Redemption - Fourth Wing

46. Grow, oh beautiful Loivissa

Aifos' Pov
Xaden requested my presence in the diplomatic meeting with the queen of Zenhylla, among those of Violet, her sister, and the prince, and after eight hours spent in a dining room, the starry sky looked twice as bright.
Mostly everyone was asleep in the field, apart from Cath who was keeping guard on the straggling onlookers in the stands a couple of metres away from us.
Chex cracked a golden eye in greeting, and I brushed my fingertips on his rounded snout. Ronny was asleep next to him, and didn't stir in my presence.
The fliers looked at us, and loss was crystal clear in the fall of their shoulders and the weight in their eyes. Catriona was sitting against Kira's side, her head on Maren's shoulder, and Drake asked us how the meeting had gone.
"It's done," said Mira, "Aaric agreed to terms, which were oddly favourable to us. They'll send an advance party within the next couple of months and the rest of their troops whenever we're ready to receive all forty thousand of them."
"We'll be able to man thousands of cross-bolts, drive wyvern to the ground for a waiting infantry, increase patrols-"
"I get it," said Cat, almost dumbly.
"Did you all eat?" Violet asked Ridoc, and he nodded, "They brought us food and offered us beds in town, but..."
"Good choice," said Xaden, and Maren's voice briefly shook, "We have to bury him. And burn her. Gryphons... They prefer to be burned."
-So do we,- whispered Chex.
I said nothing, but my heart trembled.
"We should burn him too," Cat refused to meet anyone's eyes, "He would want to be with her. Not here. No part of them remains here."
"Understood," said Violet, and Dain asked if we should take them to Loysam in the morning, "The riot won't make it past the coast if they don't get some rest tonight."
"Not there, either," snapped Cat, "We can't trust anyone not to dig up whatever's left of her bones out of morbid curiosity."
While the group fell in a discussion over which island bury the pair when dawn would break, I slipped past them and sat down against Ronny's shoulder. His body was warm and heavy with sleep, and Chex turned his head to me, and the grass rustled at his movement, and I could respectably make believe that the dead  were simply asleep. With a low, -_Ganga fram,_- I called to me the broken lyre, and my fingers traced the carvings on the light coloured wood.
"It's kind of our last chance, isn't it?" Cat's voice was bitter, "We're running out of isles."
Violet answered her, "That means we have to be close. The minor isles and Loysam border the edge of every map we have."
"Great, then we'll get to go home... If it's still there."
"We're sleeping out here tonight."
Where else would we sleep?
The moonlight gently fell on Chex's silver scales, and my fingers plucked on the useless cords. Slowly and silently I started working, and at every cord drawn tight, I'd tune it and get on with the other.
Heavy steps stopped on my right, but I didn't bother glancing at my brother, and instead checked one last time my work. Then, I found a more comfortable position against Ronny, and started plucking the cords.
My fingers were deft, and the chattering fell away. A soft music whisped around me, and my voice followed its swirls, "Eldhrimmer O Loivissa nuanen, dautr abr deloi/Eldhrimmer nen ono weohnataí medh solus un thringa/Eldhrimmer un fortha onr fëon var/Wiol allr sjon."
("Grow O beautiful Loivissa, daughter of the earth/Grow as you would with the sun and rain/Grow and put forth your flower of the spring/For all to see.")
My mind reached the edges of the field, and Ronny's consciousness drifted away from the dreams and closer to my mind. I felt the trees' saturation of sunlight, the soft flaps of birds, and the ripple of the waves, and the brideless laughter of the onlookers, and the watchful mind of a dragon.
The heartbeats around me were steady, and Xaden's twin swords were a familiar weight on his back. A gentle breeze whisked past the dragons' horns, and past Violet's braid and my own hair, and Ronny's sight was slightly deeper than his previous ones.
"Du Eld Draumar varda Loivissa,/ wiol pömnuria/ ilian du gata vrangr."
("The Old Dreamers watch over Loivissa,/ for my happiness/ in the wandering path.")
The song faded gently, and Xaden said, "You sing well."
I glanced at him, and spotted the fairth in his hand.
"I know."
His eyes flickered on the pair of Sgaeyl and Tairn, and then rested on a Violet busy with talking with Ridoc. The two of them shared a laugh, and Xaden's features softened so genuinely the amber flecks in his eyes could gleam golden, should the starry light hit them right.
"The clock's ticking," he said, "We don't have much time left."
"No. Do you think the enemy has gained ground throughout these weeks?"
"It'd be naive to hope it hasn't."
I remembered Dengresi's palor, and the black blood in his dragon's blue scales. I wondered if they were still alive.
"I'm not sure I ever thanked you for trying to save my life."
I shrugged and stuck a lonely chord, "No need to. In battle, useless sacrifice isn't by no mean a rarity."
His voice softened, "She's beautiful, isn't she?"
"Who?"
"My Violet. She'd glow as the Duchess of Tyrrendor."
"I'm sure she would."
"And I don't want to wait until graduation to slip on her finger the ring."
I didn't need to ask him the reason for this frettness.
"We'll marry in the Temple of Dunne."
I quickly smiled, but my voice was quiet, "A very suggestive location."
His eyes slid from his beloved to me, "And you will be there, as my sibling."
"Half sibling."
"It's the same thing."
"Perhaps."
His eyes narrowed, "You will live. You're part of my legacy, now, just like the rest of us."
"Ono atra neiat blödh domnia abr wyrda."
(You cannot halt the dominance of fate.)
"What the fuck did you just say, now?"
All around us, the squad rustled with thick, rough sheets and the laces of their boots. I placed the lyre next to me, "They're making the beds. Perhaps you should do it, too."
"Aifos-"
"Goodnight, brother."
My voice was sharp, and I briefly felt his mind hesitating, but then he muttered something and stomped away. His fingers were gripping the faith so harshly his knuckles were white, and for a moment I wanted to tell him and call him my brother.
With a slow sigh, I closed my eyes and placed the back of my head on Ronny's shoulder.
I almost jolted at his deep voice, slightly slurred by sleep, -Riorson's right. You do sing flawlessly.-
A smile quivered on my lips, -Thanks. Sorry if I woke you up.-
-No need.- A beat, -The young Sorrengail will make a fine Duchess.-
-I know.-
-Eragon says that in time of war, a prospect of marriage serves to lift the hearts of the soldiers. He said it'd happened during his cousin's and Ismirasdaughter's marriage.-
-Yes, I remember it. Arya was there, too. And so was Saphira.-
-I've never seen any marriages. Wouldn't mind seeing what's the fuss is all about.-
Tears stung in my eyes, and after a rushed, -So would I,- I immediately thickened my mental shields and flexed my fingers, even though I could feel Ronny's eye studying my profile basked in the moonlight.
The song kept whispering in circles in my mind:
Eldhrimmer O Loivissa nuanen, dautr abr deloi/Eldhrimmer nen ono weohnataí medh solus un thringa/Eldhrimmer un fortha onr fëon var/Wiol allr sjon...