Origin of the Body (2 page)

But I digress, my main reason for writing is that I feel like I’m about to explode with excitement and I have nowhere to vent my feelings but onto these sorry, good for nothing pages.  Last night, well after midnight, as my parents were saying goodnight and going to bed, a stranger arrived in the camp.  After a brief chat with dad, he made his way to the fire, where we were dancing around, singing, screaming, chasing each other around the flames, the alcohol’s sorcery making its effect plain.  Anyway, Brunel (hilarious, short, gay, from Wild Fire - all you need to know) was chasing me and I ran straight into the new guy.  He caught me, and when I looked up, I found the fiery, toffee eyes of a man whose name is Jeff looking indulgently down at me.  We both burst out laughing as he set me back on my feet, then he casually draped an arm around my shoulders and walked me to the fire to join the others.   We polished off the rum (naturally) but by that time it was three in the morning and too late for him to put up his tent, so he bunked in with me - all totally innocent I assure you.  However, I woke up this morning to find my back to his chest, his arm across me, his hand stroking my arm, and my energy screaming.

I rolled over, my face invading his personal space and said, ‘morning’.  He raised what can only be described as a flirtatious eyebrow, smiled, kissed me on the forehead and then got up and left without so much as word in my direction.  He at least threw me what I’m calling a ‘to be continued’ smile as he departed back to the fire for some early morning coffee, but I mean really, talk about infuriatingly exciting.  Maybe Evie was right after all…although I don’t think he’s from the Wild Lands...

9th July, 1331.

At last. Success.  So it’s taken me two weeks but it finally happened.  He seems to give me a wide berth when mum and dad are around, I suppose he’s scared he’ll be thrown out of the travelling party, but yesterday mum and dad were invited for dinner at the Wild Lands residence of some Councillor or other, so left us all to it for the evening.  Jeff and I were cleaning up after supper, down by the stream, well out of sight of the others, and he just did it.  He walked straight up to me, stopped, bent his head down towards mine, looked at me with brooding eyes, took my head in his hands and kissed me.  Naturally I dropped the tray I had been carrying and kissed him back, but alas only briefly as Brunel decided that was the best moment to come and find me for a card game.  Luckily he called out from the top of the hill before we were in view, but the tension now is like nothing I ever thought could exist.  My heart feels like it’s going to break through my rib cage, my energy is so high I feel like I’m skipping along on air and I can’t stop stealing glances at his tall, rangy physique and into his luring eyes.  Oddly, his hands are his most mesmerising part, purposeful and powerful; the way they pulled me to him…I think I’m going to burst.

10th August, 1331.

SO. BLOODY. INFURIATING.  So it’s been another month.  We’ve been in the most romantic places on the planet; Wild Water, where the waterfalls seem to come from the sky, mist makes you see the world through a dreamy haze, a plethora of secluded caves and rivulets to explore; Wild Fire, where lava flows as the rivers do in Water, a dangerous place where the unsuspecting traveller could at any moment be spat on by an angry passing stream, a place where it would be so very easy to sneak of and get lost in the complex web of hot pools and steam vents; and now we’re in Wild Sky, where there are ghostly lights in heavenly colours that flit and play across the sky at night.  But Jeff has barely spoken to me since the kiss.  I catch him looking every now and again, but every time I do he quickly looks away.  And of course now Brunel has realised there’s something wrong.  We went to toast marshmallows over a lava pit before we left Wild Fire and he just came right out with it.  He said we should both stop messing around and get on with it, as even my parents must have noticed the tension by now!  But the problem is, I would just get on with it, if only Jeff would too.

Brunel thinks I should get him drunk and pounce on him, of course.  But what if he doesn’t really like me like that?  What if I make a total idiot of myself?  Surely if he liked me he would do something?  And he did do something, a MONTH ago, but nothing since.  Maybe he hated the kiss?  Maybe he thought he liked me and then changed his mind?  But if so, why does he keep looking at me?  I wish Evie were here, but then she would probably be in Brunel’s camp…I just don’t know what to do.

11th August, 1331.

Bliss! He kissed me again!  So last night Brunel (the darling Brunel) suggested Jeff and I come with him to this ledge someone told him about that boasts the best view of the lights; uninterrupted views across the countryside, the horizon seeming to stretch forever.  So we went at sunset, naturally taking with us a good supply of dandelion wine (a Wild Sky speciality).  Brunel stayed for no longer than ten minutes all in all.  He poured us all a glass of wine, drank a couple of sips, said he suddenly felt ill and left us to it.  If Jeff realised this had been the plan all along (which let’s face it, how can he not have), he didn’t say a thing.  Instead, he looked me in the eye for the first time since the kiss and tapped the ground next to where he sat.  I placed myself down next to him, he put his arm round me, and we watched the sunset in silence, both marvelling at the lights that crept into the night and danced across the sky when the sun disappeared below the horizon.

After a while he turned his head towards me and kissed my hair, and my energy literally leapt in response.  I met his toffee eyes, the lights casting shadows across his handsome face, so I couldn’t fully read them.  All I could think to say was, ‘why have you been ignoring me?  It’s been driving me mad.’

‘I know,’ he said, pulling his eyes away to look back at the spectacle in the sky.  ‘It’s been driving me mad too.  But we can’t do this.  I’m not who you think I am and I can’t commit to you.’

‘Who do I think you are?’ I laughed at the melodrama as well as the upfront and frank mention of commitment.

‘A traveller?  A trader looking to make his fortune?’

I laughed again.  ‘I’ve been out here for months now and I’m afraid you fit neither one of those profiles.  You’re way too purposeful to simply be a traveller, I saw you trying to barter for some chocolate the other day which tells me you’re no trader, and you don’t hail from any of the lands we visited so far.  Your mannerisms and quirks are familiar to me and yet alien, because they’re the tell-tale signs of an academic; my parents are prominent within the Temples remember?  I’ve grown up surrounded by people like you.  But I’ve never seen you in Empire, so I’d say you’re from Kingdom.  You’re a Body, but you’ve got a good bit of Spirit in you too, like mum.  But you’re not really like my parents, so I’d guess you’re from the new generation they talk about in both excited and hushed tones; more radical, more fanatical, more volatile, more dangerous, not willing to toe the Descendants’ party line like the older generation of academics and Councillors.’

He was clearly surprised at my appraisal.  ‘You seem to be more astute than I gave you credit for.’

‘Have you met my parents?  They’d be inconsolably disappointed if I were anything else!’

He suddenly looked worried.  ‘So you think your parents know who I am?’

‘Of course.  I mean, they may not know exactly who you are and why you’re here, but they know in general who you are.  If I’ve worked it out, then they definitely have.  Why?  What are you trying to hide?  Why are you here?’

He took a long deep breath before opting for honesty.  ‘I’m with the Institution…’

‘Really.’  He certainly peaked my interest with this bombshell.

‘You’ve heard of them?’

‘Who hasn’t?’

‘Anyone who doesn’t have two prominent academics for parents I should think,’ he said it defensively, so I backed off a bit.

‘Yeah, sorry, I forget.  So why are you here?  Obviously something to do with mum and dad?’

He paused, wrestled, although not too hard, with what he should tell me, and in the end just came out with everything (or at least I think he did).  ‘I was sent here by the Institution to see your parents, to talk to them about our cause and see if they’d be interested in helping us.’

‘Helping you with what?’

‘I don’t really want to go into specifics.’

‘Well have you spoken to them yet?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because the right moment hasn’t presented itself yet.’

‘You’ve spent loads of time alone with them, how could the right moment not have cropped up by now?’

‘The right moment isn’t just to do with them.’

‘Cryptic,’ I said, mocking him flirtatiously.

He raised one eyebrow.  ‘It’s also to do with you.’

I blushed, bright purple, thank the Gods it was dark.  ‘What does that mean?’

‘Once I’ve spoken to your parents I won’t need to stay, and I don’t want to leave yet.’

‘Really?’ I said smiling, ‘and why is that?’

‘I think you know,’ he said, lifting his hand to my neck and pulling my lips to his.  We kissed for ages, pulling apart every so often, just to change our minds and start kissing again.  My energy was soaring, and I could feel his heart pounding through his chest.  When we did finally pull apart, we lay on the ledge, entangled, watching the lights.  I woke up the following morning to find him still there, gently stroking my hair.  We returned to camp, stopping by the tiny trading post first to pick up some pastries for breakfast.  This way, if anyone asked where we had been, we could just tell them we got up early to get breakfast for everyone.  Not that the ruse mattered anyway; Jeff didn’t let go of my hand until we were standing by the camp fire, kissed my cheek playfully as I went to get some mugs and draped his arm around me as we sat on the ground, leaning back against a straw bale eating breakfast.

Brunel’s mouth actually fell open as he emerged from his tent and saw us.  ‘So I take it you two had a fun night?’ he said provocatively, helping himself to a pastry.  Neither one of us answered, but Jeff pulled me into his chest and rested his chin on the top of my head, smiling suggestively in Brunel’s direction.

Mum and dad both did comedy double takes as they joined us at the camp fire, but luckily they had the good manners not to say anything.  They did however throw a raised eyebrow at each other when they thought I wasn’t looking.

Anyway, bliss, bliss, bliss and again, no one to share the details with, apart from Brunel, but I don’t think he really counts; he’s just disappointed the story is so tame.

1st September, 1331.

It’s been three weeks of walking on air; romantic strolls, secluded campfire dinners, sleeping under the stars, and then today the illusion shattered and I came crashing back down to the ground.  A letter was delivered for Jeff to the trading post we’re staying at.  He wouldn’t show me the message, but it was from the Institution and the gist was that he had to get back to Kingdom as soon as possible.  He looked almost scared as he burned the note in the fire and immediately sought out mum and dad to have the talk with them he had been putting off for so long.  Shortly afterwards, there was shouting, dad could be heard telling Jeff in no uncertain terms he was no longer welcome and then mum emerged, looking strained, to come and talk to me.

She led me to a swinging bench suspended from a tree, a feature to be found all over Wild Wood, where we’re currently staying.  ‘Clarissa,’ she started, pushing a long strand of my strawberry blond hair back behind my ear, ‘do you know why Jeff is here?’

I nodded, ‘he’s here because the Institution sent him to see if you and dad would help them.’

Mum was obviously shocked at both the honesty and content of my response.  She concentrated for a few seconds on getting some momentum going with the swing before responding. ‘Yes, it would seem that is the reason.  Do you know what that means?’  She asked me calmly, evenly.  Mum was always so level headed, unlike dad.

‘Not really.  I know they are a group of young academics who have new and different ideas, but what they means in reality, I don’t really know.  To be honest, I thought you guys were intrigued by the Institution, the only times I’ve heard you discuss it, you seemed excited about them, but the shouting would indicate otherwise.’

Mum nodded.  ‘I can see how it could have come across like that.  The Institution doesn’t just have different ideas; they pursue radical concepts; they’re constructing what most would consider a dangerous philosophy.  They want to overthrow the Descendancy and set up a new political system, to forget about sending back the relic, and create a world where we ignore the higher order, those who created us, those who sent us the relic to test us and free us.  Since Peter’s birth into the Body line, and the corresponding dip in energy, their cause has grown stronger, finding support from those who think the prophecy is now broken.  It’s whispered that Peter himself associates with them.’  Mum looked so sad when she told me this, I stopped the swing and hugged her.  ‘Anyway, needless to say, dad and I are full supporters of our current system and strong believers that the current Descendants will find a way to send the relic back.’

‘Of course you are.  The Body Descendant is my Godmother for goodness sake.  Christiana is one of your closest friends.  Why did the Institution think you’d be interested in helping them?’