A Commanders Love

Laying down on his bed, late at night, Bamwind thought about his own life, as he did most nights.

When he was 13 years old, he had fallen in love with a girl his age in the village. She was his childhood best friend, and the village was determined to make her his wife.

He didn't care about that at the time. He was in love with her. He remembered confessing to her, and her beaming and saying that she loved him too. He remembers that as one of the happiest moments of his life.

That's why he had been devastated to learn that she had a lover outside the village and was only having a relationship with Bamwind to keep her family's approval.

On that day, the day he heard about her secret lover, he felt betrayed, not only by her, but by the village's traditions that made the girl enter a false relationship with him.

Soon after, she was exiled from the village by Bamwind's father, who was commander at the time. Even though she had cheated on him, he still felt broken by the absence of her presence.

He hated the village traditions, but he knew better than to question it.

He had stayed in his parents house for days after the exile, refusing to come out, or talk to anyone, only coming out to use the bathroom and eat food.

He only started to talk to others again after his father had barged into his room.

"You need to get over her and come out of your room!" He had said. "She was a traitor anyways!"

Bamwind sighed and nodded, getting up to greet his family, taking on the role of the good son once again.

The village expected him to quickly move on from the exile of his former lover after that, but he couldn't. His father had tried to set him up with girls from powerful families, but he denied every one of them.

This didn't make his parents happy, however. Every time a visit with a girl from a friendly village had ended in rejection, he had been told that nobody will respect a man with no wife, that he would only be taken seriously as a commander if he continued the bloodline with a woman.

Eventually, he had to give in to his parents demands, dating a girl from a nearby village.

But the relationship wouldn't last, however.

His father had been sick and didn't look like he was going to live very long, so he had taken the duty of the good son and prepared to be the commander of the village. He became distant from everyone except his family, and so, his then girlfriend left him.

He didn't really care about her leaving, though he would never admit this to anyone, for his parents had given him enough grief about not loving her enough. He had told himself that he would never love again, and determined that he would spend the rest of his life alone to avoid any more heartbreak.

After the funeral of his father, he had to appoint a new second in command.

When he was 28 years old, freshly appointed as commander after his father's death, his second in command caught his eye.

That's all. Just caught his eye.

Even though he had tried to convince himself over and over again that the relationship between him and his second command was just a platonic one, the truth of the matter lingered in his mind, long after the relationship was over.

Bamwind and his second in command spent a lot of time together, and naturally, became very close. They often went on patrols and into battles together and were very close friends.

Or so the village thought.

The truth was, Bamwind had fallen in love with his second in command.

When he first fell in love with him, he hadn't realized it. All he knew is that he wanted to be near him, to hold him, to stay with him for the rest of his life. He had felt this way about other men and women before, so it must've been normal.