Lady of Vodriala

Under the moonlight

A lot of people were already gathered at the house, servants were walking around with trays with various appetisers and drinks. It was remarkable to see how nice everything looked despite the short notice that the soldiers were returning tonight. I did not have many nice things to say about mother, but she was good at doing what she did, like organising last minute parties. Me and Lea walked around for a bit, she knew I needed to greet guests as the daughter of the Lord of Brutheya, and she accompanied me, while taking the chance to scan the room looking out for Miyan. Lea did not belong to this environment, she owned a very nice flower shop in the more expensive area of the market, she did a lot of work for the house of Brutheya and made quite the business while Miyan was away, but the reason why she would be present in a night like this is, obviously because she is my guest and a close friend, but also Miyan ranked up to be a Lieutenant and was therefore invited to the banquet. I was greeting a few more guests when Lea squished my hand very hard, almost making me squeal in front of the guests we were talking with. Her eyes were fixated on something, and I scanned the room to find what had gotten Lea hypnotised, and that's when I noticed Miyan being congratulated by what looked like some colleagues and other officials. I brought my other hand to hers which made return her attention to me and the guests in our presence. I nodded to her, suggesting for her to head in his direction. She mouthed asking me if I was sure, I am certain she meant if it was ok for her to leave me alone to which I smiled back at her, to show if was fine for her to leave me, probably for the night. With that look, she turned away and started walking towards Miyan, accelerating her pace as she got closer and closer, and once Miyan looked in her direction, both opened their arms and embraced each other into a strong hug. People around them noticed, people stopped to observe a reunited couple, it was quite a view if I am honest. After a few moments, people had returned to their conversations and the couple was now invisible to the crowd. Didn’t take much longer for the servants to come and direct people to the dining room, where they assisted everyone finding their seats. This would be my opportunity to find Kayd. The house was really busy to find a face in a crowd, and now that we were getting ready for the meal, me and Kayd, as a married couple, would sit together with the head of the house. I found my seat fairly quickly since it is usually by the top of the table and waited to sit down, as father was the one to give order when people were supposed to sit to begin the banquet. As the servants directed people to their seats, my eyes scanned the room so quickly, trying to find him, until a servant showed by my side with a gentleman wearing a pressed jacket, full of army medals ‘Oh what a pleasure to sit next to Lady Skylar, I am afraid we have not met, I am Major Thurin’ the gentleman introduced himself as he planted a kiss in the back of my hand ‘It is a shame that Captain Kayd could not be here today, but usually that is how it goes, the heroes of battle are always summoned to the Capital for a ceremony of some sorts’. Major Thurin words did not make sense to me, Kayd was not a captain, he was deployed as a knight, he had not been in the army for that long… ‘I am sure he will be back soon, he was truly a hero in the battles we fought on the border’ I could not make sense of this man's words anymore… Kayd was not coming.

The dinner went on, and I stayed muted. There were not many words I wanted to exchange to people at this stage. I was disappointed on so many levels, but at the same time, it hit me. Kayd never really bothered to send any news, he left that night without saying anything, it was becoming clear to me that he probably did not share the same feelings towards me. People quickly moved on to the ball and celebrated the victory and successful return of the Brutheya army. I glanced various times at Lea who seemed so happy in the arms of Miyan, which made me a bit jealous tonight. I hoped to share the same feeling with someone tonight. I quickly decided to call it a night, I was definitely not enjoying myself and felt that it would only cause problems for people to see my long face even though people kept congratulating me for the great achievements of my husband, a husband that did not return to me. I walked back to my room at a quick pace, not excusing myself from the party, but right now in my mind I only wanted to get out of this dress and get myself in bed. Once I got back to my room, I shut the door quickly harshly as I noticed the big doors of my balcony opened, with the midnight breeze blowing the curtains, the view was pleasant to look at as the moonlight kept an ambient light in the room. I walked towards the balcony and shut the doors, not remembering opening them in the first place when my thoughts were disturbed ‘I was enjoying the breeze’ the raspy voice made me jump, I was not expecting company and it made me very nervous to know someone was waiting for me in the room. But I recognized this voice. I turned around to look around the room looking for the stranger that invaded my privacy, and that is when I saw him, his big figure as he stood up from the chair in the corner of room and walked in my direction. I could almost not believe my eyes. He was here.