SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES-Chapter 74: Even Broken Wings Can Fly...If You Teach Them How.

Night bled into day—another day of smiles, another day of joyful reunion, another day of Lia recovering, but beneath it all, it was another day for Lia to survive, keep her blindness a secret, and learning how to fit in without anyone realizing.

She couldn’t let them see the truth. Not yet. Not ever... if she could help it, luckily, Kesha was always by her side, helping her and covering for her.

As the day progressed, Aramith felt more and more like he was in a dream.

First of all, he couldn’t understand how or why Kesha was at Lia’s door when he went to see her early in the morning. The girl only smiled at him before proceeding to enter Lia’s room.

His confusion increased exponentially when Kesha, seconds after entering, came out pushing Lia. They were both laughing like it was the most normal thing to do?

Kesha nudged her, and she turned toward Aramith. "Oh, good morning, brother. You’re doing alright?" She asked so sweetly and innocently that it made Aramith forget the odd situation, but then Kesha flashed him a grin, and he had second thoughts.

He looked at Kesha, then at Lia, then at Kesha. Then back at Lia, then Kesha, then back at—

"Aren’t you, Aramith?" Lia cocked her head to the side and asked.

"I umm, yes I—"

"Gimme a hug!" Lia suddenly giggled and stretched out her arms. He couldn’t help but smile at her sweetness and move in to hug her back.

"Good morning to you too," he murmured into her ear.

It was good to have Lia back, to have...

He opened his eyes to face a grinning Kesha. At first, he would have been surprised, but with time, he’d gotten used to Kesha’s theatrics. Well, most of them.

He immediately guessed what she was going to do next, and couldn’t hide his urge to laugh when, right after pulling back and straightening himself,

"Ptu! Ptu!" Kesha spat

"Hey...what’s that supposed to be?" Lia rubbed the back of her head where Kesha had quickly kissed.

Kesha tried to smile, but she couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes.

"Let’s get going, Lia. Breakfast awaits us."

Lia nodded, and Kesha left with her.

Aramith shook his head and followed, but then Kesha suddenly turned and mouthed the following words with a threatening gaze.

"Don’t follow us."

Aramith froze mid-step, startled as Kesha and Lia slowly disappeared around a corner.

"This is very odd..."

Aramith was surprised to hear Mozrael. He never noticed when she came to stand beside him, nor the fact that she’d been hiding behind a pillar and listening in the whole time.

"Let’s go. Father’s probably waiting for us," Mozrael grabbed his sleeve and dragged him along, but when they arrived, they were prevented from entering.

"Why are you holding us out here?" Aramith frowned.

The guards looked at the young prince apologetically. "We mean you no harm, but your father, His Majesty, asked us to prevent you two from entering while Princess Lia and Princess Kesha joined him for breakfast." He bent down to whisper to Aramith. "I don’t know what you did, but I overheard your sister complaining about you before these orders were given."

"Oh, come on!" This wasn’t the first time something like that had happened, but this time, Kesha was the one who orchestrated it. He could feel it.

"That Kesha," he kicked the door.

The soldier was surprised.

"Your fiancée"

"Me? I will never be married to someone like her!’ He shouted.

"Understood, I will never mention that." A drop of sweat rolled down from his forehead as he quickly stood straighter than the walls. So young and he’s already frustrated about marriage... I pity him.

"Why do they always take her side?" Aramith slumped against the wall, head in his palms.

He looked dejected, sad, and lonely, but she couldn’t control herself.

"Bahahahahahaha!" Mozrael suddenly burst into laughter, gripping her sides.

"What’s wrong?" Her laughter was so out of place, Aramith quickly jumped up, poised for action. The two guards, on the other hand, didn’t move, though it was the first time they had ever heard Mozrael laughing. The sound was lovely.

"You..just..sorry. But you’re acting like a little kid," She said between bursts of mirth.

Her tinkling of laughter was contagious, but Aramith was in no mood to laugh yet. He wanted to be by Lia’s side, too, so what were all these obstacles?

It took a while before Mozrael calmed down, and shortly after that, Lia and Kesha came out.

They stopped before Aramith, then with a synchronized hmpf! They left. Lia didn’t even glance at him—almost as if she didn’t notice him. Aramith tried following them, but the voice of his father calling him made him stop.

He spent the next few minutes being mocked is own father about Lia, his beloved sister, and Kesha, his ’wife’, not wanting to have anything to do with him as he ate. Henndar refused to tell him what they said, but apparently, they wanted to have nothing to do with him throughout the day.

"I guess she’s trying to win your sister over so she blesses your marriage," Henndar laughed.

"Father..." Aramith felt betrayed.

Things were like that throughout the day. When he tried to speak to Lia, she’d just ignore him, almost as if she couldn’t see him, same as Kesha. He just wanted to spend time with Lia, but Kesha seemed to have turned her against him. What hurt him more was that Mozrael could freely talk with Kesha and Lia, but he wasn’t allowed to.

The girls were strolling through the garden, and Mozrael picked a few flowers for fun. Lia pretended to admire them too, but she couldn’t quite place them. Kesha, noticing that, quickly placed one in her hand before Mozrael could notice.

Mozrael was very chirpy, too excited to finally have Lia back, and though they loved that Mozrael was also happy, this change in her demeanor was too drastic and sometimes threw them off guard. The shy Mozrael seemed to have disappeared, but it wasn’t a bad change.

Lia smiled, glancing around and responding to Mozrael as best as she could.

"Oh, this one’s red like Aramith’s embarrassed face when you tease him, Kesha," she pointed at a flower.

"Well, of course. I have charm, you know?" Kesha said with pride.

Lia laughed along and tried to pick the flower that was mentioned, but she missed. Kesha quickly redirected her hand.

As they all stopped to rest a bit, Mozrael handed Lia a book. "Here. This was your favorite before..."

Lia smiled brightly. "Oh! Thanks." She opened it and pretended to glance down.

"You’re not reading it. It’s upside-down," Kesha muttered under her breath, helping position her hands.

Lia glared. "Shut. Up."

Mozrael...how much pain you’re delivering to this poor girl...Kesha thought

Mozrael wanted to do everything, wanted to make the mood as lively as ever. She thought of something extra and talked in secret with Kesha, and Kesha quickly agreed to her request.

She came to Lia, grinning as she spoke. "Okay, we’re going to do something. Listen for the whistle and you’ll see what I’m talking about." Mozrael grabbed Kesha and dragged her off.

Lia forced a laugh, but quietly gripped her dress in pain.

"Okay," she responded cheerfully.

As they left, Lia took the book and opened it, pretending to read. She responded to the servants who passed by, greeting them, then proceeding to ’read’.

She was muttering to herself as if reading the words in the book, but in reality—

"Left, three steps, then wall... turn a bit to the right, four steps, then the hallway..."

If only they knew the pages were emptier than her gaze

Meanwhile...

"Oh look, it’s my husband who hates me," Kesha folded her arms and stood before Aramith, who was alone on a balcony.

Aramith ignored what she said. "What did you tell Lia so she could avoid me like that? It hurts, you know?" He looked really sad.

Kesha scoffed. "Well, I never pushed her away from you. I just want to win her over, since," she leaned in to whisper, "she’ll have to bless our marriage."

"Huh? You’re joking, right?" He blinked. She’s doing all that just to win Lia over? That’s it? He never expected her reason for doing that to him to be so mundane. And wait, isn’t that what father said???

Before he could fully process what he had just heard, a whistle from behind caught his attention. He turned around to meet a huge splash of water and laughter from both Mozrael and Kesha, who ran off right after.

"Very funny," he wiped water from his face.

Later on...

"What did I do to deserve this?" Aramith, still in soaked clothes, was slumped against a tree, watching Kesha and Lia laughing.

"Well, you have to thank your fiancée," Mozrael joked. She came over to ease his loneliness.

"Oh, not you too." Why was even Mozrael calling her that? Didn’t she know she’d let Kesha get too big in the head?

Mozrael laughed again, and Aramith smiled. "I know, it’s good to have her back."

"Yeah." Mozrael’s joy was obvious to Aramith. Her laughing and joking were all because Lia was finally back and recovering. To think Lia had such a great change in shy Mozrael. She’s becoming like Lia...

If only they knew how hard Lia was fighting to make it all look this easy...to make them happy.

Daylight stretched thin, and as the last pieces of sunlight ebbed away, so did Lia’s need to pretend. While the world slept, the truth crawled out from behind closed doors in her heart. She closed those useless accessories called eyes and let the tears flow down quietly. She only allowed herself a small amount of time before quickly wiping the tears, knowing Kesha was coming.

She felt a small bit of relief when she heard Kesha’s bell chime in the room. This was hard, but at least she had Kesha. Maybe she should tell...no, she couldn’t tell them at all.

Even broken wings could fly... if you taught them how.

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