A Better World (Record of Ragnarok x Reader)

Chapter 39 - A Journey Through Memory Lane Part. 3.2

A/N: I've been thinking for some time about what to write after this chapter and I'm not sure whether to continue this story until we meet Arobynn again, or if we should just carry on with the Trial Battle. So, I'd appreciate if you commented what you guys wanted!

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The carriage wasn't much warmer than the outside. Celaena and Nehemia huddled together, cursing violently and rather creatively at the endless winter after an entire day at town.

Nehemia's latest vulgar concoction sent Celaena into a fit of howling laughter, so loud that one of the guards riding atop the carriage thumped twice to ask if all was right. Nehemia thumped thrice to assure him all was fine, but Celaena kept laughing until her stomach hurt.

When silence fell again, she looked at her friend and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. "I'd pay good money to see you say that to Queen Georgina."

Nehemia chuckled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thank you, Elentiya, for helping me today. I—I needed the dresses. And to get out of the castle for a bit."

Celaena sobered, and nodded. They passed through the wealthiest district, a blur of alabaster houses and emerald roofs, now iced over and gleaming in the lamplight. "Thank you for pretending. For one day, at least."

She felt Nehemia's eyes on her, but kept staring out at the wet streets, slick from a day of melting snow now turning to ice. After a while, Celaena asked, "Do you ever wonder what it'd be like if we truly were ordinary people?"

The princess chewed on her lip. "Sometimes."

"Do you ever wish you were? Ordinary, I mean."

Nehemia was quiet for a long moment, her eyes distant, as if she beheld some far-off land, warm and vibrant, its grasslands undulating under a hot summer sun. "It is my most selfish wish and daydream—to be normal, to be ordinary, to be free of my burdens."

She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath, hadn't realized just how important Nehemia's answer was to her until she'd heard it. Celaena sighed. "And yet you and I couldn't even pretend for a single day to be free of those burdens."

"I'm sorry," Nehemia said quietly.

"What have you to be sorry for? It was a foolish demand to make of you, anyway."

"I wish you could have a normal friend—not a princess or a captain or the son of the king. But just a normal friend, living a good, calm life."

"I don't have an interest in normal friends. Even if I were just an ordinary girl, I wouldn't want to be surrounded by ordinary folk. No, I'll take the rebel princesses and the sons of kings and the grumpy captains and the whores and the thieves any day. And I'd take you over a thousand ordinary girls."

Nehemia's smile trembled—just enough that Celaena had to turn to the window before she felt the sting in her own eyes.

The carriage turned down an avenue, and the glass castle arose before them, greenish and glimmering in the night sky.

"I am glad we're not ordinary, Elentiya." Nehemia was smiling into the darkness of the carriage. "It'd be so boring if we were."

Celaena grinned. "Incredibly boring."

"And, for what it's worth, I'd pick you over a thousand ordinary and extraordinary friends. I think even if we just met on the street, even if I just saw you in passing, I'd know what you are."

Celaena cocked her head to the side. "An assassin?"

Nehemia's dark eyes were bright as she shook her head. "The sister of my heart."