Happy is He that Hath Your View

It did indeed take almost another hour for the three of them to finally reach the edge of the town. And they still had a ways to go to get to the keep. Their walk back had been rather silent. They all no doubt had reflection on that evenings events, the good, the bad, and the ugly; however, the main reason was they needed the quiet to continue vigilantly monitoring their surroundings for any new potential threats emerging from the darkness.

The Arbiter and Hunter were both helping to support each other’s weight. Gonyaul was struggling to continue dragging the larger and heavier dead assassin on his winter cloak. His muscles were fatiguing and that was only causing his exhaustion to exponentially increase. His teeth were beginning to rattle and without his cloak he was shivering a little with cold; but it helped to keep him awake and off set the heat he was generating from the labor.

When they arrived at the Keep, the Arbiter took charge. Somehow she miraculous pulled enough energy from somewhere to be very professional and appear alert and in command. Gonyaul made note of how strong and brave she was behaving. He also noticed Hunter turned it into another gear, as if he could go on forever. He on the other hand, looked spent. He kept silent as the Arbiter gave her report. The dead body was handed over and Gonyaul thankfully got to put his cloak back on.

It was decided that for his safety, Gonyaul was to be given a room at the soldier’s barracks that night. They had a guard escort take him away. Before leaving the room he bowed and signed a respectful farewell to the other two survivors; this time his eyes properly looking down instead of up as was the custom of trust.

“Thank you” were the only words he said since he arrived at the keep to when he was taken away.

They took him first to the bathhouse. He was the only person there since it was so late. Gonyaul knew the routine and the skeleton crew of attendants figured out how to deal with him in no time at all. He made sure to be quick. He just wanted to sleep.

They then escorted him to his room for the night. It was warmer and better than his place, though it was also small and very simple. He immediately went to what resembled a bed, crawled under the covers, and curled up on his side.

He pulled his meditation wrap out and bound it around his eyes. He began going over everything that had taken place that day in his mind, like watching a movie. It faded to black as the meditation deepened and reasoning gave way to feelings and feelings to just being.

In and out his breath rolled like the waves on a beach, calm and peaceful. In and out the quicker pace slowing more and more with each new long inhale and exhale. In and out, in and out until the entirety of focus was on the raw sensation of that life sustaining breath. And suddenly he felt as if he could hear another’s breath moving in unison to his own.

He snapped awake, his eyes opened but were blind still from the cloth wrapped around them. His memory had returned him back to the scene where his eyes were locked with the Arbiter’s eyes and they were breathing in unison. He curled up more, to try and get warmer, and tried to be mindful. After many long minutes of silence and trying to make sense of it, he whispered into the air.

“ Atana on neki o ettom uri erak aw usedesawaihs.”

Which translates to, “happy is he that hath your view.”

That was an interesting thought he pondered as if it felt like truth he just heard for the first time. Interesting? Unexpected? And it conflicted with his preconceived thoughts regarding Arbiters? How bizarre.

It was not long thereafter that he was sound asleep.