“Doesn’t it? I used to think I would never return—perhaps not even to this country. I thought I could stay a perpetual traveler. But a traveler who never returns and never settles is no traveler at all—such a person is either a fugitive or lost.”
Or both, he silently added, taking another sip from his wine glass.
“I am presently quite glad to be back.”
The silence between them stretched, but it was peaceful. The vigilance the evening had demanded of Samuel had filled him with a restless energy. Now it started to settle, and he felt the wine, a little.
Following the direction of her outstretched arm, he looked to the sky.
If he was honest, he could barely make out the configuration of celestial objects she was talking about. Samuel felt a familiar, quiet sense of dread. The impenetrable night sky only told him how much he was of the earth, and thus how much he was at the mercy of forces that were wrought up there and strung him along, down here; the laughable speck of dust his body was to the universe. The stars demanded humility and submission, and that he struggled to afford them.
But, because she had been brave in his realm, he now wanted to be brave in hers. So he said nothing of it and stayed with his dread and changed not the subject. He regarded with a sort of reverence that Themis could be at home up there.
“Tell me what they tell you,” he asked instead. “For I think that I do not understand their language.”
Or both, he silently added, taking another sip from his wine glass.
“I am presently quite glad to be back.”
The silence between them stretched, but it was peaceful. The vigilance the evening had demanded of Samuel had filled him with a restless energy. Now it started to settle, and he felt the wine, a little.
Following the direction of her outstretched arm, he looked to the sky.
If he was honest, he could barely make out the configuration of celestial objects she was talking about. Samuel felt a familiar, quiet sense of dread. The impenetrable night sky only told him how much he was of the earth, and thus how much he was at the mercy of forces that were wrought up there and strung him along, down here; the laughable speck of dust his body was to the universe. The stars demanded humility and submission, and that he struggled to afford them.
But, because she had been brave in his realm, he now wanted to be brave in hers. So he said nothing of it and stayed with his dread and changed not the subject. He regarded with a sort of reverence that Themis could be at home up there.
“Tell me what they tell you,” he asked instead. “For I think that I do not understand their language.”
