The Beast and The Brain.

I have never slept so well in my entire life. I didn’t dream, but it felt like I was in a different world. J’s voice was in the background, narrating a story I had never seen. Then after a while, her voice was just a blur, and my mind shut down.

When I woke up J was still in my mind. She sat in a chair next to the bed and her feet were resting up on a stool. She sipped at some strong smelling tea and stared into the fire. I slowly propped myself up onto my elbows. “What time is it?” I asked groggily.

J’s presence slipped from my mind and she yawned. “Early morning.” She rubbed her temples, and I noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes. I felt guilty for keeping her up all night.

“I’m sorry.” I told her, “I shouldn’t have asked you to do that….”

She shook her head, “What else are partners for?” She stood up and gave me a smirk, but her eyes told me she was exhausted. “Will you be alright?” She motioned towards the door.

I nodded, “Get some sleep, I feel better now that I’ve rested.” It was the truth; the headache was just a small pinch in the back of my mind. I felt alive for the first time in days. She nodded her head, content, and left without another word. I laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Minutes past, and I expected the headache to return, but it never did. I finally got out of bed. I wavered on my feet, the blood rushed from my head. It had been a while since I had been up. I stood for a few minutes, again, waiting for my head to start pounding, but it didn’t.

I pulled some fresh clothes out of my pack and left my room. The hallway was dark, so I felt my way down the stairs. My feet made a soft thud on the wood floors. The downstairs common area was empty, and when I looked out the windows, I noticed the sun wasn’t even up yet. I walked slowly down the hall and to the bathing room. A copper tub sat near a fireplace along with a few buckets.

It took me some time, but eventually I had enough hot water for a bath. I slid into the tub, let out a deep breath, and relaxed. I scrubbed my body and hair until I felt rejuvenated and cleaned. After lying in a dark room for a few days, it felt good to have fresh air in my lungs and clean hair. After I got out and changed, I heard voices in the kitchen. I headed down the hall and pushed open the door. “Asher!” Sabrina looked at me surprised, her mother turned away from the fire when she heard my name.

“How are you feeling?” Sabrina’s mother walked over to me and placed a hand on my forehead, “You’ve taken a bath, how long have you been awake?”

I smiled and pushed her hand away gently, “I’m feeling a lot better, thank you. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours.” She took my dirty clothes out of my hands.

“I’ll wash these for you, no doubt they need cleaning.” She scrunched her nose when she smelled them.

“I can do that myself.” I tried to get them back but she shook her head stubbornly and walked away. Sabrina was left to stir whatever it was that was cooking over the fire.

“Where’s J?” She asked.

“Sleeping, I don’t think she slept at all last night.”

She nodded her head thoughtfully, “I heard her get up a few times during the night. Once she took a bucket out to get snow, then she got herself tea a few times as well. I’m not sure what she was doing.”

I shrugged, “J has her mysteries.”

The morning slipped by. It was good to be on my feet again, but I was alert, I felt as though my head would suddenly start pounding. I expected it to. I didn’t do anything important all day. I was afraid that reading might strain my eyes and trigger a headache. I didn’t do any hard labor, for the same fears. So instead, I got some fresh air and went to the barn across the street. I laid in the stall with Striker for most of the day. The smell of hay and horse was comforting and familiar. A few times I actually drifted to sleep with the sound of him chewing hay.

It was J who came and found me. I had hay stuck in my hair and clothes. She raised her eyebrows when she spotted me. She wore a heavy cloak with sleeves, something I had never seen her wear before and like all of her things it was black.

“How are you?” I asked, picking hay from my hair.

“I feel fine, what about you though?” She asked as she stroked Shadows ears. The horse nibbled her sleeves affectionately.

“I feel great actually, though I keep waiting for it to hit me again.” She nodded her head, but I could tell her thoughts were other places. “What is it?” I asked her, folding my arms across my chest. She didn’t answer, not at first.

“Do you think you’re well enough to travel?”

I raised my eyebrows surprised, “Why? What’s happened?”

She shook her head, “Nothing’s happened, I would simply feel safer if we started moving again. The snows have stopped falling, and soon it will start disappearing and the first signs of spring will appear. Kegan is no fool; as soon as he is able he will come. I fear he may have left already. The snow is deep, but it is not impossible to travel in. Already two separate caravans have visited this town. Kegan could easily slip into the next one and take us by surprise.”

Her voice was hard, but the J before me was so very different from the one who had held a sword to my throat the first time we had met. She was afraid, and what surprised me more was that I could tell she was afraid. Her feelings weren’t so hard to read anymore, it seemed now she was an open book. “You don’t think we can take him?”

“I think we should play it safe. My powers haven’t returned, and you could drop down with a headache at any moment. Especially if Kegan comes around with his powers and starts screwing with things up there.” She flicked her fingers against my skull and I took a step back and rubbed my head.

“How do you know it’s not Kegan who gave me the headache in the first place?” I asked and was surprised this was the first time I had even thought about that possibility.

J waved her hand impatiently, “I’ve already checked. Nothing about your symptoms or anything inside your head yells Brain. Your problem is completely your own….”She trailed off, and I knew that she had more to say, but she wasn’t ready to voice her theories yet. So I left the subject alone. I stared at J for a few moments as she stared meaningfully at her horse. It struck me as odd at how quickly we were acting so normal around each other. It felt so weird, and yet so right at the same time.

“What?” She demanded without looking at me.

“Just enjoying the moment is all.” I shrugged and walked towards my horse. “So when do we leave?”

“As soon as we can, there’s still a trail cut in the snow from the last sleighs that passed through. It will make traveling easier.”

“I’ll gather some supplies and meet you back at the inn in an hour then?” I suggest.
J looks away from her horse and into my eyes, she holds my gaze then nods slowly, “Alright.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When I got back to the inn J had already stuffed most of our packs with food. Sabrina was pleading with J to let us take her but she wasn’t budging on the subject. We finished packing our bags and decided to have an early dinner before headed out. They were sad to see us go, we had been with them long enough to be more than just acquaintances. They hugged us and then sent us off with some hot potatoes to keep in our pockets for hand warmers.

We saddled the horses, they were eager to be off. Some of me felt relief as well, I felt like we were finally moving onto the next stage of our journey. We had to ride single file through the tracks that had been cut in the snow by sleighs. The snow was up to the horses bellies but lucky the path was wide enough that they didn’t have to struggle to badly. We switch off who was in the lead and sometimes we even walked ahead of the horses to get them some rest. It was slow going and when we finally stopped for the night we were only a couple of miles from the village. “This is going to take forever.” I try starting a fire but for some reason the flames evade me.

J unsaddled the horses and put blankets on them to keep them warm. Then she fed them a little grain. “I don’t care how slow it is, we are getting further away from Kegan, that’s all that matters.” I nod my head and blow on the tinder but nothing seems to light.

“Move over.” J takes the flint and stone from my hands and re arranges the twigs and small sticks. She gets the fire going and I busy myself by building up the snow around us in a makeshift igloo. Though there is no wind the night, is bitter cold and it bites and my nose and ears. J adds larger logs to the fire and soon we are huddled around the fire with dried meat in our mouths.

Eventually we curled into our sleeping rolls. My body was exhausted but my mind was awake. I stared up into the night sky and the stars. The atmosphere was clean and clear so the stars dotted the unlike anything I had ever seen. My breath rose in the sky and fire crackled in my ear. A cloud passed overhead, obscuring my vision for a moment, and then it drifted away. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but I felt restless.

Finally, I slipped out of my bed roll, careful not to disturb J. She had her blanket over her head, but her body didn’t stir except for her breathing. I snuck away from the fire and walked into the woods. After I was a good distance away I found a decent break in the trees and allowed myself to turn.

It felt good to stretch out my wings, I grinned with my sharp teeth and blew out a breath of hot air through my nose then jumped into the sky with powerful strokes. My nose was pointed straight for the stars. I pushed myself high into the atmosphere, so high that the air started to thin, even with my lungs I was unable to climb and further.

I stretched out my winds, used the air to glide, and simply enjoyed the darkness of the night and brilliant stars above me. For a few minutes I let my mind drift away from the worries of the world, for a few minutes was simply a part of the sky and stars.

When I got back to the campsite I added a few logs to the fire and slid into my bed roll. I looked to the sky one last time with a smile on my face, then pulled the blanket over my head, and fell fast asleep.