Again

She was crying again, and Lafarga could not for the life of him understand why.

Bandits, before the Magic Knights, had been completely unheard of in Cephiro. When the Pillar had stood guard over the land they had not been allowed to exist, and in the ensuing chaos of Emeraude's capture and demise everyone had been too busy fearing for their lives to even think of thieving.

Apparently, times had changed. Lafarga found himself wishing, as he did so often nowadays, that he had not gotten out of bed that morning. With the Pillar system eradicated, there was much to be restored and restructured in the country, not the least of which was a working system of laws and government. There were new problems and old problems, and problems no one had even imagined could possibly exist in Cephiro. The work was endless and exhausting.

Still, if being stabbed in the side with a rusty blade was what it took to get a couple week's worth of days off, Lafarga would have stuck with the lawmaking.

He was lying on his back now, propped up on pillows, his armor discarded – it was ruined anyways – along with his shirt – also ruined. The medical ward was devoid of all movement except for Ferio, who was fidgeting in a chair next to Ascot's bed, and the small guru who labored away at Lafarga's side, cleaning the wound, sewing it up, and applying herb poultices and a few spells to aid healing and fight infection. The wound had been large and ragged, but thankfully shallow.

For all it's triviality, he was still running a fever, and the cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck did nothing to assuage the minor worry that was creeping across his foggy brain.

When he told Clef of his fears the small man just sighed.

"Blood loss," he replied, wiping his hands on a towel. "More than likely. Still, we'll keep an eye on that wound, just in case. In a few minutes I'll send someone up with a drink, and when you've drunk it all down I want you to try and get some sleep."

Lafarga just nodded blearily, and looked out the window to his left. The sky was blue, the clouds were white, birds were singing, and somewhere out there Lantis was probably still searching for the bandits that had gotten the drop on them. Ascot had taken a blow to the head – nothing major, but it had rendered him useless for a good half an hour – and Ferio had somehow managed to drag the both of them back to the palace on his own. Clef was now occupied putting stitches into the cut on Ascot's forehead, and Ferio was sitting patiently by, trying not to laugh as the young summoner winced and whined at every poke of the needle.

A sudden clearing of the throat caught Lafarga's attention, and as his eyes swept across the room to look for its source, obviously Clef, his gaze was halted by the figure standing in the doorway. He recognized the pretty face, but the look it bore was almost foreign to him: Caldina was crying. Her lower lip was trembling, and her eyes were rimmed in red and leaking tears down her cheeks. She looked very young, standing with one shoulder against the doorframe as if she could not carry her own weight, her white shawl pulled up high around her shoulders as if to ward off a chill.

Lafarga was in the midst of wondering why in the world she could possibly be crying when she wandered up to his bedside. Gently, trying her hardest not to disturb him, Caldina seated herself beside him on the bed, took an appraising look at his injury, and began to sob. Ferio flinched and nearly fell out of his chair, and Caldina just buried her face in her hands and continued to wail. Ascot stopped his protesting and fell silent.

Lafarga, who could think of nothing else to do with a crying woman, opened his good arm to draw her to him, but Caldina pushed it away, and looked up at him with burning eyes. She was angry now, and like the tears only moments before, Lafarga could not fathom why.

"What in the whole wide world is wrong with you?" she asked vehemently. Now glaring pointedly at the wound in his side. "What in mercy's name were ya doin' when ya got stabbed? Helpin' old ladies cross the road? Watchin' some farmer's nubile little daughter pick flowers in a field full of lambs and baby deer? "

Across the room, Ferio choked on a glass of water.

"Not like it's important, or nothing." Caldina went on. "Not like it matters much to anyone if ya go off and get y'self chopped to pieces! Not like yer irreplaceable or too young to die or, Shira forbid, ya have a woman waitin' at home!

The volume of her voice was quite alarming in the calm of the ward. Lafarga looked helplessly at Ferio (who had a hand over his mouth and was trying desperately not to fall out of his chair in a fit of laughter) and Ascot (who could not decide who he felt sorrier for). Clef ignored the both of them as she continued, "What if ya'd been run through? What if ya'd gotten your head lopped clean off? Where do you think I would be then, huh? In here, crying over your corpse with absolutely no reason to go on!"

Lafarga repressed the urge to sigh. Caldina's flare for the dramatic was one of the things that made her such an amazing performer, but like all performers she tended to let it leak out into the rest of her life. While he absolutely adored her ability to react so highly to everything, he had lost a fair amount of blood that day, and he was in no mood to deal with anything but a Caldina who would fuss over him and fidget with the bedclothes while expressing her admiration for his willingness to walk out into a dangerous world with nothing but a sword simply for the good of the people.

She had fallen silent and was crying again, looking down at one of her hands fisted in the white bed linens. With a deep sigh and a tiny grunt of pain, Lafarga sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Caldina did not resist this time, but looped her arms loosely around his neck and leaned against him, and then pushed so that they were lying together in the pillows. Ferio chose this moment to make his exit, while Clef and Ascot went on ignoring things as best they could.

"I'm sorry," she said against his shoulder. "It's just… I woke up this morning, and I know you told me about the scouting mission, but when you weren't there I realized that I've never been this much in love with anyone. And it kinda scares me…"

"Why should you be afraid?" he asked quietly, running a hand through her ponytail when she tightened her hold on his neck.

"What if somethin' happens?" she asked, pressing her cheek against his neck. "What if you get hurt, or… or you decide I'm not worth the trouble, or somethin'?"

Lafarga frowned. Why ever would she think something so silly? He was just as enamored with her as she was with him – probably even more so. She made him smile, for Pillar's sake! What other proof did she need?

"Would you feel better if I asked you to marry me?" he queried in a low tone.

She pulled out of his embrace and looked at him as if he had sprouted another head.

"Beggin' yer pardon," she said, when she had worked over the words in her head and decided that she could not possibly have heard him correctly.

"Would you feel more secure in our relationship if we were to be married?" he repeated, mentally berating himself for the choice of words when she frowned.

"Not if you were askin' just to make me feel better," she said with a shake of her head. "I'd say no."

"So," Lafarga prompted after a short, tense silence, "as I am not asking just to make you feel better, may I take it to mean that your answer is yes?"

A smile started to form in her eyes, but just as it reached her mouth she tilted her head to the side and asked, "You really wanna marry me?"

"I've never wanted anything more in my entire life," he answered simply, truthfully.

She gave him a real smile this time, and kissed him. She was crying again, and Lafarga could not for the life of him understand why.

Fin


AN: I loooooooooove fluff! Well people, this is my 30th fanfic! I thought I'd revisit the first fandom I ever wrote for, and this little bit is what came out. I'd always wanted to do a C/L fic, and I finally got around to it a few days ago... Whaddayall think? Any good? Worth the effort? Should I do another? I sure do have a lot of ideas for this pairing...