A Princess Named Harry

Chapter 44

After a while of staying together hugging, Varian looked down at Harry and quietly called her. He wondered if she was going to let go or continue to hug him forever. He leaned down to her ear and whispered her name.

Harry's eyes shot open, and she became very flustered. She hadn't realized just how clingy she was being. She quickly released him and took a couple of steps backwards.

"M-my apologies," she said stuttering.

Varian stared at her tomato colored face and smiled softly. He spoke in a calm tone, "No, it's alright."

He looked at her up and down. He noticed that she appeared far more elegant than before. She had grown. He tried to start up a conversation with her.

"I heard that you've taken up swordsmanship."

"Yes, I have."

All of Harry's embarrassment suddenly vanished as she began to tell him about everything she had learned since he left.

"Is that so?" he asked. "It seems like you've been very busy during my absence."

Harry thought about her answer quietly. She couldn't help but to smile and laugh. "Yeah, I have."

Somehow the mood around them had changed.

"But you're here now, and that means we can have even more adventures! It can be just the two of us!"

Varian snickered and asked her, "Oh, is this your way of asking me out?"

Harry became flustered again. "Well-well it will be just the two of us so . . . so I guess that's what that would mean."

Harry thought it was right since that's what her teacher had described a date as.

"I'm only kidding," Varian replied.

"Oh, I-I see."

"But I do have to admit, you've grown into quite the lady while I was gone."

"Of course," Harry replied. She moved away from him and twirled her parasol around. She had a goofy grin on her face. "I am a lady, after all!"

Varian paused before he sighed, "Yeah, you are."

Harry nodded and then asked, "Do you want to go on a walk?"

"Sure," Varian answered.

The two of them began to walk together side by side.

As they walked, they began to talk about many things. Some of it was important while some of it was not.

"So tell me, what was it like on your adventure?"

"Hm? You mean my time away on an expedition which was actually a sort of punishment due to the order of a certain crown prince?"

"Um . . . yeah . . . that . . . so . . . how was that?"

Harry was surprised by Varian's bitterness and aggressiveness towards Kahil.

"Well, after I left with the group we had to travel very far. It was long and treacherous."

"Oh."

"Things soon became troublesome when we entered into certain forbidden territory."

"Certain forbidden territory?"

Harry became nervous to hear more. "What-what happened?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but-"

Varian's story was interrupted by a sudden strong gust of wind. It yanked Harry's parasol out of her hands. It was carried down a small but steep and rocky cliff.

"My parasol!" she cried. She attempted to climb down to get it when Varian stopped her.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "It's dangerous."

Harry looked up and him with a sad expression and whined, "My . . . my parasol! I need to get it back!"

Varian gripped onto Harry's arm tightly. "No you don't," he replied sternly. "It's just a parasol, you can always get another one."

"But that was given to me as a gift!" tested Harry.

"No buts, let's go."

He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he let go of her arm and trusted her to follow behind him. However, Harry quickly made her move. She carefully started her descent down the rough cliff. As she climbed, she could still hear Varian's voice.

"I'm sure you can buy another parasol just as nice as the one you had." He waited for Harry's response but was only answered by silence.

"Okay?" he asked again.

" . . . "

"Princess?"

He finally turned around only to find her gone. He raced over to the edge of the cliff to see her in the middle of climbing down it.

"What are you doing?" he shouted. "Climb back up here!"

"I'm okay," Harry replied as she carefully maneuvered around the unstable rocks.

"No, you aren't! It's not safe!" He sounded very worried about her. It was probably the first time he had ever been so flustered. "Don't climb anymore!" he shouted down at her. "I'll come down and get you, so wait for me, Harry."

Harry could hear how worried Varian was for her. She stopped and looked up at him. "Varian," she called. "Are you-"

She couldn't finish her sentence because she was met with surprise.

"Harry!"

Harry looked at the rock that had fallen from her grasp and back up at Varian. She could see his face filled with fear, but also the bright blue sky. She admired it as the color matched his eyes so well.

She knew she should've been worried and scared for herself, but there was such a beautiful sight in front of her that she couldn't think of anything else. Not even as she was falling. She closed her eyes as she tried to keep the view to herself.

As she fell, she could hear Varian screaming her name desperately, but she didn't respond.

"Harry!" Varian screamed again. He knew he did not have enough time to climb down the cliff safely and also save Harry.

He cursed angrily in a voice filled with anguish before he made a radical decision to jump from the edge of the cliff.

He reached out his hand and tried to grab Harry's, but he couldn't reach. He was falling slower than he thought he would.

"Harry!" he shouted. "Grab my hand!"

She slowly opened her eyes and saw Varian with a look of desperation on his face and his hand stretched out to his upmost limit. Despite Harry's body feeling heavy from gravity, she reached her hand out as far as she could to reach his.

The two struggled to reach one another which made it all the more relieving when they finally did.

Varian tightly squeezed Harry's hand. He pulled her close to shield her from the hard impact.

He whispered something to her, but it was too muffled for her to understand what he had said.

They thought they would continue to fall forever, but their journey quickly ended with a loud thud.