Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

199. Vera's Parents

"Shall we warm up with a couple spars?" Kara stretched her arms after Diana had cooked them breakfast.

"Actually. I had a question." Vera spoke up.

Kara slowly put her sword away and came back from the bridge to the world tree they were loath to leave.

"How did you and my dad... meet and fall in love?" Vera shyly played with her fingers. She tried desperately to not look at Seamus, whose new face was somehow ten times better than his disguised face. Something about the broody dark face and that pearly smile sent shivers down her heart. She wasn't sure how to define their relationship yet. She'd kissed him on impulse when the mood wasn't romantic, and he had since been so absorbed in sticking by Ophelia he hadn't acknowledged it yet. Not that she could blame him, they were in a war, and Ophelia had been in mortal Peril.

And now that her mom was here, this was one of the questions she'd always wanted to ask her. Woman to woman.

"I don't think we have time for-oof!" Surtr was in a hurry to get started but Diana elbowed him in the side.

"We still have some time before sunrise. And I want to hear this too." Diana said.

"Unfortunately, I'm not that great of a storyteller." Kara laughed shyley. "And he was much more romantic than I gave him credit for."

"So how did you first meet?" Vera asked.

"Well, he was breaking into the city." Kara sat down on the newly sprouted grass. "He had a large bird with him that he had hunted. So my sisters and I tried to stop him and followed him halfway into the city."

"You tried to kill my baby!" Diana was stopped by her brother wrapping his arms around her waist while she vainly clawed at the air.

But Kara wasn't paying attention to her. She was dreamily staring off into the distance as she continued to recount the events. "Yes. We all tried extremely hard. I'd never met anyone who could take so many direct blows from my sword and still keep running."

"But why were you trying to kill him in the first place?" Vera asked.

"Well he had long black hair and the build of a human man and he was trying to jump over the wall illegally instead of using the gates." Kara stated. "We are very strict about that, you know. He actually managed to steal my shield in the process that day."

"He was probably trying to get food for the other half-breeds. Didn't he try to explain that?" Vera asked.

"Well..." Kara scratched her neck nervously. "... he may have mentioned something like that. He broke the law and resisted arrest."

"Okay but did you actually try to arrest him, or did you just start swinging your sword at him?" Diana asked.

"Haa haa." Kara laughed nervously as she poked her fingers. "Well after he stole my shield to defend himself, we weren't on good terms. Then he gave me the slip and we were on worse terms."

Diana smiled broadly as if to say. That's my boy, he won't be outdone by the Valkyrie.

"So what happened next?" Vera asked as she wondered if she should return her shield to her mother.

"He returned it. With a note and flowers." Kara responded. "He had Really god-awful hand-writing, but he called me the 'prettiest girl'."

"And so you fell in love?" Vera asked.