Perfecting The Art.
Treading the grimy walkway between the little houses of Cheapside, her feet barely making a noise with each step, just as her mother had taught her, Kate drew her shawl closer around her slender frame. Shuddering slightly against the bitter iciness of the winter, she sang, her voice husky from a combination of the cold, and the joyous screaming of the afternoon.
'A wanderer travelled the roads alone,
in search of his lover, long since gone.
His weary trudge, his broken pride,
all worn away in his rhythmic stride…'
Her song – barely above a whisper – was drowned out completely by the fierce yelling of a woman, whose voice sounded familiar…
'Philippa… love, listen to me.'
The pleading male voice – punctuated by groans of pain, as the woman threw random inanimate objects at him – also sounded familiar… all too familiar.
'I told you, Geoff! I told you! The next time you gambled, you'd get what was coming to you!' she continued on, louder now and Kate moved closer to the racket.
'But I didn't!' Geoff retorted indignantly, 'Nothing happened out of the ordinary, until you started carrying on!'
Creeping closer, Kate ducked inside an open doorway, sticking her dark head around the doorframe, a rather unladylike snort emitting from her when she finally saw the scene that she'd been listening to, unfold.
Philippa was standing in the doorway to their humble abode, her arms full of her husband's writing equipment, a pair of his socks, and a large book, which presumably was a copy of his latest works. Geoff, on the other hand, was standing on the other side of the walkway, looking a little worse for wear and stark naked.
'Go! Just go!'
Dumping the rest of his belongings in the mud, Philippa gave a hearty sniff, trying to stifle her tears, and turned her back on him, slamming the rickety wooden door behind her.
'Jesus Christ!' he swore bitterly, scooping his belongings up into his long arms and holding them to his bare torso, 'It was one last game… it's not as if I could help it anyway, I have an addiction.'
Shaking her head, Kate rolled her eyes.
That was always the excuse with the writer… he had an addiction.
Stalking up the laneway in her direction, Geoff muttered angrily to himself, lost in his own little reverie of anguish and acidic self-hatred. Taking a deep breath, just as Kate slunk further back into the shadows, out of sight, he gave a raging cough before beginning to hum a sombre tune to himself.
'Hmmm… Hm, hmm, hmmm…
A wanderer travelled the roads alone...'
A sharp intake of breath emitted from Kate before she could stop it, and Geoff spun on his heel, his blue eyes searching deep into the shadows.
'Show yourself, lest you should want to take any little pride or belongings I have left, and I should have a chance to escape.'
Creeping out of the shadows, her dark hair hanging over her face, Kate stepped into his line of sight.
'Kate!?' he exclaimed with a start, losing grip on his book and accidentally letting it fall into the mud, 'Oh Jesus, not again.'
Tentatively moving forward, she bent down and picked up the heavy volume, brushing the odious debris from its frail pages. 'I heard everything, you know.'
'God, why must you punish me so?' Geoff asked the night sky in reply to her whispered statement.
'How many times do you have to be punished before you learn the lesson?' Kate said softly, holding the book out to him in her slim but calloused hand.
'Look, it's not like that,' he replied quickly, taking the book from her, 'you know how it is… I have an ad-'
'An addiction, yes, I know.' She interrupted, with a slight purse of her chapped lips, 'but you seem to have no motivation to beat the addiction.'
Hanging his head, Geoff stared at the ground, his normally limitless vocabulary silenced by the truth in what she was saying.
'She's doing this because she loves you.' Kate continued gently, reaching out to touch his bare forearm.
'If she loved me, she'd give me some clothes.' He spat morosely, an involuntary bit well-timed shudder running down his spine.
'If you loved her, you wouldn't gamble your clothes away.' She countered, taking off her shawl and placing it around his shoulders.
'I do love her.'
'Then prove it to her.'
There was a companionable, but at the same time awkward silence, which fell between them, each holding each other's gaze.
'Come on,' Kate said finally, breaking the silence, 'stay with me tonight.'
'I appreciate it more than words can express.' He said earnestly, his voice ringing with an unusual amount of honesty.
Nodding with a slight smile, she turned and led the way to the small room next to her farrier's shed, which was somewhat further down the lane, humming the tune she'd been singing earlier unconsciously.
Frowning slightly, Geoff looked at her suddenly.
'What's that you're humming?'
Her pale cheeks flushing, she shrugged.
'Oh, just some song my husband taught me, wh-when he was still alive.'
'I know that song…' he said wonderingly, 'but I can't for the life of me, remember when I learnt it.'
'I didn't know anyone else even knew of it.' Kate replied, with a curious glance at him.
'Hmm.. who knows.' He said with a shrug himself, 'I quite like it though.'
'It's one of my favourites… I sing it to myself all the time while I work.'
That said, she flashed him a smile, before opening her mouth and beginning softly, barely above a whisper.
'A wanderer travelled the roads alone,
in search of his lover, long since gone…'
Grinning, Geoff chimed in.
'…His weary trudge, his broken pride,
all worn away in his rhythmic stride.
Oh! Long-suffering man of the roads,
tell me, tell me, where hence thee go?
Do you follow the path of your woman gone yonder,
or has thee taken the time to ponder,
the art of forgetting that which you love?'
'Ironic, really,' Geoff said sadly, breaking off after the chorus, 'that we should have this song in our heads, at this moment in time.'
'I've never stopped singing it since my husband passed away.' Kate said sombrely, her eyes glistening, slightly moist.
'Or has thee taken the time to ponder, the art of forgetting that which you love?' Geoff quoted with a heavy sigh, as they stopped in front of the blacksmith's fire.
'It's an art I've not quite managed to perfect.' His companion whispered quietly, walking away from him and opening the door to her little house.
'I've yet to meet someone who has.' Geoff said softly, following her inside, still singing quietly.
A/N: the song featured in this, belongs to me.. copyright, blah, blah, etc. just to clear that up.
Anyway, my first AKT fanfic, hope you liked.
I know there wasn't much of anything in there, except a bit of angst.. but it is one of a three-part series (the other two parts have yet to be finished), about the lovely Kate and rather good-looking Geoff. yes, it is Kate/Geoff. i love this pairing.. Philippa just didnt do it for me.
Thanks for reading, please review.
Much love,
Ash xx
Oh, and the song in full, just if you were wondering...
(as you can tell, it was inspired by Geoff and Kate... Geoff's wandering and trudging, and Kate's loss of her husband)
A wanderer travelled the roads alone,
in search of his lover, long since gone.
His weary trudge, his broken pride,
all worn away in his rhythmic stride.
Oh! Long-suffering man of the roads,
tell me, tell me, where hence thee go?
Do you follow the path of your woman gone yonder,
or has thee taken the time to ponder,
the art of forgetting that which you love?
Loved her well, did this wanderer lost,
gave her everything she'd ever want, despite any cost,
His broken heart now screams for her,
his wonderfully beautiful, now lost, lover.
Oh! Long-suffering man of the roads,
tell me, tell me, where hence thee go?
Do you follow the path of your woman gone yonder,
or has thee taken the time to ponder,
the art of forgetting that which you love?
Do you follow the path of your woman gone yonder,
or has thee taken the time to ponder,
the art of forgetting that which you love?