A few days went by with nothing exciting happening. I did my chores quietly. Didn’t talk to anyone even when talked to. I spent most my days sitting in the maze watching the wind play with the trees, the rose bushes and the fountain. The birds were singing, new animals were being born. Spring was a lovely season but I had a hard time enjoying it. I looked up at the clouds in the sky praying that Maliki will be safe on his trip that whatever he had to do will make him stronger and relize that I didn’t want to be with him anymore. God was forgiving with a slight sence of humor and it involved my life in it. This time I wished he would pick someone else to make his center of attention.
    I was doing my chores feeding the small feather creatures and taking their brown eggs. I came out of the chicken stale and saw Jerimah petting my small dog that followed me around as I did the chorse. I watched as he opened the gate and came in. His blue eyes looked right at me. A small expetion on his face but it was soon hidden as if it wasn’t there to begin with. Jerimah was one of the hardest people to read. In order to read him you would have to be able to read the stars let alone spend your entire life with him. Something I wasn’t going to do if I had any say so to that.
    “Father told me you haven’t said a word since Malici left.” I shrugged spreading seeds on the ground. “Zeke said you met a young man at the party.” I didn’t respond to him. With all the time to myself and not talking to anyone I had been thinking a lot about him even though I didn’t know much about his personality. There was something about him that I couldn’t let go. Maybe his eyes? His manor? Maybe the electric bolt I had gotten just by touching him. Have he been thinking of me like I have him? There was no reason in thinking that way. I would never see him again so I should stop thinking about him. Besdies, what was Jerimah doing out of his study anyways.
    “What do you want?” I asked in a rather harsh tone of voise looking warily up at him. He stared back at me as if I had shocked him.
    “I am generally concerned about your well being.” I gave him a huff noise and placed the bag of seeds in the crate wipping my hands on my dress. You watched every move I made as I took the bucket and filled it with the rain water from the barral.
    “There is nothing to worry about.”
    “As far as I am concerned, you stop talking to people when Malici left, you are…”
    “Malici has nothing to do with what I am or doing!” I yelled at him throwing the now empty bucket on the peg and walking past him. “Now, if you don’t mind leave me alone!” I slammed the gate closed just as harsh as I treated the bucket and stormed off towards the house going into the den.

    The next day was somewhat the same. Thinking about the emotion blue eyes that seemed not to hide much of anything. The way his hand rested softly at my hip. My arm round his neck making the moment even more intence. The animals around me seemed to be taking in my mood. They were rather loud and flustered at me as I fed and watered them. Cali, my pregnant cat who normally greated me with a purr and a rub decided today she wasn’t going to even let me touch her. Maybe it was a pregnant thing. I fed her first and stuck my tonguge at her. She only went to the ice water drank a little then rolled her fat stomach in the sun light. I fed the chickens and took their eggs like every other day. I went and placed them in the pantry after feeding them. I sat at the kitchen table twiddling my thumbs my thoughts going back to his scent. He had smelled like wild forest, oak wood shavings and a slight but not over powering but alurring musk. Even though it had been almost a week since I saw him I could still smell him like the memory was stuck in my nose to savor it. I barley noticed the maid come by, pick up a kettle of tea and a tea cup to take it away. I watched lazily as she did so. Probably fathers morning tonic. Poor guy was getting older and fragile.
    I moved from the kitchen to the maze. My normal white stone bench across from the fountain. It was made of grey brimstone, round and about medium sized. The middle was a mermaid mostly to resemble the race that chose to be hidden. I sometimes wished to be one of them only because they were free and had the intire ocean to swim in and do as they wished. They didn’t have to answer to anyone. I sighed putting my hands in my lap watching the water flow out of her jug, down her beautiful body and into the pool of water. I kicked my feet back and forth, tilting my head sideways listening to the world around me.
    “Threasa.” I turned to see Zeke walking over. The person behind him I could not see as he as hidden by Zekes tall frame meaning that the man there was smaller in heith. “With Maliki gone I figured you would be better with a play mate of your own age.” I gave him a weird look as he was always the one to tease me. I stood the same time Zeke moved to the side. I gasped as the blue eyes looked back at me that I had been pondering for the past week. His smile was genuine, his glassed covered eyes were easy to read as they were at the party. They were shinning and amused. He wore a black triangle hat, black cape with dark green on the inside, jungle green button up shirt covered by the black silk cape. He only stood maybe five foot eleven, six feet if he was lucky. Zeke was a good six foot three himself and Alastar maybe reached his nose. Time seemed to have stopped as he bowed pleasantly to me, took my hand and kissed it gingerly as my other hand was cauht up in the moment at my chest. I looked at Zekes green blue eyes as they looked knowingly at me.
    “I am sorry to hear that your normal date has left, Lady Threasa but I would be glad if you would exept me as an aquantase for I believe we could become fast friends.” I watched Alastar’s lips touch my small hands as his eyes closed as he did so. The electric was even more intense as I remembered. He stood looking down at me as Zeke left the area going back inside.
    “Well…. Umm…. I have nothing better to do.” He smiled straightening up. He let my hand go as it hovered there missing his. I quickly gained composuer and placed my hands behind me. He removed the cape and hat and placed it on the bench I had just occupied. His dark brown almost black hair flowing out of the hat hold nicely in the same parted way I remembered. He ran a shakey hand through it as it refused to go back with the movement. I smiled only because I didn’t want to laugh at the nervouse jerster. My hands behind my back was mine. “What does the mermaid stand for?” He asked looking at the fountain.
    “To me, it resembles freedom I can not afford to have right now.”
    “You mean from Maliki?”
    “From here all together. Mermaids can swim anywhere they please. Become their own person and not worry about what can or can not be said to people. Dress as they please only because status does not matter.”
    “The ocean is a big place.” I looked down at the stone ground only because I didn’t want to look directly at him. “However, because it is big it is also dangerous. Many other bigger fish would love to devour a mermaid therefore they will have to be careful also.” I knodded not thinking that at all. “As long as I can help it, I will not let you feel trapped, mislead or demanded of.” I looked up at him as I noticed his hand was shaking before he placed them behind him. We stood maybe a foot from each other but to me that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to feel his arms around my waist again but knew that I could not have that. “Please, show me your garden maze and we will share time and stories together.” I nodded not trusting my voise and saw a one sided smile on his handsome slightly taned face. He made a loop from his arm not speaking the invite that I knew was there in his eyes. I smiled trying to relax and linked my arm with his.
    “What do you want to know?” I asked as we walked around the fountain and further into the maze. He walked straight, one foot in front of the other. His other hand was behind his back. My arm linked to his as the other was on my hand almost hugging his arm.
    “Lets start with small basics. What’s your favorite color?”
    “Purple.”
    “The color of royalty. Good choise.” I giggled watching his face however he didn’t look down at me. He seemed to be picking up on my current mood.
    “Is yours green?”
    “I like all colors but I mostly wear blues, greens and blacks if father doesn’t mind them witch he is pretty easy to get along with.”
    “How old are you?”
    “How old do I look?” He asked then looking down at me. I felt the color rise in my cheeks and looked away at a pretend interest of a bird at the moment.
    “Well… maybe thirty.” He laughed. I looked up at him and smiled as he was shaking his head. His long hair shaking with it as I felt the strings in my chest starting to pull at my rib cage making it hard to breath.
    “Not quit that old. I am twenty six.”
    “How old do I look, then?”
    “I already know your age so it would be unfair of me to play to guess.”
    “You seem to be an honest person.” He shrugged slightly.
    “I try to be. There is no reason why I should lie or pretend I am something I am not. If I want you to be impressed I want it to be because  you like me not someone I am making up.”
    “Ok… can I ask you a questin?”
    “Anything.”
    “Out of all the woman at that party why did you want to dance with me?” Now it seemed like his turn to watch a pretend bird fly above out heads. By that time we had reached the out skirts of the maze. From there you could see the tree and the medow it stood in the middle of. He looked to the tree then back where we were.
    “Are you allowed this far?”
    “I come here all the time when I want to think.”
    “Alright.Lets go sit under the tree. Maybe one day we should picnic out here.” I smiled as he un hooked my arm and took my hand linking fingers instead and dragged my glued down foot father to the tree. It was a hudge oak tree that faned out its leaves to make a perfect shady spot under it. He lead me there nothing spoken within the small amount of time it took him to drag me there. I sat down, hugged my legs to my chest alightly, my arms hugging my knees as I straightened my dress over them. He sat close to me. His one leg straight, his other leg bent at the knee, his elbow on his bent knee as he leaned close to me. We had a good view of the castle as we sat there.
    “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.” I watched the expresions play on his face as he explained my questin. “I had known the Alstaf brother for a year but never had the privlage of setting eyes on you. Zeke said Maliki sheltered you even though he would take you to paties he never stayed long when with you. My father sent the invite for the brothers. Maliki, Jerimah and Zeke. But Jerimah couldn’t go so you were there. I watched as you desended the steps looking like a goddess who had just been allowed to see people for the first time in her life. I knew you were with Maliki so I didn’t approach. Zeke found me pretty quickly said that you were the one that wanted to go and he was there to baby sit.” He looked back at me and I couldn’t take my eyes off his beautiful blue ones. They showed the emotion that was in his voise and it matched his words perfectly. His face was almost a perfect oval, his lips full and soft. His cheek bones were very dominate as they expressed his features. His eyes were slightly slanted, oval themselves but big and aluminated. His skin was slightly taned no dought from work on his fathers farm something the Alstaf brothers never had to worry about. They had servants and stable boys to do that work. “He dared me to.”
    “Yea he gets a lot of people in trouble with his playfullness.”
    “Well, I wanted to. I knew though that if Maliki approached me I would never be able to see you again.”
    “And you wanted to?”
    “At first I was going to take the dare. Dance a song then let so. But the innocent yet playfullness you had about someone asking you to dance without knowing their name.” I laughted and pushed him lightly as he smiled even more. “Made the breath leave my mouth for a moment making my brain forget what I was actually doing and why. Then, I held you in my arms and when Maliki took you from them….. They seemed empty. I have known my share of lonelyness but while I held you the feeling was gone. Almost like a flower gone to wilt and forgotten when suddenly someone comes around seeing that this lonely flower needs braught back to life and takes care of it.”
    “But… we don’t know each other.”
    “True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know something about you. The guys talked about you all the time. Maliki always about how he was going to marry you when you were ready to grow up. Jerimah mostly stayed quiet. I havent seen much of him.”
    “No one really does unless you go up to his study and don’t you dare slam the door and spill his ink on him. He gets mad fast about that.” He laughed.
    “Yes, I have heard about your many many tantrums about him always being in there and to get out for some fun and sun.”
    “Never really works though.” I straightened my legs out and stretched. “What does your father do?” he laughed
    “You sure do jump around a lot.” I shrugged and gave him my side ways, brown eyed puppy dog look. He stired slightly as he shifted and stood. “He goes off into the trading business. I stay at home tend the animals, crops and care for my mother.”
    “You don’t speak to fondly of him.” His voise seemed to have dropped to a ruff disappointed tone.
    “I know he does it to make money to keep my mother happy. I stay home to keep my mother happy. She stars out the window sometimes and wishes for him to come home. He doesn’t see that. I stay home to see that.”
    “Is that why you feel lonely?” He looked down at me as I stayed sitting. “Well, if it will help I can help. I do my normal morning chorse… What?” He was chuckling.
    “I don’t think the men would let that happen.”
    “Well. I don’t care what they want. Its not their life.”
    “True. We will talk about it tomorrow. The sky is turning dark and I must get home before it rains. Looks to be a nice storm. Lets walk back togther so that you are safe.’ He held out his hand and I took it almost hesitantly. He linked fingers again as we walked back to the maze. Nothing was said. But I was happy as long as we were walking together. We stopped at the bench as I watched him put his hat and cape on.
    “Will you come by tomorrow?” I asked feeling excited. Almost my old exciting self.
    “If you wish it of me.” He turned to me and took the couple steps to me. I nodded.
    “I would love that very much.” He smiled. He seemed to hesitate on leaving but planted a firm soft kiss on my nose.
    “Alright. Under the tree. Mid day. We both have chorse to do first.” I nodded as he left going through the house closing the door lightly behind him. It took me ten minutes to catch my breath and sat ruffly on the bench. I went from thinking I would never see him again to spending more then half the afternoon with him.