The Art of Swooning

Ethan walked into their shared resting place just in time to see Brit’s hand gracefully touch her forehead and, with a fluttering of her lashes, she slowly started to sink to the floor. Dropping his pack, he crossed several meters of space between them in record time to catch her before she landed. She was dead weight in his arms. He bounced her lightly to get a better hold and carried her to the mound of blankets. If he had a heartbeat, it would have been racing as he looked down at her crumpled form before him. With his hair falling forward, he worked quickly to check her pulse, heartbeat, and coloring. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the fact that she was non-responsive. Thoughts flooded his mind as he methodically went through a sequential flowchart trying to diagnose what had happened to his baby beloved.

He swallowed hard quelling the rising anxiety and reminded himself that he had been careful to not drink too much. A brief thought: Could another? His jaw muscle clenched as he checked her throat. Only his marks were there and her strong pulse let him discount that possibility. Just as soon as the current thought left, another sinister concern arrived. Perhaps she had been poisoned. His frown deepened as he looked in her mouth, and felt her face and neck examining her skin for any sign. A dart perhaps? Grabbing the lapel of her new red coat, he yanked it open scattering the ornamental buttons to see if she was marked or cut. Anything!

As buttons clattered on the cement and tile floor, Brit exclaimed, “Hey! What did you do that for?” Ethan fell back astonished and, for once, was the one who was sitting simply blinking. Brit’s eyes opened and she sat up searching for the scattered buttons oblivious to his expression of dismay. Reaching for her, he hugged her tightly feeling the tension and fear drain from him. For a moment, he thought he lost her. Burying his face in her hair, he felt suddenly possessive of her few short mortal years and silently vowed they would not be lost to accident. “Are you okay,” she lisped.

“Am I okay?” His mind was struggling to make sense of the entire situation. He repeated himself which caused her to wonder if he was unwell, “Am I okay?” His hands touched her face, neck, body, and hair to ensure that she was truly fine. He crushed her to him again.

She started to squirm and said, “Yah. Are you okay?” Her voice was registering concern as she tried to loosen his hold on her.

Holding her away slightly so that he could look at her, he said calmly, “Yes, yes. I am fine.” They watched each other silently for a moment. Ethan blurted, “What just happened, Brit? You almost hit the floor!”

Brit broke into a smile. “Oh! That.” She beamed up at him. “I was practicing swooning. The book that Larissa gave to me had a whole chapter about swooning. I have never swooned and so I thought that I should practice.”

This time, it took Ethan a moment to process. Crossing one arm, he regarded her a full minute with one hand covering his mouth. “Baby, like other things in that book, it is better to let nature progress on its own.” Her disappointed look made it impossible to be cross with her. He stood and helped her to her feet. With a slight grin, he added, “You have been studying hard. Take a break from reading for a while.” With light kisses, he opened the door and ushered her out. “Let’s take the book back to Larissa.”