He smiled at her gently and prompted her like she was a child. “It’s okay. Here, why don’t you tell me. Funnily enough, when you use your words, everything turns out all right.”
Caught up in the idea and with some difficulty, Fielle began to string her words together—words for herself, not for anyone else around her.
“Um... I...” These words for herself did not come easily. Prince Tomas was so close, and her heart was pounding so fast she thought it might explode.
“I...” And yet, Tomas waited patiently for those words to come with that kind smile of his.
Fielle squeezed her eyes shut and let her own words tumble out without any proper planning. “Prince Tomas... I want... I want to be your friend!” she declared, turning bright red.
Out of breath now, she waited, panting softly, for his response. Tomas gave her an even kinder smile than he had before and said, “Really? Okay, then let’s be friends. Glad to have you as my new buddy, Fielle.”
Fielle and Tomas made arrangements to meet up with just the two of them multiple times afterwards. It had to be the two of them alone because Fielle’s usual followers would only get in the way; however, this was more of a pretext than anything, as Fielle did want to see him one-on-one. Besides, the one time she had tried to go up to him at a party, the whole crowd shifted with her the moment she took a step in his direction, much to the surprise of those talking to Tomas. Seeing this, Fielle gave up on talking to Tomas when anyone else was around. Instead, Tomas arranged as much time as possible for the two of them to meet. No one knew of this friendship apart from Lynette, Fielle, and, of course, Tomas.
Tomas told Fielle fantastic stories, ones she never learned from her history or geography governesses no matter how much they praised her knowledge—tales of ancient stone ruins on faraway southeastern continents, stories of plants and animals living on distant southern islands, accounts of strange folk who lived in lands frozen over by ice. Tomas had seen them all with his own eyes. She asked him how he had come to have so many wonderful adventures, and he explained that, while Vorland may have been small now, he wanted to broaden his horizons and someday develop the country into a prosperous, industry rich kingdom. This also explained his stint as a potter’s apprentice. Tomas’s way of life was a far cry from hers, Fielle thought. Whereas all she did was try to live up to other people’s expectations, Tomas had a real sense of purpose. How incredible.
Tomas boasted a wide circle of friends as well, an eclectic group of royalty, aristocracy, ministers, artisans, sailors, chefs, and musicians alike. He spoke of one in particular, saying, “He’s a really interesting guy. He’s wonderful to all our male friends, but he doesn’t have the first idea how to treat women. I worry that someday it’ll cause a huge problem.” This was the king of Orstoll, the biggest kingdom in the center of the continent. It surprised Fielle a little bit that Tomas could talk so casually about such an exalted person.
It was becoming clear to her that she really was in love with Tomas. In the meantime, several princes, kings, and other would-be suitors had come asking for her hand, but she had turned them all down. She knew that as a princess she couldn’t simply marry whomever she wanted, but if it were at all possible, she wanted to marry Tomas.
One day, Fielle boldly decided to broach the topic and take the next step towards becoming sweethearts. She was scared to death to declare her own feelings but, to her shock, Tomas said, “I like you too, Fielle.” He said this in his normal tone of voice, so for one bizarre moment, she wondered if he really meant it. However, she knew that Tomas wouldn’t lie to her. Fielle’s doubt turned to happiness. This was the best day of her life.
However, even if Tomas liked her back, one major obstacle still prevented them from marrying: her parents. She knew they would never approve of her marrying the prince of Vorland; therefore, she kept their relationship a secret from everyone but Lynette. She wanted to tell Fie as well, but for some unknown reason, their father had recently started searching for a husband for Fie and forcing her to attend parties against her will. Fie came back from them in a foul mood, so Fielle thought it best to not bring up the subject of a happy love life for the time being. Nevertheless, it became Fielle’s first ever real dream for the future to wed her beloved Tomas, with or without anyone else’s approval.
This might have been a bit naive on Fielle’s part. She wasn’t fully aware of how much people valued their image of her as this Priestess of Healing, nor did she fully understand the gravity of Tomas saying, “I like you too.” Fielle was still a teenager, and a sheltered one at that. How would she have had any idea?
A year later, the news reached Daeman that Prince Tomas’s carriage had fallen off a cliff. Its passenger did not survive the crash.
✦ ✦ ✦
When Fielle’s story reached this point, Fie jumped in shock. It was wonderful to hear that Fielle had someone she loved so much, and it warmed Fie’s heart to see how happy Fielle looked as she talked about Tomas. Because of that, she had completely forgotten there would be no happy ending for Fielle and Tomas—how else would they have ended up in this complicated situation?
“Daeman and Vorland never had much contact with one another,” Fielle explained, “but when the news reached us anyway, I was so stunned I took to my bed for days...”
Fie was at a loss for words. What could she even say in response? Of course, hearing about a loved one’s death would be a major shock, she thought. Yet since her own feelings were so unclear, maybe she couldn’t even imagine how devastating this would be.
Seeing Fie look so concerned, Fielle smiled at her. “Oh no, it’s okay,” she said. “He lived!”
“He did? That’s a relief!”
“I was in a slump for some time due to the shock of it, when I received a marriage proposal from King Roy. I was going to refuse him because I was too depressed to see anyone, but mother and father insisted I meet him. They set up an opportunity for us to meet, and there he said to me, ‘Tomas is alive—’”
“Followed by, ‘Please, just roll with it,’” Lynette added with an annoyed glare. “Which was all rather ridiculous, as I see it.”
“And later on,” Fielle continued, “Roy told me everything.” According to Roy, the king of a large kingdom had his eye on her and had discovered her secret relationship with Tomas through espionage, whereupon he issued Tomas a threat. Fearing for his life, Tomas sent a letter to his good friend Roy asking him to take care of Fielle if anything happened to him. Sure enough, the worst came to pass in a suspicious carriage accident, and while he narrowly escaped with his life, Tomas was rendered unconscious. Letter in hand, Roy rushed to the scene, consulted with Tomas’s royal father, and issued the news that Tomas had perished in the crash. Then he decided to make the first move to protect Fielle by entering a sham marriage with her. After all, being the king of such a large country as Orstoll, he assumed her parents would accept willingly enough once he offered the proposal. This was the kind of harebrained scheme that only Roy could think up. All of his issues with women became apparent as well, but all the same, it was thanks to him that Fielle was saved from that bad situation. (But was it out of the frying pan and into the fire?)
“Wait,” Fie said, “so does that mean I’m not married to him either?” In Fie’s part of the world, marriages were officiated by the church. There were all sorts of ceremonies involved, but the basic act of wedding two people together was simply a priest blessing an item with the couple’s names written on it. The church then held onto this item as a record of the marriage. In other words, so long as a member of the church was involved, it was possible to completely hoodwink outsiders into believing a fake marriage was legitimate. On the flip side, this system could also be abused; one could be forced to marry against their will if a member of the clergy was ordered to do so. However, such things happened only rarely, as the church would lose support from its followers if such injustice came to light. Still, it wasn’t an absolute impossibility, and someone—maybe even that king from earlier—could still try to force Fielle’s hand.
At any rate, if there was no record of Fie’s marriage and Fielle herself wasn’t truly married, then Fie figured she was probably in the same boat.
Fielle smiled and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure you’re not married either.”
Fie would have to check with the captain later, but all the same, she felt like it was a great weight off her chest.