Balancer's Soul

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

Fire and Water

  “I can’t believe I’ve gotten myself lost before scouting out the landscape.” Sarah silently rebuked herself while staring into the small crackling fire. “Well at least Conner’s safe from Father for now… It’s so dark now that no one will ever be able to find me out here and I still can’t see the stars to know which direction to go. Have the clouds thickened?” She sighed and grumbled in personal embarrassment once again. Sarah sat cross-legged in front of the small fire while letting its warmth to not only keep her company but to also knock off the chill the wind constantly carried her way. “I still love the sounds of a good fire on a cold, spring night. What I can’t believe is how exposed I am wearing only a thin t-shirt, shorts and no shoes…ugh. How stupid am I?”

  Just then Sarah felt, rather than saw, that someone watched her. It felt like the eyes watching were too intelligent to be from an animal. Spinning around quickly to see what looked upon her, she gasped, nearly jumping backwards, into the fire. Not twenty feet away stood a tall and dark figure coming toward her from the shadows. Her heart began to race with fear from the silent threat the figure casted. What made matters worse is that she didn’t hear the person’s approach.

  “I’m so glad that I found you safe and unharmed.” The tall figure said in a deep and comforting tone while approaching her casually. “Wait… That voice… it couldn’t be… Connor?” Sure enough, Connor peeled himself out of the shadows, like he was one with the darkness. A shadow among shadows. His dark clothing matched perfectly in the abysmal night. His shaggy hair was pulled back and Sarah finally gained her first complete look at his strikingly handsome features. His straight nose, squared chin, piercing eyes and everything within his features made him seem more than simply being a high school student.

  He also stood tall which made her reconsider just how large he is. He didn’t hunch or pull his wide shoulders close. She wondered why he seemed so uncomfortable and bent over, it was a disguise to hide just how powerful he is.

  The only thing she could say at the moment was “How did you get out here, Connor?” Sarah said with real and complete astonishment while also revealing her weariness. As she spoke, he visibly relaxed while hearing her voice for some strange reason.

  “I was worried for your safety. These woods aren’t kind like many ignorantly believe. After you ran away from that white haired man…”

  “He’s…my father.” Sarah corrected cautiously. She didn’t know what was happening. In the whole of her life, not once has she ever faced such a situation or confrontation like this. And her obvious unease made Connor smile in a disarming way and his lips looked pleasant. “He has a nice truthful smile.”

  “Ok. Your father then...” He continued “I saw you run away from him like a bat out of hell and dove into my woods. After that smile you gave me just before you disappeared that basically said ‘I’m trying to protect you.’ It made me very anxious and worried for you and whatever was happening. So I waited a few hours for you to come back. you didn’t and it made me worry that much more. When you failed to return after a few hours, I started trailing you.” He said with obsessive pride which made Sarah smile at such kindness.

  Sarah remained sitting cross-legged next to the fire when Connor came over and sat across from her. He kept his distance to put her more at ease. His dominating presence made it impossible to ignore, no matter how far away he sat. With one leg straight and the other bent, he propped his back against an oak tree and looked right at home. He closed his piercing hazel eyes and had a slight smile on his lips. Only then did she realize just how much she studied him. She couldn’t look away, but a part of her wasn’t feeling secure at the moment.

  She blurted out “How did you track me!? Not only at night, but without a flashlight nor a moon to light your path as well?”

  With his eyes still closed he answered calmly and truly. She couldn’t stop herself from watching the seductive movements his lips made. “It was not easy at all, but I am a night person at heart and for some reason I can see and feel things better at night than during the day. I grew up mainly in the outdoors so I guess tracking comes to me naturally… I guess.” He continued smiling as he took a slow breath. “You are also use to nature, you are no amateur.” He said in a way that left Sarah hanging and she always got annoyed when someone does that.

  Cautiously, she asked in an even tone “How do you know I’m no amateur?”

  After a moment Connor said with reverence “You are a rare, natural outdoors person like me.” Apparently she had a dumbfounded expression on her face because Connor cracked an eye to elaborated. “While I tracked you, you stayed away from making any disturbances on the softer ground while you ran away. You traversed on rocks instead of loose soil, which hold prints very well in this relatively dry season. You bent the grass you stepped on instead of crunching them flat unlike most animals and people. Your clothes and fair skin show you did your best to keep from branches or thorns for I cannot see even a snag, fraying of your clothes or even a scratch on your arms. Also the way you ran proved your strides aren’t normal either. You apparently run slightly faster than your petite frame should allow.” “This kid is good, now I’m getting disturbed at his observations…”

  Connor really disturbed Sarah by saying “And your last great jump! Now that was something for the record books. If I didn’t recognize what those tracks meant, you would have lost me right then and there. How did you manage to leap over those ferns like that?” “Connor you are too good and my family is as good as discovered…”

  Sarah broke eye contact and had to look down at her dirty feet while she pulled her hair around to mindlessly finger brush it until it became a barrier between them. Even through the barrier she felt exposed and naked to his observations. It took several minutes before she could find her voice to make up an answer, all the while Connor waited patiently. Normal humans have a hard time waiting like him, but if he was an average person she wouldn’t have been found. It was like he didn’t have anywhere else to go and that also made her feel strangely warm in her breast. Protective and secure almost. He remained sitting in the same spot with those odd hazel eyes focused and directed at her, once she finally looked up he smiled. She looked closer at his eyes to find the outer to be sky blue and dark brown before reaching the black abyss that centered the eye. “How can I answer him without telling him everything pertaining to our family’s secret? ... I can’t do it, I promised I would never tell anyone about it until I found my true mate…”

  Connor suddenly stood up, looking into the sky.

  “It’s about to rain any moment. The air pressure is dropping quickly. It’s dark and we aren’t going to travel anywhere until daybreak.” Connor said in a voice of commanding authority. After he said this he pulled something plastic out of his pocket. “All I could bring with me on such short notice was this small poncho of my sister’s. Put it on and stay dry.” He offered it down to her and she realized just how large and strong his hands were.

  Sarah’s reply came quickly. “No, you put it on Connor. I’m the adult and you need to stay dry.” As she said this Connor burst into a fit of laughter. “What a good, strong laugh…” She shook her head quickly to clear it. “Where did that come from. Why did I just think that?”

  “Ms. Sarah.” He still laughed softly. “Just put it on, I’m more worried about your health. You’re quite frail next to me and not only that, I’m far too large to fit into under this little poncho. It is kid’s size compared to me.” He smiled in reassurance. “Put it on.” And for some reason she felt that same odd reaction in her body again. For some reason she responded to him on some strange level she never felt before. Sarah took the poncho gratefully out of his hands, also feeling very relieved that he showed up to help when he did. She felt even more relief when he shot a smile that shook her to her very core. To hide the sudden heat in her cheeks she unfolded and slid the poncho on all the while feeling as if the tips of her ears would burst in flames.

  Connor walked
back over and resumed the same seating arrangement.

  Not even twenty seconds later Sarah heard the rain coming toward them. All Connor did was smile handsomely, close his eyes and tilt his skyward. The rain came pouring down all around them in a heavy sheet and all Sarah could manage to do was stare at was him. He just basked in the pelting rain like it was just another sunny day. His innocent expression looked completely relaxed under the fat and heavy drops and his sandy blonde hair became darker the wetter it got. He seemed so achingly handsome at the moment.

  Conner’s expression had a calming effect on her, she noticed. In her long life she has never had a feeling of comfort like this. He was here, keeping her company while also giving off a feeling that made her feel safe and secure. Things felt too good to be true.

  Eventually the silence broke. “Well?”

  He startled her and she asked “Well? Well what?”

  “Are you going to tell me why you ran away, trying to protect me from your angry father? How you know how to not make it easy to run without leaving any marks, unless you are an expert tracker? Or how you can run like the wind and jump better than most athletes?” His face came down and aimed those raptor eyes at her. Sarah became both entranced and scared simultaneously.

  For some reason her heart started beating savagely, in a way that she didn’t comprehend. “It must be his questions, but he is sooo handsome; I hope I’m not attracted to him…” Sarah put her head in her hands and sighed. Her thoughts were going out of control as were her hormones. Never in her life has she reacted so differently to anyone like she does with him.

  The rain slacked slightly and the fire finally extinguished. She lifted her head again and just sat there looking at a soaked Connor who still remained staring at her without wavering. He truly didn’t look cold after all this. He moved his hips to take out something from his belt loop. Personal alarms rose, feeling a sense of danger from what he held in the darkness. While pointing she asked “W…What is that?” while trying to mask her fright, but was unsuccessful.

  He sat it down in the mud, “Don’t worry, I never go into the woods without this. My granddaddy made this for me when I was little. He wanted me to have something with multiple purposes, yet remained simple and sturdy. One half is a hammer and the other is a hatchet, and any object worth its weight in gold needs a name so I call it Tool.”

  “Tool?” Sarah asked in confusion.

  “Yeah, Tool because it can’t be used by itself. It needs a wielder to be used.” And he smiled.

  “Interesting.” Changing subject back to Connor’s earlier questions she reluctantly said “Ok Connor. I cannot tell you everything about me, but I will say something on one condition.”

  “And that would be?” He asked skeptically.

  “Simply call me Sarah from now on, not Ms. Sarah. I’m not big on titles.” When she said that he smiled a smile that made her heart beat like drums in her ears. “Well that settles it, it apparently weren’t the questions.” Sarah returned with her own shy smile.

  “I can handle that, Sarah.” He said while still smiling.

  “Ok, as you said I’m odd. I can do things that most others can’t even imagine. For example: run like the wind and jump difficult distances. I can also do other things that I can’t tell just anyone until I find my mate. Will that be a sufficient answer for you?” Looking hopeful was all she had left.

  To her surprise again he asked “You’ve been searching for him for a very long time, huh?”

  Looking down yet again she replied “Yes, a very long time.”

  “How long have you been searching?” His voice sounded content.

  “Might as well tell the truth.” “Around three hundred years.”

  Surprised yet again he didn’t laugh, scream or make a joke at her expense. He said without any proof “Sounds about right.”

  “What?” Sarah looked up and directly at him in astonishment “How can you possibly believe such a gross amount of years?”

  He replied “In a few ways: The way that you walk and move around has no wasted movements. That can only come from either harsh physical training or many years of experience. Since you look like you’re in your late teens or early twenties and you don’t have the build of someone who trains regularly, that only leaves me to believe you have years of experience. And the biggest tipoff to me are from your eyes.”

  “My eyes?” Sarah began blinking in confusion while shaking off some rain.

  “The eyes never lie. When I look into your emerald green eyes, by the way your eyes are my favorite color, you’re eyes say ‘I’m much older than I appear.’ Also I knew that today wasn’t the first time you’ve taught a class before. You lied to everyone, but apparently I was the only person who could tell.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest and grinned at her. He enjoyed her warring expressions.

  The entire time he explained, her pulse steadily beat faster as he spoke with such confidence. When he mentioned the color of her eyes being his favorite, her pulse did a back-flip and flared her features to be red hot. Her only hope was that the darkness hid the color.

  When he finished she tried to laugh, but it came out as a school girl’s giggle. “Oh yeah, very mature Sarah.” She growled at herself internally.

  “What?” He asked, looking confused at the reasoning behind the giggle.

  “I just cannot believe how perceptive you are, let alone me telling you how old I really am.” Sarah blurted out again. Feeling like Connor had a right to know, at least a portion of what she was about.

  “Well Sarah it’s not everyday that you find out that your History teacher has lived about as long as our American History books.” Now he had a full blown grin spread across his rugged features again.

  Sarah truly and easily laughed at that.

  Looking concerned he stated “It has been a very long day and I can tell that you have had another and recent painful headache.” “He caught that too?” She thought to herself. At that same moment he spoke as if he was reading her mind. “Yes, I saw you get a headache right after you looked at me. It felt weird, like you were scratching my brain and looking through me at the same time.”

  “Do you ever miss any details?” He simply smiled wryly. Sarah sighed saying “Well Connor, I can’t tell you about that…Yet. It is a rather personal subject of mine.” After that her heart beat like a humming bird’s wings. She felt elated, at least in a way, to even consider telling him about more of her secret.

  Changing subject Connor calmly said “Ok Sarah. Now get some rest, I’ll be up anyway so I will keep a look out for any dangers.”

  “Ok Connor. Thank you and goodnight.” Sarah was actually tired and her throbbing headache and pain behind her eyes weren’t helping matters. As she tried to find a spot to lie down Sarah heard Connor let out a deep sigh and she looked at him again, he stood up.

  “What is it?” She became alarmed again.

  “I cannot let you put your head on the cold and wet ground to sleep Sarah. It is just too uncomfortable out here to sleep normally.”

  As she said “That’s alright Connor. I can manage.” he started walking over to Sarah’s side and sat directly next to her right thigh. He then crossed his large legs. The heat and scent he gave off were so calming and pleasant. “Wait… why is he so warm?” “Connor, aren’t you cold?”

  “Nah, the rain has never bothered me.”

  Instinctively, she leaned into him and the warmth. The very moment they touched for the first time she felt a sudden and unexpected jolt of energy shoot right through her entire body and apparently Connor felt it in himself too. They both pulled away from the sudden shock, but neither moved from where they sat. They stared at each other for awhile until Sarah became too tired to keep her eyes open. Leaning on Connor again she felt the jolt again, but this time neither of them pulled away. He put his left arm around her and she had never felt more comfortable or as safe being in his arms.

  Almost instantly, his warmth seeped into her and w
as so pleasant that she could scarcely believe what had happened and was transpiring at the moment.

  The last thoughts that she remembered was, “Good night Connor and thank you for coming to my aid. I’m deeply grateful. It was great getting to meet you. I hope we can become close friends in the future.”