Part II: John meets Tania
John was an adventurous young man, and had a knack for exploring the world.
He spent many summer afternoons shooting arrows at trees by the river on his family’s estate.
In the evenings he would practice swordsmanship with his father and the metal smith who lived on the estate.
When he was quite young, he trained with a wooden sword, but when he was twelve years of age, his father gifted him a beautiful steel broadsword, purchased from the finest sword makers in all of France.
He could hardly lift it at first, but quickly became an adept, and by the age of fifteen, could easily beat his father in sparring matches.
John’s father was extremely proud of his son, and knew that he would make a fine warrior someday.
John was confident, and brave, and took risks all throughout his childhood.
When he was just four years old, he left the house without telling anyone. He brought with him a basket of fruit and cheese and walked the long way to the river, where his parents found him later that evening, smiling and laughing, covered in blackberry juice.
When John was eleven, he snuck out of the big house in the middle of the night, and walked for many hours until he arrived at the nearby village.
At breakfast time, he walked into the local inn and ordered bread, meat, and beer from the bewildered Innkeeper.
He was given the breakfast, and he paid the two copper pieces for the meal.
The whole of the inn was talking about the young lad who strolled in for a meal, and soon enough word was sent to John’s father that he could be found at the inn, drinking beer.
His father gave out a hearty laugh when the messenger told him the story, and rode into town to fetch his wandering son.
At age fourteen, John had several friends from the neighboring estates, whom he would visit frequently.
They explored the forest together and hunted for rabbits and mushrooms.
They fished in the crystal clear waters of his family’s river, and would chase after deer with bows and arrows, though they never landed a shot.
One day while he was walking down the road with two of his best friends, the three of them stumbled upon a band of traveling gypsies, camped out on the side of the path.
One of John’s friends shared a warning about gypsies being thieves and murderers with John, and his other friend told him a tall tale about a gypsy stealing a baby from his mother in the local village.
John was frightened at first, but was not worried about the gypsies, as he had a bow and quiver of arrows with him, as well as a long, silver dagger.
His friends also had weapons, and the three of them skirted the camp, hiding in the bushes, and decided to get a closer look, just in case they had to rescue a stolen child.
What they saw was a great surprise to all of them.
There were four young women bathing in the river, all of them nude as the day they were born.
They were singing songs, and washing each other’s hair in the cool water.
The young men stood silent, jaws agape, and watched.
The gypsy women had black hair, and brown skin, and were laughing and singing songs of good times in far away places.
John and his friends had had many adventures in the woods together, and had seen many strange sights, but none had prepared them for how they felt hiding in the bushes by the gypsy camp.
They were spellbound, and could not stop watching the young women.
They did not hear the approaching footsteps of the hunting party that had returned to the gypsy camp, carrying a deer with two arrows in its side.
The five men approached the boys from behind, making sure to not make a sound, and grabbed them all at once.
The boys let out a welp, and were quickly bound in ropes by the deft hands of the hunting party.
They were dragged back to the gypsy camp and thrown onto the ground by the fire ring.
The hunting party was laughing and speaking in a strange language, one the boys could not understand.
They were terrified, and knew that this would surely be the end of them.
A few moments passed, and the gypsy men started a fire and began smoking from long wooden pipes.
The young women returned from the river wearing linen gowns, and carrying jars of water on their heads.
They were smiling and laughing, and suddenly changed their expression when they saw the young boys, wrists and feet bound, with their faces down in the dirt, gypsy men’s boots squarely on their backs.
The young women argued with the men in a strange language and demanded they release the boys.
After some arguing, the women began to laugh as they heard the story of their captured voyeurs.
The mood lightened, and a gypsy man flipped the boys onto their backs, and told them in French, that he would now untie them if they agreed to not run away and to stay for dinner.
The boys exchanged several looks, and quickly nodded in agreement.
The gypsy man cut the ropes that bound them, and another handed them mugs of wheat beer.
The young women were giggling on the far side of the camp, and shot many looks at the three young boys who were staring at them.
The fire was roaring, and the deer that had been freshly skinned, was now hanging over the fire on a wooden spit, slowly roasting.
John and his friends were still afraid and confused, as they thought they would be killed a few moments ago, and now were sharing drinks with their captors.
The young women started to sing a song in French, and a gypsy man pulled out a lute from one of the covered wagons.
The women were stomping and clapping in unison, as they danced around the fire, singing their song of love and war, God and the devil.
John found himself smiling as he watched the women dance, and heard the lute player make fancy trills and chords.
His friends were still frowning, skeptical, and uncomfortable.
John was happy, as he saw the harmless nature of the gypsy band, and soon enough was drinking his fourth cup of wheat beer.
He could not help but stare at one young woman in particular, as she had piercing blue eyes that reminded him of his mother.
She was singing the high notes of the harmonies, and would close her eyes for long periods as she felt the music in her heart.
John watched her dance and sing, and could not help but think of the way she looked as she bathed in the river.
He smiled as his heart began to beat heavily, and his palms began to sweat, and he felt hot.
It was warmth he had never felt before, and he wondered if the feeling was love.
As the sun began to set, and the venison began to start smelling wonderful, John realized he was drunk.
He looked at his friends who were busily guzzling more wheat beer and pulling out their knives to carve meat off the roast deer, and didn’t realize that the young woman with the blue eyes had sat on the ground beside him.
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
He was startled, and spilled his beer over his tunic.
She laughed and smiled.
“John” he said as he blushed and rubbed the beer off his tunic with his handkerchief.
She placed her arms over his shoulders, and moved her head close to his.
“My father tells me you were watching me and my sisters bathe in the river,” she said.
John’s face felt flush, and his heart beat very fast, he stuttered, as he did not know what to say.
“Did you like what you saw?” asked the young gypsy woman with blue eyes and a big smile.
John was speechless, mouth agape, and could hardly feel the ground below him.
His heart beat as if it would burst.
She kissed him squarely on the mouth, and bit his lower lip.
John felt as he had never felt before in his young life, and embraced the young gypsy with blue eyes and pulled her closer to him.
They shared a long kiss, and their eyes closed, as they felt each other.
The young gypsy woman used her tongue as she kissed John, and he nearly fell over from the feel of it.
He was very drunk, and kissing the young woman was the best sensation he had ever experienced.
The lute player never stopped playing, and the men in the gypsy band were laughing hysterically and singing drinking songs as they ate the roast venison and drank the fine wheat beer.
John forgot about his friends while he was engaged with the young woman with blue eyes, in fact, he forgot about everything but her.
After a while, the young woman, who was not as drunk as John, stood up off the ground, and led John to the riverbank.
He stumbled along behind her, holding her hand and smiling.
When they arrived at the sandy riverbank, the Moon was high in the sky, and was casting it’s light over the forest.
The young gypsy woman sat John down in the sand, and climbed onto him.
They kissed for a long time, and felt each other’s bodies with their hands.
It was a warm summer night, and the young woman stood and removed her tunic in the moonlight.
She swayed from side to side, and danced in circles, kicking her feet in the air and holding her hands above her head, grasping at the moonbeams.
John lay in the sand, spellbound, and watched her dance on the riverbank.
After some time she stopped dancing, and walked over to John.
“My name is Tania,” she told him while panting to catch her breath after dancing.
John pulled her closer to him, and they began to kiss once again.
After what felt like an eternity, and less than a moment, they stopped kissing and she lay on the sand beside him, resting her head on his chest.
The moon was low in the sky, and it was very cold at the dark hour, so they stood and walked back to the fire.
John’s friends were fast asleep, beer mugs in one hand, and roast venison in the other, by the fire.
Tania led John by the hand to a covered wagon, lifted the cloth door, and brought him inside to a small cot on top of wooden boxes and barrels.
She lay on the small cot before him, with her bare backside facing him, and he removed his wool tunic and leggings before laying beside her.
Tania pulled a woven blanket from a cabinet in the wagon, and they wrapped themselves in it.
Tania fell asleep with her head on John’s chest, and John stared at the cloth covering of the wagon for some time.
He was sure that this was love.
He fell asleep.
The next morning, the wagon was stiflingly hot.
He awoke to see Tania had already left the wagon.
John put on his clothes, and lifted the cloth door to the wagon, and stepped out into the morning air.
There was dew on the grass, and the sunrays hit them at a sideways angle, illuminating them, and giving the appearance of gemstones glittering on every surface.
The fire was still smoldering, and his friends were snoring by its side, bodies covered in dirt and beer and bits of venison.
They were holding each other, not quite spooning, but close.
John laughed a hearty laugh when he saw them, and went over to nudge them awake.
They could not be awoken with a gentle shake, and they continued to snore loudly.
John left them and went to the river, to get a drink and relieve himself.
He found Tania there, on the sandy riverbank, kneeling, and waving her arms in the air, slowly from side to side.
He walked up to her, and she stood and smiled when she saw him.
They looked at each other for a while, smiling, and saying nothing.
The river splashed gently on their feet, and the birds were singing sweet songs.
A blue heron spread its wings and took flight over the heads of the young man and the young gypsy woman.
John took her hands, and kissed both of them gently, before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her.
They walked back to camp together, and arrived to see a few of the men cooking a stew of vegetables and venison.
They sat by the smoldering fire, and Tania introduced John to the men in the cooking circle.
“Really gave ya’ a fright yesterday huh?” one man asked John as they laughed and smoked their long wooden pipes.
“Women sure are goddesses,” said another as he nudged John with his elbow and smiled a wide grin.
John ate stew from a wooden bowl with a hand-carved wooden spoon, and had a tea of pine needles and dandelion flowers.
He was very happy and content that morning.
When his friends awoke, and realized they were holding each other, they shoved each other away and quickly stood up, brushing dirt and grit off their clothes and cursing the pain in their aching heads.
As soon as one of his friends smelled the stew, he immediately felt sick and ran to the bushes to vomit.
The men laughed hilariously and John’s friend had to lie down for a while longer as his head was spinning.
“A cure for a spinning head is another mug of beer!” exclaimed a gypsy man as he poured a mug and handed it to John’s friend.
He took a few big gulps, and sat up, feeling much better.
After breakfast was over, the gypsies began packing up their camp.
John asked Tania if they were leaving and asked her where they were going.
Tania explained to John that in the life of a gypsy, they never stayed in one place longer than a few nights, as it was their way to travel on to see new sights and smell new smells and taste new tastes and hear the sounds of the world.
John was devastated, as he couldn’t imagine watching Tania leave.
His heart felt as if it was draining into his stomach, and a huge knot of pain and grief struck him in his core.
He asked her to stay with him, and she smiled at him.
“That is not our way John, I simply cannot, it is impossible.” She told him firmly.
“Why don’t you ask my father if you can travel with us for a time?” she asked him.
John’s mind flashed to his parents back home at the estate, and knew it was impossible, as he could not leave them.
“I cannot…” he said, as his gaze moved from her eyes to the ground.
She dropped his hands and lifted his chin to meet her gaze.
She kissed him, and they looked at each other for a while, not saying anything.
“Perhaps we will return to this valley next year, as we came for the midsummer festival and there will be another next season,” She said, although, in her heart she knew it was only a slim possibility.
“I will never forget when I first saw you, bathing in the river with your sisters,” said John.
“I will never forget when I first saw you, hands bound and face in the dirt under my brothers’ feet,” said Tania with a laugh.
They embraced each other, and stood in the sunlight, swaying from side to side.
They had a short kiss, and Tania told John that she had to prepare for her journey.
John asked if he could wait and watch her go, and she agreed.
Less than an hour later, the wagons were fully packed, the fire was put out with a bucket of water, and the horses were hitched up and anxious to get moving.
Tania sat in the back of one of the wagons, and John stood on the ground, his hands outstretched to her.
They heard the crack of a whip, and a call from the gypsy man at the head of the wagons, and the horses began to move the caravan out.
John jumped onto the wagon, and kissed Tania passionately, and she smiled as he bounced around on the back of the wagon.
She told him he had to get off the wagon if he didn’t want to end up far away from this place.
He gazed at her blue eyes, kissed her one last time, and jumped off the wagon.
He felt tears in his eyes as she waved at him from the back of the covered wagon, and after some distance was made between them, he shouted, “ I will always love you Tania!”
She didn’t hear him over the loud creaking of the wagon and clopping of the horses’ hooves.
It was midday, and John and his friends watched the caravan go over the hillside and disappear from sight.
They walked home, telling each other tales from the night before.
The Fire Within 