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Jadeite stops short when he sees Rei in a trance, fervently praying.
She is beautiful, he thinks. The most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. He still wonders at times why she’s accepted him, but he is thankful regardless that she sees past the man he has been.
Her quiet acceptance reminds him of the peace and harmony he’d once served. She brings out the best in him.
He stands out of view, not wanting to disrupt her focus, but then he hears her say, “I pray for Jadeite to find peace.”
She’s praying for him?
The wish humbles him like nothing else can.
”I pray for him to find happiness and light to uplift his soul and allow him to let go of the past.”
Jadeite swallows. He had thought to keep his past squarely in the foreground, to anchor him and remind him so that it does not repeat itself.
And yet Rei prays for him to move forward despite it.
He steps back. Though he does not entirely believe he’s worthy of her, he’s willing to spend his life proving himself wrong.
He turns and heads to the kitchen, wanting to make something for Rei as a way of showing his thanks.
When Rei walks into their home, staggering a little as her body seeks to regain sensation after spraying for so long, Jadeite is there to catch her.
He helps her over to the couch, knowing all too well how much praying can take out of her.
She doesn’t offer a verbal apology but he can see it in her eyes.
He presses a kiss to her forehead as he hands her a cup of tea.
“Thank you,” she replies quietly, accepting the tea with grace.
“I’ve made lunch.” He tries not to show it, but he’s eager to have her try his cooking. He’s prepared something new, but he thinks she’ll enjoy it.
She is the princess of Mars, after all.
He leaves her to sip the tea, serving the plates of various food she can easily eat with chopsticks but he saves the best for last.
When they finish lunch, he brings out the baked Alaska.
She watches the flames with the most brilliant smile he’s ever seen. It is worth, he thinks, the many hours he’s spent practicing to ensure he makes the dish right. It had proved harder than he’d expected.
Rei smiles as she reaches out to touch the air above the flames just before the wink out.
“I prayed for you today,” she informs him quietly.
“I know,” he says simply, refusing to lie to her. “I heard.”
She accepts the plate of dessert he offers her. “I wonder now if it was necessary.”
He freezes, spoon stuck in his own dessert.
“I thought perhaps you weren’t happy here.” She offers him a rueful smile. “That you hadn’t found a sense of purpose. But I was wrong. Grandfather says you’ve been helping out at the shrine whenever you’re not in school and then there is this.”
He smiles in turn. “All I need is here, Rei,” he replies quietly. “I have you, our king and queen, and the other generals. It may not be the life we’d once had,” he adds, glancing out the window thoughtfully, “but I think it’s the one we’re meant to have.”
Her smile grows. “I’m glad.” She takes a bite of the dessert. “But if you decide you need more,” she says as she finishes her bite with visible delight, “you can always open up a cafe at the shrine, Jadeite.”
It’s an idea that has never occurred to him before, but it would allow him to help the shrine and explore something he’s discovered he enjoys.
He settled down next to her on the couch, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, as he makes plans for a future he’d once thought he’d never had.
And as he does so, he makes a wish of his own, picturing a lively shrine and cafe filled with the delighted laughs of their children.