A Love From Across the Sea
1. Embers: He watches the couple's jump over the embers of the Beltane fires and takes her hand in his, she hesitates but he encourages her with a grin and she nods before they link arms and jump.
2. Respect: He respects her and she respects him. It's just that simple as spring vanishing into winter.
3. Midwinter: The castle is bright with life and he knows she will be without an escort for the ball. He asks her if she would like him to take her, and she accepts with a small nod. He silently wishes her Midwinter luck as she walks down the halls.
4. Heartbeat: She leans against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and secretly smiles. He loves her. She decides to keep her feelings private. Unrequited.
5. Temptation: He refuses other women because he knows she will be upset. He refuses them and yet they still tempt him, with comments, flattering and sometimes with rank. He—though a flirt, doesn't forget his loyalty.
6. Loyalty: She knows he will never betray her for another. They are too much in love with one another to try.
7. Silence: They sit in silence under the shade of a tree and their thoughts drift off. Both come back into reality knowing that, even in silence, each other's presence is all they need to have a sense of overwhelming peace.
8. Trust: She knows it was his eyes that told her as he came from the Chamber. In his eyes was a question he'd probably wanted to ask for a long time:
Do you trust me, Yuki?
And she took her shukusan and placed it in his hand. I trust you.
They were married shortly after the war.
9. Silk: The first day Neal sees her, in the mess hall, the orange kimono is soft against her creamy skin. Years later, he finds the same kimono draped carelessly over a chair. He reaches out and touches it: It feels the same as her skin. Soft like silk.
10. Candlelight: Yuki glances at his face, empty of emotion and peaceful, before blowing out the candle, the flame disappearing in a plume of smoke, and climbing into bed beside him. She snuggles against him and, lulled by his steady even breathing, she closes her eyes. She is lucky to have Tortall as her home, and Neal as her husband. He is a good man, knight, and healer.
And soon to be a father.
11. Masked: Eyes crinkling in mirth, she watches as the lines on his forehead deepen in confused wonder as he places his hand on her swelling stomach. She secretly smiles wondering what Neal was thinking, how his face seemed so readable, yet masked at the same time.
12. Blessed: Face flushed, she gives him a small smile as he cradles the sleeping infant in his arms, briefly kissing her on the forehead before turning to the small bundle in his arms, sitting in a chair next to her. I'm so proud of you, he whispers, his voice thick with emotions, tears falling down his cheeks.
She can only nod, exhausted.
13. Butterfly: A little girl shakily totters over to her and she catches the child as it stumbles and stands her up and encourages the little girl to try again. The toddler squeals in glee as a tiny, white butterfly lands on her nose and their mother's eyes crinkle in laughter.
14. Burning: Yuki watches from the doorway as a very young Midori tosses and turns burning up with fever and sweating. Neal is keeping a careful watch on her, placing a cool cloth on her forehead to try and bring down the fever, his Gift flowing in a steady stream of green as a cough wracks at her body. Neal's face becomes worried and he turns to Alanna who tries to bring down the fever with her own Gift, a similar worried expression on her own face. Later, Yuki comes to sit by her daughter's bedside taking her burning hand as she mumbles in her sleep. There is nothing she can do for her, but she stays anyway, praying for the fever to go away.
15. Admiration: Midori of Queenscove sits and watches her mother and godmother Keladry as their glaives spin and twirl, twin silver blurs in the warm spring air. The admiration is clear on her face and Neal knows questions will soon arise.
16. Strength: She has strength, Yuki whispers to Neal, She can do it. But the knight shakes his head, No. I'm not losing her in the field like my brothers. She won't become a lady knight.
Yuki nods absently, hearing the fear in his voice, and watches her daughter practice with the pages, remembering the prophecy.
"If he's like this now, how will he react when his daughter asks to train for her shield?"
Yuki already knew.
17. Flirt: Midori remembered her father's stories of his page years, squire-hood and wonders, with a playful smirk, why Neal bothered writing such bad poetry if he knew he was horrible at it.
18. Dance: In the gardens, where no one can see them, he leads his daughter in a dance, entirely conscious of her nervousness. Staring down at her feet, Midori feels her father lift her chin to meet his eyes. Relax, he tells her, his eyes sparkling, just imagine tonight, you're with me here in the gardens and not at a ball.
That gets her to loosen up and smile and Neal grins despite himself.
19. Drink: Neal wishes he didn't need to drink. But after he sees his knighted daughter lying on the stretcher, dismembered, in agonizing pain, he drowns out his sorrows in ale, hoping to erase the horrific image, dull his daughter's screams and cries, from his mind.
But the other side of his mind yells to him, even in his drunken state: At least she's alive. For now…
20. Death: It is not a foreign thing to him: He sees it every day and yet it seems so far away. But he knows that it will come soon, someday. He'll one day be the one lying on that sickbed, weak and possibly dying.
He knows it will come as it has for the soldiers in the field and but he doesn't know—like all the soldiers in battle—when.
21. Flowers: Midori picked flowers one spring morning and put them in a vase by the window. The sunlight makes them more beautiful then they seem. Lady Knight Midori of Queenscove knows that spring had come again, and so had peace. Deep within herself she felt the Yamani calm settle across her face like the sun that draped over the flowers giving them a soft, divine glow. She wonders if she is a flower turning toward the sun, on dark days, seeking warmth. Warmth from the gore of war and sorrow that follows behind the glory of a knight's shield.
For she had found it in her family, in her friends, in her country.