[22] Tale of Neshka: Walk Beside You

[Intro – spoken, intimate] [Soft lute and cello] Well. Here we are. A wedding. I've attended several in my time. Most involved less emotional damage. [Small amused breath.] This one was different. This time, I was walking the bride to the altar. And I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to feel about that. [The lute begins a gentle melody; soft fiddle joins.] [Verse 1] She stood beside the window, pulling at her sleeve, pretending she was calm enough to make herself believe. Her hands were never still. Her smile kept coming loose. For once, the mighty Merisiel had no excuse to use. I told her she looked lovely. She asked me if I lied. I said I'd seen her dressed far worse and watched her walk with pride. She laughed, but only briefly, then looked away. And suddenly I understood how much this meant today. [Verse 2] Her dress was made of ivory, with delicate embroidery, the kind of quiet beauty that made the whole room still. She took my arm and squeezed it. Her fingers trembled there. I'd seen her face armed mercenaries without a trace of care. But now she stood beside me, afraid to take a breath. I'd never seen her look so wonderfully helpless yet. [Chorus – warm, tender folk-rock] So take my arm, my reckless friend, I'll walk beside you to the end. No guards to trick, no debts to pay, just one small room and one bright day. And if your hands shake, let them shake. There's nothing here you need to fake. I've walked a thousand roads with you. I'll walk this final one there too. [Instrumental – gentle fiddle and lute.] [Verse 3] The gathering was small, a handful of friends, no more. A few familiar faces and flowers beside the door. No grand procession waited, just people who truly cared. And there was Kyra, waiting, her eyes already bright with tears. She looked at Merisiel as if she'd waited all her years. Merisiel stopped breathing. I squeezed her arm. She squeezed mine back, then we began to walk. [Verse 4 – building emotion] Each step was just a footstep, each heartbeat, just a sound. And yet I felt the years between us gather softly all around. The roads we'd left behind us, the towns we'd outrun, the nights we spent laughing until the rising sun. The trouble and the stories, the foolish things we'd done. I looked at her beside me and knew what we'd become. She looked ahead at Kyra, and I understood at last: I was watching her forever begin, not watching ours go past. [Chorus – fuller] So take my arm, my reckless friend, I'll walk beside you to the end. No guards to trick, no debts to pay, just one small room and one bright day. And if your hands shake, let them shake. There's nothing here you need to fake. I've walked a thousand roads with you. I'll walk this final one there too. [Bridge – cello, quiet and intimate] The vows were soft and simple, no grand words carved in stone. Just promises to stay beside her, to make a life their own. Kyra's voice was trembling. Merisiel's smile was bright. And somewhere in that small, warm room, I started crying. Not gracefully. Not quietly. Fifteen years had undone all that work I'd done to keep certain things inside. I watched them hold each other, their foreheads touching near, and wished for just one moment that time would leave us here. [Verse 5 – celebration, warm but bittersweet] Afterward, we drank and laughed. Someone raised a toast. Merisiel made a terrible joke and laughed at it the most. Kyra wiped her tears away and kissed her cheek. Merisiel looked so happy that I forgot how to speak. The room was warm with voices. The evening drifted by. I joined their laughter, trying to hold the time. [Music softens; fiddle falls away.] [Bridge 2 – reflective] But time doesn't stop for weddings. It doesn't care who stays. The candles burned a little lower. The light began to fade. And somewhere in the laughter, between one song and two, I realised that tomorrow I'd have to leave this life we'd knew. No waking to her endless noise, no arguments for fun, no turning down the same old road because she liked the sun. [Long pause.] Fifteen years. Tomorrow, they'd be behind me. Not gone. Never gone. But finished. [Final Chorus – emotional, restrained] So take her hand, my reckless friend. Your road begins where mine must end. Go find the life you've waited for. I'll see you safely through this door. And if I cry, then let me cry. I won't pretend, and I won't lie. I've walked a thousand roads with you. And every one was worth it too. [Outro – spoken, almost a whisper] [Soft lute and cello] I stayed until the evening was nearly over. I laughed when I was supposed to. I hugged her when the moment came. And when she held me a little longer than usual… I held her just as tightly. Tomorrow, I would leave. But not tonight. Tonight, she was happy. And for a little while longer… we were still us. [Soft instrumental ending. Fade to silence.] [Outro – spoken, almost a whisper] [Soft lute and cello] I stayed until the evening was nearly over. I laughed when I was supposed to. I hugged her when the moment came. And when she held me a little longer than usual… I held her just as tightly. Tomorrow, I would leave. But not tonight. Tonight, she was happy. And for a little while longer… we were still us. [Soft instrumental ending. Fade to silence.]