That night they enjoyed a small feast as they dined on exotic foods purchased in N'shia-Potoma.  The next morning the men and boys would begin the long slow migration into the mountains where they would spend the summer.  After supper, Charissa took Karux's hand and led him off towards the brook.  Pulling him off the path, she slipped her arms around him and kissed him firmly.  He pressed her tightly to him and savored holding her.  Several minutes passed before she paused in her kisses.  "I wanted to say goodbye before you left," she breathed.

"I'm not sure I want to leave now," he sighed, stroking her hair.

"I am going to miss you."

"That reminds me, I have something I've wanted to give you."  Karux released her long enough to dig inside his tunic.  He pulled out the bracelet and slipped it on her wrist.

"Oh my!" Charissa held it up to inspect it.  In the soft moonlight, it gleamed like silver.  "I can't take this!  It must have cost you a fortune."

"Well it's too late now.  I certainly can't use it," Karux laughed.  "Besides," he took her chin and gently turned her head until he could stare into her eyes.  "I really wanted you to have it."

"Oh Karux," she choked and flung herself at him, hugging him fiercely.

Karux inhaled the scent of her hair.  "Will you remember me?" he asked.

"Yes.  I shall think of you every day."

-=====|==

The next morning as everyone prepared to set out for the high country, Karux slipped back into his house and found the stone from the sacred mountain.  He stuffed it into a small leather pouch he wore on a cord around his neck and tucked it inside his tunic.  Aside from the bracelet the pouch was his only personal purchase in N'shia-Potoma and he had bought it for this sole purpose. 

Charissa met him as the men and boys gathered their herds and drove them to the ford.  She would not be going with him into the mountains but she held his hand, her bracelet tapping his wrist, and walked with him for as long as she could.  Theris, Garick and other boys caught his eye as they passed by, smirking at Karux and waggling their eyebrows suggestively.  Karux couldn't help but grin like a fool.  He had never been this happy in his life. 

At the far side of the pastures, where the land began to rise into the foothills, Charissa stopped.  She hovered close by, brushing back her hair, acting as if she wanted to kiss him goodbye, but was too shy to do so in public.

"Awe, just go ahead and kiss him already," Bazma shouted as he walked past.

Charissa blushed and the other boys laughed.  Karux chuckled as well, though he also wanted to kick Bazma.  By drawing attention to them, he'd pretty much guaranteed Karux wouldn't get his parting kiss.

"I wanted to give you something to remember me by," Charissa said, blushing further.  "It's nothing so nice as the bracelet you gave me, but I wanted you to have it."  She cupped her palm over his hand and dropped something that felt like a coiled bit of thread.

Karux looked at it and realized it was a long narrow braid of hair.

"You cut your hair?"

Charissa turned one braid to expose the short hairs sticking out on the underside where she had cut it.  "Do you not like it?" she asked gnawing at the corner of her bottom lip.

Karux felt his eyes water involuntarily and had to clear his throat to speak.  "It was the best gift you could have given me."

"Perhaps... someday... I might cut the rest off for you."  Her blush grew so dark her whole face looked bruised.

The implication was not lost on Karux.  Women only cut their braids off when they got married.  It had something to do with insuring they quickly had lots of healthy children.  Karux moved to kiss her, despite the passing audience, but she ducked her head under his chin, hugged him so fiercely he couldn't breathe, then turned and ran back to the village.

Karux walked along fingering the braid of rich auburn hair.  It was several minutes before he noticed the good natured laughter surrounding him.  "Oh go tend your goats," he called out.

When he noticed Amantis frowning thoughtfully at him, he quickly tucked the braid in the pouch and walked along whistling.

-=====|==

Charissa had no difficulty keeping her promise.  She thought of Karux every day, dwelling on his handsome face, his gentle kisses and his strong arms until her mother had to remind her repeatedly to attend to her chores.  Though they had never said anything to her, besides a gentle reminder of what behavior was appropriate between boys and girls her age, they neither asked about her feelings for Karux nor offered any opinions.  She did wonder what they would say if Karux asked permission to court her.

Ever since he had been widowed when Karux was an infant, Arrain was largely considered by the women of the village to be a very eligible bachelor.  She had heard her mother talking to Dressela about how some of the single women had been very forward in flirting with him.  Even a number of married women had suggested they wouldn't have minded dumping their husbands for him.  Though it was always said in jest, it had always sounded more wistful than humorous to Charissa.

In many ways Karux was a younger version of his father Arrain.  They were both held in high esteem by the village—at least until Karux had fallen.  Now they only spoke of Karux in quiet pitying tones.  And though no one said anything negative, at least in public, much had been implied about the state of his mind, or even the state of his soul.

I've known him since childhood, Charissa thought as she pounded the laundry on the rocks at the edge of the brook a fortnight later.  I know he's the same person, just as sweet as he's always been.

"So has he kissed you yet?" Sjaiwa asked.

"Sjaiwa!" Nyrana chided.  "You can't just bluntly ask someone something like that!"

"Judging by her color," Sjaiwa nodded toward Charissa's blushing face, "I'd say the answer was yes."

"How was it?" Nyrana gasped.

"Was he any good?" Sjaiwa asked.

Charissa took a deep breath.  "Oh!  He's wonderful.  The best!"

"Really?" Nyrana gaped at her, her own washing forgotten.

"Yes."

"How can you know that," Sjaiwa grumbled, "unless you've kissed all the other boys."

"I don't have to, I just know."

"Has Garick kissed you yet?" Nyrana asked Sjaiwa.

"Noooo, not quite yet.  He keeps getting close, and I'll think he's about to, but then he doesn't."

"Really?  He must be shy," Nyrana said.  "I wouldn't have thought it of him."

"It's frustrating is what it is."

"Oh and I didn't tell you the best part!"  Charissa pulled up her sleeve and the bright copper bracelet flashed like fire in the sunlight.  "He brought this back from market."

"He didn't!" Sjaiwa screamed.

"Oh how romantic!  I'd kiss him too if he brought me something like that." Nyrana said.

"Ah, you'd kiss him even without the bracelet if he'd let you," Sjaiwa slapped her wash angrily on the rocks. 

Nyrana turned away blushing, surprising Charissa with her silent confession.

"I wish Garick had brought me something," Sjaiwa growled through gritted teeth as she wrung out a cloth.  It looked like she was trying to tear it in half.  "He couldn't stop talking about the market."

Nyrana paused and looked out across the pasture lands.  "Is that Garick?"

Charissa looked up and saw a distant form racing down the hills, entering the pasture lands' far side.

Sjaiwa rose and shaded her eyes.  "It is."

Nyrana and Charissa rose, waiting and watching as Garick approached.

"Is something wrong?" Sjaiwa called out when he neared.

"Is someone hurt" Nyrana asked.

Garick crossed the ford, leaping across the dry stones, pausing when he saw Charissa standing among them.  "It's Karux."

"Karux?" Charissa clutched the cloth she had been washing.  "What's wrong?"

Garick looked grim faced.  "It's the visions."

"I thought they had started to fade?" Charissa asked hopefully.

"Well they're back with a vengeance now.  Naipho sent me to retrieve some of Mahd Mela's nerve tonic."  Garick looked like he wanted to say something more but he hurried away instead.

"Oh Charissa!" Nyrana put a consoling hand on her arm as Charissa stared after him.

-=====|==

The following days were a nightmare of anxiety for Charissa.  Gossip about Karux ran rampant, yet everyone seemed to avoid her.  She took to lurking near her mother and the other women in hopes of catching stray bits of conversation, but what she heard only increased her worries.  Karux's visions had returned and grown immeasurably worse.  He screamed every night in horror at the things he saw until the others forced him and Arrain to camp across the meadow from the herd.  He spent his days in an exhausted stupor.

She even heard whispered suggestions he was losing his mind.

Charissa spent her days unconsciously rubbing the bracelet up and down her arm as she worried about Karux.  She thought more than once, that if these visions truly were from the Lord of the Mountain, she would climb the mountain herself and demand the High Lord either take the visions away or help him make the visions not come true.  As it was, they only seemed to slowly destroy Karux's mind.

Autumn had nearly passed and fall was right around the corner when the men finally returned.  The goats were all fat and happy but the men looked tired and grim-faced.  Their stay in the village would be brief for as soon as the harvests were finished they would move the herds south to graze the fields of the plain.

Karux's appearance shocked Charissa.  His glazed eyes had sunk beneath dark circles in a face that had gone thin and pale.  He shuffled forward, leaning heavily on his staff and dragging his bad leg, not appearing to take any notice of his surroundings.  He looked as if his life were being drained from him.

"I'll go corral the goats," Arrain said.  "You just go sit at the tables and rest."

Charissa felt the tears well up in her eyes.  She had never seen someone suffer like this.  She wanted to run to him, but he didn't seem to notice she was even there, so she followed Arrain instead to ask him what he could tell of Karux's condition.  As she neared the corral, she heard him talking to his brother Naipho.

"I don't think he should go with us," Naipho said.

"He can't sleep in the korion.  You know how he's like."

"Is the tonic not helping?"

Arrain shrugged.  "It's hard to say.  He might not be quite as loud..."  Arrain fell silent. 

Charissa could see from Arrain's expression that Karux was not the only one affected.

"Anyway," Arrain continued, pulling himself together, "If he's going to have to sleep out in the wilderness, he might as well come with me."

"I spoke with Mahd Mela.  She has some rare herbs we can try, but they are dangerous."

Arrain sighed.  "We may just have to accept that the fall did something to his head, something that we can't fix."

Charissa bit a knuckle, stifling a gasp.  She could feel her hopes and dreams slipping away.  How could they just give up on Karux?  And what would she do if they did?

-=====|==

That night at supper, Charissa sat next to Karux and took his hand.  He turned a weary smile on her and a faint spark of life kindled in his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better now that you're here."

Charissa hugged his arm and leaned in close.  "I wish I could do something to help."

"I'm just tired.  I'll be better once I get some sleep."

"Oh he's just love sick, that's all."

Charissa glanced upwards, surprised to see Amantis sitting down with a trencher of food across the table from them.

"I'm sure he'll recover nicely now that he's back here with you."  Amantis' mouth smiled, but his cold eyes examined her intensely.

They didn't speak much for the rest of the meal.  Charissa just tried to enjoy Karux's presence as they ate together.  Karux ate slowly, occasionally dropping his spoon.  Charissa picked up a piece of food and put it in his mouth and they chuckled together.  When she did it a second time, her frowning mother caught her eye from a nearby table and Charissa, embarrassed, kept her spoon to herself for the rest of the meal.  When it was over, Arrain came by and laid a hand on Karux's shoulder.

"Son, Mahd Mela has a new medicine she wants to try.  She thinks it will help you sleep."

Karux nodded, giving Charissa's hand a squeeze under the table, then rose.

Arrain guided him away with one arm across his shoulders.

Charissa watched them go, disappearing into the lengthening shadows as wordless anxieties swirling about her.  After several moments, she remembered Amantis sitting silently across the table and braved his penetrating gaze.

"Is it true what they are saying, that Karux's visions are back, that he spends each night screaming in horror at the sight?"

Amantis gave her a slight nod.

Charissa paused, trying to sort her fears into coherent questions.  She barely noticed the copper bracelet sliding up and down her forearm as she moved it over the raw skin.  "I heard Arrain talking about him to Naipho.  He thinks Karux's head may have been damaged by the fall."  She let the statement hang, the question unasked because she feared the answer he might give.

Amantis considered it, head cocked to one side as he pondered.  "I don't think so.  He seemed to be getting better until we went into the mountains.  I think it's the stone."

"The stone?"

"Yes.  I know he had it on him in the mountains.  He might have taken it off and hidden it when he was here in the korion."

"He didn't hide it," Charissa said, "but his father did make him put it away for a while.  I had no idea he had taken it with him."

Amantis nodded.  "That would be it then."

"But what can be done?"

Amantis just shook his head thoughtfully.  "It may be that a seer stone should not be used by just anyone."  He pulled a black leather pouch out and dropped it on the table, something inside hit the table with a heavy thud.  "I am fortunate that, though I have seen some strange and amazing things, I have been able to handle anything it has revealed to me."

"Does it show you the same things?"  Charissa nodded toward the bag.  "...the same future threats?"

"I believe so.  However, my stone also finds things and I think it has found the solution to our dangers."

Charissa's thoughts drifted back to Karux's worn appearance.  He looked so drained of life.  She sniffed back tears which threatened to spill over her blurry eyes and grimaced to stop her chin from trembling.  "I'm just so worried that if this keeps up, either his mind or his body will fail, and I don't want that to happen."

"That is...not an unreasonable concern.  If he is going to recover his rest and his health, I think you'll have to talk him into—at least temporarily—giving you the stone."

"Me?" Charissa gasped, nearly choking on a suppressed sob.  "I—I don't know if I could do that."  She tried again to imagine the type of horrors that might drive a man mad and shivered.  "I don't think I'd want the stone."

"Someone needs to take it if he's to recover.  If you don't want to hold it for him, I'd be willing to do it.  I don't think it will harm me.  But you should be the one to ask him."

Charissa's tears began to flow down her cheeks.  "Would you do that?  That's very kind of you."

Amantis reach out a hand and covered hers, giving it a squeeze.  "You know we all are worried about him.  If there's anything I can do...."

"Thank you," she sniffed.

Hearing footsteps, Charissa turned to see Karux walking up.  He seemed to have a glazed and wild look about his eyes.

"What's going on here?" he scowled at the two of them.

Charissa snatched her hand back guiltily.  "We were just talking about you."

"You don't look like you were thinking about me."

"I—," Charissa struggled to shape a reply.

"We're concerned about your health, friend."  Amantis casually leaned one elbow back on the table."

"And what have you decided about my health?" Karux glared.

Charissa cast a glance at Amantis as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"You need to get some rest and soon."

Karux looked from one to the other.  The fire slowly faded from his eyes.  "Mahd Mela gave me some new medicine.  It makes my head feel funny.  It also makes me sleepy."  His eyes blinked very slowly and he wobbled precariously on his feet.

Charissa leaped up and put her arms around him in support.  "I think we need to get you back to bed."

"Yes," he mumbled as they walked slowly homeward.

-=====|==

Amantis watched Charissa leave, admiring her walk from behind.  Why hadn't he noticed her before these two had become romantically involved?  She may not be as full figured as the other girls, but she still had a nice shape, and she had a very cute face with a nice smile—when it wasn't streaked with tears.  There were other attractive girls in the village, but they had less personality and less spirit than the goats they tended.  Charissa seemed different.  She wasn't childishly silly and she seemed genuinely caring.  Her only real fault was her taste in boys.  But if Karux continued degenerating as he was, even that might change.

Amantis rose, picked up the seer stone's bag and gazed into the shadows that had shrouded his view of Charissa.  Maybe he should consult the stone about her.