~ The Unworthy Title ~

~ Chapter 7 ~

   "No it's okay I was just surprised."

   "I could leave if you want." He told me and turned his back.

    "No, stay." He turned around and faced me again with his gold eyes. Those eyes, I could get lost in his eyes forever. I looked at the mountains, the endless sky. Then I looked at him. He was tall and dressed in a black suit. He seemed pretty strong as if he was a soldier lost in that madness, he didn't fit there. With them, with...me. Well, at least I was not the only one wearing black. He caught me watching and I looked away. I felt my heart racing.

Every beat of my heart was louder and faster as the seconds passed. I couldn't feel my feet. Why was I feeling like that? What made him affect me that way? He was looking at me. Without looking I knew he was looking at me, I could feel his eyes never leaving me. I just stared at the sky trying not to look at him, not to look in his eyes full of dreams and fake promises. I heard Aiden's second song playing, I had some minutes left.

I looked down for a moment. Some people were leaving. Can I follow you? I wanted to shout. Can I live another's life? Can I live without thinking for a moment? I took a big breath and sighed. The sound my mouth made was too loud in the silence. The strange man looked at me again with curiosity.

   "Long day?" He asked me. I looked at him, at his face. He was calm, almost smiling. I gave him a warm smile and sighed again.

   "Not exactly, tomorrow is going to be a long day though." He looked at me with curious eyes, his expression looked as if he was playing a kind of game.

   "What's going to happen tomorrow?"

   "I'm going to the academy at Keith." He looked almost surprised when he heard that. Maybe he mistook my age and didn't expect it. He raised his eyebrows.

   "I see. Nervous ?"

   "I don't know. I'm not quite sure what feelings I should feel." He gave me a playful smile.

   "There's no should or must in feelings. You should just live the moment. As for tomorrow, I think you should not worry. The years I spent at the academy were some of the happiest in my life." He said putting a hand to his heart as a promise.
He gave me an encouraging smile and I laughed. I didn't know why. There wasn't anything funny about him. He just made me laugh. He felt so warm and relaxed.

   "Well sometimes we are forced to say things or feel them to please everyone else except ourselves." I said staring at the sky to not think too much about what I just said. It was true. It was the truth of my life and every other's life. Nobody was allowed to think or feel freely anymore. And you couldn't speak openly because the truth was often too harsh for some people. He turned his body now focusing fully on me.

   "You can use those moments where you play that game of riddles and fake feelings to your advantage."

   "How can I do that ?" I asked him seriously, ready to listen to what he had to suggest.

   "By controlling where the conversation goes and who is forced to say what." He grinned in his own words. It was as if he was an open book. Full of secrets ready to be revealed, not ready but excited even. It was like he wanted you to look at him, read him, learn what he had to offer to you. But was it an open book or just a delusion to confuse and blind you from the truth.

   "How about a dance?" He asked me and held out his hand for me to hold it.

   "I don't want to get back inside yet. I'm sick of the crowd." I didn't want to disappoint him. But I didn't want to leave that sweet silence either.

   "That's alright, we don't need to get inside." I looked around. The balcony was big but not that big for us to dance freely.

   "Here? How?"

   "Have some faith." He told me and smiled in a cunning way. I laughed again at his words and his expression.

   "How can I have faith in some stranger whose name I don't know?" The strange man just raised his shoulders as an answer, his smile never leaving his face. He was full of mystery but the kind of mystery that you wanted to drown inside it, feel it even. I laughed again as I gave him my hand and he pulled me closer to him.

He waited for Aiden to finish the song he was playing so we could dance at the next one. He looked inside my eyes and I looked away. I couldn't think clearly with him looking at me like that. He looked down at our feet and then at my hands. I realized I hadn't put my hands in position for us to start. I rushed putting my right hand on his shoulder and my left hand held his. He was staring at me the whole time as if he was enjoying watching me feeling awkward. I looked at him and laughed.

I hadn't laughed that much since forever. Aiden started a new song and the man and I looked at each other's eyes.

   "How are we gonna do this here?" The man gave me a slightly annoyed look and told me to trust him. He gave me a nod and I looked at our feet. He started doing some steps that looked like they were from Zion. I started doing the same steps and then he moved around with our hands together as one the entire time. We moved around each step following Aiden's rhythm.

Our hands danced too as if they were on their own. I looked at his face. He was smiling again with those beautiful eyes and that perfect smile. I suddenly realized that I wasn't really feeling the floor, I was feeling my shoes either as if I wasn't touching the ground. I looked down to find out my senses were right. I wasn't touching the ground in fact the strange man and I were now floating to the sky and with each step we were going higher. A wave of fear passed through me and I started panicking not knowing what to do with my feet. I felt the man's hands stronger and he pulled me closer.

   "It's alright don't worry, I won't let us fall." I looked at him and chuckled by surprise.

   "You are the one doing this ? How?"


   "I'm from Zion, I control the air. The trick here is to control the air touching our feet so we don't fall." I looked at the stars, they were closer. I was closer.

Everything was beautiful up there. We continued our dance with our feet never giving up and our hands moving around as if the music controlled them. With each step and each turn my heart felt as if it would explode. The song started its finale and we started to go down back to the balcony with each step. When the song stopped we were on the balcony. Our breaths were like strong winds and our hearts beat like drums. We were still holding each other's hands. We were still ready for another round. But I had to get inside. It was my time to play. I left his hand and tried to control my breathing.

   "I have to get inside." The man looked at me with an understanding look on his face.

   "If we meet again, I will give you another reason not to worry about what to feel." I tried to remember our conservation before our dance and when I realized what he was talking about I laughed again with him for the last time. I didn't want this to be the last time.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the dance I went back inside and played my songs. The entire time I was playing I could see the strange man watching my every move with a proud smile. I didn't want him to leave, I wanted him to tell me his name, I wanted him to show me the entire world I had missed. I wanted him to show me his kingdom full of mountains and the people flying around the sky. But I knew I had to stay there and leave in the morning for the academy.

~~~~~~~~~~
 
After the ball everybody went home and I went to Keir's room to talk, he was with our father all day. He sure needed some time to cool off. I faced his room door and knocked on the door with a unique rhythm which was made by me and Keir when he used to play music with his drums for me to dance, two slow knocks then two fast ones and then one last one.

   "Get in!" Keir shouted from inside. I opened the door to find him lying in his bed with his arms crossed behind his head looking at the roof. He raised his head and looked at me.

   "Exhausted?" I asked with a smile mocking him. He just nodded very fast to make his exhaustion obvious. He forced his body to move into a sitting position as I took a seat next to him.

   "How was it? I mean being with him as his... heir." Keir didn't look me in the eyes, he was thinking what answer to give. What answer I wanted to hear. Or needed.

   "I mean... I've spent my whole life trying to live up to his expectations, being good at combat, strategy and history. But..."

   "Actually being with him and doing half his work is making it feel more real." I cut him. He finally looked at me and nodded.

   "I know it's weird, it's weird for us too, you know. Seeing you next to him talking with the other kings while we stay with the other people as if we are like them and not-"

   "Like us." He cut me, referring to him and our father. Silence followed for one minute. Not knowing what to say to go back to speaking.

   "I saw you had fun with Alarick." Keir said, obviously trying to change the subject.

   "No, that was only for our father's eyes."

   "Why are you like this with him? You both have been hating each other since you were kids for no reason." My mind went back to the memories of my childhood. When I had a life to be happy and not just surviving each day. Alarick would come often with his family thanks to Aiden's and Sam's friendship. Alarick had a sister too, just a year younger than us but she wasn't very good with people she preferred to keep her distance before knowing you.

   "I don't like his character, he doesn't like mine. That's it, end of story." Keir just sighed as an answer.

   "Well now that you will see him more often you have to at least try to get along with him."

   "Why? I will see him only at the academy." Keir went silent. He knew something.
 
   "What is it?"

   "You won't like it."

   "Try me." I waited for him to answer when he took a big breath and looked at me.

   "Keith's queen and dad discussed you and Alarick. They made a decision. If you succeed in awakening your powers you will stay at Keith. To marry him. Marry Alarick. They want this marriage to succeed as a sign of the union of the two kingdoms."