The Past

I love you

Paves was still deep in grief when we arrived at the end of the world. I did not know the name of this continent, only that no maps went past it. Here, we would somehow have to find the Mirror, or return home empty-handed.

The sudden chill hit me with a certain nostalgia, reminding me of the heat of a summer that was already well-past. Eight months it had been since we left Orion. Eight very long months. Still, we journeyed onwards, hoping to find what we searched for.

The inn we found was small, cramped, and dusty, but as most of us were only staying for a day, it would do. We had agreed that Paves would stay behind as we went on our next search, because we could not leave the baby alone, nor was she in any state to journey into the wild. The day after we arrived, we left before dawn.

As it stood, we would take our horses and travel east, hoping that the Mirror would be somewhere at the end of the world. I knew it wasn't really the end of the world, but it surely seemed such, as I'd never seen a map that that went past it. Perhaps I'd buy a new map here.

"Do you think she will be all right? " I asked Remor and Athern as I sat atop my horse.

"I hope so. She does not have any other choice." Athern's look was sullen, but he did not press for more conversation.

Hopefully, we would return to the city with the Mirror, and Paves would be free to leave the realm. And hopefully she could not be tracked. There was a lot of hope driving our search, so perhaps it was a fool's errand. Regardless, we went on riding towards the mountains that we could not yet see.

After a few days of travel, living off of hunt and streams, the mountains finally began to appear. It was said that these mountains were home to all sorts of wild creatures, so no one dared journey to them. Of course, we would be the only reckless idiots who would be up around these parts.

In late autumn there had already been a few snowfalls in this land. We would be unlikely to avoid one, as we were right on the cusp of winter.
Eventually, and with little conversation, we made our way towards the mountainous range.

We soon rode through a pass in those mountains, and as we went, I stared ahead at the giant mounds of snow in the distance. Atop the jagged spires surrounding us, there was scattered snow as well, but nothing like the blanketed towers far in front of us.

The sky above us was painted a smoky shade of blue-grey at the edges, fading to a light silver as clouds began to fill its center.

Once we crossed the pass, the hills surrounding were green, and full of small farmhouses and sheep, laying down for a rest in the afternoon sun. The mirror could have been in any abandoned house, castle, or fortress that we passed, rather than the caverns we headed to. Maybe a simple farmer family thought of it as a family heirloom, with no knowledge of its power.

I thought of this wherever we went.

Up ahead, an abandoned village stood at the foot of the snow-capped mountain. We'd stop there for the night, and search for food, drink, and sleep before heading on into the mountains in search of the caverns.

This is not a pass someone could take an army through safely, I thought as I stared up at the mountains, which faded into the now white sky. Likely a reason that the former lord—who must have lived up in the manor house on the mountain— allowed the village to form.

We soon found an abandoned cabin, in surprisingly good state, for us to spend the night in, rather than making it all the way to the village.

Paves were cooking up the game that Athern had caught earlier, and so I stood outside alone, staring at the darkened view while Remor and Athern argued about something or other.

The full moon's light reflected off of the nearest snow-capped peak, looming in the charcoal black night around us on three sides. With every exhale, my breath went up in smoke.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Athern had walked up to me and wrapped a spare cloak around my shoulders as I looked up at the mountain.

"It's amazing."

Amket was cold and often covered in snow, but it was on the coast. The mountains were further inland, and I had only been to them a couple of times. Even then, I had never noticed how the distant snow could glow in the moonlight.

"Kinheal." My stomach turned at the way he said my name, and my eyes turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"I love you, Nea." He stepped even closer to me, so close that our little clouds of breath met up. "And I'm sorry for the way things started between us, and for much of what has happened since. And I'm sorry about what happened with Remor, I truly did try to warn you that he was not always calm in his nature."
I had forgiven him for his reputation, and I had even come to care for him, but I cared for Remor, too. If he had kissed me right then, I think I would've fallen too hard.

But he didn't.

"It's okay," was all I said.

He backed away and slammed the door to the cabin on the way in. I turned my back to the cabin, so no one looking through the windows could see the tears streaming down my face, so cold that I felt as though they might freeze.

Regret beat through my heart.

No, I told myself, but I was already heading back inside. I saw Athern in there, standing by the hearth looking disheveled, and went straight to him.

"I love you too," I said.

He didn't say anything back, he just grabbed me and gripped me in the strongest hug. When he let me pull back for air, I continued, "But I loved Remor as well, even if I do see you both in entirely different ways. You, I know you. You don't feign an insincere good nature, you're just you."

"You don't have to choose." His warm hands felt like fire on my frozen face. "I'll be here for you as long as you'll have me."

"I believe I will, if you'd be willing to marry, once we return to Orion."

"I was planning on being the one to propose, but I suppose I'll simply have to say yes." Oh, how I'd come to love the childish grin on his face.

That night was a cold one. The place was rather large for a cabin, with two small beds in one room. Clearly Remor and Athern wouldn't be sharing a bed, so that left an awkward tension in the room.

Athern curled into the bed I had already got in, bringing a couple extra blankets to block out the cold, and I scooted as close as I could while facing him. He pulled the blankets over our heads, shutting out Remor and anyone else in the world. His hands moved suddenly, and he pulled me even closer, then gently pressed his lips to mine.

The night didn't feel as cold as it had before.

He kissed me again, and as I kissed him back, they became quicker and more profound. He pulled me against him, playing off of his own experience, which I wasn't expecting. My only kiss before had been the one on the docks, which was hardly even a peck.
The thought suddenly came to me that this was a god with several hundreds, if not thousands, of years of experience with women.

"Are you okay?" He asked, noticing my sudden frigidity.

"Yes... I've just never kissed someone like this."

"You're doing fine," Athern said as he pressed his lips to my neck, relaxing my tension and earning a startled gasp.

"By the Realms," shouted Remor, "shut the fuck up. Save it for when I'm not around."

I had entirely forgotten he was there.