Yuragwyn: Ours

---Chapter 21

∞Kaitra∞

                Honorable Urien’s expression silenced the waiting unit, and no one made mention of the meeting when we returned to their side for the rest of the day and all through the next.  Quietly, he, Hiltraud, Maxen, and I meet together after dark to discuss how we can keep Agleton’s rebellion from becoming the sword that will cut the country into little irreconcilable bits.  I shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, seeing more and more that the key lies with me, in me, is me. 

                “Are you willing, Lady Kaitra?” Hiltraud asks. 

                I don’t answer for a while but watch his long blonde curls fall from the crown of his head and around his little tube-like ears to the scruff on his chin and his broad, muscular shoulders.  “Yes,” I say, wincing at the hint of weakness that slips from my chapped lips. 

                “Are you willing, Maxen?” Honorable Urien asks in turn.

                “I am always ready to defend my country and Miss Lady Kaitra.  I think the real question is whether or not she will allow me to accompany her.  Will you do me the honor, Miss Lady Kaitra?” he bows grandly, and I can’t help but laugh. 

                “Most certainly, good sir.”

                “It’s settled then.  You will take two of our best pegasuses to Cordina and then to Rite.” Honorable Urien decides briskly.  

                I nod and look around at the pitched tents with quiet sleepers in them and to mine, which I must forgo tonight.  We pack quietly, and before long Maxen and I each hold the bridle of a great stallion.  I grip Honorable Urien’s forearm and exchange forced smiles with him.  Hiltraud extends his, but even as I grip it I step towards him and fall into his strong arms.  It feels strange now to travel without him. 

                “Farewell, Lady Kaitra.  Today is a peaceful day.”

                I release him and climb on my pegasus.  “There has not been a peaceful day since just after I came.”

                He gestures to the plains we stand in.  There is quiet except for the rustling of the grasses and the exhaling and inhaling of a thousand men, women, and centaurs.  The stars twinkle such as they always have, and now I can recognize a few of the constellations I have spent so many nights looking at.  He smiles again at me.  “Today is a peaceful day.”

//•••//•••///•••\\\•••\\••\\

                Morning’s light finds Maxen and me alighting on the closely cropped, browning grass sloping from Cordina’s gates.  He takes my arm grandly, and we guide our pegasuses up and into the city while the watchman stares, gate and jaw hanging open and rather askew.  The few townspeople already up give us a straggling clap, pats on the shoulders, and fresh loaves of bread. 

                “Our Lady has returned safely!”

                “Yuragwyn will be saved!”

                I blush and wave shyly and follow the cobblestone up to Llyendal and Calanthe.  It’s been long, too long, since we’ve seen each other.  Will she still like me?  Will she be embittered by my leaving her and going to ease while she to uncertainty?  Will she come with us?

                With her, I can show those in Agleton Yuragwyn’s united future and rally them behind us to pursue that goal.  I know she is strong and very convincing, and her words might do better than mine in this soft-spoken and strongly traditional culture I share only biological connection to.