Chapter 13
Alfida stood by the steering wheel with Kai and Gerda together touring with the airship above the lands making their way home. The pirates were all resting for the rest of the night and the trio on deck remained awake for a while.
"I think this time we don't need to write a letter to my parents," Stated Kai looking at Alfida, which shook her head.
"The sky's clear. We will make it home without a problem," Answered Alfida making Kai nod. "Haven't you ever thought about writing Kai a letter or your own parents to warn them about the incident?"
"I did, but I'm not sure if they have got it," Responded Gerda. "That was also the only time I wrote a letter to them,"
"Oh, you had my sheets, right?" Questioned Kai making Gerda nod.
"Yes. I think two more sheets had remained and one of them I used to write down to Mars, what had happened and what I wanted to do, after all this," Mentioned Gerda making Alfida nod.
"Are you going to say, you got laid?" Questioned Kai, then got smacked on the back by his sister. "Hey! I'm just asking,"
"I'm telling the truth. I won't go that much into details unless I feel it is necessary," Stated Gerda, then took out the letter she had written and handed it out to Kai. "This is what I wrote," Said Gerda making Kai nod, which took it to read. Gerda looked to her side to expect Rollan to be there and saw he wasn't around. She looked behind herself to see Rollan staying by the back of the ship looking out at the ground. Gerda walked back to her love interest and stood beside him to gaze down as well.
"You're so quiet. Are you alright?" Questioned Gerda making Rollan nod. "Aren't you worried about, what we're up to speak?"
"I am a little," Confessed the Spaniard. "I don't want to be the enemy in your family or the other's lives, because of what happened before with us at Oscar's ship,"
"They can't blame the whole story on you. The other part of the story is also mine to blame. When we're back home, that won't be the most important part of my retrieval, it is the fact Kai and I made it back together in Malmö and arrived at home safe and sound. You as well helped me out of the issue and stuck with me until there. My parents are going to be grateful for it,"
"Okay, the only thing we can do and wait how things will turn out," Said Rollan, then Gerda leaned her forehead on his shoulder.
"Things will go fine. If things really go downhill, we just need to run away," Commented Gerda, then Rollan looked down at the blonde.
"I thought you said the idea wasn't good," Commented Rollan watching Gerda nod.
"It isn't. This is more a plan C or D when things really go out differently,"
"You're making it sound like we're going to land on the death list, after our story,"
"The only difficult part is to know, how Mars is going to react or his family,"
"Perhaps only telling Mars about us is better than his family. We don't need to tell them that. Mars is sufficient enough. If he tells his family our version or makes up his own is up to him. We and your parents can always correct it," The raven-haired Spaniard explained.
"Right," Said Gerda embracing the shoulder of the man to look forward at the landscape they passed by.
"If things don't go how we want I…...I don't want to let you go again," Rollan said sensing Gerda press his arm tighter and went on her tiptoes to kiss him on his cheek.
"And I won't go anywhere," Promised the blonde earning the attention of Rollan, which leaned his forehead on hers.
Kai looked away from Alfida to look, where his sister was and observed the duo with their foreheads leaning to the other, then smiled a little. He looked at the front again, then watched Alfida yawn giving Kai the idea to grab the wheel of Alfida's ship.
"I will take the ship for a while," Offered the artist making Alfida smile and peck her boyfriend on his cheek, then step aside to let her boyfriend take care of her own business.
By the store of Vegard, he stood on the outside together with his wife taking the current time they had no clients to be able to wash the windows together. Vegard used a stick with a sponge stuck on the end of it to dunk it into a bucket filled with water and took it out to rub it on the window.
"Bodhi's invention really is practical. We don't need to use a ladder anymore, we can just wash the window from down here," Explained Vegard making Una nod, which held another stick with a towel wrapped around it. "The first half of the window I will make it wet, you can try to dry it with that stick,"
Una watched Vegard take the sponge away, then Una tried to dry the window making Vegard smile as it seemed to be going well.
"Hey it's really good," Commented Vegard, then heard someone call his attention.
"Dad!" Shouted the voice making Vegard look around to see his son Kai come along with Gerda, Alfida, and Rollan walk towards their direction.
"Kai! Gerda! You're back!" Announced Vegard happily, while Una behind him dropped her chin as well and dropped her staff on the ground to watch Gerda and Kai come in their direction running. "My goodness, you two are back!" Said Vegard opening his arms to embrace the two siblings, followed by Una, who embraced them from behind.
"My precious babies," Said Una giving both her kids a kiss on their cheek. "I'm glad you two are back,"
"I wasn't expecting it today. I have to be honest with you, I assumed it would take a few more days," Confessed the father making Gerda chuckle, then point at the two raven-haired friends, which watched the united family. "Oh your girlfriend Alfida brought you home and I remember that guy's face," Mentioned Vegard making Gerda cackle.
"That's Rollan," Corrected Gerda. "He helped me save all the magicians, remember?" Questioned Gerda looking along with Vegard at Rollan, which smiled a little sheepishly.
"Oh right. I remember him," Commented Vegard watching Gerda move her hand to ask Rollan to come closer to the family, which he did. Vegard pulled Rollan by his arm to bring him closer into the family, so they would hug him as well.
"It was a good thing, Rollan happened to be on the same flight as me, otherwise I wouldn't have come so fast after Kai," Stated Gerda. "It made things easier for us and I had somebody to talk with,"
"I still believe your daughter would have made the way on her own too. She would never abandon Kai," Mentioned Rollan making Gerda nod, then she observed Una caress Rollan on his head making him smile, afterward Gerda remembered, what she had planned to do with Rollan, afterward she got under Vegard's arms to grab Rollan by the shoulder noticing, that it was time.
"Mom, dad. We've got something to tell." Mentioned Gerda looking at her family, which looked at her holding Rollan on the shoulder. "It might shock you two first, but you need to know, what happened,"
"Did you get hurt?" Questioned Una making Gerda shake her head.
"Nope, it's a little complicated the story," Noticed Gerda watching Kai move out from the crowd to join Alfida and watch how Gerda was going to sell their occurrences of the trip.
Later on, Alfida and Kai sat together at the stairs of Vegard's store playing cards with Luta as Gerda's parents were listening to Rollan and Gerda together explaining everything.
"I haven't lost my feelings for Rollan and this ride had only made my love for him grow more. We both encountered each other twice in our lives and in both times my attraction for him was present," Said the blonde making Rollan nod.
"On the first time, I admit I did everything I could to show Gerda, what happened in the past would stick there. This second time, I didn't do any attempt of picking her up in any way. I accepted her engagement. I just helped her look for solutions to her relationship with Mars. That's when I found out, things were…...quite odd," Said Rollan. "This all now happened between me and Gerda…..,"
"I planned to tell Mars about the proposal anyway, now with what happened, I have no choice to tell him, that. I have confessed Rollan I loved him," Added Gerda seeing her parents nod.
"That you're going to tell Mars about all that is really brave from you. I have nothing to say against it. As long as he treats you well and you're happy with him. I'm fine," Said Una looking at Rollan, which scratched the back of his neck anxious. Gerda smiled at the Spaniard, then grabbed him on his arm seeing him roll his eyes down at her mirroring her facial expression, and grabbed her hands.
"It's done. It went well," Said Rollan earning a nod from the blonde, then heard someone gasp and the duo looked to the side to spot Mars stand there with his family looking confused at seeing Rollan holding Gerda's hands.
"Hey mate, that girl over there has a ring on her finger," Warned the raven-haired man, while Rollan looked at the half-Australian perplexed.
"Uh is that….." Rollan began earning a nod from Gerda.
"I have no idea, what's going through your mind right now, but I can explain you everything. You just need to be ears, cause there are many unresolved things I haven't been able to talk about,"
"What do you want to talk about?" Questioned Mars, then watched Rollan hold out his hand at the slightly shorter man.
"I think we haven't met yet. I'm Rollan," The Spaniard introduced himself watching Mars raise his eyebrows thinking about, where he knew the name.
"Rollan…...wait…..you're that guy, that lost your mind to the Fire Demon, right?" Asked Mars watching Rollan nod along with Gerda. The blonde stepped further to defend her friend.
"Rollan was a victim of the Fire Demon. He couldn't know, what he was doing back then. He's way more, than you know," Mentioned Gerda. "We're also not here to talk about him right now. First, let me pour out my heart and tell you everything I need to tell you. You can bomb me with questions afterward, I'll be trying to answer everything I can as long as we can keep things maturely,"
"Okay, what do you need to say?" Asked Mars curious about, what his fiancé was going to say.
"You know before the proposal I explained to you, that I felt, that you didn't invest anything into our relationship remember?" Questioned Gerda making Mars nod. "When you proposed to me, I actually didn't feel ready to go a step further. It came out of nowhere and everyone's presence there made me nervous. I don't know, why I ended up accepting the proposal. Initially, I was okay with it, cause it was a long way until we had a date and you seemed to be trying your best to work on the relationship. That quickly changed again and I had been the one to once or twice offer for us two to go out to do something together. I listened to your problems at the work or with your family and I helped you find a solution for them or make you feel better. When I came to you with mines, you would find a way to get around it or not even care about it. You wouldn't even put an effort in at least suggesting any solutions," Said Gerda watching Mars ponder about her words, then sank his eyebrows noticing, that most of the time he didn't give Gerda the help she could get when possible.
"That's correct," Confessed Mars watching Gerda grab her arm and ponder about continuing with the chat.
"I did one mistake too and that was accepting your proposal. I had set in my head before, that I wanted to tell you, that…...I wanted to stay friends with you. It wasn't working for me anymore. You should have heard that a time ago. I just did the mistake to let myself feel bothered by the chosen moment,"
"Oh…" Replied Mars neutral, while Rollan and Gerda stood there with the same facial expression. Mars looked at Rollan, which stood there beside the blonde. "You helped her back home, right?" Questioned the green-dressed man making Rollan nod.
"I was meant to visit her and we ended up on the same flight, which you know…...crashed," Noticed Rollan. "Sticking together for the rest of our ride was the best thing we could do at that time. It was easier for both of us,"
"Furthermore," Gerda began placing her hand on Rollan's shoulder advising him, she was going to move further. "Our adventure there had a lot of up and downs…..I figured out throughout those days, that my love story with Rollan didn't end at all," Commented Gerda looking at Rollan, which smiled a little and then widened his eyes as he heard Mars' mother interrupt the conversation.
"I beg your pardon?" Questioned the mother looking astonished at the blonde woman. "You're leaving my son for this stinking vagabond?" Questioned Merri making Gerda gasp and Rollan frown, then smell himself on the clothing,"
"We didn't stop for washing the clothes yet," Commented Rollan watching Gerda place her hand in front of him to let her talk instead.
"Rollan isn't a vagabond. He's one of the sweetest guys I have ever known. He might not be rich, be a successor of important goods, or have fancy clothing, but he has a great heart and a golden personality. It never mattered to him, if I would or wouldn't like him back the way he did to me," Gerda said looking up at Rollan, which smiled at the blonde. Merri growled, then stamped her way towards Vegard and Una, followed by the two lean closer to one another as the half-Australian woman came.
"Vegard, we had a deal, that our kids would lead our stores together. Do you believe, that without us your store will survive the next years with all the modern progress that is growing constantly?" Questioned the woman serious. "You are dropping the opportunity to raise a higher profit for both our families. That would even be profitable for their future successors. Both could finally attend private school and have a better future with the investment we could do with the money,"
"Mom, forget about it. You can't expect Gerda to follow your orders if she's not interested in me," Stated Mars. "Let's go home,"
"We're not going anywhere. Vegard, tell your daughter about it. She needs to understand, that keeping up with the store is more important than a fling with some other man," Ordered the woman watching Vegard cross his arms, while Gerda frowned at the woman's comment.
"Gerda and the store are both important to me, but if anything has Gerda in the game, I will always be on Gerda's side and support her. If she loves Rollan and is happier around him, I'm good," Stated Vegard making Gerda smile and embrace Rollan's arm, then look up at the Spaniard proud about the father's acceptance.
"Fine!" Hissed the mother. "You can consider our partnership as canceled. Have fun in getting bankrupt. I'll make sure you get there fast enough," Threatened the woman passing by Gerda and Rollan, noticing Gerda with her arms crossed while the Spaniard grinned at Mars' mom sneakily. The woman stabbed Rollan with her finger on the chest shrieking him, followed by Gerda grabbing her hand.
"You young man, you have messed with the wrong person. If I were you I wouldn't walk alone across those streets," Warned Mars' mother while Gerda growled hanging on Rollan's arm as he gazed at her surprised at her threat. Merri eyed Gerda sternly, while the blonde's eyes slowly changed from her blue tone into a red one, which belonged to her alter ego. Afterward, Alfida interrupted the two, while pushing the business woman aside, then pulled out her gun shrieking the duo to watch the mother walk back along with her son.
"Leave them alone!" Ordered Alfida, then watched behind Bodhi drop his chin in surprise, and May carefully put her arm on the side to take out a staff, which Alfida immediately fired away shrieking her. "Go back home. There's no need to fight or anything. Accept the situation and move on with life. Yes, she cheated and it's wrong. All know it, but threatening everyone else here isn't as smart as what she did too," Commented Alfida making Mars nod.
"Let's go home, mom. I haven't been quite honest now with her as well. I kissed a random woman at that bachelor party the other night," Mentioned Mars making Merri gasp. Gerda got surprised about the revelation and watched Mars walk off without saying anything, then the mother growled at the trio making Alfida glare seriously at the woman. The woman walked off following her son, which joined the rest of the clan to walk home bemused about, what went up.
"Imagine you had said afterward, that we slept together," Murmured Rollan to the blonde, which elbowed the Spaniard.
"Hey there's no need to imagine that," Stated Gerda making Rollan cackle. Alfida had shove her gun back into her coat, then looked at the place of her boyfriend's parents.
"I think Rollan should overnight with you for the first few nights," Commented Alfida. "I'm sure you're going to be happy about it,
"I wish I could have you two around, but we don't have any second beds for you to overnight here and mine along with Kai's bed both lack on space," Commented Gerda making Alfida nod.
"Rollan can sleep in my ship until we can help find him a place to stay. It's not as comfortable as what you two got only," Commented Alfida making Rollan nod.
"So I'm gonna sleep on the floor?" Questioned Rollan making Alfida shake her head.
"A hammock…..Well, if you're used to it, it's not that bad," Commented Alfida making Rollan nod.
"Good, will you accompany Rollan, when you two return to your ship? I'm not sure how Mars' mom is going to act towards us the next few days," Confessed Gerda a little worried making Alfida nod.
"I don't think that woman has the courage to approach us with Alfida around," Commented Rollan making Gerda smile and embrace the two raven-haired.