Rifiuto: Non Miriena
A/N: Written: 2009. Found: 2018.- Licia
Her quick response startled him, and his eyes widened in shock. He hadn't actually expected her to say yes; he'd expected her to say that no, she was really his aunt, and this was all some cruel joke she and his mother had pulled at his expense. But as he looked at her now, eyes bright with tears, teeth worrying her lower lip, hands trapped between her knees as she at on the bench, he knew, in the deepest part of his soul, that this wasn't a joke. That this was very, very real.
Her blue eyes met his, and after a moment, she reached out, patting the bench beside her. "You're going to... to want to sit for this. It's a long story, if you want to hear it."
He studied her for a moment, before slowly taking a seat, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees and fold his hands before him. He said nothing, giving her the floor. She was silent for several minutes, before meeting his gaze. "I was five, when I met your fath- when I met Liir." She amended softly, lifting a hand to gesture towards him before returning it to its place between her knees, fingers lacing. She swallowed, the memory of their first meeting filling her head. "He was eight, and my mother, your... your grandmother... had put Sarima and I into ice skating lessons to keep us occupied. Sarima quickly decided that skating wasn't for her, and quit, but I loved it. We were at the local rink, and I was skating around, when this boy shoved me down as he passed. I went..." She chuckled softly.
"I went skidding across the ice, scraping up my chin and both my knees, and when our nanny came out to take us home, I got up and went charging back towards him, clear across the rink, our nanny chasing after me. I slammed into him from behind, and somehow managed to duck down low enough that I plowed into his knees, sending him flailing, but I wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, and he fell back, landing on top of me. He was much taller and heavier than me, and I was certain he was going to crush me, but he didn't. Instead he climbed to his feet and called me a 'talentless freak' and that I should go home to my mom because I didn't belong out on the ice. In retaliation, I kicked him in the shin, hitting him with my skate just right that I cut a good-sized gash in his pants and into his skin. I kicked him so hard, he crumpled to the ice crying for his own mother." She chuckled softly. "That was my first introduction to Liir Kolenhof."
Fiyero couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at his features; for some reason, he could imagine Mulhama's reaction behind exactly that. She smiled softly, before glancing at him to continue. He gestured for her to, and she sighed. "I was sent to St. Prowd's a year later- at special request by the ice skating coach. Most students don't attend Prowd's until they're about seven or so- you know the drill." He nodded. "I ended up rooming with him. Cattery Tippertarius, the skating coach, told us that we were now a pair, and that as a pair, we therefore needed to live together and learn how to anticipate each others' movements, because pairs skating is 'all about being one with your partner, both on and off the ice'," Fiyero chuckled softly as she imitated her former coach's voice, air quotes and all. She rolled her eyes.
"It didn't go over well; the first two weeks, we fought like cats and dogs. My mother was certain it would never work, but Cattery," She sighed, reaching down to grasp the edge of the bench beneath her. "Cattery was certain it would. She never gave up on us, not once." A shrug. "And it did... our first competition, we didn't even place on the podium. We got fourth. Cattery told us it was because we didn't trust each other enough, so she locked us in a broom closet together and left us there for two hours when we returned to St. Prowd's, telling us that by the time she let us out, we better trust each other to the point where, if she set our room on fire, we'd be willing to jump from our third floor window, and not leave the other behind." She chuckled softly at the horrified look on his face. "Cattery was known for her exaggerations, and if it got you to do something, all the better." A soft sigh escaped her throat, as she looked up into the stars. "Our first kiss was shared in that broom closet during those two hours."
"Did you love him?"
"Then?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, and he nodded. She wrinkled her nose, shaking her head as she tore at her cuticles, giving herself time to get her thoughts in order. "No. I was eleven and he was thirteen. We knew nothing of love at that age." Her mahogany waves tumbled over her eyes, and he leaned forward slightly, as she tossed her head in a motion similar to one he would do when his hair did the same to him. "I didn't fall in love with Liir until I was about..." She stopped, thinking. "fourteen or so. I was injured during a competition practice- landed wrong during a throw and broke my ankle. He thought he'd thrown me too high, and that I couldn't complete my double axel, and that was how I'd gotten hurt. In reality, I got both doubles, but when I went to land, instead of landing slightly bent, my leg locked straight on the way down, and when I went to land, it didn't bend, so I turned to compensate and ended up overcompensating; by the time my knee unlocked, my ankle had twisted so fast that it'd broken and I went down. I ended up in surgery."
"An injury like that, it could have cost you your career-"
"It was only with extensive therapy that I didn't lose my career." She replied, meeting his gaze again. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine and I knew it. But Liir took the brunt of Cattery's wrath, sparing me the lashing; he said that he threw me too hard and not high enough, and that was what caused my injury- not my overcompensating. He was with me every day after; it was right around then that I realized I was in love with him." She clicked her tongue, turning her gaze to the stone at their feet. "We dated in secret for months, until we finally decided it was safe to tell everyone. Cattery didn't approve- at first- and my parents weren't exactly happy that I was mixing business with pleasure, but when they all realized how serious we were, they relented." She glanced at him. "You look a lot like Liir, when he was that age."
He watched her, seeing the mist gathering at the corners of her eyes. It was evident, very evident, that she was still deeply, deeply in love with Liir, even though years had passed since his death and she'd since remarried. Clearly, Liir was the love of her life. She looked around, a smile tugging at her lips.
"We got married, in this very backyard, with only our parents and Sarima in attendance. It was the week before the sixtieth Ozlympic Winter Games, and we had decided weeks earlier that if we were going to represent the Vinkus as a pair, then we were going to do it the right way- as a true pair, and so we got married." She shrugged. "Simple as that."
"It caused a scandal, didn't-"
Mulhama rolled her eyes. "It only caused a scandal because married couples didn't compete in the Ozlympics at the time- and if they did, it wasn't as a pair, it was in a singular category- singles skating, skiing, and the like. Competing in the Games as a married couple- especially in pairs skating, wasn't heard of. It was considered taboo in some countries. But we told the board, that we go as a pair, a married pair, competing in the pairs skating event or not at all. They relented, and that year, we made our debut as a married couple. We'd already won Ozlympic medals in pairs before, but that was the year we first won gold. Liir said that our marriage was our good luck charm." She chuckled softly. "We were the only skaters to win gold that year. Our win in no way got rid of the papers- I think part of the reason it was so scandalous is because I was seventeen and he was twenty. It wasn't heard of, marrying that young then, and it caused an uproar."
Fiyero listened patiently, having no idea that Mulhama and Liir's marriage had at one point threatened their very chance at Ozlympic gold. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the former pairs skater, that she'd had to endure such treatment at the tender age of seventeen. A moment passed, as he swallowed thickly before asking, "And... and me?"
She met his gaze, brow furrowing. "What about you?" He started, and she shook her head. "Oh, right. You." A giggle escaped her, and she closed her eyes briefly. "You," She breathed, looking skyward. "You were the start of a whole new chapter for Liir and I."