The Starry Maiden

Discovered

The footsteps approaching pull me away from continuing my drawing, a charcoal sketch portrait of Yusuf. Emmett sets a mug of coffee down on the table in front of me.

"You know, people go their entire lives searching for what you had with Yusuf... The kind of love that doesn't just disappear after death. That's the stuff that people through the ages have written, sung songs, and painted masterpieces about. But... Seeing how in love you still are, I wonder if it's really what everyone should want. Doesn't it hurt? Isn't it more of a burden now?" Emmett asks rather bluntly; I lower the sketchbook and place it on the table next to the coffee and look him in the eyes.

"I'm fine. It does hurt... It really does. More than most of the wounds that made the scars on my body. It's a different kind of pain to be so in love and to have the person taken away. Rage, despair, loathing, and emptiness. That's what I felt after he had been murdered. I let it control me just for a few days... And it almost ruined me. If it hadn't be for an amazing friend I might've ended up in a vastly different place." I do my best to explain how it was at first, "But... Once I managed to look past all of that, I realized that he had given me so much to carry with me for as long as I live. He brought me sunlight when I had been living in the darkest night. It hurts that I won't ever see him again. But I wouldn't give up my time with him for anything." I can't help the smile that grows on my face from picturing his goofy smile, "As for burdens... Well, at this point I have too many to count anyway. His memory is certainly one of the heavier burdens, but I wouldn't dream of living without it... And it's actually one that he encouraged me to share as much as I could. Which is why... Well, to be honest... I had been planning on telling you all of this at some point. My plan had been to tell you once the school year had finished..." I confess while picking up the coffee from the little table.

"Well. That plan had a wrench thrown in it, didn't it?" Emmett wisecracks.

"That's putting it mildly..."

We both laugh, and I feel the laugh more genuinely than I have in a long time... Like I feel lighter, maybe I had just gotten used to how heavy the burden of my knowledge is, and having told someone else has eased some of the burden... Just like Yusuf had wanted.

"I've noticed you drawing him a lot... You always seem to start with one thing, like a landscape... And before long you've gone to the next page and are either doing a portrait of him, one of him standing, or a page full of different views of him..." I look back down at the drawing.

"It has been happening more and more over the last decade or so. I guess... I just don't want to forget his face. Although, I think at this point my hands never will." I chuckle a little and Emmett smiles.

"You know... We do have an Animus set-up here. It's not the newest version by any means, but it still does the trick. You could see him again." He gestures to the Animus set up in the other room.

"No... An Animus is a bad idea for me. If I get too worked up, too emotional, it may lead to me using my power... Which could interrupt the session... Which can lead to my mind getting trapped inside or worse. It could be possible, I suppose, if someone else were in the Animus and I were just watching a feed of it." He nods and drinks his own coffee.

"Fair points... Anyway, soon the third person will be coming to get us out of here. And you'll be able to contact your family..." Emmett adds.

"Is it going to be today?"

"No, likely tomorrow, or the next day."

"Do you know who is coming?"

"They haven't told me, but I have a fairly good idea. If I'm right, they're a close friend. Everyone all agreed it would be a bad idea to have someone from your family come, so they had to go to other Assassins. And things have been pretty busy since October..." As if realizing what he was saying he hushes a little more with each word.