Twenty
582 Words
ETNA
We were on the road again, after two nights in comfortable beds, I wasn't looking forward to it. I wasn't going to complain though - I had a feeling this would be the least of our problems very soon. We were headed to another of Leanda's houses far north, where we would hopefully meet up with quite a few others, depending on who answered our requests.
I loved Leanda teaching me something so practical. It wasn't difficult to send fire messages once you got the hang of them. She even sent me one so I could see what they looked like when they arrived. The blue flames reminded me of burning driftwood.
I wouldn't say that I was adjusting to my new life, more like, not having time to think about it. One good thing about being thrown in at the deep end - you either swim or drown, no time to take into consideration whether you can physically make it to the shallow end.
As we walked, Quinn and Leanda held hands. They were a lot like a young couple in their honeymoon phase. I just couldn't wrap my head around it, even knowing what I know now. They looked so odd. She looks fifteen years old, and he looks closer to sixty years old! The reality that Leanda is older than him hurts my head to think about.
It was different having extra company. Rather than just having Demitri to talk to, I could now have girly chats with Leanda too, and I was sure I'd get chance to talk to Quinn at some point. The three of them liked to talk about the adventures they'd had or the places they'd been. Places I'd only ever read about, they'd seen being built. They were a wonderful pool of knowledge to learn from.
We'd been travelling for 3 nights when I found myself walking slightly behind with Quinn, while Leanda and Demitri walked ahead probably reminiscing about what the world was like a billion years ago.
"Leanda likes you, you know" Quinn stated, staring ahead at her.
I smiled "I like her too.. and you of course" I added.
He looked at me, shocked, "really? I would not have guessed".
"Why wouldn't I like you?" I enquired. "You've been nothing but polite, thoughtful and kind to me since I arrived!"
"Well, when you put it like that" he laughed, "most do not accept my relationship with Leanda, I suppose after so long I just assume everyone thinks of me the same way. Well other than Master Demitri," he added.
"I will admit, I do think you look odd together. But you clearly love each other!!"
"Most do not put it like that. Vampires and humans shouldn't fall in love." He replied looking downcast.
"Oh no it's not that at all, it's the age gap. The appearance and reality that I can't get my head around! Nothing to do with humans and Vampires, I hadn't even considered that!" I laughed! Had he thought I had an issue with that all along? He joined in laughing too.
"No one has ever pointed that out before, and it's not something we notice. We met when I was nearly seventeen years old, so back then we looked perfectly normal together, now I am fifty-seven years old. I see your point, we must look rather odd together!!"
Leanda and Demitri fell back to see what we were laughing about, and soon we were all laughing.
- Writer
