"So you mentioned that you studied in the medical field." Juvia said during her stroll with Gray. "Does that mean you're a doctor?"
"No." Gray answered. "But my father was one and he did educate me on common injuries, diseases, and healing methods. Just in case of emergencies."
"That's very clever of him. Do you want to become a doctor like him someday?"
"No. Don't get me wrong, being a doctor is a wonderful profession but it's just not for me. I wanted to be a writer."
"What do you like to write about it?"
"Things that you don't read about everyday. Like different places and different cultures. In fact that's pretty much what I'm coming back from, I've been traveling to different countries in Europe and writing down everything I've observed and learned."
"What countries have you been to?"
"France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and England."
"What about Ireland?"
"No I didn't make it that far. Although I did want to explore it. I hear they have incredible castles."
"Oh they do." Juvia said. "I've been to some of them, my father would take to them for my birthday. A lot of them are in ruins but still very beautiful."
"Mind telling me more?" Gray asked her intrigued.
"Of course."
Gray pulled out his journal and pen, flipped to a section with blank pages, and began to write down every word Juvia said next.
"When my brother and I were children, we would run around the ruin castles and play hiding games or we would dance and sing folk songs that echoed all around. Then at night my father would build a campfire in the castle gardens and tells us the ancient stories of Ireland. Like Tir Na Nog, the fairies, the leprechauns, the Dullahan, in America you call him The Headless Horseman."
"Interesting." Gray said. "Do you have any favorite stories?"
"Oh I love them all and I loved to hear my father tell them. He had such an incredible way of making any legend or myth sound real."
"My nanny was the same way. That's how I go into writing. She would tell me all these stories from different countries and I would write them down so I wouldn't forget, and next thing I know I had my career figured out. Speaking of which, do you mind telling me some of those stories? If you can remember how they all go?"
Juvia had every story memorized by heart and she told them with so much emotion and detail. She was entertainingly descriptive and even acted out parts of the story. Her shyness seemed to have completely vanished and she appeared so much more alive and free. Her eyes were all big and bright, she was smiling ear to ear. She was happy and she wasn't trying to hide it.
"Can I see what you've written so far?" She gestured toward his journal.
"Sure. Though I have to warn you I'm not a professional writer yet."
He handed her his journal and she proceeded to read few pages. His words were elegantly printed but he conveyed much feeling and tone in each sentence. She felt like she was reading an intriguing novel rather than an informative book on facts.
"This is really well-written." She commented.
"You think so?"
"Yes. You describe the ship, the crew, and the passengers so intricately. I can almost picture everything you've written. Have you ever thought of becoming a novelist?"
"The idea has crossed my mind. Although I'm going to New York to get a job writing for the paper. Trying my luck at journalism."
"Alright but I think you'd make a better novelist. You're very good at writing stories."
"But I'm not good making them up. I lack the creativity."
"Then write novels about true stories. Truth is more meaningful than fiction."
"The phrase is truth is stranger than fiction."
"I know. But I say meaningful because it is."
"Coming from the girl who likes made stories of myth and legend?"
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with made up stories. Sometimes I prefer made up stories over the true ones, but the ones that are true are more meaningful. And to be perfectly honest, it's very hard to find a novelist who can tell an entirely true story and make it sound interesting. You have a very special gift."
Gray blushed a little. Only his father and his nanny had ever complimented his writing skills like that. Everyone else he knew either said his work was either laughable or mediocre at best. They couldn't see the heart and soul he poured out into his writing. But this girl could.
"Oh this is interesting." Juvia said after flipping to a specific page.
"What?" Gray asked.
"This is where you wrote about when you were spying on me last night. Now we'll see what you were really up to that night." She grinned mischievously.
Gray's blushing cheeks increased as he recalled what he had written about her.
"Alright that's enough reading for now. Would you be so kind as to return my notebook now?"
"No. I don't think I will. Not until I read this chapter."
"Juvia I'm not in the mood for games, give it back."
He reached for it but she dodged his arm. When he tried agian, she playfully ran away from him.
"Give it back!" Gray said chasing after her.
"Why? Were you being a peaking Tom?" She started to read. "In my excitement over exploring this remarkable ship, I had forgotten that I have no sense of direction whatsoever. So when I exited the boiler room, I became completely lost. The hallways of below deck where like an endless maze, constant twists and turns that lead to Heaven knows where."
"Drop that book!"
But Juvia just giggled and continued reading.
"After making several wrong turns, I somehow ended up in the third class level, specifically the cabins."
"Don't read that!"
"It was at that moment I heard the most beautiful sound in the whole world." Juvia started to slow down a bit. "It was like an angel's voice, I've never heard anyone sing so sweetly and harmoniously. I didn't understand the words of her song but her melody made my heart flutter and my head spin. She was modest in clothing and demeanor, but her eyes were what made her stand out most. So blue, so lovely, and so full of warmth."
Juvia came to a complete stop in shock. Gray quickly snatched the book from her but it was far too late. He became embarrassed, she became shy again. Shy but extremely touched.
"Is that what you really think?" She asked him.
He couldn't look at her. He was too bashful. But he nodded to give her a proper answer.
"No one has ever said anything like that about me." She twisted the skirt of her frock nervously. "Other than my brother, no one has ever considered any part of me pretty."
He looked at her surprised. No one except for a family member had ever called her pretty? How could that be? She had thick hair, rosy cheeks, and soft eyes, and she moved so gracefully that it almost seemed as though she were gliding. Now Gray had seen beautiful women before, women who caught his eye, but to his mind they usually lacked the traits he found most desirable. Traits like modesty, kindness, sweetness, honesty, love. Traits that could remind you that you didn't have to face the world's hardships alone. That there was always someone there to hold you or listen to your woes and worries.
Juvia had those traits, he knew. He could tell that right off the bat. It was evident in her eyes and in the way she had tended to that boy Romeo. She never wanted anyone to feel alone. To feel like that there was no way they couldn't go to for comfort. That there would never be a shoulder for them to cry on.
Gray's traits had become evident to her as well. In the way he treated her, in the way he wrote in his journal, and in the way Gajeel had described him when they first met. He was intelligent, confident, and very passionate. But gentle and empathetic. He didn't treat the rich or the poor any different from each other. He was a man who believed that everyone was entitled to respect and compassion. That no amount of money or title could determine what kind of human being a person was. It was so nice to meet someone like him for once.
"Do you plan to live in New York?" She asked, deciding to defuse the awkwardness of the situation by changing the subject.
"Not for long." Gray answered, thrilled with the change in conversation. "Just to see how well I do in journalism. If I succeed I'll move to Sea Brook and see if I can find work there."
"And if you don't?"
"Then I guess I'll just go into medical school and be a doctor like my father."
"Is your father traveling with you?"
"No. He died some years ago."
"Oh I'm terribly sorry."
"It's alright. It happens."
"My father's gone too. He passed when I was very young."
"Is your mother still around?"
"No. When I was born there were terrible complications, and she died."
"Oh..." Gray felt instantly empathetic to her tragedy.
Juvia wrapped her arms around herself in a melancholy way. Both her father and brother had told her that what happened to her mother couldn't have been helped. That it wasn't her fault that her mother was dead. But at times, she couldn't help blaming herself. Because when Gajeel was born, their mother was just fine. She didn't get sick and there wasn't too much bleeding. She was perfectly healthy.
But when she gave birth to Juvia, everything went wrong. Her mother was in labor for too long, she lost so much blood, there was an infection, and then, almost as soon as Juvia came out of the womb, her mother was gone. Then her father married her stepmother and she drove him to an early grave with her miserable nature, and abused Gajeel, all because Juvia was born. Sometimes she felt that she deserved to spend the rest of her life tormented by her stepmother as some form of punishment. That in a way, she was responsible for everything bad that ever happened in her family.
"Are you alright?" Gray asked noticing the troubled look on her face.
"I'm fine. It's just really cold out." She half truthed. That wasn't what troubled her, but she really did feel cold.
"Here then, take my jacket."
"No thank you. I'll be fine. Really."
"I insist."
He took off his jacket and put it around her.
"Better?" He asked.
"Much. Thank you." She smiled up at him. He smiled back.
They continued to walk and talk for the rest of the day, and through it all, Juvia thought that Gray's jacket felt so warm. But not because of the material, because of the person who had worn it. A person who she believed probably had one of the warmest hearts in all the world.