Hey guys, I am so sorry for the increasingly late reviews. I promise I will update as regularly as I can :D
Quick Update: It seems that I have uploaded the wrong chapter earlier! Sorry about the mishap!
in any case, thanks for the reviews and suggestions :D
beginner reader: yeah, the mother-complex plot seems to be interesting. I'll see what I can do about that :D and thanks for the list of suggestion as well :D
When the Moon Met the Sun: I love the two khans as well! I even wished they could marry (and just unite the two sides lol)
ToOH: because, from all the supports (that I know of), Cherche provides Lon'qu the best closure of his story with Ke'ri. Like, I know with Panne she gives him certain potion to help with his nightmare and many other supports deal with his gynophobia. But, as far as I know, only Cherche's goes to the root of the problem and deal with it before moving on. :D (plus, if you see Gerome, can totally feel the gene :P)
"You might want to find something to hold on to," Cherche told him gently as they ascended to the sky. A moment later, the wyvern howled lightly.
"See? Even Minerva agrees with me," Cherche added. "She loves flying fast."
The sooner the better, he thought inwardly. I just want to get over with this… fast.
Her dark pink hair fanned out freely in front of him. Some strands even reached out to him, teasing his cheeks and jawline daringly. It was unsightly, and honestly speaking quite awkward, but he didn't know what to say. In the end, Lon'qu merely brushed it off—he knew it wasn't totally Cherche's fault, after all. However, his gesture alerted the wyvern lady and she quickly gathered her hair and tied it into a bun. "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely. "I never had someone riding Minerva with me so I didn't really pay attention to my hair."
"If you are starting to feel dizzy, please let me know as well," she added as she turned her head slightly to see his face. "You don't seem to be a flier type."
"No, I don't," he replied honestly. "But this altitude is… fine."
He saw her smiling slightly. "Then, we'll stay at this altitude,"
Nobody spoke after that. Lon'qu finally settled on holding onto the back part of the wyvern saddle tightly, and Cherche seemed to notice that although she didn't comment on it. A wyvern saddle was shaped rather differently from a horse saddle—it was wider and thicker, with a lower rise on the back to stabilize the center of gravity.
As long as he felt steady, she thought to herself.
Feeling bored, Lon'qu began to look around. The ground was still visible from their current altitude, but everything looked so small and insignificant. Even the majestic palace of West Ferox, when he turned around, was already far beyond his vision. Lon'qu then looked far ahead. The watchtower for the border gate was starting to become visible although it usually took a half-day journey from West Ferox on foot.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Cherche commented. "How the same thing can be so different when being looked at a different angle?"
"Things that are enormous on the ground, when being looked at from the sky, became much smaller as well," she said. "Sometimes, in life we just need to look at our problems from the 'sky', too… to see the bigger picture."
Recalling their past conversation, Lon'qu became to feel uneasy. He thought he could put that away forever. He thought he had managed to turn over a new leaf. He thought it would never catch up to him.
Oh, how wrong his thoughts had been.
"Lon'qu, I know I really made you feel uncomfortable yesterday…"
Is she reading my mind?! He thought frantically.
"But—"
She was interrupted by Minerva's sudden painful howl. They swung to the side violently, and most probably they would've already fallen down if not for Cherche's quick reaction by pulling the rein the other way to stabilize Minerva. An arrow stuck out from Minerva's side, and when they looked down, a group of archers was aiming at them—Feroxi archers.
"Plegians!" Lon'qu heard they shouted.
Without sparing any moment, a batch of arrows flew upwards. "Hold tight!" Cherche shouted as she maneuvered Minerva to avoid the arrows as best as they could. Minerva yelped when some of the arrows pierced her, although none hit her vital points.
"Land, woman,"
"What?!"
"Just land!"
Cherche nodded. She had no other choice, anyway, since Minerva seemed to have taken quite a hit.
As expected, they were immediately surrounded by Feroxi soldiers once Minerva's feet touched the ground. Lon'qu leapt from Minerva's back, sword drawn. His distinctive stance was well-known in Ferox, even among the common soldiers. Thus, when they saw his stance, they shuddered on the spot. "S-Sir Lon'qu?"
"This woman is an ally!" Lon'qu announced. "She is no Plegian!"
The archers' face paled as they realized their mistake. They turned towards Cherche, "We're so sorry, Ma'am!"
Cherche turned around and much to his surprise, she smiled at the archers. "It seems that Minerva didn't sustain too much of injuries," she said. "So, everything will be alright."
For a moment, another smile flashed in his eyes. Blood was streaming down the corner of her lips, yet she was still able to smile. That was the last smile she had ever given him. And then, there were her words:
Everything will be alright, Lon'qu…
He clenched his fist. No, he said inwardly. Nothing is alright.
Despite her words, they were forced to continue their journey on foot. Lon'qu kept his distance, preferring walking at least five meters behind Cherche and Minerva. However, he watched them attentively, in case they needed assistance. After all, a wyvern rider without her wyvern was as good as a swordmaster without half of his sword.
They weren't even that close, yet misfortune hit her as soon as she seemed to express concern for him. Perhaps he was indeed a curse to women.
Lon'qu watched her back, the distance between them kept constant, and slowly her hair turned dark—to the deepest shade of black. Just like Ke'ri. Then she turned, but it was no longer Cherche's face… rather, it was Ke'ri—albeit appearing to be older, as if she was still growing up like him.
"Lon'qu…"
He gasped. That was really her voice! He thought. He could do nothing when that figure walked towards him. Closer, closer… but never touching.
"Lon'qu…?"
He immediately snapped back to reality, and the face in front of him was no longer the older version of Ke'ri. It came back to be Cherche, and now she was looking at him worriedly. "You look to be dazed," she said. "Are you all right?"
"W-what are you doing?!" he growled. "Listen, if you want your misfortune to stop, stay away from me."
Lon'qu quickly shrugged her off and walked briskly, leaving her behind. Looking at his back, Cherche saw the figure of a scarred man. She tried to imagine the swordmaster as a boy: dark-haired, fair-skinned… perhaps not as curt. With the weight of burden he was carrying now, she could only picture him as a very kind-hearted boy. Those with the tenderest hearts tended to build the toughest barriers around it.
She couldn't hold it back any longer. Cherche clenched her fist and took a deep breath. "Let go of that shame and guilt, Lon'qu!" she cried out. "You brought no misfortune!"
Lon'qu turned around. His brow was furrowed and teeth gritted against one another. "What are you talking about?! Didn't you see what happened to that wyvern of yours?!"
"What I knew was that you saved us from further onslaught," Cherche retorted. "Listen, Lon'qu, there's more to the story of Ke'ri parents."
"I don't—"
"You must," Cherche insisted. "They found her journal after her death, and found out that you had been such a good friend to her. She was happy… and that made her parents happy. They forgave you, Lon'qu."
He didn't expect that coming. Before he knew it, his jaw hung open in shock. Cherche walked over to him. "When they found out you had gone from the slums, they knew they had driven you out… and they felt ashamed for it."
He was at loss of words, not because Cherche stood closer to him than she had ever been, but because of the feelings she made him feel. Something was opened in his heart, and now his heart felt so light… so empty. But it wasn't the lonely kind of emptiness—it was the new leaf kind of emptiness. Like there was a new page being added to the story of his life that he thought had ended with Ke'ri. A new, empty page ready to be filled.
Finally, he managed to tug his lips up, even only slightly. "…It's good to be forgiven."
Just like any page, however, when the ink of the previous page was too bold, you could still see some of it seeping through. "…but I doubt the wound will truly heal."
Cherche saw the man turning around again, his broad back shielding her from the sun. He must have loved Ke'ri deeply, she was sure of that. For having loved someone so ardently while being so young… the wound must run deep in him.
She sighed heavily. Somehow, a hole had been made in her own heart—a piece of her heart had been taken out.
It was the first time Cherche began to wonder whether this piece of her heart could fill the hole that ran deep in his heart, or was there a black hole that lied waiting there, in that hole, ready to suck in anything that might attempt to fill it in?
A/N: I know no one says Ke'ri looks like Cherche. We don't even know how Ke'ri looks like. In this story, however, Lon'qu is reminded of Ke'ri because of Cherche's words more than their similarities (if any). I hope you enjoy this, though :D
Thanks for reading! Please rate and review :)
