Love is Different

Just a piece that I wrote a little while ago for a class...I have been want to get some more critique...so here it is...please, don't be afraid to be mean to me...I want to know if it is good or not.

I remember the star-lit night that you stumbled onto the caravan circle. The fire was bright, lively reaching its arms toward the two loving moons Inaya and Azhar. The elders were telling stories translated from molding books. Your dark eyes held no luster, and your hair, which blended in with the midnight sky, lay tangled in disarray. Stumbling in, no one saw you, but when your body hit the ground in a state of fatigue, the camp snapped quiet. Only the hooting of an owl was heard over the crackling of the fire. Your clothes barely hung on your petite shoulders, the original color, indistinguishable. Your bones stuck out, exemplifying that you had not eaten for several sun rises. Cuts, deep and red, embellished your skin as though pomegranates had been squeezed across it. No one moved for a breaths time as you lay motionless. Like a spark forming to fire the caravan sprung to life, the chief started directing the camp. A man of the caravan lifted you from the ground, and your hair fell away to reveal your face. For one of the few times ever, it held no smile upon it.

—

Your soft brown eyelashes lay against your freckled cheeks. Two dark spots of skin next to your nose-birthmarks-gave you an exotic beauty. Your hair was straight and hung to the tops of your shoulders. I watched intently as your chest rose and fell in your silent slumber that had continued from the night before. I wished that you would wake, wake so a word could escape your soft pink lips. It seemed like forever till you came to consciousness. But when you did, your beautiful eyes sent waves of shock through me, shock because of the amount of life they contained.

“Hello,” you whispered softly. I was too entranced by your eyes to speak.

“Hi,” was all I could muster. They were dark brown and rich like the coffee my father drank to wake every morning. They were ringed in deep an almost black line. You sat up slowly, stretching your arms out wide.

“Were you watching me?” you questioned. Deliberately I tore my vision from your eyes. I tried to keep my attention on the question you asked me.

“Yes…it was my shift; I’m supposed to help you when you wake up.” I stumbled over the words as they fell from my mouth in a jumbled mess. Like always you let a smile crawl across your face. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“Tiana.” You spoke confidently, “What’s yours?” I wondered what was traveling through those thoughts of yours instead of paying attention to the words filing from your pink lips.

“Uh…what?” I stuttered. Again you had captured my attention with your eyes, I had my focus. You just smiled and laughed. “Eat” I handed you a plate full of fruit and bread. “I know it’s not much”

“It’s fine; my stomach will welcome any kind or amount of food.” You tentatively reached for a peach and took a bite out of it. The juice dripped down your chin. You tried to catch it with the back of our hand a sheepish look crossing with your face.

“Where are you from?” You laughed; I knew, just as well as you, that my attempt at small talk was pitiful.

“No place you would recognize the name of. Do you always ride in a bumpy wagon?” You blew off my question and I didn’t really care. Finishing your peach in another bite you started on a slice of bread.

“No, we can walk alongside it.” You nodded and smiled as I opened up a door to the out side and helped you out

—

The caravan stopped for the night when the sun was just begging to fall from its highest point in the crisp blue sky. You led me on impulse across piles of boulders only to find ourselves before a lake glistening like the rings on the elders’ fingers. We shed our shoes and dived off the rocks into the cool water. Laughing, we splashed at each other, and you, like always, smiled. I dived down under the water taking your hand. Your hair drifted like underwater plants in a current. Holding our breath we watched the shafts of light filtering through the water.

Resurfacing for air, you looked into my eyes and swam closer to me. I felt life flow from your eyes to mine. You put her arms around my shoulders, and leaned in close. My stomach flipped in excitement. Our noses brushed, but I suddenly found myself under water. You were holding me there. After squirming to reach the surface, I came up gasping for air. You were cracking up so hard; you were having problems staying afloat. I launched out of the water, and attacked you. In turn I held you down. Your body shook violently as you attempted to laugh. As you came back up you started to chase me, I swam away from you and jumped up out of the lake onto one of the boulders. You swam after me toward the boulders. As you swam under me I leaped off the boulder and hit the water right next to you. A scream escaped your lips as you backed out of the way. I floated toward you. You giggled and sidled up next to me.”

“You’re not going to dunk me, right,” I confirmed.

“No silly, I got you once already, that’s all I need.” You grinned as you wrapped your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist.

Your lips pushed across mine. They were plush and soft. My hands slipped down the curves of your half-clothed back as yours wandered across my bare chest. You pushed away for a slight breath and came back with twice the intensity. As we kissed we moved toward shore. Together we lay down on the grass. I wrapped my arms around you. I molded my body to fit the shape of yours and together we dozed off watching the sun fall behind the edge of the ground. You whispered, “I will always remember this moment.”

—

“Son, I want you to be careful. You need to respect your status. And more importantly, you have to respect yourself. You know that one day you will become the chief of the caravan train and will have a lot of responsibility.” My father was lecturing me about being chief again. I was so sick of it.

“What if I don’t want to be chief, Father? That was your dream. It’s not mine. I want to be with Tiana, I know that we are meant to be together. I can feel it.”

“Those are foolish words, boy,” I had hit a nerve, “Only Azhar and Inaya decide relationships, and you can not feel them.” He was yelling at me. I bent my head to let him finish ranting.

“But Fath-,”

“No buts, how many times do I have to tell you the story of your mother and me? Inaya and Azhar felt that we were not meant for each other. They control everything between man and woman. Your mother and I met—,” I stopped listening. I knew the tale. They had met, fallen in love, he became chief, the caravan had been attacked by town based people, and my mother had been killed in the fight. I had been only a couple full moons old.

“Father,” I interrupted him, “I know the story, you’ve told me many times over. But I’ll never know if Inaya and Azhar agree with us being together if I never get to be with Tiana. Don’t tell me that you didn’t feel a connection between you and Mother, otherwise you wouldn’t have pursued her the way you say you did.” I was attempting to sway him, I didn’t know if it could work.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t try loving her, just go slowly.”

“You can’t try to love someone. It’s either one way or the other.” Now it was my turn to yell. “I know that I love her, and no one can tell me differently.”

“I won’t let you do it at the cost of both your lives.”

“Not all relationships end in death, Father, yours did. They can end differently.”

“But they always end in sadness.” He was running out of excuses. I could see it. I just had to push him a little bit farther.

“No, sometimes it’s a happy ending, sometimes people stay friends. Sometimes Inaya and Azhar agree with a relationship” I almost had him beat.

“Stop fighting me, I said no. I mean no. If I have to I will not allow you two to be together when out of my sight line.”

“That’s not fair,” I was enraged. How could he do this to me? “Can’t I make my own decisions? I’m almost of Age, I can do things myself.”

“I said no,” he let a small curse escape him. “You are not allowed to see her anymore. Go cool down the horse and brush her out.” I stormed out of the wagon, infuriated. I saw you across the clearing we had stopped in. You were with some of the other girls in the caravan. They were performing some of the traditional dances for you. I paused to watch you as you reiterated the moves. They weren’t perfect, or graceful, yet. You seemed to forget the moves and then remember them a beat too late. It brought a smile to my face when your eyes flicked toward me. You had the most beautiful eyes.

—

We had sneaked off to the edge of the caravan circle one night. You were smiling again. But when were you not? It had been at least a full moons cycle since my father had outlawed the two of us from seeing each other, but I had become good at lying and you were even better than me.

“Tell me about Inaya and Azhar,” You whispered into my ear as you stared up at the sky.

“Well, Inaya and Azhar are lovers. They were the most passionate lovers in the whole world, the only problem was that they only saw each other every once in a while. That’s what kept their love so strong, the fact that they couldn’t be with each other. So every time they saw the other, all they focused on was their opposite. When they grew old and died they went up into the sky, and became the light during the night. And they now circle around us. And it’s said that every time they cross paths two true lovers find each other.” I looked up to the sky. “It only happens every couple generations or so. It last happened on the night I was born” You looked up to the sky; a puzzled look covered your face. “Do you not believe me?” I was worried I had hurt your feelings.

“No,” You stated it simply. It didn’t offend me, but confused me. “True love happens more often than every couple of generations. We have it now and no one can stop it.”

“Don’t tell that to my father. It’s another belief that Inaya and Azhar control relationships and decide whether they work or not. It’s how my mother died.”

“Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” it hadn’t, “I just don’t think that true love can only happen that little. You have so much control over your life. You can decide whether you want to make love work or not.”

“I never thought of it that way.” Only Inaya hung in the sky tonight.

“I think that they would just create situations that would make contact impossible. Like with your parents. Your father probably still loves your mother just as much as we love each other,” you commented.

“You see things in the most interesting way.” You smiled at me. I pulled you close and wrapped my arms around you. Resting my head atop yours we swayed back and forth. “I know that we have been sneaking around with each other, but I think that we should stop it.” You looked up at me frightened, like I was going to leave you. “You’re right, we’re in control of our love and my father can’t stop it.” I kissed your forehead.

“Let’s not reveal it now, I have an idea.” Your soft eyes told me that it was a surprise and I had to wait. We split and raced around different sides of the caravan circle. As I came out from behind a wagon, you were already sitting comfortably on the grass. I guessed that the caravan was having a dance night, because people were pulling various instruments. I never paid attention any more; I was too wrapped up in you. The girls around you were chattering and pulling you away. Then your plan came to surface as you disappeared. I sat calmly listening to my buddies whisper like girls. They all had their hearts set on which of the caravan girls they wanted to dance with.

My mind wandered till my father called the circle to order. He spoke, and I didn’t listen. Finally the drum beats started and you danced onto the grass your skin glistening in the firelight. Bangles covered your arms adding to the music. Your eyes flashed. The moves now were perfect and flowing.

You danced over to me and bowed, in a gesture of asking for the dance. I stood up, careful to not look at my father, and bowed in return. The camp was silent; they knew that I wasn’t to be with you. Only the music continued. Together we flew into a complex set of steps around each other. I had done them alone a million times before by myself. But with you it was more exhilarating than I had ever imagined. We spun and twirled away and toward each other, and each time staying a little closer until the two of us were not but a hair’s width apart. I lifted you and together we launched toward Inaya, asking for hers and Azhar’s blessing.

I set you down and we continued on; our feet pounding rhythms louder than the drums, our hearts beating together. As the dance lasted on I saw my father sitting on the grass, just fiddling with the necklace my mother had given him when they had pledged their love together. I danced harder to shake the image from my brain.

My heart soared suddenly. The earth seemed to push us above the highest mountain peak I knew that Inaya and Azhar had accepted us. I could feel it, even though my father denied that it was possible.

Without warning strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me backwards and to ground level. The drums stopped and I could see you across the circle being forcefully held a man of the caravan. “No. Stop,” I screamed, trying to get to your aid.

“Son, stay out of this, just for your safety, stay out of it.” My father stood next to me. I just scowled at him. He turned to the rest of the caravan. “One of you has just brought me grave news. I cannot let the night go on with out righting it. It has been brought to my attention that a member of the caravan is from a town that killed many of our friends and family almost sixteen years ago.” A collective gasp escaped the crowd. They remembered the fight, the fight in which I lost my mother. “And some believe that this person is a threat to us.” I stared across the circle at you. You were the only recent person with us to not be born on the caravan. You stood still, not retaliating, or struggling as I did. You just stood there calmly. It was the only other time I saw you without a smile.

Hate for my father flowed through me suddenly, how could he do this to me? How could he do the same thing to me that he claimed Inaya and Azhar did to him?

“Tiana, I am going to have to ask you to leave us—,”

“You can’t do that, she doesn’t know how to survive out there, you saw her when she first came to camp.” I yelled at him and the collective group.

“Enough son, stop now for your own good,” he hissed under his breath.

“No, I know what’s good for me. I don’t know how you can do this to me, take away the person I love, just like Inaya and Azhar did to you. It’s not right.” I was screaming now. I couldn’t loose you, it wasn’t an option.

“Stop,” You looked at me from across the circle, “he’s right I am from a village, but I did not come to hurt you, or wrong you in any way. I am an exile. My town wouldn’t help me even if I told them that you were going to raid their village. They would kill me before I got a word out.”

“Get him out of here,” My father spoke to the man holding me. I caught your gaze one more time as I was dragged away.

—

I sat on the floor of the wagon resting against an old quilt. Someone slammed open the door, it was my father. I just stared at the floor ignoring him.

“Son—

“Don’t, Father,” I didn’t want to look at him; I was so ashamed of him.

“I had no choice; she could be a danger to the caravan, to our safety and our lives.” He was trying to get me to forgive him; it wasn’t going to happen.

“She had been with us for weeks; there was nothing fishy about her. You did it just to prove a point. You didn’t want me to fall in love. You couldn’t stand that I had a true love, but you couldn’t get yours back. I saw the jealousy in your eyes, when you saw us together for the first time,” I accused him. He had destroyed us, you were lost and I couldn’t find you again. “You just wanted all the love for yourself.” I didn’t care if the rest of the caravan heard me.

“I’m sorry, okay; I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid that I would lose you. I couldn’t bear it if I lost both of you.”

“Both of us?” What had he not told me?

“You and your mother. The last thing I promised her before she left was that I would never let you die because of love the way she had. I was afraid that Inaya and Azhar would take you away from me too. I loved Tiana too, not the same way you did, but like a father. And for a long time some of the people in the caravan were pushing me to get rid of her. We knew since she got here that she was from a village. Finally they threatened her and I had to let her go. She has more of a chance out there than she does here.”

“You’re lying, I don’t believe you. You’re making up stories, and I don’t want to hear it. It’s like you’re trying to make me feel pity for you. I have no pity for anyone on this caravan now.” I knew that my father could sense that he was losing me. But I knew there was nothing he could do about it.

—

I stood in the wagon packing a bag. I grabbed essentials, and shoved them into the bag with no reason. I didn’t know where you would be but I was heading for you. No matter how long it took. I checked my father’s bedding, he was deep asleep. I grabbed a drawing of my father and mother off the head of the bed. I couldn’t leave them completely. Inaya and Azhar wouldn’t permit me to push them out of my heart. I guess that blood was too strong to break. I set on the top of my materials and tied the top of the bag shut. Swinging the bag over my shoulder I stepped out of the wagon, onto the cool grass.

“Before you go running off I wanted to give you something,” I jumped. My father stood fully awake in the doorway of the caravan. He had been feigning sleep. “I have heard you packing for several nights in a row. I know where you’re going. I can’t stop you now. Inaya and Azhar seem to drive you toward her.”

I didn’t speak.

“I received this from my father when I became chief, now it’s time for you to take it.” He held out a small undecorated dagger. “It’s soaked in the moon light of Inaya and Azhar when they cross paths. It is special and will bring you luck. It gave me you. You are the love of my life. Now you will bring you to yours. Be careful and take my blessing with you.”

“Yes, Father.” I said bowing my head with somber respect. I didn’t now what else to say. I didn’t know if there was anything else to say.

“I love you, may your travels take you farther than any wagon, let your love flow from your soul, and never forget those who you come upon. I love you, son.” He placed the dagger in my hand. “Take the horse, I will find another.” I tucked it into my belt and set off.

I turned back on last time and whispered, “I love you too,” over my shoulder. I don’t know if he ever heard me.

—

I found you in the place where we had our unforgettable sunset. The lake was so beautiful under the light of Azhar. You were just lying there on the boulder, gazing up at the stars. You weren’t sad though, a smile lay on your face. I sat down next to you and just set my head on your shoulder. We sat there all night long, not a word whispered between us.

But as the sun’s rays began to shine upon our backs you said, “I am glad we were separated for a time, it makes me realize how much more I love you.”

“Just like Inaya and Azhar,” I whispered back.

“No, love is different every time and we are going to make our own story.” I smiled with you as I fingered the dagger tucked into my belt.

Will not be continued sorry...have to keep my attention