Chapter 9: Six

Keplan and Heidle finally agreed to stop between the border of Bilra and Quari’Aus. Keplan saw how his travel companion was thwarted by this halt. While setting up a fire camp with a view over the white beaches of Bilra’s coast reflecting the clear night sky, the dwarf could finally rest his legs against a dry, dead log.

On the other hand, Heidle couldn’t stop his pace from one direction to another. Keplan was exceptionally annoyed: ‘Will you stop? It is just for a couple of hours, mate! A dwarf needs to piss and sleep. We all can’t be like you, you…’; he interrupted himself because he didn’t know. And that made Keplan uncomfortable. Heidle was tall, with a good body structure. Not too skinny, but not to build up either.

He seemed like an elf but whiteout the characteristics of the ears shape. He could be a fawn but was missing the hoofs and definitely not a mere. Heidle looks strangely like a young mortal but way too old in summers by the hint Keplan got with the conversation between his pop and the Dark Mage, and let’s not forget the distinctive blood.

‘We what?’; asked Heidle with an irritated voice muffled by the mask that still draughts the dwarf. ‘We what, Keplan?’

‘I don’t know. I know, mate! I know what I am, but I really don’t know what you are. Never saw someone like you.’ Keplan explained, a bit ashamed and confused but mostly honest.

Heidle finally stopped and sat next to the dwarf: ‘I’m feeling uneasy, anxious and worried, that is why I’m pacing, to calm me down.’

‘What is awaiting us at the end of the road?’

‘My Heartmate.’

‘We are fetching your lover?’

‘I hope so.’

‘So this is a love journey.’ Keplan took from his bag a half-full bottle of pomace and the leftovers of jerky. He bit a piece of hard meat and swallowed it with a generous sip out of the bottle, passing it to Heidle:’Is it true what they day?’

‘What?’

‘That what one feels what the other does?’

‘Yes, it is true.’

‘Are you feeling her now, somehow?’

‘No.’

‘So, how do you know where to  find her?’

‘A firefly told me so.’

Keplan interrupted his question to give another gulp on the pomace: ‘Wait, is a she right? I’m perfectly okay if not. I just have a bad habit of assuming, you know how it is, mate.’

Heidle chuckled behind the mask: ’Her name is Olvia.’

‘Oh, what a nice name. She must be beautiful.’

‘She is, no doubt. But she is also other things. She is brave and fierce until the point of stubbornness, and she has a huge sense of duty but is also understanding; and funny. She is extremely funny!’; The Dark Mage made a long pause, and his voice turned strenuous: ‘Or at least she used to be.’

‘Ah! Love reckons hours for moons and days for summers, and every little absence is a new tormented era.’; quoted Keplan while passing the bottle to Heidle: ‘Take a sip. You need it too.’

Heidle accepted the bottle in his hand and lifted enough the mask to free his lips. Keplan couldn’t stop asking: ’How does it feel to know what another feels?

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Heidle explained with a much softer voice, now his mask was half off: ‘At first, it is horribly overwhelming, is like your chest is about to explode inside your ribs at any moment, gravity swifts around this person, and at first, you even believe you can’t hold your own weight, you feel nauseous, dizziness but in the opposite, mostly you feel happy. You feel safe even in the middle of a battle; you feel protected, loved, and understood. However, it also feels dreadful; there is this agony when you are far from your heartmate. A nightmare inside your core that touches you and eats you as a whole. You can’t sleep, barely eat, and the only thing that makes you move on is the idea of being reunited.’

‘Oh, that explains a lot. That ominous stance of yours. The impatience you are having on the road always, especially if we stop just to take a piss.’; Keplan smirked, staring at waves breaking on the white sands and once more quoted:’ When your absence is felt, your presence is the essence, and it makes a fucking difference.’

‘I didn’t perceive you as a poet.’

‘Me? Oh, no! I just really love books. Makes one soul feel less alone.’

‘Olvia used to love poetry too.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’

‘A very long time ago.’

‘I know you are old. But I think I know some History, I guess. Give it a try. Challenge this young dwarf!’; chuckled Keplan playing with a rip of jerky.’

‘Since the death of Calpheon, The First.’

Keplan almost spits the chewed jerky out: ‘That is really a fucking long time! As my pop said, I was not even a pea inside his balls!’

‘It was indeed a very long time ago. Since then, I don’t feel a thing.’

‘And now you will finally be reunited with your heartmate, love.’

Heidle drew a nervous smile, a bit of dark absurdity mixed with the endless hope that would soon end his quest.

‘If love cannot stand the test of time, then it has failed the test of love.’; recited Keplan once more.

‘Another hopeless love quote?’

‘And why not? Sometimes a soul has to stop wandering to appreciate the beauty of its duty journey.’

‘I can only agree on that. This is a nice spot to spend the night, by the way. You have chosen well.’

‘Indeed it is. Indeed. One question, and don’t be offended, but how old are you?’

Heidle was quiet for an instant, and Keplan noticed he was playing with his fingers as he counted the summers. ‘842, maybe 838; I’m not sure.’

‘You are so old you stopped counting your summers? I think I can understand that.’

Heidle threw the empty bottle far away, and none could see where it landed, just a shiny bit of glass lost in the night sky, which never fell. And the Dark Mage didn’t add any more words to the banter.

‘In less than two days, we should arrive at our destination. At least if we believe the fireflies! Mate, I have so many questions, but first, this dwarf needs to take a piss!’

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