[PRP] Oranges (Na/Sal)

[Eight]

Jingle, jangle, jingle. The sound of jewelry clinking together and jingling in a discordant cacophony was very unlike the usually controlled song of Na'ima's normally calm and almost lackadaisical walk. She was hurrying. Na'ima Saab did not hurry. Veils and scarves covered her entire head save for her eyes, their wide and worried look was the only thing that betrayed her emotion.

...Well..that and the hurrying.

She asked every horseman she passed for Salbei's whereabouts, but the ones she met were idiots. How could you not know Salbei? Or even her sister?

Where was he.

Finally she huffed and gave up, having used up all of her energy for the day and just slumping down against a wall. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back against the wall and settling down. Walking was hard work. Where was he? Had he perished? No, she refused to accept that. Where was he...  

[Enoh Love]

As the story always went, the moment she gave up was the very moment she would find whom she was looking for. Well, alright, perhaps not immediately, as that would be too easy, but shortly after - say, ten minutes later - the tall, pale horseman himself walked right past her, slow enough that his only melody was the meticulous click, clack, click of bone on floor. Not an unusual sound by any means, which typically let him pass by unmolested, as it were.

But he hadn't found her by accident, nor was their meeting chance. He had heard through the grapevine that he was being sought after, and the grapevine was an unusual thing in that nobody had ever told him directly. It had simply gotten around that a skeletal armed female was asking after a Salbei, and who was he? They hoped she found him. That was the grapevine he had heard, and it suddenly made sense, why he had seen her rushing here and there in the distance, always only a glimpse in his peripheral and a brief echo of jingling jewellry.

He had gone out of his way to find her, and imagined it would be easier the longer he left it. After all, she was too much like him; moving was an effort they never were inclined to act on. He was right of course - and he usually was - though he nearly walked past her. It was easy enough to stop in his tracks and take a step back, which was a good thing because, as previously mentioned, walking was a great deal of effort.

"Na'ima. You'll dirty your lovely bones that way." He tsked the sitting figure, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

Teasing her, as always.  

[Eight]

Where was he? She had already lost everything once already, and now she was going on twice she had left to take care of things and come back to nothing being right. It was disorienting to finally, finally settle down in a new home only to have it all taken out from under her again. The only constant she could count on was her sister and Salbei. One of them was easier to find than the other, and one of them she was closer to than the other.

Unfortunately the easier to find one was not the one she felt closer to.

A untrained observer would think Na'ima had fallen asleep or passed out from overexertion, but no. She was awake. Just recovering. Given an hour or so she would be all right to walk back to her new quarters and perhaps employ a different method in searching for Salbei or even her sister.

But before she knew it that voice reached her ears and it was better to hear than any music she could sing or listen to. Behind her veil was an unseen smile, one that still somehow reached closed eyes. He was here. Everything was okay. She could make a new house, restart her research. Hopefully this time she wouldn't be forced to restart again.

Instead of offering any kind of verbal retort she raised her arms and shook them. Sand fell from her sleeves and through the space between her bones. She then showed them to him. There, see? Still clean and pristine as the day she was born. What a good mare. But even after doing so she kept her arms out.

Waiting.  

[Enoh Love]

He watched her shake the sand from her bones through lidded eyes, his posture straight as he played the part of stern teacher, a role he had long since accepted with all the grace and dignity of someone who had nothing better to do.

"That's better, young lady." The elder horseman chided, the smile that was not on his lips was, thankfully, clear enough in his voice. At first it seemed like he wasn't about to acknowledge the way her arms remained stubbornly lifted, as he took his dear sweet time in reacting to it, though every bone in his body wanted to react instantaneously. Moving was always hard, but being left behind was always the hardest - and he was thankful, down to his twisted little core, that she was still here.

Soon, his cold, thin fingers caught her hands, squeezing her tightly as he pulled her up and against him, releasing her hands at a certain point so he could fold them around her instead, hugging her close. There was no I'm glad you're okay, or I missed you, welcome back - but there was a hug, and that spoke more than anything he could have put together in words.

"I hear you were looking for me?" He said softly into her ear, after some time had passed.

Eight

PAY ATTENTION TO ME

 

[Eight]

Na'ima waited. Though her arms grew tired, she kept them in the air in her clear but wordless demand. She didn't hear sound of anyone retreating, a good sign, it meant she didn't have to throw her bracelet at the back of his head or something. Moving voluntarily was out of the question as she really had used so much of her energy rushing about like some mad fool. It was embarrassing to admit but desperate times had called for desperate measures.

Finally she felt his hands on hers and she returned that little squeeze, aiding him in pulling her up by not remaining a dead weight on the ground. She loosed a sigh that made her veil flutter, her face finding the crook of his neck and her arms snaking around the old man, effectively making herself difficult to tell apart from his many scarves. She clung to him and continued to not utter a single word. They weren't necessary when actions spoke enough for an entire conversation. For now Na'ima basked in her mentor's presence, finding relief both in him and the sand beneath her feet; it had been too long since she had both at the same time. She had truly hated Halloween except for that one place.

When Salbei asked his question she snorted with a short chuckle. "I needed to be sure you hadn't expired from old age, as the scarelings would say," she teased affectionately. Golden, kohl-lined eyes finally opened to peer up at him through her veils. "You're the only one here I trust to give me an explanation that makes actual sense."

Enoh Love

NO

 

[Enoh Love]

"I appreciate your concern." Salbei droned sarcastically. "But worry not, my dear. I will outlive you all." A soft chuckle escaped him as he leaned back just a little bit, to get a proper look down at her. Though the reminder of the scarelings made a strange pace in the bottom of his heart ache; he missed them, as annoying as they could be.

"Mmm, I'm not sure what happened makes sense." He mused thoughtfully, though his gaze turned from her to observe the room. It looked like he was putting his thoughts together, but it was equally possible that he was simply making sure they were alone. He had a great deal to say on the matter, and not all of it fit into the current ideals of the collective group.

"But I will tell you all I know, if you would like me to." He offered, slowly unwrapping his arms from her thin frame, regaining a little more of that polite, professional distance he preferred without entirely moving away.

Eight

 

[Eight]

She chuckled at his words, smirking up at him with a raised brow. "I've no doubt of that." He leaned back to look at her and she remained still, just watching her mentor with a content sigh. This was better. She could settle down again, hopefully for the last time this time.

Na'ima nodded. "I would like that, yes. Tell me everything." She wanted no detail left out if he could help it. She wanted to hear it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. Everything. Salbei was the one person she could trust to understand what it was she wanted to know.

Enoh Love