Come Back To Me by M. Jade Glock (distant reading .txt) 📕

She looked through the arched window, her expression longing as her eyes glided over the hills of green pastureland, soon resting on the mountains on the horizon where the sun would set. Her arms were folded over her chest, not because of the cold but because of the fear that if she didn't she would surely fall apart.
"What is it, Aracane?" Ranger, she knew the voice without even having to turn away from her view. As she continued to stare she answered him simply.
"I feel like I'm going to crumble into dust."
"Oh? And why is that?" He inquired as he came up beside her. She would have snapped at anyone who asked her so many questions, but Ranger was different. By his presence alone he could sweep a peaceful feeling around her that was beyond anything that she could ever describe. Aracane opened her mouth to speak but shut it again, suddenly feeling a wave of tears choke her eyes and throat. She bowed her head; silence filled the room as seconds passed, painfully. Ranger put a hand to her shoulder, giving her comfort. He didn't push her to speak, and he didn't seem the need to do so for himself.
"Why does it have to be so hard?" She cried, tears swelling and pouring out of her eyes onto her cheeks. Ranger squeezed her arm, gently. He didn't say anything, his invisible invitation for her to continue.
"He's been gone for several weeks, why hasn't he written?" She looked at Ranger for the first time since he had entered the room; her eyes were red and swollen. She looked like the little girl she used to be in his eyes and he wanted to wrap her in his arms and whisk her worries and fears away. Instead he brushed the hair from her eyes, and in a voice soft and loving he said, "He is doing as he is supposed to, you should too."
She looked at him, a grim expression plastered onto her face. "Doesn't he long for me as much as I do for him?"
She wanted hope, something to hold on to and keep. She wanted someone to tell her that it would be alright and that the man that she loved would undoubtedly come to her again. She had no doubts at all that she would love Nealan for the rest of her days, in a way it was him that she questioned. It seemed so complicated. On one hand she knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t want any other woman for himself, but on the other she feared that he might eventually feel that he didn’t need her. Should he feel like he needed her? Should he feel like he couldn’t go on without her? All of the things she was told about in the legends and fairytales of her youth were all she knew about love and how it was supposed to feel.
“Stop worrying yourself, child.” Ranger’s voice broke in through her thoughts.
She looked deeply into his eyes, searching for the answer she desperately wanted to hear. A smile spread across Ranger’s face.
“Why are you looking at me? You have your answer around your neck.” He gestured with his head toward her throat where a well-crafted ring on a leather thong rested. She reached for it with her hand and closed her eyes as she grasped it between her fingers. She sighed deeply. The necklace was given to her months before Nealan had left. He didn’t say what it symbolized, but she treasured it. It wasn’t anything spectacular, it was made up of a simple metal but it gleamed in the fading sunlight.
“I should have gone with him.” She covered her eyes with her free hand, as if by doing this it would somehow halt the fountain inside her that wouldn’t stop spilling over water. Guilt flooded her heart as she thought about how Nealan must be feeling; she practically forced him against his will to accept her decision. At the time it just seemed easier, a way to back out and make everyone a little bit happier, but what had it cost? It cost her best companion. A wind blew in from the window she stood in front of, it sent goose flesh all over her arms and chest. Holding herself tight she began to weep from her broken heart. She began to crumple to the floor, but Ranger caught her. His cloak swooshed around her, creating a safe refuge.
“I’m sorry Nealan, I’m sorry that I’m the way I am.” She latched onto the front of Ranger’s shirt, crying into his chest.
“No, you are needed here. You don’t understand it yet because it hasn’t been revealed to you but this is exactly where you’re supposed to be.”
“But it hurts so much.” She choked, holding Ranger’s shirt even tighter in her grip.
Ranger, without warning, wrapped his arms completely around her, holding her tight to him.
“If you feel like falling apart, I will be here to put you back together. If you feel like crying out, I’m here to comfort you. If the pain becomes unbearable, let me carry you through it all. Aracane, let me take your pain away.”
He put his lips to the top of her head, kissing her as a father might.
“Nealan misses you, he loves you and he will come for you. He will not abandon you and neither will I.”
He began to rock back and forth, her cries muffled under the warmth of his cloak.
Time passed on with only the sound of Aracane. Ranger never left her side even as the sun set and the moon rose. She slept in his arms and he continued to sit, as if he was protecting her from the outside.
“Aracane, my little girl, you worry too much when everything is in my hands.”
He paused, looking at the girl in his arms.
A gust of wind swept itself into the room and rustled his hair. It began to leave as he whispered into it.
"Come back for her, Nealan."


 

Text: M Jade Glock
Images: Vyrhelle-VyrL & M Jade Glock
Editing: M Jade Glock
Publication Date: 10-26-2012

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This is for my characters Aracane and Ranger. Ranger hasn't had much of a light in my Aracane adventures and I figured I'd give him a little spot here.