Chapter 6: Mirror Mirror

The harsh wind swept through her wavy brown hair, trying to lift her well-worn bare feet off the ground. Laima stood before the endless waves and blues of the ocean. Her bare feet wrinkled the sand beneath her. She had lost sensation in her face, especially her nose. What little clothing she wore clung and lashed against her body under the wind’s fierce assault, though she felt no discomfort at all. Raised between these two walls, growing up with the wind itself, had thickened her skin and kept her mind serene. Her tears threatened to spill from her almond-shaped hazel eyes. Laima belonged to the cold and ice. She was a fallen soldier of the Cyren Tunnel. She was meant to be a warrior of mind and body, but she couldn’t be. Not when she needed to take care of a small child, not when she was living for free in a distant land under another Queen’s jurisdiction. She had to, though. She had to. There was no way the Royal Family of Cyren would allow a white-haired traitor to survive within their walls. And Laima had sworn to protect Elliott with all her might.

However, she had fled the moment the Queen of the Crystalized arrived to visit her ranch. Laima had panicked. She had never done anything covert, never held a secret that could affect an entire realm. A Naturalist lived there. Elliott had no parents. Laima had never heard a single word about them from the child’s lips. But otherwise, was impossible. Maybe Elliott didn’t remember what happened due to trauma, but the massacre in the Naturalist Tunnel had taken place long ago, or so it had been portrayed that way to others. When Laima was little, her mother used to tell her that the white-haired ones were cannibals and killed their own kind, but now Laima had not only taken one of them with her but had escaped from her own Tunnel to give him a better life. And that was not easy to do. If you didn’t have a power bond with someone, you had to kill another power-bond holder to get out of the Tunnel. Thank goodness for the Sky, Laima had been a soldier. That was what she had been raised for. Back then, her only fear was encountering a Tunnel even worse than the Cyren Tunnel. At least the Crystalized was comparatively a gentler Tunnel. What if they had ended up in the Cursed Tunnel? What would she have done then?

Now, while staring at the ocean, she felt a tinge of pain and guilt for leaving Elliott alone in the house, in the dark, without anyone. She had repeatedly warned him not to leave the house. But she had never thought about how he would survive for almost a month on his own. He needed her for food, at the very least. She would leave once her tears stopped blurring her vision. She would…

Elliott woke up well rested, the little white flower still dangling between his small palm. He sat up in his bed with a goofy smile. He immediately jumped off the bed and changed his clothes, then tucked the little flower into the pocket of his green paisley-patterned vest. He wished he could see the flower every time he looked inside his pocket, but he couldn’t. Still, he was determined to ask Queen Iselda about it. He wanted to grow more flowers like this in the castle. Too bad they didn’t have the sun here. His trail of thoughts was abruptly cut when a tall figure dashed through his door and hugged him tightly to their chest. He wiggled his body, trying his best to escape the deathly grip of this stranger, when he recognized the earthy scent and the long brown locks falling in front of his face. “La…ima…” he choked out, each syllable strained. Laima lifted her face, locking their eyes together. Her eyes were already red and swollen with unshed tears. She smiled through her tear-filled expression. “Els?” She cupped his face between her calloused hands and let her tears fall freely. “Elliott. Oh, Elliott. I am so sorry, baby. I am sorry. Truly. I didn’t know it would take this long. I was terrified when I couldn’t see you in the house.” She breathed him in. “I’m sorry, Elli. You, okay? You’ve eaten well, right? Let me look at you.” She turned him around, first to the right then to the left. “Why did they take you? How? Did you go outside?” she sniffed, waiting for a response.

Elliott looked at her with pure amazement. She hadn’t left him. Laima didn’t hate him. She had stayed. She had come back for him. His eyes watered, though he tried not to show it. “I am fine, Laima.” He reached for a lock of her hair, gently pushing it behind her shoulder. “I was scared. Very scared. But you came. You… came back.” Then he hugged her neck tightly, but sensing they were being observed, Laima didn’t dare speak further. Her face darted away from Elliott’s small figure while hugging him tightly to her chest, her features hardened, her eyes stared at the bordeaux walls as if she could open a hole through it. When she turned slightly from where she was kneeling, Elliott still in her arms, she saw the Queen herself. Queen Iselda looked alarmed, as though afraid Laima might take Elliott away from her. Laima and the Queen stared at each other long enough for Elliott to stop sobbing and glance between them. Laima slowly turned to Elliott and whispered, “She didn’t do anything to you, right? Touch you? Or I don’t know…Anything, Els? You can tell me”

Elliott whispered back while sniffling, “She is my friend, Laima. You know she stayed up all night trying to understand my language and was really disappointed when she realized I do understand hers.” He snickered, trying to suppress his laughter with his hands, his tears long forgotten. Laima looked at him with a soft, trembling smile, her eyes still glistening with tears, full of that tender gaze that said, my sweet child… I should have never let you go. “Okay, then I befriend her too.”

Laima got up from her kneeling position beside Elliott and stood before the Queen, shielding the boy with her body as she spoke. “Hello, Your Highness. I didn’t mean to barge into your palace as gracelessly as I did. Please forgive my intrusion. My only intention was to see my kid. I was mortified when I couldn’t find him at the farm.” She bowed her head and apologized again. “I am deeply sorry and will take any punishment you find fitting for my wrongdoing, My Queen.”

Iselda smiled tiredly, leaning on the door frame in Elliott’s room, her arms crossed, seeming ready to faint at any moment. “Please raise your head, Laima. May I call you that?”

Laima looked shocked both by hearing her own name spoken and by the Queen’s casual tone. She nodded quickly. “Of course. Whatever you please.”

“Great. Elliott talked a lot about you. I know you are not related to him.” She moved her hand with a calm, weary ease, as though everything she meant was already obvious. Then she supported her head with the same hand and continued, “I don’t know how Elli showed up or why you are here. Also, how he is even alive, I don’t know. But I suppose you don’t know either, so we are at the same progress level. So instead of…” She straightened from the door frame and walked toward Laima with light steps. “…making him a prisoner in Sky knows where, he should be in this palace, somewhere safe enough to care for his needs and not leave him alone for a month, right, Laima?” She emphasized her name, letting it roll off her tongue.

Now Iselda’s face was inches from Laima’s. Her breath fanned across Laima’s skin, and her voice seemed to reverberate through every part of her. There was no doubt Iselda had been born to be a queen.

“I would never leave him alone again,” Laima said through clenched teeth. “So, you don’t have to worry, My Queen.” She stood in a defiant pose, as though challenging the Queen herself. At that moment, Elliott slowly poked his head out from behind Laima’s legs, where he had been hiding. The two women noticed nothing but each other. Laima continued defending her actions. “Thank you for your kind and hospitable demeanor, Your Highness. But there is no need for you to concern yourself with unworthy peasants such as us. We will be on our way.” She pulled Elliott forward and held his hand.

“Unworthy? You?” Queen Iselda laughed in her face. “There is absolutely no possible way” she said, jabbing her index finger into Laima’s chest “for him to leave this palace. You know, Laima,” the Queen continued, her tone now threatening, “I wouldn’t dare leave Elli in your care again after you abandoned a most precious stone alone. An easy prey. At the slabs. Every wrong place at the same time.” She lowered her voice to a near whisper. “What was your plan? To look after him until he grew into a man? In my Tunnels?” 

Laima felt humiliated, her face burning red as she bit her lip. “I would have left with Elliott if I had known the Queen herself would come. There is no plan you need to hear. We will leave Crystalized this morning.” She tried to move toward the door, but the Queen blocked her with her slight body. Iselda shook her finger and clicked her tongue, forcing Laima to lose her calm and spill more.

“No. Look, Laima. I get it, you are a lone wolf. But this kid,” she said, gesturing to Elliott with her open palm, “is a different matter. You know as well as I do how dangerous it is outside for ones like him. He will stay on the palace grounds. Where do you think you can go? The Cursed realm? Please.” She forced a dry laugh. “You can’t. You know that too. This is the best Tunnel for him to grow.” She again lowered her voice into a soft grumble only Laima could hear. “You and me,” she circled her index finger in the small space between them, “we have to look after him and learn what lies beyond his existence. You can stay here. You can farm here. Anything you want. I am the Queen, after all. You may even plant those White-Morning Glories everywhere. I don’t mind. But this is where Elli will grow old, and we will be his rightful parents. Okay?”

Laima’s grip on Elliott’s hand tightened at this remark, a bit too forcefully, and Elliott squeaked. “Laima…” he called shakily, “you are hurting me.”

Laima tore her gaze away from the Queen and looked at Elliott, loosening her grip. “I am sorry, sorry. You, okay?” she asked, concerned. Elliott nodded. Laima leaned forward, supporting herself on her knees the way she always did when speaking to Elliott. “Do you want to live here, Els? Instead of our house? Do you like the people here?”

Elliott beamed. “Yes! Can we? Can we, Laima?” He began bouncing. “We can plant lilacs in the back garden. It is huge.” Stretching his hands wide to show the enormous garden, he leaned toward Laima’s ear and whispered, “And even though Iselda looks tough at first, she likes the flowers we grew. She has one beside her bed.”

Laima’s eyes crinkled, a smile tugging at her lips sarcastically. She turned to her Queen. “I heard your toughness was just a front, My Lady. You still kept those White-Morning Glories, huh?”

Iselda’s eyes widened despite her exhaustion, her entire face flushing with embarrassment. She wiggled her toes and adjusted her satin pink nightgown that didn’t need adjusting. With utmost confidence, she lifted her chin. “Yes. They are indeed pretty flowers. It would be a waste.” Laima snickered, her eyes full of mischief. “Good then. We will be in your care, My Queen.” She bowed slightly. Iselda still looked baffled.

“You may stay in this chamber as you wish. We will talk at dinner today. Be ready, Miss Laima.” She turned hastily, then paused at the door and glanced back at Elliott. She made a gesture indicating that her eyes would always be on him, then waved effortlessly and left the chamber.

Laima and Elliott were still in shock, staring at the open door where Iselda left. Slowly they turned to each other, their eyes glistening with joy and regret, they burst into laughter relieving all of their problems.