Episode 186 So Much More
So Much More
When Rominy opens his eyes to clear blue skies and calm waves, relief fills him.
Another beautiful day on the ocean. Hopefully, the heartlanding won’t try to kill them this time.
Soon Elowyn is there, silhouetted by the bright sky, and neither of them speaks.
Are they going to talk about what happened in the arena? Or leave the real world to itself?
“Rominy,” Elowyn finally whispers as she plays with a tendril of hair near his temple.
“I love you, El.”
She leans down to kiss him. It isn’t a kiss full of passion. It’s one of belonging. Of love and acceptance. No beginning. No end. Just the two of them in this everlasting circle where nothing else exists. Nothing else matters.
“You are so much more,” she whispers against him as she rests her forehead on his.
“More?”
“More than I ever dreamed. I used to lie awake at night and wonder what sort of person you were. Now I know. You are the best of them all, Rominy Montarac.”
“All I did was love you.”
“Without taking anything. Expecting nothing in return. Full of acceptance when others might be full of frustration. I am allowed to fall completely in love with you all over again, and you cannot stop me.”
He chuckles at that. “Then I won’t try. Let’s take a break from thinking about what we managed or didn’t manage in the real world, all right? We have a treehouse that needs our attention.”
Her face lights up in a smile, and the open ocean around them transforms into their quiet cove.
After another quick kiss, Elowyn rises, and Rominy pushes himself up on his elbows. Her eyes twinkle, and with a light leap, she arcs through the air, her legs transforming into her tail as she dives into the quiet waves.
A smile overtakes him at the sight.
That transformation will never get old.
Familiar velvet benches come into focus, and Cerian smiles.
It seems he’s growing used to this locomotive of theirs.
He blinks a few times at the daylight filtering through the curtains.
Then he stiffens.
The curtains are closed. And it isn’t night.
And the train isn’t moving.
Dread twists within him when he swivels toward Arisanna, only to find an empty bench beside him.
Not again.
For a few moments, he stares at the curtain. He doesn’t want to open it. Who knows what he’ll see if he does?
The train whistles, and he jumps.
Fine. He’ll look. It did save Elowyn’s life last time.
Why he’s the one who got their grandfather’s penchant for visions rather than Elowyn or Tharios is beyond him.
Gently, he tugs the curtain aside, expecting to see Levina, but it isn’t Levina this time.
It’s Darlei.
The barracks, more specifically.
And Tharios. He strides with a heaviness to his step as Rafelis keeps pace beside him. Deridyn, of all people, is there, too. Why would Deridyn be there? Isn’t he in the Outerlands?
Viala is nearby, but wherever Tharios came from, she didn’t accompany him.
With a gasp, Cerian jolts awake to the familiar clacking of the heartlanding.
That was it? What in the Wildthorne Woods is he supposed to do with that?
“What’s wrong?” Arisanna asks from beside him.
She’s here. Thank the fates.
“I had another vision.”
Her eyes grow wide. “Is someone in danger?”
As he runs the scene through his head again, sticky nausea fills his stomach.
“I fear we all are.”
Why he believes so is difficult to parse, but his unease doesn’t abate.
“What did you see?”
“Tharios leaving the barracks.”
Arisanna’s tension fades. “That doesn’t sound bad.”
In isolation, it doesn’t. But there was a somberness to Tharios’s expression and body language that he only exhibits when his burdens grow heavy.
Cerian shakes his head. “This was not a happy vision.”
“Will you tell Tharios?”
“I believe I’m supposed to tell him.”
Not that he wants to. But Tharios will believe him. Won’t he? Perhaps he wouldn’t in the past, but now?
“Do you need to tell him right away?” Arisanna asks, and Cerian shakes his head again.
“It was daylight. I don’t believe it was urgent. Not urgent enough to disturb Tharios’s sleep. Or yours.”
“And in the meantime?” She trails her fingers down his cheek. Her touch is soothing.
“I don’t know. These visions are distressing.”
“How about a moonlight swim?” she asks softly.
“At the chalet?” He frowns. That’s not what he imagines when he thinks of swimming.
“I was thinking of our pond. I might need you to warm the water for me.”
She’s trying to distract him. He gratefully latches on to the distraction.
“I can warm the water for you.” He leans in to press a soft kiss to her lips as their train slows. “Thank you.”
She offers him a smile before rising and reaching for his hand. “Come on.”
It doesn’t take Cerian long to realize Sanna can barely swim. The discovery is more than a little disconcerting.
Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. Swimming is probably one of those pastimes her mother declared inappropriate for a Nunian princess.
He’ll have to practice with her, and he certainly won’t complain about that. Especially not with the way the moonlight glistens off her bare skin.
This was exactly what he needed. The perfect distraction from that vision and everything facing them in the real world.
“You’re a much better swimmer than I am.” Sanna hovers shoulders-deep in the pond, her wet hair floating on the water’s surface, and she smiles at him.
“I suppose we’ll have to return to practice more,” he offers, and her smile grows.
“It is a lot easier to swim like this.” A mischievous gleam fills her eyes, and he can’t help smiling in return.
“Like what?”
She lies back, floating on the water, more or less. “Without an elaborate Nunian bathing costume dragging me down.”
His smile grows as he looks his fill. If they hadn’t spent their evening in the real world getting lost in each other, they’d probably be doing a lot more than swimming now.
But this quiet enjoyment of each other’s company with nothing between them has steadied him, making him feel stronger and more capable of facing everything coming when they wake.
Which seems to be happening now.
He sighs as his chamber at Windhaven comes into focus, and neither of them says anything.
“I should go find Tharios,” Cerian eventually whispers when the dizziness has abated.
“Us, Cerian. We should go find Tharios.”
He clasps her hand beneath the covers on the bed he can barely imagine sleeping in without her now. “Thank you.”
“We’re in this together. Stronger together.”
“Stronger together.”
Together, they rise and dress as Arisanna dons her own clothing for the first time in Lostariel.
Cerian’s heart speeds up just looking at her clothed like the Lostarien princess she is now. And she seems a little more confident.
He should have bought her clothes when they first arrived in Darlei.
Perhaps they weren’t ready for that, though. Perhaps they’ve both grown since that night she clung to his neck and begged him not to leave her.
He’ll never leave her.
“You’re beautiful, Sanna.”
The look she gives him would be enough to stop his heart if it weren’t beating in time with hers.
When he offers her a hand, she takes it without hesitating, and he leads her into the vestibule, closing the door behind them.
Time to be the brother whose unique giftings make Tharios a stronger future king. His magic and, apparently, his visions.
That’s what Father would tell him.
The idea doesn’t rankle the way it might have in the past.
If loving Arisanna has taught him anything, it’s what it means to truly be stronger together.
And he and Tharios are the strongest when they work together.
They all are.
Cerian breathes deeply before lifting his hand to knock on Tharios’s door.
He can do this.
It doesn’t take long for the door to open. At least Tharios is awake.
“Cerian. What’s wrong?”
Is it that obvious?
“I had another vision,” he says. “It was like the one I had of Rominy, but instead of Rominy, I saw—”
Tharios rests a hand on Cerian’s shoulder. “Hold on to that thought. Let’s get Father and Mother so you only need to explain once, all right?”
“You believe me?”
“Completely.” If Tharios is frightened by the prospect of another vision, he doesn’t let on. “Viala’s still asleep, and the cord isn’t long today, so I can’t go far. But we’ll manage.”
Viala rarely sleeps later than Tharios. Perhaps that magic sleep is still affecting her. At least Cerian didn’t wake her when he knocked.
“Mother and Father are still in their chamber,” Tharios says. Then he pauses. “How urgent is this vision? Because I doubt they’d thank us for interrupting them at this particular moment.”
Cerian glances at their door as he tries not to dwell on that thought. “I don’t know. But it’s here in Darlei, so it must happen today.”
Tharios turns thoughtful for a moment. Then he nods and strides toward their door. “They can blame me for this.”