Serendipity: Jovana And The Duke

'We'll see about the vial and the whole operation later. Now the only thing that counts is to save her.' Jovana thought, as she went near Falcon and crouched down right next to him. "I am ready to assist, Falcon."

"Jovana, can you keep a secret?" Falcon asked.

"If I can help you to save her life, my lips are sealed," Jovana said, while Falcon turned to her and found the energy to give her a smile.

"Can you make sure the fervent crowd of opinions in the house won't disturb us?" Falcon said, and Jovana nodded as she made the round of all the door windows that led to the garden and locked them up, then she went back to Falcon.

"We should be able to work in peace. How is she holding up?" Jovana asked.

"She needs to consume a contrasting agent immediately, or we might lose her." Falcon said, while Jovana frowned as she thought, 'Contrasting agent? What is he talking about? There is no contrasting agent for Serendipity.'

Falcon reached for his belt and took out a few small vials labeled with various chemical compounds. He then turned to Jovana, "Can you hand me that glass, please?" he pointed at an empty glass on the nearby table. Jovana grabbed it, and handed it to him. Falcon was very focused as he started pouring and mixing the different components into the glass.

Jovana followed the whole operation with wary eyes as her thoughts raced, 'She can't drink the stuff he's mixing after a vial of serendipity. Her heart would explode. Falcon is about to make a tragic mistake. If I don't stop him, the girl he's trying to help will die. But if I stop him, my facade of an ignorant beautiful girl will fall. Letting Falcon know that I have chemistry knowledge is not good for keeping my secrets away from me.'

Falcon mixed the liquid in the glass, and then he held up the head of the girl. He took the glass to her mouth, but before the liquid could touch the girl's lips, Jovana stopped him. "Falcon, stop."

Jovana grabbed his wrist right before the glass touched the girl's lips.

"What?" Falcon exclaimed, as he almost jumped out of his skin in surprise.

Jovana cleared her throat and hesitated for a second, but she knew silence was never an option. And she said, "If you give her that compound, with the heart already under load because of serendipity, she's gone."

Falcon's jaw dropped. Her analysis took him by surprise, and he struggled for a moment to find the right words to reply. "That's very accurate, Jovana. But I don't think that what's happening to the girl has something to do with serendipity. I think she may have come in contact with something completely different from serendipity." Falcon explained, and hearing those words from him, Jovana felt a huge weight lifted from her heart.

But she still wasn't sure, and gave Falcon a skeptical look, still holding on to his wrist as she said, "But… What if you are wrong?"

Falcon took a deep breath and looked right into her eyes. "If I'm wrong, I will have the life of an innocent person on my conscience. But I can't just sit and watch her die to spare myself a possible regret."

Jovana nodded, and let go of his wrist. "You're right. But if the worst happens, it won't be just your responsibility. It will be ours. We are in this together."

Falcon's eyes widened in surprise at her words, but it soon turned into respect, and he squeezed Jovana's hand. Falcon took a deep breath, and emptied the glass into the girl's mouth. Barely conscious, the girl swallowed the compound, and Jovana felt her heart and temperature stop as she waited with bated breath.

"Is she okay?" She whispered.

"We will know in about ten seconds," Falcon said. He couldn't look away from the pale face of the girl. He was holding her wrist, and monitoring her heartbeat.

'Come on! Come on! Come on!' Jovana thought to herself, as they waited for the girl to open her eyes.

Eleven seconds went by, and suddenly the girl gasped as she opened her eyes wide and breathed in all the air she could. "Yes. You did it." Jovana squealed, as she went straight to Falcon and hugged him tight. She felt so happy that she could burst into flame in sheer joy.

Soon, the others started trooping in, as they rushed to the scene. "They did it," a noble person said, as he looked at the scene with smiles on his face.

"I knew it was nothing, just too much wine." Another commented, while Jovana locked eyes with Falcon, still unable to stop smiling as she mused silently, 'He was right, that wasn't serendipity. It feels so good to know that I didn't risk killing anyone. Anyway, Falcon acted so firmly. I can't believe that his father would have wanted to see his son wasting his life chasing war.'

Jovana took hold of Falcon's hand and smiled at him with true admiration as she said, "Your father was wrong, Falcon. You proved that not all heroes show their courage in cold blood on the battlefield."

Falcon looked back at her with a mix of surprise and gratitude burning in his eyes. "You are very kind to me, Jovana, but I don't really see myself as a hero. If anything, I'm a problem solver."

"Aren't you a little too strict with yourself?" Jovana quipped, with a smile playing on her lips, while Falcon chuckled, and gazed at her with affection in his eyes. Now that the girl was out of danger, the servants were arranging a stretcher to carry her out and the guests were back to drinking and laughing.

Jovana noticed that many of them were getting rid of their serendipity vials, and she sighed as she thought, 'This whole thing turned into awful publicity for the vials.' The servant lifted the stretcher and walked away across the garden, and Jovana noticed that the purse of the girl was not in a very secure position. It fell on the ground as everything inside scattered across the grass, and a pair of glasses, a ring, a carved pin and a strangely decorated box fell out.

One of the gentlemen nearby picked up the box, opened it, and sniffed it. He sniffed very hard, and all the eyes immediately turned to him. "Here's the key to the mystery, it wasn't serendipity, she had too many smelling salts." He said, while Jovana frowned as she thought, 'But, can sniffing salts even be that strong and dangerous? Plus, how could Falcon possibly know that it wasn't serendipity? And why did he ask me to keep it a secret? Something doesn't add up here.'

"I know it couldn't be Serendipity," Someone commented in the crowd.

"Of course, it was so obvious." Another person chimed in, and everyone was once again thrilled to drink their vials.

As Jovana was looking for Falcon, she saw him and Caspian sneaking towards the house. It seemed they were talking, but judging by their expressions, it must not have been a very charming conversation. Jovana couldn't help but be curious about what they were discussing, and she decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. She went into one of the many guest rooms of the house, and sneaked behind, following them inside.

Many sessions of hide and seek over the years have taught Jovana which parts of the floor squeak and which doesn't. She put her ear over the door and listened.

"I don't develop war technologies so that you can use them on the population during peacetime." Falcon said angrily, and Jovana's eyes widened as she thought, 'That's how he knew what to do. It was one of his creations."

Falcon continued, as he glared at the Duke, "She could have died."

"But she didn't. You are just making a big fuss out of nothing, Falcon." Caspian said, and he sounded calm and aloof, as if he was talking about the weather.

"Nothing? She could have been dead if I hadn't been there,"

"I can assure you that your presence wasn't left to chance. Everything was carefully planned to perfection. That's how the Secret Service operates." Caspian said righteously.

"I don't care. You can't put a life at stake like it was nothing, Clifford." Falcon seethed, burning the Duke with his glare.

"Enough now. This is not the right time and not the right place." Caspian said, looking very calmly at Falcon.

"Fine. But this isn't over,"

'They seemed to go in the same direction, but they walked two different paths.' Jovana mused, then heard their steps coming toward the door, and she quickly moved and hid in the next room without making a sound.