A half-eaten cake laid on a table next to a row of other desserts. None of them had been fully eaten; a spoonful had been taken out of each.
"The lemon pie it's way better than the apple pie."
Elettra was lying on her right side on a sofa, half covered by a towel. Flavio was sitting on a wooden chair on the opposite side, the table effectively working as a divider between them.
"My favorite is the Tres Leches."
He said this while eating a bit of it.
With great effort, Flavio tried to take Elettra to his home; however, on the way to his apartment, they walked in front of a bakery, and Elettra insisted on getting the biggest cake and a lot of the tiny desserts for his birthday. Somehow, Flavio convinced her to arrive at his apartment first to get dressed, and then he would go to buy them. Flavio wasn't sure what hurt him more: his wounds or the money he had to spend.
Technically, his birthday was yesterday, but it was true that, thanks to Elettra's insistence, he was having a good time qualifying which dessert was the best. From those he had brought to his apartment, he chose the arequipe profisterol. Elettra preferred the lemon crostata, which was similar to the American pie.
For this single moment, he forgot the sadness and suffering that had been suffocating him this past month.
Elettra looked at him directly in the eyes.
"Should we consummate our marriage?"
"ACK!"
Flavio chocked on the profisterol. The question was so unexpected that his body tensed.
"I-I-I-I think we should get to know each other a bit more before... doing that, don't you agree?"
Elettra meditated on his answer in her mind before nodding in agreement.
"Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Tell me about... erm... about... you and magic and nobles, and why did those guys shot me!"
"So you want my life story?"
"Oh... Yes? I mean... Yes!"
"It all began in the year 736 after Christ, when a man called Aristide Balossi married... she was... she... I forgot her name, but she was someone important, I think, and together they started the Balossi House in Milano. Those are my ancestors up to the seventy-two generation, and they were friends with some nobles that gave them tax exemptions; with those, they were able to import products that elevated the House fortune by four percent each year for the first decade of their marriage. However, famine struck the region, and taxes were raised, causing—"
"Wait, you are starting too far back; what does that have to do with us?"
"It's the context of my family, like a backstory."
"Talk to me about you specifically, and then you can tell me your family's history. I want to know you."
"Fine. I'm going to skip all the details for now. Understand this. You and I aren't exactly humans. We look like them, we live like them, and we cry like them. But we aren't them. We are manasies. Think of us as mythological creatures. Like mermaids! You see them, and you think those are girls until you get close enough. But without eating, people. At least I don't eat people; other manasi do eat people. A manasi can be born at any time from the union of two humans. But a manasi is almost guaranteed to be born from the union of two manasies. Like eye color, if I have green eyes and you do too, the most probable thing is that our son will have green eyes. That's what Gregor Mendel discovered."
Flavio was listening in silence. There were lots of things he didn't understand, but he knew from her demeanor that Elettra was passionate about this topic, and he truly didn't want to interrupt her. She had some unknow element in her voice that compelled him to hear her ideas carefully, and he felt melted by the emotions transmitted. He had heard before about how dictators were able to dominate the masses with their speeches, but he never fully believed that. Until know. He already knew that he would follow her wherever she wanted to go. Flavio was fully conscious that she had a level of charisma the likes he had never seen before. But was this all true? Was Elettra Balossi a natural leader? Or was he making excuses for himself, hiding deeply that in less than six hours he had fallen irreparably in love? Could it be a mix of both?
"You didn't know you were a manasi; that could mean that either you were born from pure humans or that in your bloodline there was a manasi now forgotten. This is completely unimportant. I, Elettra Balossi, am a member of the Balossi House. One of the Five Great Noble Houses of Italy. Which means I had an incredible quantity of knowledge at my disposal that I used to enhance my skills. You aren't going to understand this right now; the only thing you have to know is that since Aristide, every manasi of the Balossi House has electricity affinity. And we control, or at least, we used to control almost all of Toscana."
"But what exactly is a manasi?"
"It's a fancy name for mage."
Elettra made a pause to eat a cannoli and drink water.
"I was born on the second of February of the year 1898. My parents were Nunzio and Arabela Balossi. I was the firstborn. A year later, my younger brother was born; his name is, sorry, was, Federico. Do you have any brothers, Flavio?"
"No, I was an only child; my parents wanted a second, but they just didn't have the money to do so."
"And how are your parents, Flavio? Do they live here?"
The illusion broke. Their mention was enough for Flavio's eyes to start filling with tears.
"Flavio! Did I say something wrong!? Do you don't get along with them!?"
"They died last month..."
"I'm so sorry; I shouldn't have made assumptions; forgive me."
"No. It's okay; I just haven't had the time to truly talk about it with someone."
"Do you want to talk about it with me?"
Elettra got up from the sofa and sat on the table after putting the desserts away. She grabbed his hand.
"It was a robbery two streets from here; they were supposed to go to the pharmacy and come back but... they didn't. They were shot and... and..."
Elettra pulled him by his hand for a hug. Flavio was crying in silence, and Elettra was playing with his hair.
"They... the police... they never found the murderer."
"Do you want vengeance?"
"No! I want them back! I want my mother and my father with me! I miss them so much."
Now he was fully crying his heart out; it was probably the first time he gave free rein to his feelings since the tragedy struck. Elettra had suffered similar things, if not worse, but she knew that Flavio didn't need to be reminded that some people had it worse or to compare their pain. What he needed was to share his heart without judgment, and Elettra would do that.
Neither of them could say afterwards how long they remained like that.
Flavio's apartment was very small. The entrance was just half a meter long, and it led to a kitchen connected to a living room that occupied an area of twelve by fifteen meters. Most of this space was occupied by the table, the sofa, and the chair. There weren't any decorations on the walls, and not even a rug was on the floor. A big window in the wall opposite the entrance allowed a view of the nearby streets, but it wasn't a big area to look at since they were only in the third store of a five-story building. On the opposite side of the kitchen, a halfway led to a room with just enough space for a bed. A tiny door in the middle of the hallway took to the bathroom.
Flavio's family was struck by economic problems since the company where his parents worked closed down in 2021. They had to move to this apartment, where they had been living as frugally as possible, with Flavio sleeping on the sofa. Even after the death of his parents, he continued sleeping on the sofa, unable to bring himself to enter their room.
"Flavio. Do you have a dream?"
Asked Elettra, breaking the silence. Flavio didn't answer immediately; he was seriously thinking about it.
"I want to be a baker."
He sentenced after a while.
"To make delicious bread and desserts?"
"Yes, to create my own recipes and flavors. What about you, Elettra? Do you have any wishes?"
"Yes, I had one back then."
"Did you achieve it? What did you wish for?"
"I wished for power. And I became the most powerful of them all."
"Them? Who are you referring to?"
"The Italian army."
"Eh? What are y—"
A sentence Elettra said before crossed Flavio's mind:I was born the second of February of the year 1898.
"Did you fight in the First World War?"
"Yeah in the... the first!? Did you said the first!?"
"Ah yes, there were two; the second one was from 1939 until 1945."
"Wait what!? Which sides were in there!? Did we won!?"
"No, we lost; our allies were Germany and Japan. The other side was France, Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and... practically the rest of the world."
"Our allies were Germany and Japan? Why were we allies with Japan!? They are on the other side of the world! What in the world happened? We ended in war with the rest of the world?"
"Well, there was this political movement..."
"Stop right there. Just tell me, what exactly happened to Italy afterwards? There has been something bothering me since I came to this day. I have seen the flag a couple of times, but it doesn't have the shield on it, and I haven't seen the royal banner in anything. Tell me this: Is Italy a republic?"
"Yes."
Elettra smiled, showing all her teeth; the emotion she had was palpable. Flavio could hear her brain working at all speeds, machinating plots and plans.
"Do the nobles have any power today?"
"No."
Elettra started laughing maniacally while shaking Flavio. She looked joyful.
"Now, Flavio, now I have a dream too. If there is no one sitting on the Italian Throne, I want to be the one in it"
"You want to—"
"I will be the Queen of Italy. You will become my consort. For this goal, we have to win this. Tell me Flavio Balossi, will you follow me into battle?"
Flavio was without words. In one hand, this dream seemed impossible, dangerous and would likely get them both killed. They had to defeat twenty eight manasies and after that take over a country; it was a literal fantasy. In the other hand, if there was someone who could do it, Elettra was the best candidate and he from the bottom of his heart, thought that she could pull it off. He recognized he had a choice. If he said no, he knew that Elettra wouldn't hold any grudges against him and he would be safe from all danger. But he didn't want to say no. How could he say no to her?
"I want to follow you, Elettra, wherever you go."
"Then, there is a place I want you to know. But let's sleep first, it was careless of me to let you walk around with those wounds and even more with the current situation. You are not allowed to be alone until I teach you magic."
"Will you teach me?"
"I will be your master. Let's sleep now."
Both of them walked to the sofa, to realize there was space for only one.
"You can sleep there, it's okay if I sleep on the floor."
Flavio offered the sofa to Elettra, but she wasn't happy with that.
"No that's not okay, this is the first time I come to your home, I can't have you sleeping on the floor."
"You are my guest, you have to BE comfortable!"
"You are wounded, you NEED to be comfortable!"
"You come from the last century, you must be tired and I want you to have the best place!"
"I slept in worse places in the trenches, I'm telling you, I'm fine with the floor!"
"Let's sleep both in the floor then!"
"Fine!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Their first fight ended in laughter. Even with such a difference between them in upbringing, attitude and experience, they were able to find an agreement. Could it be possible that Elettra and Flavio were one of those couples "made for each other"?