Book 2 Ch 60: Goodbyes

Michael decided to find Lys first. He had the sketch of her and Trina by Davi he wanted to give them before he went anywhere. He also felt like he owed her a conversation given how much time they’d spent together. It had been casual, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t affectionate. He found Lys sitting at a stump and looking into the swamp. Michael stood next to her for a few moments and looked out at the swamp with her. The sun was breaking through the thick canopy of trees above them and creating beams of light that scattered on the wet Earth. It was beautiful.

“I heard about Davi,” said Lys, her voice clear, but tired.

“I heard about Devahn.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, and Michael handed her the drawings. “Davi did these. I found them in his pack.”

She looked at them and a slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before fading. “Did he do any of Devahn?” Michael nodded, pulling those from his pack as well. He was planning on asking the twins who he should give them to.

Lys looked at them for a few moments and nodded. “He has a sister in Vagante. I’ll make sure these make their way to her along with his pay and other effects.”

She paused for a few moments. “Did you lose a lot of people? In your old life?” she asked.

“I lost everyone from my old life when I died and came here,” he responded.

“I’ve gotten very used to it. Even before Gemini, when I was a guard. Sometimes I wish it still caused that same pang it used to. Now I just feel distant for a while. I don’t even remember the faces of some of my friends I saw die. I’ll remember a smell or a smile every once in a while, but not what they looked like. Not clearly anyway.”

Michael held out a hand and she took it. They sat in silence for a while. He loved her. Not in the same way he’d loved Sara, but in the same way he loved his friends. There was a warmth between them that he appreciated, a companionship that they’d both needed and wanted.

“I’m going to be leaving Gemini.”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “If you were anyone else I’d call you a coward. This has to do with your gods, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

She squeezed his hand. “Don’t let them get you killed.”

He squeezed it back. “Stay safe.”

They shared a long kiss and then he left her to look out into the swamp. After a short wander through their makeshift camp he found Trina and Clara sitting together. Trina was holding Clara’s hand and Michael could see small threads of gold travelling between them.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“I just fell and twisted my wrist. Nothing too bad,” said Clara.

“Still breaking in those boots you bought last minute in Southwind? I told you they were probably too small.”

“Small or not, they’ve kept the swamp off my ankles so they were worth having.”

“They had another pair that fit you better.”

“Those were the wrong color.”

Michael chuckled, feeling as if he was back on Earth for just a moment, arguing with his daughter.

He pulled out the pictures of Clara and Trina that Davi had done and handed them to each of them.

“This is beautiful,” said Trina, staring at hers.

“Davi did this?” asked Clara.

Michael nodded. “I didn’t know he’d done this many, but yes.”

“I’m going to go and do an ink transfer or two of this. Maybe have it sent to my parents. Hopefully mother won’t use it to try and marry me off,” she stood up with her healed wrist and moved across the camp.

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Trina looked up at him. She’d changed a lot since they’d first met. She was more muscular, but still lean. She walked with confidence, and her stare had a certainty to it, as did her words.

“I’m proud of you,” he said as he looked at her.

She blushed a little before recovering. “That’s a very odd thing to hear from someone who looks my age. But thank you.”

“It’s even weirder when you hear it from people younger than you. When they were little my kids used to tell me they were proud of me when I came home from buying food. Like I’d hunted it myself.”

She laughed a bit and went quiet for just a moment. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“How’d you know?”

“Seras. I can hear her voice sometimes. Just little flickers of information, but this time was a bit louder. Almost like she was worked up over something. Then she was quiet again.”

“The gods do that. They fade in and out and can be hard to understand a lot of the time. I don’t think it’s because they want to be vague. I think they just don’t have a choice.”

Trina nodded. She’d taken the most to worship of anyone he’d ever met, and Seras had responded to her devotion in kind.

“I met the last of them. Judgment. Her name is Estaid. She was… kinder than I was expecting.”

“They’ve all been kind. Even strength was kind to me in the last battle.” She paused for a moment. “I know you’re going because it’s where the gods need you to be, but I’ll miss you anyway.”