One day in the depths of winter, the young woman named Meggie had a sudden idea.
It didn't take her long to find a pen and paper. Like her mother, Resa, she always kept them close at hand. Settling down in a cozy nook by a window, glancing occasionally at the snowy scene outside, Meggie quickly began to write.
When she had finished the simple scene, Meggie laid aside her pen. She picked up the sheet of paper and quietly began to read. Her rich, musical voice softly filled the room.
In a far-off land, a young man named Farid saw a doorway appearing beside him. Pausing, he watched as it unfolded and grew. As the door opened, he understood that it had been sent by his old friend Meggie. Farid realized that he could use this door, if he chose, to pay a visit for a little while to his old friends in Inkweaver's world. After a moment, the young man made his choice...
"Farid!" Meggie exclaimed in joyful welcome, as the wiry, dark-skinned youth stepped through the magical doorway and found himself in her home. Her face was wreathed in a delighted smile. "Welcome back! It's been so long!"
"It's been less than a year," Farid laughed, shaking his head in amusement at Meggie's exuberance. But then, he reflected, he himself was probably almost as impulsive, anyway. Just who was it that had just now practically leaped through a glowing door that appeared out of nowhere? So maybe, Farid thought, he was smiling at himself as much as he was at Meggie.
He quickly wrapped her up in a warm, solid hug. "But I'm glad to see you again, and this world. How is Dustfinger?"
"He's fine," Meggie laughed. "Trust you to ask about him right off! The old rascal is still almost catching his own eyebrows on fire every chance he gets. I don't think he's ever been happier."
Farid grinned. That sounded like Dustfinger, all right! "But of course he'd never really light himself on fire," he pretended to admonish Meggie. Then he smiled again. "Hey, do you and Doria have anything special planned for this evening?"
Meggie blinked at him. "Not more than usual," she said. "Why?"
"Don't you know what day it is?" Farid asked her.
"Um, no?" Meggie said. "We don't keep too much track of that sort of thing here, usually. Why, is it Sunday or something?"
"No, it's Friday!" Farid told her. "And more importantly, it's Valentine's Day."
"Oh!" Meggie exclaimed, suddenly understanding. "I totally forgot about that! Well, I think I will have to come up with a special surprise for Doria, then. Thanks for the heads-up, Farid!"
"Don't mention it," replied Farid, who was getting more familiar with the expressions of Meggie's world now that he'd spent some time adventuring there. "In the meantime, I think I'll go pay a visit to Roxane." He smiled, a bit wickedly. "I think Doria is not the only man who deserves a surprise this evening."
"Of course!" Meggie agreed, her eyes lighting up again. "And then tomorrow, you have to come with me and Doria to see Fenoglio. Won't old Inkweaver be surprised to see you again!"
Farid grinned. "It's a plan. Well, I'm off! I'll see you tomorrow, Meggie!" Giving her another quick hug, he quickly said good-bye and then whisked his way right out the door.
A little while later, Farid was knocking at the door of Dustfinger's house. Roxane, the fire-eater's lovely wife, opened the door. Her eyes widened as she saw the youth who was standing there.
"Farid!" she gasped. "Are you back, then?"
"Only for a visit," Farid told her. "Is Dustfinger home?"
Roxane shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm afraid he's in the marketplace, playing with his flames again -"
"Good," Farid told her with a conspiratorial wink. "Because you have a surprise to plan for him."
"I do?" Roxane asked, puzzled. "Maybe you'd better come in and tell me about it, Farid." She held the door open, and Farid quickly bounded inside, as full of energy as she remembered him.
Quickly, Farid explained about Valentine's Day. Dustfinger's wife had never heard of this holiday from Meggie's world, but she thought it was a charming idea. Especially when Farid mentioned the custom of giving Valentine's cards...
Alert and interested, Roxane asked Farid a few more questions. She paid special attention to his description of writing a simple poem, substituting personalized lines into part of an old, simple rhyme. Roxane repeated the original verses a couple of times, until she had them memorized. Then she thanked Farid and asked him to give her some time to work on her project. The young man smiled in understanding, said goodbye, and quietly slipped out of her home.
Carefully, Roxane folded a stiff sheet of paper in half the way Farid had described. Then she got out a pen and a small inkpot. Rich, black lines blossomed on the creamy white surface as she carefully wrote, Dear Dustfinger, Happy Valentine's Day. Then, moving her pen carefully, she drew a large outlined heart around the words. Not a real heart in the medical sense, but the symbolic shape that Farid had shown her.
Roxane opened the card and thought for a moment. Soon she had decided exactly what she wanted her part of the traditional poem to say. She dipped her pen in the inkpot, preparing to write.
Then, at the last second, Roxane had an idea and smiled. She stopped with her pen just above the folded sheet of creamy paper, as she decided to add a little bit of extra variation to the prescribed verses. She paused for a moment, planning it out in her mind, then nodded. Her graceful hand moved confidently as she guided the pen across her Valentine's Day card.
Maybe, Roxane thought, I am a little bit of an Inkweaver myself.
Dustfinger sauntered in through the gate and up the path to his house, smiling and half-whistiling an aimless tune under his breath. He stopped for a moment in the garden, pulled his pack around to the front of his body where he could reach it better, and opened it to let Gwin and Jink out to find their dinner. He had to shake the bag a little to wake the martens, who had obstinately chosen to fall asleep on the way home from town. They always liked to pretend to be tired, Dustfinger thought, after doing their parts in a perfrmance.
Finally, the little horned creatures bothered to open their eyes. They tumbled out of the pack and whisked away into the deeper bushes, no doubt to find something tasty and delicious that only martens would want to eat. Dustfinger shrugged at their antics, smiled again, and pushed open the door to his house.
His eyes lit up as he saw Roxane. It was always wonderful to come home to her, and he never stopped rejoicing in his heart at knowing that he was finally, really here in his own world and with the woman he loved. But tonight, Roxane seemed different. She was almost bubbling over with barely hidden excitement, catching his eye and giving him a shy smile. Dustfinger thought she looked more beautiful than ever this way. It was almost like the way she'd looked at him when they were first falling in love.
"Well, my darling!" he said. "I think, from that smile, that you may have a surprise for me. Is that right?"
Blushing a little, Roxane nodded. "I had a visitor today. I'll tell you later who it was. But I found out about an unusual custom from Meggie's world... Have you ever heard of Valentine's Day?" she asked him, pulling out a thick, folded paper from behind her back and handing it to him.
Dustfinger blinked in surprise. "Yes, I have!" he said. "Was your visitor from Meggie's world, then?"
"In a manner," Roxane said slyly. "But enough of that. I said I would tell you later. Now read your card!" Suddenly shy again, Dustfinger's beautiful wife looked down. Her boldness was gone for the moment, and she twisted one hand in the fabric of her skirt. Again, Dustfinger thought she seemed almost bashful, like the young girl she'd been so many years ago.
Looking down at the Valentine card in his hand, Dustfinger read the carefully lettered greeting on the front. Then he opened the card. Inside was a short, simple poem:
Fire is red,
the sky is blue.
My heart is complete
because again, I have you.
Dustfinger's eyes threatened to brim over with tears as he read the poem a second time. And then, the card was suddenly pressed flat between his body and Roxane's as he caught her up in a fierce, loving hug.
"My darling Roxane," he answered with his lips just a whisper away from hers, "I feel exactly the same way."
And the reunited couple shared a beautiful and loving kiss, rejoicing in the way they had defeated Death and fear and the words of many stories, to create their own true story of love.
- The End -