He'd always watched her from afar. It wasn't that he was the quiet type, but even he managed to be dazzled into silence by such a strong, capable woman. Coming from the Warrior's Village, strong women were not something he was unfamiliar with. However, there was something about her that took his breath away every time he saw her.
"Odessa?" He called, jogging down the steps into the Liberation Army's hideout. The young man reached up and adjusted the blue bandanna that circled his head as he slowed his pace, walking calmly into the room that served as a main meeting and war room for the still small liberation movement. "Odessa?"
The young leader of the army looked up from the maps that she was poring over with Humphrey, brushing a stray lock red-gold of hair behind her ear. "Yes? What is it, Flik?"
Flik felt his breath catch again in the way it always did when she looked at him. "Odessa, when you have a minute free, can I speak to you?" He kept his hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip, fingering the pommel of it nervously.
Odessa rose, shifting her cloak around her shoulders. "Humphrey, I think I can leave this to you for now. We're just waiting for Viktor to come back for Gregminster right now, anyway," she explained to Flik, walking around the table to join him. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Ah...well..." Flik glanced over at Humphrey, then looked back at Odessa. "Could we go upstairs?" It wasn't that he didn't trust the tall, silent swordsman, but he just wanted some privacy to tell her his big news.
"All right." She flashed him a smile, leading the way up the stairs to the inn that their secret headquarters was located beneath. "So what is it, Flik?" she asked again when they were in the above suite.
"This way," he said with a smile, leading Odessa to one of the empty rooms on the other side of the inn. "I just wanted to show you something."
"What could you possibly want to show me that you have to keep so secret?" Odessa asked with a laugh, watching Flik curiously. Then her eyes narrowed in only half-joking suspicion. "You haven't done anything crazy, have you?"
"I hope not." Flik smiled nervously, thumbing his sword free of its sheath and drawing it in one smooth movement. "I wanted to show you this."
To her credit, Odessa didn't gasp or flinch as he moved toward her with his sword out. She watched him, absolutely calm, as he knelt in front of her and held the sword out to her hilt-first. "Flik...what is this?" She took the sword carefully, moving it slowly so that she didn't cut his hands where he held the blade. "What are you showing--" she stopped abruptly, the light catching the uneven surface of the blade's flat near the cross-guard. "...me..."
Tilting the sword to catch the light better, the red-haired leader felt her breath catch in her throat as she made out the letters, tracing her fingers over them reverently. "Flik...this is..."
"I know I didn't ask permission, but..." Flik shifted his feet, uncharacteristically nervous as he watched her intently. "But I thought you wouldn't mind. At least, I hoped you wouldn't. Do you?"
"Mind? Flik, I...I'm honored!" Odessa looked up at him, a bright smile on her face and the nearly-hidden shine of happy tears in her eyes. "I know how much this means to you, being from the Warrior's Village. I just can't believe that you'd choose me." She handed the sword back, and Flik set it down on the bed, not even looking at it.
He was too busy looking at that smile, dazzled by the beauty and strength that melded together to make up his perfect woman. His heart thudded loudly in his chest as he drew her close - he could swear she must feel it too through the thin layer of his shirt. "There's no one else I could possibly imagine choosing, Odessa," he said softly, barely hearing his own words over the racing of his heart.
He laid his hand against her cheek, tipping her face up slightly. But before he could kiss her, a glint of mischief touched her eyes, and she rose up on tiptoe to kiss him instead. It was a little unconventional, but it felt like a perfect first kiss to Flik. With Odessa, he wouldn't have felt right any other way.
The sword that bore his lady love's name lay silent on the quilt, watching the young couple share sweet laughter and another kiss. She was alone for the moment, but not forgotten. Never would Odessa be forgotten, not so long as the letters stayed engraved in her steel and his heart.