🐎 🐎 🐎
WHEN I opened my eyes, I found myself in a place I recognized.
“Oh, you’re finally awake, Neema?”
The door to the room was open, and Will stood in the doorway, leaning up against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest.
…Only handsome men can get away with that pose, but infuriatingly, Will pulls it off just fine.
As for me, I had apparently been fast asleep curled up against Lars’ fluffy belly.
“Lars found you sleeping on the floor in the south building and brought you here. You really need to think things through more before acting.”
Will was in full-on lecture mode, but I ignored him in favor of wondering how the heck I’d fallen asleep on the floor in the south building.
I could swear I had some kind of dream, but I can’t remember what it was about…
“Thank you, Lars!”
I hugged Lars tightly and thanked him for looking after me, and he licked my cheek in response. Then Lars sniffed my scent inquisitively and rubbed against me. Something seemed to be up with him; he didn’t normally act like this.
“What is it, Lars?” Will asked, also noticing that Lars was behaving unusually.
Lars said something to Will, though it only sounded like “Growl!” to me.
Will looked dubious about whatever Lars had told him, and he heaved a long-suffering sigh.
“Neema, what happened in the south building?”
“Um, well… The last thing I remember I was just looking around a bit, but… I wonder why I fell asleep?”
As far as I knew, nothing in particular “happened” other than I’d exhausted myself exploring and fallen asleep in a weird place. I’d fallen asleep at the royal palace several times before after playing a lot, so it wasn’t that unusual. Normally, I’d nap in Will’s room, with Lars in one of his favorite napping spots, or in the grassy field at the dragon stables, but…
Come to think of it, I take naps in a lot of different places, huh?
“You don’t remember anything after that? …Well, I suppose it’s fine, then, but the next time you feel like wandering around the royal palace, you have to promise to bring Lars with you.”
“But…”
I couldn’t make such a blanket promise. After all, Will was Lars’ bonded partner. I doubted he’d be thrilled about having to be apart from Will just to satisfy my selfish desires to explore and play.
“We can’t afford to wait to react until after something’s already happened to you. Besides, I can use Lars’ powers even if we’re apart, so there’s nothing to worry about on my account.”
Oh, don’t be mistaken, I wasn’t the least bit concerned about you, Will. I was just worried about Lars being unhappy with the arrangement. You, on the other hand, are like a cockroach—nearly impossible to kill!
“You’re thinking something weird again right now, aren’t you?”
Will pinched my cheeks between his fingers and pulled, distorting my face in a way I was sure looked absolutely hideous. I gasped and demanded to know how he’d known, and Will responded with a chuckle that it was written all over my face.
Grrr, I still have a ways to go before my perfect aristocrat training is complete!
✦ ✦ ✦
🐎 🐎 🐎
“SHE returned home?”
“Yeah. Thanks to the God of Creation.”
The tiny warmth there just a moment ago was gone now.
But there was no denying that she’d been there, the young beloved child who’d come from a period far, far in the future…
“Why now, of all times?”
The beloved child with blood ties to Rhydelt didn’t share any of his facial features. However, she claimed that his eyes had been passed down among his descendants all the way into her time.
“Because now was when it was needed the most, I imagine.”
Until this point, I’d been running around, throwing myself almost blindly into battle after battle. However, from here on out, I would need to fight for the sake of the citizens who I wanted to entrust me with their hope for a brighter future. Just one decision of mine could change the future of this country.
“It’s about time you found yourself a wife, Rhy.”
Meeting the beloved child who named herself an Osphe made me see Rhydelt in a new light and picture what he would be like with a wife and children. Until now, he’d dedicated himself entirely to following me, so the thought of him marrying hadn’t even crossed my mind. But he would marry and have children, and someday, far in the future, Nefertima would be born from his lineage.
“You’re one to talk! When things calm down a bit, we need to find you a wife first.”
Maybe I’d been a bit too focused on the fight. I’d been consumed with the desire to create a better country where the citizens could live happy, peaceful lives.
The truth was, yes, the country needed to be stable for the citizens to live their lives, but when it came to the happiness of those lives, that was up to each individual to determine for themselves.
Nefertima had seemed happy to me.
Having a family to love and be loved by, play together with, occasionally argue with, and laugh often with…
It was essentially the exact opposite of my childhood. I’d been too busy simply trying to survive to have time to laugh or even cry.
But if I were able to make it so that even one more child could be like Nefertima and be able to laugh freely instead of experiencing the kind of childhood I’d had, it would all be worth it.
It was my duty to create a country where my children, my friends’ children, and the children of all my subjects could run around energetically, playing and laughing. That was the road ahead of me, the path I would walk.
“I hope I’ll be lucky enough to find a wife who will give me many healthy children.”
Perhaps that wish reached the God of Creation’s ears because two cycles later, I would marry a beautiful woman, and we would be blessed with four children.
Dear Nefertima,
It’s almost time for me to meet with the God of Creation once more.
I’m writing this letter to you in my mother tongue out of a sneaking suspicion that you, too, might be from the same homeland as I. If my guess was amiss, please forgive me. Although, I suppose if I’m mistaken, you won’t understand these words anyway…
At the time you read this letter, you may be thinking there’s nothing you would love more than to curse the God of Creation’s name. Please do so as much as you like! I’ve got plenty of complaints saved up myself that I fully intend to air to him when we meet again.
In my previous life, I was unable to protect anything important to me. In the end, I died alone on foreign soil, thinking of the family I’d left behind in my homeland.
That’s why, when the flames of war began to rage around my new homeland as well, I was determined not to lose anything else.
And now, here I am.
The Kingdom of Gaché turned out to be a pretty good country if I do say so myself. You might see it as still needing a lot of work, but I’ve done as much as I can with the time I’ve been given.
I hope we can meet again someday.
Sincerely,
Gee Russ Gaché
King of the Kingdom of Gaché