Saying goodbye to Bojana made Jovan realize that life went on regardless of plans, hopes, or pleas. It also made him all the more grateful to have met her. Well, he was grateful to have met this Bojana. As similar as both women may have been, no one could ever replace his grandmother. He still missed her tremendously. He missed her laughter, her kind and philosophical words of wisdom, he even missed the way she always scolded him. His Bojana had a head of a parent and yet a heart of a grandparent. And he missed that the most.
Once they left Bojana's hut, Jagoda couldn't help but notice a change in Jovan. He became more quiet, reserved, almost stoic-like. She kept her distance and didn't ask him questions because she recognized something in Jovan that she had only seen in her father before. It was hard to name, but it entailed carrying the burden of the past, present, and future on one's shoulder. Jagoda knew that this state of mind in Jovan would pass, but she also knew that it was best not to come between a man and his own thoughts...
They were able to move much faster than Jovan had anticipated since Anil obtained horses for them. The more Jovan knew about Anil, the more he was able to determine that the man was either a great tradesman, a magician, or a man with the quickest tongue he had ever met. Anil knew exactly what to get, where to get it, and how to trade something for the best price under the sun. Jovan chuckled at some point, convinced that Anil could probably trade a single lemon in exchange for an entire lemon tree because the lemon could produce seeds to grow multiple lemon trees. As such, Jovan found it rather amusing that he was beginning not only to tolerate Anil as his proverbial sidekick, but also to like him for the friend that Anil was becoming.
"Do You like it?" Anil asked Jovan as they rode their horses through a narrow snow-covered passage in the forest which led to the Galičica Mountain far in the distance.
"Do I like what?" Jovan replied, lost a bit in his thoughts.
"My dagger," Anil said and proudly patted the dagger sticking out from under his topcoat.
"It's definitely quite a dagger. How many dragons did You slay to get it?" Jovan nodded in approval when Anil moved the topcoat to the side. The Jade jewel sculpted into a dragon's fierce face at the tip of the dagger's handle shone in the rays of the morning sun.
"No dragons, I assure You. Though it did cost me an entire evening of singing songs and entertaining the wealthy lords of a neighboring province." Anil straightened up and took a well-deserved pride in his accomplishment.
"You fight, trade, and entertain? I am officially impressed." Jovan laughed and moved his horse a bit closer to Anil's. Both men exchanged a few more sentences and laughed at something Anil had said until Kinga turned around and sent an annoyed look their way.
"You're not going to tell me that You like that wild boar, right?" Kinga asked Jagoda when she turned back facing forward as they rode their horses slowly in front of both men.
"Who, Anil? Of course not." Jagoda replied and raised her eyebrow at Kinga's odd suggestion.
"Nooooo. Jovan the Not-So-Valiant. And don't pretend to steer me off the path by mentioning Anil," Kinga advised her best friend. She looked back once more, and saw Jovan looking right at her with suspicious eyes. Never one to back down, Kinga sent a warning look Jovan's way and smiled when he looked away.
"Oh. No, of course not. Jovan saved my life. He also asked me if he could come with us. I thought it was very honorable of him," Jagoda explained calmly and sneaked a peak at Jovan.
"Uhmm. And wild boars turn into Beys after a kiss?" Kinga chuckled. She was fully aware of just how infatuated her best friend was becoming with the man that she herself could hardly stand.
"Oh, I wouldn't know that," Jagoda replied without taking her eyes off Jovan.
"Yet." Kinga simply pointed out.
"Yet, of course, yet." Jagoda said, lost in her thoughts, and turned her head to look at Kinga when her best friend laughed.
"Point taken. He could at least get himself a better leather topcoat kaftan," Kinga said more to herself than to Jagoda, but Jagoda felt immediately that she should defend Jovan.
"That kaftan of his saved both of Our lives," Jagoda said softly.
"How so?" Kinga asked, surprised.
"The kaftan absorbed a good part of the poison when the horseman hired by my sisters shot the poisoned arrow aiming for me. The arrow went through the skin of the kaftan, Jovan's shoulder, and ended its journey in my chest. If it wasn't for Jovan stepping in front of me, we would not be having this conversation." Jagoda spoke calmly, but Kinga knew her best friend better than anyone.
"The news had spread across the land that Bojana was the one who saved You. And that the halfwit who was foolish enough to put up a fight with the horsemen sent after You by Your sisters died on the spot," Kinga said in a tone which implied she did not want Jovan to hear her.
"No such thing. Bojana helped with my recovery, but it was Jovan who saved me. Sure, he fell on top of me and pretended to be dead, but it was the blood on the snow from his wound after the horseman's sword pierced his side that convinced the horseman we were both dead. Still, I believe it was better for us all that everyone considers him dead," Jagoda replied and tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.
"He fell on top of You and pretended to be dead?!? What an Alp of a warrior!" Kinga bellowed out a laugh, unable to stop herself.
"He is in my book," Jagoda replied in a way that revealed to Kinga all there was to know about the feelings her best friend was developing for Jovan. All that was left for Kinga to find out now, was just how the wild boar of a man felt about Jagoda...
YOU ARE READING
THE TIDES OF TIME
Romance⚔️ "Being born and raised to respect life and its rules, Jovan Galanis made something of himself. He was ambitious, outgoing, disciplined, and righteous to his very core. His parents died when he was a young boy, and having been raised by his Macedo...
