Pond of Words - Without Any Shame

The air is heavy, and the room is silent. Pieces of the clay cups lay on the floor with dark red wine spilling out of them. Next to the platter, lies on the floor Chara Kring, wearing beige colored trousers, a white undershirt and a gray apron. Her face lies on the cold stone floor with her short black hair covering her forehead. She had fully collapsed on the floor and continued laying there until anyone started speaking.

At the table she fell in front of, sat King Heraclius, his daughter Stella Widowgast and two younger men. They were already looking in her direction as she was holding the platter with their wine from the kitchen, and everyone saw her fall. At the moment of her fall, Princess Stella shivered in her seat and covered her mouth with her hand, leaving only her shocked expression visible. The king, fixing his long purple robe, quickly got up out of his chair, and pointed at Chara, shouting across the tavern:

"What is the meaning of this!? Who let this sorry excuse of a waiter into the tavern? Maximus, I thought your establishment was prestigious! What is this lowly peasant doing here!?"

At this moment, Maximus, the tavern's owner, rushes out of the kitchen to see what the ruckus is about. Seeing Chara on the ground and hearing the king shouting, his anger becomes visible on his face. He quickly walks to their table and grasps tightly on the back of Chara's shirt and begins to lift her, as the poor girl covers her red face with her right hand, trying to stop the pain from diving head first onto the floor. Maximus apologizes to everyone present about the incident, and quickly takes Chara into the kitchen while Sarah leaves into the main dining hall and begins cleaning Chara's mess.

Inside the kitchen, Maximus slams his fist at the counter while yelling at Chara, only mere inches away from her now crying face. The moment Chara tries to move away or cover her face, he moves her arms away with his hands.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you an idiot? An idiot? An Idiot!? I can't! I can't. I can't with your stupid kind. You are just a bunch of incompetent idiots! Why do I even bother? Why did I bother hiring you, Chara? Did I feel bad for you? Did I see any potential in your skill set? Well, I clearly did not!"

Chara attempts to murmur any kind of defense back, but the moment her mouth opens, Maximus yells louder at her. She can't even muster a sound out, feeling combinations of pain, embarrassment, incompetence and even fear.

"That's it. Get out. Get. Out. We are done. I can't deal with your stupid incompetence and empty head anymore. Never, and I mean never, look in my direction again. I don't want to see you even on the street. Get out, and never return here. We are done."

His words stab at Chara's heart, making her panic even more. She can't control her tears anymore, and begins profusely crying, as she takes her gray apron off, and leaves the tavern through the back exit. The nearby buildings are short, and the starry night sky is visible from the street. Her legs are still shaking as she crouches down in the back alley behind the tavern. She holds her face with her hands in utter disbelief of what she had done, and the consequences that will follow.

Inside the main dining hall of the tavern, King Heraclius continues enjoying his dinner with everyone at the table. However, Stella seems to not be eating as much after witnessing Chara's fall. Her head is full of thoughts and worry for her, and she gets up from the table, apologizing to everyone present, before walking to Sarah standing in the dinning hall and asking her for directions to the restroom. Upon entering the bathroom, Stella takes a deep breath and washes her face. She tries to make herself forget what she had seen, however she struggles since she accepts the reality: she cares for Chara. After a few moments of staring at herself in the mirror, she hears a door swing and shut loudly outside, followed by a few footsteps and a woman crying. The door opens again, and she hears Maximus shouting:

"Here's your apron. I don't even want to have this dirty disgrace in here. Leave. I don't want you scaring my customers."

He throws the apron on the ground, not even in the direction Chara was crouching in. After hearing these words, Stella understands the situation and realizes Chara is outside, crying. She panics for a second, before deciding to confront her. Not knowing what's the best approach, she decides to get outside through the restroom window; as it was close to the ground. She opens the window, and jumps outside. Upon landing, the dust on the ground rises and she cleans and straightens her light-blue gown.

Chara looks in Stella's direction and for a moment stops crying. She doesn't manage to get any words out before Stella starts approaching her. Stella spoke to Chara in a quiet and gentle way:

"Hey. It's okay. You're okay. Are you hurt?"

Chara shakes her head, still crouching down. She wipes her tears, but she continues crying.

"Alright. That is good. You're okay. I will come closer, okay? Let me sit beside you." Stella crouches to Chara's level, and puts her arm over Chara's shoulders, letting her lean into her if she needed to.

"Apologies for my father, he was very loud in there. I'm sure the owner wasn't very pleased either...but you're okay now. Forget what happened, okay? What is important is that you are okay now."

Chara nods her head; still crying. Despite her opinions of the royal family, she is glad the princess is next to her now. She is calming down, but very slowly. She sits down and leans into Stella's shoulder and body, while Stella keeps her arm around Chara.

"It's all okay. I'm here for you. Forget everything that happened. Tell me, Chara. Are you feeling better now?"

Chara nods once more as she wipes her tears, "Yeah. A bit better. Th-thank you. I'm s-sorry for what happened."

"Don't apologize. Don't let it concern you anymore. I'm glad you're okay. Was the apothecary yours? Or do you just work there? You can tell me."

"It's my mother's, yeah. Both me and my sister help her. I...wasn't expecting you to come..."

"Hah, you tell me! I was so exhausted that day. We went to so many places to inspect and check...and yours was last. Best for last, huh?"

Chara smiles, at which point her tears stopped. Stella calmed her down, and they continued their conversation. Stella removes her arm from Chara's shoulders, and moves in front of her, sitting down while looking and talking to her.

"You also saw my brother. He sure is...eccentric, isn't he? We are only living in his world."

"Yeah...he was funny. Completely took me by surprise when he spoke to me. He mentioned you were sick..."

"Right, he did. An idiot, really. But we were both slightly freaked out when we saw each other again, so he kinda calmed us both. Did you see how he was touching all those plants? You would think he lived underground! Like he had never seen a plant before!"

They both laugh, although at Austin's expense. It is at this moment, the boundaries of their social statuses collapse. Stella and Chara are sitting together on the stone road, sharing the moment under the moonlight. Chara stopped seeing Stella as royalty, but rather, as someone very close to her, and on her level. As they continue talking, she moves a little closer to Stella, and brings her hand close to hers, before slowly grabbing it and holding it. Stella doesn't mind.

"I really didn't know there were that many different herbs and such...and all in one place! It smelled so much like a forest! Except it was so warm, and kind of hard to breathe in. But I guess that's because all the windows were closed-"

Stella's line of thought was seemingly interrupted, as Chara held on to her hand tightly, and moved in even closer to Stella, a mere inches away from her face, before clutching her hand even tighter, and leaving a kiss on her lips.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds, after which, they both looked away from each other, both very red in the face, attempting to hide their blushing cheeks from each other. Chara for a second felt as if she shouldn't have done that, looking away from Stella, she spoke:

"I-I am...I shouldn't have-"

Stella put her left arm on Chara's shoulder and slowly started getting up, gesturing Chara to get up as well. They both stand shoulder to shoulder. Stella holds both of Chara's hands, blushing and smiling at Chara's even redder face. On this warm summer evening, under the Moon's pale light, while tightening the grip on her hands, she spoke:

"I love you, Chara."

"From the moment I saw you in that alley. I didn't realize what this feeling was at the time, but after gathering my thoughts, I realized I really love you, Chara."

"And nobody could tell me otherwise. I am overwhelmingly glad you feel the same way, Chara."

The moment feels pristine. Both of their hearts, beating out of their chests, Chara's hands slightly shaking and Stella having a few tears building up in her eyes. After staying quiet for another few seconds, Chara whispered to Stella, with a smile on her face:

"What are we gonna do now?"

"I won't tell anyone. You don't have to either. This will be a little secret between us."

"I like that. We can keep it a secret."

"Of course. I should probably head back now. I've been in that 'restroom' for a while now..."

"S-Stella...when can I see you again?"

"How about tomorrow? We can meet where I first saw you...at the Town Market. Same time, same place."

Chara lets go of Stella's hands, and gives her a hug. Stella returns the hug, and they remain like this for some time. Neither of them wants to depart from the other, only wanting to remain like this and continue feeling the other one's warmth. Stella taps on Chara's back, signaling that she unfortunately has to go, before either of them get caught, and they say goodbye to each other. Stella jumps back inside the restrooms' window and Chara laughs at her, before she turns around the corner of the tavern, and walks down Clover Avenue. Despite what had happened at the tavern, she cannot stop blushing and smiling on her way home.

To be continued.