The Meeting

Konella

The sound of a melody so soft and calming it puts even the most exotic birds to shame. Several silhouettes stood amongst the white tranquil setting—no features shown no matter how hard you looked—how often one wished to see them. A man—no older than I perhaps—reached out his hand towards me with a gentle sort of grace I'm not accustomed to. His hand, warm and gentle, enveloped mine, sending a shiver down my spine. We would dance in small circles on the softened earth while I felt myself laugh and enjoy the moment. The faint scent of sandalwood lingered in the air, mingling with the melody, lifting my spirits high as though I was soaring. The man who held me would spin me round and round, brush soft kisses upon my neck and hands all while dancing to the song that played. Our bodies moved in perfect harmony, his chest pressed against mine, each heartbeat a shared secret. His breath, warm and steady, caressed my neck as we spun together. Each time my hair was stroked, his soft lips whispering into my ear as I eagerly tried to hear the words he spoke—it was all static. Wanting more as I grasped onto the man, something forced me awake, and the dream was unbearably gone.

A loud whistle jolted her out of her reverie. Eyes fluttered open slowly to the rising sun peeking over the mountains in the distance, and her mind came back to the present day. The broken building with holes in its roof let the sun's rays' peek through to the creaking floorboards, casting long shadows that danced with the morning light. No snow. No song. And no one taking hold of her hand to dance her into the sky. She sighed, a sense of longing lingering in her chest.

"I wonder what day it is?" she murmured. Having been asleep for a couple of hours—perhaps days—she looked around to find Haji's belongings still lying around, unchanged since she fell asleep. "No more than a day then." Walking around to stretch her legs and feeling the pang of hunger start to bother her, she searched the basket Haji left for her. It should have some food for her still.

Nothing.

Her stomach growled in protest, and she frowned, wondering where Haji could be.

"Well, that's rather disappointing." Setting the empty basket aside and wondering to herself where to gather food, she heard the floorboards creak and smiled knowingly.

"Perhaps if I made it in time before waking you wouldn't have been feeling that."
Turning to find Haji at the entrance holding a basket of food, he approached with his usual stoic expression and handed it to her. His long black hair jetting in front of his face, pale complexion from his European descent and pale blue eyes make him a beautiful man to many. If not for his lack of humor and old-fashioned way of thinking and speaking, she would have been amongst the women who sought after him. But after so many years, she finds him too stuffy for her taste in men. Not that she would know of her taste. Any man she's ever come across never felt like the one to her. Sure there have been suitors and a few flings. Nothing too serious. Yet somehow her dreams always kept her mind occupied with the mysterious man that dances in the sky and gives her soft sweet kisses that she could never recreate outside her dreams.

"I have found Saya." Speaking in a seldom voice, her mind coming back to reality, he had already moved across the room to grab his cello case.

"Have you?" Taking an apple and seeing the flesh shined to perfection and chilled to the touch, the first bite was crisp and the juices sweet.

"Mm…" his tone shifted.

"Are you not pleased that you found her?" Having looked back up from her basket of fruit and finding Haji looking out the broken pane, she felt her heart pang a little. The way his eyes looked out into the world felt like he was looking back to his past. Peeling away an open wound.

"She didn't recognize me…" he finally spoke. The slight chuff as he let the cello case lean onto him. "Rather, she knew nothing of me. As if I was a complete stranger." Hurt etched in his voice as he shut his eyes. As if the pain from the view would come through and make the scene repeat itself before him.
Taking in his response, being careful of what to say, she set the basket down to the side to properly look his way. Without bringing up too much of the past and keeping it simple, she felt her response would be good enough.

"You know, when we came here to Japan and to the cemetery where you hid her away, finding that the cocoon was empty…I know it sucked. Fear and confusion was all over your face." He glared at her, not knowing where she was going with the conversation. Raising her hands in defense, she continued. "Hear me out here. Perhaps because you weren't there to give her your blood right away, her mind is a clean slate. I don't know how she acted in front of you or what she even did, but is it so bad?"

"She has a mission." Speaking frankly. Eyes giving her all the reasoning of his purpose in life, he set the cello case aside and stood up. "But I will consider the possibility her memory being skewed is due to not me being there for her. But I cannot let her forgo her purpose in life. I just can't."

The silence that passed between them was heavy enough to slice through. Before it became awkward, her hand grabbed for another fruit as she subsided the hunger pains without further restraint.

"Konella," Haji started. She looked back at him as she was finishing off another apple. "Thank you."

"Why the thanks?"

"I know you were trying to raise my spirits. Having Saya not remember me was quite painful. Your perspective was appreciated."

Accepting the gratitude and finishing off the entire basket within reasonable time, the sun was higher up now and the ray's of light started warming the building. Seeing the small particles of dust float leisurely around with every movement they each made, her focus didn't fall to Haji until the hard click could be heard from the cello case as the hinges creaked open. Haji lifted the heavy instrument with such ease one would think it didn't weight more than a feather. Watching him fiddle with the tuning pegs and sliding his finger down the string to make a soft hum of sound, it caressed her mind gently as he picked the bow up and tested a few notes.

"Not really the time, wouldn't you say?" Purposefully teasing him as a light chuckle escaped him, she couldn't help feel the tug of a smile pull her lips. "The usual?"

"Prelude from Bach's cello Suite no.5." Mentioning the score with such calmness, the music began to play in his expert hands and the sound carried nicely in the building.
The tune always starts off smooth. Quickening ever so slightly as his fingers slide up and down, the music changing tempo as the melody carried both of them to a calming state. Lost in the sound as they were living in the moment, it was disrupted by the sound of honking horns from outside that brought the ambiance to a stop.

"Too bad…it was pleasant."

"Would you like to learn to play?" He offered. The thought always crossing her mind to learn, it just never did. She'd rather listen to him play, enjoying the moment and letting them both be lost to the music.

"No thanks. But since Saya has been found, what would be our next step from here?"
He paused. Eyes unchanging as he glanced back to the cello case, his hand reached for a secret compartment and the door that was unclasped revealed a beautifully crafted katana. The slender frame, the black sheath that caught the glimmer of sunlight, it was all mysteriously beautiful.

"The next step would be to approach Saya and have her come with us. Leaving her here would not be wise." Speaking so plaintively of the mission, he began putting the cello away carefully while checking the katana's condition at the same time. Curiosity bubbled about Saya. How she looked. What were her actions like? Everything she knew nothing about, did Saya really act so differently to make Haji so shocked? Her head swarmed with remnants of the past encounter back in Vietnam. How she lost it and killed hundreds. Could she really be so different from then?

"Haji, what was she like when you saw her. How different could she possibly be? I know you said she didn't recognize you, but how did she act?"
He breathed in slowly, shutting the cello case entirely as he straightened. His pale blue eyes confronted her with uncertainty.

"She looked and acted like an ordinary schoolgirl. Innocent, oblivious to the danger this world beheld. Listening to my cello playing and falling into the flower bed just across the street, she made such a fool of herself." His eyes spoke of different words. He was filled with such delight without showing such emotions on the outside. His curly bangs fell loosely in front of his eyes, covering any further emotions he held behind them.

"She sounds sweet now. Quite a difference compared to before. Would it hurt to let her have this time as such?" He looked at me with pained eyes as he shook his head gently. Everything he stood for, protected, pursued, it was his entire being of existence that could not be extinguished.

"If I could let Saya have this life till she sleeps again, I would. But she has a duty she must fulfill that she cannot forget or go back on." The sadness that came into his tone and the hurt he showed told me enough. I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and let that be the end of the conversation. Knowing full well everything he's done is for this purpose of hers without telling me of it, I knew that the hardest part has yet to come.

"I hope she will come to like me when we meet officially. I've basically avoided her all this time for your sake." Changing the subject to another matter at hand, Haji's slight reaction caught her eye. He was hesitant, but seemed to think something else and regained his composure.

"She is a kind soul, Konella. Once we approach her and have her drink my blood I will explain to her—" stopping him in kind and fearing the worst to happen, I immediately remarked.

"How about we don't say anything about me and let Saya get a feel for me instead?" Not meaning to cut him off, he seemed perplexed. "Think about it, Haji. Coming out to her about what she needs to do is already enough of a strain. Telling her about a half chevalier with no background might be a bit of an earful. And from how you described her this will be over the top information I don't think she'll handle well."

"But without her blood we won't know if that will make you whole."

"In theory only," I say with the best smile I could make. Both staying quiet for a few seconds to take in the situation, she let out a sigh and rolled her shoulders back calmly. "You found me in the middle of nowhere in Russia during your travels. In time an assumption was made that I'm half chevalier," he seemed so transparent in his emotions to her when she spoke of the past and what little they knew of her. How she desired to know who she was before Haji and everything that came to be. But time will move on, and she would never age, all the time in the world to discover herself. It was pointless making it a big deal to rush things. There was also a chance the meeting could go wrong and Saya rejects her entirely.

"Haji…I'm scared to know the truth of my past. Scared that what you say might be true, and also terrified that by drinking her blood might actually kill me. Let's just wait and let it all unfold naturally, ok?" There was no immediate response from him. His pale blue eyes bore through her as if an attempt to understand her mind. After a while, when the cacophony of sounds from the outside began to heighten, he finally accepted the request.

"Thank you, Haji."