When Lord and Lady Fas invited them to the Qundi, Manuel wasn't sure what to expect other than the fact that they said it would be a show. Whatever he imagined a Qundi to be, it was a far cry from what it really was.
The show was held in a huge tent with hundreds of seats that circled the center stage, where lean and extremely toned performers showcased their unique talents, doing flips and bends that Manuel never imagined possible.
And then they started setting things on fire.
Men juggled sticks that flew into the air and tossed them to each other, then proceeded to light the ends of them and continue juggling. A third man caught the stick that was thrown to him and shoved the fiery end into his mouth, soliciting a collective gasp from the entire audience.
Next came women that swung flaming hoops around their hips, performing amazing dance routines without so much as a singe. While they danced, men came out and joined the routine, swirling flaming sticks that burned on both ends. They ended the dance with the women whirling their hoops around their wrists, and the men stepped in front of them, grasping a cup of liquid and holding its contents in their cheeks. Manuel didn't understand what it was for until they emptied their cheeks and blew on their torches, fire blazing from their mouths and into the air.
The audience raved. Jahlro and Kindi were absolutely enthralled at his side. Even he had to admit, the performances were pretty amazing. As he moved to give a standing ovation, he stopped as a hand grasped his arm, nails digging into his flesh.
Yunara looked absolutely petrified. She didn't even seem to notice she'd grabbed his arm, her eyes locked on the stage in horror. Then her eyes dropped to her hand and she snatched it back.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't notice," she quickly apologized.
"Don't be." He kind of wished she didn't move her hand at all. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I just– AH!"
Manuel hadn't noticed that in the time they were talking, the performers had laid out what looked like a bed of nails, and just when Yunara screamed was when a man laid himself on top of them, the crowd applauding loudly while Yunara's eyes filled with dread.
"Oh, don't mind any of this," Kailu had to shout over the crowd. "None of it is hardly real."
"Oh, but it is," Jahlro corrected her. "In Elven country, the Qundi performers are professionals that have trained for decades to perform their arts. It's all very real."
Yunara looked like she was going to be sick.
"Maybe you should get some air. I can come with you if you like." Manuel offered his hand.
"No, that's really not necessary. I really am fi– AH! Let's go!"
He barely had time to look at the stage to see that a woman had started walking over the back of the man on the bed of nails before Yunara snatched his hand and was leading him away from the seats and out of the entertainment hall.
Once they were out of the building, she breathed out like she'd been holding it in since the show started.
"I suppose excitement and thrill isn't exactly the kind of thing you like."
She shook herself, as if the mere thought of going back in made her relive it all over again. "Not at all. I've had enough of it in real life to satisfy me plenty, thank you. That's why I moved to Ecencia, was to be away from so much excitement all of the time, not dive right into the middle of it."
"What do you mean? If you don't mind my asking, of course," he added quickly. The last thing he wanted was to bring anything up that would make her upset. He still couldn't get over seeing how she got in the prison cell of Luca's ship.
"The Aracs. The monsters they summon wreak havoc in Crila, much more than in Ecencia or Elven country. Well, not that Ecencia is any better, I'm learning. And perhaps not even Elven country. I suppose it's just more obvious the way they dominate our upper class society in Crila than in other countries."
"In what way?"
"They killed my parents," she supplied, and Manuel instantly regretted having asked. Her eyes started getting misty and her bottom lip quivered ever so slightly as she tried to mask her reaction by looking away. "Anyone that deals with the Dark One must pay a cost. I don't really know too much of the details, but I've heard stories. The Dark Ones will fulfil whatever task that you cannot, and will execute it without question. But when they ask for payment, it's always something ugly. A death, a sacrifice, a dark promise. When the summoners make their payment, they usually just let the Dark One free on the streets of a small town, wherever they think that no one cares about what happens to its victims. Someone, somewhere, must have asked for something of a Dark One, and they used my parents to repay their debt. At least, that's what I assumed was the reason why one day when I came home I found my parents–"
She couldn't finish, her sobs cut her off in mid sentence. Manuel froze, his arms twitching at his sides. Should he comfort her? Would she reject him if he tried? Deciding quickly, he gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards his chest and feeling her calm down in his arms. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "To this day I don't know what happened to them. Who did it? Why? What did they need so badly that they would just let that Dark One free to slaughter them like animals? The death of a political figure? To steal another man's riches? I'll never know. That's why I hated the rich. They pretended to be so self righteous and above people while they know that everything they owned was built on murder, lying, coveting their way into whatever they wanted. And I hated them. That's why I left Crila and never came back."
Another lapse of time fell between them as she just breathed for a few moments.
"I'm sorry. I know it's like to grow up without your parents. It's hard. But I know I at least had my servants, like Maria and Roberto who always took good care of me. I can't imagine what it must have been like being completely alone."
"I've had to live alone for a long time now." Her hands rested on his arms, as if drawing strength from them. Seeing her like this, he was willing to give her every ounce of it he had to give. But at least she was calming down. "I've gotten used to it." Her voice came out in a squeak. "When I was found by the servants' keeper at the Ecencian castle and Cadri took a liking to me, it was like a dream come true. Since I was 13, I've worked in strangers' homes as a maid, a nobody without a family or anyone to look out for me. In the safety of the castle, I didn't have to be afraid all of the time of being robbed or attacked. And trust me, I'd gotten in enough of my fair share of scuffles. Then I met the princess. It was so foreign to me to be noticed by that time that I almost didn't know how to react when she spoke to me. Finally, as I opened up to finally being able to have a friend, it was the first time I ever opened up to anyone about my past. And now she's gone, and I have to save her now."
Manuel was silent. There were no words. He learned that when his father died. Someone could say as many of them as they liked, but not all of the words in the world could change facts, or the reality one had to deal with on an everyday basis. Right now the best thing he could do was just be there for her.
But then as he started thinking, he found some words he could offer that might have served as encouragement. There was no telling her than everything could be alright, because he knew from experience that it was the last thing that ever helped. But perhaps another look on her reality would shed a light on her darkened heart, one that she never made a burden to anyone, he realized, but was a burden he now saw that she carried constantly.
"Isn't destiny funny, though?" he started, hoping to bait her in.
Yunara turned to him, her tear-stained face twisted in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, right now the Aracs are trying to accomplish something that will make the lives of everyone a lot like the one you had to live in Crila, but a lot worse. You've been running from the Aracs your entire life because they made your life a living nightmare. But now the tables are turning. Now it's you being the start of an end to the Aracs' empire. They've haunted your nightmares for years, but now you're the image of theirs."
"We all are, I suppose." She averted her eyes to look at the ground. "But who's to say they won't try something like this again? They've been around for a long time, and nothing has gotten rid of them thus far."
He grasped her hand in his, squeezing it as if to pump life into it. He wasn't about to let her escape him that easily. Cautiously, she tilted her head until their eyes met.
"I refuse to accept that. My parents didn't. Neither does Cadri. Think of all of the people that have helped us so far. Youssef, Lucia, Fernando, all of them have gotten as far as they have because they decided that enough was enough and that the Aracs can't go on ruling unchallenged like they have in the past. And it's because of those people that we've gotten as far as we have. And I don't believe it's just coincidence. This is happening for a reason, Yunara. The way it's always been is going to change. It has to. And we have to be the start of it. You have to be the start of it."
She took her hand away from his, shaking her head. "Why do you keep trying to make me so important in all of this? I'm no different than anyone else here."
"Because you've been the start of it all from the beginning. Cadri knew she could leave it in your hands to lead us to this point. You gathered us all together. None of us would be where we are today if it weren't for your courage to drive us. I was reluctant, so was Kailu. Luca I still question somewhat, but at least he's here."
Yunara giggled at that.
"While we've all been questioning our place here, you've been the one focused on saving your friend and all of us fulfilling our destinies, connecting us all to each other. That's why I said that destiny is a funny thing. I don't think you see it yet, but I see it in you. You can the beginning of a lot of good things that have needed to happen for a long while. The kind of person my mother was, I've come to learn."
He stepped closer to her, and this time, she let him do it, sending all kinds of fire running through him in that moment.
"You actually remind me a lot of my mother. I never really knew her, but the more I read about her in my father's journal, the more I feel like I've missed out. But in a sense, I feel like I've found my second chance to get to know an individual so brave and so courageous in you. You've come all this way all by yourself, Yunara, and you've never asked for anything in return from anybody. That in of itself is an inspiration. Imagine when this is all over. You can teach people that have the ability to see the Unseeables. Make everyone aware of the Unseeables. I'm trying to tell you that nothing can stay the same forever. The Aracs will see their end, and I continue to believe that it starts with you."
She chuckled, nervously, but she didn't avert her eyes from his this time. "I don't know why you're so keen upon making up this fictional version of me that can perform so many amazing things. I'd like to be all those things. Brave, courageous, inspiring... but I'm really just a maid. I don't have some kind of magic ability to change anything. I barely feel comfortable in a change in clothes, much less changing the way things have been for centuries."
"You doubt yourself too much." He swallowed, thinking back on how he'd treated her when they first set out to meet Fernando, regretting the way he so cowardly ran away from his emotions and shielded himself from her. "I know that you can change people, Yunara," he started. She looked up at him with those, deep, soulful eyes of hers. "Because you've started a change in me."
His arm slipped around her waist and pulled her closer. When his lips met hers, it surprised him how quickly his entirety melted into the embrace. His lips fit so easily into the softness of her lips, he knew he had to pace himself for fear of overwhelming her. He shocked his own self at how vulnerable he became at that moment. He grasped her arms with trembling hands, pulling her into his kiss. He was weak when it came to Yunara. There was no running from it anymore. And he wanted her to know that now. He wanted to transfer every ounce of his weakness into his gentle kiss so she would know how desperately she had him wound about her delicate fingers.
When he pulled away, he had to force himself to do it. He searched her eyes, the only sound that could be heard between them being the sound of their own breath, and the pounding of his heart in his ears.
As she broke away from his eyes shaking her head, his heart stopped altogether. Now he'd really done it. She must have been upset with him for coming on too suddenly. His nerves twisted and writhed inside of him as the butterflies in his stomach made havoc.
"I-I'm sorry for my forwardness. C-clearly I've offended you."
"No, that's not it. I-I have to process this. I mean, where do we even go from here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we're from two separate worlds, Manuel. I don't belong on Earth. I wouldn't fit in, and frankly, I wouldn't want to. My home is here on Caorfi."
"And my home is with you."
"There you two are!" Jahlro exclaimed as her husband and Kailu came out of the tent, along with the other patrons of the show that still wore shocked faces, muttering amongst one another about the things they'd seen.
Yunara slipped her hands from his, ending their conversation there.
He cursed under his breath. If only the show lasted a little longer. It would have to be another time, he admitted to himself disgruntledly.
"That was amazing!" Kailu exclaimed. "You should have seen it, Yunara. There were more fire-breathers, people that could stuff themselves into little boxes, it was spectacular!"
"I'm glad you liked it," she said, dodging the subject, Manuel noticed.
Jalhro smiled, showing a perfect row of teeth. "Well, I'm so glad you all enjoyed yourselves. I hope you're feeling alright now, Lady Cunning."
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Well, why don't we go back to our manor and we can discuss seeking an audience with a scholar like you wanted?"
"That sounds wonderful!" Yunara said excitedly.
"Come, we will discuss it over wine and olives," Kindi said, the first time Manuel ever heard him speak. He had a surprisingly deep voice.
As the two groups entered their separate carriages, Manuel knew he should have been more enthusiastic about finally coming close to finding the last member of the five Chosen. But all he could think about was the lingering feeling of Yunara's lips on his mouth, and as he looked over at her sitting down across from him, he contemplated how badly he'd like to do it again.
--
O.O
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh I loved writing this. I wrote several versions of this scene just to get it right and.... uuuughh! The feels <3