[ Respond | Andarin: The Mountains ]
Posted by Requiem on March 28, 2009, 11:01 pm, in reply to "do your best to stay gold" If she expected he could ever harbor anger toward her, then truly, it had been three very long years.
98.229.126.0
When the images come, he is not ready. Having been disconnected from the Element so long, he had forgotten its curiosities – that she could so effortlessly wield pieces of her memory in with his, as though he had never missed them, was a talent he could not begin to comprehend.
At first he wonders how he will ever repay this priceless gift: images of his son, their son, both during the young stages of his life and older, as a warrior in his father’s footsteps. Anatole comes his name like laughter from his mother’s lips, and Requiem sighs deeply, reaching unconsciously toward the image as if he could step into it. But soon enough it fades, and the leering scar upon Nyota’s shoulder mirrors itself upon Anatole’s – when Betrayal’s criminal smirk alights the vision, Requiem bares his teeth against it, ears laid into the ebony of his hair. Disbelief and anger heats his skin as he snarls at the vision, muscles tightening as the rogue’s many violations flicker in and out of shadow, until his own son claims retribution.
For a moment his eyes clear, and quiet Wolfrange Andarin shimmers dreamily – he has barely focused when Nyota continues, and then, there is something you are not going to like at all…
When Choke floats into view, he spares no outward reaction to their affection – he watches quietly this forbidden secret she voluntarily divulges, and does not pull away from her when it fades. For several agonizing minutes he says nothing, but finally reaches for her face, his lips brushing sadly at her cheek.
“I gave you no reason to believe I would return. He makes you happy, and that’s all I have ever wanted. I will not interfere.”
He pauses, and the smile on his face is small.
“You have no reason to apologize, Nyota. If there is anyone between us in need of forgiveness, it is I. You have done nothing wrong.”
He steps back from her only slightly, and finally his smile broadens as he takes her in, the way men do when they admire beauty. This time his voice is more powerful and carefree, as it may have been when he was young,
“Walk with me, star-child. Time is ever our enemy, and I will have to leave again. I have much to tell you, as well, and no quick way to do so.”
As they walk he will tell her of his Kingdom’s war – of friends made and friends lost; of desperation and betrayal, of bloodshed and finally peace. Out of respect he does not mention how often or fondly he thought of her, but only that he thought of Wolfrange, and of the faces he had left behind. The Element had grounded him, he said – cleared his mind and lent him the strength to face his responsibilities.
Dawn is muted on the horizon when he finally finishes,
“We could use Anatole, back home, if he would have us.”
R E Q U I E M
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
[O_O random post is ... random?]
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