Metanoia (15 page)

“
How is this man?” Gina
asked, feeling out of place as she looked down at her own
blood-stained self.

“
He is severely injured,
Your Majesty, but he will make it. These leaves don’t cure enough
though,” she said solemnly looking down at the ones she held. “They
only cure minor injuries and even then they only get rid of the cut
and blood. He will still be in a lot of pain after
this.”

“
But he will be alright?”
Gina asked.

“
Yes, he will be.” The
woman continued to crush leaves into a healing potion she was
mixing. Gina’s gaze settled onto this man’s face. Suddenly, his
eyes opened, and he looked up at her.

“
Hello, Gina. Haven’t seen
you in awhile,” he gasped.

“
What?” she asked
him.
Do I know this man?

“
I’m sorry. I mean, good
evening, Queen Regina,” he corrected himself.

“
Oh, no, that’s not what I
meant. Please, call me Gina. It’s just that I don’t remember
you…”

“
You wouldn’t with all
these cuts all over my body. I’m Hayden – April’s boyfriend…” He
stopped and cleared his throat. “I mean, Alvina’s
ex-boyfriend.”

“
Oh, yes! Of course! I
remember you now. Wait a second – so you are Nythagién too? Why
don’t people tell me these things?” she inquired.

He smiled. “Well, I’m not surprised you
didn’t know about me. Though, I’m not a Nythagién. I’m from
Kulinai, a neighbor to Nythagié.”

“
Oh. Uh, have you talked to
April since she’s been back?” Gina asked tentatively.

“
No, I haven’t got a
chance. I just got back myself. I went over to the other world to
help the Nythagiéns clean up.”

“
You two were always such a
great couple.”

“
Yeah,” he said, closing
his eyes again. “We were.”

A small voice joined the conversation. “With
all due respect, Your Majesty, this man needs to rest.”

“
Oh. Yes, of course.
Forgive me. Uh… do you know how Leyance is faring?”

“
Well, my lady. He is going
to be just fine.”

“
Good” was her answer once
again. With this news her body simply let go. Gina didn’t even try
to fight it. She collapsed, all consciousness leaving
her.

Bright lights awoke Gina from her peaceful
slumber. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She could feel the
uncomfortable pressure of the bandages all over her body. Faintly,
she heard breathing next to her. Forcing her head to move, Gina
turned to see Leyance asleep in the bed next to her. He was also
bandaged up heavily. As she watched him, the door opened. Fheyrhil
emerged, expressionless.

“
It is very good to see you
awake, Your Majesty,” he greeted her. He looked over at the still
slumbering Leyance. “He insisted on being by your side, almost
would not let us treat him before coming to you. I think this is
the first time he has slept since we arrived back home.”

“
Cassie?” Gina asked
apprehensively. “Has she been buried?”

“
Calypso? Buried? No, not
time for that yet. Would be quite miserable I assume to be buried
alive,” Fheyrhil joked. Gina looked at him blankly, clearly not
understanding his humor. “She’s alive. You saved her life. Yet, how
– no one knows.” He looked at her curiously, making her
uneasy.

“
What do you mean? She’s
alive? But how? That arrow…”

“…
That arrow went straight
into her heart, I know,” he informed her.

“
But she’s alive? With no
permanent damage?” she asked shakily. Fheyrhil, sensing her worry,
came over and wrapped his arms around her.

“
It is alright, Regina. As
I said, she is fine. No permanent damage.”

“
But how? If it went
through…if it pierced her…” She could not bring herself to say
it.

“
That,” he stated, “is what
everyone hopes you understood. By all reason, she should be dead,
but is not. What happened in those moments?”

“
I knocked down the Übel
that was about to fire at her. I stabbed him. I shot the other…”
She paused, trying to remember the details she wished she could
simply forget. “I rolled over and saw the bow was empty and knew
she’d been shot. I went to her and then…well, I guess that is when
help came. I was crying so hard that I can’t remember seeing
much.”

“
Was anyone around
you?”

“
Just the Nythagiéns that
came to help us.”

“
Yes, I have talked to
them. They did not see anything unusual either. I suppose it will
simply stay a mystery. Perhaps that is the way it is supposed to
be.”

“
I just hope such a battle
can’t happen again,” Gina stated.

“
Yes, we all hope the same.
Yet I believe it could occur again. Life has a way of twisting
things. My belief is that if something this massive occurs again,
it will be because of something we least expect. What that is, only
time will tell.”

“
Let’s hope we never have
to know.”

“
Yes, let us hope.” The
sound of Leyance stirring made them both glance over at
him.

“
Gina,” he yawned. “You’re
awake.” He crawled out of his bed and sat down on her bed, letting
his arm rest around her shoulders.

“
And as good as new might I
add,” Fheyrhil put in. “Now the sorrow and suffering has passed;
the joy and celebrating can come. After all, I do believe that you
two have a wedding to plan?” Gina and Leyance looked at each other
and smiled. So they did.

Gina lay in bed that afternoon bored out of
her mind. She was not used to being confined to bed rest. Even
though she had been allowed to continue resting in the comfort of
her own bedroom, it still did not keep her from yearning to be
outdoors doing something. A knock came on the door, and Alvina
popped her head in with a smile.

“
Good to see you’re out of
the hospital wing,” she said.

“
Yeah, but I still wish I
didn’t just have to lie here. Where are Cassie and Jessica? I’m not
used to seeing one of you without the others.”

Alvina laughed. “Yeah, we are pretty much
joined at the hip, aren’t we? Hey, can I ask you something?”

“
Of course.”

“
How come you still call us
by our other world names?”

“
Oh, sorry. Old habits die
hard. I’m just so used to those names. Does it bother you?” Gina
asked.

“
Oh, no, not at all. We
like it. It’s like an endearing name you’ve given to us. It shows
our tight friendship in a way.” She paused, looking at her hands.
“But I didn’t come here to ask you that. I came to ask something
else. I talked to the nurses earlier to see who was injured in the
battle. Hayden’s name was on the list as I had a feeling it might
be.”

“
Yeah, he’ll be okay
though. I talked to him a bit before I fainted.”

“
I know. The nurse told me.
Did he, uh, mention me at all?” Alvina asked timidly.

“
Well, I asked if he had
talked to you, and he said he hadn’t. I said I thought you too had
always been such a great couple and he agreed…” Gina told
her.

“
He did?”

“
Yeah. Why didn’t you tell
me he was from Kulinai?”

Alvina smiled. “I forgot. You said he’s okay
though, right?”

“
Right. He’s fine,” Gina
assured her. She sat up and looked at her friend. “What happened
between you two? Why did you break up with him when it’s so obvious
that you both still love each other?”

Alvina didn’t respond for awhile, but finally
took a deep breath and replied. “We’ve been together for years. We
dated back before you were killed and sent to the other world. You
must not remember that…”

“…
I barely do
now…”

“…
We were actually engaged.
He proposed a week before you went to go fight the Vice. Then you
died. Calypso, Jacinda, and I wouldn’t let you go to another world
all alone, without protection. We started searching for an answer
and decided to come back when you started high school. We thought
we could pass for that age. Hayden took a backseat meanwhile. We
postponed our wedding and the more and more I finalized plans to
start living in the other world, the more and more I came to
realize that we couldn’t get married, at least not then. We kept in
touch while I went to high school with you, as you remember. He’d
come over and I’d sneak over here. Do you remember all those trips
to Aunt Diana? Yeah, that was when I’d come back here. But
long-distant relationships are hard. People deal with their
significant other being two hours away; well I lived a whole world
away from mine. You know we don’t open the gateway very often, so
we couldn’t come back and forth easily. The Übels were gathering
then and Fheyrhil warned us that continuing to open the gateway was
a dangerous plan. I told Hayden I wanted him to come to the other
world to talk with him in person and when he came to visit that
last time, I broke it off. I couldn’t risk Übels being able to
break through to the other world to get to you. I was too late,
though.” Tears began filling in her eyes. Gina sat closer, placing
a hand on Alvina’s shoulder.

“
It’s okay,” Gina
whispered.

“
No, you need to know
this,” Alvina continued. She took a deep breath. “It was my fault
that they came that day, mine and Hayden’s. I’m so sorry, Gina. You
see, when he went back through, he was ambushed by Übels. They got
through and came to the school. Fheyrhil sensed it and sent
Leyance, Elenzel and the rest to come and rescue you. Fheyrhil also
gave us strict orders not to be seen by you during the attack. He
was afraid that if you saw us fighting that you’d either try to
save us and fail because you didn’t know any combat at the time, or
think we were on their side. He ordered us to stay in the other
world to clean up and sent Hayden to as well. Hayden and I always
made sure that we weren’t in the same area. We couldn’t bear to
look at each other. We didn’t talk when we got back here either,
but I knew that he would have wanted to fight against Noquef and
would have been contacted by Fheyrhil, so I talked to the nurses.
The truth is I miss him so much…”

Gina could not believe the sacrifices her
friends had made for her. They’d not only given up their homes,
their identity, but Alvina had also given up the man she loved. She
felt so lucky to have such friends, but also so responsible to make
their lives right again. She reached out and hugged Alvina.

“
It’ll be ok. It will,”
Gina told her, rubbing her back. “If you really love each other,
and I know you do, then you will be together in the end. I
promise.”

A month had passed since Leyance and Gina had
been confined to the hospital wing, but it had been the quickest
month of Gina’s life, of both her lives. This month had been filled
with the most joyous but also most time consuming and at times
frustrating task – planning a wedding. Yet, that month had passed
and now the day had come. The whole city stood scattered along the
upstream banks of the river ending at the waterfall from a river
above. It was morning and still dark, for the sun had yet to show
its bright face over the horizon. A pathway covered with flower
petals had been placed over the river and ended in a small platform
just in front of the waterfall. On the platform stood Leyance. He
wore a cream medieval shirt with an embroidered vest and cream
pants. A single crystal rose was attached to his shirt. Fheyrhil
stood behind him, looking as proud as ever. He was in similar
attire but in a grey color. Jacinda, Alvina, and a healed Calypso
stood on the opposite side. They all were clothed in beautiful
gowns, all with crowns of flowers. Yet, now no one looked at any
one of them. All heads turned towards Gina. Indeed, she had emerged
at the beginning of the walkway wearing the most beautiful white
gown anyone there had ever seen. Her skin sparkled now more than
any other’s in the city had ever shimmered. Her old lace necklace
had been cleaned and it sparkled on her neck more brightly then
ever before. Her smile warmed everyone’s heart as she passed them
walking up to Leyance. His smile was just as warm. Their happiness
could not be equaled. Gina stopped in front of him and gazed
lovingly into his eyes. Now Leyance took something familiar from
his pocket. The crystal. He held it in his palms, and Gina slid her
hands on top of his and covered the crystal. Together, they began
to chant in heavenly voices.

“
Ulay la ora mé ya faré.
Nun sa payré.” Inside their heads they both chanted the English
translation.
My heart is forever entwined
with yours. My love for you can never die.
Just as they finished, the sun began to rise above the
horizon, showering the ceremony with its light. Finally, they
kissed and when they pulled apart, the crystal had transformed into
a ring and was on Gina’s finger, now glimmering in the morning
light. The crowd erupted in cheers as Fheyrhil spoke to
himself.

“
And so the queen has
returned to join her love and her city. Well done, Gina, and many
wishes of happiness in the future. For this is only the
beginning.”

Chapter 9

“Burning”

Gina was lying next to the man of her dreams.
She rested peacefully in his arms as sleep took over.