Chapter 3: Heart of Coal

…

Phrolova replaced the gauze on her right eye, and when night fell, she slept on a bed of conjured Lycorises. When she arrived to the camp the morning of the next day, she caught Rover in the middle of morning training.

Rover threw a light-cloaked sword. Then in a single movement, they caught it at its destination, stabbing the air and withdrawing in a dizzying flash. If Phrolova were anybody else, it would have seemed like a violent blur. Having experienced so many battles herself, Phrolova could appreciate how that maneuver might have broken the skin of an armored tacet discord.

At this point, Phrolova could tell Rover noticed her. A dark wing sprouted from their back. The handle of the scythe danced around Rover's ankles. With a series of kicks, they manipulated the scythe and executed a long, devastating combo against an invisible airborne enemy.

Phrolova clapped as the scythe returned to Rover's hands. "Impressive. Can you do that while dodging?"

"This style is… better for parrying, I would say." Descending to the ground, Rover let the scythe lean against their shoulder. The blade of the scythe swayed far above Rover's head. Its size wasn't obvious from afar. Seeing it up close, its implied reach gave Phrolova a twinge of apprehension, yet Rover shone brightly. They smiled as though what they inherited from the Lord Arbiter was a taste for forbidden romance rather than a devastating fighter's intuition and muscle-memory.

Phrolova cleared her throat. "It seems no matter what happened in Ragunna, you weren't going to make it easy for me. And your poor fellow actors… I wonder if you feel any regret from leaving your friends behind."

"You can call this my improviso."

"So little hesitation. Very typical of a… guest to plays." While Phrolova was away, Rover had been busy. There were four new log benches around the firepit. As she talked, Phrolova circled Rover and sat on one of them. Rover disintegrated the scythe and sat to her left. "Letting the protagonist stew in the plot is what makes tragedy work – and when all the pieces fall together, each into their spot in the director's vision, that's peak tragicomedy, don't you think? The idea that it could've been any other way is abolished, and chaos ensues." Phrolova hid a growing smile behind her Lycoris. "Bonds of family and friendship break, and it all releases like a nuclear bomb. Then those who survive… they laugh – they laugh because when the fog of war disperses, it is clear as day that they could have overcome. If only they had resisted their nature, their sense of fear."

There was a few moments of silence. "Are we still talking about a play?" Rover asked.

"I like you." Phrolova gave a genuine smile that curved her eyes. "I can only go so deep for now. I still need to write your story in full. With the arc in Ragunna altered, the necessity for revisions propagates far into the future."

"We've only known each other for one day, and you've already made a play for me?"

"Only a few small drafts. Think about it like alternate histories; it helps me think." Rover raised an eyebrow. The difference clearly escaped them. Phrolova continued, "Imagine this: we are on that building again in Ragunna. You confess your true feelings, but there is suspicion in my heart. Enemies-to-lovers is a thing of fiction. I would need more than words: 'Prove your love,' I tell you. 'Subjugate Ragunna in the name of the Fractsidus!'"

As the story progressed, Phrolova's recounting became increasingly involved. She modulated her voice, swinging her Lycoris left and right with unconscious motions of her wrist. "You balk at the idea, but I surprise you" – Phrolova dramatically covers her wrapped right eye with her hand – "I unwrap the gauze on my right eye and give it to you. 'Wear this,' I say, 'and your heart will be still.' You are skeptical, but you do as I say, and your heart becomes black as coal, the love of your friends as foreign as your love for me."

As the finale drew near, Phrolova crossed her legs and slimmed her one exposed eye. Her smile gave an air of mischief. "You do as I say, and in the end a pit of dread grows and grows in your stomach. My gift was your shield, and now you are forever mine – for if you take off the gauze, the weight of what you have done will come crashing down on you: the word 'love' forever lingers on your lips, but you will never feel it." With her coup de grâce revealed, Phrolova's hand drifted to her cheek, and she gazed into Rover's eyes. "You gain what you always wanted, but you lose what you always wanted. You have it, but you don't – a Dark Satire of true love. How's that?"

Phrolova looked to Rover with expectation. Throughout the story, their expression oscillated between befuddlement and stoicism. At this last prodding, Rover closed their eyes and put their chin to their chest in thought.

"I think," Rover started, "the Phrolova in the story truly loved me."

At this response, Phrolova's eyes squinted slightly. "That's…" the opposite of the case, isn't it? "How could you tell?"

"The gift. The Phrolova in the story was using it before I was, right?"

Phrolova's eyes widened.

"She made herself vulnerable. After using it for so long, the Phrolova in the story couldn't have known what was going to happen. When all the dust settles, I will go to her and kiss all of her tears so they will go away, even if my heart is black as coal."

"But if you weren't able to feel love, why would you do that?"

Rover smiled. "By giving me the gift, she became my sanctuary… so I will become hers. That's also what love is."

Without thinking, Phrolova held her Lycoris in both hands. A trickle of heat flowed from her heart throughout her whole chest. Even if Rover referred to the Phrolova in the story, it felt intimate. Phrolova's imagination worked on its own.

Phrolova broke eye contact. "What you said would be a good story… if I hadn't already acclimated to the effect of the wrappings. I can feel most things." Phrolova cleared her throat and regained some of her poise. "But you have some ability as a story writer after all. How about… I show you something."