Disclaimer: Characters of Jonathon, Alex and Ardeth aren't mine, and neither is the concept of Hamunaptra. Caitlin is mine (all mine evil laughter)
Issuing a general apology for this chapter, as it's a short flight of fancy and indulgence in description with no action. Think of it as an experiment. My only defence is that I've been studying poetry for the last few months, and two days before I wrote this I did my A-level exam on poetry, so I'm still thinking in a fanciful and overblown way. (For those of you not acquainted with the naming system of English exams, that means I'm seventeen years old, and chronically stressed at the time of writing this chapter.) It's also something of an insight into Caitlin's character. As always, please review.
"… and that is the only reason I survived jumping off that cliff."
Both Alex and Caitlin laughed as Jonathon concluded his story. Since they'd bought the camels the two men had been relating a series of increasingly improbable stories, although both of them had secretly agreed to stay away from sensitive topics such as Hamunaptra, in case she really was a disguised Med-jai.
"What about you?" Alex asked, ostensibly turning towards Caitlin so he could address her, but really doing so in order to see her face. Despite all his efforts, she didn't seem to be responding to him. She generally went quiet whenever he spoke to her, and moved away if he accidentally brushed against her. Rather then being off-putting, he found her even more entrancing. "Don't you have any stories?"
Caitlin met his eyes, then looked down and away. She'd never felt anything towards the young men she'd known before, and was hopelessly confused by her feelings towards Alex. More than that, she was confused as to what he felt towards her. Half the time he seemed to be teasing her, or laughing at her response, and the other half he seemed to be serious and intense. "I don't have any stories like the ones you tell" she replied. She hesitated, wondering whether to explain, but both of them seemed genuinely interested.
"I've never been on an exciting adventure, or ended up fighting anyone. I can't even really tell you any humorous stories. The desert is not often the place for humour. Rather, it is a place of burning heat and untimely death, where a single mis-step can be fatal.
"All I can really speak of is the beauty of an oasis, when you finally enter it after days of travel over empty sand, of watching the sun rise in the morning in a flood of light and colour, or looking out over a ruined city in the moonlight, listening to the silence. I can tell you of sitting on a horse with the noise of a camp behind me, looking out over the desert, knowing that I could just ride out and keep on going, feeling as if I would never stop, would never get the end of the desert because there is no end. I've smelt flowers growing where you'd swear there should be no life, and heard a hawk's cry echoing round a canyon.
"But I've never done any of the things that you talk about". She was silent for a moment, then the words forced themselves past her lips. "I could say that in some ways, my life feels so empty. I am not what I could be, nor have I ever done what I truly wanted to. But, there are things I've experienced that would make this into a lie."
There was nothing that could be said that would not sound trite or dismissive after that. The two men were humbled by the evidence at how different their lives were, and she was forced into silence by the shock of such self-revelation. Like her father, she was usually taciturn, almost to the point of appearing sullen. As she thought about what she'd said, she realised that most of the things she'd talked about she had done with her father, and she began to reconsider just what this act of rebellion meant to her. The silence was not awkward, but rather thoughtful, as each spent some time in quiet reflection. After a while, Alex began to look at Caitlin again, with something more with general admiration in his eyes, and she glanced at him whenever possible.
And Jonathon watched all of this with a quiet smile.