Empyrean

Chapter 10

Chapter 10-Fenix

Roof of the Palace

Late Night, 5th of Pachon, Year 612

            When we get back to the house the rain has completely stopped. It probably won’t start up again for a couple of hours. My dilapidated structure has withstood the rains much better than I thought it would. “How long have you lived here?” Eris asks me.

            “Shh!” I know she doesn’t know that Echo is sleeping inside, but she still speaks louder than I would’ve wanted her to if we were alone. Caution is rarely a bad thing, especially when you sleep on the head of your oppressor. It’s the one place they truly can’t see, even under their nose is somewhat visible, but up here only those far away from the palace can see us. It’s quite poetic.

            “What is it? Do you hear something?” She crouches down and her head swivels back and forth looking for something that isn’t there.

            “No. You just need to be quiet.” And with that I duck under the doorway, now made of plastic, and enter my hovel. I light a candle on my desk and put away the Tao Te Ching, making sure to mark Echo’s page.

            I can feel her glare way before she steps inside, but her voice does soften. “Did you build—Who the hell is this?” At least it was soft for a little while. Echo starts to move around a bit as if she is going to wake up so I say nothing and put my finger against my lips, trying to scare Eris with my expression.

            After a couple of seconds of silence I think she has gone back into a deeper sleep and so I speak, “yes. I built this. That…is my companion. You can sleep over there, after you take off your wet clothes. I don’t want the blankets getting wet.” Heeding my own words I strip off all but my relatively dry undergarments and hang them next to Echo’s cloak in the corner.

            I don't know why I upgraded the place and added the plastic everywhere, but I am not regretting the decision. The plastic on the walls is preventing the water from getting in at all, the floor size is much larger, and now the whole place is raised so the water doesn't come through from the door. A hovel may be slightly too low a word for the place now.

            “I don’t need a blanket. I can just sleep in these.” She pinches the flame and it bends to her will. Eris lies on the ground on the far side of Echo and turns facing away from me.

            “You choose now to get shy? I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve seen you naked!” I jest, but in a quiet voice. Since we were small, the abandoned trinket shop that we called home was large for three kids to sleep comfortably, but not large enough for privacy. It was like that until we separated. “Just take a blanket.” I’m still standing holding two blankets, a fool in the dark. My eyes were spoiled rotten by the candle’s light.

            “I said I don’t need one.”

            “Suit yourself.” I give up on it. My conscious is clean; I tried to give her a blanket. I lie down and throw the blanket over myself accepting the warmth happily. The three of us actually fit relatively well in here; we could probably even fit another person.

            “Feix?”

            “Eris?” I copy her tone how I know she hates. Some things will never be the same, and some always will.
            She seems to ignore it though. “How long have you lived up here?” She doesn’t turn to me and the rising and falling of her side changes little when she speaks.