“I’ll remember,” Traven replied.
He left Darian sitting in the antechamber and headed down the hall of the palace. He knew that Kalista was engaged, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the opportunity of spending the morning with the beautiful princess. He was nervous to see her but mostly excited. Even though he was a wielder, he was still a commoner. It was rare for someone like him to be meeting privately with a person of such noble rank. He was lost in his thoughts as he turned a corner and almost ran into a young woman.
“Excuse me,” he said as he stepped to the side to let her pass. She looked up at him and smiled, but made no move to walk past.
“No need to apologize,” she said sweetly. “I do not mind bumping into a grand hero of Kalia.”
Traven looked at her more closely. She apparently knew who he was, but he was sure he had never met her before. She had long black hair, full red lips, and light green eyes and appeared to be about his age. She wore a fancy dress and held herself in a manner that marked her as one of the noble class.
“My name is Delia,” she said as she curtsied slightly. Traven bowed in return.
“I’m Traven,” he replied.
“I know,” Delia said with an even larger smile. “Everyone in Candus knows who you are. I hope we meet again soon.”
The attractive young woman winked at him and continued on her way down the hall. Traven felt his cheeks warm. He watched silently as she made her way down the hall and disappeared around another corner. He turned and kept walking.
He hadn’t gone very far when a group of three women entered the hall not far in front of him. They saw him coming and curtsied as he passed. He nodded to them and continued on. As soon as he had passed, he heard them giggling. He glanced back and found all three staring intently at him. He quickly looked forward and hurried out of the palace. Once among the trees, he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around and happily found that the gardens were indeed empty.
It was exciting to be noticed by others, especially attractive women, but at the same time it made him uncomfortable. He wondered if the young woman, Delia, had been exaggerating or if everyone in Candus really did know who he was. He supposed he should expect it after his prominent role in the battle, parade, and medal ceremony. Even so, this was the first time he had actually experienced being noticed outside the army. He smiled to himself. It was strange to feel so important, but he had to admit that part of him loved it.
He continued cheerily and confidently across the palace grounds to one of the back garden areas where he was supposed to meet the princess. Was it so strange that the High Princess of Kalia wanted to meet with him this morning? He was, after all, the first to be crowned a hero of Kalia in over one hundred years. He could command the elements and do things that everyone else could only dream of. If the other young women in Candus were so anxious to see him, wouldn’t the princess be as well?
4
“Good morning, Traven,” the Princess Kalista said, greeting him as she walked towards the stone bench he had been waiting on.
He stood quickly and bowed to her. He had arrived early and had been enjoying the quiet garden full of late spring flowers in full bloom. The sweet fragrance and vivid colors of the flowers were beautiful. He had been excitedly waiting the coming of the princess. However, the longer he had waited, the more his confidence had slipped and the more he had begun to feel increasingly nervous. He had even begun to wonder if the princess would actually come. Perhaps some more important matters had arisen that she needed to attend to. He was relieved that his wait was finally over.
“My Princess,” he said respectfully as he rose from his deep bow.
“Call me Kalista,” she said with a smile. “As I said before, we have been through enough together to be on a first name basis.”
“As you wish, Kalista,” he replied.
“That’s much better,” she stated as she sat down on the stone bench. “Take your seat, and we will talk.”
Traven sat back down on the opposite end of the bench. There were several long moments of silence as the princess looked around the garden area. She narrowed her eyes several times in thought as she gazed at the various flowers and finally made a sound of what appeared to be approval. She then turned her attention from the flowers to him.
“The gardens of the palace are beautiful, are they not?” Kalista observed.
“Yes, they are,” he agreed.
They both sat with their hands in their laps in silence for several more moments. Traven began to feel very uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure what he should say. He had supposed the princess had questions for him and hadn’t planned on anything other than answering her questions. Both looked from their hands to their surroundings but avoided eye contact. Finally, Kalista broke the silence with her tinkling laugh.
“What?” Traven asked as he looked around for what she found so amusing.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied with a smile. “I find it humorous that we are sitting here in uncomfortable silence. We have been imprisoned together and you have saved my life multiple times, but we have never had a quiet, carefree moment to actually visit with one another. I feel like I know you, but in reality I know very little about you. There are many questions I have, yet I feel rude launching into them without getting to know you better first.”
“Don’t worry. Feel free to ask whatever you want,” he said encouragingly.
“Tell me a little about yourself first.”
“There’s not much to tell,” he began. “I grew up in the small village of Oak Tree with my grandparents. Last fall I traveled to Calyn to attend the merchant academy. Things didn’t work out for me there, so I joined the army in the winter. We met in the spring, and I guess you know what’s happened since.”
“Well, I know some of what has happened since. I plan on discovering the details in a few moments,” she promised with a smile. “What did you do before going to the merchant academy?”
“I was a woodcutter.”
“Tell me about it,” Kalista asked.
Traven was surprised by her interest in his former vocation but readily explained about felling and hauling trees to the lumber mill. She then asked him about his family, and he explained that his mother and sister had died when he was young and his father had died later. He told her of his grandparents and of their encouragement and sacrifices to send him to the merchant school.
“I am sure they will be proud to see what you have become,” Kalista stated confidently. “Even if it is not the merchant they expected.”
“I hope so,” he replied.
“Now, I want to know what you found in your search for the ruins of Faldor’s Keep. You left the palace as merely a soldier but returned as a wielder of the ambience. How did the change occur?”
Traven launched into a brief explanation of the events that had transpired from the time he left the Royal Palace until he arrived at the battlefield. He told of the voyage and how he had learned that he was a wielder. He also described the discovery of Faldor’s Keep and his training in the ambience but purposely omitted any mention of the elves or his visions.
“I then left Faldor’s Keep with several of the guardians and journeyed to the battlefield. The trip was long and uneventful except for when we were attacked by a monster and an assassin in the woods west of here,” he concluded.
“A monster and an assassin?” the princess exclaimed. “Thank goodness you made it to the battlefield alive.”
Traven felt a pang of sadness at her statement. He had made it through alive but Ethan and Jorb hadn’t. Images of the two jovial guardians flitted across his memory.
“Two of the guardians died in the attack,” he said quietly.
There was a long pause. He glanced at the princess. Several times it looked like she was about to say something, but then she would stop. Finally, she turned and looked him directly in the eyes.
“Do you still see their faces?” Kalista asked.
The question surprised him, but he knew exactly what she meant. He nodded in the affirmative.
“I do.”
“Me too,” she answered sadly. She explained herself after he gave her a questioning look. “When you saved me the other day on the battlefield, there were several of my guards who were killed. They died because I made them come along with me in my foolish attempt to kill the Balthan wielder. It seems like I see their faces every time I close my eyes, and I have dreamt of them every night since their deaths.”
Traven could see a slight sheen of tears welling up in her eyes. He understood how she felt.
“I used to have nightmares about the two faithful guardians every night,” he said. “It gets better. I don’t dream about them much anymore. My servant helped me understand that it wasn’t my fault and that they had chosen to be guardians, knowing the danger they might face. I think understanding that has helped me move on.”
“But it was my fault,” Kalista replied remorsefully. “I have not told anyone else this, but I made them follow me to their deaths. They advised me not to go any closer to the battle and even refused to go along with my plan.” She paused before continuing. “I rushed onto the battlefield alone. I gave them no choice but to follow me.”
Traven stared back at the princess, wondering what he could say. The princess had definitely made a foolish choice to go so near the battle. There was no arguing that. He remembered how frustrated he had felt when she had left the rise and raced towards the battle before he could reach her. However, her guards had made their own choices as well. Kalista obviously felt horrible for what had happened and recognized her folly. There was no need for her to suffer further.
“You’re right,” Traven said, breaking the silence. “You made a very foolish decision, and the guards did their duty. They chose to protect you. I’ve come to learn recently a little of what it means to be in a position of power. Some of those around us will benefit while others will suffer. It’s important and essential that we learn from our mistakes, but agonizing over them won’t benefit anyone. What is important is that we don’t repeat our mistakes and we use our time going forward to benefit others and make up for those mistakes.”
He suddenly snapped his mouth shut. Had he just been giving the princess a lecture? He dropped his eyes to the ground wondering what had gotten into him. He started to wonder if he should apologize.
“Thank you,” Kalista said, breaking the silence. Traven looked up, relieved to see she wasn’t upset. “There is wisdom in what you said. I will try and move on.” She paused for a few moments before continuing. “Let us talk of happier subjects. You learned to do various kinds of magic at Faldor’s Keep?”
“Yes.”
“Would you mind demonstrating some of them for me?”
Traven could see the curiosity and excitement shining in her blue eyes. The first thing he could think of was a flame, so he reached out his hand and pulled a small flame into existence above his open palm. Kalista gasped in surprise. He watched with amusement as she stared at the flame. He concentrated and made it grow to several times its original size.
“Can you move it?” the princess asked with wonder.
“Sure,” he replied. “Hold out your hand.”
Kalista nervously held out her own hand as she looked back and forth between Traven and the flame. Carefully, he moved the flame through the air until it was directly above the princess’ open palm. She smiled excitedly as she stared at the flame floating so near her. He concentrated and slowly shrunk it. He then formed a drop of water and pulled it into existence directly on top of the small flame. The princess gasped as the flame disappeared in a burst of steam.
“That was amazing,” she exclaimed. “Do something else.”
Traven obliged and formed several small spheres of water. He moved them around in the air in front of the princess and then called up a cold breeze. He wrapped the air around them and formed three small ice spheres. The princess held out her hand again, and he carefully dropped all three onto her palm. She played with the spheres for a few moments before carefully tossing them to the ground.
“That could come in handy on a hot summer day,” she noted with a smile.
“This as well,” he said as he called up a stiff breeze that swept over them.
The princess shivered in the cool air. Traven stopped the breeze and thought about what else he could show the princess. A fun idea occurred to him. He stood up and walked several steps away from the bench.
“Would you stand up for a minute,” he asked.
“Okay,” Kalista replied.
After she stood, he wrapped light around the bench and caused it to disappear entirely from sight. He tried to keep a straight face as he told Kalista she could turn back around and sit down. She gave him a funny look and turned to sit on the bench but stopped with a surprised gasp. To her, it looked as though there wasn’t a trace left of the bench she had just been sitting on.
Traven quickly wrapped light around himself and disappeared as well. When the princess turned back to him with a stunned expression, her eyes widened even more, and she put her hands over her mouth with another gasp. He held his breath to keep from laughing as Kalista looked left and then right, searching for him. Her wide eyes suddenly began to narrow as her hands went to her hips.
“Alright,” she said. “Where are you?”
“I’m right here,” he responded.
“Where?”
“Right in front of you.”
Kalista squinted in the direction of his voice, straining to see him. She obviously couldn’t make out anything and frowned. Traven started laughing and let both his own particle shield and the shield around the bench drop. His sudden appearance right in front of her caused her to jump slightly.
“That was not very funny,” the princess said as she turned and sat back down on the now visible bench.
Traven tried to stop laughing but couldn’t. The looks on her face had been priceless. He hadn’t had this much fun since he had teased the guardians by making their supplies randomly disappear on the journey from Faldor’s Keep. He finally stopped laughing and sat back down on the bench as well.