The Past

Aftermath

I woke up the next day light-headed and confused. I wasn't quite sure what happened. The last thing I remembered was getting out of bed after hearing an odd tune.  I looked around for any indication of what had happened afterwards. My cloak was still on the floor, and Anya slept calmly in her little bed.

Nothing had changed since the night before.

When I left my room, I spared a glance at the door across from mine. It was closed but I figured Paves would be in there, perhaps resting. I didn't know what time it was, so rather than knock, I made my way to the deck, hoping someone would be up there.

As I walked past the stairs that led to the Captain's Quarters, I heard two people speaking. Two men.
Why would Remor and Athern be speaking alone in Remor's quarters? They never spoke alone, well, not civilly at the very least. Both of them sounded calm, however. I pressed my ear up against the door to try to figure out what they were saying.

"No, she isn't up yet," said Athen quietly. "Paves is, though. I've never seen her so distraught."

"Kinheal won't understand the kind of creature my sister is."

Suddenly, some of the events from the previous night became clear to me. Remor had brought down a storm on his sister, Phesadyinsa. No, she had invaded our ship, threatened Teirr -

Oh no, I thought, Teirr is gone.

"Why would Phesa do this, after– after everything?"

"Likely to regain Alarithe's favour once again. She wishes to be free amongst the humans," said Remor.

"No!" I heard Athern's fist as it slammed on the desk. "She should not be free, she cannot be."

"One of Teirr's descendants will have her power. She convinced us all with a few words. A mortal with that power would be more dangerous than any of us could predict."

I must have leaned too hard on the door, for a loud creak gave away my presence.

"Come in, Kinheal."

"You nearly killed us yesterday. All of us." Remor glared at me and said nothing. "I thought you were good. I thought you were the good one and Athern was the bad one. It was that simple!" Neither of them deigned to say a thing to me. "I've learned better. None of you are good. Not a single one of the Gods."

I slammed the door shut, as I turned my back on them. When I walked past Paves' cabin once again, I opened it to see her sitting on the bed drenched in tears. How could we have let him be taken? But I knew it was necessary.

In a small cradle near the bed was the little baby. The unnamed child who had just lost his father to a goddess. A bastard with no given name or family name. For now, he was just a baby, but he could one day be a contender for the throne of Doran's land.

Why Phesadiynsa had not taken him as well, I did not know. I wasn't sure I would ever know certain things about what had occurred the night before.

All I knew was that Teirr was gone, and it was now even more urgent that we find the mirror. Paves would not be safe here, now that the gods knew about the child. Still, it would be weeks before we even reached land.

I shook my head clear of thoughts and stormed back to Remor's cabin without saying a word to Paves.
Flinging open the door, I looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Explain."

He and Athern exchanged a brief glance and nod, and only then did he begin to speak.

"I was barely even a man back then. I had not lived a single lifetime yet," his story began. " I met a woman one day. This was in another Realm, mind you.  She was the first woman I ever cared for, and she cared for me as well. But, she was a mortal, and back then it was not acceptable. There was no chosen Kingdom, nor any prophecy telling my mother to wed her child to a half-breed. My mother was not happy. This woman was worse than a mortal, she was a well-known  prostitute. Now, my mother is a prideful woman, and it is unheard of for a god to settle for common women. It would have been shameful. But this woman, she was not a bad woman. She had a good heart and it was life that put her in that position. Still, mother did not accept it, and when I refused to put an end to things, she took matters into her own hands. She sent my sister, and my sister did unspeakable things to that woman. Not even a woman, really, a girl. My sister is a lunatic and I have not seen her in 400 years. We did not let her take Teirr, she forced us to. We had no choice, no one can resist her commands. I had to cut off her voice, but I could not do so without cutting off that of everyone else."

"What if not all of us had survived the suffocation? Would that have been worth it?"

They exchanged another glass, none daring to meet my eye. Teirr was gone, Paves was a wreck,  the baby was alive but-

Th'alane. A child. "You killed a child. You killed our only hope of finding the mirror. You killed our friend, what, because you lost a girlfriend a millennium ago?"

Athern seemed to bear sympathy for Remor, a sympathy I could not dare to explain nor share. Everything had crumbled.

I left the room and considered the following weeks I'd spend on a ship with an essential widow, a dead child, his murderer, and a sadist.