Janet Norton - On the Other Side. The Fall

“I have already told you why not,” she said in a courteous tone to someone who, despite the refusal, still insisted on his own view.

“Radiant one, that’s silly! Why do you give up any spark of sympathy?” an equally courteous, but more insistent male voice objected to her. Raniero squinted his eyes and took a confident step in the direction of the voices toward the tall sprawling oak tree in the centre of the garden. Noticing from a distance how a fragile-looking light blond Ena in a white tunic went around the tree followed by a persuasive suitor, Raniero shook his head and decided to intervene.

“Well, then I must repeat the sympathy spark will only shine when a brave man will fight my brother in a duel and defeat him in an honest battle,” said Lucia confidently, continuing to walk around the tree so that the admirer could not see her and could not catch up. “That was my agreement with him, and I’m not going to break it even for the sake of such a gifted bard as you, radiant one!”

“These difficulties are the thorny stalks on the way to happiness, you have brought them up with your own hands and only you can destroy them! Besides, to fly to the outpost for the sake of a duel… It’s… It’s…”

Talking nonsense and looking at the oak crown, as if he was looking in the gilded foliage for the right word to end his sentence, the stranger suddenly crashed into a barrier on his way, and that barrier was Raniero. Being head and shoulders above Lucia’s suitor, Raniero smiled contemptuously.

“You got lucky,” Raniero said coldly, throwing a camp bag on the grass. “I flew here myself.”

Hearing a familiar voice, Lucia ran around the oak tree and froze in place when she saw her elder brother.

“Nero!” she exclaimed, beaming with happiness.

The potential suitor could not share Lucia’s joy over her protector’s return. The bard, who had no skills besides the gift of eloquence, in a duel with an experienced warrior would not have landed a single blow. He vividly imagined it, and was frightened away.

“F-forgive me, radiant one!… Perhaps I should search for my sympathy spark in another p-place,” he mumbled awkwardly, hurrying away from the garden. Taking an unkind look at Lucia’s failed suitor, Raniero nearly fell from surprise.

“Nero! I missed you so much!” Lucia rushed to Raniero in flight and pressed firmly against him, wrapping them both up in her wings.

“Hello, Beam!” Raniero said with an awkward smile. He had become estranged from his shortened name, because only Lucia had ever called him “Nero,” which eventually became her honourable right and indestructible tradition. Finally realizing that he had really come home, Raniero quietly laughed and clasped his arms, circling Lucia in place.

Lucia did not want to let Raniero go and kissed him on the cheek, smiling at the sight of the brightly shining trace that appeared on his skin where he had been kissed.

“I missed you too,” Raniero said, staring at Lucia’s bright grey eyes, suddenly glistening with tears.

“Oh, no-o-o, don’t cry,” Raniero said already knowing why Lucia was upset.

“There are two new scars and one of them is deep!” Lucia protested, hanging in Raniero’s hug and puffing out her cheeks. “You don’t let the healers cure you during battle! I would not have asked for permission!”

“That’s why you’re the Queen’s servant, and not a frontline healer at the outpost,” Raniero said, smoothly lowering Lucia to the ground. “It’s easier for me to get a pair of wounds than to write to the deceased healer’s family that he rushed to his death in attempt to save my face from the scars…”

“But I have only you!” Lucia was still indignant. “You wouldn’t have to write!”

“And I have only you, so drop this silly idea,” Raniero said gently, but confidently, and kissed his sister on the forehead. His touch left a shining curly halo that suddenly appeared to crown Lucia’s head.

“Wouldn’t it be better to tell me why I was called to the capital?” Raniero asked trying to smile at ease, despite his excitement. “There were no explanations in the order for why I was removed from my post as commander…”

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