Noise

After several moments since I knocked on Vezena's door, she appeared from the room. Emotionless, she approached the chair that she normal sat upon, in order to consume her meal. I was unable to see what was going on in her head.

Silently the meal was consumed, with not a single word spoken between the two of us. Though I am not a conversational person, there was never a meal that a single word had not been spoken. Even a simple acknowledgment of the situation was uttered, if not a simple conversation.

Most of the time, I at least let her know what I was planning on doing for the day. Mentioning if I was going to town, or work down in the field. There was always something said.

The silence was deafening. I know I was wrong without planning when I should express my release Vezena from her imprisonment. There was nothing I could do to change the past. I was regretful that I was stupid.

When the meal was finished, I cleaned up the dishes. I tried my best to ignore Vezena's existence, to the best of my ability. It was hard, though, as the house was small with rooms that provided only limited privacy. No matter where I was in the house, I was able to sense her presence.

All that I could do at this time, was to proceed about my day, and finish some of the things that I needed to complete. And that is what I did. Putting out, as best as I could, all extraneous thoughts from my mind.

* * *

The day passed without the rain ever receding. The torrential downpour was ever present throughout the day, preventing either of the two of us from escaping outside of the house. Neither of us could have any true experience of solitude. Even when all that I could do for the day was done, not a single word was uttered from either of our mouths.

Darkness came about with the rain finally starting to decrease. The dinner that Vezena had cooked, robotically, provided sustenance for the body, but the meal itself did nothing for the atmosphere of the house. Neither of us new how to face this tricky setting.

With troubled thoughts we, or at least only myself, we went to sleep for the night. My thoughts actually prevented me from actually falling asleep. Wheels constantly churned in my head, never letting up throughout most of the night.

I do know that I did eventually fall asleep, at least for an hour or two. But the cathartic release that sleep gives, was not received by my mind. When I awoke on the next day, even earlier than the normal time that I wake, I was not able to relax my thoughts.

Throughout my normal morning routines, my conundrum stayed forefront in my mind. I recognized that the weather was better today, but I ignored that there was still a constant drizzle coming from the sky. I was meandering through actions that had become reflexive.

Breakfast was again eaten, while conversation was absent. We were both still acting mechanically. I think we were both afraid of disturbing the status quo.

Again, chores were done, though luckily, I was escape from the house for some amount of time. It allowed some freedom from the ever present problem that burdened me. And, it gave Vezena some time away from me, too.

Like the day before, chores were done, and then food was eaten. Night came, and it was time to sleep. And again, we each went our separate way when it was time to sleep. For two days, only four words was passed between the two of us. Nothing had been concluded in the past couple of days.

* * *

For several more days we continued on the situation of being close together, but separated by a huge divide. I continued to feel regret against how my release of Vezena fell apart. And Vezena, I had no idea what was going through her mind.

I was reluctant to broach the subject any further, and Vezena, I have no idea what was stopping her. It finally came to a head, after nearly half of month of nothing happening. With nothing progressing, something had to eventually disrupt the precarious situation.

I was turning some plates that had been ordered by Yarona, the proprietress of the village's inn. Out of the blue, I heard a yelp of pain from the house. It had come from Vezena. With having heard her cry, I rushed to the house to see what had happened.

Inside the kitchen, I saw Vezena, with blood gushing out of her finger. She had apparently cut it when she was preparing food for tonight's dinner. Even with a towel compressing the wound it would not stop bleeding.

Approaching her, I simply used my power to stop the bleeding, and the proceeded to start healing the wound. Slowly, new skin closed over top of the tip of her finger, where the wound was. In just a few minutes, it looked as if the wound had happened several months previously.

"Thank you." (Vezena)

"Don't worry, it happens. Sit down, you lost a good amount of blood, I don't want you to pass out." (Rehor)

"I'm fine." (Vezena)

"You might feel that way right now, but, please… rest. I'll clean up and finish dinner." (Rehor)

"No! No… I'll help. It's my job." (Vezena)

"It's not your job. You are a guest here. You don't have to do anything." (Rehor)

"But… but… if I don't do anything for you, I'll have to leave." (Vezena)

"What?" (Rehor)

Completely confused, I stopped doing anything at this point. Did she say that she didn't want to leave? No, I can't allow that. She had grown attached to her prisoner, and now is starting to care for me.

"You're misguided. You are now free, and allowed to do whatever you want. You shouldn't want to stay with me." (Rehor)