Authors: Mara Valderran
He nodded, looking grave. "
But how did he make you
feel
?"
She
cast her gaze down as the memory left the hairs on her arms standing at attention. "Anxious, I guess. He hated me, but I have no idea why." She lifted her face back up to look her father in the eye. "You do, don't you? You know why he wants to hurt me."
Raemann let out a breath. "Yes, I do. And if you see him again, I want you to call me instantly. Or maybe for once you might allow yourself to feel some fear. Do you understand? And if you see anyone funny around Isauria, the same thing."
"She's important in this." Her voice held no question as she stared at the man who had raised her as his own daughter. "That's why Tate didn’t want me talking to her, why there’s a weird connection between us, right?"
He hesitated, and then nodded. "I can't tell you more than this. Though I get the feeling you might be finding out a lot sooner than I had hoped. Can you finish dinner while I make a few phone calls?"
"Sure."
He patted her cheek lovingly, and
she leaned into his hand. "I know this is driving you crazy, and patience isn't your strong suit, but you have to find some. There's more at risk than I could possibly explain to you, and I need you to trust me, okay?"
"I do trust you," she conceded. "But I can tell you're worried. And it worries me.
I'm scared." Her prominent eyes glistened. "I can tell something big is coming, and I know there's no going back. I'm scared," she repeated, her usually wispy voice cracking.
He pulled her into a tight and brief hug. "There's only going forward, Rhaya. Remember that. All any of us can ever do is move forward." He kissed her
forehead and released her from his embrace, retreating into his bedroom with his cell phone already in hand.
"Again,
" Kenward barked at the young couple he circled, his hands clasped behind his back. "It's a weapon, not a bouquet of flowers, Garrett."
The young man stopped, brushing the light brown hair stubbornly falling over his eyes
and to the side. He rested his staff on the ground, leaning against the weapon for support as he caught his breath and directed an incredulous look to his trainer. "You don't expect me to
actually
hit your daughter, do you?" he asked, his Western accent shattered by huffs of air.
The girl in question used her own staff to knock his away from him in a low sweeping motion, causing him to lose his balance. "Don't worry, darling," she teas
ed, a playful glint in her eyes, "I promise not to hurt you too much."
Terrena and Garrett both grinned at one another before launching back into action. Her glances back to Kenward proved her Cyneward to be less than pleased with the smirk on Garrett’s face. Each move was lined with a laughter that would be far from present in a real battle, which she understood Kenward had been trying to prepare them for. He had been training Terrena almost her entire life,
readying her for the violence to come.
Kenward continued his trek around them, inspecting their moves with a deep scrutiny creasing the lines of his forehead. "This
is a fight, not a dance, Terra." he chided in a naturally quiet voice that still managed to shake the leafless trees around them. "I do not think the Cahiran sympathizers will be laughing when they are trying to kill you."
Terrena did her best to ignore the chills his comment sent down her spine, focusing instead on her parry instead of
recalling the previous encounters with the Cahirans now tugging at her memory’s edge. She turned, swinging her staff, her dark hair whipping around with her motions and clinging to her sweat-soaked skin. She paused, lowering her guard to pull the strands from her face and giving her opponent the opening he needed to sweep his own staff underneath her legs. She landed on the browned grass with a grunt, glaring at the hand being offered to help her up.
"Did you just stop in the middle of a fight to fix your
hair
?" Garrett asked, accentuating the last word with incredulity.
She slapped his hand away and brought herself to her feet. "No, I stopped in the middle of a
sparring
match to get my hair out of my face. I had no idea you were going to cheat," she retorted heatedly in an accent matching his. She glared at Kenward’s retreating back, almost as if to blame him.
Garrett spread his arms out. "Come now, my love. Your father would never let me hear the end of it if he thought I was going easy on you." He grew somber as he continued. "Besides, he's right. There's a war raging around us, Terra. What good are these sparring matches if we don't prepare ourselves for the violence out awaiting us?
Any day, the war is going to land on our doorstep. Like your father says, Estridia cannot remain untouched for long."
Terrena forced a stiff nod of agreement, her stomach churning. She didn't need to be reminded of the
horrors plaguing the worlds. She played a more prominent role in the war than she would like, or she would ever be able to tell him. She started to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest with a playful snap.
"The Terra I know would be furious if I let her win."
She pressed her broad lips together both to suppress her amusement at his flirting and the wince of his referring to her as the Terra he knew. "The Terra I am doesn't fancy being knocked on her bottom." She rubbed the offended part as she tried to push aside all thoughts of the dual identities she'd carried with her since childhood. She'd always played the part of Terra while Kenward trained her to be Ainnir Terrena, the name and title he never dared to use since the day they had left Anscombe. "I'd rather not be limping around the festival tonight."
"I'm still shocked your father is letting us go."
She swallowed once more and offered him a weak look of agreement as her cheeks flushed with guilt at the lies she had been forced to tell Garrett. Her heart broke at the deception, but Kenward had been clear that he must remain ignorant of her true identity. She counted herself lucky Kenward had allowed Garrett to accompany them at all.
She cast a look around, finding the warrior in question trailing a good distance behind them, as usual. Kenward had been staunchly opposed to her involvement with Garrett from the moment she met him almost two years ago. He had fallen fast for her, but she had been much more reluctant to reciprocate his attempts at romancing her. Kenward's warnings always whispered in her ears, telling her it didn't matter how charming the sandy haired young man with bright eyes happened to be. Nothing could ever come of their affections for one another. She had told herself this over and over again, but in the end, his draw had been too strong.
She'd tried to hide her blossoming relationship from Kenward, but to no avail. Her secret relationship hadn't been news to him. As her Cyneward, his job was to watch, but not to intervene. As her surrogate father, his job meant protecting her from heartache as best he could. Unfortunately for him, the two roles he tried to balance tended to contradict one another, something Terrena had watching him struggle with since they had fled from Anscombe almost eighteen years ago.
"
He’s letting
me
go to the festival, you mean," she corrected, the humor leaving her face as the guilt from her deceptions once again weighed her down. "You're free to come and go as you please."
"That is most definitely not the case," he murmured as his soft cerulean-blue eyes sparkled at her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, linking his fingers together so they rested on the curve of her lower back. "I am forever bound to you as you are aware."
Her honey skin flushed at this as she ducked her chin. She didn't doubt his words in the slightest. Garrett had not let the troubles usually following Terrena sway him from his desire to stay with her. He had followed them with patience and without question as they moved from town to town, Kenward always insistent they never stay in one place for too long.
He tapped his finger against her full bottom lip. "There's that beautiful smile. I knew you wouldn't stay mad at me long."
She leaned forward, taking advantage of their somewhat matched height to kiss him. "I hate when you're right. If anyone asks, though, I took you down easily."
He liberated her from his embrace and took her hand, his free hand rubbing his cheek. "No worries. I am fairly certain I am going to have the marks to prove your fighting skills are far above and beyond mine."
"I'll prepare a cool cloth for you when we get home," she offered as they made their way from the clearing just beyond the edge of the town they currently resided in.
She turned her head
so as to hide the pain and longing she felt. Her affinity for the Earth element allowed her healing skills beyond those who trained for years, but to display her abilities would threaten to reveal her true identity.
"The wound isn’t serious, Terra," he said, mistaking her sadness for guilt. "I promise, I will survive. Besides, a bruised face makes me appear more manly. I can tell people I defended you from a terrible creature, and they will be in awe of my bravery," he puffed his chest out, but deflated quickly as she laughed. "What? My story is perfectly believable."
"I’m certain it is, but, unfortunately for you, I have every intention of bragging about my superior fighting skills."
She
guffawed as he pulled her into his arms, tickling her in retaliation before she squirmed free and broke into a run as their house came into view. He raced after her, their laughter singing to the trees they wove their way through. They both leaned against the back wall, catching their breath as they stared at each other as though the world around them had disappeared. She loved how he always managed to cheer her up even when he had no idea what troubled her.
"I should go get ready for the festival since you ruined the back of my dress," she teased.
He placed a kiss on the top of her nose. "Go check your room, and I doubt you will mind much."
Her full cheeks brightened at the idea of a present, and she rushed inside like a child on the anniversary of her birth. She whipped around the doorframe, stopping short as she spotted the gift Garrett had left for her. There, in front of her window, hung a brand new dress made from a bright golden material
brushing the ground in length. The trim consisted of a dark green fabric strip with bronze embroidered leaves lining the scoop neck and bell-shaped sleeves.
"The dress matches your eyes," he said
from his perch against the doorframe and referring to the amber flecks of her green eyes.
"It's beautiful," she said, overcome with emotion. "Thank you, Garrett."
He gave a slight bow of the head in answer before slipping around the door to give her privacy to get ready.
Later that evening, the sounds of music and laughter filled the night air as the Lugnasad festival raged on, which was one of biggest celebrations Terrena had seen in years. The war-induced poverty of the lands had spread like an illness wreaking havoc on the worlds, so most towns didn’t have the means to do much for the festivals throughout the year. The traditional feasts were cut down to a mere breaking of bread, the hunts lucky to find any game at all if they even tried.
This year had been different for the town they resided in. This year they were celebrating their first Wassail in ages, and the excitement buzzed through the small mining village. Wassail was the ritual to begin marriage contracts and always paired with one of the four festivals marking the calendar year. Terrena had been begging her Cyneward to allow her to attend though large crowds set him on edge. She skipped around the makeshift dance area with Garrett along with the other townspeople, laughing gleefully as she let the cares usually weighing heavily on her mind slip away for the night.
The air of the mountain regions in Western Estridia was
frosty and it hugged the people tighter together as the season’s first dusting of snow clung to the grass. The town square, which consisted of a well and a few market stalls, consisted of muddied ground from where people had been stomping and dancing around all day, melting the snow underfoot. A loud cheer erupted nearby, and they ceased their dancing, pulling off to the side to clap in time with the music along with the others. The happy couple took to the dance floor, the groom sweeping his new bride off her feet and twirling her around jubilantly.
Garrett placed a hand on the small of Terrena's back, rubbing his thumb back and forth against the belt of her new dress. She turned to face him and leaned in for a small kiss. She rested her head against his shoulder
and she watched the newly married couple celebrate, fighting against her own sadness as she feared the same happiness did not await her and Garrett.
He pulled her close and placed a kiss on her forehead. "One day, my love. One day your father will give us his blessing, and we will have our celebration. He can't deny me forever," he said with a wink.
She gave him a weak smile, wanting to take comfort in his words, but at the same time weighed down by the guilt from the lies she’d had to tell him over the years. "One day," she agreed softly.
He took her hand in his. "Let's go for a walk."
He made small talk as they left the celebrations and Terrena mostly listened. His voice mesmerized her, like a song she alone could hear. She couldn’t get enough, constantly prompting him with questions so as to prolong their conversation even further.
He traced the curve of her mouth with his finger
as they came to a grassy patch a little ways off from the town square. "What are you laughing about?"
"I'm not laughing," she said as they seated themselves on the grass. "I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have you. You've given up your whole life to be with me, and I can't tell you what that means to me."
He laughed heartily. "I'm lucky you let me follow you around the way I do. And your father hasn't killed me for doing so.” He drifted into a thoughtful silence. “There was no life for me back there," he finally said, his face full of acceptance and showing no sign of regret. "My life is with you, Terra."
She put her hand on his cheek. "Even if my father won't consent to marriage?"
"Even if your father marries you off to someone else," he promised, "I would still follow you to the edge of the worlds." He leaned in, kissing her softly at first and then more earnestly. He laid her back against the grass, lining her chin with small kisses before a final one on the tip of her nose. "Do you think he ever will?"
Terrena turned her head away from his, blinking back tears. She wanted to stay like this forever. She wanted to remain Terra. She didn't want to be Terrena or return to her life in Anscombe. With each year that passed, the day when the choice would no longer be hers grew closer. "It was eighteen years ago," she whispered.
“What?” He wiped a stray tear from her cheek before it reached her ear.
She stared off into the distance, remembering. "When we left, my father and I."
"Why did you leave?" he asked.