A Miracle for Love (Caesar Drisdall from The White Knights Chronicles)

Chapter 2

After dinner, Caesar and Katelyn parted ways and headed to their opposite rooms with a goodnight. Katelyn laid on the bed trying to process the long day she had, not knowing what kind of adventure was to come. She had always felt like her life had been boring, but she never thought something like this could happen. She laid on the beautiful bed and tried to sleep, but sleep continued to evade her. What she didn't know was that Caesar also could not sleep, knowing that a carbon copy of the girl he had loved was only a few feet across the hall. After an hour of no sleep, Katelyn got up and decided to get a glass of water from the kitchen. She put on a night robe over the sleek dress that she had chosen for bed and walked out of the room, tiptoeing as quietly as she could towards the kitchen.

When she was running water from the sink, Caesar came up behind her and leaned on the doorframe of the kitchen. She turned and startled a bit as she saw him standing there. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I couldn't sleep either." Katelyn felt bad as she knew that there were many heavy thoughts weighing on his mind just as there were hers. "It's alright. By any chance do you want to talk about it?" "It's a long story, but I can tell you some of it if you would like," he replied. So, Katelyn sat and listened to the story of Leonard, Yulie, Eldore, Kara, and himself. He told her about the White Knight, the Dragon Knight, the Black Knight, and Grazel's Knight known as the Sun God. He told her about the moments leading up to the final battle they faced and how the original Kara had turned against them for a short period of time. He then told her about how Kara had come to her senses right before she was stabbed in the back by Shapur when he attempted to steal her power of the Black Knight. He told her that the moment Kara died in his arms, he swore to avenge her. Caesar also expressed the guilt he held over leaving Kara's body in the temple as it collapsed, but that there was no choice at the time. He had tears rolling down his face by the end.

Katelyn then stood and walked over towards Caesar, wiping the tears from his eyes, and hugging him. Even though she had only met him that day, she felt a connection with him that she had felt with no one else in her life. It was as though a higher power had brought them together to help each other, to heal each other. Katelyn then asked Caesar, "Would you like to take a walk in the garden outside with me? I've always found that nature soothes the soul." Caesar nodded, so Katelyn took his hand and led him out the doors to the garden. They walked out to a bench in the middle of the garden, and she sat there, putting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer and that is how they stayed for a while, just enjoying the quiet that overcame the area at night. Katelyn felt Caesar's breathing even out as they sat and knew that he had calmed down. But, she continued to sit with him in silence and let him process his thoughts.

After about an hour Caesar asked, "I know it's a little forward, but we only have a few hours till dawn. Do you want to stay in my bed? I feel like it may help me to sleep having you close." Katelyn blushed a little at the thought of sharing a bed with the young man beside her but felt that it would be better for her to have company as well, so she replied with a hesitant, "Of course. It may help me to sleep as well with the unfamiliar surroundings." So, Caesar stood and held out a hand towards Katelyn and helped her up from the bench. She slowly walked with her hand in his until they made it to his room. He got under the covers and slowly patted the other side of the bed for her to join. She felt some relief knowing that she wore a full nightgown under the robe, but she still felt slightly exposed as she took off the robe and laid down in the bed next to him. She laid a few feet from him and looked into his eyes. Caesar studied her facial features for a few minutes, seeing differences in Katelyn's expression. These were things he had never seen in Kara. Katelyn said, "A penny for your thoughts." "Sorry, it's just unbelievable the number of differences I see between you and Kara when you are right next to me. Kara always seemed so hardened and cold. You could never tell what she was thinking by looking at her eyes. Laying next to you, I can see a mix of expressions in your eyes. You are so much more open. It may be partly the Dragonsight, but I feel like my soul recognizes yours," he  whispered. "I hope that means that you trust me." He turned onto his back and said, "You wouldn't be here if I didn't already. Goodnight," he said. She said a soft goodnight to him before she started to drift off to sleep. In her sleep, Katelyn kept having different dreams that felt very real, making her think that they were more memories of Kara's past life. Caesar slept peacefully for the first time in forever, not having the recurring nightmare for the first time in a long time of Kara dying in his arms.

Katelyn woke up around noon the next day, realizing that Caesar was not only beside her, but under her. Her head was on his chest and her leg was over his torso. His arm was wrapped around her body. She looked up to see his golden eyes looking back at her lilac ones. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. It seems the princess has finally awakened." Katelyn blushed a little and attempted to move, but Caesar's grip around her tightened for a moment and he whispered, "Just five more minutes... please." So, she turned just slightly to face him more while still laying on his chest and asked, "So, what are our plans for today?" "Well," he said, "We already are having a little bit of a late start, but I had the servants finishing the packing last night. So, we are going to start headed towards Balandor after we finish bathing and getting ready."

The thought of a bath sounded nice to Katelyn. She hadn't had one in what felt like forever, even though it had only been a day. "Who are we meeting in Balandor?" "Well, we are going to meet some of my old traveling companions, Leonard, Eldore, Yulie, and Queen Cisna. From there, we will decide on our plan of action. Eldore usually was the one who came up with most of our plans, seeing as he is the oldest out of all of us." Katelyn nodded in understanding, recognizing the names of the people who he talked about in his story the night before. It's crazy to think that Eldore came from the age of the Dogma Wars 10,000 years earlier and that Caesar, Leonard, and Kara had been the infants discovered in Sinca Village from the Dogma Age.

After continuing to lie in each other's presence for a little longer, Caesar let go of Katelyn's waist, but Katelyn still did not move from her comfortable position. She never thought she would feel this peaceful just laying with someone in her lifetime. Caesar looked at her with this look which she couldn't decipher, but it almost looked like lust in his eyes. But, before things could go any further, Caesar realized that the girl in his arms was not the same girl he had fallen in love with and started to sit up. Katelyn sat up too, feeling a little disappointed about having to leave Caesar's arms, but she got up and started to walk out of the room, looking back to see Caesar at the edge of the bed leaning over with his elbows on his knees and his hands on his forehead, looking almost brooding and very deep in thought. She then left to go run herself a bath and get ready for the day.

A little over an hour later, Katelyn emerged dressed and ready to go. She headed down to the dining room to meet Caesar for a late lunch before they left. When she came down, Caesar was sitting at the table eating a sandwich with meat and vegetables. "Hey Katelyn. I had the chefs just make some easy sandwiches for us. I hope you are okay with that." Katelyn made a small nod towards him and continued towards the chair next to him. He got up to quickly pull out her chair and help her sit down. "Sandwiches are what I eat on a regular, so it's completely fine. Thank you." Then, she began to dig in. They enjoyed small talk and then after finishing their food got ready to leave. They each donned a backpack with their supplies. Katelyn grabbed the sword Caesar offered and then he grabbed his spear. With that, they began to walk towards the station to leave the city.

They left the city on a flying contraption that Caesar called a gondola. On the way down, Katelyn was amazed as she saw the Demithor for the first time. The city literally stood on its back, yet didn't seem to move as the monster did. As they flew to Flandar Trail, Caesar taught Katelyn some basic incantations for healing, curing, reviving, and awakening, along with a few spells made to weaken enemies. He told her she would need to know them for wild beasts they would face. He also told her about a little bit of Greede's history and how the city came to rest on the giant monster in the first place. After the ride, the two departed the gondola and started to head down Flandar Trail, starting what would be many days of travel.