Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

(Short Story -XI.) *Letters from a Weakling*

Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

Copyright © 2011 Sky_Knight

(Short Story -XI.)

*Letters from a Weakling *

Once there was a woman who came from a foreign land to marry into an old family.

Her husband was from a tiny village in the mountains but he was working in a thriving harbor town abroad when he met and fell in love with her. At the time he asked her to marry him, his father in his home country collapsed and died. Being the eldest son in his family, the young man had no choice but to return to his homeland-taking her with him, of course.

Her name was Myna. This was not a name used by the women of his homeland.

Indeed, her name was not the only thing about her that was different. The color of her skin, hair, and eyes, and the language she spoke were all different.

Had the young man's hometown been a harbor city where people of many different lands cross paths, there would have been nothing unusual about this. In such places there were any number of homes that welcomed foreign men and women into the family, generation after generation.

"But this is about as deep in the country as you can get." The young man told Kaim, sighing, on the night he made Myna his wife.

Kaim had rushed here all the way from the harbor town in the far country to attend the wedding.

At the banquet, the young man had given Kaim a look, and the two had slipped away from the festivities. They were standing in the garden, looking up at the night sky.

"When the eldest son marries, his wishes are of no importance. What matters is 'family'.

The two families negotiate the engagement, and a bride is chosen who is acceptable to the groom's parents. That's how it was with my parents, and my grandparents did the same."

"I know what you mean." Kaim said with a nod.

Judging from the formal wedding ceremony, it was easy to imagine the highly conservative nature of the area, and just as easy to imagine that the relatives had not welcomed Myna into the family.

"Alex" Kaim said to the young man.

"Yes?" the young man answered, still looking up at the sky.

"You are the only one who can protect Myna, you know."

"I know that much, Kaim."

"Myna is a wonderful girl."

"I know that, too, of course."

The three were good friends. Kaim and Alex had worked together offloading ships at the same pier, and also together they had often gone to the neighborhood where Myna worked in an outdoor stall. Even now Kaim retains the bitter sweet memory of Alex and Myna struggling to communicate in each other's languages.

"You know, Kaim" Alex said that night under the sky, "I think you sensed it, too, but Myna was drawn less to me than to-"

Kaim cut him short. "Never mind." He said with a pained smile.

Of course Kaim knew how Myna felt. And if he had responded to her feeling, she and Alex would not have been married here today.

But Kaim had held back. Instead, he had urged Alex to pursue his love for Myna and helped the two come face to face. He felt no regrets about having played the part of an unlikely Cupid for them. Destined to continue his never-ending journey, Kaim was unable to love Myna in return.