looked up at the night sky, "I am so sorry you had see me in those forms. I had no intention of letting you know about them."

"Why?" She asked, "is it because you don't want me to know that you were the black bird that sat on my window that night? Or the mighty forest beast who had saved me from those wolves? Or the magnificent dragon that showed up on my window and then laid me to bed and you told me the next day that it was all a dream?"

Alador chuckled, "when you put it like that..."

"What?" She asked, a smile curving on her lips as well.

Alador smiled and reaching out, he caressed her face, "I wanted to know if you were the same person, you have never been afraid of me, ever. No matter what form I took or appeared to you, you always seem to know who I was immediately. You have never been afraid."

"But I was afraid, that night in the forest when I saw a black panther ready to make a meal out of me, I was afraid and I was afraid of the dragon as well but...only for the time being for I was fascinated by its beauty."

"You were afraid of my panther form because of the spell Ilayas put on you, you always know who I was but his spell locked up every familiarity, every feeling, every attraction. It made it seem like I was a stranger and that was what I was to you that time in the forest and I still was until tonight."

"Aye, you were a stranger but it still didn't stop one thing," she looked deep into his fiery eyes, "it didn't stop me from falling in love with you all over again."

Alador closed his eyes, a beautiful and rare smile graced his lips, "you love me?" he opened his eyes then to gaze upon her beautiful face.

Mariah blushed crimson red and turned her back at him immediately, she trembled when she felt his arms wrapped around her from behind and she closed her eyes, loving his forest like smell and for the first time understanding why. "You smell like the forest, is it because you are a forest guardian?"

"Mm," he whispered in her ear, his breath brushing on her neck and making her shiver in an unknown pleasure, "I never thought there would come a day again we could discuss about me so freely. I had been careful not to do that because any slight remembrance would pull at the spell, but even though I had tried not to talk about me, I did not stay away and my constant presence was bound to break the spell one day, t's why you often have glimpses of memories of where you were with me in a time you do not remember. All those are memories of your past life which by right you should have remembered when you first saw me."

"But, now that the spell is broken, why can't I still remember?"

"The spell blocked a part of your memory, now that t's broken, the memories would be coming back to you one at a time but this time, it would not make you sick. You would just feel like you are remembering something that happened yesterday. The spell was the reason you get sick whenever you remembered something, because it was acting as an obstacle against your memories."

Mariah said nothing for a while and then asked later, "why did Ilayas placed the spell on me?"

"To stop you from falling in love with me. When a god loves a human and the love was not reciprocated, he would have no choice but to let the human go for love cannot be forced on a person, so he hoped that when I see that you do not love me, I would let you go and would return home and finally be with Bamushka who has remained alone with hope that one day I shall look at her. I had agreed to the spell being placed on you, Ilayas made me choose to letting you be and living your final reincarnation to the fullest that we may finally be united forever in the eternal world or being with you for the short while you would live on earth and he would call the Hackeries to finish what they started, taking you away from me forever. I had to choose the spell, because being with you forever was more promising than losing you forever.

The agreement was that I would stay away from you, never to show my face to you or let you know about my existence. I was prepared to do that, but the last thing I expected was feeling your presence in the forest that day. I did not believe it and blamed it on my longing to be with you but the scent kept getting stronger with each passing day that I had to take a look, so I took the form of a bird and followed the scent to your window. I had been so surprised to see you but I had to leave to process everything. I was still wondering what you were doing in the cottage when I felt your presence inside the forest the next night so I had to go take a look, you should imagine my surprise when I saw you, wandering around so late in the forest, I knew nothing would happen to you as long as I was there but it was also late and I could hear your mother calling for you, so I took the panther form to scare you home. But you my dear are one stubborn little girl, despite the fear I gave you, you still returned to the forest the next day."

Mariah chuckled and rubbed his arm wrapped around her, "I loved the forest, I felt at peace there."

"Aye, because t's was the first place our hearts connected."

"Really?" she asked, shocked and surprised, "the forest?"

"Aye," he responded with a smile.

"Can you remember our first meeting?"

"Of course, I can remember it like it happened only but yesterday."

"Tell me, please," she pleaded.

"Why should I? You have your own memory of it," he chuckled.

"No, I don't, not yet anyway but I would love to hear it from you, so please, tell me."

"You should sleep, t's almost morning. Your handmaidens would be knocking on your door not long now."

"I still want to know, please tell me."

Alador chuckled, "fine, but I shall tell you as a story while you rest on the bed," and as he said that, he let go of her to pick her up. She giggled in happiness and wrapped her arms around him as he carried her into her room.