Fight Like A Girl
Chapter 4 - Parting Is No Sweet Sorrow
AN: First off, thanks to 'Me', Evilstrawberry, and Rhiannon for reviewing! I love getting reviews, so keep them coming, please. I'm going back to college today, so things will probably be a bit hectic, and updating might be a bit slow. I'll try not to be slow though, and I'm sending this off before I leave for you all to enjoy. So.enjoy (
Once someone told me at a party that an odd religious faction in the Yamani Islands or somewhere believed that all life was suffering. Even joyful things are suffering because the person experiencing them knows that they must end. At the time I tittered along with the other guests at those Yamani and their ignorance, but I think now that they have the right of it. That's exactly how I felt the last months before David left for the City of the Gods to continue with his training as a mage. All the boys that were David's age were looking forward to being away from all these clucking girls, and David was excited too, but at times I knew that he didn't want to go. I know that I didn't want him to go. Sometimes I would catch him looking at me, and I could tell that he didn't want to leave me. He was my friend. My only true friend that I've ever had, I think, and then.but that is for later. Anyway, those last months we would be sitting together talking about something or another, and I would be struck by the terrible perfection of it all. We were two great friends, and we were together, and all was right by the world. And then I knew that he would be gone in two short months, and I would be left with half a soul. He, who was so much a part of me, who had pulled me out of my despair, would be gone. He was my wit, my laugh, my smile. Ever since he left, I do not think I have really laughed properly.
At these times, when the perfection of a moment filled me with despair, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and keep him here with me forever and ever. How could I go on without him? How could I become powerful without his support?
Once I actually began to cry. I didn't mean to, but it was just one week before he was to leave, and I couldn't stand the thought that another boy would live in his room, take his spot in the dining room or classes. And I cried. David saw this, and, well, he has always been the best person I've ever known. He understood me perfectly. He put his arm around me and, with all the tenderness a boy of his age can muster, he said "It's all right Delia. I know, I understand, it's killing me too. I don't know how I can stand it over at the City of the Gods without you. But I will. And you'll survive here too. You'll become just as powerful as you always wanted, and so will I, and when I'm the most powerful mage in the world, and you're the most powerful woman, we'll meet again, and the world will bow before us. No one will ever push us around then. We'll have complete power over our own destinies, and if I want to eat with you, and paint the walls of the dormitories with sludge from the swamps, no one will dare stop me. And if you want to paint your face with mud like warpaint, and run around with a sword, or throw your needlework in the pig pen, no one will dare stop you. And we'll be together forever, doing what we like, and live happily ever after."
Wasn't he wonderful? On the day before he left he snuck into my room and we stayed up all night talking and laughing. Finally the time when he had to leave approached, and he hugged me, saying "Well, this is it, Helen. " and giving me a quick grin. Then he saw my face. He must have known that I was upset that he could just joke about such an important thing, and so then he came back.
"Delia, I swear to you that I'll write as soon as I get to the City of the Gods. I'll give you an address to write to then, and it will almost be like talking every day."
"No it won't be," I answered stubbornly.
"No. It won't be," he agreed sadly. Then he hugged me again and kissed me on the cheek like a brother.
"I'll be dying of boredom without you, Delia," he said, "So hurry up and make your debut at Court so that I can come visit you. Of course, by then you'll be so surrounded by admirers that I probably won't be able to get through to see you."
"By then you'll probably be a great mage, and I'll have to make an appointment to meet with you in between all your meetings with royalty."
"I'd let you in before all of them. They can wait outside while we have food fights," he promised.
"And all my admirers can just go and cool their heels for a bit; the first time I see you at court I'll dance only with you the whole night."
"It's a promise then."
He held out his hand, and we shook on it. He smiled at me, and I smiled at him, and then he was gone.
In the morning the sun rose as it always did, and always will till the end of time, no matter what good friends part. Still, to me, it did not rise in the same way. It had lost a bit of its sparkle, of its joy. For a moment the world seemed bleak and desolate, and despair crept into my mind. I thought to throw back my head and scream, a desolate cry of anguish and loss, but I stopped myself from such pointless melodrama. I still had some pride. Still, my world seemed destroyed. David, my one friend, was gone. What did I have now? Then my goal appeared before my mind's eye, a saving grace of sorts. Helen of Troy. How could I have forgotten my ambition so quickly? I wiped my eyes, pinched my cheeks, put on my nicest gown, and prepared to make my debut in the world of ladies, to begin my transformation into Helen of Troy.
Chapter 4 - Parting Is No Sweet Sorrow
AN: First off, thanks to 'Me', Evilstrawberry, and Rhiannon for reviewing! I love getting reviews, so keep them coming, please. I'm going back to college today, so things will probably be a bit hectic, and updating might be a bit slow. I'll try not to be slow though, and I'm sending this off before I leave for you all to enjoy. So.enjoy (
Once someone told me at a party that an odd religious faction in the Yamani Islands or somewhere believed that all life was suffering. Even joyful things are suffering because the person experiencing them knows that they must end. At the time I tittered along with the other guests at those Yamani and their ignorance, but I think now that they have the right of it. That's exactly how I felt the last months before David left for the City of the Gods to continue with his training as a mage. All the boys that were David's age were looking forward to being away from all these clucking girls, and David was excited too, but at times I knew that he didn't want to go. I know that I didn't want him to go. Sometimes I would catch him looking at me, and I could tell that he didn't want to leave me. He was my friend. My only true friend that I've ever had, I think, and then.but that is for later. Anyway, those last months we would be sitting together talking about something or another, and I would be struck by the terrible perfection of it all. We were two great friends, and we were together, and all was right by the world. And then I knew that he would be gone in two short months, and I would be left with half a soul. He, who was so much a part of me, who had pulled me out of my despair, would be gone. He was my wit, my laugh, my smile. Ever since he left, I do not think I have really laughed properly.
At these times, when the perfection of a moment filled me with despair, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and keep him here with me forever and ever. How could I go on without him? How could I become powerful without his support?
Once I actually began to cry. I didn't mean to, but it was just one week before he was to leave, and I couldn't stand the thought that another boy would live in his room, take his spot in the dining room or classes. And I cried. David saw this, and, well, he has always been the best person I've ever known. He understood me perfectly. He put his arm around me and, with all the tenderness a boy of his age can muster, he said "It's all right Delia. I know, I understand, it's killing me too. I don't know how I can stand it over at the City of the Gods without you. But I will. And you'll survive here too. You'll become just as powerful as you always wanted, and so will I, and when I'm the most powerful mage in the world, and you're the most powerful woman, we'll meet again, and the world will bow before us. No one will ever push us around then. We'll have complete power over our own destinies, and if I want to eat with you, and paint the walls of the dormitories with sludge from the swamps, no one will dare stop me. And if you want to paint your face with mud like warpaint, and run around with a sword, or throw your needlework in the pig pen, no one will dare stop you. And we'll be together forever, doing what we like, and live happily ever after."
Wasn't he wonderful? On the day before he left he snuck into my room and we stayed up all night talking and laughing. Finally the time when he had to leave approached, and he hugged me, saying "Well, this is it, Helen. " and giving me a quick grin. Then he saw my face. He must have known that I was upset that he could just joke about such an important thing, and so then he came back.
"Delia, I swear to you that I'll write as soon as I get to the City of the Gods. I'll give you an address to write to then, and it will almost be like talking every day."
"No it won't be," I answered stubbornly.
"No. It won't be," he agreed sadly. Then he hugged me again and kissed me on the cheek like a brother.
"I'll be dying of boredom without you, Delia," he said, "So hurry up and make your debut at Court so that I can come visit you. Of course, by then you'll be so surrounded by admirers that I probably won't be able to get through to see you."
"By then you'll probably be a great mage, and I'll have to make an appointment to meet with you in between all your meetings with royalty."
"I'd let you in before all of them. They can wait outside while we have food fights," he promised.
"And all my admirers can just go and cool their heels for a bit; the first time I see you at court I'll dance only with you the whole night."
"It's a promise then."
He held out his hand, and we shook on it. He smiled at me, and I smiled at him, and then he was gone.
In the morning the sun rose as it always did, and always will till the end of time, no matter what good friends part. Still, to me, it did not rise in the same way. It had lost a bit of its sparkle, of its joy. For a moment the world seemed bleak and desolate, and despair crept into my mind. I thought to throw back my head and scream, a desolate cry of anguish and loss, but I stopped myself from such pointless melodrama. I still had some pride. Still, my world seemed destroyed. David, my one friend, was gone. What did I have now? Then my goal appeared before my mind's eye, a saving grace of sorts. Helen of Troy. How could I have forgotten my ambition so quickly? I wiped my eyes, pinched my cheeks, put on my nicest gown, and prepared to make my debut in the world of ladies, to begin my transformation into Helen of Troy.