Follow Through

The Other Side

After a minute,my hilarity subsided into chuckles and the occasional snort.I brushed my hands off ,rose and dusted my very bruised rump,then turned and took stock of the new terrain.We seemed to be on a slightly w**d choked gravel pathway at the foot of a small hill.

A small burgundy hill with green foliage.

To my credit I snapped my mouth shut before I started to attract flies.A soft breeze brought with it the smell of the sea and I surmised that the ocean was on the other side.I lifted my face to the sky and was almost disappointed to see mundane blue and white with the blinding golden circle that was the sun. Ulrik was a couple steps ahead of me and I ran my hands over the plants and bushes that were all in various shades of green as I caught up.I couldn't wrap my mind around magenta looking dirt and green flowers.

"This is so freaky."

Ulrik followed the meandering path and ignored me.

"Where are we now?" I asked him, examining a navy green flower that resembled a poppy.

"We have but to traverse this hill and we will be in Cardoza."

"Praise be," I sighed.

I was so done with near death experiences.

"Who?" He turned to look at me briefly.

"What?" I asked him.

"Who are you praising? If it is Glob, think you not that it would be more effective if you waited until you made his aquaintance?"

"Why would I praise Glob?"

He shrugged his massive shoulders.

"He is gracious, benevolent and the most powerful being in Opa"

I rolled my eyes and flicked the knock off poppy away.

"You're such an a*s kisser."

He whirled around,cheeks puffed up and his little beady bear eyes bulging.

" I beg your pardon?! What in the name of Glob would lead you to believe that I've romantically touched my lips to a donkey?!"

He looked completely afronted,and had one hand on his hip.

I paused for a second,trying puff out my cheeks so I could hold in the laughter because he was so obviously angry and insulted but I couldn't help it.Air and spittle gushed from my mouth in a raucous laugh and I doubled over,unable to speak.My mind kept throwing me images of big,hefty Ulrik bending to kiss an a*s's a*s.

"You jest too much,Judah" He muttered when it became evident I wouldn't be coherent for a while yet.

I shook my head in denial and braced my hand on his side for support,I was laughing so hard I felt weak.

"Not a-" another burst of laughter,

"donkey," again,I had to stop talking as I was overcome with the giggles.

"I meant bottom,Ulrik,as in your butt." I pointed at his enviably generous backside.

I straightened and fought to suppress the laughter, whittling it down to sporadic chuckling.

"How is that any better? Why on earth would I kiss someone's bottom?!" He raged at me.I could all but see smoke coming from his ears and if anything he was even more insulted instead of appeased.

That did it.

I was once again undone by another fit of laughter.

He turned away from me in disgust and begins to walk once more.I laughed even harder when I heard him grumble something about bare bottoms,bacteria and unsanitary kissing practices.

"Ulrik wait!" I called out to him,struggling to contain myself.

My stomach was beginning to hurt,I had to stop.

He paused and turned to me,clearly expecting an explanation or an apology.

Probably both.

I knew he was upset so I conceded a little.

"I'm sorry,I just-" I paused to catch my breath and looked up at him.

"Haven't you ever heard that expression before?"

He looks at me warily for a moment.

"No," he says and resumes walking.I keep pace with him-my three strides for his one.

"It just means you suck up to Glob alot."

"What a preposterous assumption! I can assure you that I do not 'suck' on any part of Glob or any other being for that matter.You humans have an uncanny way of speaking."

I brush hair out of my eyes as I guffaw once more,both hands wrapped around my middle.

He throws his hands up in the air and fumes silently.

I tug on his arm so he'll look at me once more.He does so grudgingly and waits,with one foot impatiently tapping and an eyebrow raised as I compose myself.

"Ulrik, you're misunderstanding everything I say! You're just being...." I struggle to find a word his pompous brain will understand." obsequious,if you will." Ah! Perfect.I can see the exact moment that a light goes off behind his brown eyes.

"I see,though I do not think I am pandering per se,Glob is a wonderful leader and deserves my gratitude,so I am never hesitant to express it."

I roll my eyes.

"Whatever you say."

Definitely a prefessional a*s kisser.

He chooses not to comment and I take the opportunity to admire the view.The path was taking us in an upward circuitous route to the other side of the hill and I was correct.The purple-red dirt gave way to a stunningly red,jagged cliff side that plummeted to a frothing sea.

It was stunningly beautiful.

I inched closer to the edge and off the path,almost tasting the saltiness of the air,watching the waves crash into red rocks in a timeless battle of patience against will.We walked in silence,me savouring the panorama before me and enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin and Ulrik on the path completely oblivious to the beauty around him,only focussed on his next step.A thought occured to me and I broke the frail spell of calm that had fallen over us.

"Keanu would get a kick out of you."

"I see no reason for him to strike me with his feet since I do not know him," He says, perplexed.

"But if he wishes for a broken foot then-" I hold out a hand to stop him,shaking my head.

"No,no,no,jeez I've really gotta watch what I say to you.I mean he'd enjoy your company."

His face remains confused.

"Why didn't you say that instead?"

"Oh yeah, he'd have a blast alright." I nod to myself as I put my hair in a bun on top of my head.Almost immediately the wind tugs wisps of it out and they flit around my face.

We eventually arrive at the summit,after spurts of conversation about the Globites,the English Language and colloquialisms.I kept wondering if anybody had gone to my apartment or had called me.I looked out at the sea from the top of the hill and felt suddenly overwhelmed.The wind fought to loosen my hair and played with my gown.Last night I didn't even know this place existed and now I'm submerged in a real,live fairy tale.Ulrik was brooding silently beside me,as still as the rocks being beaten by the sea.

I needed a distraction,so why not poke at Tree Bear?

"Aren't you hungry?"

He glanced at me before stomping away,heading downhill this time.

"Think you not of anything else?"

I smiled.I felt better already.

"You haven't eaten all day."

The path was taking us away from the cliffs as it lead to the bottom.I wondered if I could take some of these flowers with me when I was going back home.

"Sustenance is at Cardoza."

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk like someone from the 1800s?"

"No."

"Well you do."

He shrugged and we continued to the base of the hill.Our shadows grew long and thin as the sun went lower in the sky.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"Five hours past midday." His answer was confident and immediate.

I squinted my eyes.Before us,on the distance,was a red haze.

"How do you know?"

Am I seeing things?

"Basic calculations that each Globite masters soon after infancy." He responds smugly.

"Huh,go figure." We stepped off the hill and onto what looked like a rural residential street,with sprawling houses made of wood and stone,surrounded by thick hedges and well apart from each other.It looked like what I imagined the English country side to be.The road was made from the same burgundy dirt as the hill and loose gravel that were driven into the earth by thousands of footsteps.

As twilight fell,lights in different shades of red,pink,yellow and blue came on.

Except they weren't bulbs.

I stood still and stared.They were large, irregular shaped crystals suspended on an overhang from what appeared to be vines tied to long, wooden poles.I walked slowly and carefully,measuring my steps as if I was afraid to waken sleeping fairies.Ulrik was equally quiet, but then again,wasn't he always? We almost tiptoed.

"Judah?" A familiar voice called to me from the right,within the deepening shadows and behind a towering willow tree.

My head whipped around and my body quickly followed suit.A shadow gradually seperated itself from the rest and was illuminated in the soft light of the crystals.

The flower I'd been clutching fell from my frozen fingers as my heart stumbled,stood still then raced into an erratic rhythm.

I stared at the tall,rangy body,now clothed in a soft, brown tunic and matching slacks,as well as the same mocasins that shod my feet.My eyes raced over the familiar thick chestnut hair that curled over his ears and the nape of his neck,the strong,clean shaven jawline.Lips parted in a crooked smile and I saw the chipped tooth that was victim to my endless teasing wink at me.The three freckles on his cheek,his asymmetrical nose and red,Africa shaped birthmark on the left side of his neck.... I knew them all like the back of my hand.I stared into golden eyes that laughed into mine as he crossed the short distance between us and pulled me into a hug.His smell was as familiar to me as my own,his touch as comforting as a brother's.

"Keanu."