Remembrance

None of the people on the stair could move or speak as they felt the vibration of the atmosphere around these two people. It surrounded them, making the very air quiver.

As for Callie and Talis, they were trembling with such force that no words could pass between them. It had been days and days and days since they had seen each other. Never in their lives had they been apart for an entire day; separation was not something either of them had fully known the meaning of. So long ago when Talis had gone to the market without Callie, the two of them had nearly died getting back to each other.

Now, to say they “missed” each other meant nothing. They were like plants that had had no water or sunshine for days on end. They were like rain barrels with staves missing; slowly all their contents were draining out.

Very, very slowly, Talis put up his hand toward Callie, his fingertips extended, as she brought her fingers to his. Then, with the others watching, as unable to move as though they had been turned to stone, Callie and Talis touched fingertips.

To a person, everyone on the stairs felt the thrill of that touch. The strength of their reunion overflowed from their strong, young, yearning bodies to the people around them. It was as though the stones and the air shivered with the connection of these two people.

Neither Callie nor Talis was aware of the others on the stairs or of the sensation they were causing. For days now they had both tried to be good, tried to be brave and strong, tried to be what they thought of as “adult.” Talis especially had tried to keep Callie from his thoughts. He was a man, wasn’t he? He did not need a pesky girl to follow him about as she had on the farm. He knew that here he would be laughed at if she were near him as she had been all his life. These people were not Will and Meg, whose whole lives revolved around their children. These people believed that children should conform to their ways.

No one knew how long Talis and Callie stood there in silence, their hands outstretched, the tips of their fingers touching, drawing life and strength from each other. Had it not been for some other diners wanting to get up the stairs they might have stayed there all night.

John was the first to recover. “Here, boy, let us pass,” he said, giving Talis a little shove, thereby bringing him back to reality.

Abruptly, everyone came to their senses, and, like a dog shaking off water, each person shook himself, not wanting to remember what he had just felt.

“Come along, Callasandra,” Edith said, pushing Callie and her sisters down the stairs in front of her. She would do most anything to keep from experiencing her father’s wrath.

Callie turned away, not looking back at Talis as he started up the stairs. Her heart was beating faster and her legs were weak with wanting to touch him, to talk to him, to do nothing but look at him, but she made herself go down the stairs.

Behind her, Dorothy whispered to Joanna. “Is that what it feels like to be in love?”

“No,” Joanna said. “I do not think those two love each other.”

Dorothy, ever a romantic, looked at her sister in horror. More than anything in the world she wanted to be in love. “Not in love?”

“I think what is between them is something different from love. I do not know if it is of the devil or of God, but I am sure it is not natural.”

Frowning, disappointed, Dorothy followed her sister down the stairs.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the two girls in bed with her, Callie got out of bed, tossed her clothes over her arm, and made her way to the garderobe. In this stone-seated toilet, she was able to dress without being heard. Then, silently, she left the room and started down the wooden stairs to the back of the house, toward the doors that led out to the kitchen.

She had been waiting in bed for a long time, until the others went to sleep. Waiting and knowing that Talis was going to meet her.

When he stepped from behind a tree, his body no more than a dark shadow, she did not so much as hesitate. Picking up her heavy skirts, she ran toward him, wanting to throw her body on his.

But Talis did not hold out his arms to her. Instead, he caught her hand in his and began running, Callie working hard to keep up with him as he ran around buildings and equipment, around trees and through garden paths. She didn’t know where he was leading and she didn’t care. She truly hoped he was leading her to the edge of the world where they’d both jump off—or if it was a circle, maybe they’d run round and round the earth and never stop. Just so they were never separated again, she didn’t care what happened.

He took her to a place she did not know existed: an old, burned-out castle that had two towers still standing, its walls blackened from a fire, timbers tumbled to the ground. There was evidence that the villagers were taking stones from the castle to build new homes for themselves.

Talis, holding firmly onto Callie’s hand, ran with her up ancient, worn, slippery steps. Once when her feet went flying from under her, he caught her, then pushed her against the wall, his big body pinning hers to the stones.

He was different tonight, she thought. Different than he had ever been. The last time they had been alone, they had kissed each other and his hand had traveled up under her skirt. Now, as he pressed her against the wall, for a long, long moment, his breath was on her face, his black eyes boring into hers; she could feel his heart pounding against her breast.

Callie could feel her body growing limp as she leaned against him, her lips moving toward his. But then his laugh rang out and he grabbed her hand and began to pull her up the stairs, coming at last to an ancient oak door that was sealed with a rusty lock.

Turning, he saw the disappointment on her face, then, with one powerful kick, Talis broke the weathered and rotting oak of the door. When the old door went crashing to the floor, Callie laughed in triumph as Talis swept her into his arms.

On the parapets, the old walk where the sentries guarded at night, he held her and whirled her around and

around, while Callie threw back her head and laughed in delight.

Talis began to laugh too as he set her on her feet and snatched the headdress off her head. Then as she shook her head to free her hair, he ran his fingers through it, pulling it out to surround her body. A gust of wind made her hair wrap around both of them, enclosing them even further in the silent moonlight.

Easily, naturally, he slipped his arms about her and kissed her softly and sweetly, and when he pulled away, there was wonder on his face.

Moving onto her tiptoes, Callie started to kiss him again, but he spun her around. “What is this you wear?” he asked, feeling the corset under her dress.