Hera

“Your skies are more forgiving, Hera.”

I glanced at him. It felt like he had long surrendered to something bigger than him.

“Zale, come sit down.”

He sat beside me.

I looked at the sky once more.

The knot in my chest finally began to unravel.

“Let’s share this one then.”

I couldn’t stop the words before they slipped from my mouth. I didn’t mind really. I didn’t believe that there was ours or theirs anyway.

He didn’t reply, and I didn’t wait for one. We sat together in comfortable silence until his phone rang.

He answered.

“Draco, what is it?”

He listened intently.

He always did everything with so much dedication and patience. Even listening to someone through the phone.

He finished the call.

“Draco and Vaxar are coming to help me move in.”

I nodded. I stood up and extended my hand.

He didn’t need it, but I wanted, even for less than a second, to offer him my support.

He took it and stood up.

He insisted on walking me home before he left for his own.

I quickly entered the house, took my phone from the charger, then ordered an Uber. I left before Mom came back from her shift. Mom would give me a piece of her mind about the arranged meeting.

***********************

The days after the lake passed in a blur.

It was Friday, and time for our second lesson.

He was fifteen minutes early. He came alone this time.

He waited at the reception. I went to check the classroom. Just making sure we didn’t have another “clay soup” incident. That would be an embarrassment that I could never live down.

I was about to call him to enter class when one of our visiting artists arrived.

Arthur, the stained glass assembly instructor.

He arrived with a small group of human and Yin-Ra students, as he always did. Arthur was Fleur’s favorite visiting instructor because he never created extra work for the studio. Model artist, Fleur liked to boast. Arthur simply never argued with her; that was the real reason.

Suddenly, all those Yin-Ra students bowed their heads towards Zale, who just nodded. None of them dared meet his eyes for long.

I remembered that he was also an Elder like Draco. A man who commanded such respect sat beside me at a lake a few days ago and listened patiently while I rambled about skies and art.

He made me feel things I didn’t recognize. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t scare me.

The students then walked towards their class while the Elder everyone bowed to disappeared the moment he looked at me again. He waited for his pottery lesson to start.

“Hera,” I was so lost in thought I didn’t see Arthur come into view.

“Arthur.”

We didn’t waste time on the casual formalities. I had known him for a long time.

“I have some very interesting news.” He opened his bags, then took out two luxurious, elegant-looking cards and handed them to me.

I didn’t take them. He was acting all sus.

“They are invitations to a special edition of the Arts Union auction.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Not interested.”

There is a catch for sure. Arthur wasn’t the sort of man who did charity without a hidden pretence. I started walking past him.

“They are going to show imperial Chinese Ru ware.” I stopped in my tracks. Now this was worthy of my time. But again, why would he give me the invitations so casually?

I turned to Arthur once more.

I suddenly felt a drop in temperature.

“What do you want in exchange?”

“Straight to the point as always,” he laughed. “See, I rented a display space at the next downtown artisan bazaar with my friend.”

“And?”

“Well, my friend bailed out on me. He is a ceramic artist. I need a ceramicist to share my rented space.”

I didn’t really enjoy the bazaar thing. I just sold my work online through Fleur’s studio.

“It will be a nice experience, and you get to see the Chinese Ru ware.”

It seemed he was in a tight place. He needed an artist he trusted but also someone reliable. I had mentioned to a few people in our artist community that I wanted the chance to see Chinese Ru ware someday.

This was not a losing bargain for me either. I had wanted to see real-life Chinese Ru ware for years now. This opportunity was hard to miss.

“Fine.”

He handed me the invitations. I took them instantly this time.

He headed to his class, and I remembered that I had a student waiting. I looked at Zale; he didn’t seem as calm as he was a few minutes ago.

Did something happen?

“Zale, go to class; I will be back in a minute.”

I didn’t wait for him to react and rushed to the guest room.

I slipped the invitations into my suitcase, where I was still keeping most of my things, then headed to class.

We sat at the table at the back of the pottery room. I started explaining the history of ceramics. In the first lesson, I was rambling while we walked over the clay.

That didn’t do the art justice.

However, what started as a lecture turned into a conversation. He already had a good amount of knowledge about ceramic history. When I talked in depth about some cultures, he gave some comments here and there.

“Did you read?” I was impressed.

“A little bit.”

“That was a little bit?” his cheeks turned a bit rosy. I stared for a few seconds, then mentally slapped myself. What was I doing? I was in the middle of a lesson.

Distractions. Too many distractions.

I thought that was enough theory for today.

“So today let’s do some hand building.”

He looked at the wheel.

“No, Zale, I am not ready yet for another wheel incident. I promise next time we will use the wheel though.”

Zale

I was a bit disappointed when she said no wheel today. I wanted to assure her that I won’t break it again. But my record wasn’t exactly clean to claim otherwise.

She brought the clay.

I wedged the clay.

She then cut the lump into smaller pieces.

Each small piece was rolled over the table until it looked like a rope. She then coiled each piece.

“These are called coils.” She explained. “We will use them to build our pottery piece.”

She pressed a piece of clay flat on the table and laid a thin white sheet over it.

“This is parchment paper to cover the clay before rolling." She reached for a nearby roller and started rolling over the parchment. She rolled a few times, then removed the paper.

“We call this a sheet. So now we have our coils and sheets.”

Hera went to a nearby drawer and held a tool in front of me.

“This is a compass cutter; we use it when we want a perfect circle.”

She cut a circle, then handed me the compass. I also cut a similar one. She removed the excess clay.

Hera took a coil, surrounded the edge of her circle, then cut the excess. She kept repeating this a few more times.

I watched her concentrate on the clay building process.

I sat in front of this little human who was lost in her own world. Her hands and face were covered with clay streaks. I was in awe of how committed she was.

“Zale, your turn.” I quickly collected my thoughts and did the same.

She then dipped her fingers into a bowl of water nearby

She supported the outer wall of her piece with one hand while the other hand was inside the open cylinder. She then used her thumb to pull the clay from each coil to the other. The inner wall started to become more homogeneous. She repeated this inside and outside.

What started as a stack of separate clay coils seamlessly blended into a single, smooth form.

I did the same to my piece carefully and slowly. I copied her every movement. I had memorized it completely; I wouldn’t mess up.

I stared at my finished cylinder for a while. An odd satisfaction blossomed in my chest. I felt proud. So this was what it felt like to create something.

I looked up at her to see if she approved of the result.

My breath hitched.

A dazzling smile broke across her face. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

I wanted her to pull me more into this world of hers so that I would no longer be able to walk away. I stopped breathing for a few seconds. The more I stayed around her, the more erratic my thoughts became.

The realization hit me hard.

My star lines started to have a beat of their own.

My whole body was restless, but that pulse on my left hand just hummed calmly. Again.

Thank you so much for reading! 💙

I have a question for you this time:

At what moment did you first think, "Yep... these two are going to fall in love"? 👀

Was it the legal meeting, the lake, the pottery lessons, or this chapter? I'd love to know!