Written by me, Laramie. I was going to upload this yesterday but ff was being evil.
The next morning, Cadvan awoke an hour after daybreak. There was a fair in the afternoon. He had been screwing up his courage to ask Maerad all week, and had still not managed to. He got up and dressed, before crossing the hall to Maerad's room and knocking.
"Come in," he heard, and entered. Maerad was sat at her table, brushing her hair. Cadvan stopped next to her and smiled nervously.
"Good morning, Maerad," he said. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to the fair with me this afternoon."
Maerad turned a broad smile to him. "I would like that very much," she replied.
Cadvan hovered for a few seconds, feeling awkward, then kissed Maerad on the cheek and beat a hasty retreat.
Getting back to his room a giddy grin spread across Cadvan's face before he squashed it. He was looking forward to that afternoon.
At lunch, Maerad and Cadvan met up and ate together. They spoke a little about what would be at the fair, and then when they had finished eating Cadvan took Maerad's hand and they walked the half-mile to where it was being held. There were donkey rides for children held on a field, and many stalls and games both in the field and in the streets surrounding it. They went first to a roasted chestnut stall, and watched a short, plump, balding man cook them. Cadvan watched the fire dancing in Maerad's eyes, and thought that it belonged there.
They left the heat of the fire and continued on down the street in the sunshine, a bag of scalding chestnuts clutched between them. Seeing a catch-the-fish stall, Maerad paused and pointed it out to Cadvan, who nodded. They approached it, and Cadvan gave the stallholder his money. The man gave them a short wooden rod and Maerad proceeded to try and catch one of the wooden fish, floating aimlessly around the raised shallow pool. They were brightly painted in unnatural colours: red, yellow, blue and orange. Maerad caught a green one and lifted it high, until the stallholder returned and revealed the number "1" underneath.
"That's a bag of chocolate," he told them with a smile, giving a bag to Maerad. She opened it to reveal six or seven little chocolates, wrapped up with little twists of blue paper. Taking one herself, Maerad offered the bag to Cadvan. He just shook his head.
"You have them," he said. "You're sweet enough for both of us."
Maerad blushed and giggled, and Cadvan took her arm again as they continued down the street.
"How glad I am, for I have my beautiful girl on my arm, and the sun at my head, and I am drowning in the fortunes of the day! How glad I am, for my beautiful girl is the kindest to live, I shall not let her die, in the misfortunes of a broken day!" Cadvan cried, quoting a famous poem.
Maerad grinned at him and he grinned back. They both felt incredibly light-hearted.
"Oh, look, a coconut shy!" Cadvan said, pointing. "Let's have a go."
"Well, you can!" Maerad replied, giggling again. She couldn't seem to stop it today!
The smile refused to leave her face as she watched Cadvan successfully complete the game and turn to her with a broad grin. She cheered and clapped her hands a few times, neither of them caring that they were receiving several disapproving looks for being too loud.
Cadvan swept her up in his arms, lifting her high and spinning her around, then settled her gently back onto the ground, looking into her eyes the whole time. As Maerad's feet touched the ground, Cadvan left his hands on her hips and continued gazing at her. After a moment or two, he screwed up his courage and kissed her, amazed and delighted as he felt her kiss him back. He was about to deepen the kiss when a voice surprised him into breaking away.
"I hope you have a good explanation for why you are kissing another woman on the day you said you would propose to me." It was Erin. Her voice was angry, disapproving and scared.
Cadvan tore his eyes away from Maerad to look at Erin. "What do you…?"
"How long have you been with her?" Erin asked coldly.
"I…" Cadvan began, bemused.
"You've been leading me on?" Maerad asked quietly, and Cadvan's eyes flew to her.
"No, Maerad, I swear, I haven't. I would never - could never - do that to you."
"But you told her you'd propose to her."
"I didn't!"
"Cadvan," Maerad said coldly, looking him straight in the eye. "Stop lying." The two words were clear and precise and they nearly broke Cadvan's heart. At a loss for what to do, and turned back to Erin.
"You said you'd propose to me today, and when I see you I find that you're kissing another woman. I can't say I'm surprised. I always thought you loved her, but I thought you'd got over her. You said you loved me. You called me beautiful." Erin's voice broke on the last word, and she turned her back on Cadvan, leaving him staring, open-mouthed at her retreating back.
"I never want to speak to you again," Maerad told Cadvan. The words hit him like a slap in the face.
"What?" he managed.
"You led me on. You made me think we might have a chance. But all this time, you loved Erin." She turned, and added over her shoulder; "Don't try to contact me."
Cadvan was left alone in the gathering dark, desperately wondering how it had got to this.
A/N: yes, I made up the poem myself.
Review please!