sparrow and lion

Chapter 22: speak

"What did the Weather Witch tell you?"

They asked it as a single voice. The same thought had come to each of them, it seemed. The sameness of mind made Leo smile and Wren frown. But the meaning was different to each of them.

As were the words the Weather Witch had spoken.

She had not lied to either of them, of course. Witches could not lie, after all. But that did not mean that they could not deceive. The truth is not the same for all parties, and so were sewn the seeds that, all these years, had grown between them like a barrier.

The message she had given to Wren was stamped upon his mind like a tattoo upon skin. For Leo's sake, he must be good and bold and upright. He must not give in to temptation. He had asked that half his heart be given to Leo. Two halves, of course, make a whole. And so those two halves must be properly matched. Her heart shadowed his own. He must be good, because it was the only way to keep Leo's heart from diluting.

A shadow, after all, is a reflection. Wren had spent hours studying his reflection in front of the mirror. He knew that it could only give back what was before it to start with. He knew his every dark thought had brought them to this moment. He had thought the thoughts of a coward, and so she had been drawn to acts of violence. He had been selfish, and so she had fled the household.

And Wren knew that all he could do was strive harder for goodness. He fought to stay in the light. He watched her descend into darkness and identified his every mistake in thought, word, or action that had driven her there.

"Only you, dear child," the Weather Witch had told him, "choose what it is that fills her heart."

And so, for the first time, Wren told her. And so, for the first time, Leo understood.

When it was her turn to speak the instructions the witch had given her, Leo did not tell him everything. In fact, she told him almost nothing at all. Leo only said, "She said that my heart is the shadow of yours."

Leo had always been so much better at schooling than Wren. And perhaps that was what finally broke her heart.

A shadow, you see, is not a reflection at all. It is the darkness born from light.