A Healed Land

where we are now

It's been five years since the kingdom of Corona experienced the greatest event in all of it's history, “the eclipse” is what it was called although it wasn't just any eclipse, it was more of a crash between two monumental powers. Surprisingly there were no casualties, but nevertheless the kingdom suffered immensely from damages caused by the outrageous battle.

Varian scanned his hand across the bricks of the castle wall, you wouldn't know that these bricks had been knocked down and painted over. You wouldn't know that the marks in the corner of the sidewalk were from anything other than the passage of time, unless you had been there.
It was a sunny, peaceful autumn afternoon. Dust glittered through the air as if it were later than it was, autumn had a way of keeping the sky golden and warm. ”I guess I can say I’ve had a really interesting life so far, even if nothing else happens, at least I was there for the eclipse…” Varian had a habit of whispering to himself when Ruddiger wasn't around, it helped him feel less alone. Sometimes he liked to imagine telling Cass thoughts like these, if she liked to go for walks and think about things like that. He knew that was probably ridiculous, and that she wouldn't have time for a boy like him, even though now he was 24 she was still 4 years older and probably had more adult things to think about, he still kinda felt younger although he had engineering as a pretty stable career he was much less traveled and honestly, he didn't have a solid idea of where he would end up. Besides, he might have just been imagining that he even had a shot with her, yet, he didn't really care, he just liked having her in his head, even if it was a secret. He startled out of his thoughts at the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Hey Var, what are you doing over here? This is a pretty secluded area… oh wait, sorry! Sometimes people like to be alone…” Rapunzel quickly caught herself, she was probably remembering how Cass hated to be smothered.

“Oh, hey Rapunzel. No, it's okay I was just thinking- we could run a pipe down this wall, and that way we could have hot water all the way from the top of the spire for the guards, and run it down to the stables over there for the horses in the winter.”
He wasn't lying, he had been thinking about that for weeks… just not for the past half hour, when he was thinking about setting up a very romantic picnic in this very secluded corner for a very mysterious lady… Or, even better, sending secret letters to meet here during the winter, in the snow. Maybe it would be some convoluted reason to be close together and keep each other warm by a campfire… “This could be a really nice spot.” He looked up at Rapunzel to see if she bought the story.

“That is awesome Var! Only you could do what you do, buddy! We're so lucky to have you.” Warm as always, if she knew his thoughts were wandering she barely let on. “Let me know if we need to order any materials! I guess I'll leave ya to it then… brainstorming… or calculations or whatever.” maybe she did notice… a little. She started to turn to walk away.

“Rapunzel, um.” He hesitated, he was about to call his own bluff and clue her in on what he was actually thinking about. He reached back and scratched his head and neck, a tell that he just couldn't catch before it happened.

Rapunzel’s eyes politely looked to the ground with knowing grace as she tried to keep a casual half smile. “...No… I haven't heard from her.” She had grown used to the exchange over the years. He used to be so excitable and expectant every time, and he always tried to play it cool as if it were just a friendly question, just sheer curiosity, but now it was different, the fact that it had been five whole years really said something. Rapunzel discreetly knew that it must have been a type of love (albeit, unrequited as far as she was certain) to keep a candle burning for this long- and that must be hard. There was a pause in the air after she spoke, as if her words had frozen Varian’s expression. He quickly turned back towards the castle wall trying not to let his eyes drop for too long. He knew that Rapunzel was used to his boyish disappointment by now, but it was futile to keep having those same conversations, wearing those same emotions. No, it was better to pretend that it was getting easier.