Chương 7: Book 1; Chapter 6; Lucky Encounter (3)

Even before she hit the water, Anniet was already regretting her action. God knows what has taken over her. She was already prepared to walk away to find a path down to get her clothes when some small, very silent voice within whispered how sad she was to miss such an opportunity. Without a second thought, she agreed that yes, it was really sad, as no matter that she was telling herself about jumping another day, she, same as that small voice, knew that it was not going to happen.

With that thought, all fears and reasoning suddenly drifted away, creating some sort of opening for her freely to do what she truly wanted. Without hesitation she took that chance and slipped through that opening. All happened within a split moment without even leaving a chance for a thought – one second she was turning to walk away, and the next second she was already falling down. She wanted to scream, but the feeling of falling took her breath away, and she couldn't make a sound.

Then her feet hit something hard, and she was engulfed by freezing cold water. Water got everywhere – in her nose, in her mouth, in her eyes. All disoriented, she tried to move her arms and legs, reminding herself" swim, swim…

". But it was not possible to swim because no matter how hard she tried, she was rapidly sinking down. She was splashing her arms and legs in all directions with a single thought – never again. How could she be so stupid? She was told many times that she is not allowed to dive because she is not fit for it. There wasn't anywhere to dive in the village where she grew up, as there was only a large pond where people would go for a swim on hot summer days.

A few times she was taken to the river where other children would dive from a trunk of a broken tree, but she was told that she cannot, as she doesn't know how to do it, and nobody would be happy to risk their lives to pull her out of the water if she would be drowning. That was fair enough. Nobody was close enough to her to do such a thing. She herself didn't want to drown or cause someone else to drown by saving her. So she listened and never jumped. What has taken over her today?

Did she believe that something had changed just because she left home? If she survives, never ever will she come even close to the falling water, never mind jumping. She will know her place from now on. But she wasn't that sure that she will survive. When she was watching others diving, they would go underwater for a few seconds and come out. Now she was underwater for god knows how long, and all she could feel around herself was just water, water, water, dark.

It was not clear anymore if she was still sinking or rising. She could feel panic taking over, and with it the need to breathe becoming stronger. But there was nothing breathable around. How lucky it was that she came here on her own, and no one else will have to risk their lives just for the sake of trying to save her. With that thought, her head popped out of the water, and she finally could catch a fresh breath.

All disoriented, she tried her best to stay at the surface, splashing the water loudly around herself. Never again….

"Well done. You are very brave." – A soft and gentle voice sounded next to her. Anniet got startled by it so badly that she lost that little control she was regaining and dipped under the water again, this time getting some of it in her throat. Panic took over her, and any thought related to sanity left in an instant, leaving her kicking and splashing until she realised that someone was holding her above the water.

The next thing she knew, she was clinging badly to that person without a second thought about their safety. Instantly, she released her grip, hoping that she hadn't done any damage, or if she had, it wasn't too bad.

"Sorry for startling you off" – the same voice said next to her ear without any stress or strain in it –"it wasn't my intention." Anniet's wet hair was brushed off her face by a gentle hand, and she was finally able to see again. The same lady she was watching from under the trees just a short time ago was with her in the water, holding her by the arm.

She was providing just a very little support, but the water somehow wasn't pulling down so badly any more, and Anniet was able to stay afloat easily, even without this support. Regaining control brought her confidence back, and with it returned her ability to swim. She was a good swimmer after all, why was she splashing so violently just a moment ago… Seeing that she had steadied herself up, that lady let her go.

"You must be a very good swimmer to regain control so quickly," she said while smiling at Anniet.

"Who… who are you?" Anniet asked, looking at these two bright green eyes shining at her from an extremely beautiful face.

"Why are you here?" That woman didn't say anything, just pushed herself on her back, floating effortlessly while watching Anniet with laughing eyes.

"Why are you in the water with your clothes?" Anniet kept asking. She remembered clearly how this woman made sure to throw her clothes on the ground before diving, so to swim all dressed wasn't her habit.

"You came to save me!" It finally dawned on her. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. This thought squeezed her chest, tightening around her heart.

"Did I put your life in danger?" she asked, remembering how strongly she was clinging to this woman just a moment ago.

"On the contrary," Rainee smiled at her, "I believe it was I who put your life in danger by scaring you like this. I did come in case you would need my help, but so far no help was needed, apart from the part where I myself caused turmoil. So I guess it doesn't count." Anniet submerged herself in the water with only her eyes and the top of her head popping out, like a little hippo from a book about foreign lands, and watched this woman with wide open eyes, forgetting even to breathe. She really came to save her…

She didn't even know her or had met her before, but she returned and even jumped into the water just in case something bad would happen, and now spoke about it as if it were something natural and fully understandable. It wasn't uncommon for people to help each other, but usually they helped those they liked, and to jump into water like this, at least they would wait until help was really needed.

And they would surely be very unhappy if forced to do so, and would tell how unthoughtful it was to put oneself and others in danger in the first place.

"Was that your first jump?" Rainee asked. Anniet nodded her head in reply.

"And? How was it?"

"Horrible," Anniet said honestly. Rainee's smile widened at such a reply.

"Why?"

"I almost drowned."

"No, you didn't." Rainee disagreed with her.

"I was here most of the time, and there wasn't any sign of you drowning. What else was horrible about it?" It was a strange question, but Anniet tried to be as honest as she could and replayed that experience in her mind.

"It was scary to fall down like this, and also I went down under the water much deeper than I thought it was possible. It took a very long time until I came up again, and water got into my nose and mouth, and I couldn't understand where I was and what to do while under the water."

"Yes," Rainee agreed this time, "I believe all that you said now must be true. You didn't know how diving would feel, and probably no one even explained it to you, so it was something completely new. New things usually are scary unless you are prepared to receive the unexpected."

"How can you be prepared to receive the unexpected?" Anniet didn't understand.

"Shouldn't you at least know what will happen to be prepared?"

"Maybe," Rainee didn't argue with this statement, just slowly directed herself towards the bank, and Anniet followed closely.

"Or you can simply believe that anything new will bring something even better than you would get if you prepare for it. In that way, you would always be prepared to receive new experiences as you would be looking forward to receiving them. Now, when you know what to expect, what would you feel if diving when knowing what will happen?"

"I doubt I would dive," Anniet replied.

"I didn't mean that," Rainee corrected, "my question is how your jumping experience would feel to you now, when you already know what to expect, when you know how it feels to fall, and when you know how it feels to be deep under the water?" Anniet didn't fully understand the meaning of this question, but chose not to argue and thought about her jump again, trying to do her best to answer.

She thought again about her jump, trying to imagine that at that moment she would already know how free fall feels and how being deep under water, under pressure and with no orientation, feels. Unexpectedly, a big smile appeared on her face.

Somehow, she could retrieve that moment and the fall that was so scary before, now, knowing how it would feel added a new touch to it, a proper excitement of falling at such a speed with wind passing by her ears and her heart beating faster and faster until she reached the water and submerged into this cold but refreshing liquid. Somehow the water didn't seem so scary and dark, and instead of panic she felt curiosity and more excitement right to the moment when her head popped out of the water.

Then she felt truly victorious for overcoming such a challenge.

"Who are you?" Anniet asked again, looking at that woman who was very pleased to see this smile. Anniet even forgot that she was asked a question.

"Who am I? That's a question with many possible answers. May I presume that you want to know my name?" Anniet nodded her head again. By now they had nearly reached the bank.

"My name is Rainee," the woman answered, pushing herself up from the water on a steep, rocky edge.

"Do you live here?" Anniet asked, following her.

"In a forest on the mountain? No." Rainee smiled, picking up her jacket from the ground and putting it over Anniet's shoulders. Anniet was so fascinated with this new encounter that she completely forgot that she was naked as a newly born baby in the presence of a stranger and quickly looked around, trying to locate where her clothes had landed. She didn't feel too uncomfortable with this strange woman, but still she'd better get dressed.

Rainee was faster and walked to fish out the ball of clothes from the water and handed it to Anniet.

"We'd better find a spot where we could dry ourselves," she said, turning around. Just now Anniet fully understood the true irony of the situation; by her action she made them both dripping wet.

"Sorry, I was a bit silly and caused us both problems," she said.

"Silly?" Rainee smiled over her shoulder.

"I think you were very brave to go for new experiences. I don't know if you have caused any problems to yourself, but I don't call a wet shirt a problem, especially on a nice, sunny day. Come!" While talking, she reached a wide flat rock in the sunlight, surrounded by stones. She took her clothes off, placed them on these hot from the sunlight stones, and laid down on the rock, her belly down, exposing her back to the rays of the sun.

With her eyes closed and a little smile on her face, she looked completely content. Anniet hesitated for a bit, then untangled the wet ball of clothes in her hands and hung them next to Rainee's. She then sat down on an empty stone, pulling tighter the corners of the jacket that Rainee had given to her, thinking that it was very well made and very soft to the touch. She was watching Rainee for a while, not daring either to disturb nor to lie down next to her.

After a bit, the situation became somewhat uncomfortably familiar, and Anniet couldn't cope with it any longer.

"I have to tell you something," she said.

"I heard you singing before, while you were sitting by the waterfall. I watched and listened to you for a while, but was not brave enough to come out and talk. Now, when I say it, it sounds a little bit… not nice,". Anniet wanted to say creepy, but changed it at the last second. If someone were staring at her from the woods, she would really think that it was creepy.

"I don't mind," Rainee said. She seemed completely untouched by this confession.

"Did you like my singing?"

"I did!" Anniet confirmed, enthusiastically relieved that Rainee didn't seem offended by such behaviour. Then a thought came to her mind, and she voiced it aloud.

"You knew I was there… didn't you?" Rainee didn't reply to this question, but even without her speaking, Anniet was sure that it was the case. But how? She was really quiet and didn't come very close.

"Are you a student here?" Rainee asked, interrupting Anniet's thoughts.

"I am," Anniet confirmed.

"But not a very good one. Instead of studying, I sneaked out of town to these mountains." Rainee's shoulders shook from laughter, and she turned her head to face Anniet.

"I guess we are both the same. I come to hide here too," she said with a smile, looking at Anniet with her warm eyes. She really didn't look offended for being stalked. What a relief.

"So you too were accepted to this School?"

"I was," Rainee confirmed.

"You come through the gates that lead to many doors?"

"Yup."

"And what doors opened for you?"

"All of them."

"All of them?" Anniet could not believe what she heard. Only one door had opened for her… This woman must really be very smart.

"What do you do when so many doors have opened? You cannot walk through all of them."

"I had to choose one."

"And what door did you choose?"

"Teachers."

"Teachers? Then what are you hiding from?"

"From my students. They can be very persistent."

"Isn't it the teacher's duty to teach?" Anniet could not understand. She had heard stories about students not wanting to study. But she never heard about teachers who didn't want to teach.

"Isn't it the students' duty to study?" Rainee asked back.

"When you say it like this…" All she heard was so strange that she completely lost any guard against this stranger and even slid down from the stone to sit on a rock closer to Rainee.

"So if I were to come to your class to study, I would find it empty?"

"Pretty much."

"What if I want to learn?"

"Then you would have to find me," Rainee kept smiling at her while answering these questions.

"But I found you…"

"Yes, you did."

"So you can teach me now?"

"I guess so. What would you want to learn?"

"What subject can you teach?"

"According to the headmaster – any, as I was invited through all doors."

"Wow!! You really are not just very pretty but very smart too!" Anniet exclaimed in disbelief. Rainee opened her eyes, which she had closed for some time now, and looked again at Anniet. This look reminded Anniet that she had to be more careful about what she is saying.