WeatherMaker Hearts Desire Prologue

‘Arlen!’ Farrell burst through the door without warning.

‘What!’ Arlen gasped, grabbing his chest suddenly. ‘I was sleeping. Gods you near enough game me a heart attack…next time can’t you kno-’

‘I’ve found Amaia’ Farrell blurted. ‘I’ve found her!’ He swooped up to Arlen and held him either side of his face, smiling with tears running down his cheeks. ‘She’s alive! And well.’

Arlen stared at him blankly for several seconds, taking a long time to process what Farrell had just said.

‘Where is she?’ Arlen demanded urgently grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. ‘Where?!’

‘Please’ Farrell said, raising a hand to try to calm both himself and Arlen. ‘She’s a little nervous….understandably. Just……just try to calm down a little.’

Arlen forced himself to sit back, taking several deep breaths to steady himself, but his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

‘Ok’ he said breathing deeply again. ‘Please’ he said slowly, trying to stop himself from trembling. ‘Show me where she is. But wait!’ he added suddenly as Farrell straightened up again. ‘I have to do something first.’

Arlen rose from the bed, throwing back the sheets and making his way to a dresser nearby.

‘Get me some water’ he waved to Farrell behind him. ‘Don’t ask just do it’ he added hastily, seeing Farrell’s reflection open its mouth to question.

Farrell closed his mouth again, rushing off to get a bowl of water, returning shortly after and placing it on the dresser before Arlen uncertainly.

‘Good’ Arlen smiled, dabbing a rag into the cool water. ‘Just wait there’ he said to Farrell, lifting the damp rag to his face and wiping away the black paint from around his eyes.

Seconds later, he took a razor from the dresser, and lifted it to his cheek.

Farrell watched in silence as Arlen worked, doing so slowly and carefully so as not to cut himself, but Farrell could see his brother’s hand still shaking slightly.

A few minutes later, Arlen placed the razor back upon the dresser, using the rag now to wash his face. He surveyed his own reflection with satisfaction, before turning back to Farrell.

Farrell smiled widely at the sight, unable to stop himself. He saw now in his brother a reflection of his old self, the brother he used to know. He still had the scars, the broken nose, but without the beard and black paint around his eyes, Farrell could see Arlen again. He had aged, as had Farrell, but he was still there.

‘I don’t want to scare her now’ Arlen smiled, ‘do I?’

‘You look…’ Farrell began, ‘…great.’

‘I’d settle for presentable’ Arlen smirked. ‘But thank you.’

He took a slow and steady breath.

‘Lead the way’ he said to Farrell. ‘I am ready to see her.’

They walked slowly out of the healing rooms and through the temple, Arlen’s heart racing in his chest as they went. He could not remember feeling more nervous in his entire life. His palms were sweating, and there was a lump in his throat that he could not swallow. And his mind was ablaze.

They rounded a corner, and then he saw her.

Amaia turned towards Arlen, and their eyes met.

Arlen’s hand went to his mouth at the sight of her, freezing on the spot for a moment and holding his breath, tears coming to his eyes.

No he thought to himself as he fought back the tears. I mustn’t cry. Ramana wouldn’t want me to cry.

Arlen lowered his hand, and forced himself to breathe steadily.

Arlen and Farrell approached her.

‘Amaia’ Farrell said to her. ‘This is Arlen. Your uncle.’

Arlen smiled widely, looking down on her.

‘Hello Amaia. It’s so good to see you again.’

Farrell left them to be alone together, allowing the pair to get to know each other again. Arlen spoke to Amaia, as Farrell had done so before him.

‘Before you were born’ Arlen was saying to her, ‘your mother and I were very close. I don’t know if I should tell you this, but…before your mother loved your father, she loved me, and I loved her.’

‘Really?’ Amaia said, surprised at this. ‘I never knew.’

‘I never wanted you to, but now that you’re old enough….well…some things should not be kept a secret forever.’

‘Then what happened?’ Amaia asked. ‘Between you and my mother.’

‘I convinced her to marry your father’ Arlen explained.

‘But why? Didn’t you love her?’

‘I did love her’ Arlen smiled with distant eyes as he thought of Ramana. ‘I loved her very much. But…I could never give her the life that she deserved. I had very little back then. No reputation, barely any money, and a home that was fit only for a beggar. How could I possibly raise children in such a way? How could I have married a woman knowing that I could not give her a good home or care for her properly?’

‘If you truly loved each other’ Amaia said, ‘then that shouldn’t have mattered.’

‘No’ Arlen shook his head. ‘It was because I loved her so much that I asked her to marry my brother. And it was only because my brother cared so much about me that he agreed.’

‘You mean they did not love each other?’ Amaia asked him in shock.

‘Not in the beginning’ Arlen explained. ‘My brother did not want to marry Ramana, and Ramana did not at first like Farrell. Not at all. But the years have a way of changing people, and over time, their love grew.’

‘I know’ Amaia beamed, arms wrapped around a knee as they sat on a stone bench before a great statue of the goddess Kachi. ‘I don’t know much about love, but I knew my parents loved each other very much. I remember how happy they were together.’ She glanced sideways towards Arlen. ‘What was it that made you love my mother?’ Amaia asked him.

A smile flickered across Arlen’s face then. ‘You know’ he said facing her. ‘Your mother asked me exactly the same thing when we were still new to each other. Let me see if I can remember. Gods she was so beautiful’ he sighed, fighting back tears, ‘just like you.’ He turned to Amaia. ‘You look so much like her; I feel…that in a way…I am talking to her, through you.’

He laughed then, covering his eyes with a hand.

‘This feels so strange to me’ he said, ‘speaking to you after all this time……after I thought I had lost you forever. It’s almost too much for me. But I know that if she were here, she would tell me not to cry, so I’m trying hard not to, for her.’ He sighed, lowering his hand again. ‘I fell in love with your mother, from the very first moment I lay eyes upon her. I remember that day so clearly, it was one of the best days in my life. The day I first met her...’

Arlen was just leaving the temple at this time, walking with eyes down and staring at his own feet. He lifted his head, just as a woman was approaching him.

The world seemed to slow. Arlen turned towards the woman just as she passed him by, so near to him she was.

His heart stopped, his eyes grew wide, and his breath was completely stolen away.

He slowed to a stop, staring at her as she walked away. She did not acknowledge him, but seemed to be in a world of her own.

Arlen stayed rooted to the spot, frozen. He could not move.

‘It was as if she had put a spell upon me’ Arlen mumbled in a distant voice. ’From the very first moment I lay eyes on her, I thought to myself, I have to have her.’

‘What made you fall in love with her?’ Amaia asked him. ‘If you only saw her for the first time and didn’t speak to her.’

‘You know’ Arlen glanced at her happily. ‘Your mother asked me the exact same thing.’

The sunlight above cast moving patterns though the leaves upon the forest floor. Shielding his eyes Arlen squinted at Ramana as she lay next to him. She grinned at him cheekily.

‘I like it when you make funny faces’ she said.

‘I’m not making funny faces’ he told her indignantly. ‘This is just my face.’

She giggled at him, rolling onto her side she propped herself up on an elbow, resting her head in a hand.

‘You’re so cute’ she said to him.

‘I’m not trying to be cute.’

‘I know’ she beamed back at him. ‘That’s what I find cutest of all.’

Arlen lowered his hand, turning his head to face her properly as he rested on his back against the cool grass in the forest.

‘You say the silliest things sometimes’ he smiled warmly.

She glowed, looking ever more beautiful.

‘So’ she said to him, tickling him as he tried to squirm away from her. ‘A handsome man such as yourself chased by every woman who lays eyes upon you….what made you choose me?’

‘What do you mean?’ Arlen asked her, weaving his fingers through hers.

‘I mean…’ she chuckled, poking his nose. ‘Why did you fall in love with me? I didn’t know who you were when you started sending me gifts.’ Her eyes glistened as she watched him closely, waiting for a response. ‘What was it about me that you liked?’

‘It was love at first sight’ Arlen breathed, never taking his eyes from her.

‘But women throw themselves at your feet’ Ramana told him. ‘Why haven’t you fallen for any of them?’

‘It’s not like that’ Arlen said frowning and shoving her lightly.

Ramana flicked his hand away, pushing him back and giggling.

‘Women don’t throw themselves at my feet’ Arlen told her.

‘Yes they do.’

‘No’ Arlen said in mock irritation. ‘They don’t.’

‘Well’ Ramana continued. ‘Why didn’t you like any of them?’

‘I was waiting for the right person’ Arlen replied.

‘But why were none of them the right person?’ She asked him.

‘You mean those pampered spoilt women who think they are better than everyone else because they are richer, or better looking? Or because their parents are important people? The type of woman who spends hours every day painting her face and preening herself? The type of women who has so little care in the world besides themselves, they spend hours living inside their own heads? You want to know why I’m not interested in them?’

‘Alright’ Ramana smiled, satisfied at the answer. ‘What was it about me that made you fall in love with me before you even knew me?’

‘It was what I saw about you’ Arlen grinned.

‘What do you mean?’ Ramana asked teasingly.

‘I have seen so many women of the type who choose to spend their whole lives inside, knowing nothing of the real world. Not even caring to find out, women who do nothing with their lives. But when I saw you, I saw the kind of person you are.’

‘Oh?’ Ramana winked, curious now.

Arlen reached forward, brushing her hair back.

‘You look so beautiful all the time’ he told her. ‘But I like it best when your hair is down.’

‘It’s a good thing I always have it down then’ Ramana said, resting her head against the ground with her hands stuck out before her, poking Arlen’s stomach repeatedly.

Arlen tried to fend himself off, waving his hands at hers.

‘I saw a lot about your character that day’ Arlen continued, catching her waving hands in his. ‘That day you walked past me. That day I first laid eyes upon you, I saw your beauty and magnificence.’

‘Oh stop’ she laughed, slapping his shoulder lightly.

He flicked her nose playfully in response.

‘Go on’ Ramana told him when they had calmed again. ‘What did you see about my character?’

‘You’re fingers’ he told her.

‘Fingers?’ she made a funny face at him. ‘You fell in love with me because of my fingers?’

‘Yes. I mean no.’ Arlen made a sound of exasperation. ‘You had paint on your fingers’ Arlen went on, ‘which means you like to paint, you are creative. There were twigs in your hair, and dirt on your dress that made it look like you had been kneeling. I thought you perhaps like to garden, maybe you like flowers; maybe you have a collection of them. And the twigs in your hair, how did they get there? Were you walking through the woods, or perhaps climbing a tree? You didn’t wear any makeup, but you were more beautiful without it. You dressed in vibrant red and walked with your head held high; I saw you were a confident person, proud, and strong. That is the woman I have spent my life searching for, that is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. And when I heard you sing…’ Arlen took a deep breath. ‘I was completely blown away.’

Ramana smiled proudly at Arlen. She leant forward to kiss him.

Amaia threw her head back, laughing heartily.

‘Is that what you said to her when she asked? That you fell in love with my mother because of her fingers?’

Arlen laughed with her, unable to stop himself, feeling within him a joy so pure and strong; he had felt nothing like it since the day Ramana died. Amaia reminded him so much of the woman he had fallen in love with all those years ago, and to hear her laugh, and to know that she was happy…...

Arlen grinned widely to himself.

It was the best feeling in the world.

‘No’ Arlen replied to Amaia, frowning in mock annoyance. ‘I told you, it’s what the paint on her fingers said about her.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘You know, she found that funny too when I told her.’

‘I’m sure she did’ Amaia smiled.

Arlen stared at her. He lifted a hand to brush her cheek.

‘Amaia’ he said, his tone turning serious. ‘I just want you to know, that I never stopped looking for you, since the day you first went missing. I never gave up hope.’

‘I believe you’ she whispered.

‘And I’ve felt regret every day for not….’ He swallowed the lump in his throat, glancing away from Amaia and withdrawing his hand, before briefly looking back at her. ‘I sorry I couldn’t protect your mother. I should have been there.’

‘It’s not your fault’ Amaia said, taking his hand in hers and holding tightly. ‘You did everything you could.’

Arlen opened his mouth as if about to protest.

‘You searched for me’ Amaia spoke over him before he could interrupt. ‘You never gave up on me. That’s all that matters.’

Arlen sighed, resigning to smile again, biting back his words.

‘Yeah’ he said. ‘I guess you’re right.’

Amaia beamed back at him, glowing, she looked so beautiful, so perfect, as if she was created by the gods themselves.

‘I’ve missed you’ Arlen said to her. ‘So very much.’

‘As have I’ she replied.

She let go of Arlen’s hand suddenly, catching sight of a figure standing in the doorway, she gasped, leaning back away from him.

‘You!’ Arlen snarled at the prince, rising to his feet. ’What are you doing here?’

Tristan’s eyes slid from Amaia to Arlen and back again. Behind him stood a small group of armoured soldiers bearing the crest of the prince, a wolf running up a mountain side.

Arlen called for his brother, who was not far away. Seconds later he appeared.

‘What is this?’ Farrell demanded of Tristan, glaring angrily. ‘Where did you go and why did you leave us? And why are you here now?’

‘I’ve come for my daughter’ Tristan said.

‘You deceived us! You knew where she was……I knew it was wrong to trust you’ Farrell spat baring his teeth. ’She is not your daughter! Your own lies you’ve twisted to truth in your mind.’ He fell silent, breathing heavily, shoulders rising up and down as he cracked his knuckles in anger. ’She is not your daughter’ Farrell said defiantly at him. ‘She is mine, and I will not let you take her away from me.’

Arlen quickly rushed up to him, placing a hand upon Farrell’s to stop him drawing his sword.

‘We cannot fight here’ Arlen spoke loudly to everyone. ‘Not in this holy temple.’ He turned to Farrell, speaking quietly in a whisper. ’Not in front of her.’

Farrell gritted his teeth mutely, moving his hand away from the hilt and straightening up again.

‘There will be no bloodshed here’ Tristan spoke up. ‘At least not by me or my men, and I’ve not come to fight nor waste any more time with you.’ He spoke to Amaia now. ‘Come here Amaia.’

Amaia hesitated. Farrell and Arlen watched her expectantly.

‘Amaia?’ Farrell uttered as she began to move closer to Tristan.

She turned her back on him, walking towards the prince.

‘Amaia!’ Farrell called after her, his voice breaking and heart tearing in his chest.

Beside him Arlen placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

The two exchanged a glance; then looked back at Amaia.

‘We’ll wait for you’ Arlen called out to her as she moved away with the prince and soldiers that surrounded both of them. ‘We’ll be here!’

Farrell began to quiver as he watched Amaia walking away and out of sight. Once again being taken away from him.

‘How…’ he uttered when they had gone. ‘How could she….why….I don’t understand?’

‘I don’t like it either’ Arlen said firmly turning back to him. ‘You don’t know what he’s told her. You don’t know what has happened between them in the years she’s been gone from us.’

‘How could she leave?’ Farrell whispered, placing a hand over his eyes, shoulders racked with sobs. ‘How….?’

‘Farrell’ his brother spoke harshly. ’I have every confidence that if we stay here……she will return to us.’

Farrell lowered his hand, staring through watery eyes to his brother.

‘But why?’ he mumbled.

‘Because’ Arlen smiled. ‘I have faith.’

‘So that was Amaia’ William said folding his arms and leaning back against the wall. ‘The woman we‘ve been looking for for nearly a year. Here she was.’

‘Layla….Why do you think she bore a false name?’ Adam asked them.

‘Who knows?’ Arlen said beside Farrell, who sat nearby silently biting back his grief. ‘I’m sure Tristan told her to stay hidden here.’

‘Just think’ Adam continued, ‘because of that false name, you might never have found her.’ He paused in thought. ‘It was extremely lucky that you did’ he spoke to the brothers.

‘So what do we do now?’ William asked the both of them.

Arlen glanced to Farrell before answering.

‘You’ve fulfilled your purpose William’ Arlen spoke solemnly. ‘You are free to go where you please now. We thank you for all you’ve done, and are sorry for your loss. Bill was a good man.’

William stared at Arlen hard for a moment, before straightening up and walking away in silence.

‘I suppose the same goes for me’ Adam said quietly when he had gone.

‘Almost’ Arlen said. ‘There is one last thing I want you to do. Return to the mountains to the rest of the army, and release them.’

‘I will.’

Adam rose from his seat, moving towards Arlen and grasping his forearm in farewell.

‘Goodbye Arlen’ Adam said.

‘Goodbye my friend’ Arlen replied sadly holding tightly Adam’s arm.

Adam let go, glancing silently to Farrell and nodding to him briefly before turning on his heel and marching out after William.

‘I guess that leaves just the two of us then’ Farrell mumbled as the door swung shut.

‘It does’ Arlen said. ‘It does.’ He took a deep breath. ‘And now we wait….’