Winter Wish

10

Fabian's Secret

A few days later, Luna picked up the book in the middle of the night, thinking the sorceress might have calmed down by now. She sighed, looking long and hard at the page with the magic words.

She had been feeling so bored for days. She had gotten so used to spending time with the sorceress in such a short time, and now to return to her monotonous life instead of her intriguing movements filled her with the desire to rebel. She was also frustrated that she couldn't tell anyone anything about her. In this way, she felt lonely, as if she had befriended a non-existent being and no one could see her.

When she read the words carefully, she closed her eyes and waited for a few seconds. The magic words echoed in her mind involuntarily, but nothing happened, this time she could not feel the magic attraction.

When she opened her eyes with sincere sadness, she hesitated for a while between trying her luck once more and closing the cover of the book. While she was still undecided, Felix entered the room noisily without knocking again and jumped on her bed.

"What are you reading, that book again?"

"You didn't knock!" Luna protested.

She sounded grumpy, not because of her brother, but because of the frustration she felt because of the sorceress.

"Never mind the door..."

"What happened?"

"I found out what's wrong with Fabian."

Luna looked at Felix's face in surprise. It had caught her attention enough to help her forget about the problem with the sorceress.

"Really?"

"Yes. I spoke to Lucius today, you know how much he loves me," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"And?"

"Somehow I managed to bring it up to Fabian and pretended to be curious if there was something wrong between them, and when he denied it, I was very forceful, saying that they could tell me everything, that I would be happy to make things right between them."

"A lot of verbiage, then..."

Luna grimaced and Felix nudged her. "We call it advice..."

"You're not mature enough to advise anyone, brother."

"You say that?"

Felix grinned when Luna hit him on the arm with her pillow.

"I'll go if you're not interested in more."

"Speak!"

"After my long lecture, Lucius became so upset and obsessed with proving to me that they were on good terms that he finally let Fabian's secret slip."

Although Luna hadn't seen it herself, she could visualize it. For Lucius, Felix was the brother of his dreams, and even though they were not his own brothers, he really considered Felix as if he were his own. He did whatever he said, listened carefully to all his advice and was seriously influenced by his ideas. Fabian, unlike him, usually didn't accept Felix as an older brother, but they still managed to get along well.

"What is it?"

"Fabian is in love!"

"What?"

Luna opened her mouth in astonishment, her voice was so loud that she couldn't help covering it with her hand. How could her brother fall in love? How many years younger was Fabian than Luna! How long had he been on earth before he fell in love?

"Our little brother has fallen in love."

"Who?"

Felix grimaced at this question. If you ask him, that's what took all the fun out of it: Who Fabian was in love with.

"To Lucius' big sister," he said as if he had eaten something rotten.

Luna opened and closed her mouth in astonishment again. She couldn't speak for a while. Felix was no different.

Lucius's sister, Irene, could be, to put it mildly, the angriest person in the world. Lucius had three sisters, and Irene was the only one older than him, and the only one with such a temper. Luna didn't see her very often, she carefully avoided it, but she knew very well that whenever she saw Irene, the girl would be yelling at someone. She was also three years older than Fabian. Maybe that wouldn't normally be a big problem. At least if Irene wasn't like that, Luna wouldn't have minded the age difference between them.

Still, she had no right to interfere in Fabian's life. Maybe only their parents could talk to him about it.

Even knowing all this, she couldn't help grimacing, just like Felix.

"So you're saying that Fabian fell in love with Irene."

"Yes."

"And did he tell her about his feelings?"

"No."

Then maybe she didn't have to worry too much?

"How long has this love been going on?"

Her voice was full of dissatisfaction as she said the last word.

"A few months, I think..."

"But Fabian has only been this sad for a few weeks?"

Felix nodded in agreement and sighed. Then he spoke again.

"Because a few weeks ago, a visitor from out of town met Irene in the market and asked her to marry him."

"To Irene? At first sight?"

Felix shrugged. "I think so. I don't know the details."

Luna remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Fabian was so upset when he heard about it that he finally had to tell Lucius the truth. Lucius told me that our brother wants to enlist in the army this year and propose to Irene when he returns."

"No way!"

Luna threw herself on her bed in astonishment.

She frowned slightly as a strange feeling of jealousy welled up inside her.

What kind of bad person was she? She should have been happy for her brother, but sad for his suffering. But Luna was preoccupied with horrible questions like, 'How can my little brother find love when I can't? How can he love someone like Irene?'

"Maybe Irene has some qualities we don't see."

Felix, unlike her, had such good intentions.

Luna nodded as she sat up again. The horror and dissatisfaction had completely disappeared from her face.

"You're right, Felix," she smiled. "Maybe we were so focused on her anger that we failed to recognize her."

"It's possible... considering how calm Fabian is..."

"That's true."

"But Irene can get married."

"If Fabian's feelings are real, he'll be very upset."

Felix thought so too, but he couldn't go and ask him what was going on. If Silas had asked him what had happened and forced him to talk, he might have said something to his family about how he felt, but unlike Lucius, it was unlikely that Felix could get Fabian to talk.

"Let's not say anything to anyone for now, Luna."

Luna nodded and patted Felix on the shoulder. "Okay, but maybe I'll invite Irene and the other girls to our house. That way I can learn something new about her during our little tea party."

"I think that's a good idea."

"Yes, I think so."

When Felix left her alone in her room, Luna felt a strange sentimentality inside her.

She surprised herself when she realized how much she wished she could tell the sorceress, ask her questions and get Stella's opinion. But it was the truth.

If she didn't manage to get to the sorceress this week, she would wait a few more days for Stella to calm down and then she would find a way to get to the forest. She had no other choice.

She had no idea what excuse to give her parents, but she would do her best. Maybe she could disappear very early, without telling anyone? That way she could pretend she had gone for a walk at breakfast time and come back?

She turned her eyes to her window as the snow started to fall again. It had been snowing steadily for days and the town was as white as a grumpy old grandfather. Everywhere you could see children playing in the snow and hear people trudging slowly through it.

Luna blew out the candle beside her in one breath and settled down on her bed.

So Fabian was in love? Her one and only, sweet, quiet brother...

Luna was finally able to think about it and react in the right way.

Maybe Fabian was still young, but if he could even plan to go to the army and confess his love to Irene, he was obviously not as young as Luna thought.

The boy's determination was admirable. She had no idea if her parents would agree to his wishes, but at least it was a good thing that her brother had found the love he was looking for. That is, if his feelings were real and lasting.

When would Luna be able to do that?

What had Stella meant when she approved of her the other day? What was true? That Luna might one day find love? Or... that she could become a soul mate?

Sighing, she hugged her pillow tighter. She fell asleep, calling out to Stella inside her. She was unaware that her thoughts had reached the sorceress.

She knew of course that she kept calling out to her, that she kept trying to come to her, but she kept her at a distance, not angry with her as Luna thought, but searching.

Perhaps she would conclude her search before Luna got impatient and came to her hut, so that she wouldn't have to come to her in the cold winter.