“I stared past him at the shallow moving water and tried to remember the night, but I could only see the moon in the water and remember his warmth around me”
After spending the night with the stranger on the bank of the river the narrator continued asking him who he was, and he answered that she knew and even knew why he had come. The narrator is attracted to this man, and it becomes even more obvious when she remembers nothing but his “warmth around her”. Seems that she lacked intimacy and tender attitude, and that’s why she did not run away but gave up to this strong, confident and handsome man.
“I don’t believe it. those stories couldn’t happen now” I said. He shook his head and said softly, “But someday they will talk about us, and they will say, “those two lived long ago when things like that happened”
The woman continues saying that she can’t be the Yellow Woman from an old story, and the stranger can’t be a spirit from the mountains. Her main argument is that such stories could not happen now, but everything once was present, even the events that took place many years ago were present at that moment. Everything is quickly passing and becomes history.
“From here I can see the world”
He lived high up in the mountains, his place was rather secluded and it was difficult to find it for one who did not know the way there. He was hidden there from everyone, but himself could see everything. It was his “fortress”.