The Girl with the Fire Heart

Valentina runs to him as his knees hit the ground. He can see the concern for him, the recognition of who she is reflecting back at her as he falls. Instead of helping him up, she slowly drops to her knees as well.

Tentatively, she reaches for and grasps his hands. She lays them in her lap and tells him her true story. She explains the truth of her childhood, why her parents would whisk her away to distant lands and beach shores. She tells him the true difficulties she faced in school, the way she learned so early on how to be alone. She tells him about the oasis they're kneeling in. She tells him why she stopped coming, how badly she had been beaten and how the memories here were to overwhelming.

She tells him about her heartbreaks. She tells him about the boy with the birch wood heart and how he had been the catalyst for her cage. She tells him about the boy with the bronze heart and how he had been her motivation. She stops speaking for a moment.

Damon, stunned, is not sure for a moment if she will continue. But he knows she will. He doesn't know why he knows, simply that he does. Finally, she sighs and tells him about the boy with the tanzanite heart.

She tells him about how deeply she had loved him. How he had convinced her that his intentions were pure. She tells him about all the ways that he had won her over. He hadn't been flashy or too meek. He hadn't been arrogant or too ignorant. He had been a perfect blend. She tells him about how the boy with the tanzanite heart never spoke of his home or his family. That she always wondered but had been too enamored by him to ask the questions.

She tells him about the secret letters he would receive, how she often pretended not to notice. She tells him about all the times they used to be alone, how he soothed her with his kisses when she expressed her concerns. And then she tells him about his departure. She tells Damon about the way he left, never giving her time to understand or ask questions.

She tells him about the way she waited. How she'd stand at the end of her home’s gravel road, waiting for a sign. A letter, a messenger, something that would tell her she hadn't been forgotten. She waited and waited and waited, to no avail. She tells him about the construction of her steel cage. How she worked fervently, hoping to craft a masterpiece of a protection. She tells him about how she'd sit in the workstation, fantasizing about the day her love would return. He never did.

Damon listens patiently as she tells him about the letter and the declaration of marriage. He listens as she tells him about the way her flames reduced to embers. He listens as she tells him she felt she had no choice but to lock away the one thing that made her who she was. He listens, until finally, the story of her life and his intertwines. Understanding dawns on him. He understands her reasons, her hesitations, her fears of him knowing who she really is.

Damon is overcome with anger. He wants to say he's angry with her. She's right here, he could unleash his fury on her for not telling him. But he knows that anger will be misplaced. Instead, he acknowledges that he's angry at the boy with the birch wood heart, the boy with the bronze heart, and even more so, the boy with the tanzanite heart. He's furious at their carelessness. He's furious at their reckless abandon at what they've done to Valentina.

He locks eyes with her. Finally he speaks.

“Let me show you,” he says to her with conviction. “how to master your flames and be more than you could have ever imagined.”

And so he does. In the days and weeks that follow, Damon and Valentina meet at this clearing, what they call the training oasis, and spend hours together. Damon helps Valentina learn how to keep her flames at bay during heightened emotions, he teaches her how to let her fire grow in a controlled manner. He teaches her how to communicate with the fire in her heart, understand what it needs just as much as what she needs.

When the weather grows cold and the training oasis is too much of a danger to travel to, Valentina allows Damon to help her in the barn. This is something she has never done before. Jonah, the shepherd, watches as Damon comes by day after day, investing all his time with his daughter.

Jonah is unsure, at first, at how much he can trust the young man. But as time goes on and his daughter grows in confidence and ability, he feels the remaining bits of uncertainty fall away. Maybe it's instinct, maybe it's intuition, but the shepherd knows that Damon is helping his daughter and loving her in ways the other boys never could.

One day, while Damon and Valentina are working in the barn, a messenger arrives, shouting at the door of the house looking for him.

Damon peeks his head out of the barn, catching sight of the messenger and waving him over to the barn. Once the messenger arrives, he emphatically states that he is needed at his home immediately.

“What for?” Damon asks.

“There’s an invitation, sir. The Lord and Lady have been searching for you and insist you meet them at the garden, sir.” the messenger replies.

Damon pauses. He didn't expect any type of invitation, least of all one that would have his parents up in arms about his arrival back home. He turns to look at Valentina. Her brown hair is pulled into a braid and is slightly undone with all the energy they were using for her training. The cuffs of her pants are rolled up just enough and her blouse is drenched in sweat.

Damon can see the curiosity in her eyes. Not wanting to be away from her, he turns back to the messenger.

“Tell the Lord and Lady that I will be home within the hour with a guest. Tell them I insist on an informal dinner, please,” Damon says.

He digs in his pockets for some loose change and when he finds enough, he hands them to the messenger. The messenger bows, turns, and runs up the gravel road.