THE WIEKTS

Thoar Wiekt was a broken man. He was devastated. He thought that his wife wasn’t really planning to go back to Skeistl and left him here. But she did. He had forgotten that Lorrona Gurts was a woman who would always do what she said. She had never gone against her word and thus, she wouldn’t start now. A few days after the fight, she collected her things and was in the harbor to board the ship that would bring her to Skeistl. Thoar didn’t believe his servants when they said that his wife was already gone by the time he woke up. He searched around the house frantically before deciding to check the harbor. And of course, he found her there, waiting to enter the ship. He saw her hesitate for a fraction but with determined eyes she stepped on the ship and didn’t look back again. Thoar Wiekt was truly devastated.

The days after his wife’s abrupt departure found Thoar feeling numb. He couldn’t feel anything. He didn’t want to feel anything. He went back to his routine in the King’s army — training the new recruits, patrolling the castle area, practicing his fighting skills, and many other mundane tasks. He did it all flawlessly just like usual, but it was just a routine that he could do without even need to think about it. His body was so used to it that it was easy for him to do them correctly. However, nothing stopped the numbness he felt. He couldn’t fathom why his wife really left him. He desperately wanted to believe that it was his wife’s fault that he didn’t see that he was the only one causing all of these problems in their life. The jokes that he got from his fellow soldiers made it all worse. Just like he expected, the word spread fast. Now everyone knew about him getting caught doing household chores like sweeping the front yard. It was as if he was a criminal. Sure, no one actually did anything to him, but they talked about him and mocked him. Even worse than before, they didn’t bother to do it behind his back anymore.

A few days after Lorrona left him, he went to the King’s army barracks to report for duty just like usual. Initially, he didn’t want to do anything for the day because he felt a bit under the weather. But he went to report for duty anyway and thought that he should probably just ask for a permission to leave early today. So he did just that. He asked for a permission to speak with the King’s second in command and told him about his current predicament. The Lord’s answer was the final blow to his already wounded pride.

“Why do you want to leave the grounds early, Wiekt? Do you have a house cleaning agenda today?” he said, snickering.

He gritted his teeth at the obvious mockery. It was wrong for the Lord to drag personal issues into such meeting as this. He should’ve just assessed the situation in the castle and if he felt like he could afford letting one or two soldiers leave the ground then he would let them go. If he didn’t think that it would be possible then no one would leave the grounds. There was no need to tell him the reason of their leaving. It was protocol. But every soldier knew that the Lord wasn’t someone who followed the protocol closely. But there was nothing that Thoar could do about it, so he kept silent and waited for the Lord to decide what to do with him.

“Alright, Wiekt. Since you’re one of the King’s favorite, I’ll let you go. But don’t think that this will happen again. You shouldn’t let your wife make you do her duties, you know.” He sighed and then continued, “Go.”

Thoar nodded and bowed once and then walked away. He got that permission no matter what the Lord’s said. He gritted his teeth all the way through his walk to the barracks to gather his things needed for his patrol. He would finish his patrol then he would be on his way home. His partner today was an older soldier that he didn’t know. He was a new recruit but he had served the King before, informally, as a volunteer, during the battle against Elesia. Thoar stopped in his preparation. His oldest brother also served in that battle. There was a high chance that this man knew his brother. As soon as the thought slipped into his mind, the man in question came to him.

“Hello. Good day, isn’t it? I see you’re my new Captain. It feels rather weird being under the command of someone so young!” said the man, smiling. Thoar only got a good vibe from the older man.

“Good afternoon it is, but I don’t know if it’s a good day yet.”

The man laughed. “It’s nice seeing that I have a Captain who has a good sense of humor.”

“I was just stating the fact.” Thoar gave the man a small smile. “I’m Thoar Wiekt.”

“A Wiekt! I’ve served with a Wiekt before. In the battle against Elesia. He must be your brother.”

“You mean Hart Wiekt? Yes he was my brother. Who are you?”

“I’m Osthas. Your brother was one of my best friends in the field.”

“Osthas? You’re the one who gave the word about my brother’s death to his wife!”

Thoar knew that the man had a high chance of knowing his late brother, but he didn’t know that the man as the exact same man who delivered the news of Hart’s death to his wife. They started walking while continuing to talk about the things that they had in common, Hart Wiekt.

“Yes, I am, sir. He was the bravest man I have ever seen. The craziest too, though,” said Osthas with a smile on his face. “We need more men like him in this land.”

Thoar scoffed hearing that. “My brother? Brave? I think you mistook him for someone else. He was a coward, not a brave man like you said.”

Osthas frowned. “That’s not what happened. I was with him through all the battles. He survived all of them even though he didn’t have any proper training before. He kept on fighting even when he couldn’t hold his sword properly anymore. He tied it on his hand and kept on fighting. He was indeed the bravest man in that battle.”

“But it was all for naught because he died of illness.” Thoar just couldn’t believe what he heard from this man. Hart Wiekt wasn’t a brave man. He was a coward.

“Yes he did die because of illness. But it was because of the wounds in his body. They festered and so his body couldn’t hold it any longer. And just before he was found, he had been exposed to the rain for such a long time. He didn’t regain any consciousness at all so in a way he was already dead in that field of the last battle. He wasn’t a coward, Captain. Your brother was a brave and kind man.”

“Kind is not the quality for those who live the life of the battle, Osthas.”

“I know. But he wasn’t meant to live that life, was he? He was thrown in that situation by the situation and his father — no offense, Captain.”

“None taken. I know that my father can be a hard man sometimes.”

They stopped talking for a while. Thoar was busy with his thoughts. He believed his father that Hart was a coward without any preamble. He thought of his brother as a coward for all this time and he didn’t even understand the things that his brother experienced in that battlefield. He started to think whether his father had been wrong in his judgment to sent Hart to that battlefield after all. He thought back to his brother who wanted to be a blacksmith. His dream was simple. He only wanted a quiet life with his wife — that man loved his wife, everybody knew that — and their future children. Thoar stopped in his track.

“Osthas,” called Thoar. “Had he mentioned about his wife?”

“Who? Hart?” asked the man. “Oh, he talked about his wife all the time. He was extremely regretful that he chose to follow his father instead of his heart. He chose to follow of what expected by the society instead of his own heart. That was his biggest regret.”

Thoar was stunned. That situation was extremely similar to his situation now. He chose to tend to his wounded pride instead of his wife. Would he regret this later in his life? The answer was so simple and clear that he was shocked he didn’t see it before. Yes. Yes he would come to regret this later in his life. He needed to right this wrong.

“Osthas,” called Thaor quietly.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Can you continue the patrol by yourself?”

“Yes, Captain. Why?”

“I need to go to the harbor. I didn’t want to regret things like my brother. All he could do was regretting things, but I can still do something. Thank you for telling me about my brother. He was indeed not a coward. Now, I have a journey to do on my own.”

Osthas smiled. “Yes, Captain. Good luck with your wife.”

Thoar looked at the man for a second, confused as to how he knew about his problem with his wife. But then everyone literally knew about it, he thought. So, he bid the man goodbye and ran towards his house. He needed to pack his things quickly and went to the harbor, hoping that there would be a ship leaving towards Skeistl tonight. He knew that there were a lot of ships going to Skeistl nowadays as a result of the diplomatic visit months before. The relationship between the Kingdom and Queendom had never been better than before. Merchants sailed across the ocean to sell their things. He hoped that there would be at least one ship going there. No matter if it was a merchant’s personal ship. He would be on that ship if it would bring him to that Queendom.

Thoar reached his house and started to pack. He would only bring the things that he would need during the days he was on the ship. He didn’t need to bring too many things. He could always get the things he needed in Skeistl. If he decided to go back here with Lorrona then he could always get his things back from this house, but if he didn’t come back here, then he could always get new things there in Skeistl. It didn’t really matter where he would end up as long as he could get his wife back. He knew that he loved her enough to do this. He was a fool to even let her go. He recalled his feelings when they first met and berated himself further. He had been so stupid.

“Where are you going, sir?” asked one of his servants.

“I’m going to Skeistl. Watch the house for me, will you. I don’t know when I’ll be abck, but if I do come back here, I’ll be with my wife.” Thoar answered with determination.

After saying that, he left his house and went to the harbor. To his unfortunate luck, there was no ship for that evening. The first ship that was going to Skeitsl would sail at midnight. He waited at the harbor brimming with impatience. He couldn’t stand still. He needed to be on his journey to Skeistl as fast as possible but here he was, standing there idly doing nothing except wait.

“Where are you going to, young man?” suddenly an old man asked him. He was rather plump with a cheerful face. He looked like a typical merchant.

“Skeistl, sir,” answered Thoar.

“Oh. What are you doing there?”

“I’m going to my wife, sir.”

“Your wife? Such a coincidence. I have a wife there too. I was from Erzieg, but I had a problem with my family because I wanted to be a merchant instead of a scholar. They thought being a merchant was something low. So, I got out of the Kingdom and fled to Skeistl, our neighboring land. There, I was caught by one of the soldier because I entered the Queendom without any permit.” He laughed jovially at this. “The soldier who caught me actually listened to my story and she helped me gain the Queen’s permission to stay there in Skeistl. Long story short, I married that nice and lovely girl then.” He gave Thoar a loud belly laugh and a strong pat on the back.

Thoar gave him a sad smile. The merchant’s story about his wife reminded him of his own wife. “How wonderful. You must be happy.”

“Oh no! Not at first! She was so independent that I didn’t know what to do! She was the one providing for our small family back then. We fought quite often because of that. She made me feel rather useless, you know. But then we talked about our problems and made some compromises. And here I am, the happiest man ever!”

“I was having similar problems with my wife. I was too stubborn to talk to her though.”

“Aren’t you all Proscris men stubborn?” the merchant laughed again. “You’re always the toughest customer to satisfy. Always so stubborn and strict to the custom and tradition.”

“Yes, I guess we are.”

“Try talking to her without your temper and stubbornness getting a hold of you. It’ll do wonders. Trust me.”

With that, they were sitting next to each other until the merchant stood and announced that he would get into the next ship. “I have to go, young man.”

“But that ship isn’t going to Skeistl, sir.”

“Oh yes. I’m not going to Skeistl yet. I have to travel to Visker first to bring them the things they asked. Being a merchant is not easy.” The merchant laughed again and walked away towards the ship.

Without another person to talk to, Thoar sat there alone waiting for his ship to come and bring him to his wife. After waiting for quite a long time, the ship started to be busy with people preparing it for sailing. He got up and walked with the other passengers to the ship and finally, finally, he was in that ship that would bring him in a journey to his get his wife back.

Lorrona was quite miserable and angry for the whole time she was back in her homeland. She didn’t understand what made her husband change to the way he was before. They were so happy and then everything was going downhill. From the time she received the news about her rejection by the King’s army, until she went home. She was disappointed by the rejection because she knew that she was good enough for the position in the King’s army, but apparently the prejudice towards her sex was far greater than she thought. But she was able to endure it, she would settle for a life without being a soldier if it meant that she could still stay with Thoar. She loved him dearly. But then, she went home and what she got was a cold shoulder and angry words directed at her. She just didn’t understand.

She had just finished her time doing patrol in the Queen’s court — yes she was back in her old position as one of the Queen’s guard — and just reached her house when she saw a man standing in front of her front door. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Thoar?” asked Lorrona.

The man turned his back and faced her. It was indeed her husband.

“Hi, Lorrona,” said Thoar.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled sheepishly just like he did so many days ago when he decided that he would make her breakfast as his way to apologize. “Trying to apologize?”

“What?”

Thoar took a step forward and grasped her hands in his. “Lorrona. I’m sory. I was stupid and scared at that time.” He stopped her with a gesture when he saw that she was going to start asking about things. “Yes. I was scared, Lorrona. I was scared because there was someone who saw me that day. I was sweeping the front yard and the neighbor saw me. I couldn’t help the fear of what the people might say about me blinded me. I was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Thoar. If only you would just tell me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I realized now that I was wrong. I should have talked to you about it instead of shouting at you. That’s why I’m here, Lorrona.”

“Thoar…thank you.”

They hugged and everything was good again. The numbness inside Thoar’s body was lifting. He was glad that he wouldn’t end his life with regret just like his brother, Hart. He knew that there would be hell to pay when his father knew about this, but it was a story for another time. Thoar Wiekt was a stubborn man, but he learned his lessons. He would never choose to sacrifice his heart again. And because his heart now lay in this beautiful woman, he promised himself that he would never let her go. And for the first time since their last arguments, they both felt content. There was no guarantee that they would never argue again, god knew that they were both very stubborn human beings, but that was life. They were sure that they would be able to overcome anything else as long as they were together.

A few days after found three letters sent from Skeistl to Proscris. The first one was addressed to Arn Wiekt, bringing him the message that his son would not come back to Proscris. He was going to stay in Skeistl with his wife. It was also included in that letter that his son apologized if Arn thought that Thoar failed him just like Roan. He was sorry but he didn’t care. The second letter was addressed to the King’s second in command, telling him that Thoar was no longer a soldier in the King’s army and that he would no longer reside in his house. The third, and the last, letter was sent to Osthas, stating Thoar’s greatest thanks. He also stated that he would like to know the man better and to let him know if Osthas ever to be sent to Skeistl with the King’s army or in any situation. With the help of his wife, who helped him write those letters, the three letters were sent and Thoar was ready to start his new life in Skeistl.