Chapter 2

            Kieran tramped through the forest, being purposely loud. Flawed logic told him that Emma was somewhere around here, after all this is exactly where she was the first time. Kieran had been trying to come into the forest as often as possible. There was an unusual longing in him to see Emma again. He felt as if he had known her forever, the way she talked, the way she moved, it was all so familiar. Like a dream that clings to the edge of your memory after you wake. And try as he might, Kieran could not remember it.

“Emma?” he called hoping she would pop out of the bushes, just like the other time, hopefully not in a violent mood though.

            He was just crossing the stream when he heard a laugh and a voice from behind him.

            “God, you’re loud!” Kieran whipped around to see Emma standing knee deep in the water lounging on a large rock. She smiled at him then spoke again.

            “But then again, you were trying to scare away every living thing in the vicinity weren’t you?” Emma let out another peal of laughter, “You’ve been looking for me haven’t you Kieran? I can tell, I’ve been watching you after all.”

            “No! I haven’t been looking for you!” Kieran tried desperately to preserve his pride, “I’ve had to come into the forest for my chores!”

            “Oh, of course you were!” Mockery dripped off of every word in the sentence, “poor Emma, so horribly mistaken!” And she laughed again, but Kieran didn’t care. His heart felt swollen and his whole body tingled with the elation of seeing her again. The world seemed to be more translucent and brighter.

            “Ok! I admit maybe I was looking for you, but only a little!” Kieran added hastily. But he was smiling and so was Emma. Her smile changed her whole face. It widened her eyes and lifted her cheeks. It made her look so different it was hard to believe she was the same little girl.

            Emma beckoned Kieran forward and made like she was going to whisper something. Kieran walked closer and leaned in. Just as he reached where the edge of the stream lapped at his feet Emma acted. Fast as lightning, she scooped up a handful of water and threw it directly at Kieran’s face. Kieran leapt back, letting out a wild yell.

            “Hey! That wasn’t fair!” He frowned good naturedly.

            “That was for lying to me,” Emma could barely get the words out for laughing. Her hair swirled around her in the water and Emma gathered it all up and waded out the stream, wringing her hair out like an article of clothing. “I hate liars.”

            Kieran was still struggling to decipher whether she was playing or not when Emma turned to walk away.

            “Where are you going?” Once again Kieran was confused by her behavior, it didn’t follow conventional rules, one emotion led uncharacteristically into another. It made no sense.

            “Home.” Emma had reverted back to her stony, stifled personality.

            “But why?” Kieran said, “I thought maybe we could play a bit.” He edged closer to her, just like he would a scared animal. He barely knew this girl and yet she frustrated him something horrible. It was as like she enjoyed winding him up then cutting him down. But he couldn’t stop thinking of her. Every moment for the past week was spent contemplating her in his head.

            “Because all I was coming for was to let you know that I know that you were looking for me.”

            “Huh?” Kieran’s confusion only deepened, Emma had a way of using sweeping, unusual hand motions when she spoke and she had just motioned sporadically between the two of them. This only added to Kieran’s frustration.

            “I was saying that I know you were looking for me,” she said it slowly as if Kieran was a bit dense in the head.

            No witty response came to Kieran for this, so he just said “Oh.” And scuffed his feet in the earth. As much as she perplexed him, Kieran didn’t want her to leave. There was a sort of wrestling match going on inside of him, between his normal annoyed and aloof personality and his curiosity at this new girl.

            “Well, I suppose I don’t have to go home quite yet,” Emma said after a moment, she seemed to ponder something then said quietly, “Nobody would notice.”

            “Oh ok,” Kieran tried to not sound too excited, but the prospect of having someone willing to play with him was pretty new.

            “Do you know how to swim?” Emma turned suddenly to Kieran. She had a hopeful and expectant face on like she was counting on a certain answer.

            “Pfft, I don’t think I know anybody who can swim,” Kieran let out a small laugh, “I do not know how to swim.”

            Emma looked a bit disappointed, but her face soon went blank again and she said, “Yes you do.”

            Kieran was taken aback. “What?”

            “Yes, you do know somebody who knows how to swim.”

            It took Kieran a moment to untangle what she had said, but when he did he only grew more confused.

            “Who?”

            “Me,” Emma answered blandly.

            “What? You can swim?” Kieran was astounded, almost nobody could swim, it was considered rather unhealthy and even sometimes the sign of a witch. “How?”

            “Would you like me to teach you? It’s actually really easy, you could learn very soon,” Emma held out her hand, beckoning him to come with her.

            “Er, ok I guess so,” Kieran was very cautious, swimming was dangerous, and he couldn’t believe he had actually just agreed to it.

            “Good! Then follow me!” And Emma took off running along the stream to where Kieran knew there was a natural pool of water. Kieran followed her, much slower but still at a pace. As he ran behind her, he marveled at how she seemed to effortlessly maneuver her body around everything in her way. She would duck under a branch, swerve around a sapling, leap over bushes and seem to hang in the air for an extra second. Wherever she went her hair whipped out behind her like a pennant in the wind. It was amazing to watch. Kieran found himself wishing he was as graceful and speedy as the girl dashing in front of him.

            When Kieran finally reached the pool he was struggling and out of breath. Emma was already waiting for him, sitting on the embankment. The water was crystal clear and sparkled in the sun, Kieran eyed it nervously, he didn’t know what he had gotten himself into. When he arrived Emma had an almost grim look on her face, she turned to face him and her face rearranged itself into a small smile.

            “Ok, first thing you need to do is, obviously, get in the water,” Emma pointed at the shining water.

            Kieran started toward the pool and cautiously hopped off the bank Emma had been sitting on and into the water. Droplets flew through the air and Kieran shivered, it was cold! The stream came up much higher than Kieran would have liked, almost up to his navel.

            “You’re supposed to take off your clothes, idiot,” came Emma’s voice from above him. Kieran looked up and saw that she in the process of stripping off her dress. Kieran’s eyes widened, this girl had no modesty! Tossing her dress to the side, Emma jumped into the water as well. She was wearing only her thin white shift and nothing else.

            “Go on, you can take off your tunic if you like but it’s so wet already it might not make a difference.” Kieran looked down, it was rather uncomfortable wearing the heavy, wet tunic, but he didn’t exactly want to undress in front of a girl, “Just so you know, it will make it a lot harder to swim as well.”

            Well that decided it, Kieran quickly wiggled out of his clothes and lobbed it up to where Emma’s now forgotten dress was.  He looked at Emma expectantly, wondering just how you go about learning to swim.

            “Now, put your head under the water like this,” and Emma seemed to drop out of sight as she bent her knees and submerged her whole body. But as soon as the very top of her head disappeared from view it popped back up again, and Emma stood dripping wet in front of Kieran smiling like she had just won a prize. Her hair was now hanging in wet ribbons down into the water where it appeared to diffuse through the slow moving water. Her shift, it too soaked, was plastered to her body and was now tinged peach from her skin showing through. Kieran felt embarrassment bloom through him and he pointedly looked aside. It was just too surreal and weird to be standing half naked in a stream with a girl he had only met once before. It was completely not normal.

            “Now it’s your turn!” Emma said brightly. Kieran only imagined it but her words seemed to have a sort of threat to them, as if he should put his head under water NOW… or else.

            Kieran looked around frightened, he realized he had not made a sound in a few minutes. He tried to work his mouth but for some reason no sound would come out. He was still trying to not look at Emma, so instead he looked at a large tree growing on the other side.

            “Go on,” Emma said bluntly. Kieran looked at her and felt his cheeks grow warm at the sight of her glaring at him with the translucent dress still clinging to her body. He could see each of her ribs through the dress and, though it was partly underwater, her stomach seemed concave, the skin stretched between her two hips appearing sucked in.

            “I don’t have all day you know. Do you want to swim or not?”

            Kieran was about to say that he really would rather not when a strong hand shoved his head roughly underwater and held it there. A great wave of water rushed into his mouth and Kieran tried to stand up but Emma held him there. He began to struggle and tried to reach up and pull her hands off his head but she had her fingers woven into his hair and he couldn’t extricate them no matter how hard he tried. After what felt like eternity of pure terror the hand let go and Kieran burst to the surface.

            “Oh my God! What was that for?” he cried after a brief coughing fit.

            “You wouldn’t do it so I thought I might help you,” Emma said innocently, her face was completely blank of emotion. Kieran just stared at her, incredulous.

            Finally he managed to sputter out, “I almost died!” Emma just looked at him her face still  blank.

“No you wouldn’t have. Don’t be dramatic,” she said. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, both of them unwilling to fill it up. Eventually Kieran turned and started up the slope back onto dry land, the splashing behind him said that Emma was following. He grabbed his wet tunic and reluctantly started pulling it over his head, everyone was going to wonder why he was soaking wet, he realized. Kieran didn’t know how he could explain it away. He started to wring it out, but it wasn’t helping. He looked over and saw Emma silently watching him.

            “I can show you where you can dry those off,” she said quietly.

            “Yes please, can you?” Kieran tugged his tunic off again.

            “Mmhm, follow me,” and Emma picked up her own dress and led Kieran deeper into the forest.

            Kieran walked a few steps behind Emma, feeling the silence like a gorge between the two of them. Just when Kieran was about to ask how much longer it would take they entered a large, sunny clearing with a gigantic boulder in the center. The clearing, which had little wildflowers growing around the edge, was sunny and here and there bees floated lazily through the air.

            Emma took a flying leap and scrambled the rest of the way to the top of the rock, “If you climb up here you can lay your clothes out in the sun, the rock makes them dry faster than normal.”

            Kieran tried to do just as Emma had done but he merely bounced painfully off the side. He tried jumping up and finding a handhold but the rock was very smooth.

            Emma laughed softly, “Here, let me help you.” And she lay down on her stomach and stuck her hand down for Kieran to grab.

            “Thanks,” Kieran grabbed her hand with both of his and used it to almost rappel himself up the rock.

            “You can lay your wet things right here,” she said and to demonstrate she slipped out of her shift and laid it out on the warm rock. Kieran whipped his gaze away from her, and sat reddening in the other direction.

            Emma’s laugh came from behind him and he heard her say, “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about! But if you want I can put on my dress.” Kieran felt himself grow even more embarrassed, but he shook his head and said, “I suppose I’m going to take off this too?” and he turned back around to gesture to his wet leggings.

            “Only if you want to get dry,” Emma replied and she slipped on her dress.

            Kieran sighed as he self-consciously peeled off the remaining layers of clothes and laid them out next to his tunic. Then he took a place next to Emma, now partially clothed, and, for the second time that day, marveled at how he had gotten to sitting here almost naked. The sun was directly overhead and Kieran could feel himself warm up and get dry. Emma seemed to be sleeping next to him so he didn’t try to talk to her. He was still a little mad at her, he really could have drowned when she shoved him under water like that!

            But in the meantime Kieran was enjoying laying in the warm sun, the birds singing and a pleasantly cool wind whispering through the trees. Kieran closed his eyes and thought for a minute about how truly happy he was in this moment. Emma was less than a meter away from him and when he looked at her it seemed as if the sun wasn’t just reflecting from her skin but emanating from it. Her entire body was bathed in gold and the deep green of her dress gave her an almost royal look. Little wisps of hair stood out around her face like a halo and her eyelashes seemed longer than ever. Her profile looked like one of those illuminations of the Virgin in the Abbot’s bible and her hands were clasped in front of her. For a second Kieran felt a bolt of panic as she looked just like a newly dead body, so peaceful and sure of their place in heaven.

            Kieran was reminded of his mother and felt the dull ache in his heart that accompanied any thought of her. He shut his eyes and saw her again, sweaty and bloody and pale, he heard his father sobbing and felt his own confusion. Why didn’t she just try? Try to survive? Plenty of other women had. She had done it before, but this time something had gone wrong. And instead of protecting Kieran like she should have, she faded away. And took the entire house’s happiness and color with her.

            After a little while Kieran awoke. He didn’t know he had been asleep but he found himself feeling much better and his happiness had returned. He sat up quietly and looked at Emma; she was still fast asleep. The sun had sunk to mere centimeters above the trees and it was growing cooler. He tested his clothes and found them almost dry. Kieran was dressing when he realized had no clue where he was, he would have to ask Emma to show him the way home. Kieran ruffled his now dry hair and gently poked Emma in the side. She sat up abruptly causing Kieran to almost leap back, which would not have been good as he was sitting on a large rock. She looked around like a hunted animal, searching for her attacker. Almost instantly she saw Kieran and relaxed, her hands falling to her lap.

            “God above! You startled me, Kieran,” and she glared at him.

            “Can you show me the way home? I don’t know which way to go.” Emma looked at Kieran doubtfully and he stared right back. He needed her to show him the way back, he was depending on her.

            “I can only take you as far as where we met today,” she said eventually. Kieran nodded his agreement and slid of the rock land firmly on his feet. Emma called down to tell him to wait a moment as she needed to put her shift back on.

            A few minutes later the two were trotting through the undergrowth, Emma slightly in the lead. Kieran did not know whether they were going on a shortcut or just retracing their steps from earlier as the forest looked the exact same on every side. They weren’t even following a path; they were tramping right through dense bushes and around giant trees. Sooner than he expected, they emerged from a particularly dense patch of brambles right into the spot where, though it seemed at least a week ago, that morning they had met.

            “Thank you,” Kieran said a little awkwardly. Emma just nodded to him. Kieran faltered, he really didn’t know what to say, “Er, well, bye.” Emma just nodded again. Kieran turned to leave and was about to run home when he turned and said something. But at the exact same moment Emma had yelled something as well.

            “What?” they both said.

            “You go first,” Emma insisted.

            “Er, I had fun today, thank you. I’m glad you tried to teach me how to swim and I’m sorry I got mad at you. You were only trying to help,” Emma looked taken aback, Kieran could feel his own astonishment as well. He rarely apologized for anything.

            “You’re welcome, and I kind of had fun too.” Emma smiled at him.

            “Now what did you say?” Kieran prompted.

            “Oh, well I was just going to say,” Emma seemed to steel herself, “I was going to tell you not to tell anyone that you saw me here, ok?” Emma stared hard at Kieran willing him to agree with her. Kieran nodded his head and smiled at Emma to let her know he would keep her a secret. Then, without another word, the two of them turned and went their own ways.

           

            When Kieran got back inside the protection of the walls he hurried to make himself look busy. He didn’t want anyone to think he had been gone. Not that anybody would notice, the children were pretty much left alone where Kieran lived, trusted to do their fair share of work. The children mostly worked in the gardens and ran about collecting things for the adults, other than that there was no real job for them. That is until they entered their teens, then they were apprenticed out to a profession. But Kieran still had a couple of years until that and anyways he would probably just join his father in his carpentry, not that he would ever excel at it. One needed to be strong and sturdy for a job like that and Kieran was neither. Well, he was relatively strong but he was also tall and unreasonably thin, like the reeds that grew along the river that flowed from the forest then into the village. But in the meantime the children occupied themselves with the gardens and then the rest of their time was used up roaming the town and playing together in large groups. Somehow Kieran never seemed to be invited to these games though they looked extremely fun from the outside. But he told himself he didn’t care. And anyways, no one had time for a borderline anti-social boy like Kieran Conrad Jakob Lukas who was usually quietly working by himself, always on the fringe. But Kieran liked it that way. So that was how it stayed.

            On this day he passed the other children, trying to avoid being seen. He hid in an alley and watched them sweep by in a horde all laughing and turning and moving. It was like they all made up one large creature that roamed the streets and looked for entertainment. When they had passed Kieran made his way to his home, saying hello to some of the women in the town. They had been friends with his mother and for some reason once his mother had gone they had just shifted that friendship to Kieran. It was a peculiar arrangement but it worked out for the most part. Kieran trotted through the streets then turned down a filthy alleyway scooting around the pools of stagnant water mixed with the contents of chamber pots. The alley was disgusting but it was the fastest way to his house from the village entrance.

            When Kieran emerged he was in a pretty little alcove of houses that constituted the carpenters corner. The houses were beautifully made though most were small and the people living there poor. The house Kieran lived in was one of the most beautiful, his father had been one of the best carpenters in the entire kingdom people said. But that was before he took to the drink, they would always add. And it was true. Kieran’s house was filled with exquisitely carved furniture, much too nice for a mere carpenter and his family. But now it looked distinctly derelict.

            Kieran entered his house quietly, avoiding the shop that took up most of the bottom floor. His father would be there working most likely. With all good hope he had been there all day and had not bothered to check if Kieran was anywhere to be found. He slipped silently into the kitchen and got himself a large slice of cheese and broke off some bread from the loaf. After sweeping the crumbs into his hand then into his mouth he turned and slipped out again, as silently as before.

            Kieran made his way to the small room that was his and went in. The bed was simple compared to the rest of the house’s furniture but it was nice enough all the same. Kieran rather liked his bed, most of the other children he knew slept on mattresses on the floor, bed frames were expensive if one was poor. Kieran sat on the floor and slowly ate his dinner, watching the room get darker and darker as the sun went down. When it got so dark he could barely see the bed and the room was made of shadows he finally got up and lit a candle. The shadows it cast danced in spectral shapes across his walls and gave the room a feeling of the unearthly. He sat a while listening to his father downstairs stumbling around and getting himself dinner. Kieran could tell he had been drinking all day.

            Kieran’s father was a good man… when all forms of alcohol had been purged from his body. He was a large man, in width that is. He was stocky and short and had large muscles from years of lifting large beams of wood and sawing, hacking and whittling them into objects of use. He had a crop of straw blond hair that looked out of place perched atop his purple face. His face had the worn lines of one who used to laugh a lot but now only yelled and cried. And got angry. Kieran knew his father loved him but sometimes he just forgot, he tried to show Kieran he loved him. But sometimes he showed him with his fists. Because that was easiest for him.

            Kieran heard his father settle down in his room and the creaking of the rope holding up his mattress. A few minutes later he heard the steady snoring of a man fast asleep. Kieran put out his candle and crawled into his bed. He pulled the blanket high up over himself, covering himself. He let his mind drift and thought back over the day. He thought of trying to swim and Emma as she glided through the water then he thought of her shoving his head underwater and he shivered. Emma had little concern for the safety of others, even when she was trying to be kind. But the day had gone well enough and when Kieran thought of lying in the sun on top of the giant boulder it was as if some of the warmth had been trapped in his heart and it warmed him now as he drifted off to sleep.