Mom was really mad at that lady. Eri didn't think she was a bad person, she was pretty, with long blonde hair in a ponytail and eyes that looked like her emerald necklace. She had a strange sword on her belt. The other lady looked very angry too. Eri wondered if she had ruined a dress too or had gotten lost for a whole afternoon in the city.

"So out of all the people in the world that Artemia could send to Pellegrin, they send their little princess," the blonde woman said with one hand on her hip, she looked at Mom like Bestenar sometimes looked at Eri.

"Don't play dumb," Mom replied in her scolding voice. "You're here because you knew we were coming, you were hoping..."

"Hoping for Jimmer Runaesthera. Don't you think I was really looking forward to seeing you again?"

"Please, you two." Dad stepped forward to come between them, his voice was the one he used to give orders to the fool, but he looked at Mom like when she was angry with him. "We haven't seen each other in almost seven years, and this is the first thing you do?"

"Frey, I'm glad to see you," the blonde woman pretended to approach, but in the end she didn't. "Don't worry, we're not going to fight, that's how we greet each other. We were very good friends, the three of us, weren't we? When we killed dragons with the order."

"Wooow," Eri couldn't contain her exclamation of amazement and ran towards the disheveled woman. "Are you also as cool as my dad? Do you kill bad dragons?"

"Eri, come here," Mom sounded serious, it was best to obey, although it seemed to her that she was trying to be cordial, like when she took her to meet nobles at the castle. "Mrs. Valderant was our companion in the order until she resigned about seven years ago. She and your dad had the same master."

Eri, who had already returned to Mom, opened her round eyes in amazement. "Really? Why did she stop killing dragons? How many could she kill?" Eri knew that Dad and the dragonslayers only killed bad dragons, but she realized that her teacher, who was listening at a nearby table, didn't like dragonslayers.

The woman laughed a little and made that strange face that many people made when they met her, as if they were holding in a gas and it made them laugh a lot.

"Oh, by the Goddess, I'd already heard about you, little one." She crouched down to pinch her cheek, so she was one of those, how annoying. "You're much prettier than I imagined. I killed three evil dragons, I think your mom hasn't killed any yet according to the rumors in the taverns."

"You know that dragons are immune to magic," Mom said trying not to be rude, but she wasn't doing well. "Besides, I helped you kill two of those dragons."

"Still, the order doesn't keep track of assistance, how unfortunate."

"You'll be..."

Dad intervened again.

"Eri, it's time for you to go to sleep, I'll take you myself." He turned to the table. "Rest up, Lady Meracina. Runa, will you join us?"

Mom looked at Mrs. Valderant in the eyes.

"No, go ahead, I'll talk to the captain about the trip itinerary."

Dad took Eri by the hand and took her to the upstairs floor of the inn, it seemed to her that it was a little early to sleep, but she was already tired from so much flying. So she didn't complain.

While Dad was helping her wash and put on her nightgown, Eri was curious.

"Daddy, why are Mommy and Mrs. Valderant angry?"

"Well, look Eri... the truth is, I don't know. They used to be companions, maybe not the best friends, but when your mom joined the order of dragonslayers, within a few months they ended up hating each other. Apparently Val says that Runa did something terrible to her but neither of them wanted to tell me what it was. Jimmer told me it was my fault but he never explained it to me, maybe Runa offended her and I should have taken her side, but anyway, for men, women are a mystery," as he spoke, he was already tucking the little dragon girl in.

"Daddy."

"Tell me, love."

"Sometimes you can be very silly."

----------------------------------------

Valderant, Val, who had been a companion and almost a friend, at least that’s how Runa remembered her. She was the only other disciple of the sword master Akdergos the dwarf. The only woman in the world who had made her feel jealous.

“So,” she finally said when Frey and Eri could no longer hear them, “we have no choice, we have to make this journey together.”

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“Yes, it seems so,” she replied, crossing her arms and avoiding her gaze, “we’re going to have to do it, we’re going where your husband can’t stop us. But first,” with a nod of her head, she indicated to the innkeeper her order, and they were brought two enormous pints of beer. Knowing her, it would be a dark and bitter one. But she wasn’t going to lose to her in anything.

They both drank the pint in one long and painful gulp. It was evident to everyone else, despite their bravado, that neither of them was a great drinker. They left the mugs on the bar almost at the same time and headed to the door without saying anything else.

“Where to?” Runa asked with a sour voice, dizzy from the beer and its bitter taste, which she didn’t like at all.

“Behind the lighthouse, there won’t be a soul. No arrivals are expected tonight, and the lighthouse keeper was in the tavern.”

They walked together without looking at each other until they reached their destination. Behind that lighthouse was a small beach, and they took positions facing each other, a few steps apart, like those about to duel.

“Runa! Are you finally going to admit today that you were a coward?”

“Maybe,” she replied, her eyes almost blazing, “if you tell me what in orcs name you’re talking about.”

“Grow up, you’re what, a hundred years old? And you talk like a scolded child,” she took the first step forward.

“You speak of maturity,” she took a step in turn, “when the best you could do was treat me with such contempt, just because I…”

“Don’t bring him into this!” another step, they were almost within reach, “Yes, I hated you for taking him, but that’s not what we’re settling here. You were my friend, I trusted you with my biggest secret, my greatest shame.”

“I never told anyone, until today no one knows,” the last step.

“And even though you knew,” with clenched teeth, her eyes flashing in the moonlight, Val threw the first punch to Runa’s ribs, she didn’t block it or move to avoid it, “You didn’t tell me the truth!”

Runa, hurting from her side, threw her own punch to her rival’s stomach, who also didn’t move, “I wasn’t going to be the one to hurt you, I thought it was best.”

“Your turn again, you fight like you insult, grandma girl,” she said, offering her face, “you’re a hypocrite, you let me find out in that horrible way.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, slapping her with all her strength, “Frey and I told you before anyone else, not even my father knew.”

The blonde woman put her hand to her face where Runa’s blow would undoubtedly leave a mark.

“Don’t pretend!” she grabbed Runa by the collar of her shirt, shook her like a doll, and threw her to the sand with the same ease, she fell sitting, “I’m sure you realized, I was there, that night, after we killed my third dragon.”

That night, she and Frey had sneaked out of the camp to be together in private, they had a special place, on the other side of a stream. It couldn’t be…

“You say you…” Runa didn’t even make a move to get up.

“Yes, at that time I was the idiot. I saw you leave and followed you, I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it, especially because you knew what I felt for him, and you weren’t content with taking him but didn’t have the courage to tell me at that moment. Jimmer told me later that everyone already suspected it, only I was that blind. So don’t come to me with that you told me before anyone else. When you told me, Frey gave me a hug and asked if I was happy for him. You had been engaged for months, and I,” she kicked Runa in the shoulder, who fell sideways into the sand.

Runa stayed silent for a moment, she had no idea that Valderant had seen them, the truth was she had been a coward, but maybe the reality was something worse.

“Don’t you say anything, old child?” —suddenly, Valderant realized she couldn’t move.

“Val,” Runa stood up, one of her hands glowing with power, those spells didn’t work against dragons, but Valderant wasn’t one, she had no chance, “you’ve vented. Now it’s my turn,” with a wave of her hand, Val’s body was thrown into the water, “when I joined the dragon slayers, do you know what was the first thing I saw? A beautiful and strong woman, kind, friendly, almost perfect, who had everything in common with my fiancé. Frey is a fool, I don’t think even today he knows what you felt for him, but I knew it the first day, because your eyes were like mine when you looked at him.”

Storm clouds began to gather, Runa was holding Val with one hand while summoning them with the other.

“And you think…” the wind began to blow, driven by the storms, “that it was easy to imagine those years before me? Doing everything he never does with me. Training together, hunting dragons, talking about armor, swords, and horses. Sleeping meters apart, traveling across the continent. Even when I joined, that didn’t change, you were the same, part of all that, and I… I just wanted to be with him,” Runa’s magical power was exhausted, the wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, the light from her hands extinguished like the last ember of a home fire. Runa lowered her arms and head, exhausted and still in pain.

Val stood up, soaked, exhausted from resisting the spell, her hair a mess, her ponytail undone. She panted as she spoke.

“You are incredible, little princess.” Her voice was even more laden with disdain. “You would be capable of taking away the little I had of him if you could, it seems nothing is enough for you. You have that great magical power, you look like a doll with that perfect skin and fairy-like face, you’re going to live thousands of years, and you’re the princess of the largest kingdom on the continent. And you have the nerve to be jealous of me?”

“Of course, you fool,” she said while trying to catch her breath, “you two could have shared your whole life. I will have thousands of years to mourn him when he leaves me.”

“Then don’t waste any more time, go to him.”

Runa looked at her confused.

“I have my own family now. Did you think I would cry over him my whole life? I think he was never meant for me. But I never forgave you for your cowardice.”

“I never asked you for forgiveness either.”

“And are you going to do it now?”

“It depends. Will that make us friends again?”

“I don’t think so, little princess, you’re still an immature little doll, and I think Frey could have done better.”

“I thought so. Anyway, I apologize, I was a bad friend and a coward.”

“Now say you’re a bad drinker.”

“What?”

“Hahaha!” The laugh of the disheveled blonde woman echoed throughout Cerrem. “I wanted to see if you’d take the bait. But seriously, that beer almost knocked you out, I remember you hit harder.”

“Look who’s talking, I threw you into the water so your tears wouldn’t show, you got all sentimental.”

“That’s not true, you piece of…”

It wouldn’t be the beginning or the continuation of the friendship that had united them, but they could have one of the best rivalries two women had ever enjoyed.