Lady Holi's Love

"Yes, continue to complete your duties, Julia," She nodded and hurried out of the room as the Dawn Lady sighed and looked at the still rolled out map on her table, "How?" The three commanders returned to the room, "I need your opinions on this."

"What is it, my lady?" They looked at the map and noticed the northern front displayed to them, "The standstill?"

"I have sent 1st shock to the front, as legionnaire Reynold has had some sort of vision, telling me that the dark lands will try and break our lines at these points."

"I assume we still have other reserve units, correct?"

"Yes, I am not that shortsighted," She replied with a touch of annoyance in her voice. The three men looked at the maps and nodded, "I am glad you have nothing to say about the deployment."

"If the attack comes, we will have a very strong tool in our ranks."

"Knowing the movements of our enemies is key to breaking a strong attack or pushing the land touched by light forwards."

"We have to see," The third general added, "Nothing here, that I can see, is a wrong choice," The four of them looked at the map and a simple question was on their minds, how did Reynold know and how could they know what he said was true?

As night rolled in, the young man lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with his strange, disconnected vision, "What has become of me?" He mumbled to himself as his mind refused to let him sleep while a whirlwind of questions made him wish he could. The young man turned to his door as he heard it creek open.

"Shoot," It was Julia's voice. Their eyes met in the dimly lit room and she smiled nervously, "Did I wake you up?"

"I was," He sat up as he was speaking, "Already awake."

"Oh, why is that?" She closed the door behind her and sat down in front of the younger man's bed at the windowside table of the small, comfortable room. Reynold sat on the edge of the bed, facing her as she looked around and tried to avoid his eyes. He was half naked as he always was for the evening while she was still fully dressed as she had been for that day.

"Just thinking."

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, looking at him as she seemed too happy for him not to have dodged her question to instead question why she had tried to get into his room.

"What is becoming of me, how fast things have changed."

"Oh, well, what do you think you are becoming?"

"A man who is being watched, distrusted and cursed with visions and abilities that were forced upon me," She looked at him blankly with the blunt answer she had just gotten from him, "What were you doing trying to get into my room?"

"I-I wanted to check up on you," Julia replied with a quick and nervous blurt of words, "I didn't want to wake you up," Reynold shrugged and looked at her. He couldn't quite tell what about her made her interesting but she was.

"Have you always lived here?"

"Since I was born."

"You are from here?"

"Yes, I am from here."

"Who are your parents?"

"Never knew my dad," She replied, "He left before I was born."

"Oh, I see."

"How about you?"

"I was born in Ravenwood, mom is a farmer's daughter, father is a retired knight," He replied as the awkward conversation slowly dragged along. They were both of a similar age but of very different lives and only crossing paths due to one's misfortune, whose it was not yet clear to them. They spoke of childhood and of their early years before talking about other things in life, disconnected from the work of the legion.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she stood up, "I know I have kept you up with our conversation, which I have enjoyed but I feel the need to let you rest and get to it myself."

"I am fine, thank you for the conversation," He replied, "It was nice to speak to someone in a casual way," He reached for an envelope on his bedside table, "The Dawn Lady asked to read this."

"Well, you can give it to her once you see her."

"Well, you are going to see her after this, so I thought you would have a better chance of seeing her earlier than I will," He grinned as she took the letter and seemed embarrassed by how he had seen right through her, "Don't worry, I have nothing against you, she needs someone to keep tabs on me and you are expected to do that for her despite trying to be friendly and not like her."

"You are something, aren't you?" Reynold chuckled as the young woman left the room and he observed her leave as if something had just clicked in his mind. Julia leaned against the wall outside of his room and held her chest as her heart raced within her chest and her face felt warm, "He really is something."

"She really is something," Reynold mumbled before rolling back over and into bed and closed his eyes. His mind was calm, his friendly conversation with Julia seemed to have slowed its intensity and gave him a chance to actually sleep. While the legionnaire dozed off, the Dawn Lady's daughter walked back up to her mother's quarters to give her both the letter and the details of what he had told her as her duty was to observe him. It was regrettable to her that she needed to keep tabs on him, he seemed to be such an interesting man with things to say and a real opinion unlike most of the legionnaires who would openly try and flirt with her. Reynold wasn't that type of legionnaire.

"Mother, he wrote his letter."

"And gave it to you?"

"He knows what I am doing and what you asked me to do."

"Does he now?" She nodded as she placed the letter on the table, to which her mother picked it up quickly and read it, "This seems like a very simple letter, with nothing to remove," Julia nodded, "He has cast a spell on you, hasn't he?"

"Sorry?" The younger woman looked at her mother with a slight expression of annoyance, "Why do you need to put your nose into everything I do and think?"

"Because you are my daughter."

"I can be free as well as being your daughter, let me think what I want and let me do what I want to do."

"I am not holding you back from anything," The Dawn Lady replied, "I am simply asking, you can do what you want, just choose carefully," Julia turned her back on her mother and left with a hmph and not a word more.