It is Amelia

I was surprised when the receptionist said Amelia’s name, though really, I shouldn’t have been. She already tried to visit me when I was training in the castle. She did once make me promise her to come find her as soon as I came to the city. We would be adventuring together and since I didn’t come to find her, she is now trying to find me. For a moment I can’t help but smile at my best friend coming to find me. But then I remember that promise was made before Kase come to our village and how he messed everything up. Then my smile disappears and my mood sours again.

“Something wrong?” Kiara asks.

One would never think it with her eyes hidden all the time, but Kiara is actually very astute.

“It’s nothing. It’s just … I don’t think I am ready to see Amelia just yet.”

Kiara ponders for a moment, then she says, “No worries. I’ll go tell her you are out on a quest.”

“Thanks.” I say, and watch Kiara leave.

After Kiara left to deal with Amelia, Jason calls a friend into the arena for Leona to test herself against. A woman in black armor named Merlara. After that Jason walks up to me and says, “Hey, Darx. Follow me.”

I do as he says. Maybe it can help me get my mind off Amelia.

As we walk through the guildhall, Jason starts telling me a story. One where both he and the dragonettes went on a rather silly quest. Helena and Alice were acting very childish throughout, much to my mom’s dismay. It sounds like my mother was the most responsible one of the three.

At the end of his story, he brings me to a room with a humansized statue in the center and asks me if I recognize it. I most certainly do. It is my mother, but she looks younger, she is brushing some hair behind her ear and she has a shy smile.

“According to Azriel, this is what Ilene looked like after he told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.” Jason explains. “And immediately after, he asked her to marry him.”

Amazing. I never knew my mother could look this cute. Or that my father could be this great at sculpting stone. The armor on the sculpture looks exactly like the armor she always wears at home. Even better because her actual armor is old and has a few dents in it. Her facial expressions have also been perfectly preserved. This statue is just so perfect and realistic that I start to fear it might just come alive. I doubt that I will ever be as good with art as my father was, but if I were to ever come across a woman whose beauty, I would want to immortalize in the same way my dad did for my mom, I think I would like to give it my best shot.

Sometime later we left and returned to the arena. Helena has left for the dormitories, but Kiara has returned. I sit next to the dark sorceress and ask her how her meeting with Amelia was.

“She seems like a nice person.” Kiara says.

“She always has been.” I reply.

“Yet, she ended up hurting you. I remember the conversation we had after before you got your D rank, after Mia showed up at the castle.” Kiara says.

I lower my head with a sigh.

“It looks like you are still carrying your pain with you. It must be quite a personal ****.” Kiara tells me. “You are going to have to face her eventually you know. Either with you still carrying your baggage, or without. That is up to you. I am certainly not going to go out there and pretend you aren’t here forever.”

“I know. I just don’t know what to say to her. On one side I want to be angry and yell at her, but that would cause her to start crying and that would just hurt me. On the other I want to just hug her and have everything be back like in the good old days, but that would be a lie because those days are gone.” I try to explain to Kiara.

“Hmmmm.” Kiara ponders. “Looks like no matter what you choose, pain is waiting for you.”

I agree with Kiara’s assessment by remaining silent.

Kiara then gets up and says, “Don’t wait too long thinking how you’re going to talk to her, Darx. If she stops coming over and you don’t get to say anything to her ever again, you will spend the rest of your life asking yourself ‘what if’.”

After that, Kiara leaves. As I sit there alone, contemplating Kiara’s words while I stop paying attention to the duels going on inside the arena. What if, what if, what if, what if, … What if talking to Amelia solves everything. What if talking to Amelia makes it all worse. What if …

I spend the rest of the day thinking about it but don’t find any answers. Instead, all I found was an extra question to worry over. If I can’t deal with Amelia, how am I going to deal with Mia if I ever see her again?