Feb 2008

Chapter 142Artist Mirage 2

The voice of the girl sounded quite nice, though her use of words confused me. I slowly turned around, not surprised to see Amy's lovely face behind me. She held me closely but her sleep was deep. Amy did not notice my movement, probably. The blankets moved and I noticed my clothes were kind of like her. Just a boxer with a t-shirt and nothing else. It looked cute on her.

My eyes wandered from Amy to the girl. Her dark skin took me by surprise. She was beautiful, in a very... almost feral way. Though her posture was quite polite, her eyes and her skin made promises of nature, the wild. It wasn't even she color of her skin that did it. Just... She felt like a child of nature in a way that defied description.

And she knew my name?

"Eh... Yes. I did. I slept quite well, thank you." I took a small breath. "Where am I?"

The girl did look in my eyes, she bowed her head slightly and answered immediately. "In the castle of Lady Faith."

My thoughts tried to remember the vague faces I'd seen. "And you are?"

"I am Nuru. I serve Miss Amy and, because she holds you in her heart, therefore you, Master Hitori." She spoke openly.

More thoughts raced through my head. "Is it day?"

Nuru nodded. "Yes, Master Hitori. There will be some food brought in a few minutes, your body appears to need it."

Now I noticed she was wearing the same kind of clothes as I was. Looking around more there were clothes hung to dry in a few places. My clothes were among them, including my underwear. Of course, I must have been dripping wet when they found me, did they dry and clean me as well?

"Who undressed me?"

"Miss Amy did, she also dried and dressed you. I offered to do it for her, but she did not wish for me to see you, Master Hitori."

I had no idea what to think of this. "She saw me naked?"

The girl shook her head. "No, Master Hitori. She couldn't see you."

There was something about the way she said it. "She is blind?"

Maybe that would have explained why she didn't look at me when she said my name. Something made me think of that hint of her eyes I saw. They weren't dead, just staring in the distance. I remember my surprise as her eyes were usually always looking at something. It was one of those cute things about her.

Nuru verified my thoughts. "Yes, there was an... incident yesterday. She temporarily lost her sight, I'm not sure if it has returned to her."

I laughed softly. "Irony..."

"Master Hitori?"

I looked up at her. "Irony, pure irony. I've gained so many visions and dreams, all connected to her, while she loses her sight. As if her intense view of the world was passed to me."

"I suppose so, Master Hitori, but she did see something, a vision yesterday evening, when she was in the forest with us."

I muttered. "When I was unconscious and no longer saw..."

Nuru suddenly looked very thoughtful. "Perhaps... Master Hitori, before food comes, will you look at something I found?"

Slowly I got out of bed, only now did I notice some of the floor was still littered with books. The bookcases weren't filled all the way to the top, though they appeared to have been before. Climbing over Amy, letting her arms drop softly on the bed, I stood unsteadily on the floor.

My head was still spinning a little, the whole room appeared to darken as I felt my legs starting to wobble. The girl, Nuru, got hold of me just before I would have fallen. Her touch woke me up as well. It felt odd, having a girl so close while I hardly knew her. But she had a respectful way of being near me, I appreciated it very much.

At least it gave my mind some peace.

She let me go and got back to the desk with the open book. "I've been trying to find something on Miss Amy's lost vision. Lady Faith has many books in this room, but it was a bit hard to find the right one."

I was getting curious.

"So, what did you find?"