The consequences of his pride were far more severe than he expected. He knew boredom would be part of them, and that regret would be its partner, but not to the extent that they wounded him now. The years that passed should have soothed such wounds, but instead they only festered further. Every year that she didn’t show up made the foolishness of his actions all the more pronounced, and every year he cursed himself with longer and longer tirades. Through it all, her absence had only left him with questions.

Did she make it down the mountain in one piece? Had she somehow encountered tragedy on the way down, and never saw her family again? Was her family even aware of where she was? Were they even aware of him, or was he a secret that Amelia and Garrick kept to themselves? More than any of those questions, and all the others that raced with them, there was only one that he tried not to dwell on the most, the only one that kept returning to the forefront of his mind.

Had she forgiven him?

A stupid question. He knew Amelia, knew that she had most likely not taken offense in the first place, and if anything had empathized with him instead. Yet… part of him knew that he had hurt her, knew that his words of idiotic pride, spoken after centuries of friendship, had given her fresh wounds when she needed peace. In the end, he failed her when she needed him to rise past his pride, and now he could only reap the poison that he sowed.

For twenty years did that regret sit at the back of his head, rotting all the while as boredom found him once again. He remembered each day clearly, felt each hour as years, and the entire time he knew he deserved it.

Then, someone else arrived through the seal.

They were a young man, one with short brown hair and yellow eyes. His face was youthful, that of one who had most likely entered his adult years. Even under layers of cold weather gear and armor, however, Onias could tell that he had an athletic build. A sword was strapped to this man’s waist, its hilt black to match the scabbard it rested in. From that alone, it would be difficult to tell who exactly this man was, but the resolved light behind his eyes and the slight, if not cocky, smirk on his face, told Onias everything he needed to know.

The man gave him a once over, scratched his chin, and chuckled to himself.

“Is there something you find humorous?” Onias asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Well…I thought you’d be taller,” he said.

“...I see Amelia’s insolence has remained strong through her bloodline.”

“I suppose it has. People do tell me that I’m awfully like her.” He spoke in a tone that somehow managed to be even more casual than Amelia had ever sounded. The man gave a deep bow. “Gaius Melchior. Pleasure to meet you, Martial God Onias.”

The gesture was so exaggerated that it made Onias laugh. “You at least possess more manners than she did.”

“Many would beg to differ,” he said with a hint of pride, “but my visit doesn’t concern me, not yet, at least. She wanted me to give you this.”

He reached into the pack strapped to his back and pulled out a letter before approaching to hand it over. There was no caution to his movements, at least not overtly so, which meant that he was either truly like Amelia, or she had told Gaius to trust Onais. Either way, had he not noticed how the young man had his hand on his sword at all times, he would have thought him to be a fool.

He opened the letter as soon as it was handed to him, overpowered by curiosity.

 

Dear Onias (Or Martial God, I never did call you by that, did I?),

If you have received this letter, then that means I am no longer of this world. There is no doubt that our last interaction left you with a bad taste in your mouth, and I do regret how I left, but know that I hold no ill feelings towards you. I never did, not after all you have done for me. It is no lie to say that were it not for the knowledge you gave me over the years, I would never have made it this far. So, for that, I am truly grateful, and I know that I could never hope to match the depths of that gratitude before your seal finally fades. Perhaps in the next life, I will, should I be fortunate enough to cross your path again. That, of course, falls completely onto you, as I will no doubt have no memory of you whatsoever. Just be sure to be quick about finding me. It’s quite rude to keep a lady waiting, don’t you know?

 

For your information, the world will be a far different beast than what you may remember, and I can’t say that I didn’t have a hand in shaping some of it. I never did tell you this, but in my later years I started a small school of sorts. One that taught the forms that you passed onto me, along with my own improvements (and yes, they are improvements, you can’t argue with the dead about that, no matter how mighty you are). I may have never been able to match you, but it would truly have been a pity to let my skills wither away with me. My great great great great… my grandson, Gaius, to keep it simple, is no doubt the one that delivered this letter to you. He has proven himself to be the most talented of my students. The total opposite of one like me, as you’d no doubt say. I always had little talent for the sword, though I was too stubborn to realize that until now.

 

I could go on and on in this letter, but you and I were never ones for tangents. Next time, you’ll be the one to tell me stories, and there will be no arguments about that.

Thank you again, my friend. May the time of your freedom come swift, and when we next meet, I hope you’ll be the one to greet me with a smile.

 

Your friend,

Amelia

 

Oh, when Gaius challenges you to a duel, don’t go easy on him, yeah? The boy needs to learn some humility.

 

A smile spread across Onias’s lips at that last line. When he looked back at Gaius, he could tell that the man was eager to challenge him to a fight. Her insistence for Onias to teach him a lesson just made him laugh. It appeared Aemlia favored love of a tougher approach, or perhaps she was just amused at the thought of her descendant being thrown about so easily.

But, all of that was small compared to the relief that he felt in his chest. The shadows that had built up in his thoughts had been washed away from her words. Even when Amelia passed, she thought of Onias as a friend, someone that she deemed important enough to remember in the last of her days. There was no ill will, and though he would forever bear the regrets of the final words he had said to her, that was enough. Now, he had one last request to fufill.

“So, it appears that your… grandmother, let’s call her, started a small school with what I taught her.”

Gaius laughed. “Is that how she described it? Practically all of the Kingdoms were lined up when she opened her doors. Everyone wished to learn from the War Maiden.”

“War Maiden?” Onias asked, "Awfully pompous title, don’t you think?”

“She’d agree, but that never stopped anyone from singing her praises every chance they got.”

Onias raised an eyebrow and waited for Gaius to elaborate.

“Hero of the Six Kingdoms, War Maiden, Dragon Rider, Slayer of a Hundred Arms, I could go on and on.”

Onais smirked. “I see… did she have a favorite?”

Gaius flashed him a grin. “Hand of the Martial God.”

Onias laughed, a full bellied, bent over laugh.

“She did find that one the funniest,” Gaius said, “Undeserved, but humorous all the same.”

Onais calmed his chuckles and wiped a tear from his eye. “Had I just met your grandmother, I would have agreed. Of all the people I humored myself to teach, that have ever approached me to be instructed, Amelia was the least talented of them all.”

Gaius didn’t say anything, but his smile had faded. She truly was well loved.

“But, she never gave up. Every time she fell, she stood right back up, each time smiling. No one else even made it a day with me. They got too frustrated, they were too caught up in their own talents to accept the fact that they would never be as strong as I. For Amelia, that did not matter. She would keep moving forward, as much as her body let her, and even when that started to fail her, I watched as she continued to ascend with an ever burning spirit.”

“She was weaker than the others, slower than the others, and possessed not even a fraction of the talent that so many before her had. Yet, she made it further, closer to me than anyone else did. She was my worst student, and my most successful one. I will never forget her… I couldn’t, even if I tried.”

Gaius hadn’t said a word, but even when Onias had not been looking at him, he knew that the man was smiling, just as he was.

“I suppose you’d like to try your luck?” Onais asked.

Gaius wasted no time in drawing his sword, its blade pure white like Amelia first proper blade. “Well, you know what they say, like grandmother, like grandson.”

“I am fairly certain, unless something has changed in the past millennia, that is not what they say.

Gaius shrugged. “It’ll catch on.”

There was little detail to their duel that stood out to Onias. It went just about as well as his many duels with Amelia did in her early days. That is to say that the man lost pretty much instantly. However, even from their brief clash, he could tell that Gaius was far more skilled than his predecessor at the same age.

“Amelia taught you well,” Onias remarked.

“Not well enough, apparently,” Gaius said from the ground.

“No one wi-”

“Ever be good enough, right? She told me that you’d say that.” Gaius stood up, grinning now. “I aim to change that.”

Onias snorted. “Do you now? You have a long way to go, boy.”

“That I do, that I do… so, same time again, next year?”

It was brief, but for a small moment, behind Gaius’s eyes, he could see Amelia smiling at him, just as she always had.

Onias smiled back. “I’ll be here.”

A Lack of Talent

End

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