For a pair of brown eyes

  Too many years have passed...

  Finally, the last descendant of Orakio is back at his castle. Not as the ruler, but as the lost prince who had lost everything... his home, his parents, his people... everything without counting two cyborgs who once seved his grandfather, the one who left it all for the love of a Layan.

  And now, there he is, walking around the place he would have called ‘home’ if things had been different.

  He had asked for help to a very changed and touched Queen Sari. Of course, she agreed and welcomed him to the castle. How could she deny something to the son of the man she had loved? He could have been her own son if things had been different.

  Walking through the Castle corridors, the lone prince goes. He feels something strange, like a feeling of belonging or like he had been there before, somehow. He had gotten separate from Mieu and Wren, who seemed to understand him and left him alone. At last a moment of physical loneliness... Not that he wants that, but having two machines following you can be very annoying.

  So many things he had heard since he put a foot on Landen. Condolences, welcomes, “what a pretty guy you are”, “you are the spitting image of your mother”, even regrets to his father and his grandfather. Seems that those events still are an opened wound in Landen’s pride.

  He had also heard about Sari’s popularity. A dedicated queen to her step-people after loosing everything: hometown, family, friends, love... It does seem that they were all fated to suffer and to battle.

  Those were the kind of thoughts Sean had while walking through the Castle, until he realized where he was. It was the left wing of the Castle... and then, some old forgotten memories came to his mind.

  Long ago, his grandfather crossed that corridor and went to the last door. There, his fiancée, the Layan Princess Maia (but he didn’t know that, yet), was waiting for him to become his wife. He had heard the story so many times from mouth of his grandmother. And now, he was in the same place where they were several years ago.

  He was walking the same floor, feeling like being part of the scene. With each step, he remembered every single part of his grandparents love story: how Grandpa Lyle kidnapped Grandma, the quest Grandpa Rhys began to find and marry her, how they beat  his Grand-grandfather, how Rhys left everything for Maia... and how a neighboring princess accept to return alone to the very same place he was standing, and how she got to rule Landen, later.

  He also thought about his father’s quest and how he met Sari. A lone young woman, ruler of Landen... maybe he could have lots of things in common with her, if it wasn’t that he was ruler of nowhere...

  Then, he stop coldly. He reached the room, the room where everything started. He doubted, but finally, he went in, fearing about what he could find there.

  Time seemed to have stopped there. He could hear his grandmother’s words describing the room, and he noticed that almost nothing had changed.

  Right at the moment he opened the door, someone turned round and met his glance. A young, black-haired maiden was standing in the room, finishing some activity, maybe. Her brown eyes met with Sean’s, waiting him to speak first. The sun’s light was reflected lightly in her silk, yellow dress, and her smile was nice and sort of maternal.

  He stared at her for a short while. That nice, youthful smile seemed to conquer the chaos of his thoughts. So many sad thoughts blackened by a pair of light brown eyes and a smile... He wondered if his grandfather Rhys felt the same when he met Maia.

  How could a stranger conquer his thoughts? What was happening to him, that he could barely speak? He had met several girls before, but he never felt something like what he was feeling at that moment. Was it... love, a simple infatuation? Or were his lonely thoughts carrying him to irrational conclusions?

  Finally, he talked. He asked something about the current status of Landen or something like that... it was the best thing that came to his mind in a moment like that.

  The girl smiled and answered, “Sari has encountered every one of Lune’s attacks. Thank Orakio for Sari! Lune can’t beat her!”

  Sean smiled back, and remembered his parents comments about the “warrior” Sari, who thought of  her as a brave ruler, caring about her people. Although he had heard that before from othe civilians, the same words coming from the mouth of the young maiden sounded differently.

  Both Sean and the maiden seemed to speak more. They kept looking at each other for a sort while, as if glances were more communicative than words... In fact, they seemed, at least for them. He was so doubtful about all this. Was it real or a symptom of extreme loneliness?

  “Prince Sean, we should get going”, Wren’s voice called from the corridor.

  Sean awoke from his thoughtful sphere. He greeted the young maiden, a sad pitch could be heard in his voice. She greeted him back and smiled at him, but this last smile was also sad, as well as the look in her eyes. Neither of them wanted to leave the other.

  Walking along Mieu and Wren, now outside the Castle, he kept on thinking about the sweet maiden. He promised himself to find out his real feelings towards her...  For him, it was more than a short-period feeling. More than a product of his loneliness. He would return someday, for a pair of brown eyes...