I wish I could say that I knew that I will prevail in that one too, but the other disciple is a force. Not a very nice force, an altogether too sure of herself, beautiful and talented force.
I wish you were here to tell me that I can do it. You always made me feel like anything was possible. I don't think that I could've survived those days after Fucking Samfer left without you supporting me.
I'm sending a little pink bow for Kahlia. I can't wait to come home and see her wearing it.
Take care, Janus. And send me a letter, for Morath's sake. Don't make me create an ice sculpture of you picking your nose to put it in the town square. I can do that now.
Missing you xx,
- E
"What language is this?"I ask, running my fingers along the chiselled stone on the outer walls of the city.
Rylan had shown up on the other side of the glass doors of the amphitheatre midway through the Defensive Operations class, gesticulating wildly to the point that even some of the Sentience cadre had burst out laughing. It had taken me a few seconds of watching his pantomime, with full commentary by Doran, to realise he was asking me if I wanted to join him on a walk after my day’s lessons.
I'm not really even sure why he needed to make such a grand effort to ask me, as taking walks to the city after my last training session of the day together has become an almost daily ritual. And I wouldn't miss it for all the coins in the realms. Sometimes we go with a full company of guards, Grellor and Mathis have joined us a few times, Alina on occasion as well, but mostly, it's just the two of us. Exploring the city, all parts of the city, places he grew up going to, places he hasn't even discovered. And sometimes, like today, we justfind ourselves walking, aimlessly, until our legs give out under us.
Somehow we'd found ourselves at the border of the city and ventured just outside to walk along the gates and the surrounding walls.
"It's Myranthian; it’s the very first tongue our people spoke when the first king was anointed and settled here. It’s the mother language to Kaldoran." He clears his throat and then says," Alyen thrívalo, nyar’en caelor,
Talanis vyr’anth, saelith’ lor.
Miralin’e kael, thyros valen,
Valnith or’an, esthal dor’en."
I have no idea what it means, but I feel it deep in my bones.
"Wow, that’s beautiful, even if I have no idea what you said. Did you call me a wet horse stinky poopyhead?"
He laughs. "No, it's a poem. About a girl with wild hair."
"Sounds like me. Are you fluent in both Kaldoran and Myranthian?"
He smiles. "I am. Among other ancient languages. My maternal grandfather had a way with words that felt like he used them like how you wield magic. Beautiful. He made me love them as much as he did, and spent a lot of time teaching them to me."
Butterflies flutter in my chest. "You think the way I wield magic is beautiful?"
"I think everything you do is beautiful,Valora."
He laces my fingers with his, and presses a kiss to the side of my throat. I giggle and reach up to run my fingertips along the back of his neck. The sigh that emanates from him tickles every part of my body, and I beam up at him.
"Will you read these words to me?" I say, gesturing to the wall.
He nods, and we spend the rest of the afternoon as we walkup and down along the front wall of the city as he reads and translates the story of the first kings, and how Celador came to be and the values and virtues it was built on. It’s a tale of fortitude and valour, of great hope and vision. And the way Rylan tells it brings tears to my eyes.
As the sun becomes but a slit on the horizon, we pass over the bridge back to Aetherhold, reluctantly unlacing our fingers and pulling a respectable distance apart. While his bravado in announcing our relationship to Caelum and Mathis had been shocking, we both agreed it was better to keep it between us, each having our own reasons for deciding so that we hadn’t felt a need to share with the other.
"Thank you. For today," he says, tucking his hands into his pockets. "It reminded me of similar afternoons with my grandfather, poring over old texts, and the way he used to come alive when he talked about it."
"I enjoyed it. I would’ve liked to have met him." I grant myself a little bump of my body against his before pulling apart again as I smile up at him. “Anyway, who else was going to go on a romantic walk with you, Mathis?”
He sighs and pretends to look sad. “Mathis isn’t here. I had to ask you.”
“Hadto?” I kick out with my foot and he grins, jumping out the way before looking around quickly and stealing a quick kiss.
“Who knows where he is. Off doing Captain of the Guard things I guess.”
