Lorima
by melusine

Chapter Three

Evie pushed at her food with her fork. The soldiers had arrived just a little after midday and immediately turned the quiet house into a bustling and noisy place. The cook, long unused to cooking for more than just a few people -- her mother, Enid, had been the one who was fond of parties -- complained at first, but cooked an extravagant meal for her employer and his many guests. The soldiers were talkative and fond of drinking, which made their chatter louder and more rambling. When it came time for dinner, they pushed and shoved for a seat next to her. Her father promised her that their general would return from the castle soon and restore order.

Across from her, one of the soldiers was looking at her strangely. Evie looked down at her plate, avoiding his eyes. The soldier cleared his throat and Evie looked up. "Don't you know who I am?" he asked, his amused voice tinged with hurt. She shook her head no, trying to connect the soldier's angular face and lanky frame with someone she recognized. "Omri, remember? My parents and I moved to Tasnica when I was ten and you were nine. Remember? We used to play together."

"Omri!" Evie exclaimed, smiling at the sight of her old friend. "You've changed a lot," she added with a quiet giggle. "Last time I saw you you were so young! Where did that little, round-faced boy go?"

"I hope I changed for the better," Omri said, enjoying the attention. "You haven't changed a bit. You're just as pretty now as you were then."

"Thank you," Evie replied. She laughed, unsure of what to say next.

"I remember back when we first met. Do you remember that day?" Omri took a drink from his mug of beer

"Yeah." Evie nodded. "You were trying to get a rabite to jump through a hoop, but it bit you and ran off. You cried and cried. . ."

"Then you told me a story until the pain went away. It was just a tiny bite. It didn't even break the skin," he finished. "You told me that that imaginary friend of yours told it to you. He was named. . .I can't remember the name. It was something strange. Anyway, you told me that he told you that story so that you wouldn't be scared anymore so you told it to me when I got hurt. We all had imaginary friends back then. I think mine was named Captain Horace the Bold or something like that. He rode a heckhound and had a mace made out of skulls that he used to kill monsters." Omri laughed and shook his head. "It really is weird the kind of things you make up when you're a kid. I haven't thought about old Captain Horace in years."

"Justice," Evie murmured.

"What?" He looked at her quizzically, his eyes slightly unfocused from the alcohol.

"His name is Justice," Evie said, then paused and quickly corrected herself. She did not see her father, Aristide, grip the neck of his wineglass. It had been years since Evie had last spoken that name in front of him. "His name was Justice. He was the one who used to tell me stories."

"That's the name. Justice." Omri tapped the table with his palm as he said it. "That's the name. Evie?"

"Yeah?" Evie tilted her head slightly.

"I used to have the biggest crush on you as a kid," Omri mumbled, his grin sheepish. "When the general -- General, um, Julian -- said we were going to Lorima, I was really excited. I wanted to see you again. I kept meaning to write, but I didn't know what to say."

"Oh, Omri. . ." she began, fumbling for words. "I. . ."

"You're losing her, Om," one of the other soldiers muttered, elbowing him in the ribs. "Just ask her already."

"Um, the Warlock -- I mean, King Morgan -- is throwing a fancy ball in two days for the soldiers and the nobles, too, I guess."

Evie squirmed in her seat. She knew what was coming next. She could read it in his face and in his voice. Her heart beat fast in her chest, yet she felt guilty and embarassed. She didn't want to say yes, but she didn't want to say no either. "I'll be there. Father is one of the city officials and His Majesty's friend. So, I'll be there."

"You will?" Omri brightened. "Good," he said and looked away, then back at Evie. "Good! I'll be there, too."

Evie nodded and put down her fork. She had barely eaten a thing. Her stomach churned. Ever since her father had told her about the ball earlier that day, she flet both nervous and giddy. He had told her to bring someone with her and the only person she could think of asking was someone whom her father could not know existed. She knew that if he knew that Justice was real, he would only start asking questions about who he was and how old he was when they met and why he looked the age he did and why he never aged for as long as she could remember. She did not want her father to ask those questions because she did not know the answers and the less she thought about them, the better she felt. She could not deny that there was something strange about Justice, but it didn't seem to matter to her when he was around.

". . .And after this is all over, I'm going to open up a store. A general store, where people can buy food and clothes and things like that. I like being a soldier because I've made some great friends, but the fighting. . . you can't get used to that. We've just been training now, but there are older soldiers around and they tell us exactly what it's like. One of the guys -- his name's Lieutenant Uisdean -- he looks bad. Really bad. An Imperial soldier got one of his eyes and half his face. He told us some horrible things. I'm scared, Evie. I don't want to do this."

"I'm sorry, Omri," Evie murmured. She reached across the table to him and he squeezed her hand. "I wish I knew what to say. I wish you didn't have to do this. I wish Father didn't have to do this."

"That's right, your dad's the commander of the second Loriman regiment." Omri frowned. "I'll watch out for him," he said and laughed unsteadily. "I'll make sure he comes back."

"You come back, too," she whispered. "It's been nice seeing you again. I missed you."

"I missed you, too," he answered. Omri tapped the table with his fingers. "I never thought I'd be back in Lorima so soon."

"You're an ass, you know?" the soldier beside Omri who had elbowed him before said, then clapped him on the back and laughed. "First you talk to the girl, then you ask her about the dance, then you tell her about Lieutenant Uisdean's ugly face. No one wants to hear about his ugly face, especially at dinner. Even he doesn't want to talk about that face of his at dinner. You really suck."

"Shut up, Velibor," Omri laughed. "Evie, this is Velibor. He's my best friend."

"I see," Evie giggled.

"I met him soon after we started basic training," Omri continued. "He's really funny."

"You make it sound like we're dating," Velibor grumbled. "What are you going to tell her next? That we're going ring shopping tomorrow or something?" He looked over at the nearby soldiers. "Not a word. It's a secret until Ma and Pa find out!"

"Wouldn't think of it, miss," one of them said with a smirk.

"Make sure he gets you something pretty," another added.

"You know I wouldn't settle for anything better than a diamond the size of a baby rabite's head from my sweet little Ommy-dear," Velibor simpered, then grabbed Omri in a headlock and ground his knuckles into his friend's scalp. "I ain't one of those cheap girls."

"Only the best for my baby!" Omri croaked as he tried to extricate himself from the headlock turned chokehold.

"He knows I like big rocks," Velibor crooned to Evie, who smiled and giggled. Omri snorted with laughter, then shoved his friend out his seat. The other soldiers at the table laughed, then toasted the "happy couple."

"General Julian will be here tonight," Aristide whispered to the worried-looking maid who was standing nearby.

"It sounds like you think that he'll be better behaved than them, sir," the maid, an elderly woman named Vida, chuckled. "Look at how young they are. They're practically babies. Word around the town is that the general is twenty at most. Achala claims that he knows her cousin."

"I see." Aristide took a sip of wine. The war with the Mana Empire had been going on nearly continuously for at least two centuries. Soldiers rarely lived long enough to die of old age. Smiling sadly, he watched Evie talk with the soldiers. "They'll do well," he said, half to himself and half to Vida. "I'm sure of it."