THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO HEARTS
There was no battlefield.
No blood.
No collapsing world.
No enemy waiting behind a door.
Only a question.
GAAFATAA stood in silence.
The pen rested between his fingers.
He looked toward the others.
Then he asked:
"What does it mean
to love someone?"
...
For several seconds,
nobody answered.
Perhaps because the question
sounded simple.
And perhaps because
simple questions
are sometimes the ones
people spend their entire lives
trying to answer.
One voice finally spoke.
"Maybe love begins
when another person's existence
starts changing the way
you experience your own."
GAAFATAA looked toward the speaker.
"Changing it how?"
...
"You notice things differently."
A pause.
"The road home feels shorter
when you know someone is waiting."
"The difficult days
become easier to carry."
"And sometimes..."
the speaker smiled.
"...you begin remembering
small things
you never thought
you would care about."
How they drink their coffee.
What makes them laugh.
What makes them quiet.
What they pretend
doesn't hurt them.
What gives them peace.
...
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
GAAFATAA lowered the pen.
"Then is love
the desire to possess someone?"
"No."
The answer came quickly.
"At least...
it shouldn't be."
...
Another voice entered the conversation.
"Someone you love
is not something you own."
"They remain a person
outside of you."
"With thoughts
you cannot always hear."
"Memories
you did not live."
"Dreams
that do not belong to you."
"And parts of themselves
they may still be trying
to understand."
...
GAAFATAA asked:
"Then why do people
want to become one?"
The others became quiet again.
Finally,
someone answered.
"Perhaps they don't need to."
...
Two trees
can grow beside one another.
Their roots may meet
beneath the earth.
Their branches may share
the same rain.
Their leaves may move
beneath the same wind.
But one tree
does not need to become
the other.
If one grows
by suffocating the other...
that is not closeness.
It is destruction.
...
"Safuu," someone whispered.
GAAFATAA looked toward them.
"What does Safuu have to do
with love?"
...
"Respect."
Not the shallow kind.
Not politeness
performed because people
are watching.
Something deeper.
The understanding
that the person beside you
has boundaries.
A life.
A dignity.
A will.
Love does not erase those things.
It should make you
more careful with them.
...
Someone looked toward the horizon.
"Maybe that is one of love's
hardest lessons."
"You can be close to someone
without consuming them."
"You can protect someone
without controlling them."
"You can miss someone
without claiming them."
"You can disagree
without humiliating them."
"And sometimes..."
the voice softened.
"...loving someone means
giving them enough room
to remain themselves."
...
GAAFATAA wrote something.
SCRATCH.
Then another question.
"What about passion?"
A quiet laugh.
"Passion is easy."
GAAFATAA raised his eyes.
"Easy?"
"Compared with patience?"
"Yes."
...
Anyone can feel strongly
for a moment.
The harder question is
what those feelings become
when life becomes ordinary.
When someone is tired.
When money is difficult.
When misunderstanding arrives.
When anger enters the room.
When neither person
has the perfect words.
...
Strong feelings
can begin a relationship.
They cannot carry
the entire relationship alone.
...
"Then what carries it?"
GAAFATAA asked.
Someone answered:
"Choice."
Another:
"Patience."
Another:
"Trust."
Another:
"Respect."
And finally:
"Nagaa."
...
Peace.
Not silence created by fear.
Not one person surrendering
so the other can always win.
Not pretending problems
do not exist.
Nagaa.
The kind of peace
where a person does not need
to keep their heart
prepared for battle.
...
One of them described
the highlands after rain.
The earth dark and wet.
The grass returning.
Animals resting
after feeding.
The air becoming cool.
Nothing demanding attention.
Nothing chasing anything.
Only life
allowed to breathe.
...
"Perhaps that is what
some people search for
in another person."
"Not excitement every second."
"Not obsession."
"Somewhere their heart
can finally stop defending itself."
...
GAAFATAA remained still.
Then he asked:
"And justice?"
...
This time,
the answer came from a woman.
"Without justice,
love can become an excuse
for control."
...
She spoke of Siinqee.
Not as a supernatural force.
Not as a power.
But as a reminder
that dignity cannot disappear
simply because affection exists.
A woman does not become
less of a person
because someone loves her.
A man does not gain ownership
because his feelings are strong.
Two people can care deeply
for one another
while remaining responsible
for how they treat each other.
...
"Then love must have limits?"
GAAFATAA asked.
"Of course."
...
"Without boundaries,
love can become possession."
"Without honesty,
it can become performance."
"Without patience,
it can become hunger."
"Without justice,
it can become domination."
"Without freedom..."
the woman paused.
"...the word love
can be used to hide
something that is not love at all."
...
The pen moved again.
SCRATCH.
...
GAAFATAA looked at what
he had written.
Then asked:
"How do you know
when you have found
the right person?"
...
Nobody answered.
One second.
Five.
Ten.
GAAFATAA looked around.
"You answered everything else."
Someone smiled.
"No."
"We answered
what we think."
...
Another person laughed quietly.
"Maybe that question
doesn't have one answer."
...
Some people search
for someone who understands them.
Some search for someone
who challenges them.
Some search for laughter.
Some for stability.
Some for companionship.
Some for a person
with whom silence
does not feel empty.
...
And perhaps...
for a fortunate few...
there comes a moment
when they look at someone
and realize something
surprisingly ordinary.
They do not need
to perform.
They do not need
to impress.
They do not need
to become smaller.
They do not need
to become larger.
They can simply...
be.
...
GAAFATAA looked down.
The pen remained still.
Then he asked
one final question.
"If love is not possession..."
"If it is not obsession..."
"If it is not two people
destroying themselves
to become one..."
"...then what is it?"
...
The evening wind
moved gently across the land.
Two trees stood
some distance apart.
Their branches did not touch.
But beneath the earth...
their roots had found
the same soil.
...
A voice answered.
"Maybe love is not
finding someone
who completes your existence."
...
"Maybe it is finding someone
beside whom
you are still allowed
to exist completely."
...
Silence.
GAAFATAA looked at the page.
Then at the others.
For once...
he did not ask
another question.
...
SEENEE:
"Interesting."
GAAFATAA turned.
SEENEE stood some distance away.
"You have something to add?"
SEENEE smiled.
"No."
He looked toward the two trees.
"I tell stories."
"You ask questions."
He turned away.
"This one..."
"...people should answer
with the way they live."
...
SCRATCH.