Chapter 62 - Where Tears Were Shed

Everybody was asleep so I had to go answer the knock at the front door.

Since the news of the princess's murder had been through each and every ear, I didn't need to worry much about getting caught. Slowly, I trotted towards the door and undid the latch. Opening it an inch, I looked through the little gap and asked, "Who is it?" in my most hoarsest voice.

"It's me."

Ah, that familiar, oh-so-husky voice I hadn't heard for a while. With a long, drawn out creak, I opened the door all the way and stood face to face with our visitor. 

Reynard didn't look so good.

His usually messy hair looked deliberately disheveled this time, and his skin looked darker than usual. My mouth fell open with worry at the sunken eye-d creature that stood before me. Had he not been getting any sleep this past week?

"Hey," he said, looking down into my eyes with an unfocused gaze. "You've been doing okay?"

I nodded and stepped aside to let him through. I closed the door after he was inside and turned around to face him. 

"What's been going on with you?" I asked sharply with a tilt of my head. "You look like a mess."

He smirked as he scanned me. "Not much more than you," he muttered after a while. I realized I was as dusty as ever and dusted my dress self consciously. When I looked up, he was turning the handle to Mama Ruth's room.

I watched him pause. He turned to look at me, hesitance written all over his face.

"Is she asleep?" he whispered, frowning, but there was a hint of amusement on his face. "I can hear her snores from here."

I giggled as I jumped forward. "Yeah, she probably is," I said airily. "Anyways, interested in checking out my room? It's upstairs."

He shrugged and followed me to the top. As I walked past Room#1 and Room#2, I wondered if I could ask Reynard about the suspicious case of the identical white lilies. That'll do for another time, I decided. Right now, I needed to ask what Reynard's been up to to have turned up looking like this.

"This here," I said as I pushed open the door to Room#3, "is mine. Thoughts?"

Reynard scrunched up his face in obvious displeasure. "L-Lovely."

I scoffed and went to flop down on my bed. "Sit," I said, patting the space behind me. "What's been going on? Why do you look so sick?"

Reynard shook his head as he flopped down next to me, his head low. He gave out a long, deep sigh and shook his head before sitting upright. "Oh… you know… I've been grand. Just a bit busy."

I nodded as I crossed my leg over the other. "And…? How's your mother?"

At that, he seemed to droop down so low, I thought his spine had disappeared. 

"Reynard?"

"Sick, still," he mumbled, his voice muffled. "More so, actually."

I turned towards him. "No… What happened?"

When  he rose up, I saw that there were tears in his eyes that threatened to flow out. 

"She's started vomiting buckets and it's just so, so awful seeing life leaving her. It just pains me so. I don't even know what to do anymore but to just sit there and see her suffer."

I nodded along with every word and patted his back. "It'll get better…It'll get better..."

He sniffed and hid his face behind his hands. I stared sadly at the floorboards, because I had never been in such a position ever before, so I didn't know how best to comfort a miserable person. 

Then suddenly, an idea struck me.

"Reynard!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening. Why didn't I come up with this before? "What if we feed her my hair?"

For a while, everything was silent. I heard water drip from the kitchen tap downstairs and my own breaths going rhythmically in and out with it. Then Reynard perked up with a new shine in his eyes. 

"What?" he whispered, his face only an inch away from me. "What did you say?"

I licked my lips which had suddenly gone very dry. Now that I thought about it, the idea wasn't half bad. Would feeding her my hair be a bit disgusting? Well, it would mean nothing if it could save her life, right?

"I said," I uttered, gathering up the little courage that I had, "should we feed her my hair? She'll surely be restored to health again if we do that, I'm sure of it!" Truth be told, I wasn't sure at all, but I think that seemed enough for Reynard.

Reynard held his chin as he thought about it. I could see the wheels in his head spin. I itched to ask him what he thought, but I gave him the time to think it over. Slowly, his dark, sunken face glowed up. 

"So?" I asked hopefully. "Are you up for it?"

Without any warning, I was swooped in for a hug.

"W-w-w-w-w-wha-" I sputtered, my face up against something solid. I couldn't say the word.

I was clenched in by my shoulder blades, a heavy weight bearing down on my shoulder… and then I realized Reynard was crying. 

"Reynard?" I whispered quietly, as his ear was right beside my face. 

I don't think he heard me because still, little sobs escaped him. The two arms I had awkwardly dangling by my sides, I lifted them and patted Reynard on the back. At that, his grip tightened and I was pulled in. 

I was aware of my shoulder getting damp by Reynard's tears, but I cared not. I assumed he was crying because he was happy, so I felt relieved as well. It felt nice to be with someone in one of their hard times. Maybe that's why he came over after all this time, just to get comforted. Even if I had never met Reynard's mother before, I had grown quite fond of her.

Soon, when his tears had dried out, Reynard let go of me and sat back, his face hidden by shadows. 

"Alright now?" I asked gently. "So it means that your mother can be restored to full health, yes?"

He sniffed and lifted his head as he rubbed it vigorously with his hands. Red rimmed eyes were revealed after he lowered his hands and below those eyes was a crooked smile.

"Yeah," he murmured as he lay back on my bed and put an arm over his eyes. "It was all so simple..."

I nodded and leaned back on the headboard, finally relieved. Maybe...maybe my arrival in this world wasn't totally pointless. 

✿

In the 4th room from Cynthia's, Sven sat examining the princess's hair.

"I had no idea," Sven muttered to himself. "I had no idea she actually was the princess..."

For Sven had just been guessing to tease poor Cynthia. Oh how he had hidden his shock when the princess's face had crumbled and she had given into Sven's flimsy tease. 

Sven raked a hand through his long, silver hair and let out a loud, exasperated sigh. 

"How am I supposed to face her again?" he mumbled helplessly as he put Cynthia's hair strands in his drawer and slammed it shut. "Aghh!" 

Sven punched his pillow a few times before his bony knuckles started feeling the dull pain. He buried his head under the same pillow to block out any and all thoughts and that's when he heard two pairs of feet coming up the stairs. It was strange because the only other person except the Princess in this inn was Sven and Mama, and it's been ages since Mama climbed the stairs. So who was this? 

Carefully, Sven put his head around the doorway and peeked outside just in time to see a familiar silhouette of a man coming up the stairs beside the princess's small one.

Sven pulled his head back and pursed his lips, recognizing Reynard instantly.

A week ago was the first time Reynard Gradral ever came to Ogden Cove, but he knew him since way before them. Mama always told Sven about a boy near his age she usually met whenever she went to the market and that his name was Reynard.

Sven had always been curious of this guy, as he'd only heard tales of him. But a week ago, when he saw him for the first time, Sven felt like he'd known Reynard all his life. 

After a while of pacing in his room (because he felt too weird walking across the princess's room when her door was open), Sven heard faint sobs.

He stood, alert, in case this Reynard had made the princess cry. But then he heard the soothing words of the princess trying to calm the crying person and Sven realized who was actually crying. 

Nothing else to do, he laid down and went to sleep.