AUTHOR'S POV
"You never asked for my name, and I didn't get the chance it to tell you. But you did call me something that only you have called me that way ever since", Stellan moved closer with a hope Helena would remember it.
Helena paused for a while as she look away from Stellan's gaze that seemed to be stuck on her. He never doubted his instincts, and the apparent memories that his heart treasures.
Helena tried to recall so hard. In every tick of the clock, she brooded over a memory hidden at the back of her mind. Not later, she finally remembered a boy that she met in most of her soul's wanderlust. She gasped as she finally collect the past into her mind. "No way", she whispered with disbelief that destiny have found a way for them to meet again. How could such boy ever slip from her mind, when every time she meets him, he had dark circles around his eyes, black bruises and dark scars. The boy who boasted that he will be a great knight one day. Helena raised her hand and caressed Stellan's face. "I called you the Black Knight", she affirmed the sobriquet that she called him that relieved the paladin.
Stellan took such tease to a different level that he chose to wear a black armor as soon as he became a paladin knight. "Every morning, I prayed… No, I begged for your return. That one day, you'll come back for your crest. I waited, and despite the long days and several nights, it never crossed my mind that you'd never come back for me. I'm glad you did, Helena", Stellan closed his eyes as he take pleasure with Helena's hand on his face. Her touch is deliberately cold, but to him, it was befitting and warming that it refrains himself from withdrawing from his new found addiction.
Dreaming for this day to come, Helena smiled along with such bliss that finally, Stellan saw her despite her best efforts to hide herself behind different identities. All along, she has been worried that Stellan might only see Haelan or Agalea, for her soul that's hiding beyond the different body is hard to spot. "This can't be real", she uttered softly as she place her hands over her trembling lips.
Stellan held her face with his warm and large hands, as her curve his lips up. "What is?", he certainly have a short list of impossible things, and crossing roads with Helena isn't one.
Helena rested her hands on Stellan's broad shoulders. "I'm sorry it took me too long, I didn't know someone has been waiting for me", she answered. Deep inside, she is dwelling in her sadness imagining the torments of what the paladin knight went through as he bereave for her absence. Her heart swells that Stellan endured his longing for such a lenghty time with no other choice but wait for her to soul travel back.
"It never bothered me, Helena. I'll wait for you no matter how long it takes", Stellan tucked Helena's hair behind her ear, telling her that he's a very patient man. "Helena.. hmm.. Call me shallow, but… I'd like know.. if..uh.. you know, just to be clear… what do you..", Stellan doesn't even know how to ask her. He wanted to find out how she feels about him, and eventually, claim his rights on her. Seeing that Helena never refuses his touch or even distance herself from him, still, Stellan longs to hear the certain words from her own lips whether she reciprocates the same emotions or not . .
Helena held Stellan's face with both of her hands and squeezed it as she smiled sweetly. "My heart has always been yours, Stellan", she said as she kiss him softly that startled the paladin. Stellan stirs her emotions so well, that she fears the fact that as a soul traveler with plans to save Agalea's life, Helena isn't here to stay for too long. Sooner or later, they'll have to part ways again. She then realized, they are indeed, worlds apart. But tonight, Helena doesn't want to spoil the evening and just wanted to spend every second with her black knight.
The two laid on the bed in each other's arms, as they continue to reminisce on the good and bad times they had when they were younger. They both filled all the gaps and cleared all the loopholes from the time Helena healed Stellan in the woods when he was bound to turn to a stone, to the their quick rendezvous at the meadows, until they found each other again in Brandenburg. He grunted at the moments how Helena managed to see naked men in the healing springs frequently and how she shared a bedchamber full of men. Then he was left astonished when he heard Helena provoked a fight with one of the warriors in Brandenburg, as she's being looked down on that time for her femininity.
As for Helena, she haven't moved on from Stellan kissing her despite knowing she's pretending to be a man during that time. With a pleasing smile, she teased him for being betrothed to a beautiful princess, which she thought is certainly deserving for his kind of stature. Stellan reiterated so many times that the forced engagement will be cancelled once he return to the palace. He reassured Helena plenty of times that she's the only woman in his eyes. Helena continued to take delight on the times past. She could only just shake her head at the harsh words and laborious trainings Stellan invoked. But, she still thanked him for bringing out in her something she never thought she could do.
The two listened to their heartbeats, as they sorted out its melody and rhythm. She slapped him for stealing her first kiss right after healing him in the woods, and for intentionally eating most of her tarts packed by Freya. He blew raspberries on her cheeks for being too close and spending so much time with Atrius, for hanging out alone with Alesso in the towers, and for catching Galen's attention. The room was filled with laughter, reminiscence and heart-warming confessions of love that eventually led them to worry about what's ahead of them.