The Faerie Sex
|
I wondered if I would ever see her again. I wondered who she was, what she was. Was it all just a dream, a fantasy brought on by solitude and lust and frustration? I thought for several days that I would never be sure, that the whole interlude would always just be a memory in my own head. But I was wrong. After moping around the house for a while, I pulled myself together and once again visited the market in the local town, to buy flour and meat and butter for the week ahead, as was my habit. As I made my way through the crowds to my favorite stalls, I heard my name, spoken aloud in a voice which I immediately recognized, even though I would swear I had never really heard it before. I turned and looked into her eyes; eyes at a level only a little below my own, eyes bright within an almost-familiar face. They were the very same eyes, I was sure. "Saffy? Is it you?" I gasped. "Yes, it is," she replied, her eyes never leaving my face, "I have taken your gift and now I can bind myself to you forever. If that's what your heart desires." With tears in my eyes, I took her hands in mine. "We will be together," I assured her, "Always." I had listened motionless to the man's tale, hardly daring to breath, not wanting the break the spell of his amazing story. Finally, he stopped, his confession - or whatever it was now completed. His heavy rhythmic breathing indicated that he had fallen deeply asleep. I wondered if he would even remember telling me this secret. Carefully, so as not to disturb him with my movements, I lifted myself up on one elbow and looked again at his girlfriend, the woman who had been introduced to me as Saffy, still snoring gently. By the half-light of the moon streaming in through the open curtains, I saw again her slender appearance, a look which I had already described as "elfin", with high cheekbones and the faint suggestion of points at the tips of the ears. Could it really all be true?
|
Part 3
