Do you have an ex that you would ever consider dating again? (If not, how bad were they?)
Elvior drew on his pipe as he watched the youngsters break down their camp. The sun would not be visible above the trees for a couple hours yet, but the lightening sky put a skip in their step. They would reach Chea Gril by midday if they set a good pace.
He hadn’t been to the bustling port in close to a decade, but he still had friends there who kept him informed. From their letters he knew the city had exploded with growth. The inlet was the last to service both the sea routes and the river trade. The northern ports had suffered in recent years, with the droughts drying out the rivers there, while the eastern ports were beleaguered by powerful storms. Chea Gril was where the business was, so Chea Gril was where the merchants sailed.
Elvior chewed on his pipe stem. The masses worried him. Two months had passed, but Zinnia was still unpredictable with her Fire, and he worried what troubles bringing her to a densely populated area might spell. Kennick and Tamara were growing stronger and more confident every day; they could probably contain her if anything happened.
He shook his head. Containment wasn’t the problem. She wasn’t a liability to be contained. She was a troubled young woman with an incredible gift that needed to be nurtured. The problem was their Changer, who taunted her at every possibility.
Elvior watched as Zinnia threw a heavy pack at Remi, her red-gold hair near to glowing with her rage. Ken and Mara jumped between them while Remi just shook his head with laughter. He liked to rile her up about her lack of control, and the easiest way to do that was to make snide comments about it.
El grinned in spite of himself. The Changer wasn’t stupid. Fire needed to be stoked in order to burn properly. Kennick led Zinnia away to help her saddle her horse while Tamara quietly scolded Remi. He chuckled softly as he tied the pack to his own saddle, glancing over Tamara’s shoulder at Zinnia with a look Elvior recognized all too well.
Remi and Zinnia reminded him of another lifetime. Of course, Semonora had never thrown a full travel pack of pots and pans at him, but there had been crystals and the occasional book tossed his way. Elvior had loved to rile her up in much the same fashion as Remi did Zinnia. Their years of study at the Academy together had only strengthened their relationship. He harbored a secret hope that these youngsters would grow similarly close.
He doused his pipe. Well, hopefully they would also fare better to the end, not let duties come between them. The Grand Mistress was technically still his wife, but their marriage had been strained for decades. Maybe when this was all said and done, he would return to the Academy and apologize to her. They weren’t getting any younger, after all.
“Alright you brats, let’s hit the road. If we’re lucky, we’ll find passage to Arut tonight!” A chorus of “Yes, Master Elvior” resounded in the clearing as they mounted their horses. He favored one final glance back at the youngsters before leading the way. Remi was still grinning at Zinnia’s back. Elvior turned and heeled his horse forward. He would definitely give the Air wielder some advice the next night. And he would most definitely follow his own advice and apologize to Nora the next time he saw her.
Notes: This didn’t go quite the way I had thought it would. There was gonna be way more dialogue and it was going to be one of the teenagers facing an ex and assuring their current love interest that it was in the past. But then I remember Elvior and his wife have a complicated relationship and thought I would use that instead.
I might have forced this one to this world a little bit. I realized I ended my previous 50th posts (50, 100) in this world so I thought I would continue that tradition. While it might not have been the best exploration of the given prompt, it did help me discover a bit more about the shape of this particular world. The prompt is just to get you writing. Whatever happens next, happens.
I remained amicable with the majority of my ex boyfriends after we broke up, but I am happily married now and they are all either equally so or, at the very least, in their own committed relationships at this point. Hypothetically, if years from now my husband predeceased me and I was still on good terms with any of them, and they were also widowed, I might consider it. If nothing else, the familiarity would be a welcome balm in the tragedy of having lost our loved ones.
This prompt has been on my mind for a week though. Since it was at the end of last week’s list, I’d been thinking about it for a while, and my dreams were suddenly populated with ex boyfriends trying to reconcile or just reminiscing while we’re accused of cheating. That was a weird one.
What about you? Any exes you miss and would get back together with if the stars aligned? How about your characters? Do they have exes that pop up to cause problems with their love interest? Gotta love some good drama in your story!
Well that does it for me this steamy Monday night. Heat index in the triple digits today but no ac makes for a very uncomfortable Sara. I am a puddle. Here’s hoping I’m able to sleep in this soupy air. Have a great Tuesday! It’ll be a twofer night! See you then!
PS-Oh, I almost forgot! If this is your first visit here to my little corner of the internet, I recently updated my Getting Started page with a brief list of my personal favorite pieces on the blog along with brief synopses of what the stories are about. These are the ones I think are “the best” and really capture the essence of my writing style and content. Check them out if you want more!
Closet Full of Notebooks 