A/N: An update! (I didn't feel like doing school...hrm...should probably do that...) Enjoy! (Hopefully, no reviews on the last chapter, but meh. Whatch'ya gonna do?)
Chapter Six
~Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water~
Another month passed before Saoirse saw Raistlin in the flesh again.
She had been working on her initial sketch of him for some weeks now, not out of any real interest in the actual person, but, frankly, out of a desire for perfection. After all, she had started the sketch with the intentions of drawing something directly out of real life just as it appeared in real life. And even though she was not friends with Raistlin, had only talked with him for a few minutes, she was determined to make sure the drawing was on point.
Of course, it was rather difficult to get a drawing perfect when one had only seen the subject matter once, for a few minutes.
Which Saoirse began to realize after two weeks of frustrated edits and redraws. She just -wasn't- getting it. She wasn't getting him. And she was starting to forget what 'him' looked like, to the level of exactness she wanted.
So Saoirse took to wandering about the actual town more, instead of going into the woods like she usually did. This, of course, meant that there was more social interaction, but she felt it was a necessary evil in order to reach her goal.
The kid was hard to find, she'd give him that.
Saoirse gradually developed a schedule - she'd do a three-time circuit around Solace, searching (briefly, she rather hated it in there, and she doubted the skinny recluse would like it much either) in the Inn of the Last Home, then walked along the bridge walkways for awhile before heading down to the ground to wander around the ground paths. Eventually, she'd scramble up a tree and watch the boys play in the field just outside the village. Sometimes, she would check the lake...but it was early September now, and the weather was growing colder. She really doubted Raistlin would be down there, seeing as he hadn't even gone in the lake when it was warm.
After two weeks of failed effort, Saoirse realized she would have to revise her tactics. Even in the few minutes during which she had observed and talked with him, Saoirse had seen that Raistlin didn't like to be around people. His brother on the other hand…
So instead of looking for Raistlin, Saoirse started keeping an eye out for Cary-whatsit.
Him she found within two days.
On the same field she frequented every day, playing with the other boys, standing heads and shoulders above the others.
And, by his behavior, he seemed to come here often.
Saoirse felt like a complete jackass.
How had she not noticed the guy? He was huge! If she had just been paying attention to everything around her, instead of being so singly-focused on the task at hand, she could have found Raistlin weeks ago.
Ah well….
Now that she saw Caramon here, she figured Raistlin wouldn't be far away. The two seemed to stick together, with Raistlin being the ever-reluctant party in that solidarity.
Eyes narrowed, she scanned the borders of the field from her perch in the tree...he probably would be close enough to observe, but far enough away that he wouldn't be disturbed….
She smirked a little as she caught site of a slight figure hunched under a vallenwood. Gotch'ya….
Hopping down from her branch, Saoirse walked around the field, trying to keep out of Raistlin's sight. He would definitely move if he saw someone other than his brother coming towards him…
"Yo!" She exclaimed, suddenly popping up besides the tree, startling the boy sitting there so much that he fell onto his side, eyes wide, disturbed from his cynical meditations.
"Wha-who-oh, it's YOU." he spluttered, then groaned as he recognized the girl in front of him, beaming wildly. The Saoirse girl…brilliant...didn't I tell her to leave me alone?
The beam fell off her face, shifting into a slight frown, "I do have a name, you know…"
"Well, excuse me, if I have more important things on my mind than remembering the name of some random girl I met over a month ago." It was harsh, but he was rather angry at being put in such a humiliating position. Why wouldn't people just -leave- him alone?!
Saoirse's eyes flashed at this, then her expression fell a bit. "It's Saoirse. Remember?"
"What do you want?" Raistlin asked, picking himself off, and brushing some dirt off his shoulder, not looking at her. "I thought I told you to leave me alone...we made a deal, remember?"
Saoirse rolled her eyes. "Oh suure, you remember that, but can't be bothered to even remember my name…"
"I remember your name perfectly," Raistlin snapped.
"Then why-" (Nevermind, he probably just wanted to seem superior.) "Forget it. Whatch'ya doing?"
"Trying to relax and think. Go away."
"Aw, come on," Saoirse plopped down next to him. "Whatch'ya thinking about?"
(Oh, nothing someone of your intellect would understand, little girl, I'm only the same damned age as you…)
Raistlin glared at her and pointedly skooted away. "Nothing you would understand."
(Ha! We were right on point!)
Saoirse's eyes glinted, a different light in them now which gave Raistlin a slight pause. "Try me," she said more seriously, quieter.
Raistlin studied her curiously. Talking to her now...she seemed much more than the simple air-headed flibbertigibbet he had pegged her for the first day they had met. "Why would you care?"
Saoirse hummed, looking at him just as curiously. "Why wouldn't I?"
Raistlin glanced away towards the field, gears rapidly shifting in his mind from her answer. Her very, very strange answer...once again, he had to wonder if this girl was a foreigner…
"Where are you from?" He asked suddenly, turning to pierce her with the icy blue gaze he knew disturbed so many.
Saoirse looked surprised at this abrupt question. "That's what you were thinking about?"
Raistlin snorted. "Hardly. However - answer the question."
Saoirse looked a bit haughty at this blatant command, "A "please" would be nice, you know….you can't go around ordering people left and right."
Something glinted in Raistlin's eyes. "...Not..yet."
Saoirse felt a bit -uneasy?- at this strange response. If it had been anyone else, she would have let it slide with nothing but a mental scoff, but with Raistlin she felt like it bore far more weight. He meant what he said.
One day, this guy might be quite scary.
"However…" Raistlin continued smoothly, "I concede your point. Answer the question, please."
Saoirse felt like if he had been standing, he might have put in a sardonic bow and flourish, the sarcastic peacock, but answered anyway, hiding an amused smile. "Here. Solace. Why?" Her earlier unease had dissipated slightly, but she would not forget what he had said.
Raistlin's eyebrows quirked in thought, the strange -hungry- look in his eyes disappearing. "No major reason...you just act…-different-...compared to the rest of the community." He cast an ironic glance over at the field, where boys mindlessly wrestled each other to the ground as they scrambled to prove each other's strength.
Saoirse followed his look. "Yeah, well," she muttered, "that's how I feel about you."
Raistlin nodded slowly, not surprised (of course he seemed different...he was different, a completely separate species if species were determined by brain capacity), but a bit...flattered? Was that what that feeling was? He turned a new, appraising look on the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye, and relaxed. Slightly.
"Anyway…" Saoirse said, leaning back, and propping her head behind her on folded arms. "You never did answer my question."
"I never said I was going to," Raistlin replied unconcernedly. He had a new, meager level of respect for Saoirse now, but that did not mean that he was about to share his thoughts with her. Raistlin considered his mind, and the thoughts it produced, his private sanctuary, and valued it above all other things. To let a stranger in on what he was thinking...even a seemingly intelligent and well-meaning stranger - was unthinkable.
Saoirse didn't seem all that upset - indeed, she only nodded slightly. "Can't say I would answer a question like that either, so I don't blame you."
This child….
He watched her sharply as she lay back more fully and closed her eyes gently, enjoying the sun sifting through the overhanging leaves of the vallenwood, seemingly unaware of his appraising eyes upon her.
Together they rested, Raistlin thinking, wondering why this girl seemed so comfortable with him (could it be...is she like me?)
The new thought stiffened his body as he looked at the girl, studying her features even more closely. A week ago, a wizard named Antimodes had confirmed his sister's hope that his frail body held magical ability - had even offered to sponsor his magical studies in a year at a nearby school.
Perhaps he wasn't the only person in Solace with the Magic.
