Blog All Title

...past the bar and the card tables, to the back where those who wished to avoid the rowdiness would sit and dine. There, at a table near the fireplace, sat the lady. She wore a light blue travel dress and had finished her meal. She sat reading a book and sipping coffee.

Neither of them was surprised at this chance meeting. But the pleasure they felt at this opportunity was very refreshing.

A bright smile flashed on her face. "Tarn," she said without looking up, "I knew you'd find me here."
"Yes, dear Nala, as did I," he replied with a short chuckle.
She put down her book and they spoke briefly, catching up on their lives, when she interrupted him, "Dearest, are you going to sit down?"
He felt clumsy for not even having enough of his wits about him to sit down. As he sat he ordered a coffee. They spoke more, rich and hearty conversation, each filling the other with tales. At a break in their fellowship, he sat pensively and after a while looked deep into her blue eyes.
"I've missed you something awful, Nala. I cannot describe how badly."
"I've missed you too. It isn't easy never knowing when I'll be able to speak to you. I know we'll always find each other again, but that certainly never makes it easy, Tarn."
"Indeed, my dear lady. And lately, I've been having those intense dreams, or sometimes I won't even be asleep and I'll feel you searching, probing for me. And I find myself reaching out for you, too. Sometimes my yearning is almost overwhelming. But I press on, as I know you do, waiting for times like these."
"Too," he continued, "I thought perhaps with all the ruckus down your way the last few months, you might've thought it best not to venture out much, so I wasn't too worried. But as you well know, that never calms the yearning."
He smiled and reached for her hand. They sat in quiet conversation over a couple more slow cups of coffee.

She looked him over, seeing time had worn him more, but hadn't depleted his resolve. And he could see the cares and times of life had tried to be unkind to her, but her fortitude was not to be bested by circumstance.

...
[more...]

"No, Mal," Tarn said, "I've been having them more and more. And the dreams are more intense lately. These emotional encounters, meetings with her, wretching yet somehow fulfilling. I know she's reaching out to me, Mal, yet how do I find her? How do I close this distance so the pain will subside, at least for a bit? Before when we'd meet in passing, it was helpful, a balm to sustain us for a bit. Never completely healing, which we accepted, but preventing the pain from overwhelming us."
Mal sighed, patting Tarn on his back. "Sorry, Tarn. But look - this can't go on forever. You'll meet up with her again, I have no doubt of it. It always works that way with you two, ya know."