Clenching his hands into fists, an expression of disgust subconsciously settled onto his face, shadowed by long strands of light amber hair as he hung his head in anxious thought. So many spells to learn, so many skills to master, so many memories to make and not nearly enough time to do it all. What if he not only failed to rescue Kaila before it was too late, but also lost Lessa to that old, lustful lord of Toulun? Even if he managed to endure through such loss, it wouldn’t be long before Civus was swept up in a large civil war that would put the lives of him and his loved ones at risk on a scale that was difficult to imagine.
It never ends, he thought, suddenly saddened and fatigued. Will there ever come a day when I’ll be free of worry?
His head was enveloped by a soft feeling, which dragged him out of his daze. Anice had gotten out of bed and pulled him into a warm embrace, his head pressed against her chest as she held him firmly in place. Under different circumstances, he might have been aroused or excited, but now he only felt an unexpected wave of relief, a nostalgic sense of reassurance that brought him back to the day that he and Kaila had mended their friendship following the deaths of her parents. Thinking back, the two of them hadn’t communicated properly and as a result had avoided one another for several months when in reality they had wanted nothing more than to patch things up and return to the way things had been beforehand. Several precious months, he thought sadly, time that he could never reclaim.
He hugged her back, arms wrapped around her waist as they found solace in one another’s company. How long had it been since someone had hugged him like this? Surely not since the days when both Kaila and his mother had still been in his life. If it were several years ago, there was a strong chance that he would have begun to bawl his eyes out into Anice’s blouse, but now he simply enjoyed the moment of warmth and connection.
Hearing a quiet sniffle, he realized that Anice was shedding silent tears. When he tried to gaze upwards, she blocked his head with a hand and forced him to remain in place.
“Anne, don’t worry too much about Lessa, okay? We’ll talk with everyone and together we can try to come up with a solution.”
“Stupid Alie,” she whimpered, drops of moisture falling onto the crown of his head.
Knowing her all too well, he realized his mistake and tightened his embrace. “I’m sorry, Anne. I’ve been selfish lately, haven’t I?”
“No,” she muttered, a bit meekly. “It’s me who’s being selfish. Lessa will be leaving soon and all I’ve been thinking about is…is…”
Acknowledging that she didn’t want to continue, he pulled back and then stood up from his seat. Wiping the tears from her eyes with a gentle movement of his thumb, he gave her an apologetic smile.
“It’s okay, Anne. I know.” Glancing at the door, he said, “I’ve been inconsiderate lately, and I feel that I owe you an apology. If you don’t mind it being a few weeks early, would it be okay if I gave you your Name Day present now?”
Pulling a handkerchief from beneath her blouse, Anice blew her nose and then tossed it into the nearby clothes bin, which was oddly full of unwashed clothing. Looking around her room, it was surprisingly tidy, completely bereft of the layer of discarded clothes that usually decorated her floors.
“Will you really?”
“Of course.”
Crossing her arms, she said, “Okay, but you still have to give me something on my birthday.”
He feigned a sigh. “I will, I will.”
Suddenly expectant, Anice promised to wait for him as he went off to his room to retrieve a long, rectangular box of varnished wood, similar to the chests that some ladies stored their jewelry in. He returned to her room a short while later, holding the box behind his back as he approached the edge of her four-poster bed where she sat with her legs dangling over the edge of her feather mattress.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Close your eyes,” he said as he drew closer to her. When she complied, he held the box out in front of him and remained quiet for a few moments, hoping to add to her anticipation.
“Well?” she said, growing a bit impatient. “You’re not playing a trick on me are you? If I open my eyes and you’re not here…”
“I’m not you. Go ahead and look now.”
She opened her eyes the instant he finished speaking and reached out to receive the arm-length box with a sudden giddiness that made it impossible to guess that she had been so dejected just a short while earlier.
Looking up at him with rising excitement, she said, “You really got it for me?”
“Take a look.”
She lifted the lid to reveal a smooth staff of artistically-carved rockwood, a unique lumber from a very sturdy family of trees that was native to the northern reaches of the kingdom. Its entire surface was covered by diamond-shaped patterns that gave it a similar look to the scales of the cave lizards that had proven an occasional menace in Crystellum, the patterns adding a bit of grip to the magical tool. A large magic crystal rested at the tip of the staff, fixed in place by a circular bracket of twisted steel.
“It’s really mine?”
“I wouldn’t give it to you otherwise.”
“Alie! Thank you so much!”
She leapt upwards and threw her arms around him, forcing him to bear her weight as she hung from his neck like a gleeful child. These days, he was nearly a hand’s length taller than her, a fact that registered in his mind as she dangled her feet in excitement.
“Is it more expensive than the necklace you gave Lessa?”
“Anne…” he sighed, a bit of exasperation seeping into his voice.
“Was it?”
“It was.”
“Good.”
She gave him an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek before touching her feet to the ground and taking a few steps back, running her hands along the length of the staff before hugging it outright. Seeing her smiling expression, he couldn’t help but let go of his earlier anxieties and simply enjoyed the moment. The gift had cost him an arm and a leg, but he didn’t regret it in the least.
“Has Mr. Albeck taught you how to use supplements yet?”
“He did! Do you want to go practice some spells outside?”
“Sure.”
He’d only ever used a staff with a low-class magic crystal attached to it, and it had failed to impress him. It was much easier relying on his own energies, after all, but he was still curious to see what sort of effects a medium-class crystal would have on a caster’s spells.
Anice scrambled to gather some warmer clothes and then hurriedly changed into them without seeming to give any thought to her actions. Alistar had been taken off guard and so only averted his gaze when she momentarily froze up, her eyes widening as she stood there with her winter coat in hand. She recovered quickly, saying nothing as she abruptly strode over to the door with a beet-red face. He followed her after a moment’s hesitation, but she stopped at the threshold to her room which forced him to follow suit.
“Anne?” When she didn’t turn around, his voice took on an uneasy edge as he readied himself to avoid any unexpected strikes. “I didn’t see anything, I…” Unable to make such a light and flippant promise, he trailed off and silently suppressed an anxious gulp.
Turning around, Anice subverted his expectations by leaning in and pressing her lips to his with a gentle prod. “Thank you, Alie. I know you’ve got a lot going on, so I really appreciate you trying to cheer me up like this.”
Wearing a light smile, she led the way from the room and left him standing there in startled thought. Quietly, he traced his lips with a thumb as he wondered after Anice’s unusually docile temperament.
“How long are you going to stand there?” came an impatient voice from a ways down the hall. “If you don’t hurry up then you’ll have to be the practice dummy for the first few spells I cast, and I definitely won’t hold back!”
On second thought…
Alistar hurried out into the hall, spurred on by newfound encouragement. He knew better than anybody else that life wasn’t easy, but he also knew that allowing himself to dwell on depressing thoughts would never do him any good. Thinking about all of the difficulties that surely lay ahead of him, he remembered his father’s undying spirit, which had persisted even until his last moments in this world. No matter how bad things had gotten back in Crystellum, his father had never given up, not even at the very end. Without his efforts, Alistar would never have survived long enough to experience his eventual release, and his mother surely wouldn’t have lived for nearly as long as she had.
Father never gave up, and neither will I.
Catching up to Anice and offering to carry her coat for her, Alistar’s steps gained their usual, confident stride. He would save Kaila from Crystellum and Lessa from her unwilling engagement, and he’d do so without allowing any harm to come to the people that he loved.