Journey

The philosophy exam was coming up soon. It was by far the hardest test to study for, as questions lacked clear yes-or-no answers nor were there any strict guidelines as with painting. Instead, we would be given a number of statements that we would be free to argue for or against and, depending on the quality of our arguments, we would fail or pass the test. I read up on the opinions of past philosophers since it was the only method of learning I could think of, but it all felt disappointingly ineffective, causing my thoughts to quickly wander.

 Whenever I did manage to have a spur of focus, my mind went back to a few weeks earlier, to the day that Paolo died, and to the enormous canvas we'd inherited from him. 

"Gavino," I heard my father's voice call out from beyond my room's door, "I have more books for you to read!"

"Thank you!" I replied, "you can put them on the bookshelf in the study."

It felt strange, having the situation between me and my father returned to normal.

No, not normal. This wasn't how it was. This was how it should've been. I still didn't know who my father was, really. I thought he was a force of nature, more than a person, but he was just… human. Now that I understood that, even if I didn't fully comprehend him, I could treat him not as my superior but as my father. The words we spoke to each other weren't different, but the thoughts behind them certainly were. 

I yawned. It was late, and I'd spend the day sitting at my desk learning. I wanted to see Gika, of course, but I also wanted to succeed on the tests. I didn't understand why though. The questions regarding my own motivation were heavy on my mind. Regardless, it felt like the right thing to do. 

"Gavino," my father said, his voice penetrating my door once again, "there is a guest for you."
Curious, I opened my door and went through the hall, down the stairs towards my father's shout, hoping to find who this mystery-guest was. In the opening of the front door stood Gika, impatience written on her face. She looked over at me and smiled, motioning for me to step outside with her. My father clearly wanted to say something, but didn't. I looked into his eyes, acknowledging his feelings, then followed Gika. She snuck through various alleyways, me clumsily trying to follow her, before we reached a small home near the city-wall. I huffed and puffed, holding up my hand to sign to the energetic Gika to please take a break. 

"Where… *huff*," I asked, "where are you bringing me? We should be- we should be learning for our philosophy exam, right?"
Gika shushed me, then opened the door of the building. Inside, cobwebs and dust covered the rotten wood, dulling most of the already dark room's color. The only things that seemed to pop were amateurish paintings and scribblings written onto the walls. Chills ran down my spine, but Gika went in with neither fear nor hesitation. I followed, her company turning this dreadfully creepy abandoned cabin from spooky to atmospheric. She pointed to a square piece of floor that lacked the dust spread across most other parts of the building, then took out a knife and placed it in between the floorboards on the side of this square. She pressed on the knife's handle, which pushed open what was revealed to be a trapdoor. Inside, there was a small hole downwards, leading into an unlit abyss, with a wooden ladder mounted to one of the sides. Before I could fully process what I was seeing, Gika had already disappeared inside. I followed, already too far to turn back, until we reached the bottom, which led into what felt like a hallway. I could not fully confirm this observation, since there was no light down there to see. After about a minute of moving forwards, we reached another ladder, and used it to make our way up. Gika placed her hand on the ceiling and pushed, causing the trapdoor we were under to fling open, revealing a sky blocked by trees and branches. I finally exited this claustrophobic space and took a few heavy breaths before turning around to get my bearings: A forest, more lush and far-stretching than any of the small patches of nature found within the city, with a high slab of stone behind me: the city wall. For the first time in my life, I was outside of it. Gika looked at me, grinning from ear to ear, before pulling me deeper into the forest, further away from the city, later into the night. It must have taken a long time, and we traveled quite a large distance, but the whole time, I was enchanted by Gika. It was only when she pointed at it that I noticed the soft azure light in the distance, giving the forest a distinctly unnatural and exotic atmosphere. Gika led me to a small clearing, the surrounding trees being the sources of the strange glow. From inside the clearing, it was clear to see: the surrounding trees were covered in luminescent pigments, a mix of light blue, green and magenta. They depicted animals, from mice to cats to wolves to horses, and people, singing, dancing, fighting, trading, and loving one another. There was art that was detailed and beautiful, and there was art that was crude and ugly. 

"This was not made by the people of the city, right?" I said, "this was made by the elves or the dwarves. It has to be. No one in the city could make something like this, I am sure of that."

Gika nodded and responded: 

"Soni ku."

My eyes carefully went around, afraid to blink as not to lose even a single moment of this. That's when I saw it. A memory from a life long since left behind, sitting on a tree. 

In luminescent ink, there was the outline of a hand.