Gemma had remained in her frozen state for ages and ages, it seemed to Kartik. He wrung out a wet cloth and placed it tenderly upon her brow. A mother, he felt like. Bitterly, Kartik wondered how he could even liken anything to a mother's mannerisms when he was stripped away from his own so long ago. Mothers. He had heard that they are the individuals who mold their children into what they are, and what they will be. They say that a mother's love is the greatest in the human existence, that it is what every child needs. Did that make Kartik a deprived, character-challenged man of humanity? Kartik let out a weak laugh and thought how the death of Amar probably exacerbated his sad existence…A small cough drew Kartik out of his thankless reverie and caused him to rapidly shift his position to Gemma's side
Her breathing seemed to have normalized and she shifted slightly in her sleep. Her eyes had finally sought refuge underneath the fragile skin of her lids, yet Kartik now wished for them to open, with a renewed vitality. His eyes traveled down the length of her face and found themselves attached to the sight of her warm lips that had issued the sound. He felt his hands travel almost automatically towards the full lips, as if to check if the warm sweetness still lingered. Snatching them back in half that moment, Kartik scolded himself for acting so ridiculous. Like he had a chance even if he did have an inkling of liking of the girl, he scoffed to himself. He was an Indian, a street urchin in her eyes and in the eyes of her uptight society. Not that he liked her; it was all just a hypothetical situation….he hurriedly reassured himself.
Gemma suddenly twisted the wooly brown blanket over herself and moved to her side. Finally! Kartik found himself being childishly happy; her movement meant that perhaps she was recovering. However, the happiness was short-lived. Her eyes suddenly snapped open in fear and her body suffered violent spasms. Kartik grabbed her slender shoulders and held her upward. She looked at him then those piercing eyes, and her perfect lips parted ever so slightly as if to-
"Aaaaauuu-"
Kartik clamped his hand over her shrieking mouth and roughly shakes her to wake her out of her frightened trance.
"Gemma! Gemma! It's Kartik! Shush!"
"Kar…Kart…" Gemma struggled with the words and the processing of his statement. Her eyes darted wildly within his deer skin tent and the bumpy ground in which she sat.
"The monster! He called me Pretty one! Oh, it was horrible; it had faces, so many faces! Kartik, it's coming for me. One it called me! The time…the time has come!! Kar-"
Kartik shook her softly and looked her in the eye.
"Gemma! Quiet. Refresh yourself first and then tell me the whole tale from the start."
She submissively shook her head and reached for his cracked water basin in the corner. Submissive. That was the most she was ever going to get, Kartik almost humorously though to himself. And it took some realms monster to bring her to this state…Kartik shook his head slightly and smirked to himself. Everything was returning to normal. Gemma was up and his panic was gone, he could go back to patronizing her now.
He leaned back against a wooden pole in the corner of his tent and mopped his face with the corner of his tunic, which he suddenly realized was soaked with perspiration. It must have been the heat, Kartik presumed, as a cool breeze drifted through the opening of his tent. The heat, of course the heat! Gemma finished washing her face in the corner and shivered slightly in the cool night air. She found herself garbed only in her thin nightgown and flushed slightly.
"Kartik, where is my cloak…?" Gemma asked warily.
"It's I folded it underneath your pillow…you were, um, sweating after I brought you here…I, er…detangled...you from it and put the blanket over you…um, sorry?" he answered somewhat clumsily.
An awkward silence befell them as Gemma hastily threw on her navy blue cloak, attempting to preserve modesty.
"So…um, how did I come here…to your bed-I mean tent?" She blushed furiously and rebuked herself for acting like a blushing damsel in distress.
"I found you in the woods, in state of shock. So I brought you here…" Kartik said abruptly, making an attempt to hide his self-conscious condition. He tried to fix the situation by doing what he always did, reproach her and her actions.
"What were you doing in the woods at that hour anyway? You were just calling for danger to-"
"Don't you dare reprimand me like a child! You, a mere boy of the Rakshana, think you have any authority? Ha! And-"
"Think what you want! I'm telling you, if you do not obey the commands of the Rakshana, there will be-"
"There will be what? Are you going to kill me? For all it's worth-"
A sudden snap of wood outside quieted them both. Kartik swiftly leapt outside and checked the perimeter…it was just one of the gypsy goats. He returned to the shelter and Gemma had stubbornly placed herself in the wooden beam opposite to that of Kartik's sitting place.
Kartik repositioned himself on the pole and found himself examining the wool blanket with great interest.
"Ahem."
He looked up and found Gemma scowling at him. He scowled back.
