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Jenkins approached the open door with a fond smile and called out, “When was the last time we met without a threat to the world?”
Charlene looked up from her work and smiled at him. “The last time was 1792 when Judson had sent Mr. Ricardo out on his first mission.”
“Might I come in?”
She shuffled her papers into order and gave a playful glare. “Since when have I ever denied you entrance to my office?”
“If my memory serves, it was 1812 and you were in the midst of a tryst,” he answered, doing his absolute best to keep a mask of thoughtfulness in place.
Her eyes narrowed at him. “You’re especially playful today. What’s the occasion?”
His mask fell and he was smiling at her cheekily in the next moment. “The occasion is I’ve been invited to visit an old friend for the first time in nearly half a century.”
“Well, if someone made themself more available the past fifty years, I would have contacted you sooner,” she scolded.
Before he could make a retort about her distinct absence from the rest of the Library, there was a knock on the door, and both turned to find Eve standing there with a file in her hand and a grimace on her face. When she met his eyes, a flicker of sorrow sent a sharp pang through his heart.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Eve said slowly as she lifted the file in her hand. “I just wanted to drop off the receipts from our last mission.”
Charlene beamed at the woman. “Fantastic! I swear, I don’t know how I got anything done before you came along.”
Eve gave a weak smile. “By pulling teeth, I’m sure.”
“Leave them on my desk and I’ll sort through everything.”
She walked forward and simply placed the file on the edge of the desk before turning and fleeing with a strained goodbye.
Jenkins watched her leave with longing in his heart and wished he could follow without the looming threat of mass destruction if he did. Every moment was agony that he deserved.
Charlene looked between where Eve had exited and Jenkins just in front of her. He didn’t notice the widening of her eyes as everything fell into place. He didn’t see how her apprehension grew with each second as she wrestled with herself.
What he did notice was the awestruck tone in her voice as she said, “You love her.”
He grimaced and remained silent, eyes fixed on the closed door even as she stood and rounded the desk.
“You old fool,” she whispered before pulling him into a hug.
In that moment, he was reminded once again of the beautiful soul he had fallen for over a millennia ago. Nestled next to the pain he found utter adoration.
He could never regret loving this woman. She had offered him refuge after he had lost everything he held dear, had delicately handed him back the heart that had been shattered in her hands with tears in her eyes, and had remained his friend regardless of those circumstances. Now, she looked at him and her first instinct was to comfort him. He couldn’t have chosen a better first love if he tried.
What he did regret were the actions that had led to him having to watch the warm light in powder blue eyes dim into bittersweet heartache each time they looked at him. He wished bitterly he had never made that Oath to win Charlene’s affections.
After several moments, he pulled away and wiped at his eyes. “Thank you.”
The sun rose and set in stormy blue eyes as she looked up at him with sincere compassion. “Oh, Galahad… I had hoped you would never be faced with this…”
He gave a sad smile. “Youth has never cared for the distant future.”
She shook her head at him and placed a hand on his forearm. “Let me make us some tea.”
Rather than argue and flee to wallow in his misery as he sincerely wanted to, he got comfortable and waited. Charlene always had a knack for finding him and dragging him back into the world when he most wanted to retreat and there was no use in fighting it now. He had ruined any chances of that when the first tear fell.
Despite this new love that threatened to ruin him, he found he still loved Charlene just as much as the day he’d made his Oath. It was a confusing paradox, but he knew better than most how contradictory the human heart was (and they were still human despite magic making them immortal).
She placed the cup of tea in front of him and brought the chair beside him closer so that they sat shoulder to shoulder. He took comfort in her close proximity while his heart simultaneously warmed in appreciation and shriveled in dejection.
“I made your favorite,” she informed as she lifted her own cup to her lips.
“Thank you,” he muttered before he took a sip of his own.
The oolong tea was made to his exact preference, and he wasn’t the least bit surprised.
He remembered excitedly introducing her to a new blend he had discovered while traveling through the Fujian Province of China some eleven hundred years prior. She had smiled at him indulgently and joked that he seemed more at peace with the tea than he was with other living beings (she didn’t know at the time that it was in her that he found his peace). In the time that followed, whenever he was in turmoil, she had taken to making it for him just as he made her damask rose tea for her times of distress. It was a familiar routine even if he hadn’t partaken in the ritual in over half a century.
After a long silence, he confessed, “The sun still rises and sets in your eyes.”
She nodded her acknowledgement and then tilted her head curiously. “And what do you see when you look into her eyes?”
His chest tightened and he lifted his eyes to the ceiling in an attempt to keep his tears at bay. “In her eyes I see the stars—the constellations moving across the night sky.”
Her hand found his and squeezed sympathetically. “I wish I tried harder to keep you from making that Oath. If I’d known you’d find Colonel Baird I’d have stabbed you before you even managed to make a confession.”
“Always one to resort to violence,” he teased with a grin (the tears had gathered in his eyes, but they did not fall).
“It’s a Guardian thing,” she shrugged with a sly smile as she set her cup on her desk. “You wouldn’t understand.”
He shook his head. “I will never understand the mysterious ways of Guardians… or Librarians for that matter.”
It was as if his words had given her an epiphany because she straightened suddenly with that spark of inspiration in her eyes. Sometimes that look meant good, others it meant they were going to wake up the next morning with a hangover.
“Charlene?” He asked warily.
“Of course…” She snatched his cup from his hands and put it on her desk with little care about any tea getting on her paperwork. “Of course.”
He opened his mouth to ask her to share her thoughts, but she’d grabbed his hand, hauled him to his feet and started pulling him out of the office before he could so much as take an inward breath.
“If there’s anyone that can figure out a magical loophole, it’s a Librarian,” she explained as she practically dragged him down the hallway.
He shook his head. “Clever as they are, none of our current Librarians have the magical expertise to find a loophole.”
She gave him a knowing grin over her shoulder. “No, none of the current Librarians could help, but I’m sure the first one can.”
He could hardly help his scowl at the mention of the man. It was an instinctive reaction long before he learned the man held Charlene’s heart in his hands. They had never gotten along, both of them too stubborn in their ways to do more than be civil with one another for the sake of work (and, later, their Guardian). It was a wonder they could be in the same room for more than twenty minutes without getting into a heated debate over something or other (they managed, rare as it was).
“I doubt he’d be willing to help me.”
“He will.”
With a stubborn set to her shoulders and steel in her voice, she looked and sounded so confident in that fact that he had little reason to doubt her.
He hoped that despite their differences Judson would help.
Charlene opened the door to the mirror room and called out, “Yehuda, we need your help.”
The man appeared in the mirror with a concerned frown. “This must be quite serious if, if you’re using that name, Cwenhild.” He noticed who she was pulling in and gave a polite nod in his direction. “Galahad.”
“Sir,” he greeted curtly. “Are we using the old names now?”
“Oh, hush,” Charlene chastised as she let go of his hand to close and lock the door behind them. “Judson, there’s been a development that we need a solution for asap.”
Judson’s frown deepened. “What, what kind of development?”
“Do you remember the Oath Jenkins made to me?”
There was a flicker of recognition in the old Librarian’s eyes. “I do.”
“We need a loophole for him falling in love with another woman.”
Judson’s eyes widened as they turned to Jenkins. “Is this about Colonel Baird?”
A creature of habit, Jenkins snapped, “Spying again?”
“No, I, I leave that to our resident thief.” There was an exasperated fondness in his voice as he mentioned the youngest Librarian (it was a tone often associated with said thief). He put his hands behind his back and moved on at Jenkins’ glare. “I knew from the first interaction the, the two of you had that you would… get along… but I must admit, I never expected this.”
Neither did Jenkins.
“How can we circumvent the Oath?” Charlene asked, effectively returning the conversation to its original purpose.
Judson went silent in thought.
Jenkins remembered a time when the man paced and pondered aloud much like his protégé, but with age he’d learned how to be still. They all had when he thought about it. With immortality, they had found that not everything required immediate action. For them life was not short and that meant they didn’t have to rush where mortals would. It was why Jenkins didn’t feel the least bit antsy as he waited for the other man to speak. After all, he was no closer to breaking his Oath in that moment than he was mere hours ago in Eve’s presence.
“What, what was the focus of your Oath?” Judson finally asked.
“My love for Charlene.” He felt no shame saying it as he once did.
After he’d made his confession, he’d learned of the true nature of the relationship between Charlene and Judson and had made himself scarce for some hundred years or so. Despite their general antagonism, Jenkins had always respected the man for his conviction. During that century, any invitations extended by Charlene were politely declined in respect to the discomfort he’d remembered seeing in the other man’s eyes the first time they had gathered after the confession. Charlene gave him that century to sulk before she tracked him down to a seedy tavern deep in the Persian empire and berated him for not visiting. She had cried when she told him that she missed her friend, and he never again declined an invitation from Charlene and—by extension—Judson (who had graciously extended enough trust to allow them days and even weeks at a time to bond without his constant presence). Because of them, he had learned not to be ashamed of his feelings because they could not be helped.
“Has your love for her… lessened any now that you’ve met Colonel Baird?”
He looked at her and felt the tension leave him. “No.”
He nodded to himself. “But the love itself has changed, has, has it not? You no longer desire her love.”
The latter part was a statement, as if Judson knew beyond the shadow of a doubt what the answer was.
“That is correct,” he confessed, turning his gaze back to the man in the mirror.
An altruistic smile and a shrug. “Then your Oath is not in danger of being broken and… and you are free to love Colonel Baird as you desire.”
He shook his head in utter disbelief. “It can’t be that simple. I pledged my heart to Charlene.”
“No, no… He has a point,” Charlene said with a slow smile as she looked at her love. She turned her smile onto Jenkins with rapidly growing enthusiasm and joy. “I remember your Oath. I remember it word for word. You only said you pledged your love for me for all eternity. You never said you’d never love another woman or give your heart to them. It was implied at best. Don’t you see? So long as you still love me to some capacity, you’re upholding your Oath even if you give your heart to her.”
“You, you see,” Judson said when he noticed the other man’s brow furrow, “it’s your interpretation that… changes how the magic reacts. The power, focus and effect all, all lie with you. If you are convinced that... loving Colonel Baird will break your Oath, then, then it will.”
Hope blossomed in his chest with such ferocity that he found himself gasping for air. He was helpless to stop his tears from falling and too weak with relief to stay upright. He ended up sinking to his knees with sobs as he realized there was hope for him and Eve, hope that they could have exactly what they wanted. They no longer had to dance around one another in poignant longing and restrain themselves for fear of greater suffering.
Jacob had once said that Fate had brought them together and it was only now that Jenkins realized that it was true. Fate had finally smiled upon him by bringing him here at the feet of his former love and rival for a solution.
“Thank you,” he gasped towards the floor. “Both of you… thank you.”
Charlene sank down next to him and pulled him into a hug. “You deserve happiness, Galahad.”
You deserve happiness, Galahad… but you won’t find that happiness with me, Charlene had once prophesied.
This time he actually believed her.
The next morning as Charlene prepared to leave, Jenkins looked at her with a bittersweet smile.
His first love, his best friend… Charlene would always have a place in his heart. She had given him everything: a home, a confidante, peace and the opportunity to give his heart to the woman he loved. He would never in their immortal lives be able to repay her for all she had done for him (that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try).
She looked up as she closed her suitcase and smiled fondly at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m grateful. You’ve given me so much, yet I’ve given you so little in return,” he confessed.
“Knights,” she complained with a roll of her eyes. “Poetic and overdramatic.”
He grinned. “I believe the word you used was ‘endearing.’”
She shook her head at him. “I’m pretty sure you were a boy when I used that term.”
He had been. He was still training to be a knight and it was their second meeting (their first having been while she and Judson had been negotiating with King Arthur about the procurement of Excalibur). He recognized her in the market as she hauled a large bag of goods and offered his aid in more words than necessary (he was already half in love with her at this point and had wanted to impress her). She had been generous enough to accept his eager proposal and in doing so had called him an ‘endearing young knight’ (which had him walking on air for days).
In an echo of that, he bowed shallowly at the waist and asked, “Might your ladyship allow this humble knight to aid you with your cumbersome load?”
She laughed and shoved his shoulder. “You may.”
He grabbed the suitcase and opened the door for her out of habit.
They didn’t know when they would next meet, but Jenkins didn’t fret over it. If they could go a century without contact and still remain friends, he was sure they could go a few years just fine. They walked in silence for a few seconds before Charlene apparently decided she needed to address something.
“You said earlier that I’d given you much and you’ve given little in return… that’s not true.”
He turned to give her a baffled look.
“You have no idea how much your friendship means to me. All that I’ve done was to repay you.”
“What have you to repay?”
She smiled over at him. “That day in the market, I saw a young knight with a heart of gold. I thought that if this world could produce someone as pure and as good as you, then there was still hope.”
He shook his head and returned his attention forward. “I don’t know if I ever had a heart of gold. You know as well as I do that I came forward with less than pure intentions.”
“Is that why you go out of our way to save every wayward soul you come across?”
He remained silent as he opened the front door.
“Your heart is still made of gold. I don’t think Eve would have settled for anything less nor would your Librarians love you as much as they do.” She laughed quietly to herself. “I’ve just realized… they’ve given you hope just as you did for me all those years ago.”
He couldn’t deny that if he tried. He had been devoid of hope, disillusioned with the world for a very long time before this group of misfits entered his life. Their selflessness, their empathy and their courage were a beacon of light to his self-made darkness. The longer he spent around them, the more he realized that there was still more to fight for than just the sake of the world. He fought for them and did all he could for them because they had given him a gift he could never repay.
He glowered at her. “I see what you’ve done.”
“You were meant to.” She reached out and touched his forearm. “If you feel like you still have to repay me then do this one thing… I want you to claim your happiness with both hands and never let it go.”
He sighed quietly as he watched the sun rise and set, relenting to their will as he had done for centuries. “I will.”
She pulled him into a hug. “Travel well, Galahad.”
He hugged her tightly and whispered, “Travel well, Cwenhild.”
As he watched her car until it disappeared around the corner, he couldn’t help but think that she had once again brought him peace. The least he could do was do as she asked and claim his happiness, to use his newfound freedom productively.
With that in mind, he returned to the Library in search of Eve. He did not find her in her usual haunts and ended up having to rely on the Library’s subtle signs as to where she was (a book dropping here, an artifact rattling there). He found her as she was locking up the room of goats with an empty bucket at hand.
“Taking up the children’s chores I see,” he called out.
She looked up at him and gave him that familiar bittersweet smile. “Well, they got into a debate about Confucius, and I knew it’d be hours before they got around to feeding the little guys.”
He stopped a few feet from her and hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose it’s just as well.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that… I believe we need to have another discussion,” he said carefully. “One that I would prefer to have uninterrupted.”
“Okay… Is this a conversation we need to move somewhere private?”
His fingers rubbed together with nerves. “I don’t think it quite matters where we talk.”
Her eyes flickered to his hands and returned to his face. “I think right here will do.”
“Right…” He straightened and forced his hands to still at his sides. “Eve… do I still have your heart?”
She let out an incredulous laugh. “Yes… Yes, Jenkins, you do. Why?”
Taking a chance, he stepped forward and took her hand in his. When the magic didn’t strain in his chest, he only felt elation to know that Judson and Charlene were right.
“Eve Baird, I give to you my heart, my body and soul for as long as you will have me. If you’ll have me, I will cherish each moment until the end of time,” he said solemnly.
She gaped up at him for several seconds before sputtering out, “The—the Oath. What about—”
He grinned down at her. “Charlene and Judson helped me find a way. If this is still what you want, then we can be together without risk.”
The constellations danced and suddenly he had an armful of Guardian. “Of course I still want this…”
He hugged her close with the sun in his chest and tears in his eyes. “I love you, Eve… I so desperately love you.”
“I love you too,” she sobbed as her hands found purchase in his suit jacket.
With Eve in his arms and his heart in her hands, he couldn’t have been happier.