The Mages Match

Chapter 1

The burn of her parent's eyes, disapproval seeping through. The equal burn of her older brother– her protector and bestfriend– refusing to meet her eyes at all. The angry shouts of Kenneth's father. So loud that they still clung to their backs long after the house had faded from view. "You may never come back" "You'll regret this!".

But as the two lovers raced away on their horses, and blue eyes met brown, eyes and minds as one, it was as if they were a single person with a shared thought. No, we won't.

But alas, they did.

🌿🌿🌿

Adelaide wiped her eyes. The sweet sting of young love. Bittersweet memories, now just bitter.

The man lying before her was nothing but a corpse. Eyes closed, arms folded, and more silent than he'd ever been. Adelaide tried to muster up a shrivel of grief. Of love. Because she owed it to him-- no, she owed it to herself, to feel something more than relief.

If not, then what had the point even been? All the suffering, the years of fruitless labor, sickness and misfortune, tragedy after tragedy. The unspoken, festering resentment. Losing all titles and positions. The shunning from their family and peers. The mockery of being used as an example of what not to do. Who not to be like.

She tried desperately to rouse something akin to those feelings from their youth. When all they had was eachother, when they danced under the moon and loved under the sun.

But no. She couldn't make herself feel anything. Not the moment they closed the casket and lowered it to the ground. Not the week after, when she was forced to return to work. Or the month after, when the emptiness of their shack began to feel normal.

Nothing. At least, until this morning when she had gotten a letter.

Adelaide rolled her hands over the outside. It had been longsince she had seen such a parchment but there was no mistaking it.

From the warm ivory color and gold etchings on the side, the symbol of green shrubs over the seal, to the words so elegantly drawn in the front. 'Mistress Greene'.

It was for her, from her family. She wondered who it was from though. None of her relatives had bothered to contact her in the last decade. What was so important that they did so now? Had something happened?

With trembling hands, she slowly opened the letter. Careful not to injure any parts of it. She took a deep breath, readying her for the contents of the letter in front of her.

Dear Adelaide,

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I offer my condolences on the passing of your husband, Kenneth Raveen. I do hope you are doing well. Hopefully, I can shed some light during such dark times.

In light of your recent tragedies, you are invited to return home. No requirements or penance or shame. Everything shall be forgiven.

I completely understand if you decline this invitation. Your... exit... was not the most gracious and it is my biggest regret that you had to leave in such a way. I wish I could tell you that their hearts have changed. That they've found forgiveness in their gray years. But they have not.

Truthfully, it is not the family that is extending this invitation. It is just me. I've missed you much in these passing years. Its been too long sister. It is my wish for you to return. For my wife to know you. For my children to know their aunt.

If you could find it in your heart to accept this invitation, for me, I should ever be so grateful.

With love,

Your Brother. 

And with that, the numbness went away. Something blossomed in her chest for the first time in a long time.

She had barely gotten through the letter before she took off to her room, in search of her chest.

As she threw things in the chest with abandon she realized she was smiling, and just how long it'd been since she smiled. Laughs erupted from her chest. Giggles. Straight from her core. She was really going home. She was really going home.