Disclaimer: I do not own the song "If I never knew you" by Disney OST Pocahontas. I just really like the song and thought it appropriate for the story.
Part 9
Persha woke up in the middle of the night and Jared was no longer beside her but there was a beautiful rose on the pillow where he had slept. She picked up the rose and draped the blanket around her chest and bellow. A faint sound of a mandolin being played echoed around the halls of the guild house. Persha stepped out of the room, rose still in hand and followed it. The mandolin led her towards the veranda in that level of the guild house.
The cold marble of the guild house that she felt on her bare feet changed into dew-wet grass as she exited into the veranda. She found Jared was sitting on the ledge and that he was the source of the mandolin's tune.
As she walked up to him, a cold gust of night air blew through the veranda and cut through the thin blankets she turned into makeshift robes, thus making her exhale loudly. Jared stopped playing his mandolin and placed it under his arm. He spoke without turning to her. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" he asked.
Persha approached beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "No you didn't, I woke up and you weren't there anymore."
Jared finally turned to her and spotted the wither less rose she clutched to her breast. He touched the rose's petal with the tips of his fingers. "I forgot to give it to you during the afternoon," he said "I also forgot to thank you."
"What for?" asked Persha, trying to seem as if she didn't know anything Jared was talking about.
Jared smiled reproachfully as he looked at her. The silver of the moon was bathing her in a sort of luminescence that took his breath away. They followed the lines of her face and body wherever they touched her and every time her yellow-eyes would catch the moonlight they looked like drops of liquid gold.
"I now you stayed with me during my nightmare," he began " I have one almost every night. I left the room before I had one tonight, I didn't want to wake you."
Persha wanted to ask Jared what pain he experienced to have such nightmares. She truly had stayed with him that night; he clawed at his sheets and flung his arms in the air, as if he was trying to defend himself from unseen assailants. He kept repeating the phrase "I'm sorry," over and over again. The only thing Persha could do was hold his hand and stay with him through the night.
Respecting Jared's silence about what his dreams contained, she decided to change the subject. "What song were you playing on your mandolin?" she asked, "It was beautiful. It reminded me of the song my father sang to me before. It was nothing like it, but still it reminded me."
"Every bard has his own song," explained Jared, in an oratory tone of voice "They know the tune, rhythm and the words of this song from the moment they play their first instrument as a bard. Though, the song isn't finished. The bard will never be able to finish it until they found the one they're supposed to sing their song to. Some bard's songs are for themselves, others find the person in a matter of months or years, and sadly there are few you never find the person to whom their song belongs to, like me. I feel… no, I know that I will never have the chance to find the one I will sing my song to." Jared closed his eyes and tried to hold back the tears that he had kept ever since he realized he would never finish his song.
"Can I hear it?" asked Persha, sitting on the ledge of the veranda to face Jared.
"Well…Like I said, it isn't finished and will never be finished. " said Jared, taking his mandolin from under his arms and holding it against his chest defensively.
"It's okay, I just want to hear it again, to remind me of my father.' Persha insisted. "Not all beautiful things have to be complete Jared."
Jared smiled uneasily before he positioned his mandolin properly and began strumming the chords. The sound from his mandolin began resonating in the night air and all the clouds parted allowing the crescent moon to illuminate them both. Then, Jared began his song.
If I never knew you
If I never felt this love
I would have no inkling of
How precious life can be
And if I never held you I would never have a clue
How at last I'd find in you the missing part of me
In this world so full of fear
Full of rage and lies
I can see the truth so clear
In your eyes so dry your eyes
And I'm so grateful to you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Lost forever, if I never knew you
If I never knew you
I'd be safe but half as real
Never knowing I could feel
A love so strong and true
I'm so grateful to you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Lost forever, if I never knew you
I thought our love would be so beautiful
Somehow we made the whole world bright
I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong
All they'd leave us where these whispers in the night
But still my heart is singing we were right
If I never knew you
If I never knew this love
I would have no inkling of
How precious life can be
There's no moment I regret
Since the moment that we met
If our time has gone too fast I've lived at last...
I thought our love would be so beautiful
Somehow we'd make the whole world bright
I thought our love would be so beautiful
We'd turn the darkness into light
And still my heart is singing we were right
We were right And If I never knew you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Empty as the sky
Never knowing why
Lost forever if I never knew you
Jared strummed the last chords and looked at Persha. Persha was staring at him her eyes tearing a little from the emotions the song had formed in her. To Jared the silence seemed like an eternity before she spoke. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her finger and said. "That truly was the most beautiful thing I heard Jared. I hope you find the person you're suppose to sing it to so you can finish your song."
Jared looked into Persha's eyes; his eyes began to tear from his emotions as well. In a whispering voice he answered Persha. "I just did, I finally found the one who my song is for, you."
Persha smiled and her tears of joy streamed down her face. She hugged Jared and kissed him as passionately as only lover can do.
She whispered in his ear "I love you,'
He whispered back "I love you to,'