The next morning, Uyo was still in bed when Ventis arrived with fresh towels and linens.
“Uyo, why are you still here? Otuam keeps a strict routine.”
“She bid me yesterday to return overmorrow,” Uyo said with their eyes still closed.
“A free day? And you’re still in bed?” Ventis asked, opening a shuttered window to direct the morning light onto Uyo’s face.
“Hey! C’mon, Ventis. Let me sleep,” Uyo said, turning from the light. “I still have the sedra.”
“Hmm. That’s unusual,” said Ventis. “But no matter. It’s a beautiful day, Uyo. The sun is shining. Can’t you feel its warmth?”
Since scrunching their face was a poor shield from his shutter sabotage, Uyo opened one squinting eye to look at Ventis. “Yes, I can feel it…now,” Uyo grumbled.
“The wind is dancing through the trees. Can’t you hear it?”
As though his voice had summoned it, Uyo realized they could, in fact, hear the wind winding its way through the willow tree outside the window. “Yes, Ventis, I can hear it.”
“Take a deep breath. Can’t you smell it?”
Uyo closed their eyes and inhaled, drawing the air in through the nose to the back of the throat, sliding down the back of the lungs, before curling and pooling in the tanden. Uyo held it there for a moment, feeling the fullness of the breath, then released it up the front of the lungs and throat, over the tongue, and out through softly puckered lips. “Smell it? I can almost taste it. Tival has baked more of that date bread!”
“Today is full of opportunity, Uyo. Can’t you see it?”
Mentally, Uyo agreed that Ventis must be right, but with the sedra, they couldn’t see it. “I guess. Maybe? I don’t know, Ventis.”
Ventis held Uyo’s gaze with a face that somehow radiated both empathy and impassivity. And with one arched eyebrow that seemed both question and challenge.
“Fine,” Uyo said, reaching for their pants hanging on the back of the chair. Uyo had one leg in and the other leg hovering when they turned to Ventis. “Wait…was all this just a way to get me up so you could change the bedding?”
“Not just,” Ventis said, unsuccessfully suppressing a smirk. “Opportunity is not serendipity, Uyo. It requires your attention to seize it.”
I wish someone would seize the sedra from me, Uyo thought, as they buckled their pants and shuffled towards the kitchen.
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