The Couple

Part 1

One moment he was alone and the next she was there. A better word might be "here", for she was walking directly at him, sunglasses in her hand and an invitation on her face. He gazed at her, and the invitation opened into a smile he knew he couldn't equal. As he stood up from his seat on the fountain wall she put out her hand, and for reasons he didn't understand he took it in his. The look they shared at that moment was caught by chance by a photographer, along with the intended background of a towering stone cathedral.

She said nothing with words, but he learned about her as they wafted down cobblestone corridors. In an inexplicable way he was being taught about himself, too, and was startled by the unexpected purpose in life he felt when beside her. No two hands were ever joined more tightly as they found their way to the edge of a park. She was mesmerizing - there was simply nobody else his eyes could see. The delicate sound of her feet on the path, the gentle sway of her dress in time with her body, the impossible perfection of her body...

It didn't just dawn on him, it challenged his very being. The knowledge came and it conquered. He stopped in mid stride and when she turned back to him she knew he had discovered love. As she stepped forward he brought her hand to his side and drew her close. He kissed her and she kissed him, sunglasses forgotten on the ground. Breath itself was of lesser importance at that moment, and any camera irreverent enough to glance at the couple would have been blinded. He kissed her to tell her that he loved her. He kissed her to thank her for the invitation. He kissed her to ask her to stay with him. And she kissed him to say yes.

His heart singing, he ran with her away from the shade of the tall buildings in search of sun. Together they flew towards the green fields and the blue mountains beyond. She loved him and he was unable to control the way that made him feel. Sometimes his heart hurt with the urgency of sharing his feelings with her, and every time he looked at her it actually stopped. He felt her arm catch him when he tripped over a stone as her eyes sparkled with humour. He vowed to himself that he would do the same, protecting her from anything he could.

As their pace slowed from a blast to a breeze, their thoughts began to deepen and their looks at each other were longer. They stopped on a hillside and as the heat of the day radiated off into the sky, lay down on the warm grass next to a log fence. They both made themselves comfortable for the other, and with their legs wrapped together they relaxed, his hand slowly making its way through the long strands of her delicate hair. It was quiet, and after a while the occasional pleasant swirl of wind made him drowsy. She repositioned an arm and nestled her face against his neck. The last thing he felt before falling asleep was her soft breath on his skin.

Part 2

His dreams were many and varied, but always they came to an unsettling end. Some hours later, swimming up through the depths of unconsciousness, he found that she filled his mind already. He mentally searched for her delicate weight on his chest and finding none caused an instant concern to rip him to the surface of his slumber. It was not an idle worry for as he wrapped his arms around himself against the onslaught of the freezing air, he was unable to see her. With the memory of her so real, along with his growing hunger, he shielded his eyes from the snow and began retracing their steps back to the city. After hours of stumbling through the night he felt real fear as he recognized a low hill he had passed earlier and knew he had fallen to circles. She was gone and he was lost, cold, and starving. His heart stabbed him again, now not from unexpressed love but from the horror of knowing that he had lost her. He kept walking. He would find her; he had promised himself that.

Neither cold nor thoughts left him alone on his pilgrimage - thoughts that made him anxious. Had she left because of the cold, or before it? Had the looks and touches she had given him meant as much as he had hoped? Why would she leave him asleep? Perhaps he was not right for her and he had not been all the man he could have been. If there was one thing he knew, it was that he needed to find her and prove he would stand by her. His confusion grew as amid the eddies of falling snowflakes the moon shone through and illuminated a terrifying sight.

The city was known as a place where summer reigned. It stood before him now, but did not bring relief, for it appeared totally entombed in a mountain of blue ice, stark and ugly with sharp spires and vast black cliffs. Rivulets of meltwater joined forces to create a moat of numbing death for any living thing. He stopped short and surveyed the ominous structure, and could not believe what he saw. Was he still on the same planet or was this a dream and he was still fast asleep with her? No, the frigid air told him he was awake.

Out of the white sky came a sudden sinister whisper, one that grew from little louder than the wind to a great tearing noise that he covered his ears to protect himself from. It communicated a hatred of the earth and its creatures, and in his soul he understood its meaning beyond any doubt. Some evil had stolen his angel (in his anger he forgot she was not his), and he was conscious that she was imprisoned in the frozen tower that used to be his city. He bellowed back that he would never allow anyone or anything to challenge his right to seek her love. He raged at the wind, shrieking in vain against the overpowering voice that opposed him. His voice gave out before his fury did, and he reacted by throwing himself into the glacial lake separating him from her. Despite his tenacious spirit, his strong body was not designed for survival at such temperatures, and before making a dozen strokes his right leg cramped, leaving his only choice to return to the shore. Reaching it, and threatened by imminent death, he lay down and curled into the shape of defeat, with only her face in his mind's eye keeping him alive.

A prick on his upper chest made him start. Fumbling with clumsy hands he found an earring, an exotic locket earring that could only have come from her finely shaped ear. A flash of her touch shot through his mind and he turned his thoughts toward her, the one who had finally shown him who he really was. As his senses of sight and touch became dull all he felt was the pain of losing her, and even more so of breaking his promise. Deep within him some part of him recognized that the least he could do to repay her was to dedicate his final moments to her. With the earring pressed with what little strength he had left, he focused on the radiant memories of what seemed an eternity before. He floated down the streets of the city, watched the grass blades in the park bow to her feet, and again felt the electric surge of his heart the moment he found love and saw it reflected in her face. Her face, and the lips he had not kissed. Her perfect face.

It was strange, but he felt like he was in her arms again. It must be the unpredictable nature of his fading nerves that was sending random reports to his brain. A trick. No, it could not be a trick; that would be too cruel. He stirred, and dared himself to open his eyes, just to convince himself of the inevitable lie he must be imagining. His eyes strained to focus, and he was amazed.

She, oh glorious she, was there with him! Astonished, he became aware that he was in a cavern formed by walls of ice, alone with her. She turned her head to look at him, and even as his heart raced to see her again, it sank as he absorbed the truth she spoke from her eyes; neither of them would be leaving that place. For all he knew he had been transported to her deep within that hideous ice city, surrounded by hundreds of meters of unyielding watery steel. He crawled to her side and held back tears as she reached out her arm to him and grasped his hand once more. They embraced each other, their eyes locked, and he had the exquisite sensation of having known her forever.

Her lips parted, and for an instant he wondered if she would speak. He had not spoken to her and she had not spoken to him, for they had not had a need. As he held her body close and watched in awe she slowly formed three unmatched, incomparable words.

"I love you."

His heart leapt at the sound of her voice, low yet unbroken and sweet. He wanted to sing, but chose to tell her the simple truth, the same three words that he needed to say most. His lips formed the first word, and he began to speak, but no sound came out of his throat. He tried again, to no avail. He had spent his voice entirely earlier, he remembered in anguish. What he would have given just then to purchase just those three words! He glanced at her, ashamed that he could not reply to her gift with his own. She understood, and now it was her turn to lose control of a tear, and it rolled down her cheek until finally falling and merging with the water they lay in.

Heartbroken, he collapsed and held her tight, and she responded by clutching him tighter with even greater urgency. She reached up and brought his mouth to hers, pressing their lips together in a kiss. As their worn bodies exhausted the last of their energy, the two continued their kiss. They resolved to share what life they still had with each other. Eyes closed, they listened to their heartbeats, synchronized as though from the beginning of time, giving their rhythm words in their minds.

Life, love, life, love.

Life, love.

Life.

Love.

Life.

Love.

Ice.