• Love like you by Caleb Hyles •
Lari fell through the darkness and woke up with a jolt, the kind of dream that frequented her as a teenager. Only this time, instead of the velvet canopy on top of her Tsar-sized bed, she saw Jade.
"Good morning," she muttered, clumsily pushing herself up. The last thing she remembered from the previous night was sitting against the wall. In the morning, she found herself lying dangerously close to her newfound friend.
She twisted her back to pop some stiff joints and held her palms to her eyes. The skin on it was dry. Even though she had spent eons in the snows of Eira, winter never favored her.
"Good morning," Jade replied. "I would have asked if you slept well, but...I can tell that you didn't. Come, I made breakfast."
Over a filling breakfast of banana pudding with nuts and chopped berries on top, Jade proposed to Lari a plan of spending the rest of their days at Kalk.
"I want to help Citra out in her farm work as I said," she said, "and, I also think some combat training would be useful. Are you...familiar with fighting techniques, Princess?"
Lari's eyebrows shot up, remembering Luna's last words to her. She quickly covered up her surprise with a giggle.
"Not at all," she replied. "I was lucky my father thought himself to be rebellious of traditional values by letting me learn archery. Combat would have been too much."
"I actually never knew you learned archery." Jade munched on a walnut and Lari's gaze gravitated towards her moving lips.
"Yes..." The Princess looked away, red in the cheeks. "My father never thought I was good enough to compete. He didn't want me to fail in front of other people. But yes, I did learn. I think I'm...not that bad."
When Lari insisted she took part in the farm work, Citra and the Queen deemed it safe only to allow her tasks that required minimal strength. They made her sit on the bicycle cart and pull it as they proceeded along a row of the cornfield.
Lari's eyes flitted towards Jade frequently and unconsciously. The rolled-up sleeves, the sweat on her forehead, the smile on her face as she conversed with Citra, and the effortless pulling and tossing of corn cobs.
"Have you done this before?" Lari barged in on the conversation she was being left out of.
"Corn picking? No, not really, Princess."
By the time the farm work was done, the Sun had moved to its pinnacle and everyone was sweaty, despite the oncoming winter. Jade took over the cart when she decided it was too heavy for the Princess to pull, leading them to the cabin behind Citra's house.
"Do any of you know how to make arrows?" Lari asked as they approached the house. "I wanted to get back into practice but the quiver is empty."
"Oh, Princess!" Citra's tone resembled a harmless mockery. "It's a gift from Luna. The quiver only appears empty. When you wear it, it will have 14 arrows and it will refill itself when you shoot the last one of the bunch."
"Oh!" The Princess was flabbergasted, finally realizing what the note meant.
"Luna told me that the day she sent you here," Citra clarified. "I assumed she informed you too."
As Citra stored the day's harvest in wooden boxes, Larimar and Jade stood outside, losing themselves in the soothing burbles of the stream and the distant green of the woods.
"I was thinking," the Princess started suddenly, pulling the tails of her blouse from her pants to breathe better. "I could practice archery near the woods, right? It'd give me targets to hit."
Without thinking, her companion replied, "yes, that's a good observation. In fact, I could fit in a little training around there too. Mind if I join you? Actually, do you mind if I teach you the basics of combat? You could learn how to use that favorite dagger of yours."
Larimar went red. "Wouldn't archery suffice?" She asked, her mind swirling with images she could never speak of.
If Jade was aware of these images, she wouldn't continue speaking. "Arrows are for more long-range combat, right? When the foe is too close to you, you may not have the time to pull the string and launch an arrow. Or even if you do, without the impact of a fully taut string, the arrow would just limply fall, right? At such close distances, it is recommended to use things at hand. Like, your own fists, or something handheld, like a dagger. If you don't mind, I can teach you a little of both."
Lari only smiled and nodded, not too enthusiastically, but Jade was content with it.
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Lari's quiver was full of arrows the moment she latched it to her back that afternoon. The fetching of every arrow was made with platinum-white feathers, too beautiful to be real, their color matching the grip and limbs of the bow.
"Let's do some stretching exercises before we start, okay Princess?" Jade advised, walking a little ahead of her companion.
The sun was on the western front, the light shrouded by a canopy of branches and leaves. Squirrels ran up and down and across the barks of trees, squeaking, relishing in the air that picked up the coolness of the stream.
Lari pulled an arrow out of her leather holder and anchored it to her bow. Just as she was about to aim and shoot, Jade sounded a warning moan at the base of her throat.
"Princess!" She admonished. "Stretching comes first, always. You can damage... How am I amusing you, Princess?"
Larimar shrugged, failing to contain her giggle. "It's just..." she finally said. "The swordmaster side of you is... umm... amusing. Fine, my Queen, I'll warm up."
Jade nodded, maintaining her careful demeanor and the Princess wanted to pinch her cheeks. They dropped their weapons on the wild grass and proceeded to twist and turn and stretch to wake up the muscles that had been out of practice for a few days.
Jade started the session with hand-to-hand combat, teaching Lari the weak spots on the human body that she could make use of. To keep them from slipping her mind, she also meekly punched her in said areas.
"Now when you see the enemy approach like this..." Jade swung a fist toward Lari's face and pulled her in the opposite direction with the other hand. "Shift your weight on this leg, grab their arm and neck, and you can easily pin them to the ground. Let's see you do it, Princess. Mind you, I'm not going to go easy on you."
Larimar was not ready. She concluded that she wouldn't have been ready even if she was given a month to prepare. Jade was just too strong and she did not go easy on her at all.
Although it was the Princess' turn to try the trick out, she was in Jade's grasp and pinned to the forest floor in the blink of an eye.
The Ironwood Warrior trapped Lari's body between her thighs, binding the Princess' hands behind her so she couldn't even wiggle out. "You need to be quicker, Princess," she egged. "Especially, if the opponent is visibly stronger."
Jade loosened her grip and Lari sat up, a frown etched on her forehead. The Queen was quick to amend her words. "I bet... If you tried to teach me archery in an hour, I'd be aiming miles away from the target. Let's continue these lessons for as long as we're here. Would you like that, Princess?"
For a moment, all Lari could manage was a nod. But when Jade smiled a real smile - one that touched her eyes - she couldn't help but beam too.
Jade stood up, dusted her clothes, and produced a hand for Lari. "Now show me what you got. I'm not going to ask you to shoot birds or... Oh!"
Lari had stood up, bringing herself even closer to Jade, but she couldn't move. Paralyzed by Jade's lingering touch on her hand and the feel of her breath on the bridge of her nose. She looked up when the Queen stopped talking only to blush again.
Jade's grin had mellowed. "You have dandelion in your hair." She pointed out politely and proceeded to take it out of Lari's hair.
Holding it up between them, like a candle, she asked if Lari wanted to make a wish. Lari nodded, and closed her eyes, murmuring a silent plea, and then releasing it into the universe with an exhale, hoping her wish would come to fruition.
What did you wish for, Princess?
Can't tell.
They went on to hone their individual skills after that. Jade showed Lari as many dagger spinning techniques as she could remember, and the latter hit every bark the former pointed to with her arrows. By the time they decided to be done for the day, the Sun and every ounce of his light had disappeared. Instead, there was a pale gibbous in the sky, on its way to a full, perfect circle in about ten more days.
Their training had drenched them in sweat, and that, together with the pace the wind was starting to pick, made Lari shiver. Her sandaled feet struggled against the rounded pebbles on the riverbed, and by the time they reached midway through the bridge, her exhales were coming in jitters.
"Look at you," Jade acknowledged her with a pitiful look. "Come here." She circled Lari's body with her arm and sweetly pulled her closer.
"Th- thank you," Lari whispered, her voice shaking from the cold. Embarrassment fluttered in her body, painting her cheeks and ears red. She had known Jade for three days; she shouldn't be feeling these things.
She wondered what Jade was thinking. Calling her Princess with overflowing affection, cooking for her, keeping her away from any strenuous work, pampering her. There must be something going through her head, Lari thought. Nobody does all of this just from a sense of gratitude.
Citra stood on the porch of her house when the two, now huddled as a singular figure, walked towards her. "Oh," she acknowledged them. "Is the Princess cold?"
Without responding to her, Jade led Lari into the house and quickly shut the door behind them. "Will you be able to walk back to the house?" She asked the Princess. "Or, if Citra doesn't mind, I can leave you in her care for tonight."
"Wouldn't you stay too?" Lari was quick to ask, not even attempting to veil her feelings.
Jade awkwardly giggled but before she could say anything, Citra spoke up. "You know," she started. "I know exactly what would drive all the cold away from the Princess."
"What is it?" Lari asked, smiling a little, relieving Jade.
"I have a few unopened bottles of rice wine that my partner got me from Tochi," the host divulged. "And I can fry some chicken and we can have a little feast among the three of us. If that's okay with you, of course." She looked between the two women as they exchanged glances before coming to a mutual nonverbal decision - only through shrugs and eyebrow wiggles like longtime friends do.
"We'd love to," Jade replied.
"We'll have to go back once though," Lari cut in, taking her arm. "I want to get out of these sweaty clothes. I can... I can go alone if you want to stay." She suggested her friend stay but didn't really let go of the arm she was holding.
"I'll come with," the Queen replied.
"Why don't I set up a bath for you two here?" Citra suggested. "You can change into some of my clothes for the evening. That way...you wouldn't have to go back out in the cold. If that's okay!"
"Sure," Jade and Lari agreed.
The two sat down on a mattress that was laid out in the common area of the house while waiting for Citra to set up the bath. Mewton, who had become comfortable with Avento, sat in front of him as he doodled away on a piece of paper, the charcoal coloring his fingers black.
Lari hated the silence. After a whole day of back and forth with Jade, the silence was awkward and unbearable.
"Are we making this an everyday thing, Princess?" Jade asked a cryptic question but Lari was thankful.
"What?" She asked politely. The jitters in her teeth had subsided.
"Bathing together, I meant. Not that I..." The Queen stammered. "Not that I'd mind."
Lari sighed. "Don't do that, my Queen. Don't flirt with me so shamelessly." And she immediately regretted it.
It was enough to shut Jade up. "I... I... I apologize, Princess. I...shouldn't have... I should have been...more careful with my words. I apologize for offending..."
"Stop that." Lari's tone was now authoritative. If Jade was bent on treating her like the High Princess, she would be likewise.
But her words didn't match her tone. "Stop treating me like I'm somebody important."
"But, you're the High Princess."
"Just because my father is the Emperor. I'm not half as good as you probably think I am. Not half as good as you are."
"But you've never done anything wrong, Princess."
Lari scoffed. "I've never done anything. And... We're the same age, Jade. We've seen the same summers and same winters. And the same floods and famines. And what was I doing when the famine hit Jahima and Kalk? I was sleeping on my comfortable bed, full from the supper prepared according to my preferences, and reading about the struggles and the revolution. I'm not..."
"That's not true." Jade raised a finger, interrupting her speech and thought. "It's... You indeed had no part in the battle but we would have still starved afterward if it wasn't for the Empress' and Princess' bounties.
"Am I wrong in saying that you and your mother did take part in the resistance after all? Or, do you really want me to believe that it was the Emperor who finally caved and sent us aide through you?"
Larimar was too stunned by the flurry of words to speak. She only gazed down at the finger still hanging midair, just short of touching her lips. "Can you... This is..." She stammered.
"Your Highnesses, the bath is ready. Whoever wants to go first, can go." Citra barged in, relieving Lari.
The Princess quickly pulled herself up and cleared her throat. "Thank you, Citra. And Jade, I don't think it's going to be an everyday thing but...I wouldn't mind either."
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A/N: If you liked this chapter, please consider leaving a vote. Thank you for reading.