Chapter 7An Overdue Confession

  The third day passed uneventfully as miles of open wastend rolled by. The cart, in order to keep Jonah as comfortable as possible, moved slower than it had on the previous days. Alissa sat with Jonah, who went in and out of consciousness as the long day wore on. When he was awake, they would talk about many things ranging from the weather to the dreams he had but they avoided the subject of their feelings toward one. Whenever Alissa saw Jonah wince in pain or he made mention of it, she gave him the powder as instructed by her mother. When the cart stopped for lunch, Alissa brought Jonah his portion of food and sat on the cart to keep him company while the rest of the family ate together. When the cart finally continued on, Jonah and Alissa fell into a silence as they sat next to each other. The miles slowly rolled by and the day wore on as the ndscape remained consistent; a darkened foreboding nd permeated with a sense of malice that hung in the air.

  As the day neared its end and Rasheed drew the cart to a stop to set up camp, Alissa leaned toward Jonah as if to tell him something.

  “When you were wounded, there was so much blood that I thought that I was going to lose you. I was so afraid you would die from blood loss because of what you did when you saved my life and I hope I never have to experience those feelings again.” She said, her voice shaking slightly from the nervousness that ran through her body causing butterflies in her stomach. “So, I am going to come out and say this because I want you to know it, even if it seems a bit forward of me. Jonah Jacobson, I love you. I have loved you from the first time I saw you when I was twelve and you were fifteen. When you first came across my father’s shop in the Merchant district. I know I have been a tease to you over the years and I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to lead you on in such a manner while never truly revealing how I felt. I was young and stupid then, but I now come to you as a woman, wizened by the experience of potentially losing you. I humbly y my heart before you. I love you and I am yours if you would have me.”

  Jonah stared at Alissa in shock from the sudden confession and it took a minute for her words to sink in. Then he remembered what Rasheed had said to him on the morning of the second day. Realizing the weight that his words would carry, he responded slowly and thoughtfully.

  “Alissa,” He began, spacing his words evenly to convey the weight they carried. “I love you as well. I would be honored to have you though, I feel I am not worthy of your love. I saved your life because I could not bear to think of a world without you in it and I would gdly y my life down to save yours once again should the need ever again arise, though I sincerely hope it does not. I love you and I would have you, but only if you would have me.”

  Jonah looked in Alissa's eyes, seeing the joy that filled them before realizing how quiet things had gotten. Alissa threw her arms around him and was hugging him tightly when he noticed that towards the rear of the cart, her family was standing there silently watching the two of them. Sensing him tense up Alissa looked up at him only to find him blushing beet red then, upon following his gaze, she froze as color rushed to her face.

  “Well, don't stop on account-” Rasheed started to say as Lilly quickly popped him on the back of the head before dragging him away, leaving only Basheer who was watching them sheepishly. Lilly quickly returned, told her son to go help his father then turned to Alissa and Jonah. She quickly apologized for the intrusion of privacy before excusing herself to tend to other things.

  Alissa giggled as her mother walked away. She then looked Jonah in the eyes and her face became serious once more.

  “You know what this means don't you?” She said quietly.

  “Huh?” he replied, still stupefied by the intrusion that had come as he was finally confessing his love to her.

  “My family is going to want to have wedding for us.”

  “Oh,” He paused for a second. “I have no problem with that, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  She smiled at him again and he couldn't think of a time where she had been more beautiful. She leaned in and kissed him deeply, her tongue exploring his mouth eagerly. He returned the favor, loving how delicious she tasted and marveling as her sweet scent filled his nostrils. The two of them cuddled and kissed for what felt like an eternity before the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. It was Lilly. She smiled happily at the two of them before informing them that the camp was set for the night and unless the two of them wanted to stay in the cramped quarters of the cart, they had best get a move on.

  Alissa got up as her mother walked away while humming cheerfully to herself.

  “I'll go get Daddy to help you get out of the cart.” She said giving him one st sweet kiss on the cheek before turning to leave.

  In a few minutes Rasheed appeared and helped Jonah out of the cart before helping him over to a bedroll that Alissa had already prepared for him. Alissa was busy with her mother preparing supper for the evening as the two of them chatted merrily.

  “I see you made your choice, d.” Rasheed said to him as he eased Jonah to the bnket. “While I am happy for both you and her, I just want to remind you, I love my little girl very much. See to it that you take all I said to heart, because if you hurt her, I will be very displeased.”

  “No sir,” Jonah replied. “I have no intention of ever seeing any harm come to her. I promise you Rasheed, I am committed to her and her happiness.”

  “Good d.” Rasheed said, smiling as he turned and walked away.

  When supper was ready, Alissa brought Jonah a heaping pte of food, then returned with a second pte for herself and sat down next to him. Halfway through the meal, Jonah’s leg began to bother him again and Alissa gave him some more of the white powder she had given him before. By the time he had finished eating, the pain had subsided to a dull throb. Lilly came over to the couple after they were done eating and got Alissa to help her remove the splint and bandage to clean Jonah’s wound while checking for infection. Satisfied that there were still no signs of infection, she instructed her daughter on what signs to look for. Lilly smeared more of the green slime on the wound before rebinding it, making sure her daughter was watching and learning as she went, before rebinding the wound. Gently Lilly pced the splint back on his leg before leaving.

  Settling down for the night Alissa id a bnket next to Jonah's bedroll before pulling another bnket to cover both of them. She informed him that if there was anything at all in the night that he needed to let her know and she would handle it. She kissed him passionately, which made him a little nervous because he was pretty sure her parents were watching, then gave him a hug before ying down and going to sleep. Jonah sat up a little while watching her sleep peacefully with a little smile on her lips before eventually falling to sleep himself.

  Rasheed and Lilly cuddled together while watching the young couple as they settled in for the night. Rasheed kissed his wife holding her tightly.

  “I think he will be good for her,” Rasheed said. “He is a good d who I think will truly devote himself to our daughter completely.”

  “Yes,” Lilly responded. “Though our daughter will be good for him as well, I think. He is a stubborn man who will require a strong hand to reign him in occasionally. Luckily our daughter had me as an example growing up.”

  Rasheed ughed softly at the comment but did not argue. He knew better than to try. Kissing his wife one st time he id down for sleep, pulling her down next to him. They both fell asleep in each other’s arms as both Si, from the west, and Illsa, from the east, rose into the night sky.

  #

  The next morning the group continued on their way toward the city of Ib. As had become the usual, Alissa rode in the back keeping Jonah company as they traveled while the others sat in the front. Her parents made it a point to give the two of them as much privacy as possible, allowing the newly official couple time to get to know one another better.

  The day wore on uneventfully and soon it was night once again. The couple followed the routine of the previous night, with Alissa helping her mother with the meal preparation then bringing Jonah a pte before joining him with one of her own. When they were done eating, instead of Lilly coming over to tend to Jonah’s leg, Alissa took care of it, using the skills that her mother had taught her the night before. Soon the young couple was asleep once again. Lilly gave her daughter a look filled with pride before ying down next to Rasheed and going to sleep that night.

  #

  The following day they went through the same routine as the day before, as they did on the day after that and the day after that. Seven more days passed in the same manner with very little changing from day to day. The days were uneventful for the couple as they traveled, not paying much attention to their surroundings, instead they paid more attention to each other as they kissed, hugged and lightly exploring each other’s body when they thought no one was looking or would notice.

  On the morning of the st day of their trip across the wastes, the couple was starting while preforming one such session of exploration, when they felt the cart come to a stop. Looking up with guilty faces, thinking they had been caught, they saw Rasheed as he turned around to them.

  “Behold!” Rasheed said with majesty to Jonah, sweeping his arms out widely as if presenting something truly amazing. “The metal city of Ib!”

  Alissa helped Jonah sit up so that he could see easily toward the front of the cart. The first thing he noticed was that, despite what he had thought, Ib was not on the other side of the wastends, instead it sat in the middle of them. The city itself looked as if it belonged right alongside the bckened earth and twisted pnt life that poputed the wastes. It was surrounded by a massive wall of bck metal that dully reflected the light from the sun and rose at least fifty feet toward the sky while stretching on as far as the eye could see. On the top of the wall there were jagged and twisted pieces of metal that Jonah had no doubt were sharpened razor sharp.

  Before the group was a rge gate and Jonah could just barely make out the seams that lined its border. Beside the gate was a recess had a small window in it and Jonah could see the small scaly head of an Ibian within it.

  There were massive towers rising above the wall to either side of the gate, with massive windows that were set in the side facing the Wastes. The windows appeared to be made of a bcked and highly reflective gss that would not allow someone to look in from the outside while the people within could look out. Jonah could imagine thousands of Ibians within those huge towers looking out upon the wastends, spotting anyone nearing their city from miles away. He imagined them looking down on the group now, and he wondered what the cart would look like from that high up. Surely the cart as well as the people on it would look like small bugs from such a height.

  Princessarylin