Lights and Laughter

Ui was startled when a square section of the rooftop was set aside, and a familiar Udari of light green hair pierced the colors of the night.

“Eep!”

Aro laughed at Ui’s reaction of surprise. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” He looked around, confused. “How did you get up here?”

Ui, who was still sitting down, leaned her head on her bent knees, hiding her face, and pointed towards the direction of her room. “Window…”

“Ah.” Aro sat down next to her. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The lights of the city meeting the stars.”

Ui looked up. The sight of the moon and the stars surprised her. She couldn’t tell when they appeared. “How did you know… I was here?”

“You can hear when people are up here…” Aro laughed playfully. “My sister used to come up here all the time.”

His happy memories with his family made Ui bury her face even deeper.

Aro reached towards the rooftop’s surface with his hands. “I remember helping my parents lay down these pieces… We would all sit up here when we were done for the day and watch the whole town…” Ui let the silence run its course as Aro continued his story with his voice half excited, and half nostalgic. “And Prishu would bring up ten times as many things as I could.”

The silence went on until Ui felt uncomfortable. “And Ruitt?”

“Ruitt he’s…” Aro started giggling. “He’s afraid of heights. Maybe Prishu messed with him a little too much. But don’t tell him, alright? Promise?” Aro winked playfully at Ui.

Ui smiled, barely. “I promise.” But Ui’s smile was too fragile to maintain, and the memories of that family started taking over her thoughts. “A beautiful family that was taken away from you…” Ui had to forcefully swallow to get rid of the knot in her throat. “It was… a happy family.” Her faint voice nearly disappeared into the quiet night.

“No, Ui.” Aro moved to sit in front of Ui, surprising her as they exchanged eye contact. “It’s still a happy family now.”

Ui scrambled to try to fix the situation. “I’m sorry I—”

Aro interrupted her. “No, I’m sorry. I brought up the sad things.”

Ui buried her face in her arms and knees once again.

“Everyone goes through things. Everyone went through things. You don’t have to apologize for that.” Aro, whose tone was usually kind, sounded a lot more serious.

The sounds of the city had quieted down as nighttime fully took over, and their voices stood out in the silence.

“Listen, Ui…”

Ui lifted her head, and looked at Aro. To her surprise, his eyes were not consumed by the sadness that Ui had imagined.

“I can see your pain. I’ve seen this before. You carry a body full of wounds, but you try to forget. You try, very hard, to forget… Everyday conversation from others unintentionally prods and picks at your wounds. You do your best to ignore them, but when you’re forced to remember they’re there, then all the pain you ignored comes crashing down on you.”

A gust of wind blew past both of them. She hadn’t realized exactly how cold and quiet the winter in Rurein could be. Aro’s words combined with the crushing cold under the winter stars froze Ui’s time, and her feelings. A few minutes passed and the two remained silent. She had nothing to say. Fighting her emotions took everything she had.

Aro gradually went back to his cheerful self after some time. “Anyway, next time, you can just use the ladder to get up here.” Aro showed her the way up, and then stopped to listen to the sounds of the inn. “It sounds busy down there, and Ruitt is working alone. I thought I’d go help him, want to join us?” Aro stood up and offered Ui his hand.

Ui took it soon after.

◆

As Ui and Aro went down the stairs, Ruitt looked at them for a brief moment before continuing his work. Once they were close to the counter, Ruitt addressed Ui. “Come here.” He escorted Ui to a table. The table had a familiar trio of customers, now fully sober.

“So?” Ruitt stared at the trio, who seemed embarrassed.

“Fine, fine. Have you seen that boy fight? For a Uman, he’s as strong as an Udari,” said one of the men.

“I’m mixed.” Ruitt took some dirty dishes from their table and walked away.

Once he was gone, the man addressed Ui. “Look, we had news from the north today. Lullaby appeared, and a lot of things changed, and people seemed happier and talking. Maybe Lullaby isn’t so bad eh?”

Ui’s heart suddenly felt incredibly light. There was too much weighing on her, and good news of any kind felt liberating.

“Now you say that, idiot.” One of his friends slapped him on the back of the head.

“Say what you’re supposed to say,” said the second friend.

“I mean to say I’m sorry, for causing all that.” The man who had screamed about Lullaby, who had made Ui feel guilty and caused a scene, was now there, hanging his head in shame, apologizing to Ui, and she was shocked.

“Don’t worry I—” Ui bowed, trying to hide her face. “Thank you, so much!” She tried to smile even if the weight of her heart was trying to break it apart.

“Aw, look at that,” said the first friend.

“You made this cutie cry the other day? What’s wrong with you, idiot?” The second friend took the chance to slap the apologizing man on the back of the head even harder, too hard for Ui’s liking.

“You’re the ones making her uncomfortable!” The apologizing man almost stood up, before noticing Ruitt staring at them from a distance. He calmed down and took his seat once more. “Besides, they’ve said she has suitors… I just wanted to apologize. Why are you making it weird?”

“Suitors, plural?” The apologizing man’s friends seemed confused.

“I don’t really have… they maybe meant… my brother.” Ui couldn’t keep her feelings suppressed.

“Oh, your brother. That’s messed up. Why would they assume such a thing?”

“Yeah. It’s not like you’re Uman nobility, they do all sorts of twisted things like that.”

“Yeah!” They all shouted together and then started drinking together as they nodded at each other. “Yeah!”

“Well it’s more like… I’m an adoptive sister.” Ui felt the need to clarify.

“Oh yeah then it’s fine… it’s fine.” The trio smiled as they agreed with each other. “Yeah, that’s completely fine!”

“I don’t… mean it that way.” Ui’s embarrassment was reaching its limits.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Prishu also talked about you like a Princess, is that you?”

Ui blushed, not having thought about Prishu bragging about her to strangers before. “I’m… not….”

“Well you definitely could be one, am I right boys?” The trio laughed and clashed cups.

“Invite us to your wedding!” exclaimed the apologizing man.

“Yeah!” shouted the trio in unison.

Ui stood there nervously while they had a good time. “If… I become a Princess, and you come to my wedding, will you let me serve you drinks?”

“Of course.” The three men smiled at Ui, who suddenly started to cry, despite their best attempts to stop her.

At first she sniffled and tried to hold back, but soon enough her eyes were flooded with tears flowing down every part of her face. She wasn’t sure if she couldn’t contain the sadness or the joy anymore, all she knew is that she lost control—completely.

Aro told her later that the three men started fighting each other over who had made her cry, and Ruitt subsequently expelled them forcefully once more.