New Era

TWO

In the balcony, they looked over to see if any more guests had arrived, but sadly there were no other person. So they just decided to wait.

"It's a beautiful night isn't it?" Said Mare, looking to the fallen sun with the stars in the sky.
"Yes, it is" Farley said. "But let's finish the conversation about Cal because I don't like being in this type of chat." She added losing her patience a little.
"Yeah, but what do you want to know?" Mare questioned.
"I don't know. With everything that happened between you two I can't imagine why you both don't make it official"
The question shocked Mare. Despite that, she answered.
"It's because..." she started talking but she hadn't had the time to finish since Farley interrupted her.
"Look, a car from Norta is arriving." Farley said loudly getting Mares attention.

Then, black car with a red, black and silver stripe on its side arrived at the castle.
"Already?!" Mare said panicking.
"Just try to be calm Barrow." Farley said patting Mare's shoulder. "Are you going with me or are you staying here?"
"I'm coming with you." Mare said determined.

When they got into the hall of the ballroom, they saw Davidson and Carmadon greeting the representatives. Soon, Mare saw Cal in the end of the line but he didn't noticed her right away.

"Oh damn." She whispered to herself. "You can do this Mare, you can do this."

Cal was wearing a black suit with his brooches and military rank. Soon enough, their eyes met and they both frozen.

They were both different. He was handsome as always but Mare betted that most of his scars were gone. She also had changed. She was more beautiful than usual but Cal noticed that the scar on her clavicle was still there.

"Why?" he wondered.
But he already knew the answer.

Cal greeted both of the hosts and then went directly towards Mare.

They both shared a long sigh but despite the differences, he still knew that Mare's behavior was the same. What shocked both was that they both went to a hug at the same time. But it didn't felt the same as usual.

"I missed you Cal." Mare said shyly.
"Uhmm..." Cal said looking very nervous.
"Somethings off..." Mare wondered.

In an instant, they broke apart and he greeted Farley and went to the dance hall. But Mare didn't go with him since she needed to have a little chat with the colonel.

"What do I do now?!"
"Just be you Mare." Farley said. "If you need me I'll be outside." She added exiting the hall.
"Alright." Mare answered. "Well, I guess now I need to handle this on my own."

Mare entered the ballroom and  headed right to Gisa.
She was talking with Kilorn, but Mare didn't mind him.

"Sister we need to talk."
"Okay..." Gisa answered confused.
"What about me Mare?" Kilorn questioned sadly.
"I'll talk to you later." Mare said leading Gisa to the other corner of the room.
"What happened Mare?!"
"I just saw Tiberias.'' Mare said with a worried face.
''And...'' Gisa said while waiting Mare to continue.
''He's different Gisa, he just hugged me and then headed directly to the other guests." She said worried.
"Why don't you talk to him in a separated place? Maybe he's shy to show his feelings in front of all these people. Plus you two haven't seen each other in months."
"Yeah, that looks like Cal." Mare said. "But why do I bother this much?"
"Do I really need to answer the question?!"

Mare looked at Gisa and knew what she needed to do.
In a second Mare turned her back on Gisa and started to walk to Cal's direction.

"Are you going to talk to him now?" Gisa asked.
"Well, there's no time to waste." Mare said.

When she got there she was a pile of nerves but she talked to him anyway.

"Cal..." she said shyly. "Do you want to talk outside?"
"Yes, sure..." he said nervously.

When they got in the garden suddenly he questioned her.

"Is everything fine Mare?"
"Yes it is, but the real question is if everything is fine with you. Because when we were in the hall you seemed careless about me." She said sadly.
"Mare, you know that I'll always care about you." he said. "I was just nervous about seeing you again. On my way here I wandered if you had moved on, if you forgot about me...but now I can see that you waited." "Obviously I would wait for you..." Mare said with a smile.

Instantly he crashed his lips on Mare's and she returned with the same will.
After a period of time they broke apart and hugged tightly and kindly. That felt right.

"Well, what do we do now?" Mare questioned curiously.
"You know what Mare? I forgot to do one thing."

Suddenly he got down in one knee holding a black box with a beautiful diamond ring on it and asked Mare a question she didn't expected.

"Do you want to finally be my girlfriend Mare Molly Barrow?"
"Yes I want Cal!!" She said excitedly.

But what they didn't knew was that Mare's family were watching them all the time since Gisa told them what Mare was going to do. After the proposal they all shouted happily to the couple.

"Oh my God." Mare said ashamed but she was laughing.
"So, let's go up because the dinner is almost starting." Cal remembered.

And the couple went to the ballroom as happy as always.
Just after, the bell rang meaning that it was ten o'clock and all the guests were at the large table waiting for the dinner to be served.