Rain

Chapter 3

The summer vacation was normally something Niva looked forward to. She never went home over the break- what use was there in visiting her father, who would rail at her for hours about leaving him? Besides, she enjoyed having an Isas-free Winding Circle to herself. Her entire break was ruined because Isas had felt it necessary to cut her hair, which, once she had trimmed it cautiously, was chin-length.

Isas was more irritating and pestering than a gnat. The first day of weeding he came an hour late, but soon set himself to the difficult task. Both stopped for a brief break at midday, gasping from the intense heat. Niva could hardly believe it was only early summer; the weather was absolutely scorching her skin. Even slathered with sun cream, her face and arms still burned terribly.

Days and weeks passed in the same manner. Weeding was tiring work- neither Isas nor Niva had the energy to quarrel. Each day a new batch of weeds appeared, as lively as the day before. It was an interminable chore that she had always disliked before, tending small plots of land as she was use to doing, though now her simple dislike had been elevated to utter loathing.

A month of weeding brought a new change on Isas and Niva. Niva was slightly more civilized with Isas, who was slightly less resentful with her. Both still kept their tart natures, but the weariness of the work had dulled the knives that had been their tempers, and both felt no need to waste energy being callous with the other. The heat was too muddling to start fighting in, and though they had their spats and arguments, they kept mostly to themselves.

In the middle of the second month of summer, while Niva was clipping one of the plants, she spotted Isas studying a plant for signs of dehydration. His wide-brimmed straw hat slipping back of his neck and his brown eyes concentrating, he seemed half-way decent. Smudges of dirt on his nose and face completed the rural look, erasing away the jumped-up, snobby expression he normally carried like a cloak.

"Do I offer you amusement?" he asked without bringing his eyes up from his snipping.

"Yes," Niva replied immediately.

He scowled at her and resumed cutting.

Her eyes sought him out again after several minutes. He's not so bad for a male, Niva found herself thinking drowsily, the sun making her feel lethargic. He's grown into his looks.

Once she realized what she had just heard herself think, she went rigid with horror. She couldn't believe that thoughts she had often harbored for a particularly handsome mage-in-training that was studying to be a healer, with brown hair and captivating blue eyes, were now aimed at Isas. Shaking her head as though that would rid her of the thoughts, she devoted herself to the task of clipping and weeding and tried not to look at Isas again.

But it was hard, with no one else in the garden. He was a sight as both leaned in their favorite shady spots to sleep- neither had the energy to trek up to their rooms for the midday nap. Sprawled under a tree in the edge of the garden, his hat over his head, he fell asleep almost instantly, sweat dripping down his face even in the shade. Niva watched him under rim of her hat for several minutes until she too dozed off.

The clanging of the bell at three startled them awake. The sun was no longer directly overhead, but Niva still felt hot and stuffy as she resumed her work. As she was turning to tug out a weed, she saw that Isas was watching her with the contentment of a lazy cat as he clipped a plant.

"What're you staring at?" she demanded, feeling hot all over (from the sun, she thought with a hint of defensive air).

"You." The reply was as blasé as a remark on the weather. As blasé as him.

Niva, shocked at his offhandedness, frowned. "Stop it."

"I'll stare if I please," Isas replied haughtily, though he stopped gazing so blatantly.

The stolen glances continued for several days. Neither knew why, though they felt that the reason hinted at utter boredom and sun-stroke mixed with sheer exhaustion. Niva realized that, while she had spoken (or rather, argued) with Isas many times, she knew little about him. But soon suspicious glances turned into muttered words as both, longing for human communication in the silent gardens, spoke hesitantly to each other.

The conversations were benign and innocent as the summer sky. Niva asked politely about Isas's family.

"My father is count of a small fief, in the north. I was planning to go and visit my mother there- she's having another child soon." Isas looked down, as though proper demonstrations of affection were wrong.

Niva felt herself warming to him, if slightly. "Sorry you couldn't go."

The moment was gone. "Well, it was your fault," he snapped. But Niva knew the reason for his anger, and let it go. She knew that if her mother, who had died giving birth to her younger brother, was bearing another child, she would want to be there by her side. Even if it was his own fault he wasn't at his family's fief.

After several moments, Isas looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "How short is your hair?"

Niva glared at him. It was chin-length now, short and simply cut one night in front of a mirror using a pair of scissors. Niva hadn't wanted to leave it jagged and ruined. "Short," she replied simply, showing him.

He looked away. "At least it isn't bushy," he replied after a moment.

Niva glared at him.

"Well, it was," he said. "But just think- your hair now matches your temper." His brown eyes glittered, a laugh bubbling in his throat.

"How?" she demanded severely. He shrugged.

"Their both short now."

The comment should have annoyed her, but it was true. And it was funny, much to her regret. She grinned and resumed her work, though her mind reeled in shock. Isas had just told her a joke- it was startling.

There certainly is more to Isas then meets the eyes, she thought as she attentively clipped a plant. Much more.

Isas watched Niva the next day from under the brim of his wide hat. The moment the Hub clock struck noon she had collapsed under the welcome shade of a tree. Within moments she had fallen asleep, her tanned legs stretched out comfortably on the dusty ground. When it came to dirt, she had no qualms about it on her at all. Her face was dirt-streaked, sweat pouring down and making trails of clean skin through the grime.

She was comely, he admitted grudgingly as he scuffed the dirt with his bare foot. Her shorter hair suited her better, bringing out her stubborn chin. Long lashes cast shadows over her skin, shadows similar to those that the overcast sky was casting. Rain was coming, and soon, but not so soon that they couldn't rest a moment. His eyes lids felt heavy as stones as he closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep.

Both were awakened by a rude call of nature as fat drops of water began to pelt them. The devious summer rainstorms that were a plant's best friends were a weeder's worst nightmare. Startled, Niva scrambled up and found that within seconds she was drenched, her plain cotton dress clinging to her body, grime washing off in an instant. Isas groaned as he got up, his shirt sopping wet and slapping around him as he looked for shelter. Both found the open shed appealing and slipped in, shivering from the wet water.

The rain showed no signs of letting up, and Niva was not so desperate that she wanted to trudge across the muddy fields in the pouring rain just to get inside. She was content to sit on the floor of the shed and wait for the rain to cease.

Isas wasn't.

"Let's go," he said after several minutes. "The rain is stopping." He rocked back on his heels.

"No, it isn't," Niva snapped, scowling at him. "We'll get bogged down. It's just a summer storm; it'll end in a couple minutes. Be patient."

"Since when were you appointed as a weather witch?" Isas snapped.

"Since never, knuckle brains. It's common knowledge for any twitterpated idiot. Even you should know it."

Isas scowled at her and sat down moodily. After several minutes, the rain still was still descending outside; Isas began to peel off his soaked shirt with a growl of exasperation.

Niva, who had been benignly gazing out the door, stiffened. Isas noticed her frozen body and shrugged. "I'm wet and cold. If we're not going, I might as well dry off."

He was right, she knew, so why was she suddenly so shy? She had seen her brothers bare-chested plenty of times when she was younger. He leaned his bare back against the wall thoughtfully, his soaked and crumpled shirt at his feet.

Niva did not look at him. She blushed too easily for comfort, what with her pale skin and all, and her cheeks were flamed already. Isas didn't seem to notice at all, intent on watching the falling rain. After another ten minutes of waiting, the rain was still coming down heavily. Isas stood. She huddled down further, feeling uncomfortable in the sodden dress. Remembering the shin-length shift under the cotton dress, that was not as wet and was thick enough to preserve decency, she stripped off the dress.

If society says he can, I might as well, she thought. Besides, it'll be back on me in seconds.

Niva's shaken expression from before was nothing compared to Isas's, who looked taken aback. Stunned, he watched her wring out the soggy dress, shake it out until it was more or less dry, and then tug it back on. "If you can, I can too," she snapped in response to the unwritten question on his face. He shrugged and looked away, his cheeks crimson.

The sky continued to pour outside. The plants welcomed the rain- Niva could hear their voices crying in relief as their parched roots greedily sucked in the mineral-filled rainwater.

Glad someone's happy, Niva thought as she shivered from the cold. Someone's glad it's raining.

Isas's normally drawling tone seemed slightly more irritated when he spoke again. "Enough waiting, let's leave anyway," he said impatiently. The muscles on his stomach rippled as he stood- Niva's heart punched a hole through her chest from how quickly it hammered against her rib cage. Then, as he shook the water from his hair, sending droplets of water flying, her stomach fluttered and dropped a foot.

Normal behavior, she assured herself nervously. It's normal to go fluttery when you see a half-naked man.

Even if her mind was talking its normal cool, level, common sense, her heart was not buying the muttered denials. Instead, it was pounding a tattoo on her rib cage. Calming herself down, she shook her head. "No, it's still raining too hard. We'll get bogged down in the mud."

"And what is the point of staying here to rot? It's just mud," he snapped. "Let's just leave."

"No," Niva snapped, furious now, all her previous, unsettling thoughts vanishing like smoke fueled by her anger. "I'm not getting muddy for your perverse enjoyment!"

"I can't just go in without you, they'll think you drowned," Isas drawled.

"Or was drowned," Niva growled.

"Come on," he said.

"No." She couldn't believe how ridiculous he was being. "I don't want to go, end of story."

He turned his head up to the roof of the shed, pleading mentally. "Shurri save us," he muttered. Then, turning to her, he grabbed her arm with surprising strength. "Come on. I'll drag you if I have to, but I'm not going in to answer stupid questions just because you felt ornery." He pulled her hard; Niva stubbornly dug her bare feet into the earthen floor and leaned back.

It was no use fighting, she thought as she struggled to stay seated. Isas had more upper arm muscle than she could ever accumulate- even though they did the same work, it was a well-known fact that girls never accumulated much raw muscle. Caught in his iron grip, Niva used her weight to her own advantage to stay down.

Isas grunted and tugged again. Her bare feet slid and tripped Isas, so that he tumbled on top of her.

She gasped, the breath knocked out of her for more than one reason. A split second's fall had brought her closer to Isas that she had ever been in her life, and every part of her was reacting to the contact they were making. Her heart resumed its frantic beating against her rib cage. Niva was not one who easily became distracted, but she was fully distracted now by the feel of Isas's chest against her palms, which she had thrown up to break her fall.

Isas's face was inches from hers, watching her with a curious expression. His chocolate-brown eyes were soft for once, not hard or cold as she had been accustomed to.

Niva felt scared for the first time in years, or so it seemed, for there was no other emotion to describe her tingly palms, her wobbly knees, her winded lungs and her trembling body. Nothing explained why her heart had suddenly leapt up into her throat and why she felt hot all over.

"This is you fault." She could barely speak above a breathless whisper.

"Is it?" Isas murmured back. His breath caressed her cheek, raising goosebumps all over her and making her shiver with pleasure. She barely stifled a sigh- but why did she want to sigh, her frantic mind wondered? If she had been her normal self, she would have been ready to slap him for being so close to her.

"Yes, it is," she replied shakily, trying valiantly to recover her normal brisk voice and failing dismally.

Gods above, what's wrong with me?

"Silly," he whispered, his lips meeting hers with the softness of a sigh.

Neither noticed when the rain stopped.

A.N.: TADA! Tis over, unfortunately. I really like this story, and am rather sad it's over. But I do have other ficlets to post up here, and that should be up at the same time as this chapter.

P.L.s

Unknown Dreams: Thanks! As for the hair, it was actually cut off during class, and she only realized it straight afterwards.

Tinkerbell394587: Wow! Thanks, that's really nice of you . . . grammar is something I work at, I can't stand chat stories. I'm glad this story stood up well to your standards!

Angel Street: After dropping off the face of the planet, I'm surprised I remembered my password. This story is a bit more mature grammar and vocabulary wise . . . I'm very proud of it. And the hair issue is the same- it was cut off during class. Isas's little goons were laughing because of the crime they were about to perpetrate.

Sheyana: The hair issue, which again came up, was sort of misleading- the fact was that her hair wasn't snipped until during class. She woke up with normal hair, it was just during class it was snipped off. Thanks for the review!

Gwyn