• Meteor Shower by Cavetown •

The conversation had evaporated the awkwardness between Jade and Larimar almost completely. The Queen was glad of the warmth of Lari's hand on her arm and their matching steps.

They were almost at the front of their house when the Queen abruptly stopped. So did Lari. But when Jade looked up at her, the Princess had an easy smile.

"Princess," Jade warned when she saw Lari shaking her familiar awake. "I don't think it's an ordinary owl."

"Oh, I know." Lari left her arm and walked ahead. Jade followed, holding the lantern up for illumination. The sky was the faintest azure and did no good to vision, but the ghost owl's fur was bright and seemed to be a light source in itself.

"Come," Lari turned to beckon her. "It's Pearlina. She's Professor Carnel's familiar. I'm sure she's brought a message."

Uncertainty clouded Jade's mind, but she tried to keep her calm. "How did she know where we are?" She asked her companion, but Lari didn't seem to hear her query at all.

Jade saw Mewton Pie sprinting towards the bird, like greeting an old friend. The owl let a low peaceful trill, the kind of sound that can put insomniacs to sleep, and hopped onto Lari's elbow.

Jade held the lantern close to the bird for better inspection and surely there were two attachments tied to her hindlimbs.

The Princess pulled them from her, tenderly to not hurt the bird. In one of her hands, Larimar held a cloth bundle. Jade saw her rubbing it between her fingers and bringing them closer to her nose.

"Frankincense, myrrh, and dried sage," Lari said, smiling. "Professor misses nothing."

"What do they do?" the Queen asked.

"It's for protection," she returned.

In her other hand was a thin strip of paper, rolled up. Lari plunged the bundle of herb and resins into the pocket of her skirt and started to unroll the paper.

But before she could go halfway, the bird on her arm hooted. The Princess cooed at her and scratched the fur on her head. Pearlina closed her bulbous eyes and seemed to be enjoying the petting. But soon, she opened them and without a word, took flight.

"Fly safe, Pearly," was all Lari could manage to whisper before the bird disappeared into the darkness.

"Let's read it inside, Princess," Jade said in a low voice, surrounding Lari's shoulders with an arm but not really touching her. Taking a quick survey of their surroundings, she followed the Princess and bolted the door behind herself.

Jade quickly lit a few candles around the room, and Larimar took a seat. The redhead scooted close to her on instinct but quickly moved away. When Lari looked up at her questioningly, she said, "maybe I shouldn't look at it."

"What are you saying?" Larimar chuckled as Mewton placed herself between the women. "Fine, I'll read it out loud then," she added with a frown.

"Dearest Lari, I hope Pearl brings this to you. Your Mother is healthy, albeit unhappy. She misses you dearly, but Agata convinced her to not give up on nutrition. Your Father and Aunt are planning to look for you, and have sent elite messengers to the wardens of some realms. They plan to not publicize your disappearance yet. The resin and sage would protect you from harm, both spiritual and physical. It's enough for the two of you. Give my regards to the Queen. Stay safe. Professor."

As soon as she stopped reading, the paper sparked between her fingers. Jade gasped, watching Lari drop it to the floor, letting it burn to crisps on the spot.

"I've never seen anything like that," Jade whispered, regarding the ashes carefully.

Mewton purred, unimpressed, for this kind of magic was no more a surprise to her.

The women cleared their throats again and shifted in their positions. When they spoke, they spoke concurrently.

"I should take a bath, oh-"

The Princess giggled. "Do you mind if I go in first?" She asked, the smile lingering on her lips.

Jade only nodded, watching Lari's figure disappear into the darkness of their bedroom.

She sighed, picking up the kalimba and plucking a random tine. The sound it produced, reverberated through the room. Alone, without the sounds of accompanying tines, it seemed hollow. Almost like herself.

Another key. Also alone.

She knew that, in time, the fingers that were now playing random noises would remember how to play a whole song. But how could she play music with those fingers?

Jade closed her eyes and leaned her head on the wall behind her. Under the blackness of her closed eyelids, a faint line of light seemed to appear.

The line became longer, twisted into shapes of people, trees, weapons, castles. The light burned a picture in the darkness and her mind. Maybe it was the same place.

Tears streamed down her face, for the line was no longer a line, but a moving picture. It played out the Battle of Nokimetsa, the one she fought after losing her mother, the one that earned her the titles of the Youngest Queen, the Vigilante Queen, One True Jahiman Monarch, the Ironwood Warrior, Protector of the Woods, and Saviour of the Trees.

All that meant nothing to her, not just anymore but ever. As the Battle was reaching its twisted climax, hundreds had already died - Jahiman, Eiran, Liivan, Primorskii, and others alike, soldiers and commoners alike.

So many died in her own hands, so many hearts she put her sword through, so many throats she slashed. How could the same fingers that gripped a bloody sword have the audacity to play music too?

Jade, a whisper startled her, putting a pause to her thoughts and tears. She turned to the source in the dimly lit part of the room, and a pair of glowing eyes stared back at her.

But before she could decipher who spoke her name, something else caught her attention. Whispers. Coming from the direction of the bedroom.

Jade set her kalimba aside and stood up. Surely, she could hear a voice, a muffled voice, words spoken so quickly she couldn't pick them apart.

She walked into the bedroom and the voice grew slightly louder, but still muffled. A faint light seeped through the gap between the door to the bath and the floor and that's where the voice came from.

Confused, Jade walked towards it and pressed her ear to the door. Without thinking, she called out, "Princess? Is there someone in there with you?"

"Umm..." Jade heard. "No... I'm... I was just...talking to myself. I do that sometimes. Please don't be alarmed."

That wasn't something Jade could believe quickly. Still, she dropped it. "Okay then, Princess. You can simply holler if you need anything. I'm just...outside."

"Actually..." The Princess said again, before going ominously silent.

"Prin-? Oh!"

The door opened and Larimar stood in front of Jade, a candle in hand, in the clothes she had been wearing before and not looking like she had had a bath.

"What is it, Princess?" Jade asked.

She watched as the Princess fumbled to find words - something she didn't know the Princess also had to do time and again. "There's only enough water for one bath. Do you... umm... I was thinking, we can take a bath together."

Jade turned visibly red, and her lips fell apart. Lari chuckled, further taking advantage of her unpreparedness. "Why not? You saw me naked. It's only fair if it happens the other way too."

"It..." Jade stammered. She could feel the blood aggressively rushing to her face, ears, and chest. "It...wasn't intentional, Princess."

Lari smiled but quickly retracted her proposal. "I know," she said, blushing. "I was only...joking. Why don't you go ahead and take a bath? I'll be fine if I don't sit in water one day. I'll just change into something fresh. Mind if I pick your clothes for you?"

Jade shook her head. Clothes?

She'd let Lari make all her life decisions if she was willing to take the responsibility. That Lari had saved her life would be the most logical reason for such expectations. But Jade liked to think her veneration for the snowside Princess was irrational, beyond all her material qualities, and commerciable talents.

Lari walked past her and to the boxes.

"Is this okay?" She asked, pulling out a green nightgown with frills along the sleeves and hem. She stood up and unfolded it, letting the softness of the material spill from her hands.

Jade nodded.

"Great," Lari smiled, placing the nightgown on the pallet. "I'll sit outside. Have a great bath."

"I'm..." Jade's stutter was still not gone but the audacity she had the previous night was back. "I'm waiting for you."

Lari looked up, with her eyebrows raised at first but she smiled eventually. "Go ahead," she said, facing away. "I'll join you in a moment."

The bath was only big enough for one person and when Lari stepped into the vessel, water spilled all around it. The women sat facing each other, their knees drawn close, conveniently shrouding their nakedness.

Jade's heart was too weak for this, on its tiptoes. She kept looking away at the dark corners of the room, hoping her anxious, child-like eagerness to steal a look would eventually subside.

"You were playing music, weren't you?" Lari asked, breaking the silence. "Why'd you stop?"

Jade scoffed. "I don't think I should be playing music."

Larimar shifted. "And why not?" She asked. Her tone was curious but mild, not demanding.

Jade chuckled, although there was no joy in it. "These hands," she said, producing them in front of the other's eyes for whatever better inspection the candles could allow. "Can't you see the red dripping from them?"

Lari regarded her hands carefully, even holding them to check for scabs or wounds. There were some, from the training Jade had undergone to be worthy of the title of Ironwood Warrior. But nothing that demanded immediate aid. "Are you hurt?" Lari asked politely.

Jade chuckled again, this time more vigorously. "No, Princess, not me. I meant the people who have died at my hands. I don't deserve to play music after having taken lives with these very hands."

She smiled without her eyes, pity directed at herself, and looked at Lari. Tears of self-loathing stung at the corners of her eyes, breaking her heart and Lari's.

"What about so many innocent people that you rescued? The forest that you protected? What about them? Won't you play for them?" The blue-eyed Princess asked.

"The ones on the other side... What rights do I have to deem them not innocent? Foot soldiers following orders, most of them. They must have had families waiting for them. And...I...I saw to it that it didn't happen."

Jade stopped, the words like rocks at the base of her throat, her tears escaping. Jade quickly rubbed them off and turned the other way. When she looked back, the Princess' beady eyes were full of concern. Jade laughed and said, "I'll be fine, Princess. I'm sorry I lost my composure. You don't have to worry about me."

She shifted to leave, but Lari's next words made her sit back down. "I'd love to worry about you," she said.

Jade looked back at her, the Princess's blush reflecting her own. Without looking at herself in the mirror, she could swear her pupils were dilated out of proportion because Lari's were too.

"Umm..." the Princess stammered.

"I meant to say that...since we are in this together. And it looks like we will be staying here for a while. So, we may as well start to get along. I'd like it if we were friends." Lari stopped speaking but didn't meet Jade's eyes anymore.

"I'd like that too." Jade's heart swelled.

Lari looked up and smiled. "So you'd not call me Princess anymore, right?" She asked, holding her baby finger up.

Jade looked at it, remembering the last time she did that and sighed. Smiling back at her, she linked their pinkies and said, "let it come naturally, Princess." Lari pouted, warming Jade's heart and cheeks.

They fell silent again. Jade picked up her bar of soap and rubbed it on her arms, neck, and face, and as far as her hand went down her back. "Do you..." the Princess started to say something but stopped.

"What?" The Queen implored.

"I was just...wondering if...you'd like me to wash your back? It's something friends do, right?"

Jade reddened again. This day had been pleasingly cruel to her. She nodded and turned, as politely as possible, splashing some more water off the brim. Larimar took the soap she handed and moved forward to touch her.

With delicate but ardent strokes, she drew circles on the warrior Queen's back. When it was time to wash the froth off, Lari made sure to press her fingers a little more harshly, especially in the spots where she felt muscle tension.

Jade winced, not for the ache but the release of it - she was sure Lari's hands knew the arts of physiotherapy or witchcraft. She hoped the candlelight was dull enough to obscure her battle scars but didn't make any effort to hide them.

"Should I do your back now, Princess?" Jade asked as she felt Lari's hands stop.

"Sure." The reply was curt.

Jade gathered all of Lari's black hair, put it on one of her shoulders, and proceeded to draw the same soapy circles on her back. In this lovely bubble that had been created with only the two of them in it, Jade couldn't help but wonder - owing to the casual air that the Princess had put forth the offer with - if she had done this before.

A fit of irrational jealousy panged her heart, acrid in its very being. She tried to shun it away but it was stubborn. It made her ask a very dangerous question.

"Say, Princess, do you...have a lover?" She asked, immediately regretting it.

But Lari chuckled. "There is a boy." The irrational jealousy grew. "A soldier from Liiva. Somebody Mother would make Father approve of, I'm sure. But I don't know if...he's someone I want to spend my life with."

The jealousy subsided. "Oh, and why's that? If you don't mind my curiosity." Jade cupped water in her palms and skillfully washed Lari's supple skin.

"No, it's alright. Umm... the thing is, he... As I said, he is somebody my parents would approve of. His father is a Commander and he has the potential to become one someday. Maybe my Father could make him the warden."

"But you want a partner your parents wouldn't approve of?" Jade wanted to retract her question but it was too late.

Lari giggled. "It's not like that. Just... How do I explain this?"

"Take your time."

"I crave a love that'd rattle my bones. And maybe that sounds childish and driven by the tales I've read growing up. And maybe peaceful love is the best love. But...I don't even love him. And I can't help dreaming of someone who would fight for me and someone who I would fight for, instead of just... I know, if I let myself be with him, it'd feel like my life has been arranged and written by someone else. Like most of my life has already been. But who I will be with... That's something I want to do for myself."

The Princess giggled again. "Did that even make sense?"

"Absolutely," Jade returned. She bundled Lari's hair in a fist again and put it back where it was, wondering if she was allowed to touch her for a little longer.

"You have the entire earthside to choose from," she said, bravery swarming back into her blood. "Everybody wants you, Princess. Everybody wonders what it'd be like to love you."

They lingered there in silence until Jade's knees hurt, both of them blushing and neither of them knowing what to say. Lari spoke first. "Would you give me a moment please?"

"Of course," her roommate replied, instantly rising to her feet.

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A/N: If you liked this chapter, please consider leaving a vote. Thank you for reading.