Is It True Love?

Chapter 5: A Painful Reality

Wendell

While the evening sun is shining brightly the prince sets off down the road. He plans to head for Rainswood so Kana can show him around like discussed yesterday. Although he does a quick detour first inside the deserted cemetery and presses up the few steps. With not a soul in sight, the two will be alone during this visit.

"Father..." He stands right in front of a large tombstone separated from the other graves as surrounding deceased royals. Wendell can't count how many times he has stopped through there since the king's passing. Anytime the young teen needs to get rid of anxious thoughts his feet always lead him in this direction. Just like the private conversations they had back when he was still alive.

Slowly kneeling he locks his hands together and blocks everything else out. Considering today's tour, various probabilities kept him awake all night long. Worried about what poor conditions villagers in Rainswood have endured until now. Yet, another unsettling feeling he can't quite explain makes him nervous to go to the location.

I truly hope this bad feeling is nothing...

"King Gus will always be held in high honor for protecting this nation."

A soft female voice startles him from his pessimistic thoughts. The ash-blonde spins around to find none other than Kana standing behind him.

"Why are you here? I thought we agreed to meet at the gate."

"I was on my way home from Lucille's when I spotted you, so I figured we could walk there together... By all the lovely flowers he must get a lot of visitors."

"Yes, I too come by as often as I can. My father was the one I would constantly seek when requiring advice. He knew just what to say for every difficult or rather trivial problem put before him."

Which is the absolute truth. Wendell could always expect his late father to listen no matter how silly the issue. It's one of the countless factors he forever admired about him.

"Yes, you mention that trait in the many stories you shared with me of him."

"And you would always listen," he adds softly, Kana someone who was a comforting ear during that time--even if they had only recently met back then.

His father's life was robbed while in his prime by the wicked King Henry Schneider. He had been the thirtieth ruler of the grand neighboring kingdom, Khisenfire. A man who was once said to be kind and noble, but those outer appearances changed a few years ago. Henry got into some conflict when a rising country challenged him for his land. After obtaining victory from that terrible battle his heart soon became proud. The ego-inflated king waged war with an innocent country and slaughtered their entire royal bloodline. Then he gives the same treatment to Calestra by false accusations of them plotting a revolt against his nation. Surely a sorry excuse to strike a fight with the pacifist king.

For their first and only battle, the armies faced off in the valley which separated the two kingdoms. Numerous lives were lost and now revealed to him Rainswood is in utter shambles. Inflicted with serious injuries, King Henry was advised to make his retreat. Death had fallen upon their enemy as he reportedly died just days later, however, King Gus passed on much earlier than that. Taking his final breath in the chariot ride back to the castle before they could even say their goodbyes.

These one-sided chats are the only way I can speak to him for now, though I can't exactly get an answer like this...

"Is the reason you came because you need guidance right now?"

"Oh, no I wouldn't say that. I just wanted to clear my head before viewing the destruction. I haven't stepped foot there since the war ended, and I'm aware Rainswood was never in a nice state..."