[Glantri City, Nuwmont 1014]
"My dear Brook!"
Prospero's cloak swung around his ankles as he entered the Underground Tavern and made his way to where Brook was sitting down to a light dinner. She looked around and smiled at him as he drew nearer.
"I heard you were back in Glantri. It is a delight to see you again, if under such dire circumstances."
She waved him into the seat opposite her as she finished chewing her bread. Finally she nodded. "Good to see you too, Prospero. I couldn't believe it when I heard."
"Indeed. It is a terrible day for Glantri. Moskva was the heart and soul of this city. I feel we are all a little lost without her. How did you hear?"
"I was visiting with Adenna at the time. The word came through from the DDC. I met up with Terri then and came with her. I'm not sure why, there isn't anything I can do, but I felt I should at least pay my respects. I may only have met her once butÉ she made an impact."
Prospero nodded with great understanding. "It is good that you came. Tania was happy to have seen you. Where are you staying?"
"I was going to go to the Silver Tower but Claude said he could get me a room here."
Prospero smiled. "Of course. Good, good." He indicated she should keep eating and watched her for just a moment. Finally he leaned forward on the table and grinned. "It has been a long time, Brook. I feel I must be very far behind on the story." He nodded to the wedding ring on her left hand. "Perhaps you could catch me up?"
Brook grinned back. "Yes I could. After dinner."
A lot had changed since Brook was last in Glantri City, but not so much that she was comfortable with the whole tavern hearing her story. Prospero understood and they went back to his home where they could sit in front of the fire for as long as it would take. Prospero handed her a steaming mug.
"A friend sent me up a whole stock of beans from somewhere along his travels. It makes a bitter brew but strangelyÉ addictive. Ideal for long night time conversations."
He waited anxiously as she tasted it. She made a face but didn't put the mug down. He smiled and sat across from her.
"I expected we would see more of you since your visit ten years ago."
"I know. And I meant to come, but it was never easy to get away from the circus for any length of time at the start, and later, well I always had a home to go to first. There was never much need for me to come to the city. We've performed near the suburbs once or twice and we've even passed through on our way north occasionally, but never for long enough to visit old friends." She smiled. It was a weak excuse but she expected Prospero would understand. He always had before. He smiled back.
"Never mind. It is good to see you now. Though I am surprised your husband can let you leave his side for even a moment."
Brook grinned. "Torin knows who I am. He knows sometimes I have to go alone, but that I'll always come back to him and Krissie."
Prospero raised an eyebrow in question. Brook's grin broadened. "Our daughter. It was her second birthday on 11th Swiftmont."
Prospero chuckled slightly as he leaned over and squeezed Brook's hand once. "Not a date to be forgotten."
"Not if I can help it."
"Perhaps now you will tell me how all this came to be. You seem to have found that happy ending."
Brook laughed. "I hope it's not an ending so soon!" She took another sip from her mug and winced less this time. "But yes. I promised to continue the story. Where did I leave of?"
"You found your Grandparents, saw Lydia and Cassiop again, then came here to start a fresh new life with the circus! After thatÉ it is yours for the telling."
She sat back and made herself comfortable. "Right. I stayed until mid Autumn when Tania was sure the circus would be back at their Winter base in New Averoigne for training for the next season. She accompanied me having some wish to see the people she once knew herself when she travelled with them to tend and train their horses - now there is someone with stories to tell. Anyway, we found them easily enough."
Tania pointed into the valley as they came over the rise. "There they are. I told you they wouldn't be far from Vyonnes." She looked around to Brook where she stopped. Her face was just a little paler and she was looking intently at the circus caravan camped out in the shelter of the New Averoigne hills. Tania smiled. "Nervous?"
"A little, yes." Brook nodded. She gulped and flashed a smile back at Tania. "I haven't been on a rope proper in a long time. They probably have all the acrobats they needÉ"
"You've come this far, Brook. Don't worry, they'll love you." She studied her face. It was more than fear that they might say no. Tania sighed. "It's never easy to go back, is it?"
"I'm not going back."
"Still."
Brook sighed in turn. "You're right. I know they're not the same people - and I can take care of myself much better now butÉ come on. Let's go." She tapped the horse's haunches gently with her ankles and started down into the valley. Tania smiled and followed.
They were barely ten feet from the camp perimeter when a child spotted them and ran to get a grown up. Seconds later a man shaded his eyes from the sun streaming behind their backs then started in surprise. His features turned into a great big smile that seemed to comfort Brook's nerves as he walked with long strides to where they stopped. Tania was already grinning back and dismounting from Spectre. He soon reached them and took another look at Tania just to be sure.
"Sacre Bleu, Tania Nikolsk? Is that really you?"
"In the flesh, Jemmy. It's good to seeÉ" She didn't get a chance to finish as he grabbed her into a hug.
"And you! What are you doing back here? Gosh, it must be yearsÉ"
"It's been a long time. How are you, Jemmy? How's your father?"
Jemmy's mood changed briefly as he looked downcast at where he was holding her hands having since let the rest of her go. "Father died in the plague. I'm ringmaster now."
Tania squeezed his hands. "I'm sorry. I lost my father the same way."
He smiled empathically. "You went home? I knew you would."
"When it came to it, I had to. Long story. A lot has happened since then."
"To you? I have no trouble believing it! You always were slightly too restless, even for us. So what brings you back?"
Tania turned around and beckoned Brook towards them. "I'd like you to meet someone, Jemmy. This is Brook. She used to be an aerial acrobat with one of the Darokin circuses. She would..."
Jemmy was nodding. "Yes. The runaway. Hello Brook. You caused quite a stir a couple of years ago."
Brook's eyes widened and all language skills abandoned her. Finally she managed to force out a "How?".
Tania was immediately hovering more protectively at Brook's side. "Jemmy?"
He glanced around at the small crowd of circus people looking on at them. "Perhaps we should continue this in my trailer. Give us some privacy." He called a couple of kids over to take the horses and led the way back into where all the trailers were circled together. Brook looked around in amazement. It was no different to where she had grown up but the colours seemed brighter here. It was either excitement at being back, or magic. This being Glantri she figured the safe bet was both. And the people were such an assortment from young to old, happy to sad. Some of them recognised Tania and waved to her making her promise to come talk to them later. Finally they arrived at a finely decorated trailer. It was bigger than most and stood out in just the way the ringmaster's should. Jemmy smiled and led them up the steps inside.
"Please. Have a seat." He poured a few glasses of watered down red wine and handed one to each of them before sitting down himself. "Well this is better now. So where were we?"
"You were about to tell us how you know about Brook." Tania tasted her wine. "Not bad. I always suspected the good stuff was in here."
"And if you had accepted my invitations rather than pretending you weren't in love with Pietor..." He glanced at the hand gripping the glass. "Did you two work it out?"
She looked at her rings and laughed. "No, that's not him. We were just friends, Jemmy. Alright, we had a few... moments, and I was maybe more upset than I thought I would be when he got married shortly before I was brought home, but I made it to the city, I work now with my Aunt Moskva, and a few months ago I married Caliban." She noticed Brook starting to look more and more uncomfortable where she sat. "But we can talk about this later..." She nodded over at Brook.
Jemmy nodded, getting the message. "You bet we will. But in the meantime..." He turned to Brook as he spoke, trying to gauge her reactions. "About two years ago now we got a visit from one of the men from your circus. The Old Darokin, right? Said you'd run away and they were looking for you in all the other circuses. Father of course said you weren't here. Only he answered too fast and the man they sent didn't believe him. Starts saying not to believe anything you told us - you were just a confused kid. Father's a good judge of character and that was when he started to not like this man."
Brook was shaking her head. "They came all the way up here to find me?"
"We were in Corunglain at the time, but yeah. They wanted you back something bad. Either you're very very good at what you do or you know something you shouldn't."
"I would have said neither... I've been in Darokin city for most of the time! I wouldn't have been that hard to find!"
Tania shrugged. "They must have assumed you would only go to another circus."
Jemmy smiled. "They're right, aren't they? You're here. Just a little late."
Brook grinned suddenly. "I was busy." She looked at where Tania was sitting beside her for reassurance, then continued. "But yes, I do want to be part of a circus again and Tania says this is a good one. What do you think?"
"I think Tania would not waste our time bringing you here if she didn't think you were good enough. But we will have to see what you can do first of course. And I would like to know what happened before. You know how it works, once you're part of our family we will protect you no matter what - but I want to know if that is a safe commitment for us to make. You understand."
"She's not a danger to you, Jemmy. You have my word on that. She left because it was dangerous to stay..." Brook's hand was on Tania's shoulder.
"It's alright. I'll tell him." She looked at Jemmy. "On the understanding that it goes no further. There are things I want to leave behind, Jemmy. And while you should no what they are... I don't want them to make a difference with everyone else." She smiled then. "And I'm assuming this is after you think me good enough, but it's a very small assumption."
Jemmy arched an eyebrow good naturedly. "That good?"
She grinned back. "My mother was the best there was. I trust the people who say I'm better."
Prospero leaned back with a grin. "Quite a boast. One you could live up to, I don't doubt."
"It surprised me too. You remember how I used to be, I didn't like talking about her much at all - or much of anything really. But it's like everything changed since meeting my grandparents. Anyway I told Jemmy what happened. He was very sympathetic and swore right away that nothing like that would ever happen in his circus. And I believed him. There was just something about him that made me more at ease with him than I was with most men. It helped that Tania vouched for him I suppose. Just as well too, coz he was pretty much the only friend I had after she raced off after a week back to Caliban."
"Newly weds, aye?" He cocked his head. "Of course they really haven't changed all that much since..."
Brook grinned. "Good. Too many people lose one another when they should be together."
"You sound as if you speak from experience."
She looked surprised. "Me? No. Not personally anyway. I'm right where I should be. But I've seen it. Haven't you?"
"Yes. Many times." He looked wistful a moment before forcing back a smile. "Anyway, you were telling me about the circus. Was this one everything you hoped?"
"And more. I didn't hope for much, just somewhere to do what I did best. It didn't start out great. There had been some trouble since Jemmy's father died. There were those not happy with one so young as Jemmy taking things over - and he always has so many ideas - things he wants to change... They lost a lot of their people in the plague. Those that remained were reluctant to change anything. Some of them were not happy about him hiring anyone not from Glantri - which was me. As I said, it felt like he was the only friend I had there for a time."
"It must have been a tough situation."
"One that only got worse. Jemmy didn't quite have the confidence in his abilities to put his foot down as firmly as he should have. For a while it was hard to tell who was really in charge. There was one week when our training routine changed at least once, if not twice, a day. But it wasn't all bad. There was one or two of the much older performers who joined when Jemmy's grandfather was in charge. They supported him. I did too and anyone else who had come in since the plague. Eventually he realised things couldn't go on that way and he had to do something about it. He got mad one night when one of the new clowns he had hired decided he couldn't take the hostility anymore and left."
"That bad? What did Jemmy do?"
Brook grinned. "Did what he should have done long before that. Told everyone that if they were unwilling to accept his authority they should leave. He had always been afraid before that too many would leave but by then we got through to him that he'd be better to hire more anyway."
Prospero nodded. "Indeed. Who remained?"
"More than we thought would. Some left of course, including the aerial manager at the time. The rest of us on the team were all quite young. The scary thing was I was suddenly the most experienced in the air. Apart from Lero. He was due to retire soon though, but Jemmy convinced him to stay another year and in that time he trained me to take over."
Prospero looked impressed. "You took over the team when he left?"
"I've seen some scary things in my time. None of them scared me as much as that prospect. It was after the Summer season of 1004 when he retired officially - but he hung around to advise me during Winter training. When we went back on the road in Spring I was on my own. Turns out to be one of the best things to happen. I had to make much more of an effort to be a part of the whole circus then - I had kinda got used to just mixing with Jemmy. It wasn't always easy - most of the time at the start it was far from it, but Jemmy really believed I could do it so I tried harder."
There was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "It seems to me you and Jemmy became quite close." The grin became more wicked. "How close?"
Brook laughed. "Not that close." She shook her head. "But it could have. We had become close friends after all we had both been through to get things at the circus the way we wanted. We'd often walk together after the show and after the evening meal. I know the others talked, but mostly we were just talking."
"Mostly?"
Brook grinned. "Mostly. I think it was 1006. Things were finally getting back to normal - as much as they can for a circus. We were better organised together and that feeling of family you get was coming back. It had been a few years since the trouble, afterall. We had just had a very good show. I was trying some new stuff with the team and a couple of the magic users and it worked amazingly. It was the best show we'd had, well ever for some of us, for Jemmy it was just like old times. We'd finally got it right. Anyway, we went for our usual walk..."
The stars were already out and the moon high in the sky. Jemmy was skipping along beside Brook, too excited to just walk. They had set up near a small brook that led toward the Vesubian River and that's where they walked now. At least one of them walked.
"That was amazing! I haven't seen a crowd that loud since before the war!" He skipped back to her and patted her shoulder. "And you... you guys were brilliant! For a moment there you even had me scared when you went from the trapeze to the rope."
Brook just laughed. "I know what I'm doing, Jemmy."
"I know. And you do it well, but I can't help it if I worry. Father used to all the time too."
"That's what makes you a good ringmaster. You care."
He smiled. "Hey, I know where my greatest assets are. Without my performers risking their necks every night, where would I be?"
She nudged him. "You're not quite that mercenary. I'd believe it of the Old Darokin, but not you."
He nudged her back. "They can't have been that bad."
She jumped over a narrow stretch of the brook suddenly, her own excitement not being contained any longer, and smiled to him from the other side. "No. I guess they weren't. They did take good care of me for a long time."
Jemmy sighed and stepped over to her. "Not when it counted, though. I hate that that had to happen to you. But..." He shook his head and started to walk further along the brook.
"But what?" She caught up and caught hold of his hand. "You know I hate it when you stop in the middle of saying something!"
He stopped and turned towards her, all the more serious. "I'm sorry. What I was going to say was not really appropriate." He smiled then and punched her shoulder lightly. "You'd probably hit me for it."
The knot was there, tight in her stomach. "Jemmy..." She punched him back trying hard to smile just as playfully. "You can't say that and then not tell me! I promise, I won't hit you. Come on, it'll drive me crazy trying to figure it out and you know I'll get it wrong and that would just mess everything up..."
He took a step or two back from her as if about to turn and flee. "Well... okay... it would be cruel, though quite fascinating to see..." She glared and he laughed. "Okay. Just... I'm not saying I'm glad any of that stuff happened to you. I'm not. Just that... if it didn't you might not be here. That's all. I'm glad you came looking for us. Glad you knew Tania and she knew how to find us. I'm glad you're here." He winced slightly waiting for her reaction.
She stopped where she was just looking at him. Finally she smiled and nodded slowly. "That's... got to be one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me. I've never thought of it that way before but I'm glad I'm here too."
He smiled with instant relief. "Good. Coz you've really been great for this circus - you've some good ideas and lots of talent. I think the first couple of years would have been much tougher without you always believing I could do what I had to and..." He stopped talking and looked at her. The moon was behind her now just enough to throw light over her hair which was lose around her shoulders in waves as was usual just after it being tied up so tightly during a performance. Letting it down was always the first thing she did... and he could feel his head spinning.
Brook suddenly looked concerned. "Jemmy? Are you alright? You've gone pale?" She stepped closer and took his arm.
He in turn took hers. "I'm fine, Brook. You're probably the greatest thing to walk into my life, you know that? I couldn't have done this without you and that's the truth."
"Don' be silly, of course you could..." His hand was on her cheek. Suddenly her heart was beating far too fast and she could feel her cheeks starting to burn. Jemmy didn't seem to notice. In fact he brought his other hand to her other cheek. It seemed to be getting harder to breathe and everything slowed. He kissed her forehead first and then her nose. She closed her eyes as their lips met.
Prospero applauded with delight. "Wonderful! I bet you too were quite a pair for as long as it lasted."
"All of a week. We'd go out every night to the same spot and kiss for a while, then go back to camp like nothing had happened." Brook shrugged. "I think we knew it would never be more than that or we wouldn't have kept it secret so successfully. We moved on then to the next town and when we went out that night... we just didn't. We talked on the way back about how it was better that way, being friends. And we never really talked much about it again. But it was nice. While it lasted."
He grinned. "And when you went back to that town the next year?"
"Sorry to disappoint. But we never walked that way again."
"I would proclaim it a terrible pity, but I get the feeling you are much happier with things the way they are."
She nodded. "Yes. Definitely. Things were already pretty good and Torin changed them all for the better. You remember Torin, don't you?"
Prospero raised his eyebrows and nodded. "So it is the same man that disgusted you so much those years ago. Well they say love is the strangest thing."
"They got that right."
He reached for the jug on the mantle beside his chair and refilled her mug. "Please. Do continue."
"I saw him again in Corunglain. We were finishing our shows there before going to Bramyra for the Feast of Lanterns. It was 1008 and we had had more and more shows like that one. Everything was great - we had established a reputation as the New New Averoigne circus and even the nobles were coming to watch more often. Of course they always did in Corunglain. That night we got an invite to the Patterson's party. Usually I would try avoid these parties but Jemmy thought it important I go."
Prospero was nodding. "Ah yes, I know of the Patterson's. I have attended a party or two myself at their mansion. And this is where you met your Torin?"
She smiled. "Yes. Their families go back. We talked just a little. Six years is a lot to catch up on." Brook chuckled lightly to herself. "I think we got as far as discreetly asking if we were both married or not. Then Jemmy decided I obviously needed rescuing and that was it. I left the party not really expecting to see him again for at least another year."
"And when did you see him?"
"The next week."
Prospero grinned. "He couldn't keep away."
"I couldn't believe it when I saw him there. We were still in Bramyra. I don't usually look at the audience during a performance - too distracting, but I don't know what made me look around that night up on the wire just before I was about to start. I almost fell when I saw him sitting there - well, not really fall, the audience didn't notice a thing - more in my stomach. Anyway he's sitting there amongst the commoners with a bunch of rowdy kids fighting over sugar wool on one side of him and two slightly older kids slobbering over one another on the other side. He looked so out of place. He could change his clothes but that was all he could change. Well I got on with the show of course. Only when it was finished and the audience started leaving did I look for him again."
The crowd were trying to push Torin back towards town as he turned around and around trying to find who he was looking for in the crowds of happy faces and children that wouldn't feel the effects of all the sugared and salted snacks they had consumed until much later than night. Their parents would remember then why last year they swore never to let them eat so much of it again in one night. And next year the very same thing would happen all over again. Torin held his ground, or at least tried to. The town of Bramyra was lit up bright, the Feast of Lanterns turning into a longer and better festival with every year. It seemed hard to believe it had once been such a melancholy event not that long ago. The noise was down to a medium roar now as people began to dissipate, but still all he could hear was squealing children and boisterous teenagers. Suddenly it all stopped and only one voice remained. At least for him.
"Torin!"
He swung around again to where it came from - where Brook was pushing through the crowds still in her makeup and costume. It was as if to his eyes the crowd split in two and went either side of them as she caught up with him.
"It is you! What are you doing here?"
He smiled instantly. "It occurred to me after you left the party that I've never seen you perform. I felt I should amend that."
There was disbelief, surprise, and perhaps a little giddiness as she replied. "You came all the way across the Broken Lands into Glantri for that?"
He looked stunned for a moment as if realising for the first time just what trouble he had gone through to get there. "Yes. I do believe I did. I wanted to see you again and sooner than next year when you play Corunglain again. It was worth the journey."
She seemed equally taken aback. "That's... I don't know what that is."
"Strange."
"Yes."
They both paused for a moment just looking at one another. Finally Torin found himself smiling. "I hear there's a lot of nice Elven restaurants in these parts. Could I perhaps ask you to join me for dinner?"
She hesitated only briefly. "Give me a few minutes to change."
Prospero smiled knowingly. "It was an enjoyable meal I assume."
"Oh yes. Cosy restaurant, soft music, good food. Everything you would call romantic so of course we avoided the topic. Instead he talked more about all he had done since returning to Akorros and I talked about Glantri and the circus. It was, as you say, a pleasant evening."
There was some surprise. "Nothing more?"
Brook grinned. "A lot more, but not until later. They wanted to close the restaurant for the night so we were finally forced to leave. It was late and I sort of knew Jemmy would be waiting up for me - he was a little suspicious of Torin showing up again so soon, anyway I found I was in no hurry to get back to camp so we walked for a while around town. It was almost dawn by the time I couldn't put off going back any longer."
Torin tried not to yawn. It came out as half a sneeze. He smiled with some embarrassment at Brook. She smiled back then looked at the sky above the ridge they were looking over the town from.
"Jemmy will have a search party out if I'm not back by sunrise. If he hasn't already."
Torin looked where she was looking, trying to keep his voice steady. "He cares about you."
"Yes. We've been through a bit." She focused her attention back to him then. "What are you going to do? I mean, will you go home now?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I should." He turned around and tentatively reached for her hand. She accepted his. "But I don't want to."
Everything inside Brook jumped and knotted again. She gulped. "I wish you wouldn't. Not yet."
"I could stay a day or two..." His skin was getting clammy. "It's funny. I've never wanted to be away from home so much as I do right now."
"I still can't believe you came all this way."
"I had to." He squeezed her hand very lightly. "The truth is I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since Corunglain. That's why I had to come. And now? I don't want to say Goodbye."
She shook her head suddenly, taking her hand back and folding her arms. The first touches of gold were coming over the far mountains. She turned away to watch it. "What are we doing here, Torin? This is crazy. It can't work."
"I know. I agree. I should just take the next carriage out of here. But I don't believe that will work either."
She turned back with slightly reddened eyes. "You can't stay here forever, Torin. Anyway in a few days we're moving on to Fenswick. What then?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what..." He stopped. "No one has ever had this effect on me before. I'd give it all up and run away with the circus if you told me I would have the smallest chance to win your favour."
She frowned, not sure whether or not to believe him. "Don't be silly. You can't do that. And what can I give you that you can't get more easily from any woman of your choosing back home?"
"None of them are you. They don't fill my thoughts the way you have after just one chance meeting. And maybe I'm crazy to think that I'd ever be good enough for you, but..."
She cut him off. "What? You good enough for me? Shouldn't it be the other way around? You're the noble. I'm just the circus nobody in town for a visit quick enough for you to win me over with your charm until I'm a simpering fool willing to bend to your every whim. Then I leave and you tell your friends all about your conquest at the next big party."
His look was one of utter shock. "Brook! I would never! Not in a thousand years dream of treating you that way! Not anyone, but particularly you! And you are a lot more than a nobody - to a lot of people, not just me. You have to know that by now."
There were the vague beginnings of a smile. "I guess I haven't grown out of all the insecurities yet."
Torin was suddenly very serious. "Someone once treated you very bad, didn't they?" There was a touch of sadness in his voice.
She shrugged. "Some have tried. I think it quite likely I might tell you some day. But I can take care of myself now. And even if I couldn't, Jemmy watches for me... speaking of which..."
Torin nodded. "He'll be looking for you. Wondering what I've done with you."
Brook took his hand again. "I'm wondering that too."
Both of them caught their breath as their eyes made a contact that did not waver. They both knew what was coming.
Torin cleared his throat nervously. "Is this where I should hug you now?"
She was already in his arms, the question not needing an answer. The sun finally reached out and touched them as they kissed.
Brook sat back and caught her breath from telling the tale. Prospero was beaming at the edge of his seat. "And?"
She smiled. "And that's when Jemmy found us. He wasn't exactly happy about the situation."
"A little jealousy perhaps."
She shook her head. "I don't think so. I think he knew that everything had suddenly changed and how hard it was going to be. We couldn't avoid the truth forever that Torin had responsibilities in Akorros and I wasn't ready to leave the road just yet. I think he knew the babysitting he'd have to do and that sooner or later he'd lose me to him. He knew how tough it would be for him wanting for me to be happy but wanting me to stay with the circus. I would only be able to do both for so long."
Prospero nodded sagely. "Perhaps a more difficult start than most. But you endured."
"I fell in love with him. Utterly, and on that very day. I'd never been there before. Not with Cassiop, not with Jemmy. I didn't even know what it was but when we went on to Fenswick and Torin had to go home, I was feverish for days. It wasn't until we stopped for the Winter that I went to Akorros and saw him again. We were back and forward between Akorros and New Averoigne so often that year. Then in the Springtime at the start of 1009, he asked me to marry him. It was a fast romance but we knew. Even I knew it by the total comfort I had with the idea." She grinned a little mischievously. "I was perhaps even looking forward to my wedding night. It was a change in me I never expected."
"Brook!" Prospero grinned. "I hope the proposal was every bit as romantic as the story so far."
"Only because I'm only telling you the good parts! There were at least a couple of arguments, Torin and Jemmy almost came to blows once, after which I would talk to neither of them... but none of that matters now. Yes, it was another fine evening. Torin asked me to meet him in Corunglain. There was a beautiful restaurant and a stroll afterwards. We got to the Frozen Pond and I wanted to go ice skating. It's all about balance so I had no problem. Torin, however... it wasn't something he'd ever done before. But he kept trying and he even managed to stay up for a few minutes at a time. Well we're in the middle somewhere with all these people around and he comes crashing down at my feet. I was about to help him up when I see this very big smile as he pulls himself up to one knee. Everyone else on the Pond has stopped by now to see what's going on. He pulls out this ring from his pocket... I didn't even hear him the first time I was so much in shock."
"But you said yes."
"I didn't have much of a choice. The crowd around got tired of waiting for me to answer and decided for me! Probably as well I didn't get the chance to think about it. I don't really want to out do Tania on that one."
Prospero laughed. "No. Indeed not! I'm happy for you. You deserve it after all you've been through. When was the wedding?"
"That Summer. Not even a year after we met at that party. That was..." She was shaking her head. "The most amazing day... it was in the gardens of our home. Adenna and Cornelius came over with Lydia. I think Adenna was a little annoyed I didn't want her doing the ceremony - I still have very Glantrian feelings on some things, you know? Anyway Torin arranged for my Grandparents to come over too as a surprise. I think they had the best time of anyone. Kera never stopped crying the whole day. It was quite small. Just the circus folk and what's left of Torin's family. It was the way we wanted it."
Prospero reached over and patted Brook's hand. "He's a very lucky man."
"Thank you. I consider myself quite lucky too. I remember waking up the next morning and suddenly thinking, 'I have a name'. It was perhaps the simplest thing about it, but it was the one that made the most difference to me. I knew then that everything had changed."
"That's right. I should be calling you Lady Moncaleri now."
Brook blushed just a little and waved her hand. "Oh it's still Brook. But yes. Who'd have thought it? Me? Married to a noble?"
"Nobility isn't a title, Brook. You've always been noble."
"Not always."
"Perhaps not." He grinned for a moment. "Is that when you left the circus?"
"No, actually I stayed with them a while longer but took every chance I could to go home for a day, a week, whatever I could get. And he came to visit me too. There were a lot of surprise visits. Especially in Winter. It was easier to get away then. It went on that way for a couple of years. We even extended our route to take in Akorros a couple of times a year. The others didn't mind so much because they got to stay at the house. It was working out surprisingly well. I came home for a visit in the Summer of 1011..."
Torin yawned as the sifted through the last bundle of papers. He skimmed through and signed the last one, then took off his light framed spectacles and rubbed his eyes. It was as if everything got a little brighter around him. Then a voice drifted in from the doorway. He hadn't even heard the door to his study open. The extra light had obviously come from the hall.
"You shouldn't be reading with so little light in here."
He blinked a couple of times then pushed his spectacles back on hurriedly and blinked again. His smiled stretched across his face as his wife smiled back at him from within the door frame. She was still wearing her travelling cloak. He was instantly out of his seat and around his desk.
"Brook! Welcome home!" He took her into his arms, hugged and kissed her. A minute or two later he stepped back, trying to blink the dizziness away. He kept hold of her hands. "How long?"
Brook kissed both his hands and released herself. She went to take her cloak off and hang it up in the corner away from the light. He had to squint to see her. "Just a week. Then I've to go back and train Kallin up. But then..." She hung up her cloak and turned around, walking back into the light. "Then I'll be here a bit longer. At least until after the baby is born. Maybe longer."
Torin was dimly aware he looked something like the fish in the pond at the centre of the hedge maze, the way his mouth was opening and closing with no sound coming out. He had noticed there was a little more of her to hug moments earlier, he just hadn't... noticed. She smiled and took his hand, placing it on her stomach. "Kass says it will probably be Swiftmont. Are you okay?"
"You're... you're with child?" He looked down to where his hand was. It wasn't exactly unobvious. Brook just laughed.
"That's what I came home to tell you, yes."
"We're going to have a baby?"
"They tell me that's what happens next."
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
Brook laughed again and hugged him. "I don't know! That wasn't really a choice I was thinking about when this happened!"
Torin grinned. "Swiftmont you say? So it was..."
"Yes. That time."
He pulled her back towards him... "Better night than we thought." ...and kissed her.
The light of dawn was peeking in through the curtains into Prospero's front room. He nodded. "I trust everything went well with the birth."
She shrugged. "It was a lot worse than I thought it would be, but I'm told everything went just the way it should. We were both okay and that's what really matters in these things. She was so beautiful from the moment we first saw her... I knew nothing would ever be the same again. I never went back to the circus except to help with the training a week or two in the Winter and Torin and Krissie always came with me. The circus still stays with us when it comes to Akorros so I see everyone. Last year I even went back up on the rope for a couple of nights. But it just doesn't matter the way it used to. I have a family now. It's the only thing I've ever really wanted."
Prospero sat back with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Didn't I tell you you could make your own happy ending all those years ago?"
She smiled back. "Yes. Yes you did. I just hope it's not over yet."
Prospero chuckled. "Be careful what you wish for, Brook. Be very careful indeed."