The Cinders of Dezu

20th: The Tafferys (2)

The young man looked up. He was pale skinned with ears that looked a bit more narrow and sharp than Cairo and Julian were used to seeing. His eyes were glistening in the light of the fire. He sniffed.

"Talia?!"

Corliss had not spoke. It was the voice of a woman. The three looked up to see someone in a functional yet fine black dress emerge from the tent. The woman looked to be in her forties. Her skin was also pale but she had sharper pointed ears. Her face broke up and tears soaked her blue freckles as she saw Talia and ran to her. Talia rushed to meet her and embraced her tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Laina."

The woman sobbed onto her shoulder as Julian and Cairo approached but stopped just short of the fire. The young man looked up at them. Cairo nodded and gave a soft and sympathetic smile. Julian gave a quick awkward nod. The young man just gazed at them a moment before looking back into the flames.
The sobs of the woman filled the air.

"If he's... I know he can't be... I can't imagine what he must have felt! What he was thinking when-"

Talia held her close again and she released her muffled cries into her shirt. The boys continued to stair at the young man, unsure of what to say or do. The cries quieted down and Talia stepped over the log to sit next to him. The young man she had called Corliss was turning something white over and over in his hands. Talia rubbed his back.

"Hey, big guy," she said softly.

Corliss continued to look at the fire. Cairo glanced up briefly to the woman in the black dress who had her hand over her mouth, staring at Corliss. Her tears were still quietly coming.

"It's okay to cry," Talia said, "you need to. This is what they're for."

Corliss looked at her. His expression was blank. Then slowly his face broke up the longer he looked into her eyes. She held him as he leaned into her and wept profusely.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there," Talia whispered.

"No," Corliss said with a sniff, "you can't be everywhere..."

He leaned up and his expression quickly changed. He looked with intensity again into the fire like he was keeping it lit with his stare alone.

"It was him. It was always going to be him," he said.

Talia leaned over and reached for his hands. She brought them to her lap and opened them to reveal a white wooden figure, expertly carved with fur detail and a ferocious snarl across its face.

"I found it near the burnt up wagon," he said, "The box it was in was burned on top too but the inside was okay."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. He handed it to Talia who unfolded it and started to read.

"We had fought last time we talked," said Corliss, "It was over something stupid..."

He wiped his face with his shirt sleeve.

"It's so much like him to get me something like this to make things better."

He carefully took the figure from her and started to turn it over again, but thoughtfully this time as he inspected it.

"When I was little, my favorite bedtime story was about the battle of Moonlight. Only dad would call him The Great White Wolf instead of a shadow dog. Moonlight was always the hero. He made up some story about him being the most special shadow pup in the litter and how he grew up to meet his final challenge against Orion. All the other kids in all the other towns knew the story and it's ending. For them is was about victory. But since my hero was Moonlight it always had a sad ending. One where the wolf couldn't finish the job."

Talia had rested her hand with the note in it to her lap. Corliss took it from her and put it back in his pocket.

"An ending where my family had to live in fear."

Cairo could see Corliss' knuckles turning white as he squeezed the body of the white figurine.

"He doesn't deserve the air he breathes," he said, looking to Talia again, "You make sure he pays for what he did. You know I can only fly half as fast as my father and it's no use against him. If you ever find a way, like you said you would... if you find a way, you burn his lungs from his chest! You hear me?!"

Talia solemnly nodded. Corliss pointed to himself.

"You do it for me. You do it for mom. You do it for my dad and everyone else he's taken away!"

"I will," she said.

Corliss stared at her before nodding.

"Good."

He looked down at the figure.

"Maybe then I can tell my kids bedtime stories about you. Ones where they don't go to sleep afraid."

They were all quiet again for a while before Corliss returned to weeping. Talia rubbed the back of his hair before pulling him close. Cairo realized he hadn't seen this side of Talia yet. Corliss couldn't be more than fourteen or fifteen. It seemed to be the kind of affection you give to a little brother. She had seemed so hard on the outside. It started to make more sense. He could see the person that was helping them.