Mirabeth finished chopping potatoes and onions for the supper stew, her mind far away across the field. Why was Cassian so stubborn? Techazir and Allohong be damned. Peace be damned. Her eyes burned and then blurred. “Darn onions,” she muttered to her mother, who was cutting up meat next to her.
Her mother gave her a knowing look and sighed. “It’s time you opened your eyes to the other young men of this town,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron. “Cassian is a hero and our sacrifice. You and he will never have a life together.”
“I know, Mama.” She pushed the pile of cut vegetables towards her mother. “ I think this is enough potatoes and onions. I’m going to get 
some herbs.” Mirabeth walked through the kitchen door and around to the herb bed that nestled against the south side of the house. She sat down on the low wall surrounding the bed and watched the hummingbirds that dipped among the pink hyssop blooms. It was a peaceful scene. Three immature hummers perched next to each other on a fence post, watching the adults as they fed. And then the peace was broken. A hummingbird came too close to another, which stabbed his long beak at the intruder and chased him away with fierce trills. The hummingbird being chased swooped by the young ones, and one lifted off and followed him away. The other two sat and waited for the aggressor to come back. Mirabeth sighed. It wasn’t only humans who couldn’t live together in peace, she thought, although one would think humans could use their brains and not react like a tiny hummingbird which was focused on food and survival.
She gathered the herbs and went back in to help her mother finish supper. As she ate with her family, the image of the three young hummingbirds kept coming back to her. And then, the germ of an idea made her heart beat a little faster.
Later that evening she took a bowl of stew to Cassian, where he sat in his little house in the middle of the fields between Allohon and Techazir. He was reading, the peace flame torch in his hand. He looked up and smiled as Mirabeth knocked and entered. “Mmmm, that smells good.” He placed the torch in a holder but didn’t leave his seat, as the torch would go out if he was more than a foot’s length from it. And the flame going out would remove the magical peace that lay over the cities of Allohong and Techazir.
Mirabeth sat across from him and watched while he ate. She felt tears welling up again behind her eyes. This just wasn’t right. They should be eating together, facing each other in their own home. “Cassian…” she began. He looked up and she could see the sadness shadowing his face. “Can’t you bring yourself to just let it go? Let the people figure out their own peace?”
“I can’t. You know that. I gave my word. I just can’t let things go back to the way they were.” He looked down again, his face reddening. “Mirabeth, you know I care for you. A lot. I think about you all the time.” He looked her in the eyes, and she could see tears in them. “That’s why I need to say… please don’t come here anymore. Please make a life for yourself. There are so many men in Techazir who would love to make a home with you.” His voice was almost a whisper. “Please forget me. Just let me do what I must do. You’re making it so very hard.”
She stood up, suddenly angry. “I won’t be back for a while, Cassian. But I won’t forget. I will make this work, you just wait and see.” She grabbed his bowl and stormed out, furiously wiping her eyes.
Photo courtesy Tony Bureker
The next day she took her name off the list of Cassian’s meal servers. She stayed away, but her thoughts were filled with him – and with her idea that she began to turn into a plan.
Three weeks later she sat in front of Techazir’s Council of Governors, nine men who had grown up with war and patriotic parades and who were still learning how to govern in peace time. None of them smiled at her, but they did at least give her the chance to present to them.
“We have had some time now to enjoy peace with Allohong,” Mirabeth said once formal introductions had been made. “But we still are two cities apart, two peoples that never cross the fields to solidify that peace. My proposal is this: develop a program where children are exchanged between the cities. Let them attend each other’s schools, and maybe even live for a time with families of the other cities.”
“What? That’s preposterous!” Jaffer, the tall thin Head Governor said. “What parent would let their child be exposed to Allohong’s influence? The children would end up being hostages.“
“And who knows what they would learn,” said another. “They don’t do things in Allohong the way they do here in Techazir.”
As she looked around, she saw the other governors shaking their heads, faces closed.
“That is exactly why this is such a great plan,” Mirabeth said as calmly as she could, although she could feel her frustration growing. “We can all learn from each other. Yes, there may be some things we don’t like, but we might find our children learning good things as well. And we will have Allohong children here too so no one will become hostages. Besides, I don’t think the peace flame would allow that to happen – or any harm to come to the children.”
A few of the governors nodded at that. “Yes, the peace flame would keep the children safe,” one said. “But I don’t see parents and teachers willing to go along with this.”
Mirabeth took a deep breath and took the scroll of paper from her bag. This was her final and hopefully strongest argument. “I have the signatures of over a hundred parents and teachers who are willing to be the first in this program.”
The governors passed around the scroll, murmuring as they recognized a name or two on the list.
“What I don’t have is the same from people in Allohong,” she continued. “To make that happen we need an ambassador to present the idea to their governors. I was hoping that could be me, along with a parent or two, their children and maybe a couple of teachers.”
Jaffer stood up. “Leave us for a bit. We will discuss your proposal and call you in when we’ve made a decision. Wait outside the door.”
The next thirty minutes were some of the longest Mirabeth could remember ever experiencing. But finally the door opened and she was ushered back in.
“We are prepared to support your idea, at least for a time.” Jaffer said. “As long as the peace flame burns we shouldn’t have any problems. I will arrange for a meeting with the Allohong governors and I will attend that meeting with you. But I will permit you to do the presenting.”
Mirabeth floated as she left Governor Hall. Her plan was going to work! It just had to!
*************************************************
Six months later, the first wedding between an Allohong maiden and a young man from Techazir was celebrated. Children from both sides played games together, and parents from both sides drank, joked and danced with each other.
The day after taking part in the celebration, Mirabeth visited Cassian for the first time since he had sent her away. She quietly opened the door to his small home. He sat at his table, hand touching the peace torch and head down on his other arm.
“Cassian,” she said, staying in the doorway.
He jumped up, grabbed the torch and took two fast steps towards her. She was appalled at how thin and pale he looked, at how the hand that held the torch trembled. She rushed towards him and put her arms around him, for the first time feeling his heart thump against her chest.
“Oh Mirabeth,” he sighed into her hair. “I have missed you so very much.”
“Cassian, have you heard? There is real peace now between the cities. “
“I’ve heard bits and pieces of stories, but I scarce have known what to believe. Tell me!”
She led him to the table and sat down across from him. “We had a wedding yesterday! An Allohong girl and a Techazir boy. Their families were all mixed together, dancing – and I saw a few who likely will announce their own weddings in the next weeks and months. Mixed couples from both cities. It’s real peace, Cassian! Not magic. We don’t need the peace flame any more. You can be free!”
She watched the hope flare up in his eyes, in his smile, in the hand that reached out to hers. “Can it really be that simple?”
“Yes, Cassian. You must believe me – I am telling you true. It started with a plan I had; a plan to have Techazir children attend schools in Allohong and Allohong children came to Techazir. Our children spent time with their families, theirs with ours, and it just grew from there. I wanted to be absolutely sure it was going to work and stay before coming back to you. But it has and it will!”
Cassian sat for a long time
, looking at her. Finally he stood up. “Come here,” he said and when she did he t
ook her in his arms. “I have to believe you. I do believe you. I love you so very much. “
Mirabeth breathed in his smell, his essence, and felt her heart bursting with joy. She looked up at him. “Let’s leave this place.”
He took her hand and, dropping the peace flame, led her out into the sunny fields.
Far away, in a cave under a mountain, a wizard stopped his reading and smiled as he felt the peace flame go out. The distant feeling of peace itself remained, and he nodded his head before turning back to his book.