How I Found It All: Part VIII
It was early in the morning. I had just opened my eyes to the bright orange sun rising over the trees. There was dew all over me, as we had only a blanket to protect us from the ground. I noticed something. There was no we. There was just me. Charley was all ready awake, as he was not beside me. Knowing this, I got up, grabbed and folded the blanket, and I took it back up to the house. When I got inside, I heard the sound of cooking in the kitchen. I put the blanket down somewhere in the living room, on the arm of a chair. I entered the kitchen, and I saw Charley in front of the stove with two skillets filled with delicious food. "Mmm, that smells good," I said. Charley chuckled. "What?" he looked at me, then he looked down and back up. "Oh my!" I just then realized I was still naked from the night before. I started to laugh. "Haha, I guess I can't feel the breeze because of my scales."
"Yeah," Charley agreed. "You go get yourself ready. I'll have breakfast finished."
"Okay." I went up the stairs so I could get a shower.
I got myself a towel, and I turned on the shower. It was cold for a second, then it warmed up. Soon, it was steaming, and it felt good. Stepping in the shower was one of the best feelings I felt the whole day. I could feel the heat penetrating my scales and going right into my core. For a few minutes, I felt secure, almost as secure as being held by my love, Charley. The heat was bliss. I didn't want to leave. After a few minutes, I realized that Charley was waiting for me downstairs. I found the body wash, and I lathered it on my scales, letting it wash away all of the dirt and grime that had built up over the past few days. I got into every crevice, under every scale, making sure there was nothing left from the night before. I took a few more moments after I was clean. I felt so good. Once again, after a few minutes, I came back to reality and realized that Charley was waiting for me. I finished up, and got out of the shower, and I found Charley just outside the door. "Oh," he said, "am I interrupting?"
"Nope, I just finished."
"Oh, well--could you..."
"Shh..." I interrupted him. There was a moment of nothing but watching each others eyes. Then we kissed. I giggled a little.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," I replied. I kissed him again. We continued to kiss for a little, then we stopped. We just stood there for a minute, looking at one another. Then, I broke the silence. "I'm hungry, and that food smells good. Shall we eat?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
We got down into the kitchen, and the food was all ready on two plates, with the fork, spoon, and knife in their respective places. There was a pitcher filled to the brim with white, creamy milk. We both sat down and I examined my food. There were eggs sprinkled with a bit of cheddar, there was some sausage, which smelled better than anything else in the room, and there was some potato hash. "I don't know where to start."
"Try the sausage. I made it myself." I took a bite out of one of the sausages. "Whew!" It was a bit spicy.
"Yeah, I like it hot. It's a family recipe."
"Really? It's good." We both began eating, and talking. Once or twice he refilled my glass with milk. We probably talked more than we ate. We conversed about what happened last night, and also recalled what happened when I first came through.
"You know," Charley added, "I could never have imagined I'd be the person to receive such a blessing. Actually, I never could have imagined that you existed in the first place."
"I felt the same way. Before I stepped through, or more, was pushed through (thank my sister for that) I didn't know what to expect. What I thought would be on the other side was the same thing that was on my side, only ahead by a few days. I can honestly say that I was terrified when I found nothing but the occasional piece of rubble left."
"I--I don't know the feeling." We both laughed. "What? You don't believe me?"
"Yeah, I believe you. It's the way you said it--never mind." I yawned.
"Am I boring you?"
"I want to do something. I feel so cooped up in here. I know there's the outdoors, but I'm always exploring it. It feels somewhat like an occupation to be doing so."
"Well, I was planning on heading into town today, before you showed up."
"Ooh, I wanna come."
"Um, I'm not sure how well that would work out."
"Oh come on, it can't be worse than being stuck here." A look of innocence betided my face.
"I guess you're right. Well, let me warn you that most people here haven't seen an Argonian. Actually, I'm probably the first person in England to see an Argonian."
"Okay." Charley took the plates and glasses and put them in the sink and rinsed them off. "Oh yeah, I need to get dressed." I was still not completely dressed. "Wait, what will I have to wear?"
"There might be something in the room next to mine. My mum keeps some of her clothes in there when she comes to visit. Hopefully they'll fit."
I went upstairs into the room that Charley described, looking through the closet. I finally found something that fit me well enough. It was a pair of shorts and a lovely top. 'His mother has good taste,' I thought to myself. When I got back downstairs, I saw Charley ready to go. With his coat in hand, he lead me out the front door. "Um, how are we gonna get there? You said it's more than just a few kilometers away."
"You remember the 'cars' that I explained a few days earlier?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's how we're gonna get there. Mind you that my car's pretty much a piece of junk."
"Why's that?" He opened up a somewhat large door in the front of the house, revealing what I believed was the 'car' that he spoke of. "Is that it?"
"Yep." I saw there was a lot of rust on it, and even though it was the first one I've ever seen, it did look pretty pathetic. I tried not to laugh, but I guess a little bit came out.
"Don't even start," he said.
"I'm sorry." I was still smiling as I got into it. He started it, and it made a few grinding sounds before changing to a low growl.
"Okay, here we go," Charley said as we finally headed out to town.
It was a pretty long and bumpy ride before we finally found some civilization. Charley parked the car in what I believed was an area designated for such. We got out, and I took in all of the new smells of this new place in this new world. There were familiar smells, and there were unusual, unique smells. "Come," said Charley.
"Oh yeah."
"First I'm gonna stop and get some groceries, then I'm going to grab a few things for tonight."
"Tonight?"
"It's a surprise. You can go off and browse the shops. Here, lemme' give you some money." He handed me a few coins and pieces of paper currency. "I think this is enough. I'll be back here in about an hour. Okay?"
"Okay. You know, I really wanted to spend the whole day here with you."
"I know. I do too, but there are a few things I need to do first."
"All right, well, don't take too long."
"I won't." We both headed off in the opposite direction, Charley going into some sort of food store, while I went into a store labeled "Bookstore." I enjoyed reading books in my spare time, so I browsed around to see if there were any interesting titles. As soon as I entered, I attracted some faces. I assumed the owner was the one behind the counter in the front of the store. He was the first one to start looking behind a large pair of spectacles. There was a woman with her child. She walked to the other end of the store, disappearing behind one of the shelves. I came up to the man behind the counter and spoke. "Are you the proprietor of this establishment?"
"Um, yes. Can I--uh--help you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm looking for a good fictional title."
"Well... I--uh--have a good assortment of fiction on that shelf there." He pointed to one of the bookshelves, shaking a little.
"Thank you," I said, going over to it. I saw him take of his spectacles, clean them, and put them back on, looking at me.
I got to the shelf, and I started browsing through the books. I was looking through the bindings and one book in particular caught my eye. It was a dark book. There were swirls of red on the black leather. I touched it, and I could feel something faint emanating from it. It felt like a trace of magicka, but I couldn't be sure. I took it off the shelf, and I could have sworn that the cover began to glow faintly. It was only for a second, but I was sure it was glowing. I opened the front, and a cloud of dust formed and dispersed soon after. I looked at the cover page and saw some familiar markings. I immediately heard voices on the other side of the bookshelf. I looked through the opening made by the removed book, and saw two boys whispering. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I suspected they were talking about me. "Can I help you?" I asked them. They just looked at me, then they ran out the front of the store, laughing. "Good afternoon to you too."
"Excuse me," I said to the man behind the counter, "how much is this book?"
"Well--uhh--that one is--uh--six pounds and forty-five pence."
"Okay, let me just get," I whispered, "five, six, and twenty, forty, forty-five." I spoke up again. "Here you are." I handed him the money, and he just looked at me for a while. "I'm sorry, do you need something?"
"Uh--no, oh, sorry." He handed me the book back, and I walked out the store. He cleaned his glasses again and adjusted them. "I must be seeing things. I could have sworn she was a croc or something. Tail and everything..." I giggled slightly under my breath.
The next place I went to was some kind of tavern or bar. There were a bunch of people at tables, and benches. A few were at the bar, sipping at their drinks. There was a 'TV,' as Charley called it, on with something on that I didn't recognize. It looked like a bunch of people running around kicking something. 'The things people watch on these things,' I thought. I heard a whistle come from behind me, and I turned to see a man looking at me. "Ew," I said. He was drunk, so I tried to stay away from him. I went over to the bar to see what there was to drink. "Excuse me, could I get some Sujamma?"
"Some what?" The bartender looked at me puzzled.
"What's wrong with everyone here? First I find out there's no more magicka in the world, and now there's no Sujamma?" I must have been talking pretty loudly, because half the people there were looking at me. I sighed a bit. "I guess I'll just have a beer then." I was handed a brown glass bottle. At this time, I walked over to a table and sat down, taking periodic drinks from the refreshing bottle. There were a few men in the corner looking at me strangely. I became a little uncomfortable with them, and I felt like leaving. I stayed at my table until I finished my drink. 'Now, do I just leave the bottle here so someone will pick it up, or do I put it somewhere?' I began to think, moving the subject from the men. 'I'll just leave it.' I got up, and I walked out of the tavern.
I adjusted my eyes a bit, as it was pretty dark in the tavern. Once my eyes were back to normal, I decided to grab a bit to eat. Not knowing where to go, I just walked back to the car to wait for Charley. When I got there, I saw that he had all ready gotten there, and was waiting for me. "Hello, love," said Charley.
"Am I late or something?" I was a little confused, as it didn't seem like very much time had gone by.
"No," he replied, "I just finished my shopping early."
"What'd you get?"
"I told you it's a surprise for tonight."
"Oh yeah." I was still hungry. "Hey, can we get something to eat? I'm starved."
"I was about to ask you the same thing. What are you in the mood for?"
"I'm not familiar with the food here. You decide."
We went to a little restaurant and had some of the best shepherds pie I had ever tasted. The owner of the place was actually friendly to me, and spoke without stammering for more than three syllables. I was guessing that Charley knew him, and spoke to him about me before he came out to give us our food, as Charley went in the back and was there for a few minutes. We spent an hour or two in there. It was quite peaceful. There was only one other patron, and she didn't bother us. She didn't even look over her newspaper at me. It was beginning to get late, as the sun was shining in the windows.
Charley and I went back to the car and were going to head home. "Hey," said Charley, "what's that?" He saw the book in my satchel, so I took it out and handed it to him.
"I bought a book. It looked interesting, and I mean interesting. Have you ever seen a book with this kind of cover?"
"I can't say that I have. This is a first for me. You know, this week has been full of firsts for me." There was a brief pause.
"Hey, can we talk when we get home? I'm anxious to have that dinner you've been promising."
"Yeah, sure." We got in the car and drove home. The drive wasn't as bad as before, because I knew what to expect out of the junk pile that was his car. Getting home was less than adventure. When we got home, Charley took everything he bought and brought it inside while I was still in the car looking over the book I got. After about a half-hour Charley gestured me to come inside.
"Yeah, I'm coming." I put the book back in my satchel and went inside. When I walked through the door, I saw Charley standing in the middle of the room, with his hands behind his back. "What is this? What's behind your back?"
"Oh, nothing--just something to say thank you for the night before." He handed me a parcel with my name on it. It read "To my dearest love: Jumps-In-Water"
"Aww, how sweet of you to think so." I was just holding it in my hands, trying to figure out what it was.
"Go on, open it." I tore the wrapping parchment off, which revealed a box. I took off the top of the box and pulled out one of the most beautiful dresses I had seen in my life. It was a solid red silk low-cut.
"Ooh, you shouldn't have." I was almost in tears by then.
"Well, I did want you to look good for this." He moved over and beckoned me to go into the dining room. Then he stopped. "Wait, you should try on the dress before we do."
"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." I headed upstairs to get dressed. I shut the door and swapped clothing. I was wondering why I didn't get a pair of shoes with the dress, but I wanted to go barefoot anyway, as I always had done at parties with Marbles.
With the silk flowing down my frame like a fuchsia waterfall, I walked down the stairs. Charley was at the bottom, so I wanted to look as good as I could for him. "Wow," he said, jaw nearly all the way down, "you're more beautiful than I imagined."
"Thank you, thank you very much." Charley also seemed to have gotten dressed nicely when I was up there. "You're quick." He was in some dress pants, and a dress shirt, with some kind of necktie. "Did you get me any shoes?"
"Well, I thought we could spend this night without shoes at all. Would you like that?"
"I would love that." I reached the bottom step, and I took him by the arm. We both entered a candlelit dining room with my arm around his. The smell of seafood was lingering in the air, and the sight of strawberries made me nearly yip.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just love strawberries. How did you know?"
"I was watching you when you got into my fridge and ate all my strawberries."
"Hehe, well they were good."
"I know. They're wild-picked." He showed me to my seat, and he sat down on the other side of the table.
"Mmm... that looks like lobster." I cut off a piece, and with Charley watching me, ate it.
"Do you like it?"
"It's really good. I love seafood." I was guessing he was a little tense, because I saw his shoulders drop down a bit when I said that. "Don't worry. You're a good cook. It's delicious."
"Thank you. You know, after we finish off the lobster we can dig into the strawberry cheesecake I got. I may be a cook, but I can't make a cake for my life."
"Haha, I know how you feel. My sister is an incredible alchemist, but her cooking could kill a Dremora lord."
"You're very mysterious. You know that? I mean, you come here, and you haven't even explained your history: where you came from, what you did during that time, and why you came over here."
"I've never considered myself outspoken when it comes to my history. Really the only other person I have ever told my history to is my good friend Moryn Oreyn, the second in command for the Fighters Guild. I trust you enough to give you this information. Okay, here it goes."
"I was hatched in my native land of Argonia. I was taken from them after the Imperials--those are the ones who take residence in the center of Tamriel-- raided my clan's camp was brought to Morrowind, apparently as punishment for something. I spent a day in a boat after we landed there, in the cargo hold, being watched over by dark-skinned elves called Dunmer. After I got off the boat, I was taken to a slave market in one of the Telvanni cities, and was sold to one of the largest plantation owners on the island--called Vvardenfell--who's name was Orvas Dren. He treated me well, considering the other slaves there. I actually got to sleep in one of the main plantation buildings. When I was working, I got to tend to the owner's personal vegetable patch. This is where I got my strawberry fetish. The owner's wife kept strawberries, and she would let me have some whenever they came into season. I would take a small basket, pick a bunch, then I'd take them to the other slaves so they could feast. I became a source of comfort for them, just as the strawberries became one for me.
"Eventually someone came to rescue me. It was my sister, Found-Her-Marbles, but she wasn't called that at this time. Her name then was Dorgen Den-Fall. Don't ask me how she got that name. It's a longer story than mine. Anyway, she had apparently fulfilled the Nerevarine prophecies, which was something important for Morrowind's history. She thankfully didn't harm anyone on the plantation when she plucked me from their clutches, since she seemingly banned slavery in those parts.
"I spent a year with my sister on Vvardenfell, and about 3 months on the mainland, still in the province of Morrowind. For some reason, the Imperials took Marbles and imprisoned her. I was taken there and I spent some time waiting for her in the capital of Cyrodiil, the Imperial City. Marbles said that she was freed by the Emperor himself, when he was trying to escape from assassins. The Emperor died anyway, having been killed from under everyone's noses. Marbles escaped with the Emperor's amulet, an important artifact for the royal Imperial lineage. I found Marbles at one of their fortresses, helping the Emperor's son. I aided them as much as I could, running errands for my sister.
"When she had beaten back the evil that had arisen to overthrow the empire, she settled down with me in one of the cities, taking up permanent residence in one of the manors. I spent time by myself, going out and adventuring for people who needed an adventurer. I also enjoyed going on my own, finding rare artifacts, so that Marbles could study them, occasionally keeping one or two for myself. I, of course, got all of the gold that was part of the work I did. I had been doing that ever since then, and I sometimes would go out and gather materials for Marbles to research. She would do some crazy experiments involving strange things. Finally, she came up with one experiment that involved me going through some kind of portal, and when I went through, I ended up here, with you, in some unknown time line.
"Well, there's my story, and I hope you've been listening intently, because I'm not going to be repeating it anytime soon." I looked down and saw all of my food gone off the plates and dishes, including all of the strawberry cheesecake. All that was left were a few chocolate covered strawberries, which I pushed away from me. "Man, I'm stuffed. How about you?"
"Well, I'm still trying to digest what you've been saying, but yeah, I'm full." He sighed. I sighed too, knowing that both he and I were very content with the night that took place.
"What about your history?"
"Mine? Oh, mine's not exactly worth telling, hardly as exciting as yours." He laughed a bit. I just had to laugh back, seeing that he wasn't going to reveal his secrets then. I wanted to know about him, but not that night, as I had become pretty tired. I yawned, and he yawned too. "Yeah, I think this night has been great, but unfortunately it must end. The most fortunate part is that we're going to end it together."
"Yes, that is a good thing. I'm very tired. Let's go upstairs." I got up out of my chair, and he did the same. He began to go after the dishes. "Hey, you don't need to worry about them. They're not going anywhere."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He put down the plate, and we proceeded to go up the stairs to his bedroom.
We got up there, and I took his shirt and began to unbutton it. He took the zipper on my dress and pulled it down. We both stood there staring at each other for a minute, and then we began to undress each other again. After we were both stripped down to nothing but our pajamas, we held one another, sitting on the edge of the bed. We then kissed once, then again, then again, our lips meeting with a love as equal as the sun and moon's opposition. I rolled on top of him, then rolled onto the other side of the bed, right next to him. "I love you Jumps," said Charley.
"I love you Charley," I said. We were holding one another's sides. I could feel his strong arms around me. I felt secure, safe. Once again I didn't want to leave his side. I just felt right with him. The last thing I remembered that night was Charley's love-struck face. Dreams were vague, but those were unimportant, as I just had one of the best days in my life.
End of part VIII...