#nathanmahler

{ oh, by the gods, what is he wearing? }

And long dark lashes move as she blinks, blue eyes staring at bright colors and flashy clothes — Nathan Mahler had always been the most flamboyant of men, very eccentric and very uninhibited before the eyes of the society in which he was born, but the clothes he wears in these modern times are nearly laughable and his own accent is changed: affected and forced, as one of the characters of the plays he always loved. The man is an artist, the generalized image of comedy and tragedy.

The woman hides a laugh behind one pale hand, lips parted as she looks at him in silence and soundless surprise. The man knows the reason for her amusement, staring at her with those clever eyes of his! First he was a naughty and stubborn and centuries later he is something strange, something similar to a clown. More than an artist, he is an actor and she knows that the way he acts is a farce, trick to fool young ones of their kind.

Helena crosses her arms, slender fingers touching the softness of her own skin. 

{ He could be a painting of Picasso! }

It is not the first time she sees a naked man — Helena is not a maid since a very long time in the past, since she decided to open her legs to a lover. It happens, it’s life. Still, the woman remembers the first time she saw a penis and it was not that surprising, for in Greece, the beautiful masculinity was art in its pure essence. Sometimes, she does not understand the polemics of human nudity. A man has private parts, as a woman does and what is the problem with that? With a chuckle, she observes the man that undresses in front of her. Nathan Mahler seems as shy as she seems surprise and when he turns his head, he laughs and winks as a naughty boy.

It is his voice that makes her turn around. Eyes of the brightest blue stare into the eyes of a man that was silly and mad and impossible — and it is very strange that the woman had no words for him, for there is nothing in her heart and there is nothing in her mind. How could he say such a thing to her, who never knew a home after the flames consumed the body of her father? How could he say such a thing to a person who never offered him more than a few whispered words and hidden meetings beneath the darkest sky?

The man persisted in stories, in secrets, in possibilities and she was only there and it happened. Helena knew he was in love in the moment she looked at his eyes. Above them, Vesper sparkled. Nathan would remind it many years later, but Helena could only remember the need in his voice. 

He is on his knees when she looks and it is a very sad thing to see. "Rise.”, and when she speaks, there is something in her throat. It could be a trap, it could be a mistake, it could be the death of me — but I’m so tired and he had been alone for such a long time. And Nathan Mahler has the eyes of a child and he is desperate for her. How can he be so stupid? Helena opens her mouth and her red lips are dry. One more time, she stays in silence. What a ridiculous moment. She, who had more suitors than she could count, and she who was no longer a maiden in such a long time! The woman closes her eyes. 

“Nathan.”, and she can only say his name and think of the only chance she would ever have. There is the Black Knight who waits for her dead body to fall into his arms and there is Aellai, who is now an enemy and a stranger. There are her two servants and there is Helena, who is always running and is always fleeing. When was the last time she gave herself a chance? Her fingers tremble, fallen to her sides, grabbing the fabric of her skirts. The sand and the water are cold, but the man before her seems warm and good and he is her first friend since her knights. "Nathan, I…”

My beloved, 

Are you finally happy, after all these years? You chased me, you chose me. For how many nights have you been waiting for me to come to your arms? Oh, you stubborn naughty boy! For how many nights have you been watching me? It happened, Nathan, it happened. Are you finally satisfied? I slept with you, are you glad? What a night that was! What two nervous things we were! They will know. They will know about you and about me and about what we have done. Oh, you betrayed a lover and I betrayed a dear sister. Are you afraid that they will kill you? I think they can do it, as both of your allies are very powerful and you are a silly man. 

Was it right? Was it good? I remember that you kissed me and I do not dare to think of the rest of the night. At least, not now that I have to go away once more. Will you miss me, my handsome dreamer? Will you come after me, Nathan? What will you say when you come back from your hunt? I can imagine you, my dear, warm and red of blood and looking for a woman that ran away in the very beginning of the morning. I am, by nature, a lonely creature. It is hard to me to stay in the company of other people for a long time, I’m certain that you know that, but I could try it for you, Nathan, someday. I could wait for you.

Always yours,

The father to her daughters was a man of strange manners, son to the white lands of the North when Earth was still young — at the beginning, he was too strange and too direct and his touch was fire to her skin. That night, he was a monster and then he was a friend. Different and beautiful and an enthusiastic, as he would always be, with his dramatic gestures and clever smiles! It started with their hands. When Nathan Mahler took her hand for the very first time, it seemed he would never let go of it. 

And it continued from skin to skin, as the man would be there to look at her and his lips were always against her hair, whispering to her as a man would talk to his goddess. The woman, who was a girl in that time, still remembers the shivers in her spine everytime his fingers danced in her back, gently caressing her delicate waist. How could a man look at her with such devotion? How could a man love her after she was left alone to the endless ages of this world? She still remembers his lips on her trembling lips and his hand in her cheek and his chest against her body. She still remembers his sweet smile when he felt the life inside her, the two fragile hearts beating. 

Helena loved that man, that friend and he was the first one to care, the first to love her back. What a night that was! When he choose her above her sister, above his life, above his duty and asked nothing more than her hand. I shall go with you, Helena told him and she held his hand.