Their Word

For a friend's birthday...

Down in the city of Dramada, a great marvelous event is taking place. Today was specifically a very special day. Why? That’s simple because my older brother, Marok, was to get married. Though that’s the cause of happiness for the citizens of Dramada, it’s not my reason for being happy. First, let me tell you a little bit about my brother and a little bit about his past…

As of now, my brother is twenty-three to twenty-four years old. He’s nice, easy-going, cool-minded, and secluded. Of course, he wasn’t always like that. A few years ago, about three or four, he met someone, someone very special. That someone was named Aireth. Now, Aireth came to Dramada in order to be our father’s apprentice. They were very close. Back then, I thought they resembled brothers, but shortly afterwards, I found that it was more than that.

Before Aireth came, Marok was expressionless, cold, and secretive. The only person he ever truly smiled for was me. I admit that I was jealous that Marok smiled to another and gave his attention to them, but there was more to it. After Aireth came, for a while, the two were weary of each other and wouldn’t even look at the other eye-to-eye. Surprisingly, I was the one to make them finally acknowledge each other’s existence. Father says it was a mistake, a mistake which should’ve never been made. If it hadn’t, then Marok wouldn’t be so hurt.

Aireth admired my brother, praised him for his skills and what everyone calls “his perfection”. Other than me, Aireth was the only one who, after everyday and every comment made, saw Marok as just another guy. They started to spend more time together, which at one point, started to worry me. For hours at a time, they would be out together.

I didn’t notice the true depth of their relationship until one night. It was around midnight and I woke up, hungry. So to get rid of it, I snuck out of bed and went to the kitchen. Down there, I made sure not to open any key lights that could be seen anywhere else in the house or outside. When I was in the kitchen, though, I saw the light in dad’s workshop on. Curious, I crept out of the house and walked down to dad’s workshop, stopping and squatting down by the window. Slowly, I straightened and peered inside. Inside, Aireth was backed up against one of the work tables and in front of him, was Marok. Marok was so close to him, his hands resting on the work table behind Aireth as he kept him there.

“W-What are you doing, Marok?”

Marok moved his face closer to Aireth’s, so that there was only an inch or two before their lips touched.

“Don’t play dumb, Aireth. You know what I want.”

In that instant, my brother kissed Aireth, long and deep. Aireth appeared distressed, but then gave into him, seeming to enjoy and take pleasure in it. Slowly, my brother’s left arm, the arm towards me, moved from the table to Aireth’s back at around the waist. In response, Aireth’s right hand came up and held onto the upper half of Marok’s sleeve. After a few seconds, the kiss ended and they just stared at each other.

“Marok.”

My brother smiled with content, leaned his forehead against Aireth’s, and responded, “What is it?”

“You love me, right?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“You wouldn’t leave me, right?”

“No one can keep me away, not even death himself.”

“Promise me that you’ll never betray me, look at someone else like you do me, or smile at someone else with your true smile.”

Marok gazed into Aireth’s eyes, full of compassion and love inside his own. Then he closed his eyes, gave a mere snippet of a laugh, and replied, “I can’t promise you that.”

“Why can’t-?!”

“I can promise to never betray you because I’d rather die than do so. I can promise to never look at someone else like I do you because you are the only one I see. One thing I can’t promise is to smile at anyone else with a real smile. The smile I save for you is the smile I give to my little sister as well. The two of you are the only two people in the entire world that I truly love…Aireth, I love you, but the smile I show you is the smile my sister expects every morning when she greets me. She expects it whenever I’m happy to be with her, whenever I’m glad to see she’s okay, whenever she needs to be consoled, and whenever I embrace her as the big brother and best friend that I am. You don’t have to worry. My sister will understand…because she knows that the smile for her is just as different from the smile I have for you, when you compare my true smile to the one I use for everyone else. I love you, Aireth, and don’t forget that.”

That’s when I finally found out the depth of their relationship.

            Sometime after, at least two weeks or three, Aireth was gone. His disappearance left my brother broken and hurt. After that, my brother couldn’t bear to smile at other people. The only person he would smile at was me. I noticed it right after Aireth left though; Marok’s smile wasn’t happy anymore, instead there was a suppressed sadness...

So now we come to today, the day I have long awaited since then. My brother may have lost hope, his heart broken with sorrow, but for my brother’s sake, I never did.

“Hello Lia.”

I turned around and standing behind me was Aireth. He still looked as beautiful as he did years ago. Aireth’s short black hair was styled out neatly, not held in place by gel, but natural; his creamy white skin seemed as soft and white as the petals of a white rose, even after three or so years; he still had those lovely hazel brown eyes, filled with his same old innocence and kindness; and his clothes are just as plain and simple as they were before: a simple and loose white T-shirt, comfortable blue jeans, white sneakers, a blue sweatshirt tied around his waist, and blue wristbands.

“Hello Aireth-.”

Aireth suddenly peered over my shoulder and asked, “What’s going on down there? The entire city of Dramada is active today.”

Looking straight at him and not even bothering to hide my hatred and frustration, I replied, “They’re preparing for my brother’ arranged marriage to Lora Dostal.”

“What?!”

“When you left, everyone else thought that Marok was depressed because he didn’t have a woman to love in his life, so they proposed for him to marry the evil and ugly wench, Lora Dostal. With your disappearance, Marok just didn’t care anymore and accepted.”

“Maybe this is why I felt I had to come back…”

“Yeah…Aireth.”

“Yes?”

“Please return to my brother. He loves you dearly and I know he misses you. I’m sure that he’s been waiting, even if his broken heart wouldn’t allow him to admit it.”

“So you want me to show myself to him and stop this wedding…”

Unable to help it, I grinned and replied, “Not just stop the wedding; that’s not enough. I want you to crash their wedding and return to Marok.”

Hearing my response, Aireth took a quick step back and stared at me in shock.

“W-Why would you want to crash the wedding?”

“I have my own reasons, but then my main reason for this has always been my brother. Crashing the wedding is just a bonus.”

With that, Aireth cracked up and laughed to tears. After Aireth caught his breath and I stopped grinning my so-called devil’s smirk, we discussed the day of the wedding. I believe I had actually forgotten to mention this, but the day of the wedding was today and it was going to start in about an hour.

I led Aireth down to the city square, making sure that no one, in particular, saw us. By the time we reached the church, it had already begun.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate in the union of these two souls.”

On that line, we crept into the back of the church and hid in the shadows by the door.

“If anyone objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Here is where I come in.

“Then let’s-.”

“I object!!”

Lora Dostal, the bride, sharply turned to see who in the crowd had objected to the marriage. I walked out into the center aisle and walked to the middle. Once there, I spoke up, “I object to this union.”

Lora became furious as the crowd started to talk about my sudden objection. I know I haven’t refused or argued until now, but that was because I knew Aireth would come back.

“Can you please elaborate on why you object, Miss Lia?”

When the pastor finished stating his question, I turned to my brother and answered, “Marok doesn’t love Lora and he never will. He merely obliged because of his depression. There is someone here that my brother must see first. If Marok agrees to marrying Lora after seeing this person, then my objection is withdrawn. Please Marok, see this person…”

I turned and Aireth walked down the aisle. He had his sweatshirt on and his hood over his head. When he reached my side, he stopped and took off his hood. Until now, Lora had a confident gaze of feeling superior in her eyes, though once Marok saw Aireth, she became outraged and overwhelmed. She turned to Marok and asked him, “M-Marok, you’re not going to-?”

“Aireth…is it really you?”

Aireth smiled at Marok and answered with happiness and longing in his voice, “Yes, it’s me, Marok.”

Marok took one step forward, then dashed and embraced Aireth, kissing him as he did that one night years ago. Everyone in the pews were silenced and gazed on at them in shock. Up by the alter, Lora was fuming with anger.

When their kiss ended, they touched foreheads and gazed into each other’s eyes intently.  I couldn’t help but smile at the two. Back by the alter, Lora was clenching her hands into fists and trembling from her anger. Suddenly, she turned to me and screamed, “This is your fault!!”

I smirked and responded, “So what if it is?”

All of a sudden, someone from the crowd stood up and pointed at Aireth.

“It’s him! He’s the one they call the Prince of Thieves!”

At what he said, Marok and I quickly reacted by running with Aireth out of the church. People in the church scrambled to get out and chase after us. Seeing the mass that was chasing us, Marok led us into an alley and down into the sewers, then all the way to the old underground caverns. The three of us waited there for a while, listening to the great mass move around on the surface of the entire city.

“Why are you helping me?”

My first response was to ask, “Marok, me, or both of us?”

He turned away and answered, “Both of you.”

Marok was silent and stared at him with the calm and gentle gaze that only Aireth and I knew. When I saw instantly that Marok wasn’t going to answer, I replied, “Well, it’s obvious for Marok. He truly loves you and he’d do anything for you.”

“What about you?”

“That’s pretty obvious. It’s because my brother loves you and you’re the one person he can’t live without.”

My brother smiled at me, while Aireth just looked at me with surprise and gratitude.

“Where do we go now?”

Marok closed his eyes, sighed, and replied, “I don’t know about you, Lia, but you’re right, I can’t live without Aireth. I love him too much. The two of us can escape from Dramada. Mom and dad will surely help us. You, Lia, you have to stay here. I know how much you like adventure and how much you want to get away from Dramada, but there’s one thing I’m definitely sure of. You’re meant to stay here. It’s not your time to leave yet.”

It hurt to hear him say that, but I knew that Marok was right. I just wasn’t meant to go yet. Looking over at Marok, I strained a smile and answered, “Then I’ll stay, but you two must promise me you’ll be okay. I can’t afford to lose my brother and a good friend at the same time.”

The two let out a snippet of a laugh and smiled. Together, they responded, “We promise.”

Marok quickly added, “And this is a promise we can keep, that we intend to keep.”

Afterwards, Aireth told us of his past and of the how and why he became the Prince of Thieves. I guess it was in his blood, since for the last ten generations, the King of Thieves came from his family.

When the coast was clear, we snuck back to our house. There, mom and dad greeted the three of us with open arms. I helped them to pack some food, blankets, clothing, and money. They would have to fend for themselves. Before they left with our blessing, dad gave Marok the first precious family heirloom, the dark dragon’s blade, and gave Aireth the second precious family heirloom, the light dragon’s blade. Together, the three of us hope that these two blades will protect them on their journey and insure that their happiness is never taken away. A couple hours before dawn, we saw them off as they rode out of the city on the backs of two fine stallions.

- - - - -

The memory of their parting is still fresh in my mind. Now, five years later, I’ve already left Dramada. I guess I’m not going to be there when they return. Sometimes, I look to the sky and the memory comes back, which causes me to wonder if they’ve already returned or maybe when will they return. It made me sad to see them leave that day years ago, but I knew they would come back…someday. It’s just a matter of trusting in their word. Remember, they promised me…

Reviews

[Marie]

Wow, this was a heartwrenching story, but a beautiful love story as well. The trust between the siblings is amazing as is love of their parents. The understanding that they have for their son and his love. Just wonderful.