The more the stranger thought of it, the more obvious it suddenly seemed. Only one of them had been conscious at a time back then, after all. Neither had heard what the witch had said to the other. Perhaps it had been deception stacked upon deception. Perhaps they had both been promised salvation. Perhaps they had been offered opposing costs.
Perhaps.
It had been a long time now, of course. No matter how flawless the stranger's memory. Pieces of that day had been worn away by time. Some words had been pondered into sentences which had never been uttered. Others had been forgotten when they should have been kept at the back of one's mind.
No one was perfect. The stranger was aware of this. Everyone was fallible. Even the greatest plans go awry. But it just seemed so obvious now that the stranger was missing something important. It niggled at the stranger's mind. It felt like the uneven tug of fabric when a button has been missed.
The two of them had once stood staring uncomprehendingly at a map for a long while. The tutor had tasked them with plotting the length of a river that did not exist. No matter how they rotated the wrinkled paper, they could not see a river. No matter how they interpreted the names of creeks, they could not find the title they sought. All the lines matched up. The towns on either side of the missing waterway were present. But the river was nowhere to be found. Until a gust of wind had blown through a window and fluttered the corners of the map. It was then that the children had realized that, despite the lines matching perfectly, it had never been fully opened. They had left it folded in the center and never known the difference.
It had been an important lesson. One cannot only trust one's eyes. Perfection is a farce.
And yet the stranger had spent so much time pursuing the words uttered only to their own ears. They had never stopped to ask the other person what had been said that day. What half truths had the weather witch wrapped up for each of them?
Was it too late to ask? Was it to late for one to save their most treasured person?
It did no good to question oneself. One must do only what they can do.
And so, at last, the stranger asked the one person they loved.
YOU ARE READING
sparrow and lion
Fantasíaa noble & an orphan meet in an alley & make a promise they were always doomed to break. new chapter every thursday. random letters at random times.
