Chapter 38Enstilled

The nymph was somehow much more serious than Maeve, she spoke much darker and clearer, as if there was no time to waste. She must have known, more or less, what her sister had told us about the captured spirits. We didn't have time to respond on her ominous warning though, she got looked up right after she said 'yes' and smiled.

"Now I must leave and you must sleep."

With those words, she smiled, a smile that faded into my vision as a drowsiness came over me. I barely had time to think, but I could only just feel my body slumping down and see Deirdre's do the same. A short spark of 'why?' went through my head but it had no chance. Sleep overtook us faster than an attacking swallow, shooting through the late evening.

It was the best sleep I'd had in days.

No dreams taunting me through the night, no heat nor cold, just sleep.

A deep, restful and dreamless sleep.

At least no dreams that could remember.

The way I felt when I woke up was almost as if someone had been caressing me lovingly all night long. At ease with the world, gentle and fine. In fact it was so nice and warm, when I breathed in there was a lovely soft smell of hair and skin. It took me a moment to realize that Deirdre and I were laying in each others arms.

She woke up at the same time.

We both opened our eyes and looked into each others. I'm not sure what it was, we were feeling so warm and comforting, but our lips touched each other as if by themselves. It was just the lightest of kisses, but it felt like...

It felt as if I was a pool, a crystal clear and smooth pool, hidden somewhere from wind and rain. A pool with nothing to disturb it's surface but that kiss. Her lips moved all of me, circles expanding from my mouth to everywhere on my body. Moving like a glow over my chest, my arms, my legs. A simple ripple that appeared to reflect on the edges of my being and return to my lips, to be sent back to her.

I had no idea how long it lasted.

We both smiled with a blush on our face, when we opened our eyes again. It was a tender moment, one that I would remember for a long time. Thoughts came slowly creeping back in, making us realize it was already quite light, that we really had to go, even if we didn't want to.

"We have to." Deirdre spoke what we were both thinking.

I nodded and got up, slowly. We both prepared the horses in silence, eating a very meager breakfast as we weren't really hungry. The sleep had given us plenty of rest for both our body and our mind. When we got out of the house we saw that it was only just dawn, with the sun still connected to the horizon. The horses looked like they had a great night as well, they were very active and eager to continue our journey. Did Eavan charm them a well?

I smiled at Deirdre. "Did you dream?"

She smiled back. "Not that I know, but that was definitely a wonderful sleep." She looked at the horses with a smile. "And we're not the only ones who feel good."

I nodded. "I feel completely recharged. I'm not exactly sure if I feel thankful or annoyed though. Being forced, even something that feels good in hindsight like this, isn't fine."

Deirdre laughed. "I think she meant well and knows that she forced it on us. But I suspect Nymphs and spirits have a completely different sense of right and wrong. To her this might be a valuable gift, or just being playful."

She had a point, I wished I'd thought of it. "We'll have to ask her some time, if we remember."

We got on the horses and set off north again, going out of the ghostless town and into the forest again. It appeared to be a nice day today, with plenty of sun and nothing in our way. The path here was quite a bit more travelled as well and a bit wider but still no more than a space between the trees where you could more easily ride. At least it was fairly straight.

Deirdre smiled and spoke up. "I wonder how we ended up like that."

It came from nowhere. "In each others arms?"

She nodded. "Did she place us like that or did we move on our own?"

I blushed a little. "I think we moved ourselves."

She looked at me with curiosity. "Why?"

Why? That was a good question, one I couldn't answer easily. It was just a feeling. It didn't feel unnatural to wake in her arms, it didn't feel made up or placed when my arms were around hers. With the softness in our hidden dreams, we could have very well cuddled against each other instinctively, sharing the silent nocturnal thoughts. But all in all I couldn't really explain what it was that made me say it.

My blush only got stronger. "I don't know, it just feels that way."

Deirdre smiled. "I liked it too."

She giggled and set her horse to a canter, riding ahead. I was baffled for a moment, she'd tricked me! She just wanted to know if I felt the same she did. Well, in all fairness, she was at least honest enough to share it with me as well after she found out how I felt. With a smile on my face I spurred my horse onwards as well, to keep up with her.

The start of an interesting day.