Chapter 196: Day 195

Day 195,

I’m going to do it.  I’m going to make the walk to the Village on my own again.

 

Well, I did it.  It wore me out more than when I first got here and wasn’t used to the hike, but I did it.

While she didn’t come with me, the sound of a door opening and closing and a glance over my shoulder told me that Maiko did come out on the porch and watch me from the house until I got out of sight.  I found that heartening in more ways than one.

I’ll confess, I did briefly freeze again upon reaching the main road, but the feeling experience sensation it wasn’t as intense as yesterday.  When I first started moving again I found myself constantly checking over my shoulder and scanning the surrounding trees, certain that the nature sprite would make an appearance and do something.  It did seem prone to… greater scale antics the longer it had gone without doing anything.  It was a conscious effort not to increase my pace so much I’d risk tiring myself out enough to need an extended break.

Still, one can only keep up such a state of heightened vigilance for so long and eventually I began to relax; at first from fatigue and then more genuinely.  By the time I reached the Village proper without incident I was almost at ease.

Enough patting myself on the back for everyday activities.  I still have things to do that I didn’t get around to yesterday.  The longer I put off those requests for tellings the more I’m going to dread them.  As it is, I’m going to be visiting the requestors (clients? patrons?) in person to get more details about the requests and give them the warning/caveat that I’m willing to perform but I’m still not operating at my best.

 

Of course, right as I was getting ready to head out I started getting visitors.  The first time in a while that I got more than one in the same day and I was actually here for it.  It was surprisingly nice to take on the role of librarian again.  Talking to people and helping them find what they need instead of just finding a written request or question and delivering it later.

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It did mean however that I didn’t get around to doing as much catchup work as I’d planned.  Doesn’t help that I need to leave earlier than I used to in order to get back to the house before dark.  I’ll be locking up in a moment here and then heading out to do that.

I swear, the more time goes by the more appealing that healing spring of Maiko’s sounds.  And the more I worry my illness may have had lasting effects.

 

Maiko wasn’t there to greet me on the road to escort me back to the house today.  I found myself torn between gratitude that she respected my wishes and seemed to have faith in my ability to get back safely and disappointment that she didn’t.

She wasn’t here in the house either when I got back, but on the kitchen table were several of those fruits from her lizard island and a note on her wax tablet about wanting to spend a night outside again.

I keep telling myself not to read too much into it.  That it’s just doing something nice while also needing space.  That it’s not a parting gift.

We both knew that this arrangement of her staying here on a regular basis was just for having shelter for the rainy season, but now that the season is nearly over I find myself afraid that I’ll miss having her around.  Worried that it’ll go back to only seeing one another on mist nights.  I mean, it’s not like I was actually here in the house much during the rainy season, but it’s surprisingly nice to have a place to go back to where you know you won’t be alone.  And the times that we were together were good.

Heh, as much as I find myself needing to be alone after being around too many people for too long, now that I’ve gotten a taste of companionship in small, regular doses I don’t want to give it up lose it.

 

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