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They had to find something new for their honeymoon.
Though Vi is drawn towards the cozy and boisterous environment she grew up around, and Caitlyn claims her familiarity with tall windows and Extra queen-size beds, they both agree to choose a location completely off track for their honeymoon.
That’s how they end up at a cabin by the lake. Cait stares into the forest behind the wooden building while Vi lets her eyes swim in the expanse of smoothness.
After a while in silence and low-hung fog, “Let’s head in,” Vi prompts, gently nudging Cait’s side.
Cait turns around abruptly, her ponytail brushes across Vi’s nose tip in a tingly familiarity. “Right.” Her response is curt, a product of morning grumpiness that is almost part of Vi’s morning routine now. She looks as if she just woke up, Vi thinks. She did.
They each grab their luggage and start walking towards the cabin. The gravel crunches, dew trembling on grass tips with each step. Vi thinks about how Cait’s ponytail brushes across her face in the same manner.
“So, what do we want to do today?” Cait asks, trying to shove down a yawn.
“First, we will wait for you to wake up,” Vi answers casually, a small smile awaits Cait’s signature response to dock. And---there it is---her swift eyeroll.
“I will brew us a pot of coffee.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They put the luggage on the porch of the cabin, taking a moment to examine the surroundings. Caitlyn leans on the wooden pillar, hands across her chest, looking out to the lake. She feels overwhelmed by the deafening calmness.
Caitlyn only recently realizes that those early years spent in silent sunset hours in her room, the patient woods of the shooting range, or the quiet dinner on a long table were mistaken. What she previously medaled as the constant state of inner calmness is truly her excellence in solitude. The world is spindle-shaped, her mother used to say. At your lowest, you will be without help, so you must be able to climb up. To the top is another no-man’s land. You cannot fall in the middle. So, where do you want to be?
She then remembers her conversation with Vi the night before they got married:
“You don’t have to be alone, you know?” Vi breaks the silence while poking the fire, the orange brightness dancing across her face.
“I’m not alone. I’m with you now, remember?” She answers, biting a smile while staring at Vi with an inquiry. The corner of her tone curls up with the baking flame.
“I’m just saying, you might want to get used to not being alone anymore.” Vi put the fire poker back on the shelf, then jumped into the nearby chair cross-legged, “Not just…physically…but also mentally, habit-wise, routinely…yadayada.” She smiles lightly, looking at Cait. There’s no judgment in her eyes, just good-hearted suggestion. Caitlyn loves how Vi has the power to articulate the hardest-sounding, unapproachable topic in the style of “Good morning! What’s up!”
“Mmh..” She nods slowly; thoughts coil in her head.
The thoughts trail and wind after her until today, until the cabin by the lake, until the shifting flame overlaps with glittering water in her view.
“Whatcha thinking?” A pair of arms wraps around her torso from behind as Caitlyn struggles to rescue her hair pinned under them. Her hands then fall on Vi’s like a wing folding into another.
“What we talked about by the fire that night.” She answers honestly, fidgeting with the wedding band on Vi’s finger.
“What about it?” Vi nestles her head comfortably where Cait’s nape and shoulder meet.
“I am a little nervous.”
Then she flows, a little at start: “The concept of being on a honeymoon with you dawned on me just now, and I find it slightly unnerving.” Caitlyn pauses for a second, letting the current in her head slow down. “Not the ‘with you’ part, obviously. I just don’t know how to feel alone while being with someone…… The word ‘alone’ doesn’t get my meaning across, but honestly, I can’t articulate right now.”
Vi finds it endearing that, at this point in their relationship, Cait still insists on explaining her word choice, knowing that Vi always understands. “Do you mean maintaining personal space?” Vi hides her teasing smile in a kiss on Cait’s shoulder blade, where she firmly believes a feather will appear someday, somehow.
“Well, that’s a better way to put it. Definitely better than ‘alone’.” Cait concurs, mindlessly squeezing Vi’s hand. Her eyes float back to the lake surface again, trying to find a constant in the frequency of the shimmering waves or pattern in rippling currents. “I am wondering how I can balance between maintaining that personal space you mentioned and being with you…not only on the honeymoon, but also later in life. It’s new.” A breeze comes, slipping through their hair, entangling them. Caitlyn turns around in Vi’s embrace, putting her arms around her neck. Vi grins slightly and responds, “Well, we just gotta practice and find out.” She combs through the messy red and blue until they flow together in the wind like waves during sunset, the fingers climb against the currents and rest on Caitlyn’s cheek. For a moment, she lets herself be carried by the memory of all the rapids that Caitlyn and she had to swim against to reach the stillness.
Caitlyn simply presses a kiss on the tip of her nose where the sun already glows, “Let’s go inside.”
At last, they finally open the creaking wooden door, instantly greeted by the lukewarm smell of wood. The entire interior is covered with wood panels except for the brick fireplace. A short round coffee table in the middle of the living room is standing on top of a maroon carpet with intricate floral patterns in gold. Wide, slender bentwood chairs surround the table. They are cushioned with the same pattern as the carpet. A chaise lounge lies near the bookshelf while the other rests beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, curtains all pulled aside to show a gorgeous view of the lake.
“Well, doesn’t this look so much better than the picture on the website!” Vi exclaims. She strides towards the chaise lounge, dropping her luggage on the floor and slumping onto it. “I will let you take the one by the bookshelf.”
Caitlyn chuckles as she takes off her shoes at the entrance, “How considerate of you.” She responds, landing on the chaise lounge. They both sigh at the same time.
“Are you hungry?”
“No. Why?”
Vi answers into the low ceiling, half-zoned out, “Good, because I don’t think I’m gonna get up any sooner.”
“Don’t worry. Me neither.” Caitlyn stares at the bookshelf without even reading the titles of the books.
“I am now.”
“What?”
“I am hungry now.” Caitlyn sits up, looking at Vi, who sprawls across the chaise lounge. She does a countdown silently: 5, 4, 3, 2……
With a groan, Vi sits up as well, “Ughhh, don’t say that. Now I am hungry too.”
“That was the point.” Caitlyn shrugs and smiles teasingly, now receiving an eyeroll from Vi.
“Should we head into the town to get breakfast and some groceries for the next few days?” Vi is still clutching the cushion, staring out the window, only her mouth moving.
“Let’s,” Caitlyn jingles the car key as she walks towards the door.
“Wait, wait, wait, but we haven’t seen the full cabin yet,” Vi calls out from behind.
“Ah, you are right.” Caitlyn sighs over her delayed breakfast plan before turning back around. There is more fervor and curiosity they bring into this quest than they bring into any of their previous ones in Piltover and Zaun. In fact, exploring this almost stereotypically domestic setting is an adventure for both.
They walk into the kitchen and the tiny dining room. Vi opens the fridge, examining the empty brightness. “It’s clean.” She sniffs and comments.
“I sure would hope so.” Caitlyn responds as she knocks the dining table, “Mmmh nice. Is it oak?”
Vi leaves the fridge door behind her with a thump and scrutinizes for a second before concluding firmly, “Looks sturdy.”
“I’m thinking we need one of these, you know, at home?” Caitlyn almost swallows the last two words, looking down at the table. But Vi fishes them out of the water just in time. “I reckon it’d look nice at home.” She agrees wholeheartedly with a soft nod, noticing her lashes flutter more slowly, her lip’s end softer. Caitlyn looks up at Vi, their gazes encounter midair, a bridge on which all pass through.
“I have been… honest about my nervousness,” Caitlyn states matter-of-factly, taking a step closer, hands coming up Vi’s sides, “that doesn’t mean I’m reluctant. Actually, I don’t think I have properly expressed how excited I am to build a future with you.” She almost breezes through the last part. It’s quiet but carries a firmness Vi recognizes.
“I never doubted that.”
Caitlyn leans in for a brief kiss with Vi’s arms around her shoulder.
After wandering in the kitchen, they head upstairs to see the bedroom. Wider pine panels, large beige carpet, and moss green beddings on the medium-sized bed fill the room with a lightness different from the living room downstairs. Just as Caitlyn squeezes the cushion on the bed, she hears Vi’s voice in the bathroom. “THEY HAVE A BATHTUB!!!”
“They do??!” Caitlyn immediately starts scuffling towards Vi, “I didn’t think it would be copper. Looks cool,” she observes.
Vi is very pleased with herself. “I knew it was the right decision to bring the lavender bath salt.”
“So prospective. Speaking of which, breakfast?”
“Ah, yes.”
Though Caitlyn has told her that the particles she sees in the sun are dust, Vi continues to call them “happy fibers.”
“They are golden. They dance in the air. They are happy fibers.” Vi explains. Caitlyn ends up agreeing with her. The happy fibers charged with sunlight fill the car, floating in the space.
It’s one of those little diners full of town people who know each other. Passing through a crowd of “Haven’t seen you in a while!” and bridges of hugs, they sit down by the window. Vi smiles the moment she grabs the menu, greasy and beat-up, just like Jericho’s. The grilled fish he made, loaded with sauce, is her joy. From sneaking behind Vander to grab a bite to becoming a regular, the flavor never changes, just harder to come back to. She stares at the menu of breakfast foods, but the letters flee by like footsteps of water striders. Jericho’s food, when was the last time she…. She couldn’t remember the last time she had them. The fish were slender shapes of electric blues, the sauce piles of butter yellows, and the bowls jagged gray. She licked her fingers afterwards, sometimes chasing the sauce all the way down to the root of her palm. They are not coming together; she witnesses the shapes and colors surface and dissipate into the water. It’s strange how her memories were once frequent and strong like a hook. Those were the nights behind the steel bars on hard beds. She wonders if they were visions instead of memories, how she can almost smell and taste them. Or are visions just overdosing on memories? When was the last time she even thought of Jericho’s? Did things become blurry after the war or the wedding? Does a too-good life bleach her memories away like the sun?
“That menu seems worth a read.”
Vi raised her head, getting out of her thoughts as Cait spoke. She can still feel droplets of them running down her spine. “Uh…couldn’t decide.”
“Well, do you want me to pick for you?”
“Yeah, sure, thanks.” Vi smiles a little, “What are you going to get?”
“You know, same old bagel.” Caitlyn shrugs and shuts the menu.
The waitress walks by on time. With a standard smile and swift hand, she takes down the order: Caitlyn’s tea and bagel, and Vi’s coffee and pancakes. Extra syrup on the side, please, Caitlyn adds. Vi fidgets with the napkin on the table, folding them mindlessly.
“So, what was on your mind?” Caitlyn brings her chair forward a bit. Vi sighs in relief. Cait’s effortless inquiry never fails to amaze her; the way she simply starts a hard conversation like “What do you think of this book?”
Maybe it’s not Cait, she then thinks. Vi has heard quite a few people recounting Cait’s “intimidating presence” and “excellent interrogation skills.” Maybe it’s because of how she feels and who she is around her.
“Took on a new habit of zoning out, I see?” Vi’s eyes refocus on Cait’s polite and teasing expression.
“Yes… I mean no. Do you still remember Jericho’s?”
“Jericho’s! How can I forget our first date?” A flash of excitement appears across Caitlyn’s face.
“Well, I wouldn’t consider it a DATE when you called my favorite food ‘slop’.” Vi retorts.
“Uh… Good point.” Caitlyn’s lips twitch, “Breakfast on me. How’s that?”
“Apology accepted.”
The tea and coffee are up. They take the spoon and stir almost synchronously, clinging and clanging their distinct way through the chatter.
“I went to Jericho’s after…everything ended,” Caitlyn says after a sip of her tea.
“Really?”
“You bet.”
“You like the ‘slop’?”
“You bet,” Caitlyn repeats.
They both laugh as the order of food comes up.
“But more importantly, Jericho told me a lot about you.”
“That old bastard!” Vi shakes her head.
“Can’t blame him. It would be unfair to force him to bottle up those good stories. Especially the one where you accidentally trip over the blue----”
“NO, HE DID NOT!”
“And fell right into------”
“STOP! STOP! STOP! ABORT! ABORT!”
“You are no fun.”
“I’m bubbling with fun.”
“Anyways, I promised him we would visit often.”
“What? His stories are that good?”
“That. And I know you didn’t have much time to go after” Caitlyn sighs a little, staring at her hands, “everything.”
Vi nods, “I forgot that I miss Jericho’s.”
Caitlyn’s hand inches forward slowly, moving on top of Vi’s, “Let’s go after the honeymoon, yeah?”
“Mmh Hmm.” Vi stares hard at their hands intertwined, pausing in time, like tree roots three centuries ago.
“Would you care if I joined?” Cait tilts her head, voice lower.
“Not at all.”
They start the car with the grocery plan for tomorrow at the back of their minds. When the day is already full and ripe there is no space to grow a thought about tomorrow, especially with the sunset before their eyes right now: The sky is darkening all over, heavy on top of them like a thick blanket, except a corner is lifted by remaining sunlight, just enough to see each other’s faces all golden and flushed, mouths whispering, breaths knitting the air tight. The happy fibers dim and descends into an almost stillness. They become two creatures inside the same shell; their silence and softness pressed against one another.
Cait always gets sentimental during sunsets, Vi recalls, passing a glance at the passenger’s seat. She is staring at Vi’s side profile in the dimming light, how the ridges and highlights start to fade and melt into a unity of blue. Caitlyn thinks about all those things that get hidden and revealed in the darkness. If you don’t pay attention, they all look the same shade. If she didn’t chase the clues, could Vi be drowned in the murky Stillwater forever? She wouldn’t. That doesn’t matter. They are on honeymoon right now. Right.
Vi casts another glance, “Overthinking the sunsets again?”
Caitlyn sighs, “Yeah.”
“Wanna turn on the radio for me?”
“Sure”
“Thanks, baby.”
It isn’t until they step onto the porch that they remember the forgotten grocery run. Vi groans, lamenting the loss of a home-cooked meal. Caitlyn sighs, but it’s quickly replaced by a glimmer of unfamiliar excitement in her eyes.
“Oh well,” she grins and shrugs. “I suppose it’s takeout time.”
She hops through the doorway, and Vi watches her go, the look on her face like she’s just seen the sun rise from the west.