though it pains her to pull away from him, the fear of worse pain is more than enough to temper her desire to reach back out. instead she satisfies herself by letting her dark eyes rest on the familiar shape of his body, almost identical to her own, to her rodina. his eyes are as deep as oceans and in their expressiveness she has started to see some hint of relief, of hope. she presumes this to be spurred by same familiarity in her presence that she finds in his. the same small fragile seed grows in her own soul, watered and sunlit by his existence and proximity and she can feel it laboring to break through the crust and unfurl it’s first tentative leaf. it is bittersweet for them both she knows, being reminded of their lost domov, the old home, but at least they are no longer doomed to be alone.
she listens attentively, her ears locked to the sound of his voice, to the promise of this conversation, and nods solemnly in agreement. there is no explanation for their coincidental meeting other than that of fate. she finds relief when he gives his name and suggests they have much to discuss. some of the anxiety that he will vanish again begins to dissipate, though not altogether. it is when her eyes find their way back to his face from the slope of his shoulder, when she sees the hope shining in the depths of his eyes that she feels a burden truly lift. she is not alone.
it is so Kunžak. fate has led us here. it is some small reparation perhaps for what has been suffered…. i…words do not describe the relief of seeing you again.
she speaks more boldly than she intended and she wonders, almost girlishly, if he will be off put by her openness. the situation is bizarre suddenly, standing there with him in the little thicket after all this time, speaking in the old tongue. she wonders suddenly, bashfully, if all her hopes at a future, a rodina of her own, were not so dead as she once imagined when she had washed up on this shore. perhaps once they got to know each other she might find they were not suitable in that way. it was too early to know. too fresh to consider anyway. she does regard him more shyly now however, after these thoughts fluttered through her mind.
