Pleiades Over the Shepherd

Fantasia for Two Voices and Four Hands

She started toward the distant city, wondering where this particular path would lead. The knights seemed to patrol around the city, so if worse came to worst, she could leave this companion behind and continue with her hunt. Although something in the stranger's words stirred up a restlessness, like a seed sprouting and striving upward through the soil for light. A sensation that was as new as the dissatisfaction that the man was walking so far from her side and stepping so quickly. As if he wanted to be away from her.

He asked, "What is your name?"

"Mono."

"Is that a name your parents chose for you?"

"I have no parents. I first awoke in ... another place. Alone. But I knew my name from whisperings I heard while I slept."

"Was that when you met the woman who wanted your help to destroy things?"

She glanced sidelong at him. "You are also trained to fight and destroy."

He nodded and clasped his hands behind his back while he walked. "You are right. But the purpose of my fighting is not merely to destroy."

With a scoff, she asked, "What, then, is the purpose of fighting?"

The man went to the side of the road and stopped by a sprig of wild flowers growing in the rocky soil. He knelt beside the flowers and pointed to some smaller plants nearby. "These plants grow fast and absorb all the nourishment in the earth, giving nothing back in return. In time, they would choke the life out of these flowers that are sharing a beautiful hue and shape." With a swift motion, he neatly plucked out the other plants, then held them up for her to see.

After a moment, she said, "I don't want them."

His smile spread like a warm glow that faded too soon. "Maybe I can find a better example farther along."

As they continued onward, Mono wondered where that glow had come from. And if it were possible to make him do it again.

* * *

Fascination eclipsed the long trail back to the capital. He had meant to travel faster, but conversation with her brought up one distracting delight after another. Which was just as well, because that made it easier to avoid being distracted by her figure moving in such captivating rhythms. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the well-timed motion of her stride unfurling naturally, step after step, in graceful combination. 

She said, "Then soon after, the walls and floor began to ripple and stretch. I fell. Then awoke in a cavern where I met the other woman."

"And she requested your assistance?" he asked, knowing that Lillia would never ask a thing if there was the chance she could command.

Mono pursed her lips for a moment. "I wouldn't describe it as a request. When I told her I had already eaten food, but still felt an appetite to hunt, she ... ordered me to hunt."

"And how did you feel about being ordered so?"

"I already wanted a target, so I didn't question it." She fell silent and her brow furrowed slightly.

Each of these small expressions caught at his attention like sparkling aromas drifting by on the wind. He wanted to drink them in. But staring at her so boldly might give the wrong impression. Helping her learn more of that spark inside was his goal, not seducing her and reveling in all the mystery, innocence, and pleasure that seemed to almost overflow---

No. That was not why he invited her to talk. To gain a little distance from the attraction that swirled around her, he slowed his steps.

The wrong choice. Walking behind her only accented the savory curves of her shape and the hypnotic movements of her pace. And her skin showing just below her jacket, at the small of her back, created a mouth-watering echo of the skin exposed between the jacket's lapels---