To Love, Once Again

They sit on Lucien's large warhorse, staring out over the clear reflective waters as Aslan carries them back, headed toward the Azai camp.

Aslan's hooves trotted lightly over the roots and grass. He was happy since the place his master lead him to had lots and lots of delicious sweet grass that he'd gorged himself on.

Sera sits sideways in Lucien's lap like a child while he rides Aslan.

Lucien was satisfied. Rather than having a child in her lap, it was right that she was here, in his arms. Breathing in the soft fragrance of her hair, he hoped his lap was comfortable enough for her.

It was too bad they couldn't stay any longer. Time was short, especially with all the preparations he was going through with Icaros for his plan. He had to go back to the castle and meet the Minister of War.

Clicking to Aslan, he takes one last, long look at the lake and the blowing willows, and guides them out of there.

Sera was wearing his white linen poet shirt over her dress. He'd ripped the top of the bodice in his eagerness, earning him a scolding from her after all was said and done.

Lucien surreptitiously drinks from a vial he'd taken out from somewhere, the delicate flower smell erased under the strong and vibrant fragrance of the wildflowers around them.

"My mother brought me here, once"

He glances back at the deep lake, the line between his brows relaxing. It had gotten better, Sera was glad to see, craning her neck up at him, compared to the haggard features and blank look of a wild animal that she'd first looked upon in the courtyard.

Recently, his expressions have become more relaxed, more, human..Why wouldn't it, when he had a mistress and a new wife on the way? Sera thought with bitterness. The boys in her university would've been green-eyed with jealousy that Lucien could be with two women.

Small white blooms with golden yellow centers wave their heads in goodbyes to the two humans and one horse.

Lucien thinks back to long ago, when he was still a child, his mother lovingly calling to him as he brought her some wildflowers he'd picked in this very place.

"Lu! Come sit with Mother." She'd say, patting the picnic rug upon which she sat. His mother loved beautiful things, was obsessed with it. Most of his early childhood had been spent accompanying his mother in "the pursuit of elegance and beauty" as his mother so often liked to put it. As a young princess of a poor country who'd been married off an elderly King for the trade routes, she reveled in pretty knick-knacks and precious stones. Her spending grew wilder as she aged, buying up horses to breed and vacation houses in far-away lands, across the Silver Sea, that she would never use.

This was the last place she ever brought him on a small vacation. It would be their little secret, she'd giggled and said. After that, his sudden growth spurt had made his arms long and spindly, while cheeks lost their plumpness. His mother had thrown him away like spilt water at that point. After all, she was interested in beautiful things. A pre-pubescent awkward child was not beautiful to her, making her lose all interest.

Lucien's mother had thrown Lucien away like a priceless masterpiece she'd outgrown, her changed aesthetic tastes causing her to be interested in other things. After his growth spurt, she never called for him anymore, nor glanced at him when she saw him in the halls. She was only interested in being surrounded by pretty, lovely things. Hence the Royal Gardens. It was another reminder of his mother and her obsession with beauty. He'd been glad to see it wither and rot away, like all things his mother loved.

Like he did, before he first met Sera.

Shaking the dark memories that settle like heavy cobwebs on his mind, he focuses on getting them back to the Azai camp. It was a shame he couldn't accompany Sera any longer. Lucien had stretched his schedule too far tonight.

When they finally arrive, Lucien settles the hat on Sera's head, gives her a hot, steaming kiss under the veil, and gallops off.

The Azai girls look disappointed, while other smile at the sight. From the way Lucien and Sera interacted, it was obvious that these two were meant for each other.

"Well, child, I'm glad you had a good time"

Lois waggles her eyebrows, looking at Sera up and down. There's nothing to see. She was wearing Lucien's dark cloak, with the veiled hat on her head. Lucien had bundled her up like a baby in swaddling clothes.

Gesturing to her empty cart, "It's time to go. I have to pack and leave the castle tonight"

"Already, Lois?" Sera replies.

Twiddling her fingers, "I hoped you would stay longer...I enjoyed the time with you.." She trails off,

"I've stayed her for long enough. We herb women don't do well with settling down"

Lois winks.

"We get rashes if we stay in one place for too long" Lois laughs at her own joke, and turns to bark out a goodbye to the Azai around her.

Sera ducks into the tent where the sick boy was, checking his temperature and making sure the cloth on his forehead was cooled with fresh water.

She breathes a sigh of relief. He seems to be improving already, breathing deeply in peaceful sleep, the fever broken.

"Sera, was it?"

Gaer, the boy's father and leader of the Azai, booms in his accented, thunderous voice. His wife stands next to him, arm around his waist, leaning against his shoulder. Their other infant is fast asleep, mumbling wordless baby-words tinged with sleep into Gaer's neck.

How wonderful a picture this was. Sera wished, from the bottom of her heart, that this was her, Lucien, and Leo.

Things were simpler here. In this world that had no running water or electricity, none of the conveniences of life.

.....You would think things were simpler here.

But that was wrong. The matters of the heart, and the circumstances surrounding them could never be as simple as this:

A loving family that understands each other.

Like what Sera saw before her in the Azai leader and his family.

There was still the castle, where Lucien's role as King, Sera's role as his maid. There was a uncrossable line between them. There was still the pain she'd caused Lucien. The abandonment of their child. Everything was wrong, twisted up, compared to the simplicity of these Azai refugees.

Gaer booms again, pointing at her.

"You are Sera, yes?"

Sera shrinks back and away from him.
Was she in trouble?

Wordlessly, he puts out both hands in front of him, palms facing up.

The wife gasps.

"Gaer, you didn't tell me you would give her the Honor!"

"Calm, my wife. It is right that I give her this Honor. She saved our eldest son...my pride and light. My son is precious because he is of you, my Moon"

Gaer's wife speaks in the Azark language. This was a conversation Sera was not meant to hear.

"But she is other... she will not know of the meaning of what you do." Gaer's wife looks up at him.

The Honor. It was the highest form of thanks one could give in the nomadic Azai tribe. A life for a life. One could only give the Honor 3 times in their lifetime. It was precious still coming from the leader of the Azai, Gaer.

So Sera had saved Gaer's son's life as symbolized on his one palm, with the other palm up, he vowed to fulfill one promise to her, even at the risk of his life.

"Trust me, my beautiful moon." He grins at his wife.

He turns back to Sera and speaks.

"I thank you, for saving my son."

Feeling embarrassed, Sera responds "I can't take the credit for that. I was just lucky to have the right medicine for your son.."

There was no way she could take the credit for giving the boy a simple fever-relieving pill.

Gaer shakes his head.

"You do not understand. Very rarely does a child survive 5 nights of fever here. You may have only brought the medicine, but without it,"

He frowns with a pained expression.

"My light would be dead"

Gaer's wife strokes his cheek comfortingly.

"Will you translate for me, my sun?" She asks, and Gaer nods.

She steps forward and takes Sera's hands in hers.

"It is dangerous for a child to eat medicine herbs. Bodies are too small, too weak, and can become poison. We can only cool his body with wet cloths and poultices, and pray"

Her eyes shimmer slightly with tears.

"The small white thing you gave our son has saved our future, and we thank you. It is precious, that medicine"

Gaer's wife kisses Sera's hands, and smiles at her.

Sera finds it hard to believe that such a small gesture on her part could create such a reaction. She bites her lip. She should have brought more medication from her world.

...........

Sera and Lois wave to the Azai as they depart the camp. The children sing songs in the Azark language, and run off to play.

Gaer watches the cart trundle off until it's engulfed into the forest surrounding it.

His wife sidles up next to him, handing him his pipe.

Taking a deep, long puff, Gaer breathes out the thick smoke, watching it twist and turn, fading and dissipating into nothingness.

"....There is much promise in her, wife. Only she can control the beast. Perhaps.....heal it, someday" he mutters.

"Old wounds and new...It will take much work...the baring of souls" His wife quips back.

———————
"Why are you sooooo ugwwy?"

Leo tilts his head at the dark shadow above him.

"Someone that looks veeery similar to you"
One thick finger plays with the cowlick that sticks straight up from Leo's head.

"made me look like this"

Pointing back at himself, the shadow laughs menacingly.

"My Mama can fwix you" Leo puffs his chest out in pride. Bea had told him his fairy Mama's job was to go out and fix people. As far as he knew, there was nothing his Mama couldn't do.

"I hope she can.."

The shadow's mouth rips open into an eerily wide smile.

"....I hope she can........"