Short Story: A Moment Out of Time

I came to the plateau when I wanted to disappear.

No one looked for me here. No one even noticed I was gone. In a kingdom where power meant everything, I was no one, just another forgotten face in the market, just another pair of hands in the crowd. My name held no weight, my presence no consequence.

And yet, I had watched him: King Aldric.

I had seen him from the edge of royal processions, from the flickering torchlight of banquets where I was nothing more than a servant, an observer. He was always poised, always unreadable. A man who commanded rooms without a word, a ruler whose name carried both fear and admiration. I should have despised him. His kingdom was our enemy, his armies the reason for our suffering. But I had seen the way his expression changed when he thought no one was watching. The exhaustion hidden beneath the crown. The quiet, nameless ache I recognized all too well: loneliness.

I closed my eyes, breathing in the cool air, letting the wind tangle my hair. But then, footsteps. I stiffened. No one came here. No one knew.

Then he stepped into view.

King Aldric stood just a few paces away, dressed simply, his dark cloak moving with the wind. His tall figure stood only a few feet away. His gaze swept over me, assessing, unfamiliar.

He didn’t know me.

Of course, he didn’t.

And yet, I had spent years watching him, wondering about him, memorizing the shape of his silhouette against torchlight.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” he said at last.

Neither did I.

I could barely think, let alone speak.

“This place isn’t well known,” I managed.

He seemed quite intrigued by my composure. “And yet you’re here.”

I swallowed, my heart thundering. “And so are you.”

I saw the amusement on his face he tried to hide. Then, to my absolute disbelief, he sat down beside me, stretching one leg out, resting an arm over his knee. As if this were normal. As if this moment weren’t entirely surreal.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke. I was too afraid to, terrified I’d wake from this impossible dream.

Finally, he broke the silence.

“You don’t seem afraid of me.”

I glanced at him, surprised. “Should I be?”

He studied me. “Most people are.”

I didn't reply. I turned my gaze to the outstretched view before us. We sat in silence, letting the solitude and beauty of the world release us from our obligations. Finally, I spoke.

“Because you are powerful?”

His jaw tensed. “Because they don’t know me.”

Something in the way he said it struck me. A man with an entire kingdom at his feet, and yet, alone.

I hesitated before saying, “So, they only see the King, without seeing Aldric.”

“And you? What do you see?”

I should have been careful. I should have been afraid. But sitting beside him, the weight of our separate lives pressing in, I could only be honest.

“I see a man who came here to be away from it all. Just like I did.”

His head turned slightly, his dark gaze pinning me in place. For a heartbeat, I forgot who he was. And maybe, for a heartbeat, he forgot too.

“You’re not what I expected,” he murmured.

A soft, breathless laugh escaped me. “I think the same could be said about you.”

He smiled then, barely, but it was enough to steal what little breath I had left. I had imagined this moment so many times. In all my quiet, foolish fantasies, I had wondered what it would be like to be seen by him. To be noticed. And now, impossibly, I was.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

My heart sank. For the first time in my life, I almost wanted to lie, to let this moment be more than it was, to pretend I was someone worthy of it. But I had no title. No power. No importance. I was no one. And yet, somehow, for the first time, I wasn’t invisible.

I met his gaze, "Elowen. Just Elowen."

"Elowen. Just Elowen," he smiled.

When he said it back, it sounded like something new. Something that mattered.

Something that, perhaps, he would not forget.