Tristis Nox

I woke to find myself alone in the bed. I groggily sat up and stared at Vātēs, who was at the window. He gazed absent mindedly at the night sky and I wondered where his thoughts laid. “How long have I been out?” I yawned while asking.
Vātēs turned his head a little and replied, “Oh, a couple hours. It is about dinner time.” I nodded and stretched, then fell back. I rolled off the bed and started crawling to the door. “What are you doing, Tris?” Vātēs asked as he walked over to me and stared.
“Too tired to get up, but I’m hungry.” I continued my inching to the door. Vātēs chuckled before putting one foot on each side of my body, bent over, and picked be up. I squeaked as he set me upright. I clung to him until I realized I was standing.
“Ah, sorry.” I stepped back.
“Why are you blushing?” Vātēs laughed as he looked down at me.
“I’m not…” I mumbled, keeping my eyes down and my head a skewed.
“You are pouting.”
“I am not.” I lifted my head and lightly glared at him.
“Yes you are. But now,” with one hand he gently grabbed my face and squished my cheeks so my lips popped out, “You look like a fish.” He laughed harder at my goofy face.
In retaliation I tried to stick out my tongue, but found that to be impossible so I swatted at him. He easily dodged my attack and left my hand to swing at air. “Jerk.” I muttered.
“Aw do not be mad, I’m only teasing. Come on, let us go eat.”
I stood there a moment debating whether or not I wanted to eat with him. With a sigh I moved towards the door and said, “Fine.”
“That is the Tris I know.” Vātēs grabbed my hand and we walked down the hall, but once we were near the door we let go of each other’s hand. We walked down the stairs and submerged ourselves into the crowd that had gathered since the last time we were here. We weaved through and made it to the bar.
“Hello, how may I help you?” Val asked.
“Do you have any tables available?” I asked, praying she did.
“I believe we do. Rob!” just then Rob popped up next to his mother.
“Yes?”
“So we have any tables left?”
“Yes we do, one more left.”
“Please take these two to the table.”
“Kay.” He turned and saw us. “Tristis! Vātēs. Follow me, please.” He came out from behind the bar and grabbed my hand before leading us to the table in the far back. “Here you go. I’ll be right back to take your orders.” He dashed off to go take care of the other tables while we decided what we wanted.
“He likes you.” Vātēs broke the silence that formed after we sat down.
“I like him too.” I was a bit confused at what he was getting at.
“No, Tristis. I think he has feelings for you.” He stared at me with a calm mask on.
I did not get it at first. “Oh?... OH! That’s not good.”
“No it is not.” There was something in Vātēs’ voice that made me uncertain of what he was saying. There seemed to be a hidden message in his words.
“I need to do something about that. I’m going to be leaving soon.”
“This is one reason why you should not form relationships with people on these worlds.”
“I know, plus I’m way too old for him. He’s a kid, I’m…” I started counting how old I was; a big difference in age. “I’m whoa older than him.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Have you not done this before?” Vātēs was slightly baffled by my response.
“…no. no one’s ever perused me before.” I lowered my voice and bent my head as I said, “Not like there was much time if someone even wanted to.”
“I see… do it gently.” I looked up at him and nodded.
After Vātēs said this, Rob returned with a big smile on his face. “What would you like?”
“We’ll both have the stew please with wine and water on the side.” I ordered with a smile.
“Kay, anything else?”
“Not at the moment.” Rob nodded then once again dashed off, this time in the direction of the bar.
“You should do it soon, Tris. It’ll be less painful… for both of you.” Vātēs looked at me with sympathy shining in his eyes.
“I know. I’ll talk to him tomorrow. It’s just hard, I really like him and he’s fun.”
“Nonetheless.” I understood that I needed to speak with him. I decided that after I talked with Carson I was going to speak with Rob. Something was telling me I did not have much time left here in this village.
The rest of the dinner went by relatively normal. We caught up on what was happening in Lexicon, what I have been up to, and other random, unimportant things. After dinner we left the now deserted hall, and headed outside to the silent night. “I think we stayed up rather late talking.” I laughed as I looked up at the star speckled sky.
“Just a little? Do you want me to walk you back to the castle?”
“You don’t have to. You don’t know the way back.”
“I will find my way back. You don’t have to worry about me getting lost.” He laughed.
“Fine, but if you do get lost I won’t help.” I giggled and skipped off in the direction of my bed. He ran after me and quickly caught up.
“Trying to leave me behind?”
“Noooo, you’re just slow.” I sang as I continued skipping and twirling.
“People will think you are drunk.” Vātēs warned as he watched me.
“Let them! I don’t really care; I for once want to be a free spirit. Where I can let go and not really worry about being punished. Let the chains fall off for once.” I started to dance as our journey continued. A few people, who were still walking the streets, stopped and stared in disgust. *Suck it, I’m having fun!* I started humming as I skipped on a small wall. A rock apparently was loose, so when I stepped down the rock wobbled causing me to be thrown off balance. “Eep!” I tensed as I fell to my right. I turned my body and waited for pain to erupt through my body. However, it never came which baffled me.
“You are so clumsy.” I looked up to see swirling silver orbs.
“But of course.” I smiled as I was put down. I skipped to the gates of the castle before turning around. “This is my stop. It was great seeing you, I’ve missed you so much. You know your way back, right?”
“Yes, you do not need to worry.”
“I always worry.” I dashed at him and bear hugged him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, goodnight Vay.”
“Goodnight, Tristis.”
I hugged him tightly one more time before letting go. Then I turned and head to the gate and called up to the gate keepers. “Can you open up, please? I know I’m late.” The guards grumbled sleepily as they raised the gate. I walked through the gate and glanced back only to see that no one was on the other side; Vātēs had vanished. Nonetheless I waved goodbye as I headed towards the door. “Dream well.” Bid me goodbye as I shut the door and headed to my room.