The Circle - Wing 1

Wing 1 - That's The Hard Part

Kobaru approached The Circle quietly. His feet appeared to be dragging a little as he stared forward past the trees thinking deeply on the past couple of days. The days have been typical with some occasional cloudy weather, but nothing too special. From the outside view, he was doing as fine as always, but yet he felt a deep feeling inside of him. He usually did, but this was one of those deeper moments.

The warmth of the fire gradually growing warmer comforted him in a motherly way. He took a deep sigh as he plopped onto one of the soft logs, damp from all the moisture. He put his elbows on his legs and held them together in a bent over position, looking at the dirt under his feet.

He sat there for several minutes, silent as a rock. His brown eyes, which typically had a sort of fire in them, were a bit gray and lifeless. He was looking far beyond the ground and into his own mind, searching for Barok to solve his issues. But, alas, he was out. He had been out since the Spring Solstice, but no one ever knew where he went. Not even Barok himself appeared to know he was gone. It was things like this that almost convinced Kobaru that Barok was just a figment of his imagination.

"Hi." A soft voice immediately brought Kobaru out of his daydream and into life. He took in a quick breath of air as he looked over at where the vice came from. Sageena sat holding her legs tight against her chest, staring into the fire. She remained straight faced as she stared past the fire as Kobaru had done with the ground just a minute ago.

"Oh." Kobaru looked back at the ground, almost disappointed. "Hi."

A few more seconds of silence passed before another word was said. "I'm sorry I'm not who you expected, but we both need a few surprises sometimes." Kobaru looked back up at Sage to find her looking at him instead of the fire, a small smile on her face. The smile added to the warm feeling from the fireplace, making Kobaru feel like he was boiling inside.

He squinted his eyes as he quickly turned to face the fire, an angrier look on his face. "How do you do that, Sage?"

A puzzled look hit her face as she attempted to understand his words. He moaned as he flopped backward onto his back, his hands above his head.

"Whenever you smile, the world around you restarts, and it's almost like everything's okay for a second. Whenever you cry, the entire world falls down and no one can speak. Whenever you have any sort of emotion, the world follows it, no questions asked, no answers given."

His bottom slid off the log as he put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up onto it. He stared angrily into Sage's eyes.

"And it's not me! I know it's not me! I'm the one always asking what happened when everyone won't let me speak, and when I find you that Sage just had a meltdown, I don't just say 'Okay, I guess I have to have one, too!' And I guess I'm the only one here who happens to notice the similarity between everyone's mood and yours!"

He was now panting, not yet done with his raid, when Sageena interrupted with silence. They stared into each other’s eyes for a while, both filled with some sort of tears that refused to fall. Kobaru's eyes were wide with a near-insanity gaze to them, while Sage's were more soft and woeful.

Sage quickly turned her head towards the fire and shut her eyes tightly. Her voice almost became a whisper as she said, "I'm sorry."

Kobaru faced forward and panted into his palms, looking at the light amount of dirt caked on them. He put them against his face as he groaned and fell onto his back again. He through his arms outward as he stared up at the stars, watching them twinkle lightly.

"Sage..." He said, his breath becoming more regular. "...what’s wrong with me?"

She opened her eyes and continued to face the fire, confused for a second. She took a while to understand, but she finally looked up at the stars and began to sort things out.

"I don't know Kobaru. Why don't you tell me?"

"Your the one who can read the stars! Tell me what my stars are saying!"

Sageena sighed as the soft smile graced her face once more. She began to feel the warmth in her heart, too.

"One of your stars has fallen, and your having trouble balancing yourself again. Am I right?"

Kobaru was silent, but the silence seemed to reassure Sage. She began to understand what was going on inside his mind, and knowing what was going on seemed to bring her a sense of peace.

Kobaru was thinking on what Sage had said. He had felt a little unbalanced, but he know of nothing that could have tipped him over. He neither felt half full nor half empty, so all he could think was 'How?'

Suddenly, a familiar voice hit him, and he became aware of what it was. He took a silent, quick breath of air as Barok's voice said, "That's the hard part."