But the girl remained anxious, until finally she reached the boy on the phone after days of searching for his number. When she asked what the card meant, he said, "Oh, well, the girl I was going to ask to marry me broke up with me instead. She's seeing someone else now."

  "Oh, I'm sorry," the girl replied, feeling her heart tug in empathy for the boy's unhappiness.

  The boy said, "My life has no meaning now. She was the only person that understood me, she was my reason for living. And yet, I knew she'd screw me over. And I know she'll be back again."

  The girl wrinkled her brow. "And what will you do when she comes back?"

  "I'll take her back, of course!" the boy said, resignation in his voice.

  "Even though she's hurt you, and you know she could do it again?"

  "I can't help it," he cried despairingly. "My head says no, but my heart wants her back."

  The girl shook her head sadly, then promised to call him later in the week.

  Despite the boy's misery, the girl was happy to be talking to the boy again. She felt that helping the boy through his hard time would atone for her behavior ten years before.

  "This is what I'm meant to do. That's why he got in contact with me."

  The Being smiled. "Maybe one reason, but not all," It said.

  And so the girl continued to counsel the boy, and the boy did begin to feel a little better. He didn't know why the girl could be so interested in talking to him, but he did feel better, and less lonely, so he went along.

  "Well, Freely Sailing isn't the only woman in the world," the girl said.

  "But, she's the only one for me. Everything about her is perfect. And I knew her, I recognized her as being important the first time I saw her."

  The girl remembered her own jolt of recognition at seeing the boy, and how that knowingness had sent her on a wild chase. She shook her head. Knowingness wasn't enough.

  "Well, what qualities do you want in your ideal mate?" the girl asked.

  "I want Freely. She's my ideal."

  "Qualities," the girl repeated emphatically.

  The boy paused. "I want understanding and openness, I want it to be special and exclusive, I need her to be smart. Loyalty would be nice."

  "But Freely isn't loyal, is she," the girl pointed out. "There are hundreds of women with those qualities. Meet one of them instead."

  The boy sighed. "You don't understand. I'm nearly thirty. It's too late for me now. It takes me forever to get to know someone. There's hardly any women around here. Who would bother with me?"

  The girl said, "Then go out and meet people. They don't have to come to you."

  "No, I want Freely. She was the only one for me. I have to get over her, and I never will. I need to get used to the idea of a long lonely existence."

  After several of these conversations, which the boy enjoyed, he began to wonder at the motives of the girl. She called often, said she thought about him often, and always had something new to say about his relationship with Freely. But, her attention was making him nervous---afterall, she had been willing to leave Darkly ten years ago for him, and he didn't want anything to happy to Quietly.

  And besides, he still wanted Freely. There was no room in his heart for the girl. So, the boy remained cautious, but since the girl was such a long distance away, he decided that nothing could happen except for conversation.

  He told her one evening, "Our relationship was a friendship that went too far."

  "It was?" the girl replied, sounding surprised.

  "Yes. We should have been friends only, just as we are now."

  The girl was silent for a moment. Then, "Were you mad at me long? Did you regret what happened between us?"

  He sniffed. "I stopped being angry a long time ago. I'm over that. It doesn't matter anymore. I just wish I knew why Freely left me. We were so perfect together. I just want to understand."

  "So you know what not to do next time?" the girl asked.

  "Yes! All I want to do is love her. She can do anything she wants. I just want to love her.

  The boy, several weeks later, went on a long trip with his friends in one of the contraptions he had built. He was able to travel long distances at high speeds and over any kind of terrain. His partner on the road was Compassionate Touch. Compassionate and the boy rode in one contraption that could take off alone for days at a time. And it was during these weeks of traveling together that the boy told his story of lost love to Compassionate. The boy was still looking for answers to why Freely had left him, and so asked Compassionate for her theories on love.

  "Why did she leave me? What did I do wrong?" the boy asked as he lay under Compassionate's hands. Skillfully, she massaged knots out of his tired back from a long day of driving.

  "You did nothing wrong," she replied. "That's just the way love is sometimes. Take my own situation. Yes, I am married, but not to the man I truly love. He that I dream about, I cannot have. My heart yearns for him, but I settle for another. And yet, I am happy. Sometimes a love burns so hot it hurts the lovers, driving them apart forever."

  The boy thought about this, and decided that it was true. Freely and he were so in love it was too much to handle. And, brave girl that she was, she had even come back five times for more. Even the Girl's love for him was a perfect example. She had loved him, but couldn't live with him and left. She had settled for Quietly, but he could tell that she still loved him. Yes, that was the nature of it. He understood now.

  Compassionate broke into the silence, "My darling, you are so unhappy. Reside in my arms tonight."

  The boy sat up. He shook his head. "No, not with you. Only with someone special," he replied. Then walked away to bed.

  He didn't see Compassionate smile and shrug.

  The girl missed talking to the boy when he went away on his trip and thought about him and his unhappiness often. She still wondered what more she could do for him, he was so miserable.

  Having spent so much time thinking about the boy, she hadn't heard the Being in a while. So, she looked within to check its condition.

  "About time," it said, staring at her admonishingly.

  "Hey, this isn't my fault. You're the one that arranged this."

  "Are you ready to pay attention now?" the Being asked.

  "Of course," she replied

  "What do you feel?"

  "I feel happy," she said immediately. "I feel like the sun is on my shoulders. I feel like I could move the world." The girl smiled at the being. "Isn't it great that talking to the boy makes me feel that way?"

  The Being looked at the girl intently, eyes locking on hers. "And who do you know the boy to be?"

  The girl blinked, then her eyes widened. She cried, "How could you do this to me? How could you set me up again? My Prince is Quietly! Not that lovesick boy!"

  "Trust me, trust me."

  "Stop saying that!" And the girl, so angry and frightened, threw on her shoes and ran farther and faster than she ever had in her life---so badly did she want to be away from the truth.

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