Sidarta wondered who the person in the corner was, but didn't dwell on it. Just then, something white and furry landed on top of him. And didn't move. He wondered what to do. Meanwhile the blob of orange flame started to set the grass around them alight. Maybe he should tell her. But she seemed to be kinda comfortable where she was, i.e. on his chest. He was ok with that.
Vea was debating with herself whether she should keep her eyes tightly screwed shut and pretend that the world around her didn't exist (and thus cease to exist since this was her logic or lack thereof) or not. Opening her eyes would prove not only to be a traumatic experience but an embarrassing one at that. For one, she'd have to apologise to Sidarta for having so very graciously fallen onto him like the socially inept sack of potatoes that she was. She'd also have to ask herself such inconvenient questions as "What was that blob thing?", "Where did it come from?", "Why didn't my Inner Eye warn me?" and even "Why do I feel so comfortable squashing Sidarta like a sack of potatoes?". One, then, can understand why Vea preferred to keep her eyes tightly screwed shut. She would have stayed like that forever, and since he didn't speak, and lest he be dead because she had squashed the life out of him, Sidarta didn't seem to mind. Sadly, fate had other plans. The smell of burnt grass sent her scrambling wide-eyed off Sidarta's chest. Fire! And she had almost jumped right into it. She backed away frantically into what seemed to be a wall. She wondered briefly why a wall had suddenly materialised in the middle of the courtyard until she realised that it wasn't a wall at all, but Sidarta. She froze suddenly, dazed. Her heart was beating so quickly she thought she'd faint. It didn't help that she had just spotted a mysterious stranger chuckling to himself. Could things get any stranger? "What do we do now?" she half-whispered, her eyes still wide like saucers.
"What do we do now?" Sidarta's Inner Eye suggested that he do something gallant, like save the girl from the roaring fire, right now. In fact, it went on when Sidarta did nothing, now would also be a good time to save her. Sidarta knew exactly what to do that instant. He set his plan in motion and tapped Vea on the shoulder:" Hey, the fire's only over there, there's a way round it." He pointed to the rather large gap behind him. " Don't worry." He smiled at her, hoping that he didn't look patronising, and ambled off through the gap into the dark saying :"Follow me." The flame at the end of his tail was getting brighter as he walked away a little, out of the fire's way, and waited for Vea to catch up.
Don't worry. Don't worry?! A mysterious stranger was chuckling, the courtyard was burning, and here he was telling her that she shouldn't be panicking? She thought her blood would boil just then. But at the same time she admired Sidarta. For one, he had an idea of what to do. And so she followed him, without worrying. "Now what?" she asked softly, once they were out of the fire's way.
If Vea thought that Sidarta had an idea of what to do then she was seriously wrong. Getting out of the fire's way marked the end of Sidarta's fabulous plan. Luckily for him, his Inner Eye was there to step in, and get them clear. It set off a thought which wriggled it's way round the various bits of dust which clotted up Sidarta's mind and reached the small 'aware' part of him. There it transmitted it's message and clung on as the cogs began to turn. Several minutes passed. Sidarta suddenly sprang into action, and ambled off towards the nearest building of the university, hoping Vea would follow. He vaguely watched other students put the fire out.
Vea didn't think anything. Vea was too busy watching the fire's progress with raptured attention. She was almost sad that the students were putting it out. After all the fire was what had made her evening so exciting and it had been and experience she had share with another 'dragon, for once. No, really, she didn't think she would have minded if the fire had burned down the whole school. She turned to ask Sid if he wouldn't have minded either, but he was gone. She could still see his retreating form, and so she did something totally out of character. Without a second though, without consulting her Inner Eye, she ran after him. "Sidarta! Wait. Please." However, the sudden burst of courage wherever it had come from, disappeared as soon as she had reached him.
Sidarta turned at the sound of Vea's voice, although he didn't catch what she had said. "What is it?" he replied. He stood alone in dark, his tail burning bright, chasing away the shadows around him. His eyes were watching her, he was aware of his surroundings for once, more than he had been all evening in fact. He was suddenly glad that she had been there, despite having pushed him off the bench (he could still feel the bruises). 'Yes,' he thought,' I am glad that she was there.'
It was there again. That wonderful and mysterious strength that led her to do things out of her character. When Sidarta looked at her like that, his eyes filled with gladness, she no longer found it hard to gaze at something other than her feet or the dirt beneath them. She no longer was aware of the fact that she wasn't a social butterly. Their first encounter, at the benched, had already been symbolic, in a way, of the changes that her meeting Sidarta would have on the way she saw the world and on the way she was. First, the out of character pushing of Sidarta off the bench. Then the wild chase after his retreating form. And now, this unknown force, this unknown quantity pushed her to be more reckless than ever before... "Erm... I just wanted to say that I'm glad that you were there." she declaimed softly.
Sidarta wondered why she was speaking so softly, he couldn't hear a word she was saying. He asked his Inner Eye for new directions:'where do I go from here?' he thought purposefully. It decided to be mysterious for once and told him to do something useful. He sat down. Something more useful than that. He turned to Vea and said in that sliky, low voice of his :" Do you want to watch the fire? I always find it relaxing, hypotnotic." He stared at the still raging fire to prove his point. The twirls of the rising smoke, the frantic students trying to put it out, the snaking path of the fire towards the rest of the university....
He didn't seem to have heard what she had so painstakingly uttered, but it didn't matter. That low and silky voice of his was like music to her ears, as she sat herself lightly besides him, in a way quite opposite to that with which she had previously plopped herself like a sack of potatoes onto his bench. She sighed delightedly, taking the bittersweet risk of resting her head against his shoulder in such dettached manner that nobody could have accused her of premeditating the act. "I wish they didn't have to put it out..." she mourned soflty, but loud enough this time to be heard.
"Hmm" murmured Sidarta back, trying to join in the game of 'who can speak the lowest?'. The flames rose in front of them again as the students worked frantically on, finally mastering the fire. He could feel the weight of Vea's head on his shoulder and realised that he was glad that she had stuck around. After all, he had nearly walked out on her twice. He felt his eyes droopy and he drifted off to sleep, still sitting upright on the grass, bathed in the warm light of the dying fire and Vea's sweet scent. He whispered: "Join me in Fronima Vea? Meet you by the purple tree." into her ear and was dead to the world.
How did all these wonderful ideas occur to Sidarta? A little trip to Fronima sounded like the perfect continuation of a lovely evening. The way the dying embers bathed the surroundings in a soft glow already made it all seem like a wonderful dream, one that she would never want to wake from. And her head, resting so comfortably against her new friend made everything feel so... Right. She didn't think she could have come up with anything more romantic for a date than to travel together to the kingdom of dreams. Not that they were really on a date. Sidarta had already departed and she wouldn't keep him waiting long. With a contented sigh, Vea gentle pressed her eyelids together and let herself drift far from the background buzz of students. She could already begin to make out the silhouette of purple trees... The End.
