Me Feainne

Darkness in her eyes. They are completely dark, like the blackest sun under which she was born. He didn’t like looking into them. But when playful warmth burned in them, he couldn’t seem to look away for some reason. Perhaps because at that moment they reminded him of a warm hearth in a cozy home, or maybe because no one had looked at him like that for a long time, at the cruel, heartless commander of the Scoia’tael. And yet he had no time for hearths and cozy homes. He had no time for her. It was… complicated with her. The cursed, literally bloede dh’oiene, had somehow wormed her way into their group and had miraculously stayed with him. The disgraced daughter of Henselt of Kaedwen, raised by an elven family, spoke Elder Speech, calling him 'old man' when he grumbled at her, and 'boy' when he got angry at her, stoking his ire even more. And she always smiled slyly, softening his sharp edges.

***

“So what is this?” A universal boredom reigned on Iorvet’s scarred face, yet his single eye watched Sanna attentively, although with no real interest. She tilted her head to the side, looking at him with a teasing smile, her eyes sparkling. Iorvet crossed his arms over his chest, but despite this closed pose, he didn’t try to push the cheeky girl away. She pressed him against the rough wall of the wooden house. “What do you think? You let yourself be pressed,” she said with unyielding persistence, hinting that he liked what was happening. He silently raised an eyebrow. “I still haven’t heard an answer.” His voice was even and cold. She pursed her lips. “This is how village boys let girls know that they like them. It’s… umm… intimacy.” How quickly her teasing flattery turned into stammering mumbling. He was too old for that. But, to be honest, he suddenly realized that he missed something like this. She looked at him with desperate waiting, and he, in turn, enjoyed torturing her with his silence. But when she was about to give up and step away, when he noticed a slight shift in her tense posture with his elven sight, he abruptly grabbed her by the waist and pressed her against that same wall, switching their places. “Your barbaric courting manners do not impress me, me feainne.” He whispered in her ear, making her stand up straight.” But I appreciate your efforts. And then he stepped away from her, gently and carefully, smiling contentedly. Are they friends? You could say so. At some point, he had already resigned himself to the fact that he could not hate her. At some later point, he would simply realize that they had been through a lot together. That she was no longer a bloede dh’oiene or a heir to the throne that could be used. Later, he would stop imagining his group without her. And then himself without her.

***

Thin smoke curled from the pipe that Iorvet was smoking by the open window. His window. In his cozy hut, nestled near the forest. In his cozy hut, in Kaedwen. The bitter smell of smoke mixed with the rich aromas of food piled on the sturdy oak table. There were carrots, meat, fish, and everything a soul could wish for. All that was worth fighting for. All that seemed ephemeral until the disgraced princess ascended to the throne of Kaedwen. It was about her that Iorvet thought, looking out the window at the bluish fog and the darkening forest in the approaching night. About her eyes, as black as this very night. He wanted to look into them one more time, as a veteran would longed to return to his separated family. But he knew he would see nothing in them but cold steel. The North united under the Kaedwen flag, just as once humans and non-humans united under the banners of Saskia. The North, under the leadership of Vesanna and the new king of Temeria, stood up to Nilfgaard. And the North became the land where humans and non-humans began to learn to coexist together, if only for the sake of being free from Nilfgaard. A grand victory! He is free. Unlike Sanna. She faces negotiations with the emperor. Nobles, peasants, non-humans, and others await her with their complaints, advice, and disputes. She faces marriage soon enough, too. With the new king of Temeria. In the name of cohesion and unity, in the name of humans and non-humans, in the name of “Squirrels” and Iorvet himself, to fulfill their dreams, to fulfill all dreams. He had only seen her once, after she was recognized as the legitimate queen. So uncharacteristically serious, and so characteristically determined, she rode on a brave horse along the stone road accompanied by a stern retinue to her future husband. In the indistinguishable darkness of her eyes, only the road ahead was reflected. She did not look around and never saw him in the crowed. Bidding her farewell.