The door swings open, did I not lock it?
And Victoria walking into my room.
She is beaming like she usually does.
'How are you feeling?'
'Hmm?, I feel fine, why?'
Victoria smiles, 'good, three glasses of wine aren't enough to give me a hangover either.'
Then it all comes back to me.
'Will you tell me?'
She is nosing around in my closet.
'Girl, you really don't have anything fun to wear.'
'Well did you sleep on it, will you tell me?' I repeat, ignoring her comment.
'You will need to wear something a bit more lively for this.'
'Victoria!' I shout at her, finally getting her attention.
She smirks, 'I did, I will not tell you.'
I let me self fall back into my bed.
Grunting in displeasure.
'I will show you.'
I jump up.
Running right at her.
'You are awful, you know?'
I say while shaking her shoulders.
She giggles, 'I know, it is what I live for.'
I hug her. 'Thank you.'
'Meet me at the west wing, in hall 023 after you finish your last lecture. That should be around four right?'
I nod.
'Yes at twenty for four all lectures end and there is time for self study. Or for extra subject.'
****************
The sun is still burning fiercely as I wait for her.
I swipe the sweat from my forehead.
'Mara!'
There she is.
And as always she is surrounded by people.
'This is James and..,' a girl with raven black hair interrupts her.
'And I am Uyen.'
I shake her hand and then turn to the boy.
He has strawberry blond curls and is really handsome.
But in a delicate way.
I can't take my eyes of him.
He would be a reason to start painting.
Or make any kind of art really.
It is exactly his kind of beauty that inspires art.
I shake his hand.
He seems utterly unaware of himself.
And me for that matter, the way I look at him.
'Mara, Nice to meet you.'
He smiles, and I make a mental picture.
He is what I imagined when artists talk about there muse.
'Why weren't you at the lesson yesterday?' Uyen asks me.
'Uuh.' I don't know what to say.
Dumbfounded I look at Victoria.
What lesson?
'Oh I only sight her up today'
'Huh but...' Now Victoria interrupts Uyen,
'Come on, let's hurry. Miss Peterson won't be pleased with us if we are late on the second day.'
It is a seven minute walk I estimate, before we arrive at what can be described best as an outdoor classroom.
There are stone tables placed in a field with healthy green grass.
The whole field is surrounded by threes and there is a small forest at the north side of it.
In the field are little gardens, filled with all kinds of flowers and weeds.
There is a big rock near the forest edge. It seems tiered.
'Welcome children', a young brunet says, she seems in the last years of her twenties.
She talks with a tick accent.
Her voice is rough and it sounds like iron scraping iron.
It really doesn't match her soft features or the kindness in her eyes as she speaks.
I try not to cringe.
When I look around no one else seems to have trouble with it.
They must have gotten used to it yesterday I think to myself.
'A new face I see, and what might be your name dear?'
It is only then that I realise she is speaking the language of nature.
My eyes widen and I feel my heart in my throat with excitement and surprises.
'This is Mara', Victoria answers for me.
I am so socked to hear them speak in my language that I don't know what to say.
'She isn't very accustomed to..'
'I didn't think anyone else knew how to speak the language of nature.' I say.
I say it almost without any emotion because I don't know how to feel.
All eyes are on me now.
'Tha fuck'. Victoria says in normal English.
Ms. Peterson doesn't scold her.
Instead she turns to me.
'Where where you thought to speak like that?'
I am unsure what to answer.
Then I decide to just answer honestly.
'Sky told me.'
In the language of nature, sky's name sounds like a song.
And it fills me with joy just to say it out loud.
'Omg, and the plot thickens,' Victoria says ominously.
'Can you clarify that?'
Mrs. Peterson closes the distance between us by taking a few steps,
'How, when and why did sky teach you?'
The way she pronounces sky makes me cringe. I don't let it show as I don't want to offend her.
'When I was young we met and sky took an interest in me, showing me the way of the world.
We never spoke any other language then the one of nature.'
Mrs. Peterson shakes her head in disbelief.
'Did you know there hasn't been a recorded conversation with nature in over 200 years?
And even back then, it was really rare.
Nature would only speak with one person and she was not willing to share that with the academic world.
So our knowledge stems back from sources over seven hundred years old.'
I shake my head, no I did not know.
I always thought I was a bit weird.
My sisters always found it really weird when I accidentally said something in the language of nature.
'Will you teach us, teach me?' Mrs, Peterson even slightly bows her head as she asks.
I don't know how to react to that.
I think about the woman whom refused to help the academic world with her knowledge of the language.
So I ask the sky. 'Do you mind?'
'No, this was one of my gifts to you. You are free to do with it as you please.'
They don't seem to hear sky answer because everyone is looking at me, expecting something.
'Do I mind what?' It is Mrs, Peterson.
I laugh and shake my head,
'Sure, it would be my pleasure.'
'If,' I turn to Veronica', 'if you tell me a little more.'
Because honestly,
I got more questions then answers following her here.