Everlasting Light

Snow crunched beneath Trom’s boots as the boy walked out onto the balcony that overlooked Del Segno. The young king sighed happily as the festively lit city greeted him. Last Christmas, evidence of the Mazoku’s destruction could still be seen throughout the city-state. Families were still recovering from their losses, and many building still lay in ruins. Del Segno had seemed smothered beneath the ashes the mazoku had left in their wake. Now though, three years after the final defeat of the monsters, his country had come back to life.

Below him, the streets sparkled with holiday cheer. Lights blinked merrily as far as the child’s bright blue eyes could see. Cheerfully sung holiday songs echoed up to him, lightening his heavy heart. Still though, a small tear slid silently down his a rosy cheek.

“Mom, Dad, Merry Christmas,” Trom murmured softly. He could almost hear his father’s boisterous laughter.

“King Trom,” a voice called out, interrupting the boy’s doleful reminiscing. Trom blinked his eyes rapidly as he pulled himself back to the present.

“Yes?” he inquired eyeing the page.

“Lady Coronet asks permission to stay here for the week.”

Trom’s eyes lit up when he heard the page’s announcement and he ran to meet his guest without another solemn thought about his past.

**********

“Coro!” Trom shouted at the top of his lungs as he torpedo through the hallways. The slightly older young lady turned and smiled serenely for all of three seconds before she too broke the dignified and proper act.

“Trom!” She cried, racing down the hall to glomp the young king. The joyful chatter of the two children filled the halls as the two reunited friends asked each other anything and everything that came into their heads.

“And so, since I was passing through, Onii-san told me that I had more than enough time for a visit and I wanted to see how you’re doing I’m so glad everything’s fine.”

“Coro!” Trom laughed, “breathe somewhere in all that!” Coro laughed as well; then the two children hugged again.

“As long as you’re here,” Trom began, clearing his throat. “I was wondering if I could ask for your help.”

“With?”

Trom shuffled his feet a little bit and looked downward. “Well, I still need to put up the tree. It was a family tradition to do this together. Grandpa said he would help, but with his back, he can only do so much, and I don’t want to decorate the tree by myself. That just seems so lonely. So I was wondering if...”

Coro clapped her hands together, “Trom, I’d be glad to help trim your tree!”

“Really?” Trom asked a relieved smile passing across his face.

Coro flashed a thumbs up sign. She seemed to be bursting with energy. “Absolutely!” she declared rolling back the sleeves of her green sorceress’s outfit. “Where’s that tree!”

“I’ll show you,” Trom declared. Then he took Coro’s hands. Both children blushed ever so slightly, but neither noticed as they ran down the hallway to find the large Christmas tree. Peeking out from behind a pillar, Trom’s grandfather chuckled as he watched the excited adolescents racing away from him.

*************

Trom and Coro sipped hot coco beneath the shimmering lights of the tall, gaily decorated pine tree. Candlelight, as well as Christmas lights, created a subdued, comforting glow in the dimly lit room. Trom seemed completely absorbed watching the flickering lights reflect off the sparkling Christmas ornaments. Coro however, happily snooped through a box of unused ornaments. Most where hand made ones that had broken at some point or that Trom and Coro had agreed were simply too unsightly to be used.

“Trom!” Coro cried, pulling out a shredded paper ornament, “how old where you when you made this?”

Trom stared at the affront to all aesthetics that Coro held teasingly in her hands. “Hey! Give that here!” Trom yelped lunging at her. The blonde haired girl bounced merrily out of the way and tried to hold the ornament out of Trom’s reach. Trom however easily plucked the disaster from her hands.

“I keep forgetting about that growth spurt,” Coro lamented. “I’ll have to find new ways to tease you.”

Trom stuck his tongue out at the amused girl. “To answer your question, really, really little.”

Coro leaned over and looked in the box. “Omigod!’ She gasped pulling out a rotted string of popcorn. “What possessed you to keep this?”

“Coro, cut it out!” Trom protested halfheartedly as he leapt after his friend once again. This time, Coro didn’t try to hold it out of reach. Instead, the nimble girl merely stayed one step ahead of Trom, holding the ancient garland out mockingly. The pair merrily horsed around until Coro, in a belated effort to dodge the swordsman’s surprise attack, fell against the pointed needles of the tree. The Christmas tree shuddered at the impact, jarring a single ornament loose. The glass sphere fell to the ground with a sickening crack, where it lay unheeded for a few moments.

“Coronet!” Trom cried in alarm as the girl sank to her knees holding her arm. “Are you all right?”

Coro brushed pine needles off herself, then looked at her arm. “Yes, actually. A few places sting but nothing is serious.” Trom took the girls arm and inspected it himself despite her reassurances.

“Yeah, you look all right,” he finally concluded. Coro opened her mouth to say “I told you so,” but a faint glittering caught her attention.

“Oh!” Coro gasped, her soft voice rising in alarm. Trom followed her wide green eyes to see the shattered ornament.

“It’s ok,” Trom murmured, creating a charade of indifference to hide the hurt he felt at breaking one of his families treasures. “That’s a Christmas tradition too, it seems.” The boy’s shoulders hunched over slightly. “I’ll go get a broom.”

“No, wait,” Coro insisted. Reaching down, the girl took the shards carefully into her hands. Coro stared at the broken pieces of glass that she held and began to will them to reform into a sphere.

Trom watched in astonishment as a soft glowing light surrounded Coro’s hands, then passed into the pieces of the ornament. Briefly, the shards seemed to become pure light. Then, the light dimmed to a mere glimmering, which seemed to be embedded in every molecule of broken glass. Slowly, the large pieces of the ornament began to melt together, reforming into the globe they had once been.

“There,” Coro breathed as the light died away. Trom exhaled softly and watched as Coro hung the ornament back onto the tree.

“That was amazing!” Trom finally exclaimed, “You’re awesome, Coro!” The young girl blushed faintly.

“Thank you,” she murmured reaching down to pick up her hot coco before she knocked that over as well. Trom rubbed the back of his head and stood next to Coro.

“Merry Christmas, Coronet,” He said softly.

Coronet stared at her friend. Trom’s wild hair hid his face from view.

“Merry Christmas, Trombone,” she replied with a soft smile.

***********

Late that night, Trom’s grandfather crept quietly into the large living room. Trom and Coro had fallen asleep beneath the tree. The two lay curled up next to each other, both breathing peacefully. A faint smile lit the faces of the two adolescents. With a soft chuckle, Trom’s grandfather laid a heavy blanket over both of them, tucking them in for the night.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered before turning to retire to his own room. Above Trom and Coro, the blinking lights merrily chased each other around the Christmas Tree.

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