Chapter Two
(Raya's POV)
The three of us arrive in Heart. We know that bringing 21st century technology into Heart/Kumandra would be a bad thing, so Ba's and my cell phones – along with Becky's – were left behind. There's an unspoken pact between the three of us that no one will know the truth about where and when we just were. Becky leans on me, overwhelmed and exhausted.
"You okay, pretty girl?" I ask, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.
"No..."
"We'll be there before you know it. But, don't worry, we won't push you."
"Thank you, Chief Benja."
"Please, call me 'Ba' or 'Benja'. Whichever you're comfortable with. Raya already considers you family, as do I."
"Thank you, Benja."
"You're welcome." I kiss the side of Becky's head, not knowing where we stand in terms of our relationship.
We take a break from walking on the side of the bridge where Ba had thrown me off to protect me almost eight years ago, standing on the side with the best view of the rest of Kumandra.
"It's beautiful." Becky says, her eyes filling up with tears. I can tell she's getting overwhelmed again, having just been disowned and finding out her mystery attacker got her pregnant.
I don't press her, not wanting to evoke negative emotions from her, or cause a fight between us.
I lean on Becky, not knowing what to say or do.
"You doing okay, pretty girl?"
"No..."
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No. N-not right now, at least. Sorry."
"No need to apologize, sweetheart. What happened was not your fault...your parents...well, your former parents just don't understand who you are." Ba tells her.
"You got that right." Becky and I say at the same time.
We soon reach Heart, and we go into our living quarters. Ba and I both learned of Becky's possible allergy to mangoes, and Ba goes to tell the kitchen staff of her possible allergy.
While Ba is gone, Becky and I lay down on my – well, I guess it's ours now, huh? – bed.
I wrap an arm around her and start rubbing her shoulder to bring her some comfort.
She soon falls asleep with me watching her.
She starts crying from what I assume is a bad dream, and I rub her shoulder.
"Shhh...baby, it's okay. You're okay. It's just a bad dream."
Suddenly, she pulls away from me, curling into herself as if in pain.
That's when I see the blood.
"BA!"
Ba rushes into the room and assesses the situation.
"Get a healer, and quick!"
"Right away, Chief Benja."
Ba gently forces me to get up as the healers rush into the room.
"Let them do their job, dewdrop."
Tears well in my eyes as I stand there with Ba, feeling powerless, hopeless, and helpless.
The head healer approaches us about ten agonizing minutes later.
"We've given her some things for the pain. She will pass the baby through clumps of thick blood. The best thing to do is be there for her emotionally, Raya."
"I will do everything in my power to make sure I'm there for her."
"Raya?"
I'm at my girl's side immediately.
"Yes, honey?"
"What did the healer say?"
I gently take Becky's hands and I look at her, the tears in my eyes flowing down my cheeks.
"No..." She mumbles.
"You're going to be okay, my love. I will be right here with you no matter what. I promise."
The healers soon leave, unable to do anything further.
Ba kneels next to me with a bowl of water filled with herbs and a rag.
"This reminds me of when your mother and I lost your older sibling. We weren't much older than you are now, dewdrop."
"H-how did you feel, Ba?"
"Like you do, Raya. Powerless. Hopeless. Helpless."
"What can I do to help her?" I ask, my voice breaking.
"The best thing for you to do is to just be there for her, and get her anything she needs. I'll have the staff do the latter for you when they're not attending to their regular duties."
"Thank you, Ba."
"You're welcome. And I'm so sorry. For the both of you."
"Thank you, Benja." My girl squeaks out, her voice and eyes both thick with tears.
Ba nods, touching Becky's shoulder ever-so-gently before getting up and leaving the room.
"Raya?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Do you – do you still want to be with me? After everything?"
"Oh, baby, of course! There is nothing and no one that will ever stop me from being with you or loving you."
"You – you love me?"
"I do. I really and truly do, hon."
Becky squeezes my hand tightly, no doubt feeling cramps as she passes the baby.
"Is there anything I can get for you, love?"
"No, thank you. And Raya?"
"Yes, baby?"
"I love you, too."
I lay down next to her, pulling her close.
"What about the blood?" She asks me.
"Don't worry about that. It'll come off."
"Okay."
She soon falls asleep in my arms, and I soon drift off next to her after doing a little bit of thinking.
The next morning, I look at my love in my arms, and see dried tear streaks on her cheeks.
"Baby..."
"Hmm?"
"Good morning."
"Morning, Raya." Becky smiles, despite herself, despite the pain she's feeling, despite everything she's been through in the last 24 hours.
"I've been doing some thinking."
"Oh?"
"About you – about us."
"Oh..."
"Now don't look so sad, pretty girl. They were all good things." I say, brushing a spare piece of hair back behind her ear. That reminds me, Becky is about five feet, has brown hair that's very short (shorter than it was in my reoccurring dreams), hazel eyes and fair skin.
"Okay."
Becky gets off of me to flip onto her side and prop her head up with her right hand.
"I know that we've barely known each other for a full day, but I feel like you're someone very special." I tell her.
"You do?"
"I do. And, don't tell Ba this, but...Kumandra may have helped my father become whole again, but you, my darling, make me more whole than I have ever been. You are my Kumandra."
"I – I am?"
"You are. You are my world, my everything. Whatever brought us together was meant to happen."
"You really think so?"
"Don't you?"
"N-no, I do. This is all just happening so fast. I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize, pretty girl."
She opens her mouth to speak before I stop her, already knowing what she was about to say.
"And don't apologize again...not unless you've done something wrong."
"It's – it's something I'm trying to work on."
"Well, I will gladly help you work on that, among other things."
"Like what?"
"Well, we have a festival/banquet coming up that celebrates our union as Kumandra again for the first time in 500 years. We celebrate it every year, and I get to see my friends that I don't get to see too often."
"That sounds fun...even though I'm not the biggest party person."
"To be completely honest, neither am I. And I hate wearing ceremonial clothes."
"When – when's the festival?"
"Let's see...it's February 25, so...we've got about eight days to prepare."
"That's not a lot of time."
"I know...glad we got back here when we did...you'll, of course, have to wear something as an honorable guest of Heart, even though you're technically a permanent guest of Heart...I – I mean, I'm not asking you to move in o-or even marry me, but I do love you, and I want you to be happy here, considering you weren't all that happy where you came from, but – "
Becky stops me with a kiss on my cheek.
"Smooth, pretty girl."
"Is that all you have to say, Raya?"
"Oh, I think my lips can do most of the talking – that sounded more romantic in my head."
Becky laughs softly, blushing a little.
"Just get over here." I say, composing myself. Becky scoots closer to me and I start to kiss her, gently.
She tastes like sadness, which I guess can only be described how it smells when it's about to rain. Becky also tastes like love, like hot cocoa on a cold winter's day, like the feeling of the shoreline at the beach, and the feeling of waves crashing over my ankles and feet. I taste all of these and more. We soon break for some air.
"I don't know about you, Raya, but I'm tasting love...and...and home."
"And what do those things taste like, pretty girl?"
"Your love tastes like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and home tastes like a crackling fire on a cold winter's day, wrapped up in blankets and telling stories and reading to one another. Like I could stay with those I love forever...even if some of them don't love me back. Not anymore."
"Do you – do you regret coming here, dep la?"
"N-no, not at all, Raya. I just feel like I'm kind of out of place here. I don't want to go back to where I came from...what if – what if your people don't accept me – or you get tired of me?"
"That's not going to happen. My people will love you, a-and even if they don't, I love you. Isn't that enough?" I ask.
"Of course, Raya. I just think that I – I'm going through culture shock. Being in a new place away from my parents for the first time in about a year." Tears start rolling down Becky's cheeks.
"I just don't want what happened last time to happen to me again." She says, sobs wracking in her throat.
"Hey, hey, hey. Becky, look at me." I gently lift her chin up to look me in the eyes.
"I don't know what you went through the last time you were in a new place away from your parents, but what I do know is this: my home, my world, isn't complete without you. But if you want to leave, I'll let you. If you want to go explore Kumandra, I'll gladly travel alongside you. If you want to somehow go back to your own world, I will tell Ba goodbye. And I know that I am not whole without you." I say, tears of my own rolling down my cheeks.
"Raya, Raya, stop." Becky grabs my arms and tries to calm me down, but I'm not really listening.
"Sisu was right...the world is broken because I didn't trust anyone. And now that I have, the best thing that's ever happened to me since I got my Ba back, no...the best thing that's happened to me period...she wants to leave."
"Raya!"
"What?"
"I'm not leaving you. You think I would willingly go with you to some new world after being disowned, just to try to find a way back to parents that don't want or even love me anymore?"
"N-no."
"You got that right. I'm not going anywhere, okay? You're stuck with me. Forever and ever and always."
"You really mean that?"
"Would I have listened to you pour your heart out if I didn't intend on staying with you? My listening to you means that I would do anything for you, Raya. I would travel to the ends of the earth, go anywhere, battle anyone, just for the chance to see you smile. I love you, Raya, Princess of Heart, and no one can ever or will ever replace you. I promise."
I'm crying buckets of tears now, but they have a different meaning: my true love isn't going anywhere, and I intend to make sure she feels as much at home here as anywhere else.
"I love you. I love you so much. I will say it as many times as you need to hear it, Raya. I will never stop loving you."
My tears stop flowing, though they're brimming in my eyes.
"And I love you, and I will say it as many times as you need to hear it. I will never leave you, and I will never be with anyone but you, nor will I want to. You are my true love, you are my Kumandra, you are my person."
We're both crying now, and we start to kiss before someone clears their throat.
"Yes?" I ask, quickly drying my eyes and face while Becky does the same.
"Princess Namaari of Fang is here to see you, Your Highness."
"Take us to her." I tell them, standing up and helping Becky to her feet.
"Forgive me, ma'am, but Namaari asked to speak with you alone."
"That's unacceptable. I don't care if Namaari is Princess of Fang, the love of my life is coming with me." I say, talking with my best authoritative voice.
"Of course, ma'am."
Becky and I walk to where Namaari is waiting, and she looks...pensive.