By the Garden Fence

They were running and running as fast as they could and they almost reached the forest. But suddenly she stopped, supporting herself against the garden fence and breathing heavily. “I… I can’t run anymore.”
He carefully crawled up the hill and looked down, back at the village, taking care not to be seen. “They are following us,” he told her. “They are questioning people. And – they have dogs.”
“We cannot run from then then,” she whispered and hid her face in her hands, shaking and crying.
He went back to her and hugged her.
Suddenly she reached over and drew his dagger from its sheath and said fiercely, “I would rather die than live without you!”
In answer he took forth the medallion from around his neck and opened it. “There is another possibility,” he said, looking down at the small piece of black coal within.
Blinking in confusion she looked at him and asked, “what is it?”
“Old magic,” he replied. “A gift from my grandma. It can move our spirits out of the body and into something else. Into…” he looked around. “Into this fence, for instance. I will be the iron, holding and supporting you. And you will be the green vine enfolding me.”
Her eyes opened widely, “We would be always together then!”
“And nobody would ever separate us again,” he replied.

He took out the coal into his hands and whispered slowly to it while breathing down on it. And it began glow, faintly at first but then brighter and brighter with every moment.
“Now!” he said, moving the coal into his left hand. “Put a hand atop on it and, with the other hand, touch the vine!”
As she did so, he reached out and touched the fence.
The coal felt burning hot against her hand, but she kept it firmly over his. Suddenly she felt a change within her. Her body went light, almost floating, and grew transparent before her eyes. And in the next moment, like the blink of an eye, something snapped.

She could feel her leaves moving in the wind, gently caressing the fence which held them. She could feel his thoughts through the metal of the fence, sense his feelings and strength as he supported her.
“Amazing!” he said.
“What?” she asked, still marveling at the new sensations.
“The moisture in the earth, the life-giving Sun. The way you are reaching for the Light…”