Agueda

The carriage jolted to a stop. From somewhere under the cover sheet a thud followed by an 'Ow!' was heard. A hand emerged from under the material and pulled it back revealing the long, white-clad figure beneath. Agueda wriggled out, rubbing her forhead.

Now awake, she stretch out her legs, which had been curled up beneath her, and rubbed them hard to help the circulation return. Looking around she took in her surroundings, having been too tired to do so when she had first clambered in.

The carriage was small but, since it was only occupied by a few empty crates there was more than enough room for Agueda. The ceiling was too low for her to stand up but she had managed to sleep reasonably comfortably. The wood on the floor, walls and ceiling wa slightly warped and, in places, had been completely replaced with thick cardboard or MDF. This left large gaps and so when she had crawled in at Parun Station it had been cold and draughty. Now, inexplicably, it was unbearably hot and stuffy inside the carriage.

The tingling in her legs had soon subsided so she shuffled on her hands and knees over to the doorway. When she reached it, she peered out through a gap between the door and frame. And gasped.

Where was she? Stretching towards the horizon and more miles in either direction, the ground was dry and dusty with no sign of any life; no vegetation, no buildings, no other train lines or means of transport and no water. Hadn't the train been headed for Tamucu? Wasn't she travelling towards the most vibrant and exciting city in Parun? How had she ended up here? Where was here?

Questions continued dancing round her mind. She shook her head, as if to shake them off, and whisps of her hair danced about her face. It was too short now to push behind her ears, despite the fact she'd been growing it since she left the Molvidr school.

She examined the door for a while. She found a handle which she lifted up and pulled.

Locked.

Agueda mumbled under her breath and searched for an alternative exit. She found a small trap under a crate in the middle of the carriage. After a few sharp tugs it opened and she pinned it up with her elbow.

Once her feet were on the ground, she scrambled out from underneath the carriage. She looked up and down the length of the train and scanned the horizon.

Where was she?

It was then she noticed. Yes, the carriage was the one that she had originally crawled into, but the train was different!

Her carriage was second in line behind the train and she had scrambled out on what would have been the driver's side. The carriage in front of hers was almost identical but the train was what really caught her attention. The train that had been attached to her carriage at Parun had been a very modern train. Everything about its design had said functional and economical. This train was like a work of art. It's green metallic surfaces gleamed in the sunlight, the chrome and brass embelishments had obviously recently been polished. Its chimney towered above her proudly. This was a locomotive from an era where train travel had been exciting and romatic. Agueda almost felt it was a shame that it had to tow these old wooden carriages.

She could also see now why the train had stopped. Part of the panelling on the side of the engine had been opened up and behind it Agueda could make out two legs in blue overall trousers and black shoes, although the shoes may have been black due to the fact that they were firmly planted in a large puddle of oil.

She headed towards the legs. As she approached she heard low mumbling from behind the panel. The words were still inaudible to her even as she came close and stood right beside the open panel. From the waist upwards, the owner of the legs was still stuck firmly inside the train. The sounds of wrenching and grinding could be heard inside. Presently, after a great metallic clang, the top half of a man emerged from the train. Seeing Agueda standing there, he jumped, spraying small droplets of oil across the sand.

''Gud Lor', Missy! Ya near give me heart attack, thar! Fright-a soul outa me!''

It was true that, although tired, hungry and in possesion of a thumping head, Agueda was still a terrifying sight to the old train driver. Not least because she was a good two foot taller than him.

''I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you'' Agueda replied, although through the heavy drawling dialect, heightened by shock, it had been difficult to understand exactly what the man had been complaining about.

''Aye, well..'' the man said, and ran his hand over his beard, smearing oil over it. In fact, there seemed to be no area of the man that was not covered in oil: it stuck in blobs on his glasses, it rested in his wrinkles, it was streaked across his neck, large patches of it were on his back and chest and triclkes of it ran down his trousers to the puddle at his shoes.

''Whacha do 'ere, anyhu?'' he asked Agueda.

''I'm not entirely sure myself'', she replied, ''I was under the impression that I was heading towards Tamucu when I crawled into that carriage...''

''Whar?'', she the man, ''Tamucu? In't never hard o' it.''

''It's in Parun.''

The paused for a moment, the his eyes lit up

''Ah, now I were thar. I pick up some ol' carriages from t'main station thar.'' He looked at her incredulously.

''So, you crawl'n in, slept'n sixteen hours and wi'out knowin' the train change? Har!'' and slapped his thighs, sending more oil spinning in Agueda's direction. She sidestepped gracefully to avoid dirtying her white skirt.

When the man had finished laughing, he wiped his eyes and ran a hand through his fine, grey hair. More oil smeared.

''So, you runnin'? Got the law on ya tail? Or p'raps you broken too many hearts whar ya come from?''

Agueda shook her head.

''My purse is too small for my itchy feet, is all.''

The man looked disappointed. Agueda suspected the sense of romance and adventure evident in the train persisted in this man too.

''Where are we?'' Agueda asked.

''Nowhar!'' she the man, holding out his hands as if to display his surroundings. ''Climb up front. I drop ya off at nex'un.''

Agueda thanked him gratefully and then asked, ''Could you open the carriage for me so I can get my things?''

''Faar sure!'', came the reply, and they walked back to the carriage together. When they reached it, he pulled out his pocket (remarkably oil-free... untill now) a large bunch of keys. Flicking through them he came across a long square brass key. He fitted it in the padlock, which had hindered Agueda's progress previously, and turned it to the left. The lock sprang open and he pulled back the sliding door on the carriage.

''I'll go fire 'er up.'' he said, as she clambered back inside, and headed back towards the open panel. She shuffled back towards where she'd been sleeping and rumaged under the cover sheet. When her hand came back out it was holding a small canvas bag.

As she slung it onto her back, she heard the door sliding behind her, and the ominous click of the mechanism in the door shutting.

''Hello again, Agueda.''

The voice had come from behind her. Snapping her head around, Agueda saw him. He sat cross-legged on the floor, one elbow on each knee, the index finger of each hand extended with his chin resting on his finger tips. He wore a long, grey fitted overcoat that fastened high around his neck and reached down to his knees. His trousers were white, the hems remarkably free of sand, and hung long and lose down to his shoes. His expression was, as always, just enough to portray a character and not enough to show an emotion.

''Lox!’’ she gasped.

He raised one eyebrow, disturbing the perfect symmetry of his face.

''Surprised to see me?’’ he asked.

Realising her mouth was still open, she clamped it shut, but her confused expression must have remained because he tilted his head to one side, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly in a symmetrical smile of amusement.

Agueda was shocked to see him here. Of course he'd been following her - she'd been aware of his presence ever since she left the Molvidr School, and she'd spoken to him many times when she'd stopped at towns on her travels - but she hadn't realised...

''...Just how closely I'd been following you?'' he asked, finishing her thoughts. Although Agueda noticed from his tone that it was not really a question.

''I thought you only tracked me from town to town. I didn't realise you were following me in transit too.''

There was a long pause.

''I knew you'd bore quickly of that other town'', he said, moving his head back to its original position to form a perfect knee-head-knee triangle. ''I was expecting you to leave when you did. You've become rather too predictable.''

''Don't pretend your skills in predicting my movements have nothing to do with you reading my head!'' she replied, somewhat more fiercely than intended. She couldn't help it. Something about him just put her on edge.

''Then don't pretend you haven't been reading mine'', he answered calmly. ''Did you really think I wouldn't notice you sneaking around in there?’’ His eyebrows lowered in disapproval. ''You know you shouldn't.''

Something inside her hollowed out, but determined not to show it, she turned to face him and stuck out her chin.

''Lox, and I know you want something from me. But know this: whatever it is I won't give it to you, because I don't like you.''

''You know you will because you want to. All this...'', he motioned with his left arm in a perfect circle to his surroundings, ''This adventure and travel and running away. It will not give you what you want.''

There was nothing in his tone that suggested any concern or care, or, in fact, any emotion. He had merely stated facts. Facts which had made Agueda uneasy. Before she had time to formulate a comeback, he had changed the subject.

''Your hair is longer'', he said, and he spent a few more brief moments observing it. Then, quite unexpectedly, a look of pity glinted in his eyes and he lowered his head slightly.

''Do not deceive yourself.'' was all he said before disappearing out of the sliding door.

Agueda remained there in a daze for several minutes, trying to take it all in. So, Lox had been following her more closely than she had originally thought. Why did this shock her? She should have known he'd be so thorough as to not let her out of his sight. And she'd always known he'd been there, and yet his presence had never felt threatening, nor had she felt safe under his watchful yet invisible gaze. He rarely approached her, and when he did, she was usually about to leave a town and was feeling so despondent or uneasy that he didn't get much information out of her. If it were information that he wanted. Well, what else could it have been? All her possessions were in this small bag, and she was sure he could have easily stolen it from her rather than following her around the whole time. But his mind power was so strong that surely he would have forced information out of her by now.

Her mental powers weren't as good as his, she knew that. He had so much discipline in controlling it. His technique was flawless. Although he had still been surprised when she'd marched straight up to him in a bar and boldly said, ''Please stop following me, Lox'' before turning on her heel and walking straight out. He knew instantly that she had been reading him for his name and what he was doing there, and had since been very cautious of his thoughts when he was around her. So disciplined.

She frowned. She felt as if something was staring her in the face but she couldn't quite see it.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of two great steam engines firing up and a noisy whoop from the old train driver. She clumsily shuffled out of the carriage. Glancing around, she couldn't see Lox, but she knew he was there, and he always would be. If only she knew why.

For the second time that day the train jolted to a stop. Agueda stepped out of the train and, after a messy wave goodbye from the old driver, headed off into the new town. It consisted only of a church, a pub, a few houses with large vegetable patches and a jetty labelled ''The Great Main Port!'' with two dinghies and a small clipper bouncing on the waves nearby. There was also a large wooden shed next to the pub.

The buildings were all made of something that looked and felt like paper or velvet and usually only had one room per floor, but up to six or seven floors with stilts two feet long between them. Lots of them had pale yellow or pale pink eves, which made then look like tiered wedding cakes. All except for this one wooden shed, which was long and wide with low roofs.

The driver had assured her this was the only habitable place along the trainline. Despite being in the desert, the ground here was very fertile, so many people grew their own food. He had told her, due to some ancient war between two magic peoples, there had been a rupture in the earth which produced a sweet spring. This bubbled through the surface here and ran through cities and field all the way down to the sea, many miles away. He told her that she could stay here for the night and then catch the clipper to a larger port in the morning. From there she could go wherever she wanted.

The only problem now was trying to find accomodation in a place as small as this. Surely there would be no hotel, no hostel, no...

'ROOM AVAILABLE. LODGERS WANTED.' read the sign.

''...It was then I noticed, I'd left the flipping placenta on the bus!''

She was a short, stocky lady with bulging arm muscles and silvery-blonde ringlets, streaked with grey, which tumbled about her face. Agueda had been told to call her Nurse, since, as the only midwife for miles around, that was all she was known as. Nurse was standing over a large wooden tub full of soapy water, the sleeves of her pale brown and violet dress rolled up to the elbows, scrubbing vigorously at something. And something was making a terrible racket: there was a tremendous wailing and screeching between gargling gulps and bubbling noises.

''Oh, shut yer hole, Plum!'' Nurse instructed the soapy heap firmly. But Plum did not stop until Nurse had finished scrubbing. He then leapt from the tub, high over Nurse's head, with a shriek and a hiss and landed on his feet, as all cats do. He then paused to spit in Nurse’s direction before stalking back outside, leaving little sodden footprint shapes on the floor.

“Got to run a clean lot in my line of work.’’ Nurse said, by way of explanation. "Of course I used to be a lady. You know, riches and servants and everything. But then Fred had this terrible scandal with the chickens and that was that."

Agueda merely nodded, not really knowing what to say.

“So, first fortnight’s payment in advance…”

“Oh, I don’t mean to stay that long” Agueda interrupted. “I’m going to catch the clipper to another port in the morning.”

Nurse shook her head. “Don’t think so, love. Clipper’s bust. Had a bit of a bump last journey. Won’t be fixed for a long time. So you’ll pay the first fortnight at least.”

There was a little cry from the corner of the room, and Nurse went over to the cot.

“She needs changing” Nurse said and looked over Agueda’s shoulder, through the front door. “Oh, bloody hell!”

She picked up the baby and shoved it into Agueda’s arms. It had curly hair like Nurse, but very pale brown. Like all babies of that age, it was still at the stage where it had arms and hands but no wrists, just podgy little ripples.

“Here, you hold Plum for me. I’ll go and see to that bloody cat!” Nurse commanded Agueda.

“What?!” Agueda gasped. She looked at the baby again. Legs and feet but no ankles. “Another Plum?’’ came the perplexed utterance.

“He’s yiffing that flipping moggy again! Nasty feral, that one. Best go stop him.”

And with that she was out of the door. Agueda struggled with balancing the baby, who noticed the lack of stability and smacked Agueda’s hand with her fat fingers and said ‘Bad Tosser!’

Nurse came back before long, holding a rather miffed-looking Plum by the ear. She took Plum, the baby, in the other arm and gave Agueda a little shove towards the stairs.

“Sixth floor”, she said, “Go make yourself at home.”

Agueda began to climb up the six flights of stairs in the gaps between each level, sweltering in the heat of the desert. Her legs felt weak and empty, as she hadn’t eaten in many hours and the heights made her dizzy, but after an exhausting trek she finally flung open the door to the room on the sixth floor. It was reasonably small, and the inside was the same velvety-paper material that covered the outside of the house. There was a tall wardrobe in one corner of the room with one of the door handles missing. The bed was in the centre of the room, and sat low to the ground so that the pale green bed sheets ruffled along the floor. At the foot of the bed was a wooden chest, into which Agueda flung her bag before collapsing into the soft linen. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but all the while she could hear noises from the lower floor drifting up through the window.

“Plum... smelly... full to the brim... new one for you... used to be a lady... terrible scandle... Fred's chickens... Plum!... stop it... nice and soapy… scrub you down… yiffing that… nasty, dirty… wild thing… bloody clean… my line of work… Bad Tosser!”

God, she hoped she didn’t have to stay here long.

The morning was cold, as it often is in a desert in the middle of nowhere.

Agueda could see it out of the hole. She'd rolled over in the night and put her arm straight through the wall. Serves them right for making their houses out of paper, she'd thought grumpily, as noises of soapy Plums drifted up from the bottom floor.

She yawned and stretched out, banging her toes into the wooden board at the bottom of the bed. She yelped, but was thankful that it hadn't been the wall again.

Things weren't going well. She'd been there less than a week and she'd already trodden on the cat. Now she’d put a hole in the wall. The clipper crew were probably getting annoying at her too. She'd been down to the harbour every day so far to inquire as to when it would be fixed. Truth was it looked like it could be a very long time. The owner had taken the opportunity, while the clipper was broken, to change countless other things that he'd been meaning to do for years, so every day she would receive the same, rather exasperated answer "It'll be done when it's done, luv!"

And on top of this, she was fast running out of money. Paying a fortnight in advance for the room had all but emptied her purse, and she'd liked to be out of the house and away from Nurse, Plum and Plum as much as possible, which mostly meant eating out, too. And now she'd have to pay for the repair of the hole she'd made. Nurse ran a tight ship here, and she wouldn't be able to worm her way out of it. There was nothing for it. She was going to have to find some way of getting money. She was going to have to find a job.

Taking a little more care with her toes, she got out of bed and dressed in a white gypsy skirt. Realising this was not the most professional of looks, she added a plain white blouse, jacket and her trusty white boots. Her hair, still too short to tie back, hung below her ears.

A few moments later, Agueda was creeping past the kitchen towards the front door. Nurse, as always, caught her.

“Well, my dear. You look all dressed up. What’s the occasion?”

This woman knew the whole town. In fact, she’d been present at most of their births. If Agueda lied or played this down, she’d never hear the last of it.

“I’m looking for a job.”

“Are you now?” Nurse exclaimed. “Well, you can’t go out to an interview without a good breakfast now, can you? Just you sit yourself down love and I’ll cook you up something wonderful!”

Inwardly Agueda groaned. It’s not that Nurse wasn’t a good cook; quite the opposite, in fact. Despite the fact Agueda didn’t recognise most of the ingredients, Nurse had turned out some absolutely wonderful meals, and she was sure that breakfast would be no exception. But the thought of having to listen to Nurse blabbering about how she used to be a lady rapidly caused her to lose her appetite.

“Thank you, Nurse, but I really need to get going…”

“Nonsense, love! Most places aren’t even open yet! Sit yourself here…” and with that she plonked Agueda down in a chair and busied herself by the cooker.

Agueda prepared herself to nod and smile along to the tale of Fred And The Chicken Scandal, but instead nurse turned to her and said, “You know, now you mention it, there was a job going at the pub.”

"She asked you to marry her?"

The voice was that of a male. The tinkling was that of his large hoop earrings, jangling along to the rhythm of an incredulous headhake.

"I felt awful" came the reply, a lower male voice. "Where does she get these ideas?"

They both knew the answer of course, but only Diego said it aloud.

"Her mother. That woman has been setting up you and Marisce since you took her pond dipping at four years old." The tone was more amused than condemning. Another jangle of the earrings accompanied the statement.

Taryn pushed his light brown hair behind his ears (it just about fitted) and sighed. Diego and he had been friends since Diego's unexplained appearance in the village eight years ago. Taryn's father had owned the pub in the village, and had hoped that his son would take over the work he had been doing there. Lacking competition for miles around, and with many men and women in this small village looking for company, the small public house had prospered. Taryn, however, had built up a small business of his own, and was loathe to leave it on his father's death. It was fortunate, then, that Diego had appeared so mysteriously not a day later and expressed an interest in running it. Taryn had not been impressed by Diego's exotic clothing and short, spiky, highlighted hair, but he was overwhelmed by his desire to work, and had never regretted taking him on. Now, they were more like brothers than friends. Taryn told him everything and Diego was more than willing to listen. And he had done for years.

Taryn turned to get himself a glass of water. They were in a small room at the back of the pub, behind the kitchens, affectionately known as "the office" though what litle paperwork needed to be done was always done at the bar.

When he finally replied, his voice was a little more relaxed.

"So, what was the other thing you wanted to ask me?"

"Someone is applying for a job here. What do I do?"

"Tell them we don't have..." replied Taryn, before noticing the twinkle in Diego's eyes. He leaned against the desk and crossed his arms, a smile creeping across his face.

"Alright. Hit me with it." he said.

Diego adopted his pleading child pose.

"Well, I was just thinking, it gets so busy in here some nights that I really can't cope! I mean, what with the chef having just had twins and all I'm rushed off my feet doing kitchen and bar some nights and I though it might be really really useful to have an extra pair of hands and stuff and... and the only reason I didn't ask you is because I thought we'd benefit from advertising early for someone, and then if you'd had a problem with it I could have just-"

"I don't" replied Taryn. "Truth is I'd been thinking something similar. Make sure he's sensible and hard-working and get him to leave some contact details. Let him know we may not need him long though."

"I advertised it as a temporary position", replied Diego. "And it's a she."

Taryn shrugged and took a long gulp out of his water.

"Taryn. Are you going to be ok if I leave you on your lonesome?" Diego asked, his manner half-joking and half genuine concern.

Taryn sighed again and took his time replying.

"Truth is, I'm very fond of Marisce. She's a sweet girl. But..." he trailed off.

"I get you. And I agree."

"It's not just her." Taryn added. "Right now I don't think I could, you know."

"Dude, the day you fall in love, I'll die of laughter... in a good way." Diego grinned and swanned out of the office and into the bar area, where he asked Agueda to fill in some contact details.

She left shortly afterwards via the front door. Taryn left via the back door from the office, carrying a small box under his right arm. They didn't notice each other as they turned the corner and there was a loud tinkling-crash as the box hit the floor and crumpled in the middle.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Agueda said, instinctively. But all she though, as she looked at the box, was that sounded like something expensive I'll have to pay for. When there wasn't any reply, she looked upwards, a pair of brown eyes met her green gaze. The moment seemed to stretch out forever.

"Are you alright?" Taryn eventually replied, and forced himself to let go of her arm, which reflexes had caused him to grasp during their collision. He glanced down at the box. "Don't worry. It's only glass."

"I can pay for it" Agueda replied, without taking her eyes away from his.

Taryn smiled. "No need" he said, reaching down to pick up the box and realising how quickly his heart was beating as he did so. He opened the lid and presented the contents to Agueda: hundreds of pieces of coloured glass, irregularly shaped.

"Oh. Well, that's a relief." Agueda said, a little confused.

"Yes."

There was a few seconds silence before Taryn excused himself and they went their seperate ways, and in that moment, Taryn could hear Diego at the kitchen window where he had had a good view of the incident, dying of laughter... in a good way.

The air seemed much thicker here, heavy with the scent of fragrant flowers. Agueda stopped to look at a small clump of trees by the water side, their boughs covered with large pink flowers which grew in groups of ten or twelve, creating a big soft ball at the end of each branch. It looked liked someone had dropped big blobs of pick icing all over them. Amongst their branches, small colourful birds hovered and behind it ran the river, which flowed from its magical source.

It seemed strange that a place of such verdant and extravagant life should exist in the middle of the dessert. It stretched out for a few miles on either side of the river and then stopped as abruptly as it had started, soft lush grass meeting harsh dust and sand. She was at the source of the river here. According to Nurse, it was the most fertile soil about until you tried to force it to grow something. The magic that still remained here had sort of “restored” the desert to Nature, so farming somehow didn’t work. You could plant all sorts of fruit trees or vegetables or cereals and year after year only lotus flowers and lilies would grow. Besides, the early settlers had felt a bit strange about setting up so close to all those magical discharges.

She slipped off her shoes and walked towards the river's edge and, when she reached it, lay back on a carpet of soft foliage and closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been there when she heard the sound of footsteps. She opened her eyes, sat up and looked around.

"Oh. Hello there." Taryn said, as he approached. "I didn't realise you were down there. Give me a moment and I'll join you."

A minute later and he was by her side.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Nurse talked me into visiting this place." Agueda replied, and noticed the twitching at the corner of Taryn's mouth as he replied.

"I imagine it was hard to say no". He smiled fully now, and Agueda felt her heart skip a little beat.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I come here quite often, actually, for... inspiration."

Agueda looked around. "It looks like it would work well for you."

They sat together in silence for a few moments, each one just enjoying the surroundings. Taryn was the first to speak again.

"How do you like working in the pub?"

"Very much.” she smiled "Diego keeps me amused. He's quite a character."

"Yes, he is." Taryn replied, smiling.

There was another pause, and Taryn spoke again.

"You know I often think the Garlians* got it right”

He comment was met with an inquiring look.

“Oh, sorry. They were an ancient civilisation. Very industrial, based mostly in busy towns and cities. They often used to come to places like this to 'take the airs', as they used to call it. They believed the cities were full of bad airs and bad waters and so to purify their bodies and improve their health they used to take trips out to the countryside to partake of the airs or waters there."

"I see." she replied.

"Of course, we now know it got them away from a lot of harmful agents in the environment, and encouraged them to walk about and get exercise and such. All in all, it wasn't a bad theory." He was babbling again. He always found himself over-talking around her.

"And they were called the Garlians?" she asked, genuinely interested.

"Yes, I suppose they were the equivalent to... well, actually I don't know an equivalent I could relate to you. Where are you from?"

Agueda felt a tug in the pit of her stomach and replied instinctively, "Oh I'm from all over, really."

There was a short pause. Perhaps it was the heady smells of the honeysuckle and hyacinths growing nearby, or the peacefulness of the place, which made it so seemingly detached from everything, that caused her to say, "Well, in all honesty, I'm from nowhere. I don't belong anywhere."

Taryn turned to look at her, but her gaze was fixed far away in distant memories. At that moment, a large swan poked its head out of the thick grasses growing by the river's edge a few hundred metres away from them. It stretched out its wings and flew downstream towards them, with a gentle, rhythmic thudding of its wings. Agueda's eyes followed it down the river, but Taryn looked only at her eyes and caught something darting somewhere beneath the surface. Longing.

Sensing herself watched, Agueda snapped back into reality and shifted uncomfortably. Taryn quickly changed the topic.

"So, Nurse told you to come here?"

"Yes, she made it out to be some kind of tourist attraction."

"What's a tourist?" Taryn asked.

Agueda couldn't help smiling. "No, I can't imagine you'd have many of those here. Tourists are visitors. They arrive, look around and travel on."

"Is that what you are, Agueda? A tourist? Are you going to leave?"

He wasn’t sure what made him ask, but he knew that he wanted to know. He didn’t want her to leave. The question caught her a little off guard and she turned to look at him. Her eyes met his and for a moment, the paradise around them seemed to blur into nothingness. Agueda noticed how quickly her heart was beating, and how Taryn's breathing was shallower and quicker.

She opened her mouth to reply, but it was met with his lips.

-------------------------------------------------
*A bit like our Victorians