Standing Together

After the meal, Gonyual and Tiponi began helping clean up, when Honovi stopped the two of them and replaced them with Tiponi’s two younger siblings. The daughter was more inclined to help with just a simple ask, while the son had to be persuaded with the firm tact only a mother could deliver. The eager mother shooed away Gonyaul and Tiponi while giving her daughter a blanket dyed with several stripes of color. Then Honovi placated her husband by allowing him to go spend time with his peers for a drinking game known as Knucklebones while she tidied up. As she watched the two walk off she inwardly prayed to Erewhon.

Tiponi gave the blanket over to Gonyaul to carry and took him by the hand to lead him over to one of their many camp fires in the interior. They were the first to arrive, save the Odsier tending the fire. By the end of the evening several more Odsier would end up sharing the area.

As they took a seat together on the ground, she began speaking to him making talk regarding how she thought the family dinner went and more details on each member. She expressed how her younger sister and brother each had taken an interest in Gonyaul. She also opened up about her father thinking Gonyaul was not suitable due to a lack of skill, which she was blaming more on the fact Gonyaul just wasn’t an Odsier.

Gonyaul was picking words from her speech like one would search a wild fruit tree for ripe fruit. With the names and few words that were making sense to him, he was able to string together the understanding that she was talking about her family. He was correct about the subject matter and he was also correct in deducing she loved them very much and was enjoying speaking about them in detail. He wasn’t able to follow her though as she shared detail upon detail of her immediate family.

Gonyaul was delighted by her company. It was remarkable that he felt elated to hear so much and not understand the majority of what was even being said. Her presence was soothing and invigorating at the same time, an interesting dichotomy that he would have to try and figure out later.

All the while, Tiponi was masterfully finding opportunities to connect her words with teaching. Gonyaul was a good student.

As the wind began to pick up on the plains, Tiponi gestured to the blanket Gonyaul was keeping. Understanding, Gonyaul draped the blanket over the shoulders of them both. Beneath its protective shield from the elements, Tiponi snuggled closer and wrapped her existing arm around Gonyaul. The vaux blushed and was beside himself with the sensation of her proximity. It was warming him up from the inside far more than the blanket.

The blanket itself was a traditional Odsier courtship item. Normally the man would make it and then drape it over himself and the girl he was pursuing. Obviously Gonyaul didn’t have one, so the mother had lent her daughter the one that her father used with her when they were not yet married. If translated into Helian, it would roughly mean “standing together” and was meant to create a new personal space for the couple to enjoy the intimacy of quality time, as well as to signify that the individuals beneath it were unavailable romantically to others. Tiponi explained this to Gonyaul; however, the most he was able to get from it were the new words for blanket and cover.

Looking down at Tiponi, looking up at him, was causing Gonyaul to grow nervous with sweet anticipation. Her beauty in the flickering fire light was unmistakable and alluring. The way her right hand was tracing along his side beneath the blanket, like she was writing something, felt so tender that it sent pleasing shivers up and down his spine. And as the night replaced the evening, Gonyaul realized that Tiponi had stopped talking altogether and the two of them were just looking at one another. Gonyaul wondered, ‘when did she stop talking? How long have we just been gazing at one another like a starry night sky?’

Even though she wasn’t talking, Gonyaul felt her expression was speaking volumes. Her pupils had dilated to their maximum diameter to drink in as much of Gonyaul as possible. An intoxicated smile of adoration was upon her lips. Gonyaul believed that if he were a drink, she was thirsty. He swallowed and licked his lips as if he too were parched. His own expression was finding it exponentially difficult not to mirror her own.

Before the point of no return, Gonyaul distracted himself by starting to share things about his communal family from the jungle. He would go in at length and she would say something occasionally, which seemed like a question that encouraged him to tell her more. He knew she didn’t understand; however, like him, she was very clever and was also piecing together tidbits of Vauxian.

They were the second to last to leave the campfire, the last being the tender of the flames. She decided to lead him back to his tent first, not wanting the eavesdropping scenario that would have occurred if he walked her to her tent. Not to mention, Gonyaul was a little turned around and needed the assistance to find his tent.

When they arrived he thanked her again for the tent, the conversation, meeting her family and their time together. The word thank you was actually used so much between them, that they were both saturated in gratitude.

As they said their goodnight, this time in Odsier, Gonyaul folded and returned the blanket to her by draping it warmly over her shoulders. She could still smell him on the hide and would plan to cuddle up with it when she did go to sleep tonight. Gonyaul bowed one last time as he opened his new tent’s door flap to go inside. The idea of him going inside noticeably excited Tiponi. She gave him one last squeeze of the arm which caused him pause and to look back around. His cheek was met with a quick peck.

The kiss to the cheek froze Gonyaul like a rabbit on alert. He almost felt like he was having an out of body experience, watching her for the first time show a sense of shyness as she smiled and turned to quickly leave. He watched her disappear into the night before entering the tent. Laying down, his heart was pounding so hard he couldn’t hear himself think. It was going to be a long night, not because of the weather this time, but because he was wrestling with so many feelings and thoughts.

Tiponi made it back to her family tent safe and sound. She was aglow. The rest of the family was pretending to be asleep, as per her mothers instructions. They would grill her in the morning; however, for now Tiponi was free to dream without interruption.