Symbiotic

            ``Are you comfortable?`` I heard him ask me. By the sound of his voice I knew he was still lingering in the archway that led into the hall and also the room that had been made prepared for me. I wanted to answer him, but I couldn't find my voice. My eyes stung with the warm-swell of tears attempting to spill down my cheeks. This room was spacious, much more area than I would need, or would require. The floors were a rich marble with silver lining, polished to the mockery of a mirrored glass. The towering pillars were carved in a spiraling pattern, it made you follow the design upward to the roof where specs of jade and sapphire painted a beautiful mural of waves and ocean, ocean and waves, so if you laid down at night and watched the ceiling, the flickering dance of the fires would give the impression of sailing along some jeweled ocean of mystical magnificence.

        My things had been moved here, as per request, but it was not simply that he had seen them moved personally, but the care to attention in which it was done; a perfect match as to how I had placed them before in my own chambers at the Blushing Bride. My hands were on the mantel, where my fingertips idly brushed the golden intricacies and gems of the decoration on the sheathe to my dagger; a small token, one of many that I had collected over the time span of my woven life. But my eyes were not on the finely crafted sheath, nor the curvature of the blade which slept peacefully within its cover; a dagger that was never used.. other than that one time.

    I blinked slowly, held my eyes closed, wishing away my own tears and opened them back up. My vision was blurred by the sudden denial of leaking memories that dared to spill from the corner of my eyes. I was still looking past the bed, past the balcony, and over the tops of other towers and into the great green planes that rolled on into the forest line. This view was new to me, as was the bed, and the balcony; he had asked me if I had wanted to bring my old bed, but I had refused. It was not who I was any more, and certain—memories were best left behind along with the Blushing Bride. Deep red silks covered the bed with matching pillows and woven golden threading on the edges—framing the red so carefully within. I had not asked for red, but I knew it was picked by him. It was a color he said suited me, and it was a color I did not mind to have within my decor. Oh the bed looked lush, just a sea of promises of undisturbed slumber; where the only insult would come of sleeping in such a bed clothed could make one feel silly for doing so. I had yet to even test the bed; I felt the breeze roll over the balcony, tumble the beautiful gossamer curtains, it was cool with the sweet aftermath of the midday's warmth. The white in my hair plumed past my blurred sight, and I felt the tips of my black hair in the back touch across my spine.

    I sighed but it was filled with a shaky expression of content. I nodded, finally, before I heard my own voice. It sounded small, weak, trembling at first—foreign to the sensitivity in which I felt within, and carried through, though it was my voice that betrayed what I wanted to willingly express. ``Yes my King, I shall be.`` I had only planned to say Yes, but the following words that left me came without my recognition. I gave him my back, he had seen me cry enough times in the past, this wasn't a memory I wished to leave imprinted within his mind after I was gone; so I never turned. I suspect he plainly nodded his head, kept those strong, scarred features of his neutral and just watched me with that burning blue blaze in his eyes that he was so recognized for having—till I heard him turn and walk away.

    My eyes shut in a panic and tears fell. I felt the trembling in my shoulders which I tried to still, but I was not the warrior here, I did not win wars, not even the ones against my own body.. I stood there, in silence, and wept. Wept with emotions behind each tear, but yet—I knew I was smiling with trembling lips as tears trailed down over my cheeks.. Why was I smiling? Because I was free now, and soon.. free again I would be, but of this life.

The gentle sound was acknowledged by my ears even through the faint orchestra of the city life below and the market place my windows and parapet loomed over. Lifting my head with an instinctual brushing of my hair, my fingers combing it to the side and slipped it behind the shell of my ear so I could better glance towards the windows where the sound had presented itself. There, I saw it. Perched, turning its head one way, then another. Hopped right along the half-wall to pause, look around and hopped again. It was a brilliantly colored and lively Blue Jay. The sight of it alone allowed my smile to linger as I beheld its movements and listened to its calls. A solitary tear visited with the promise of falling free from the tip of my nose when the back of my hand brushed it free and I turned myself soundlessly to better observe my aviary caller.

What brilliant azure plumage decorated this bird. Elegant, regal, its darling grace filled me with a warmth I did not know my own soul had been parched for. My eyes followed it as my mind wandered on a momentary voyage set loose by what I would assume to be this bird's daily adventures; flying from tree to tree, branch to window sill, chasing the wind and merging with the sky, singing with the sounds that surround us and seeking plump worms and silly bugs to feast on. I stifled a childish laugh that almost tore free from me, both my hands raised up to press fingertips over my lips as my eyes squinted with the unreleased giggles that now silently tickled at my core. I was never within sight of the Blue Jay, even if it was a few mere feet from where I stood, covered by the inner gloom of my room behind the fainting billowing of the gossamer curtains; a small gasp left me as I watched the Blue Jay dive from the parapet like a blue bolt with one final call in its hasty departure and as it did so, I do not know what made me think of.. I too then was in motion! Rapidly turning and I was at the archway then the lengthy and marvelous hall, “Wait!” I called out to my King who was nearly at the end of it. My voiced protest to his departure was heard and he turned, my momentary pause was prolonged by the sharp gasps of air I was taking, even though the distance had been short, this felt paramount. I lunged into a run, my arms reaching outward, stretched out before me as the distance shortened and lessened with each rapid step my bare feet took. The confused expression upon his features was ignored by me, even when I reached him and I collided with him! He didn’t even flinch as I made full contact with him, using his form as a barrier for me to come to a complete halt! My arms tried to rope around him and I hitched a content-filled sob, turning my head upward with a messy tear stained face and a smile that reached my eyes. “Thank you.. Thank you for always being there, thank you for being here now, letting me be here now, for letting me be free these last moments..” I felt like I was blabbering my words as I felt his much larger coarse hands come up and cup my face. My damp tear-washed cheeks now in the palm of my Warrior-King’s hands. His blue eyes held a tenderness and an understanding and he kissed my forehead with a nod.

“I, am thankful for you, Saisha,” He said, with his lips to my forehead. I knew what he was speaking of; that night. My dagger had stopped an assassin from taking my King’s life when he slept, but I had intervened and it had been my weapon, which I was not supposed to have that ended up buried into the attacker’s heart, interrupting the attempt to slay my King. I broke into another set of violent sobs and nods while his arms enclosed around me and he embraced me in silence, idly rocking me side to side as I closed my eyes and shakily sighed as I rested my head against his chest.

Who would have known such a bond of gratitude and admiration could have emerged between a King and a Whore? Certainly not I, but I am thankful for it.