Hawra sat with two of the other sect elders, Supreme Elder Liz and Elder Natsumi by Hajime's beside, as they chanted an incantation and runes appeared on Hajime's body, slowly healing him. The following morning, the entire sect knew Hajime's name, he had been the very first person to beat Elder Hawra in a sparring session out of the entire young generation and he had done it in such a domineering manner. Hajime slowly opened his eyes and sat up, He coughed slightly and everyone around him suddenly woke up and stared at him like they'd seen a ghost.
"It should have taken you at least a few days to recover, yet you're already up?" A young man said with shocked eyes
"I heal fast, who, may I ask are you?"
"I was tasked with guarding you while you slept, pleased to meet you, I'm Shawn Xiao I'm in charge of making sure the new members are okay"
"Thank you, Senior brother," Hajime said with a bow
"I'll go call in the people that came to visit you now"
And with that Shawn left, Hajime noticed a piano in the corner of the room and got up, he struggled to his feet and stumbled over to the piano, when he was halfway there he collapsed onto the floor, luckily the door opened just as soon as he was about to collapse, the figure in the doorway rushed over and helped him up, when Hajime saw who it was, he couldn't help but feel happy, it was a face that was very familiar to him. Kalista had walked him back to his bed and handed him a glass of water.
"what were you doing out of bed?"
"I wanted to go to the piano, guess I wasn't strong enough," He said with a very faint smile.
Kalista sighed and talked to him for a bit.
"Kalista, do you remember the time we spent at the Dragonborn division?"
"Of course I remember" She punched his arm lightly. "Its where we became best friends"
"The doctor said we should come in one by one so you didn't feel overwhelmed or pressured, so expect a few more visitors" when she was leaving, she cast a glance back and smiled, for the first time a long time, she revealed a genuine and happy smile, Proud to have someone so amazing as her best friend, someone who could brighten the world.
The next person to come in was someone he didn't know an old man walked over to his bedside and smiled gently "Young man, you have great potential, I am the sect manager, I help the sect grow and evolve, I just wanted to tell you that I have arranged for you to marry Elder Hawra"
"Elder, That would be my third wife, I think that is already two, too many"
"Does your father not have six wives?"
This sentence shut Hajime up and he simply nodded
"Then you're aware that it does not truly matter how many wives you have"
The elder gave Hajime a smug look and spoke calmly "and sadly I asked your parents to make it official while you were sleeping so you're already married"
"Elder truly is a sly old fox"
Supreme elder Lizabeth walked in after and spoke to Hajime softly "you worried me half to death"
"I did not know Supreme elder cared so much"
"Please, just call me Liz and you kind of remind me of my son, may he rest in peace, in a way I guess you could say, you feel like my child"
"I am truly Honored Liz" Hajime deeply bowed "you remind me of my mother as well"
Elder Natsumi came in after, She tightly hugged Hajime and smiled, "have you noticed your arm?"
Hajime looked down and found that he had a brand new arm, very similar to the old one
"Hawra, made them herself, she added a few things to it, even put her signature on it"
"I'll be sure to thank her, I'm sorry if I worried you"
she gently kissed the young man and smiled "You fool, I may look fragile but all us elders except Hawra are over one hundred years old, I'm tougher than I look" soon she left and Hawra came in, the second she walked into the room, Hajime's face subconsciously lit up and he had such a bright smile "So, you're my wife now huh?" he asked and Hawra blushed "It was sudden for me too, I went from being the youngest elder to being the wife of the future king"
Hajime pointed to the piano "can you help me get over there?" He asked and Hawra took his hand in hers, their fingers intertwined as she helped him to the piano and sat next to him, Hajime started playing and the two sat there in silence for a bit just enjoying the sound of the beautiful music Hajime played on the piano, after a while Hajime looked up, for some reason he couldn't explain, out of all his wives, being with Hawra felt the most natural even though, they didn't truly know each other, he felt a stronger and more natural connection to her, they talked for a bit about Hawra's family, he found out that they were extremely poor and lived in a village not too far from the sect.
They didn't notice that they were already in there chatting for two hours, after which Hajime had an idea "Let's go pay a visit to your village tomorrow, I'd love to see where you grew up" Hawra's eyes lit up like stars and she happily nodded her head, then she took his hand again and lead him back to his bed, completely unaware of the crowd watching them from the doorway, even Natsumi could realize that Hawra and Hajime had a much deeper connection.
The next day, Hajime had flown with Hawra back to her village, He flew by her side using his wings rather than the flight he gained through his cultivation when they approached the entire village stepped out of their homes and bowed deeply "you're highness"
"please raise, I may be the next king but I do not like to be treated like royalty" Hajime plainly spoke then the village leader recognized Hawra
"Young Prince, you didn't enslave Hawra did you?" he asked as he was terrified, Hajime didn't respond but Hawra did "Father, actually that's rather funny, I'm the second woman that Hajime has been forced into, marriage," she said while laughing
"Married?" the elder's attitude suddenly changed "Son-In-Law, is this true?"
"yes, it would seem, my parents love to force me into arranged relationships, however, I think I will be extremely happy with Hawra" as he said this he calmly held her hand and they flew down together "and everyone in the village can simply call me Hajime, I was adopted into the royal family but before that I was a slave, it's because of the mines that I have these" as he said this he held up his arms
"Hajime" "can you tell us what your experience has been like in life?" a young man walked over with his children
"Focused on the things that didn't make no sense, guess that growing up wasn't never meant to be easy"
he paused to think then continued "Yeah, I got used to doing everything sideways, didn't really care how anyone felt, hiding my emotions down in different drinks"
The younger ones did not fully understand but the older ones did and they applauded how wise Hajime was "young man, you lost such a big part of your heart, your soul your innocence, how did you go on? my daughter recently lost a lot and suffered horribly, it's left her broken and she's struggling" an elderly woman asked
Hajime turned to the woman that was the elderly lady's daughter and said "But was is lost isn't gone, you can't just let go, cause it's a part of you that will make you strong, embrace your flaws"
he paused and made the area develop lush grass and flowers grow using an incantation before he continued "I'm not gonna fight back what I've become, yeah I got bruises where I came from but I wouldn't change if I could restart, I ain't gonna hide these beautiful scars" "heh, you guys helped me realize something he said and smiled a charming, beautiful and warm smile that was entirely genuine when he spoke "I've been going way too hard on myself, guess that is the reason I've been feeling like hell but I wouldn't change if I could restart, I ain't gonna change these beautiful scars"