Dancing Embers

As Gonyaul waited patiently, curled up on his side near the meager heat source in room. His recitations trailed off into inaudible mews as his eyelids began to grow heavier. He could feel fatigue pressing down upon him like a weighted blanket and it was causing the darkness of the room to appear to expand its reach.

His focal vision fell upon the fire. Without much thought at all he absentmindedly spectated the glowing embers. The colorful display of orange, yellow and red hues transforming as energy rose and fell was almost hypnotically helping him relax to sleep. He felt a sense of wonderment at the beautiful sight.

Then in the midst of the fire, Gonyaul noticed two little flames spring up as some of the wood had shifted and fell downwards to the bottom. The flames danced between one another playfully and at times it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended. Gonyaul’s imagination personified the flickering flames as Voah and himself. Specifically he was recalling their first dance on Voah’s natalday.

With water back in his system, his eyes were able to water ever so slightly as a mixture of feelings swirled in his heart like a whirlpool. Happiness and sadness both were present. Recalling how it felt to dance with her, literally and figuratively, it brought him much joy. To think that he may never see her again brought him much sadness. There was a part of him that was conscientious enough to consider their time broken apart would be a good time of individual growth; however, he always hoped that they would grow better as individuals and then come back together. Now they were worlds apart in more ways than one and their chances of a life together seemed unfathomable.

Gonyaul kept watching the flames enjoy one another. A sweet smile on his face and sad tear trails of longing down his cheeks remained on his face after he fell fast asleep. The flames eventually ran out of fuel and diminished until they were but smoldering embers.