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“I thought I might find you here.” Gallica sighed, the sound of her wingbeats vibrating softly as she floated through the doorway and out onto the rooftop. “Keep sneaking off like this, and Hulkenberg is gonna give you another earful.”
Will had been leaning forward, resting his elbows on the stone guardrail that ran along the rooftop’s edge, but at the sound of her voice he turned, casting a soft blue eye over his shoulder at the fairy.
“She did promise ‘a scolding I’d never forget’ if it ever happened again…” The young king chuckled and shook his head. “Still, I was just taking a little break this time. I’m sure she’ll understand.” With an audible sigh, he hefted himself upright and fully turned to face her, the afternoon sun casting a golden aura about his frame.
Gallica furrowed her brow.
Six years had passed since the day of his coronation. Not even the blink of an eye to a fairy, yet the march of that time had already etched its mark into her companion. He was taller now, though not as tall as he would have hoped. His frame was broader, if not to the same extent as Strohl or Basilio. The spikes of his blue bangs laid in the same pattern they had on the day his journey began, but his hair had otherwise grown out enough to need to be bound in the back.
The ambitious light behind his gaze hadn’t dimmed in all these years, nor had the kind warmth of his small smile, but the weight of a crown had left its mark all the same. The beginnings of long, tired lines had begun to spread beneath his eyes… betraying the countless nights of sleep that had been stolen by his duties. The king may no longer bear all the anxieties of his people, but it was still a title that carried plenty of its own.
“Is something on my face? You’re staring.” Will canted his head. The sound of his voice snapped Gallica from her musings, and she let out a small sigh.
“Oh, sorry! Looking at you I couldn’t help thinking… people change so fast, don’t they?” She cleared her throat awkwardly. A strange, anxious melancholy had settled into the core of her stomach, and she didn’t recognize the emotion behind it. Why did that thought make her feel so… restless?
“I suppose we do, compared to fairies. You haven’t changed a bit since the day we met.” He conceded, his tone making his concern for her clear.
“That’s exactly what I mean! Look at you, you’re already looking a little bit like More. At this rate you’ll be as old as your father was before we know it, and then—”
That knot of anxiety tightened its coil inside her, spreading a chill through her body.
In the centuries she had been alive, Gallica had never had cause to consider human mortality. Fairies were creatures exempt from time; beings who existed in an unchanging state for as long as they felt they had a purpose. Sometimes when Gallica and her sisters would go out to play, they would come back to discover a person they’d met before they’d left was suddenly gray and wrinkly… or gone entirely… replaced by someone calling themselves their son, or their granddaughter.
Back then, it wasn’t something she’d really thought about. Just some goofy things the tribes did for some goofy reason. Her meeting with the prince’s guardians had been the first time she’d really stopped to consider the passage of days. This new sense of time gave her a greater understanding of others, but now it filled her with some sort of creeping, unknowable dread.
She shook her head roughly, as if to dispel the negative spiral from her thoughts. If she wasn’t going to understand her feelings, there was no point in dwelling on them.
“A-anyway, I understand why you’d need a break. The royal inspection stuff has had us working since dawn. What are you doing up here?” She fluttered up to her usual perch on his shoulder, resting her weight against the side of his neck and gazing out over the rooftop railing.
Beneath them, dozens of Paripus children were playing in the great yard. A large group of boys had broken into two teams and started kicking a ball back and forth, while elsewhere, a trio of girls negotiated the use of a large jump rope. Recently constructed playground equipment was packed to capacity with kids of various ages, all running without aim or purpose as their laughter echoed loudly enough to reach even the duo on the rooftop.
“Oh, I was just getting some perspective.” Will returned to his previous posture, looking down at the scene before them. After a few moments, the great school bell beside them began to chime, and teachers rose from where they’d been sitting to corral the children back into the building. “It’s easy to hear people talk about how well the reforms are working, but I prefer to see how things change for myself.”
The schoolhouse was a new addition, and one of hundreds like itself that had sprung up in the past half-decade. Necessary components of the king’s new policy: state-sponsored education for all children between the ages of 6 and 16, regardless of tribe.
“There wasn’t nearly this much laughter the last time we came through here, huh?” Gallica smiled, watching as the last lines of children vanished inside. “Guess it makes sense that kids can relax, when they have a place to learn and at least one guaranteed meal a day.”
“Well, last time this village was still reeling from the ‘atrocities’ Alonso had committed.” Will replied, looking at his companion from the corner of his eye. “Hopefully he’s had the chance to see how much this place has changed, from his usual spot in the shadows.”
“Ugh, right, Alonso.” Gallica shuddered… remembering one of the few times she felt the need to excuse herself from Will’s side. “Still not sure how to handle that guy… I guess he was decent, though. Deep down.”
Her reaction earned a mischievous laugh from the king.
“Don’t worry, Gallica. Knowing him, he would take both halves of that statement as a compliment.” He drew in a deep breath, his gaze moving toward the horizon. Where before there was nothing but rundown shacks and burned ruins, there were now sturdy wooden homes. The materials were still cheaper than average, the road hadn’t yet begun to be paved with cobblestones, but the quality of life was improving, day by day, even in far-flung villages like this. “It’s important for me to see the smiles for myself every now and again. To help remind me that things are changing for the better, even when it doesn’t feel like it.”
His tone had changed slightly, a bit more wistful. Gallica brought a hand to his cheek on reflex. There weren’t many in the world who would ever hear something so close to uncertainty coming from the king.
“Will…” she whispered, the beginning of a concerned frown tugging at the corner of her lip. “I won’t deny we’ve made some enemies in the past five years. You had to make hard choices, and it was never going to be possible to make everyone happy. Still, you’re doing the best you can, and things ARE changing for the better. There are dozens of little villages, just like this one, all across Euchronia… for generations of rulers they’d gone forgotten, but you gave them a reason to smile again .”
The young king turned his face toward her, his expression softening.
“Yes… No matter what, I must keep going. I’ll keep chasing my utopia until the end. I owe Louis that much, as the one whose ideals defeated his.”
Gallica watched as his smile wavered slightly… a somber sorrow settling in behind his eyes as he watched the empty field. He may be older now, but he was still just one small man, carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders. Of course he’d feel the pressure from time to time.
…but at least he would never bear that burden alone. Not while she was alive!
“Hey, Will? Do you remember Agrica? The Fairy we met when we underwent the trial of the dragon.” Gallica shifted her position, resting her back against the curve of his neck and letting her legs stretch along his shoulder.
“Of course I do. It would be rude to forget, after everything she did to make us stronger.” Will’s reply reflected his more somber mood, but his voice was tinged with a bit of nostalgia. That journey was dangerous, but still a precious memory.
“I’ve been thinking of her a lot, lately.” Gallica wasn’t sure why it felt so embarrassing to admit, but she couldn’t deny the heated flush coloring her cheeks. It seemed like a random detail to be fixated on, after such a long and exciting journey. “I didn’t know her personally or anything, but after all the time I’ve spent with you, I think I finally understand the suffering she went through.”
“She was a little sarcastic and dismissive… but looking back, I think that was just her way of making sure we knew what we were getting into when we took the trial.” Will nodded. “Some skepticism was fair… most people don’t even fight one dragon, much less four.”
Gallica shook her head with a wry smile.
“That was part of it, for sure, but there was something more than that. She didn’t want to let herself hope that we would succeed. That she could finally fulfil her purpose.” Her voice wavered as she finished her thought, which caused the flush on her cheeks to burn hotter. Ugh, she was sounding weird, wasn’t she? Hopefully he--
“Gallica?” Will’s tone confirmed her fears. Obviously after all these years he’d notice it if she was acting strange. Well, she may as well commit, now that she was speaking her feelings anyway.
“You know, for us fairies, time doesn’t really mean anything. We never really stop to ask ourselves ‘how long have I been doing this?’ Whether it’s a year, a decade, a century… when your journey never has to end, you stop paying attention to the time limit the way other races would.”
“I think I remember you telling me about that. Fairies live for as long as they feel they have a purpose to live for, right?”
Gallica nodded.
“Agrica was different, though. She watched over the founding king’s legacy for centuries, and she felt every moment of it. Not a day went by where she wasn’t thinking about him and the time they spent together. I’m sure to any other fairy, she must have been so strange.” Gallica brushed a rogue strand of her hair back into place, gazing up at the sky. “But I understand her, now. After all, it’s the same way I’d feel if I ever lost you.”
With the children settled, and the late afternoon beginning its descent into the western sky, there was a bright silence to the world around them. Flecks of magla peppered the chilled autumn air, swirling like glowing snowflakes. For a moment, time had stopped. The world had melted into a dream with no one else in it.
Will’s smile returned to its full strength. With her nestled as she was against him, she couldn’t see his face, but she could sense its warmth all the same. No one understood him better than she did, after all.
“Well, it would be rude of me to let you say something so important without being honest back.” The young king sighed. “I’ve felt like I owe you an apology for a while, now.”
“Oh come on! You’ve never done anything you’d have to apologize to me over, and you know it.” Gallica said, clicking her tongue.
“Not yet maybe, but whether I like it or not, I will someday. There’s nothing I can do about it; you know?” He paused a moment, before clarifying. “Remember the night before our final battle with Louis? You said that we had the rest of our lives together… but that’s not really true, is it? We have the rest of ‘my’ life together. I’ve felt the need to tell you I was sorry ever since then… because someday, I think I’m going to cause you a lot of pain, whether I like it or not.”
… the knot of anxiety squeezed her again, leaching any icy chill into her blood. It was such a simple thing, yet for the years they’d spent, she’d never really stopped to consider that these days of travelling the country together were finite. That someday would be the final day they ate good food together, or laughed together, or fought alongside their friends together.
Fear of loss… something so alien to her race and beyond anything she’d felt before that it could nearly taint the magla of her body by itself.
Still…
“So you’ve been thinking about that, too? We really are partners. I guess it’s been on my mind since we left the castle last month… and it wakes me up sometimes.” Gallica tried to laugh, but the sound that escaped her throat sounded every bit as forced as it was. “Y’know, though… you definitely don’t owe me an apology for that. I don’t think I can imagine a world without you in it, anymore. Even trying to picture it makes my heart ache… but I think that anxiety is just the price you have to pay when you love someone this much.”
Gallica had started expressing her emotions so candidly because the thought of Will feeling guilty for something like that made her feel guilty as well, and she’d wanted to reassure him. She couldn’t be sure at exactly what point in that speech her brain actually began to process the stream of words coming out of her mouth. She just knew that as soon as the realization hit her, a sound not unlike an embarrassed squeak erupted from her, and she jerked so abruptly that she went tumbling off his shoulder; the fairy girl at least remembering she could float at some point between his shoulder blade and the small of his back.
“I-I mean, well…” She recovered her balance and flitted around him, waving her arms erratically as she rose to his eye level.
“Breathe, Gallica! I feel the exact same way. My world would never be complete without you.” Will chuckled, eyes meeting hers. Staring face-to-face like this really reminded Gallica how comforting she found his smile. “We’ve been partners from the very beginning.”
“Yeah!” Gallica recovered her composure, nodding her enthusiastic agreement at the sentiment. “No matter what the future holds, I’ve got your back.”
“Besides, there is one difference between you and Agrica: I don’t intend to make the memory of me a chain that binds you for the rest of your life. The only task I’d want to leave you with is to make the most of your future.” Will extended his hand to the fairy, and she accepted the invitation to perch upon it, allowing him to pull her closer to his chest. “The story of my life will be just one chapter of yours… and that’s how it should be.”
Tears stung the back of Gallica’s eyes, causing their surface to flicker as she closed them, her tiny hands gripping the front of his shirt.
“That’s easy for you to say, dummy. You’re not the one who has to write the next chapter by yourself.”
Fairies were beings born of Magla, which in turn was born of anxiety. Yet despite that origin, they led carefree lives, and weren’t inclined to ever feel anxious often, themselves. It was strange… these past six years had been the happiest of her life, and it was only because of that happiness that she was now experiencing such anxiety. Her life held warmth, contentment, and purpose in a way she simply hadn’t in her days flittering through the sky without a care. That sense of love and belonging was like a light in her life… so perhaps this sorrow and dread was the shadow they cast when she thought of the day she would lose it.
Still, the touch of Will’s fingertip on her back could cut through the maelstrom, and the warmth reassured her as her wings beat against his skin.
“That’s true, but don’t forget, lifespans and species aside, we’re destined for the same place in the end. Agrica returned to the planet with a smile, because she knew she would see the king again, right?”
“I…” Gallica’s breath caught for a moment, and her grip on his clothing tightened. Agrica’s face at the moment she completed her purpose was indeed the happiest Gallica had ever seen a fairy wear before. “I suppose you’re right. Either way, it’s silly of me to be so caught up in worrying about the future! I’m supposed to be the one supporting you.”
“Honestly, it’s nice to see this side of you.” Will admitted with a shrug, “I’m only where I am now because you’ve been supporting me from the start. Makes me happy to think I can be the one supporting you, this time.”
“That so? Listen to you being sweet.” A smug grin curved the corner of Gallica’s lip, and she brought the back of her hand to her eyes to quickly dab away the rogue tear or two that had managed to escape. “Well, don’t get too used to it, but if you promise to do the same… I guess I can let you know when I’m feeling down, next time.”
“Sounds like a deal to me! Sharing bad times is also part of being partners.” His eyes were as kind as ever, but his gaze had gotten so sharp in the years since the coronation, a far cry from the confused puppy look he’d had the day they met. Geez, when did he get so cool and reliable? “In the meantime, don’t get so caught up in worrying about the future that you forget to enjoy the moment. I don’t plan to stop relying on you for a long time yet.”
Gallica sighed, but her grin spread wider, pulling into a broad smile that matched his own. She brought herself back up to his shoulder, the two of them taking a moment to stare out at the lines of sunlight that slowly spread their hue across the grass.
“I wouldn’t trade the way I feel right now for anything.” She confessed, kicking her legs idly.
Perhaps it was true that fairies’ nature protected them from pain… that getting attached to people as she had was a careless activity… much less as devoted to one as she’d become to Will… but it was hard to regret it, right now.
When the day came that she had to face the world alone again, she’d just have to do her best to carry this feeling with her until the end. To lead the kind of life he would want to hear all about when they were finally reunited.
For the first time since the anxious knot had formed in her core, she could feel its grip begin to release…
Clack…clack…clack…clack…
The echo of armored footfalls broke the spell of their dreamlike moment, foretelling the arrival of the young knight who soon burst out onto the rooftop.
“Oh bless the Almighty I’ve found you, your majesty! We’ve been sent to comb through every inch of the campus for you…” He gasped to catch his breath, resting his palms on his knees and hunching over. How long had he sprinted before he came this way? Still, he recomposed himself quickly, snapping to attention. “A-ahem! Your Majesty. Dame Hulkenberg is presently in the faculty office, and bids you join her there, um… presently! She requests respectfully, but uh… also very firmly.”
Gallica jerked as if she’d taken a sudden electric shock, palm covering her mouth.
“Oh no! I got so distracted by my feelings that I forgot.” She laughed nervously, her fingertip moving to scratch her cheek. “Guess we’ve both been exasperating for Hulkenberg, today.”
She moved to hover at Will’s side as he walked toward the doorway, the two of them sharing an amused look despite the situation.
“No helping it now. Seeing as how this is a lecture well-earned, shall we go get it over with?” He asked with a playful wink.
“I am sorry, though! As your fairy guide, I’m supposed to keep you responsible. Don’t think I’ll encourage your truancy just because I love you.”
“Perish the thought! It’s because I love you that I’m happy we’re facing her together.” Will put a hand over his chest in feigned offense, still smirking broadly. “If I ever knew that I had just one hour left to spend with you, Gallica, I’d want to spend it being lectured by Hulkenberg. Because then every minute would feel like an eternity.”