Dance, my little puppets,

Win/5.2/02  

     His body stops. But it was impossible to stop everything? There was always the tension of muscle stopping movement, or the twitch of a tail tip, or a gleam across the eyes. And yet, Nakki could see none of this in Wraith’s reaction to her words. He so completely stilled, that she thought he might disappear. Like he was in the final stages of decay and turning to dust. Her eyes couldn’t focus on him as he seemed to become a part of the landscape, and she could feel her chest thump with panic. Don’t go yet! Her mind told him, and she was relieved to be able to see him return when his eyes watched her warily. Suspicion. He wasn’t wrong to be worried about her interest in him, but she was just as worried herself.

     Why was she so captivated by the very thing she sought ever to avoid? Lack of life. However, she had not lied, or at least, she thought that she hadn’t. Nakki shook her head “no” in response to his question as he sighed and moved towards her. Her eyes followed his sketeal movement - another impossibility. How was walking possible when it appeard that no muscle appeared to be contracting or extending. He seemed almost to float on air through the snow.

     He heart curling in excitement. In the company of a ghost, she’d explore the trees of Taviora. It was something out of a tale, where the main character’s only friend in the world might have been a figment of her imagination. Nakki fell in step beside him as he led them somewhere along the perimeter of the territory. She hardly cared where, though, as long as she could observe him.

     The walk drew on quietly and Nakki’s conscious brain turned off. She was following him, and thus nothing else was required of her. She worried not for the future, and forgot the past as they continued. She turned to simply existing beside him as a primitive wolf may have done hundreds of years ago. She as his shadow and he as her ghost. His question, as a result of her walking hypnosis, startled her. For this reason, it took her a moment to remember that she words were within her capability and that she should answer him. When he paused to wait for her answer, she paused as well, though she did not look at him. She was lost for a moment, in memories of her training.

     “No. I only want to stay true to my faith,” Nakki whispered, for talking seemed too loud now,

     She turned her pink eyes to him them. The moon glinted off them, exposing the sincerness of her response.

     Nakki asked him, “What is it you want in life, Wraith?”

     It was the first innocent question she had asked in years. There was no motive behind it except simple curiosity, though she didn’t much expect him to answer it. It was a personal question, after all, and she was a stranger to him.

Näkki