commander

contract

Nala

I sat in the throne, a table set to my right for signing many documents. Promises regarding liability, land, succession, and other political stuffs that were more than overwhelming. Torra stood by my side the whole time, reviewing things and even rephrasing certain swords of a contract to protect me.

The contract signing took longer than hoped. It was already last noon when I exited. I wanted to take a horseback ride. It was overcrowded everywhere in the palace. The town was empty.

"Torra?" I looked up, slipping a cold arm around his. "Why isn't there anyone here?" The ghost town that had once been so vibrant made me scared. Where they hiding? Was everyone gone? Did we migrate during the winter?

"They've set up tent cities outside of the limits. The conclave will occur within Lanca." Torra told me, grabbing the reins of a horse. I climbed first, pulling fat to the front of the saddle while Torra sat on the far back.

"Maybe we should ask for a double next time. I think they have one." I leaned back into him as he grabbed the reins from my hands.

"I like being this close to you." Torra kissed my ear has he slapped the reins, forcing the horse forward.

"Where are we going?" I looked around for anything I recognized.

"I wanted to take you home. Mom wants to talk to you." I figured he might just use a different route. Perhaps the tent cities were now in our way.

Torra urged the horse into a run, and stopped us at his house. I said hi to Rhonda and gave her a break from her son, bouncing the baby through the kitchen. Torra's mother was preparing a pie when I saw her, flour dusted in her apron.

"Nala!" she yelled, racing towards me. I quickly passed the baby to Torra before embracing Torra's mother. "It's so lovely to see you! It feels like it's been weeks."

"It does, Mrs. Sharpe."

"Oh, don't call me that. It's Lara to you. You're far too important for a last name basis." Lara rubbed my cheek affectionately.

"You should call me Nala." I said and she took my hands, rubbing them with her thumbs.

I rubbed the itchiness of a sneeze from my nose when Lara aggressively seized my finger. She screamed.

The baby started wailing, but Torra shushed it. My God, it was hot.

"You have a ring! An engagement ring! Oh my God!" She hugged me, and her yells must've brought the entire family down. Rhonda took her baby back from Torra, looking equally surprised as her siblings.

"You've got a girl?"

"The Commander, no less."

"Holy shit."

I don't like this kind of attention. A small crowd, all personally known, but not well, and everyone able to judge me as harshly as they wish. I immediately grew uncomfortable. Torra showed up at my side, ignoring his siblings.

"Are you okay?" He talked in my mother's language, that of the north, something I guess his family couldn't translate. I nodded. We all sat around the coffee table, Lara preparing tea for us. We talked of everything, how it happened, with lots of censoring of course, anything we planned. I tried to avoid the 'children' topic. I don't know how long I'll live. Or if I can ever have any.

We talked for hours, rain occasionally sprinkling on the roof. I almost fell asleep on the couch, his arm making a very comfortable pillow. Torra took me to the palace when the moon had risen, the sky still a purple-orange. We laid in my bed naked, curled together and making stupid speculations and promises and predictions and bets on the future.