It was dusk, about the darkest it would ever get in the Hollow Valley. In his castle, the one that was carved into the western cliff at the edge of the valley, Corg stood upon the wall and gazed at the land in front of him. He saw the many forests and rivers which brought a natural beauty to the land, which was changing almost every day. To his right he could see several small settlements made up of Palman and Alisian colonists. To his left, he could see the plateau of fire. If he squinted enough, he could see the castle where had lived years before, back when his current castle was just a wall of rock. Corg looked out at the vast valley before him and sighed.
“Meseta for your thoughts?” said a cheerful feminine voice behind him. Corg turned to see Mieu, his female cyborg friend, standing at the staircase. She was wearing a simple red dress and a royal ribbon, one she had gained from Sean many years before back on the Alisa III, which still orbited the planet they stood on. Corg smiled at her and then returned his gaze to the valley.
“Hey Mieu. Just takin’ in some fresh air over here.” Corg breathed deeply. Mieu walked up to the edge of the wall, a few feet from Corg. She looked at him with a compassionate smile and then joined him in his gazing.
“It is a beautiful place we live in. I do miss the artificial nights on the Alisa III, but that’s okay.”
“Yeah, it does wear down on the person a little bit. It’s a good think that we got enough jets functioning now that we can just go back to Alisa III or the Neo-Palm whenever we miss the night too much.”
Mieu chuckled to herself. Corg looked over at her. She spoke up and said, “Remember that time that you were so desperate for a little darkness that you went to that cave?”
Corg shuttered and then laughed. “Oh yes. Stupid me, went to the so-called ‘Web Palace’ of all places. Oh dear lord.”
“If I hadn’t been with you, I don’t think you would’ve made it out alive.” Mieu was laughing quite a bit by now. “You really do hate spiders, don’t you?”
Corge laughed and then sighed. “Yeah, hate every last one of’em.” He continued to stare off into the distance.
“Are you okay, my lord?” Mieu asked, sounding a bit worried. Corg looked over at her and saw the rays of the sun reflect off her reddish hair.
“I thought I asked you to stop calling me that,” he said, wagging his finger. “I was just thinking that it’s been fifty years since you brought me back to this world. I never did get around to thanking you.” Corg turned to look at Mieu. Her gaze soon met his.
Mieu grinned as much as she ever did. “Don’t be silly. You’ve said ‘Thanks Mieu’ about once a month for the past fifty years. I think that counts as ‘getting around to thanking me.’”
Corg inhaled and exhaled slowly. He looked down at his feet and his eyes soon followed over to Mieu’s, moving up along her legs and continuing until he reached her face. “I know,” he said serenely. “But, words really don’t express the full extent of the appreciation I feel for what you went through.”
Mieu lifted an eyebrow and then turned to look at the forest before them. “Don’t worry. You’ve treated me so well all these years…I mean you’ve always treated me like a normal person. I should thank you as well.”
“How do you think these past years have been? Do you think we’ve accomplished much?”
Mieu coughed. “Uh…We? Well, things have gone well. Of course there have been a number of small conflicts here and there. Sometimes between the Neo-Palmans and the Alisians. Sometimes between those two and the other races. Sometimes between the other races and the dragons. But really, that’s just life. As long as people are free to choose, I have observed, there will always be a bit of conflict of interests involved. But I know that you’ve done your best to mediate between them all and judge righteously.”
“From what it looks like, things are going okay on the Alis III. I’m surprised that more people didn’t come here to colonize.”
“I guess tradition is a stronger force than we had originally thought. The world ship was created to find a new place to live, and a good portion of the people now sees it as their own world. The last time Sari and the others came to visit, they told me that even after several decades, there are many who still adhere to the whole Orakian/Layan way of looking at others, despite their attempts to show people otherwise.”
“There are always a few who try to stop progress in the name of bigotry. From what Piotr said, probably in a couple of generations, they might reach their second Golden Age.”
“Maybe when the Alisian scientists reach that point, they can build another Wren to keep me company.”
Corg coughed loudly when he heard that. “You know, it’s been about three years since Christy has gone to rest.”
Mieu nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“Melissa and Wren have grown up, had kids, and are now grandparents. The generations just don’t stop. It’s just one big cycle. And during all this time, look at me. I haven’t changed a bit. I mean, I’ve changed, but I haven’t aged.”
Mieu, cheerful as ever, said, “You don’t look a day over thirty.”
“Nor do you. You look as young and beautiful as you did when I met you and the others in front of the castle that first time.”
“Changing the subject,” Mieu said, “I do miss Christy.” Mieu sidestepped a foot closer to Corg. “Once she got the hang of this sort of life, she really enjoyed it. I could tell she was scared out of her wits when she came back with you at that time, especially when she saw how you had changed physically.”
Corg smiled and nodded. “Not to mention the banquet room full of minotaurs and gargoyles. She did go through a lot. I don’t blame her. And you?”
“Huh?”
“What did you think when you saw me the way I am now? Did you think I was some sort of freak?”
Mieu giggled. “Of course not. You were and still are, and I might add that you will always be, my friend Corg. Dragon leg or no dragon leg. Bear arm or no bear arm.” She reached over and gave Corg a light pinch on his shoulder.
“Back to the subject at hand,” Corg began. “I never got around to thanking you the way I wanted to.”
Mieu turned to him and stared at him with her big, unblinking eyes. “Oh? How’s that?”
“I don’t want you to be my friend or my surrogate mother or any of that anymore,” he said, a bit exasperated.
Mieu stepped back and looked at him with a tilted head. “I’m a bit confused. What kind of a ‘thank you’ is that?”
Corg reached into a large pouch on his belt and produced a golden crown with a large red jewel set in the middle. Mieu almost jumped back.
“What’s th—Where did you get that?”
Corg started laughing. “I decided to do a bit of questing the other day and went back to those caverns that connect the castle with the Southern Swamp. Almost got myself turned to stone by some basilisks. Little jerks, they don’t care much for my dragon tongue. I’ll have to figure out what language they speak later…though I’ll probably have to blind myself beforehand. Oh, where was I? So, I was exploring the cavern and I found this. It’s from the treasure of the ogres. I want to give it to you.”
Corg stepped forward and placed the crown on Mieu’s head. Mieu slowly lifted her hands and touched the crown, as if to see if it was real. “You mean, you want—“
Corg nodded and smiled. “Yes, I do. I want you to marry me and be my queen. I want you to rule this land by my side. I want to visit other lands arm-in-arm with you. I want to wake up in the morning and see that wonderful smile of yours and your beautiful hair spread out on the pillow. I want you as my companion until the day comes for destiny to do to me what it will. I know how much you’ve wanted this. I saw it in your eyes when Piotr married Sari and Jack married Laya. I saw it in you when I brought Christy back here the second time, when Melissa got married, and when each of her children married. I saw how much you yearned for that sort of human companionship. I have liked you as person and as a friend since I met you, but I have had that special type of love for you ever since you nearly sacrificed your entire existence to rescue me. Moreover, you have always been a great companion. You’ve listened to all my stories. You always encouraged me to do things I liked. You liked listening to me talk about things like movies and video games from my home world. I could always be me around you, and you never cared. I love that. Thus, the best way I can thank you is to give you back the same love you showed for me. What say you?”
Mieu was speechless for a few minutes. Corg gazed into her eyes patiently as he waited for her to give her response. She suddenly threw her arms around his head and it pulled it into hers. Their lips met and for several minutes, there was complete oneness between Corg and Mieu. She held him with all of her might, like a special prize that she could not bear to part with. For those few minutes, he was her and nobody else’s. After a few minutes, they broke off their kiss and embraced each other again, Mieu pulling Corg’s face against hers in such a way that their noses and foreheads rubbed against each other.
Mieu whispered in a soft tone, “I accept, Corg. And I do love you to. Please, stay by my side always. I never want to lose you.”
“I’ll always be here for you.” Corg smiled. “Didn’t know you had it in you,” he jested.
“It’s been accumulating for many, many years.” She gave a little devilish smile. “Don’t worry, that was just a sample.”
Corg lifted his eyebrows and tapped his fingertips together. “Oooh. I like the sound of that”
Mieu stepped forward and kissed him on the lips again. “Of course, my love. Wow, I’ve always wanted to say that.”
“Very good. So, we have to make some preparations. Tomorrow, I’ll set out to tell the tribes. Then, we’ll head to the Alisa III to let Piotr, Jack, Sari, and Laya know. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.”
Mieu nodded joyfully. She turned to enter back into the castle. Before going downstairs, she popped her head through the doorway and asked, “Honey, where would you like to go for our honeymoon?”
Corg pursed his lips for a moment. Then he lifted his eyebrow and, walking toward her, said, “I’ve always wanted to visit a city named Purapril.”
