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Somewhere in the world (Candira and runawayninja)

She smiled and knew for a fact that it was her he was remembering. She was the only one who ever went into the gardens at the palace--the other girls didn't like to be outside for fear of ruining their complexions. But Nora had always liked being in the garden. Nothing they said seemed to dissuade her from going out. "What did she look like?" Nora asked curiously. "Aside from being pretty."

It was sweet really, to imagine him as a shy boy who'd wanted to talk to her. But she shared his regret. If he'd have talked to her then, things might have turned out differently indeed. She continued to sip her water and watched him curiously, wondering if he ever thought of her that way now.
 
Lionel knew that to have talked to her would've only led to heartache. They had different destinies defined by their social standings. Lionel could never have married her, his family was good, but she was likely to marry another royal, more than likely something to help barter peace between the war-ravaged nations. He smirked a bit, deciding to tease just a bit. "Oh I can't remember what she looked like...I suppose it could have been anyone..." He wondered if it wasn't obvious enough that he was just teasing her now with those words.
 
She rolled her eyes and nudged him playfully. "Alright then, Mr. Insecure. I'll let you get back to hauling in water if you're finished with breakfast. Try not to work yourself to death." With that, she finished off her water and set everything on the tray before offering it to him so he could do the same and she could get out of his hair. Nora was the second in line for the thrown. Really, she could have married any noble or royal she wanted in times of peace. David was the only one with enough clout to really smooth anything over. She was just a pretty girl who stood as a back up plan and a possible political bargaining chip.

In any case, Lionel was just confusing, and it didn't seem to help to talk to him. She decided it was probably best to just accept that he would never let himself be anything more than a friend.
 
He huffed out, a little frustrated. He tried, he really did. She told him to lighten up, so he joked with her and now she was blowing him off like that when he was trying to create a slightly special moment. "Well fine!" He huffed out as he picked up the wooden beam and started to refill the buckets of water.
 
It wasn't as though she hadn't appreciated his effort. She knew he was going somewhere with it, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was. Sighing, she interrupted him before he could get the buckets fully refilled. "Alright, I'm sorry," she said, only a small smile on her face. "I was just teasing you. I probably shouldn't have though. I'm sorry, Lionel." She smiled and shook her head. "I appreciate you telling me that, and I'm pretty sure you knew it was me. Was there a reason you wanted to bring it up? Or were you just enjoying a nice memory?"
 
"I did know it was you. Not at the time, but I do now. I'm just...not used to talking to people much, at least not outside of politics and social standing. I'm used to talking politely and obediently to those above me, and giving orders and command respect from those beneath me. Even those of equal standing." He loaded up the buckets, intent on talking while he worked and hoping she was come along.

"I...didn't want to stop talking. I was just trying to take your advice and lighten up a bit, that's why I teased you about it. I know not it was you. The girl had hair the color of...unnn..." He hefted the wooden beam onto his shoulders. "...exotic cocoa beans, shining in the jungle sun...eyes like red roses, of an unusually alluring nature...skin of alabaster before human hands have fashioned it...she was...enough to live in my memory forever since."
 
Nora walked with him as he started hauling. "Aww, thanks for trying. I'm glad you're loosening up." Smiling she followed him along and listened to what he had to say. She blushed softly as he told her how beautiful he'd thought she was. From the way he'd described her, he must have thought she was some kind of angel. She smiled softly and looked away for a moment. "Well, I hope she hasn't disappointed you too much now that she's grown up," she said with a smile.

"I wonder, did that memory have anything to do with you becoming a guard?"
 
"This one..." He said, referencing himself as he started forward, each step taken with purpose and intent, "..thought that she was some forest spirit, or a spirit of the garden itself that had become cut off from her forest home. He did not want to disturb her, lest she become frightened and turn into a rosebush or a tree, and he might never see her again." He looked at her for a moment when she asked her question. "I learned it was you from my father when his business in the palace was done. It..." He seemed to be stirring in his own thoughts now.

"Guarding the palace and the royal family is a position of prestige and honor. It has raised my family's position and their standing in society and I am the pride of my family for it. But...maybe some part of me longed to see that dryad again, and thought it might be possible if I did so."
 
She smiled and giggled softly. What a cute thing to think. She blushed again as he answered her question and was glad that he'd decided to go with the truth. He could have said about anything and she might have believed it, but he told her what he really felt, and that was always something she liked about him. So she'd been a forest spirit? Well, she could think of worse things to be compared to. It was nice to know that he'd wanted to see her again.

"Well, I bet you never thought you'd end up watching out for her every day, huh?" She looked around as more monks began to file out of the temple to do work on the grounds. "Thanks for this, Lionel. But I better let you get back to work. They still want me to do some things as well. If you come and find me at lunch we can talk again. Don't work too hard, okay?" She smiled and waited this time, rather than just up and leaving.
 
He nodded slowly, his face much more calm and placid than before. For Lionel, that seemed to be the best, outright happiness was alien in all but his most private moments. But he looked at her when he nodded. Not ahead, not at work, and not merely in her general direction, he nodded right at her, looking into her eyes as he did.
 
She waved and then went on her way. "See ya later." With that, she picked up her tray and went back to the kitchen. After that, Nora through herself into her duties as a priestess, feeling much better about her situation, especially where Lionel was concerned.
 
Rafe had been doing his best to keep Candira company while she was resting and healing up. He had been playing his ocarina until his lungs could no more summon up the strength, then he thought about reading to her. "Would you like to hear a book? I tend towards ghost stories and the like, but...I know my morbid tastes are not shared by all."
 
Candira chuckled as he offered to read her a book and she shook her head. "I appreciate all your attempts to keep me entertained, Rafe, but it's not necessary. I do love to hear you play, but you don't have to." She smiled and sat up, patting the bed next to her. "Will you just sit with me for a little while?"
 
He nodded and eagerly sat next her, though restraining his joy for her health's sake. "I cannot play anything, my lungs are tired and need rest." He smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "But my closeness and comfort require nothing, save for my presence."
 
She smiled and chuckled at him as he took a seat next to her. She snuggled into him and closed her eyes. "That was the thinking behind it. I appreciate your playing, but this is all I really need," she said with a smile. "I love being close to you. It makes me feel so much better when you hold me like this."
 
Rafe smiled and held her close to him, nuzzling her softly. "So Dima spoke to you? Maybe you're some kind of divine conduit...a speaker for Dima. The gods don't often speak to people, maybe you're something special. I mean...why not Nora?"
 
"Hmm, you know that's a good question. She said I was a good servant and she knew of what had happened to me...maybe it's because I already knew about you?" She yawned and cuddled into him. "I wonder, if I was a divine speaker, would you think of me differently?"
 
He smiled at her. "Well, you didn't think any different of me when you found out I have a divine fragment in me, a holy beast, so no, I don't. You're still the same person I know and love, you're no different, only my perception of you is different, and that's not enough to change how I feel..."
 
Candira smiled at him and kissed his shoulder to be sure he wouldn't get sick. "Thank you. So you love me, huh?" She smiled brightly and gave him a little squeeze.
 
He gave a soft chuckle and looked at her like he was a little surprised. "Yea...I love you, I've said it often enough I think, but if I haven't...well, I love you." He grinned at her. "Do you love me?"
 
She smiled and nodded. "I love you, Rafe. I'm not sure how often you've said it, but it's always nice to hear." She leaned up and kissed his cheek before cuddling back into him. "I'm so glad you're here."
 
He nuzzled against her, intending to use his body to keep her warm. "How strange and fickle fate is...that we were once enemies, once threatened each other, and now I could not imagine having to face life without you."
 
Safe and warm in Rafe's arms, Candira found it a lot easier to just close her eyes. She thought about what he said--it was a good point. "Hmm, I wonder though...did you ever really hate me?" she asked, thinking about the way she'd so easily accepted him after she'd realized she'd saved an enemy. She really had wanted to be angry. A vengeful woman would have thought he'd deserved to die in the ditch and just walked away from him--letting him kill himself on the way to town. But she hadn't had it in her to do so.

At the time, she'd just thought it was because he needed her and she couldn't say no to a person in need. She'd thought there was no way to punish him because he'd already gone through his punishment...he was trying to atone...maybe it had been because it seemed like he'd wanted to die, and she didn't want him to get out of what he'd done the easy way. But looking back on it now...she didn't think she'd ever really hated him.

The day he'd helped her to escape, she had been on her way to forgiving him, despite the fact that his actions at the time had seemed ultimately unforgivable. But she hadn't hated him as much as she'd hated the things he'd done with those feral barbarians. If she wanted to be honest with herself, she hadn't hated Rafe--even in the beginning when they'd all attacked her, he'd stepped in when she thought she was going to die. He'd saved her again from being ravaged by a drunken beast--the very one that had tried killing her. And finally, he allowed her to save her people. It didn't cancel out the fact that he'd helped to put them into the position they were in, but she couldn't very well ignore his position or his help. He'd risked a great deal to free her.

Perhaps that was the real reason it was so easy for her to fall in love with him. She let him hold her and looked up at him once more. "I don't think I ever hated you, Rafe. I was angry and outraged and hurt...but I don't think I ever truly hated you."
 
He shook his head. "No...that's why I kept them from killing you. I didn't hate you, and I had stopped hating people except for the guilty, some time before that, but I couldn't simply leave. I had to wait for an opportunity to get away from the Black Riders, they wouldn't just let me go. But until I could escape, I foiled whatever I could of their depredations." Rafe stirred in his thoughts about what he had done and what led him down that dark path. He had wanted strength so that he could protect his sister and never be used again.
 
She hugged him close. "Then we were never truly enemies, and Fate's not quite as fickle as she seems," she said with a chuckle. "I love you Rafe, and despite the awful way we met, I'm very glad I ended up with you." She put her arms around him and and closed her eyes. "I won't ever regret it."
 
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