Brown eyes

Brown hair and brown eyes...

Over and over again he saw them. Nicola, his lover. Her eyes were not sad however, but they were brown just the same. He fell in love with those brown eyes. Even after he was captured and his eye damaged, he saw the brown eyes of his cousin's brother. It did not surprise him in the least that Lord Von Voltaire wanted to kill him. If only he could go back to Shin Makoku, and kill the half-breed, erase him from existence. But he could not. There were people who loved Conrart for who he is. He had not expected to see another pair of brown eyes.

He saw them, sad loneliness within the brown eyes of Princess Greta. Neglected by her aunt and uncle, unloved. They were not the same lonely brown eyes of which he had seen in Conrart's, but they were just as lonely as his.

And lastly, his child, on the day both he and King Yuri, as well as Lord Wolfram Von Bielefeld, became fathers. He made a promise to himself to protect his child from the loneliness Conrart faced. With Nicola as her mother, it would be impossible for his daughter to face the same loneliness as Greta.

Because Nicola was resting with their daughter, Huber decided to take part of the time of their stay to look around Covenant Castle which he had not stepped into for about twenty years.

Huber looked around him, it had been a long time since....

"GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

BOOM!

Huber chuckled slightly, amused that his cousin still feared Lady Von Karbelnikoff – at least that had not changed. A tune reached his ear... It came from Lady Celi's garden.

Curios, he walked towards the garden and peeped among the hedges to find something he never thought he would see.

Conrart was playing his cedar flute in low but cheerful tunes. Huber stayed at his position. He remembered that little flute Raven had given Conrart for his eleventh birthday. Though Raven was not a noble, he was among the few nobles who were actually kind to Conrart. The last time he saw Conrart play with that simple pipe, he was no taller than Greta.

There was a whistle of a bird, Conrart looked up and smiled. He whistled slightly. A robin flew down and landed on his outstretched finger. Huber just stood and stared. Conrart has definitely changed from the un-smiling young man he had known years before. Twenty years before, it seemed as of Conrart had never known the meaning of a smile. It was shattered from him while he grew up.

Seeing him with the singing robin on his finger now, Huber saw something truly rare. In a way, he felt he was seeing Julia. Sweet and kind Julia. Conrart was like in many ways than anyone could notice. Their similarities were silent. One similarity was that they both had a disability. Julia had been blind, and Conrart did not possess Maryoku. What made it worse for Conrart was that he was half human and much less a noble.

The robin flew away. Conrart just sat near the flowers and seemed to enjoy the sunshine as a slight breeze played with his brown hair. Huber would not be surprised if Lady Celi found her son this way and demanded for a portrait of him drawn and painted among the flowers. It was a perfect scene. It seemed to be safe to approach Conrart at the moment, Huber had some unfinished business with him.

"Lord Weller," Huber called, walking towards the Maoh's godfather.

"Lord Griscella?" Conrart greeted, bowing with as much respect as ever. For a moment the two men just looked at each other in the eye until Huber went down to one knee. "I apologise..."

Conrart looked at him, perplexed."Pardon?"

"I apologise," Huber repeated, "For everything I did to you..."

Conrart stood there uncertain of what to say. Hadn't they put the past behind them?

"Huber," Conrart said, gently, "Please get up... let us put the past behind us..."

"You forgive me?"

Conrart folded his arms and paced, a sign showing that he was mulling over the matter. Huber waited patiently for the answer. He had caused Conrart much pain. Conrart was amongst the reasons why he had wanted to die, he had murdered parts of this innocent man due to his lineage, sent others like him to war in which only he and Shin Makoku's now greatest spy survived. Why and how, Huber may never understand. But Conrart was alive and well before him... helped collect three of the Four Forbidden Boxes... returned alive for the Maoh's sake.

"As much as I know it would relieve you," said Conrad, his brown eyes serious, "I cannot say... I cannot forgive you for now... I will only be lying to the both of us if I did without my heart approving it..."

Huber had expected this, and he did not blame Conrart. There was a pause before Conrart spoke again. What he said next surprised Huber.

"But we can start anew..." He held up his hand towards his brother's cousin, "As friends... while I cannot forgive what you have done to me in the past... I can at least put it behind me. I cannot throw away the memory, but I can make new ones to amend for the blows. For I don't need the pain, even if it made part of who I am now."

As Huber took his hand in shake, Conrad said, "I'm looking forwards to make better memories with you, my friend..." Huber slowly stood and looked into Conrart's brown eyes.

"As am I, Lord Weller..."

Conrad lifted an eyebrow in amusement. "Need there be any formalities?"

Huber shrugged in amusement. "All right, Conrart..."

Then, together both men walked to the courtyard to engage in a sword fight... this time one of friendship.

Author's note: Never let the past behold your heart, cherish the present and walk tall to the future