IV

She looked at him, but he was still in the state of dreams. Three of her tactics, had already failed. She was losing hope, and had only couple of hours. He was a different person. She went for a walk, thinking about her last tactic. While walking , her foot loosened the grip and she fell down.She felt pain in her foot, followed by blood dripping out. She looked at her foot, and found a thorn stuck inside her foot. She tried plucking it out. But it was a thin, long thorn and it had penetrated deep in her foot. She started walking back, thinking it to be not that important. She reached, and saw him rubbing his eyes. As she wanted to say something , he interrupted her.

“Your foot is wounded!” said Noah, with the feeling of empathy.

She told him, she fell down while walking and a thorn punctured her foot.

“Let me have a look.” he said, holding her foot.

Noah tried to pluck it out, with the help of his nails. But was un-successful. Then, he used his teeth and this time he plucked it out of her foot. She cried in pain.

“It can be poisonous.” he said, looking at the wound, which had turned blue.

“Do you have an ointment?” he asked

“No, I don’t have.” she replied

“We need to find someone.” he said

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” she replied

As, she was going to say further, something clicked in her mind. And that was what he had just said, finding someone together.

Unintentionally, she learned a new tactic, which was associated with “emotion”. Her physical pain, was overshadowed by her mental happiness.She got, what she wanted. She was happy, was blushing while answering to his questions. She wanted to gain as much wisdom, as she could. Noah was the means, which could be used to accomplish her goal. She was listening to him, but her mind was somewhere else. When she came back out of her thoughts, heard Noah saying

“You did a lot for me. Now, it’s my responsibility to help you.”

She knew, when to deny and when to accept. At last she accepted, after denying for three times and said

“I don’t want to be a liability on you.”

Agatha used these words, because she knew that words affect more than actions. She knew, these words would come in his mind. May be not now, but after some days. Noah, was not able to find out the reason for his happiness. May be, even he wanted to be in the company of this innocent being. He was an experienced man. An experienced man always learn while committing mistakes. He knew he made a mistake. For the first time, he had felt happy after committing a mistake.

“Do you suffer from somniloquy?” she asked

“What does that mean?” he asked her.

“Speaking while asleep.” she replied

Noah knew, he had slept thinking about her. It’s only in your dreams that,you give freedom to yourself. He was unaware about the freedom, which his mind gave him, in his dreams. But, he was sure that, the freedom given to him by his dreams, was related to her. This was the reason, for asking a question to her

“What have you heard?” he asked

“Nothing” she replied

“Get ready!” “We are already late and there is a lot to cover.” she said,while putting her clothes in her bag.

He washed his face, she took her bag. Now, both the shadows were being seen travelling together. They were creating their own path. Sometimes,stepping on the moist fallen leaves, sometimes climbing huge blocks of rock and sometimes stepping on the frozen lakes. They were continuous in their journey, halting only at night or when the rain God provided hindrance in their way.

With the passage of time, the perspective of both the souls through closeness, had become same. Even the minute facial expressions and habits of both of them, had become same. While travelling, he taught her,whatever he learned throughout his life. The bond between both of them became so strong that, it was difficult to be broken. The only thing which stood between them, was his shyness.

Four months had already passed , they were travelling through the top edges of the Himalayas. The vegetation was replaced by snow. They had become habitual to whatever food, nature provided them with. Their appetite for delicious fruits which were available in the lower tracts of Himalayas, had now changed to eating leaves and roots. The four directions in which their eyes could perceive, were completely covered by thick blanket of snow.

Their bodies had turned slim, but were full of strength. They had reached the region of the Himalayas, where the storm was the most dominant phenomenon. The trees, which had earlier provided them food, were absent in this region. They had been trekking for almost three days, in search of shelter and food. The speed of their steps, was slowed down by the prevailing winds in that region. These winds were blowing in their opposite direction as if, wanted them to return back. But they were not willing to step back. Manoeuvring in the opposite direction of these winds,they reached a place which was situated on the cliff of a steep mountain.As they stepped further, saw a cave. Slowly moving ahead, both of them went inside the cave. There was a huge rectangular rock inside the cave,along with two medium sized rocks. It was a natural cave, which are common in Himalayas. This type of cave is usually formed, by strong winds grinding the huge rocks for years. The outer side of the cave was covered with snow. But from inside, it was comparatively warm. Both of them, dropped the small sticks on the ground, which they had gathered on their way. They knew that, the cave was going to be their shelter for some days.