Faithful Pebble
Part Sixty-Four
The girl didn't pause. She just kept walking.
The wanderer looked about the trees. He heaved his sac higher on his shoulders before rolling his eyes. He tried again. No wonder she survived so long in that well, he grumbled. She's more stubborn than life itself. "Am I correct?" he asked. "Are you going to talk at all?"
Pebbled looked back at him and shrugged. Not for the first time did the wanderer long to glimpse the countenance of her face. Maybe her eyes could tell him something that her body mannerisms could not, that her silence could not.
"I don't know what you are talking about," she mumbled.
She seemed sincere enough.
The wanderer ambled on, rushing to explain. "The forest is dark but not terribly so. You can see the outlines of the trees. There is a deep blue light that radiates over everything. It causes certain colors to stand out, to permeate the gloom of the forest. There are flowers everywhere in this wood, but only of two predominate colors, one of a white variety and another violet. It seems you are turning left when you come across a group of the violet variety and right at a group of white. Though you tend to favor the white over the violet."
"Your answer is incorrect," Pebble replied. She kept walking and didn't speak further.
More silence. The wanderer huffed, "So, what is the answer?"
Pebble shrugged. "It's a secret."
"A secret. Then what can you tell me?" The wanderer followed. The wanderer wandered. The wanderer—
"You talk a lot," Pebble commented.
"And you barely do," the wanderer sighed.
Pebble paused. Her shoulders drooped a little before she lifted them and plowed on. Her breath barely hitched as she moved, barely sped up with her steps.
Seeing this, the wanderer sighed. It's not like she's had much practice at this. The wanderer kicked himself and settled back into the uneasy silence. He allowed his gaze to search once more for the child he last left dosing in a bush. He wondered if he followed them. He wondered if he was angry at his intrusion into the forest. He wondered. He wandered.
"You never answered my question," Pebble said. "I've been waiting for your answer and figured by your silence that you didn't want to talk."
Sorry for the delay guys. Thank you for reading and reviewing. It means so much! Until the next chapter - Calla