The Palsian Year 318.
"Lord Narcasse?" Eram tentatively touched Narcasse's arm. Narcasse was sitting on his chair, eyes closed, head faced down. Narcasse opened his eyes and looked at him groggily.
"Lord Narcasse. I'll clean up tonight. You go to bed and sleep."
Narcasse nodded. "Thank you, Eram." He stood up and stretched, then left.
Eram cleaned up the brushes that were lying all over the room. He brought out a bucket of water and tossed them in to wash. Then he cleaned up the assembled bottles of different colors.
The last thing to clean up was the painting, itself. Narcasse always covered his work while it was in progress, lest some bug die on it and become part of the painting, or anything of the like occur.
Eram admired the painting as he prepared the cloth to cover it. "Good night, Lord Darun."
And in the painting, Darun smiled back in greeting, his blue eyes bright.
---
"That's all for today. You've done well, Your Highness." Darun nodded in approval.
Prince Arslan nodded, catching his breath. "It was a good lesson today, Darun." He smiled. "Perhaps one day I can be as brave as you, and scare off any possibility of war, like you did last year with the Turans."
Darun smiled. "That was luck, Your Highness. King Iltorish said that it was a rebel army that attacked, and rebels aren't often equipped with the best of weaponry."
Arslan shook his head. "They say it was because you were there, Darun. They were afraid to fight you. And now, we are at peace again." The eleven-year-old boy smiled. "I like peace. I hope one day to be able to bring Palse into an era of absolute peace." He then looked as he had just remembered something. "That's right. I have been wanting to ask you for a while-- can I see the sword? The one that you broke in that battle, but still managed to use to fight?"
Darun said, "It's nothing, Your Highness. But certainly, if you wish. Come with me, it's in my room."
Darun led Prince Arslan to his room and started looking under his bed for the broken sword. "I intended to throw it out, but everyone told me to keep it."
He heard the prince murmur in assent. He finally spotted what he was looking for and pulled it out. "Aha!"
"Darun, what's that?"
"Hmm?" Darun turned around and presented the ruined sword to Arslan. Arslan took it, grasped the hilt, and pulled the sword out of its scabbard to reveal its broken blade. "Wow," he said, his voice full of awe. He turned it over, catching the light on it.
"So what's that?"
"What's what, Your Highness?"
Arslan nodded at Darun's bedpost. "What's that?"
Darun followed his gaze. His eyes settled on a green hoop earring that was strung and tied to his bedpost. "Ah. That." Darun leaned over and picked it up.
"It was a memento from someone."
It was a beautiful earring. Darun paused, and against his will, remembered its previous owner. Its owner kissing him, telling him that he was beautiful. It had been their first night together. He remembered the hot kisses, the touches, the pain, and then the pleasure. He remembered the absolute contentment he felt waking up the next morning next to him, the long brown hair across his chest and its owner resting his head over Darun's heart. The early morning sun beaming on both of them, making the brown hair golden, and reflecting off of the green earrings.
He remembered asking Narcasse for one of the earrings later that day, to remember that night. He remembered Narcasse's smile in response, before he took one off and gave it to Darun.
"Its owner meant a lot to you, didn't he, Darun?"
Darun caught his breath and smiled to himself. "Yes, he does. He was the first and the best."
End.
back to
last chapter
Author's
notes
for comments to Karma, send e-mails to: [email protected]
Back to the Anime Fanfiction Index