A King Fit for a Queen

Finding your way home .

I walked, along the riverbanks. I watched the silver sky illuminate its path, or was that the path that illuminated the sky. I was looking for something, waiting, but for what I knew not. However I knew I must wait, there was something here that required patience. I sat down on the muddy bank and looked at the river, after a while a young woman came with a small gleaming jar a little ways down from me. She regarded me with curious eyes, eyes that knew things that I did not. I lie down on the bank and closed my eyes. The voice said 'wait by the river’. I awoke to the sound of approaching footsteps. I sat up and our eyes met.

 

 "Why are you waiting by the river?" She asked.

 

 "I'm not sure, something told me to wait here, but for what I don't know."
She looked around her and then asked "Would you like some water?" I looked at the river and then back at her. "Sure why not, I'm sure what I’m waiting for will show up." she put down her ornate jar and sat beside me. From a leather bag she pulled out two cups. She poured me a drink and then poured one for herself. As I put the cup to my lips our eyes again met and when I drank I knew what she knew. I saw lifetimes, I had lived and she was in all of them. Friend, Confidante, Partner, Teacher, Lover. At that moment the oddest sensation came over me. "Would I be wrong to kiss you?" I asked. This was not my normal way of doing this, I was never forward. And she replied. "No you wouldn't, you'd be perfectly right." When our lips met I had known intimacy water shared with fish or birds shared with the sky, or flowers shared with the sun. When we stopped I asked her. "Would you mind staying with me for a while until I find what I’m looking for?" She patted my hand and smiled. "Sure, I could use the company." I smiled at her and looked back at the river. "Thank you." she patted my hand again and said “No thank you." The night came cold and deep and l looked at her and asked "Would you like me to keep you warm?" She inched closer to me and said "Let's keep each other warm." I smiled and she smiled back, we slept there that night on the bank. A sleep so peaceful so serene so familiar, that I was sure I had done it many times before and hoped to do it many times again. When the day broke I sat up and stared at the silvery sky, I looked down at my companion and felt something so profound it nearly brought me to tears. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of it. Gleaming in the river, floating slowly down ward. Kissing her on the forehead, I leaped head first into the water; this was it I was sure. I grabbed it and found it to be a crown, it was battered and tarnished in some places but it was still a crown, as I began my trek back to the shore I was pulled under, the river had become violent and turbulent I couldn't get to shore, not back to her, until I felt a hand grab mine. I looked up and she said "Come on pull." I struggled against the current and then heaved myself out. The crown and I sprawled on the floor, she helped me up and said "You made it, I knew you would." I gave her a puzzled look as she walked over to the crown and dusted it off. "I have been waiting for this for a long time." She placed it on top of my head. "What do you mean?" I asked as she picked up her jar, reversed it and placed it on top of her head. I had not noticed it before but it appeared to be a crown of sorts like mine. "Come I’ll will explain everything to you once we get home." She laced her fingers in mine and led me to a far structure jutting out of the earth like an odd triangle. "Home?" I looked at her and said she returned my gaze then nodded "Home."

 

Reviews

[Joseph Serrano]

I enjoyed this piece. There is a large fantasy element to it.

[Layla J Omorose]

I really enjoyed reading this. It seemed like a fairy tale to me, there's something enchanting about it and your writing style adds to the essence of the story. There was just two things that made me pause when reading it. The part where you wrote "Would I be wrong to kiss you?" I asked. This was not my normal way of doing this, I was never forward. And she replied." I wanted to know if you meant to say "not my normal way of doing this" or was it supposed to say "not my normal way of doing things?". The other thing that confused me was when your wrote "When our lips met I had known intimacy water shared with fish or birds shared with the sky, or flowers shared with the sun." It seems that there are many words here and they jumble up the sentence. Also there seems to be words missing to make the sentence complete, maybe if you wrote "When our lips met I had known the intimacy that water shared with fish or the birds with the air, and the flowers with the sun" I think that would help make the reading and the meaning of that sentence clearer. But other than that I found nothing wrong and I really enjoyed reading it and I would love to know what happens once they reached "Home", its apparent that he was a king but what kind of king. What kind of relationship they had. You know all that good stuff (that is of course if u had planned on doing that. This is just me being nosy, which is something i do when i enjoy someone's work)... I look forward to your reviews on my writing as well.