Chapter Two - The Reunion

Nikcolai

Coming home after a long eighteen months away is a little different than I imagined. I thought I would rush to spend all the time in the world with my parents, who I missed so much, and I wouldn't let go of them for a second. However, as soon as I arrived, the first topic that came up was my wedding.

So I grabbed my jacket and left the castle without even explaining where I was going.

I walk aimlessly through the royal garden, one of my favorite places here. I grew up running down these paths, driving my nannies crazy with worry. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world, actually. It's the place that gives me the feeling of being at home.

And feeling at home is something rare. I spent so much time traveling, within Luavyn and then in Europe, Africa and the Americas, that I lost something along the way. Looking in the mirror, I saw a man without a home for too long. So I hoped that walking through Gaian's gardens would also help me reconnect with myself.

What I didn't expect, of course, was to find her. Ailenna, one of my betrotheds, was sitting on the grass in one of the garden clearings, reading a book. She was just as beautiful as I remembered. Her dark brown hair tied into an elegant braid hid part of her face, but her full lips and defiant nose were in full view.

I didn't expect to find her here, since Mom said my suitors "were already getting ready for the party." I should have known that wasn't Ailenna's style. Marienne? She must have been getting ready for the homecoming dance for days. Lenna, however, has always been an outlier.

I still remember to this day one of the meetings that our parents organized between the three of us: Ailenna, Marienne and me. They were both ten years old and I was eleven. We sat down at a table full of adults to talk about our future. I couldn't be more bored.

Until Lenna said a sentence that I will never forget:

• I'm sorry, my King, but I believe you are wrong.

No one ever said Dad was wrong. Not even the Queen.

The silence that followed was full of tension. The adults looked nervously between my father and Lenna. I just looked at her. At the age of ten, sitting with an exemplary posture, she looked my father in the eyes with an air of wisdom far beyond her years. There was no challenge in her eyes, just an unsettling certainty. And perhaps it was the lack of challenge that led my father to respond in a way that I too will never forget:

• Well, please, young Ailenna, explain to me why I'm wrong.

And she did.

And he agreed with her.

And, to this day, no one has ever repeated this feat. Not me, not my mother or anyone else. Just her.

I accompanied her, most of the time, from a distance. Marienne sent me letters every month, but Ailenna didn't. So, I contented myself with reading her interviews and the articles published about her. The good and the bad. Afterwards, I would talk to my friends who lived in the castle and received all the information that the magazines didn't have.

Ailenna was my secret obsession.

Without thinking much, I walk towards her. What will her reaction be when she sees me? Would she recognize me? The last time we saw each other in person, I was sixteen. Now I'm twenty-eight. She must have seen me in photos and magazines, but not one of them showed me how I look today. And my voice - luckily - was the opposite of what it was back then.

Also, I've been growing my hair out for a few months now. My beard hasn't been shaved in weeks. Mom says I look like a beggar. I say I sound like a man desperate for small freedoms. In any case, it was difficult to recognize the always polished prince in this somewhat sloppy look.

Before I can regret it, she looks up and sees me. I smile when I see her nose wrinkling, as she squints her eyes, trying to recognize me. I see the confusion in her eyes when she doesn't recognize me, but I don't seem strange to her either.

• Sorah Ailenna?

• Hello - she gives a polite smile - Sorry, have we met?

• No - I answer, without thinking - I'm Soreh Victor, a distant cousin of the prince.

Gods, I'm a terrible liar. I don't even have a cousin named Victor!

• Oh yes - she increases her smile, even without knowing who I am - It's a pleasure, Victor. Would you like to sit down?

• Of course - I sit opposite her and point to the book - What entertains you?

• The revolutions of the 18th century - she makes a face - I have to write an article about the role of women in the revolutions, but it is a complicated mission. It's difficult to find good references.

Gods, the woman is smart. Apparently, the girl who dared to point out the King's mistake is still alive and smarter than ever.

• Interesting - I shrug, as if I wasn't surprised - I heard that you have a Master's degree from the National University. What did you do?

• I have a degree in Social Sciences and a Master's degree in Gender and Sexuality.

• Difficult topics.

• The new world demands it - she shrugs, still analyzing me - And what brought you to the royal garden, Victor?

• Escape - I respond, this time without lying - My parents want me to choose a bride today during the ball. I don't want to think about it.

• So you saw me and thought I was running away too?

• You are?

• No, I don't - she smiles and it's genuine - I don't run away from the prince, nor from a possible marriage. I just don't have time to listen to it all day. Books don't read themselves.

Sincere. She doesn't talk about being my betrothed - which is good, I suppose. And it is this sincerity that leads me to ask a more audacious question.

• And you love him?

Ailenna looks me in the eye and thinks for a moment. I even think that she won't answer this question - after all, she thinks she doesn't know me and that I'm related to the prince. So when her voice fills the clearing, my body stiffens in fear of what she might say.

• How can I love someone I don't know? - she takes a deep breath and looks at the sky, as if searching for an answer there - Victor, have you ever read any of the goddess Nuay's love sayings?

• No, never - I lie, leanning closer, curious about the sudden change of topic.

• Love is not fire that is consumed, it is not water that evaporates. Love does not change like the breeze, nor does it harden like a rock - she recites - Love, oh, love! Love is unique. It is the reunion of souls that already know each other, with bodies that are yet to get to know each other. It is a connection between two lives that walk on the same path. You don't love what you don't know, because that's what love is: knowledge.

Ailenna stops looking at the sky and looks at me, smiling. She recited one of the sayings of the goddess Nuay, widely worshiped in the south of the country, without stuttering. I'm sure she could recite others the same way - she's that good.

I reflect a little on the message she wanted to give me. A line like that could tell me a lot about Ailenna, more than any magazine ever did.

-It's beautiful - I murmur, still lost in her words.

• Yes, it is - she agrees - That's why I say I don't love Nikcolai. I don't love him because I didn't have time to get to know him or connect with him... But I already know something.

• What?

• We are two lives that walk on the same path - she smiles - And that, Soreh Victor, is all I need to look you in the eyes tonight and make the propose.

• The propose?! - I ask, shock taking over my features.

Would she ask me to marry her?

• Not that one - she laughs - I will ask Nikcolai to allow me to meet him. So that, twelve months from now, if he chooses me, I can be sincere in my answer.

• Marienne doesn't seem to doubt her response to the prince - I say without think.

• Marienne and I are not two sides of the same coin - Ailenna shrugs and actually seems disinterested - My sister is free to choose her own path. Just like I chose mine.

Before I can ask further, the castle bells ring. It's noon. Ailenna looks in the direction of the sound and I know I've lost her.

• Well, that's my cue - she smiles and puts the book in her bag - I have to go to lunch and I'm still going to the beach... Anyway, I guess I'll see you at the party today?

• Of course - I smile - It was a pleasure, Ailenna.

• Until the ball - she gets up and starts to leave, but stops and looks at me - Victor?

• Yes?

• Don't accept anything less than true love.

• Will you promise to do the same?

• I would never live unhappy - with one last smile, she leaves.

And I ended up never promising her the only thing I know couldn't keep: choosing with my heart.