The next day.
Rivia: Ajayib, Town of Central Rivia, Elianna's Residence

• Arell •

"Aren't you going to wake up, sleepyhead?" Mother's voice was soft as she tried to coax him out of bed. 

After turning in a little too late the night before, Arell thought that he must've overslept today since Mother was the one to wake him up. He peeled his eyes open slowly, raising his hands to rub away the remains of sleep before climbing out of the blankets and wrapping his arms around his mother's neck. He rested his head on her shoulders and she chuckled quietly. Securing him in her hold, she stood up and felt her way out of his quarter.

"Rare to see him still tired at this time," Jana passed by and poked fun at him. "Would you like for me to bring him to the bath?"

"I'll do it," Mother chuckled. "Could I trouble you to help prepare his breakfast?"

"Right away!" Jana chirped and hurried away.

Entering the bath, the humidity quickly surrounded them and Mother placed him on a wooden stool in front of the sink. She handed his toothbrush with the paste already pressed on the bristles to him. Concerned, she inquired, "Did you not sleep well last night, mea lux?"

"Just a little, Mother." He gripped on the wooden handle and started to brush his teeth.

"Should I have not woken you up? Would you like to rest a little more?"

"Arell is fine," he spoke with a mouth full of bubbles. "Would Mother head to town today too?"

A moment of silence and the child turned to face his mother. There laid hesitation and something complicated in the way she flinched at his question. Regardless, she responded quietly, "Mother would be taking a few days of rest."

"Is Mother not feeling well?" The five-year-old clumsily let go of the toothbrush as it fell from his mouth and dropped with a dull thud to the floor. He quickly stepped down from the stool to grab it and run it under the streaming flow of water from the tap.

"Still so clumsy, aren't you?" she laughed, running her hand through his hair and he flushed shyly. "Mother is fine, thank you for asking, mea lux. Hurry do a quick gurgle to wash off the bubbles and let's head over to the dining room to have breakfast with everyone."

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After dining in with everyone, Arell walked towards the balcony and pulled lightly on Mother's dress to grab her attention.

"What is it, mea lux?"

He shuffled his feet together uncomfortably but asked anyway, "Could I go to town today?"

"Of course," she smiled lovingly. "Take Thunder with you."

"Could I go by myself?" he tried.

Mother was definitely surprised by his sudden request as she turned and crouched down in front of him. Her hand held onto his arm and the other smoothed along the curve of his cheeks. She asked, "Why would you want to go to town alone today?"

"Maya, Pir and the other kids are going to help Hashim to bring flowers to the streets," he lied, but he promised to apologise later. "Arell wants to go too."

"Right, the Spring festival is next week," she mentioned. "Would you be okay on your own?"

"Yes!" Arell chirped with surprise that Mother would agree.

Mother placed her hand out and stretched her pinky out in front of him, she said to him, "You got to promise me that you would return before nightfall, mea lux."

He quickly linked his small pinky with hers and pecked a kiss on her cheek. He ran out excitedly as he shouted, "Arell promise to be back before nightfall!"

The child ran — as fast as the winds would take him and as nimbly as his small legs could power through the gravels and sand on the ground. He didn't stop even when the town was crowded with people and he had to untangle himself from clothes of fabrics that seemed to entwine themselves when townspeople brush past one another. He didn't stop until he was back at the place where the fateful meeting had occurred.

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Rivia: Ajayib, Royal Palace, Hearing Room.

• Rowan •

He tapped his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair as he listened to Tazin rambling on and on about a certain something which he had lost in the midst of their conversation. He continued to wear a polite smile even though the back of his mind was filled with swears that desperately urged him to get out of the room at once.

"I am in agreement of this request," Tazin stamped the seal on the document that Tristan had handed over. The King of Rivia had clicked his tongue, "Count yourself lucky that you're Valeria's son." 

"I'm always honoured to have your support." Rowan stood from his seat, placed a hand over his chest and bowed respectfully.

"Stay for dinner, Rowan," Tazin mentioned, handing the sealed document back to Tristan.

"I'm afraid that I have somewhere else to be," Rowan declined, sounding hurried.

"What other business do you have in Rivia?" Tazin frowned. "Unless you're rushing to find a wife, don't bother leaving."

"It is exactly that matter," Rowan exhaled in exasperation.

"Really, since when?" Tazin nearly jumped from his seat as he stared right at him with wide eyes. Then, he dropped his hands on the arms of the chair before rushing him, "What are you waiting for, son? Get out of my palace right now!" 

Without a word, Rowan left marched towards the door leading out of the hearing room and he heard Tazin loud and clear from behind as he shouted without the grace of a King, "I'll retract the trade if you don't get yourself a wife before you leave Rivia!" 

Rowan shook his head slightly, knowing that this had been one of the uncountable numbers of times that Tazin had nagged at him to get a wife. After everything that had happened, marriage was the last thing he ever wanted. 

It was especially when he knew how a flawed matrimony had led to the cold-blooded murder of his mother and the wrongful death of his sister. He vowed to never swear love to any lady unless he could promise her a forever and that he would only marry and love one person in his entire lifetime. If that was anyone, that one person had to be her. No one had ever caused his heart to tremble in the way she had. 

When he stepped out of the Royal Palace, the sky had already started to darken. In all panic and rush, he dissipated into speckles of dust, allowing his magic to bring him to the place where the fateful meeting had occurred. 

━━━━━━━━━━

Rivia: Ajayib, Town of Central Rivia, Town Square

• Arell •

"Arell, you should be home soon. Your mother would worry," Umar said as he stepped out of his shop and saw that he's still there.

"I would leave soon, Umar," Arell responded, though growing more and more despondent as time passed by. "Please let me wait for a little while more."

Dusk had washed over Ajayib, as the last sun-rays of the day cosseted behind soft-grey clouds and washed the entire town in a fading shade of grey. The birds started to sing as they would every night until the stars bid them to dream under-wing. Each hue cast upon the land deepened in noble solemnity, as the whole place fades into the night.

He had promised to return home before nightfall but his leaden feet would not move no matter what. His heart remained hopeful, in the same way, that he always wished that Sufia would have sugared doughnuts whenever he visited. 

Thankfully, good things come to those who wait because flecks of dust appeared right in front of his eyes and the next thing he saw was the appearance of a very flustered man as the expensive clothing he donned fell in place following the laws of gravity. He looked pale but equally surprised at the sight of him. 

"It's you," the man spoke and Arell thought of the same. He noticed closely the sweat that trickled from his forehead and the child pushed himself to stand from the ledge of Umar's shop and walked close. The man coughed a few times and he staggered forward a little. 

"Are you okay?" Arell asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I moved a little too far with magic," he smiled towards him.

"Mother wasn't fine when she did that."

"Is she hurt?" The man immediately asked, a frown formed between his brows.

"Who are you?" Arell demanded, wanting answers to the question that he had held in his head since the day before. "And who are you to Mother?"

"I don't know her but I really want to speak to her." The man in front of him mentioned in a sigh. "I am the Crown Prince of Iftia, Rowan Alvraz."

Alvraz. 

Arell Alvraz.

That's his name that Mother had taught him but she also reminded him repeatedly that he mustn't tell anyone else. He had lived his life under the name guise of Arell Everson. He didn't understand everything until it had became crystal clear right at this moment. He mumbled, "Father." 

The man flinched, but he quickly knelt down in front of him and asked, "What did you call me?"

"It has to be you," Arell repeated. The child didn't wait for a reply before he stretched out his small arms and grabbed onto the man's hand. Opening up his hand, he pushed the man's palm over the expensive material of his tunic right above the chest where his heart lay underneath. 

Arell saw the magic Mother did a few times, and she would look relieved whenever she whispered this man's name. He thought that it should work on this man too. Raising his gaze to stare into the pair of eyes that were coloured in the same shade of his, Arell instructed, "Say Elianna Evarix."

"What are you doing?" The man questioned.

"Say Elianna Evarix," Arell pushed anxiously, impatient to know if he would share the same sentiments as his mother when he does the exact same magic.

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• Rowan •

He looked towards the child, unsure of all that he was trying to do. Yet, those startling blue-gold eyes flashed with a mixture of emotions that he had recognised as yearning, apprehension and a tinge of resentment laying beneath all. Not wanting to disappoint him further, he did as he was told. In a soft voice, he whispered, "Elianna Evarix."

A sudden glint of magic shone in the space between his palm and his chest and the mark of resurrection was traced by a trail of light that singed against his skin. His vision was obscured by millions of other memory flashes and he couldn't hear anything else except for a beautiful voice that whispered his name in great tenderness. All the gaps that had been lost and every emotion that had faded with time came back in a rush. 

It was overwhelming at first, but as his consciousness weaved through the golden strands, they intertwined themselves and threaded his memories into a whole again. Inhaling a sharp breath, he saw the child standing right in front of him while his ears were filled with the pounding pulse of his own heartbeat, with another beat that drummed in harmony.

"Why?" Rowan forced all the hurt out as his arms stretched to haul the child into his embrace. He folded his arms tightly around the small body of the child — his son — as his own body trembled from the consuming emotions that overflowed from the tipped-over bottle within him. "Why only now?"

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the true mvps: Arell and Tazin

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