On the evening of the reception, when it was time to choose a dress, she found herself unable to shake the hope despite her best efforts. Her heart yearned for her other half, had always done so. Even the opposite game, which was terrible, allowed her to dream of what he might be like. The one to make her complete, the one to give her songs that last final push she thought they needed. The personal one, her own story told at last after telling the tales of so many others.
She quickly went through the usual phases from “not going” to “but I have the best songs”, which always won out.
Eventually, Leiya decided on her favorite yellow dress.
That wasn’t a traditional color for Brions either, too bright and sunny for them, she sometimes teased. But she liked it; it felt like she was dressed in sunlight. So, if she really was to meet her gerion, he would meet her just the way she was.
No warriors, she warned fate. I will run. I will really run away. I know geshas fight, but I will honestly run away.
She smiled to her image in the mirror, looking herself over. Yes, that looked like her, alright.
She was ready to meet him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Faren
He honestly couldn’t believe Diego had talked him into this.
The problem with having only one friend was that it left Faren with only one real option of who to talk to. And Diego had, in his infuriating way, been right about everything as usual. His meeting his gesha, Isolde, was truly a miracle of chance. If anyone didn’t believe in fate or the legitimacy of the Brion fated couples after that, nothing would convince them.
“It had to happen,” Diego had said when they’d discussed the reception on the Triumphant, in his usual tone of calm. “It was meant to happen. Isolde is a human, the amount of coincidences that had to happen for me to meet her…”
He’d fallen silent then and Faren had done so as well, out of respect for his friend. He knew Diego was thinking of all the ways he could have missed Isolde, missed his gesha. That was enough to make even Diego Grothan speechless.
“So,” Diego said when he shook himself out of the moment of considering the impossible. “It doesn’t hurt to give fate a few more chances, don’t you agree?”
Faren agreed.
That didn’t mean he had to like it. Like Diego, he couldn’t argue with the logic, nor with the results. Receptions were the biggest social gatherings on Briolina, held at irregular intervals whenever the demand for one arose. And the whole mess with Rhea had put a damper on that for a while. The Brions were hungry for a more positive event for sure. There was no better place to meet one’s fated. All of that was rationally true, Faren truly agreed.
It was simply the reception itself he had a problem with. His ability to connect with other Brions was limited at best. He could only really talk to Diego, others he tolerated at their most likeable.
The reception was, in short, everything he was not. It was loud, bright, noisy, and full of those who actually liked it. It was even worse this time as it had been a while since the last one. Everybody on Briolina was going to be vying to listen to a new budding singing sensation whose name Faren had mercifully managed not to catch yet. It was going to be a nightmare.#p#分页标题#e#
He’d told Diego that too, but his friend had just smiled.
“Almost every Brion attends a reception at some point in their lives,” he said. “You’ll manage one night.”
That almost sounded like a challenge and Faren didn’t doubt for a moment Diego had phrased it like one completely on purpose.
“Did you go?” he asked at last.
“I did,” Diego called back to him, already returning to his training routine, which Faren had interrupted.
“And,” Faren urged him on.
Diego sent him an amused look.
“I hated it.”
The premise of it all was bad, but the reality was even worse.
The reception was crowded as usual. He was given a wide berth though, his reputation preceding him. It wasn’t just Diego they spoke of in reverence and fear but him as well. Faren didn’t mind. At least his reputation came to his advantage in that – no one in particular came to speak to him. Those who knew him accurately guessed he wasn’t in the mood, and those who didn’t wouldn’t have dared anyway. Only Ryden, one of the most promising young captains, came to introduce himself. He was rumored to become a general very soon. The smile on his face hinted at overconfidence while he was clearly capable. Raw and rash, Faren thought. He'd have to keep an eye on the young upstart.
At least he didn’t have to make small talk.
That didn’t spare him from listening, though. Everywhere around him, people were talking excitedly of their possible fated. Of Rhea, of Diego, of him, of all the things he rather would not have thought about. And they talked about Leiya.
She was the new star of Briolina, an opposite of him if there ever was one. The daughter of Senator Tawren had always been a bit different, which Faren didn’t have an immediate problem with. He almost felt sorry for the girl, if he could have managed an irrelevant emotion like that. He didn’t exactly fit in either. But that was where the similarities began and ended.
To begin with, Leiya was a pacifist. It was a stance so strange and unknown to the Brions that Faren had met people who had to have the word explained. And then the concept itself... She promoted peace while Faren had spent most of his adult life learning the quickest and easiest ways of killing the enemies of the Brions.
They said Leiya didn’t think even the enemies of the Brions deserved to die. She was quoted saying war was terrible, blood disgusting, and the whole profession of warriors just a calling card for trouble. The last one was an interesting idea even Diego somewhat agreed to, but they were generals. They knew the galaxy was filled with plenty of species with whom it was impossible to rationalize. It wasn’t that Leiya seemed to want them to roll over, she just celebrated all occasions where the services of the warriors were not required. In short, her perfect world appeared to be one where Faren would be obsolete.
She seemed firmly on the other end of the spectrum from him in regards to emotions too. While Faren struggled to feel anything but detached curiosity for the world around him, Leiya could apparently be shaken by the smallest things. She was known for actively seeking out the stories of bindings, all of which made her cry, a concept Faren couldn’t completely grasp. In his mind, it was similar to masochism that some warriors fell to, seeking out pain to drive them further. And she put all of her feelings into songs.
Alright, so maybe there were two similarities between them. Faren had always excelled in being able to make people feel what he wanted them to feel. Only the range of those emotions usually went from fear to respect. Leiya could do that too, but her array was much larger, it seemed. He’d heard of whole thousands sobbing at her concerts, which of course made it right into her next song.
People Faren had never known to laugh left her presence with smiles of their faces. Even the Brions who didn’t think much of singers as a whole admitted through gritted teeth that hearing her voice was an almost spiritual experience.
Faren would have liked to tune out most of the talking, but he couldn’t make himself deaf. She was about to take the stage, so there was no helping him hearing everything the audience knew about her.
Leiya thought Briolina was the most beautiful planet in the galaxy. How could she know that when she hadn’t been to any other?
Leiya flew to the other end of the planet to rescue animals. Rescue them from what?
Leiya had stepped between two high-ranking warriors who were about to have a duel and told them they didn’t need to settle everything in blood. They’d stopped. Confirmation needed for that.#p#分页标题#e#
Leiya liked the smell of mornings. How do mornings smell? And who notices these things?
By the time the starlet stepped on stage, Faren was almost sure he involuntarily knew more about her than he knew about himself. Then again, there was much more about Leiya to know. For one, something he hadn't expected.
She wasn't a Brion.
There weren't many things that surprised Faren. Anyone else might have looked shocked, drawing attention to himself, but Faren's expression didn't even change. All the confusion took place behind the mask of his usual calm.
The differences were so miniature he'd almost missed them, but he was certain. Brion warriors didn't only study death, they educated themselves in life as well. They knew what a Brion looked like. And while Leiya was similar enough to fool everyone else, she couldn't fool him.
There was something missing, a very distinctive quality Faren couldn't name. Maybe it was a ferociousness, a sense of danger. Everything he'd heard seemed to confirm it. That explained why the girl was so different.
If she could convincingly portray a Brion, it meant she had to be something very much like them. It left only one option. She wasn't similar to Isolde in appearances, but Faren knew she was human. He wondered if she did. And who else knew about this. Interesting. He'd have to ask around about it.
Despite all that, he had to admit that the starlet was truly beautiful. Maybe it was the way she presented herself, but he found her features… pleasing. She had big, soft green eyes, sparkling like she was, made even more obvious by the shiny yellow dress she wore. She just stood out, even without the stage, basked in the golden glow of her dress and the lights around her. Her hair fell almost to her hips, golden blonde like rays of sun in the morning.