The Best Way Forward

The way back towards the Baroness’s house felt a lot shorter to Ui despite taking longer, slower jumps on the way back. Between jumps, she occasionally looked back towards the mountain until the darkness of the night had absorbed it completely. She paused every now and then, remembering what Fahbe said, trying to not let it disrupt her balance.

In the nobles’ district, on the northern peninsula of Nallient, a lone light lit the rooftop of the Baroness’s house. Instead of walking discreetly towards it, she leapt directly onto the source of the light.

“Are you stupid?” Cro’s tone showed his seriousness. Ui walked over the roof towards Cro, who already had a cushion for her to sit on. “I got woken up in the middle of the night by a terrified servant with a wig in her hands who told me you’d left the house hours ago and told her to pretend to be you.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Her attempt to be smug came out flat. She sat on the cushion next to Cro, and rested her head on his shoulder. Cro threw a blanket over her legs. He then changed the light orb he used to guide Ui back into a larger, warmer, more pleasant blue magic orb. “That’s a neat trick. Did they teach you that at the Royal Mage school? Maybe I should’ve enrolled, too…” Ui’s attempt at humor came out emotionless, and they both sat together looking at the moon, warmed up by each other and Cro’s magic.

“Did you find your answers?”

Ui lightly nodded on Cro’s shoulder. His smooth sleeping clothes were comfier to lean on than his usual uniform. His warmth was not only welcome, but necessary.

“Are you sure you can trust that girl?” he asked.

“Renne? She’s just young and… scared. But I felt that I could trust her. Why worry about that? Look…” Ui fixed her eyes forwards. “There’s nothing but the stars around us.”

“You’ll pay a price for your curiosity one day, Ui. If you haven’t already…” Cro leaned his head on Ui’s in return. Ui’s exhaustion seemed to have reached him, too.

“I spent so much time in my head imagining the worst things…”

“Was it worse than that?”

“No, but it was still…” Ui’s voice lacked its usual energy. “It was still just, so sad…”

The two stayed close together for a while, perhaps even dozing off for a few minutes at a time, with their heads supporting each other. Only their breathing disturbed the silence.

“They didn’t even lose the war, or a fight… They just lost what came after. And all along Aure stood by, defending itself, and those stupid rocks. It’s awful, Cro…”

“I know. History books never really show the pain, do they?”

Ui wrapped her arms around Cro's body and leaned closer to him, as he placed his arm over her shoulders. “And they tried so hard, too, and for so long. Some are still trying…” Her voice became weaker and quieter, merging with the silence of the night.

“There’s limits to what willpower can do, Ui. Would you have wanted to be forced to defend this place, too?”

Ui remained quiet, thinking about Cro’s question, but ultimately ignored it. “All we thought was that Nallimaru had won its fight. I thought that it was free and full of Udari...”

After a few minutes of both of them fading in and out of dreams, Cro finally offered to carry Ui inside, and they both spent the night alone with their feelings, in their respective rooms.

◆

The morning after, Ui overslept like she had been since she got there. But when Renne finally decided to check in on her, Ui was another person completely.

“Good day, Renne.” Ui smiled at her. “Thank you for your clothes. Do you think I can keep them? I’ll make sure you get paid.”

“It’s fine. I don’t use them at all, Miss Ui…”

“I’m sorry I forced my secrets on you.”

Renne seemed a lot more nervous and reserved than usual.

“I’m here to change things, Renne. And I’m grateful for your help.” Nothing Ui said calmed Renne down.

“Lunch will be served soon…” Renne, confused, bowed and walked away.

When she walked out of her room, Ui was surprised to learn that Cro had remained in his room, too. She knocked for a long time, pounding the door lightly with the side of her fist until a mildly unhappy Cro opened the door. “You keep me up and then you don’t let me sleep…”

Ui barged into Cro’s room and threw herself on his bed. “Hey, I didn’t ask you to stay up.” But she appreciated it. “My mind is much clearer now, though.”

“So what’s next?” Cro sighed with exhaustion mixed in.

Ui couldn’t help but relive some of the pain from the night before. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she wasn’t going to wallow in uncertainty. Fahbe, the whole north and its history… She had to try something different. “The past was full of possibilities, but all we can do is find the best way forward.”

“Is that an Udari saying or something?”

“Something like that...” Ui couldn’t and didn’t want to hide her sadness from Cro.

“So what is that way forward?”

Ui took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. Ui had an idea, and gradually gathered her determination. “Get ready for lunch.”

Ui waited outside his room for Cro to get ready, and they both went to the dining room together. The Baroness and her husband were there when they arrived.

“Ah, the siblings join us finally!” The Baroness’s husband Victure seemed glad to see both of them show some signs of life together.

“I’m happy to have you with us, Ui. We were beginning to think the season here was affecting you. It’s quite common in these parts.” The Baroness welcomed Ui to the table.

“It’s true that this place has affected me. But, I can’t stay like that forever.” Ui’s voice grew determined.

“Is there anything in particular you’d like to eat?” asked the Baroness.

“Yes,” Ui answered confidently. “I want an Udari mushroom mussa.” Ui beamed a smile at the table while Cro shook his head.

“Can we have whatever that is please?” The Baroness waved at one of the servants, who dashed out of the room.

A few minutes later, an older Udari cook walked into the dining room. “I’m sorry, we can’t seem to get any of the Udari mushrooms… we do have salted meat this time of year, though.”

“Perfect!” Ui’s enthusiasm seemed to unsettle everyone in the room, but her happiness gradually spread onto them, too. “By the way, I really like it with some Uman herbs mixed into the dough. It makes it much better!” The cook bowed and smiled before returning to the kitchen to start cooking.

“I’ve never had that before. Why haven’t we?” Victure seemed curious and excited about the Udari dish.

“We barely have that at the capital, too…” Cro tried to give the household an easy way out of Ui’s demands.

The Baroness sipped her drink, but Ui noticed her smiling discreetly, too.

When the servants started bringing the mussas out, Ui stopped them.

“I would really like it if all the servants could join us for lunch, too. Would that be possible, Baroness?”

The Baroness laughed. “Duke Bourin did say you were quite different.” The Baroness then addressed the servants. “Do as she asks.”

“Only if you want to… or are hungry. I won’t mind if you don’t want to.” Ui warmly smiled towards the servants.

The Baroness’s table, usually empty for the most part, housed the entire house’s staff that day. Slowly the mussas started showing up from the kitchen, as the servants scrambled to serve Ui’s impromptu party. What was a quiet and orderly dining room was soon home to a chaos composed of voices, the warm aroma of food, and even some laughter.