Heartbreak

Mary walked in to Tariana’s apartment and, to her surprise, her mother was sitting at the table by the window, drinking tea.

“Mom?” Mary said.

“Ah, there you are dear,” her mother smiled.

“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long, Bettina?” Tariana asked.

“Not at all, Tariana. I have been enjoying the tea,” Bettina told her.

“Good, I sent a note to your mother while Kopa and Furnlow sent for you. I thought you would appreciate having her here,” Tariana said to Mary.

“Thank you,” Mary said as she walked up to her mother.

Bettina stood up and pulled Mary into one of her warm hugs.

“Come, let’s sit, drink some tea and talk,” Tariana said, and they all sat down at the table and Tariana poured some tea for Mary and herself.

“How are you doing, Mary?” her mother asked.

“Fine, well, mostly fine. I was shocked at how much he knew about me. And I feel a little foolish that I didn’t see this,” Mary said honestly.

“Don’t feel like that,” her mother told her.

“She is right. You have every right to feel safe enough in your home not to keep a lookout,” Tariana nodded and placed her hand on Mary’s arm.

The three women sat for hours talking and drinking tea. Mary always enjoyed her tea times with Tariana, and having her mother there made it even better. They had shared experiences with unwanted attention and how they had handled it. They reassured Mary that she had done the right thing.

“Feeling better?” Tariana asked her.

“Very much so,” Mary nodded.

“Good. I think you deserve a night at home. I’ll let your teachers know you won’t be here until after lunch tomorrow,” Tariana smiled.

“I can’t do that,” Mary objected.

“Yes, you can. Do you have any idea how upset your father is? We will be lucky if he lets you leave the house before you are fifty,” her mother said.

“If it’s for dad, then I guess it’s okay,” Mary nodded.

“There you go,” Tariana smiled.

They stood up and Tariana hugged both Mary and Bettina before Mary, and her mother walked out. Outside the apartment, Mary’s father and Tenac were sitting on the visitors’ chairs.

“Bettina, when did you get here?” her father asked.

“Just before you,” Bettina smiled at her husband.

“Dad, Tenac, have you been here the whole time?” Mary asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Tenac said, shrugging.

“Are you okay?” he then asked.

“I’m fine. Notting cheers you up as having tea with my mom and Tariana,” she smiled.

“Good,” her father said. Putting a hand on her shoulder.

“She has been given permission to sleep at home,” Bettina said.

“Even better,” her father nodded.

“I just need to swing by my room and talk to Hinat and Firlea and get some things,” Mary said.

She looked at Tenac and smiled.

“Thank you, and I’ll see you as usual on Saturday?” she asked.

“Of course,” he nodded.

“Thank you, Tenac,” Kopa said and nodded towards Tenac.

“Always,” Tenac said, nodding back.

“Does this mean you are going to be nicer to Tenac?” Mary asked her father as they were walking to her room.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” he said.

“You are hopeless,” she sighed.

Bettina laughed and placed an arm around Mary’s shoulders.

“I want you to invite Hermen, Lomi, Tenac, Sinhera and Jontak over for dinner on Saturday,” Mary told her father.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because they helped our daughter and kept her safe,” her mother pointed out.

“Oh,” Kopa nodded.

“I will cook for them,” Mary said. It was the least she could do after everything they had done for her.

They stopped by her room and her parents waited outside as Mary talked to Hinat and Firlea about what had happened.

“I’m so sorry that I put you in a situation like this,” Mary said.

“Don’t be silly. It wasn’t you that put us in this situation, it was that dumb ass,” Firlea said.

“She is right,” Hinat nodded.

“I’m going home for tonight. Will you two be okay? I can ask my dad to place a rider outside if you want,” Mary offered.

“Nah, the idiot is no longer here,” Hinat smiled.

“You just go home and take care of yourself. Then we will have a girls’ night tomorrow and dish about how you now have three hot riders watching your back,” Firlea told Mary and wiggled her eyebrows, suggesting.

“Yeah, let’s say I have had enough of lovesick men, and anything remotely related to romance for now,” Mary smiled. She packed a couple of things she needed and followed her parent’s home for the night.

After what happened with Kornen, Mary was on high alert for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t the only one. Tenac had started waiting at the river field for her when they were meeting on Saturdays. And he always followed her home. If she wanted to go home for dinner, her father would walk with her.

Even Jontak and Sinhera helped to make sure Mary wasn’t alone in the city. Mary was fine with it for a couple of weeks. But as there was no sign of Kornen, she told everyone to back off a little. To her surprise, they actually listened to her.

Fall turned into winter and as winter gave way to spring, Tenac would have to go on another mission. This one would only have him away for a couple of weeks. But Mary still gave him her necklace.

One Saturday afternoon, Mary was sitting in her room in the sanctum. She was writing a letter to Tenac and enjoying the quiet time. Firlea was out on another date with Jontak and Hinat was out with her merchant.

Mary finished the letter and sealed it. She was pondering if she wanted to go to the library or if she should read one of the books, she already had. The door slammed opened and Hinat stormed inside and slammed it shut again. When she saw Mary sitting at her desk, she froze.

“Hi, Hinat. What has happened?” Mary asked her friend.

“It’s nothing. I need to be alone,” Hinat said, making a dash for her bed.

Mary felt divided. If Hinat wanted to be alone, Mary should respect that. But Mary had a feeling Hinat didn’t want to be alone at all. Mary got up from her chair and walked to the foot of Hinat’s bed. Hinat was lying on her stomach, her head buried in her pillow.

“Hinat, if you really want to be alone, I can go to the library. But I just wanted to check and see if you really want to be alone? I can just sit at the foot of your bed for a while,” Mary asked.

Hinat looked up at her with tears running down her cheeks.

“I don’t want to be alone,” she said in a weak voice.

Mary nodded and got into the bed and hugged her friend. Hinat hugged her back and started crying. The two of them laid in bed in silence for over an hour. Then Firlea came home, and she looked at the crying Hinat, and Mary shrugged to say that she didn’t know what had happened. Firlea nodded and got in to bed as well.

It took another half an hour before Hinat’s crying slowed down and she just sobbed. Mary and Firlea just let her take it at her own pace.

“I’m so stupid,” Hinat finally sobbed.

“You are not stupid,” Mary objected.

“No, you are not. What has happened?” Firlea asked.

“I went to spend the day with Donte,” Hinat told them. Mary and Firlea nodded. Hinat and Donte had been going out for almost a year now. It was hard on Hinat when he needed to go back home to restock, but otherwise it seemed to go well.

“After us going out to eat and walking around the city almost all day, he tells me he needs to talk to me. He sits me down and tells me that when he went back home last time…” Hinat stopped and sobbed.

“When he went back home, he had gotten married,” she told them.

“What?” both Mary and Firlea exclaimed.

“He said it was a business deal. Her father is an important merchant in the capital. He said he didn’t love her, but he loves me. Then he said that we should continue to meet when he is here, that nothing would change,” she almost whispered.

“He did not say that,” Mary said, sitting up.

“He did,” Hinat nodded.

“Oh, he is dead. I’m sending Jontak over to his stall,” Firlea said.

“I can ask Tenac and Sinhera to join Jontak,” Mary said.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that,” Hinat said.

“You aren’t considering taking him up on his offer, are you?” Mary asked.

“No,” Hinat said. Shaking her head.

“Good. You deserve so much better,” Firlea told her.

“You do,” Mary agreed.

“Now I understand why you don’t want to do this whole love thing, Mary. I always thought it was a little foolish of you. But I get it now. Maybe I’ll stay away from love as well,” Hinat sobbed.

“Oh no, Hinat. Don’t do that,” Mary said softly.

“I know you are hurting. I know it feels like someone has torn your heart right out of your chest. But it will get better. Maybe not tomorrow, or even next week. But it will get better. And then one day you realise that you no longer think I love him, but, I used to love him,” Mary said.

“Do you think I will ever make it to that point?” Hinat asked.

“If I could, so can you,” Mary told her.

The three friends stayed curled up in the same bed until morning. Hinat had stopped crying during the night. But she still looked defeated in the morning. Mary hated to see her look like that.

The first week after Hinat’s heartbreak, Mary and Firlea never left her side. Mary didn’t have any riding lessons or trainings with Tenac as he was away. Firlea cancelled her usual date with Jontak, even if Hinat told her it wasn’t necessary.

Hinat was still in a bad place, but she got a little better each day. By the third week, Mary left her friends for an hour to welcome Tenac back to the city.

“So, are we meeting up on Saturday?” Tenac asked.

“Sure, if you are up to it,” Mary nodded. Hinat would spend the day at her parents.

“I need to pick out a birthday gift for mom. Would you help me?” Tenac asked.

“Sure, we’ll meet at the usual place?” Mary asked. When their plans were in place, Mary excused herself to go back.

The week passed by quickly and Mary and Firlea escorted Hinat to her parents’ house before Firlea headed for the riders’ headquarters and Mary headed for the marketplace.

Mary and Tenac spent the morning walking around, looking for the perfect birthday gift for Tenac’s mother. Mary had already bought her a tea plant. They weren’t common in Salmis, but since Tariana loved tea, Mary thought it would be nice for her to have her own. She refused to tell Tenac what she had bought her.

Around lunch time they decided it was time for a break. Tenac had found nothing he liked, and he wanted to gather his thoughts.

“How about a cup of coffee and we can talk about it?” Mary suggested.

“Good idea. Take a bench and I’ll bring the coffee,” Tenac nodded.

“You know you don’t need to buy my coffee,” Mary pointed out.

“I know, but I like to do it and you are here as a favour to me,” he said, giving her a gentle push towards the benches. Mary smiled and walked over to one of them and sat down.

“Mary? I thought it was you, I’m so glad I spotted you,” someone said. Mary turned to look who it was.

“Hello, Donte,” she said, feeling her anger ignite.