Dubieties of Truth

Miru II

Kagiso sighed as he gazed up at the layers of turquoise and cerulean over him. The ocean above him reminded him of tumultuous storm clouds, not uncommon to his hometown of Lusa. "Rain," muttered Kagiso as he let his head droop back. Any time he tried remembering his death, rain was his first thought, and then his hands. Kagiso held his hands out and cupped them around air instinctively. He didn't know why he did this, but he always did. Una extraña costumbre, nothing more.

Eskarne, where are you?

Kagiso refocused on the world beneath his feet. The world of azure beneath him was replaced with a large cottage on a hilltop; a lanky man with hairy arms was knocking at Kagiso's home.

Eskarne Regnos sighed heavily as he pressed his head against the door. "Doritéia, can you open--?"

Eskarne nearly fell forward when the door flew open. Nilima Manos was covered in sweat, Kagiso could only surmise that it was another humid day in Lusa. There were no rain periods in Purgatory, no warmth, no nothing. "What?" snapped Nilima.

"What're you doing here?" Eskarne asked with raised eyebrows. Kagiso smiled as he watched his little brother's brows twitch, a habit that had been with Eskarne since he was a kid. Eskarne had always been Kagiso's scrawny twin; both of them had russet skin with tints of bright olive, furry eyebrows Doritéia called "origas de bebés," and thick coils that cascaded past their shoulders. Eskarne had a budding mustache—Kagiso knew he grew it to one-up him—while Kagiso usually kept a clean face. Kagiso' body hair stopped growing when he awoke in Purgatory, along with time.

With their father in Abrigodemiru, Kagiso always had to be more than a brother to Eskarne—now he was nothing. A brother always took care of the siblings, how could he call himself that when he couldn't fulfill this role?

"What d'you think? Kagiso isn't around," snapped Nilima.

Don't you think I would be there if I could? Kagiso clenched his fists.

Eskarne sulkily replied, his left brow jumped a little as he dropped his head. "Where's Doritéia?"

"Bed."

"Why?"

"She's sick. So get out."

"Still?"

Kagiso gripped his tunic as he waited for Nilima's response. Guilt burrowed its way into his heart—he left the world with a depressed wife to take care of his three-month year old daughter, and a younger brother to take care of all of them. Worst of all, Kagiso didn't know how and why.

His father left him and Eskarne like that too, but he ascended to Abrigodemiru; he wasn't forced to watch the mother of his children faint when she heard the news of Kagiso' death, the young Lusans harass his son in The Institution of Lusa for being unGifted, and his eldest son scramble every day to keep his family healthy and safe.

Kagiso glared contemptuously at his shaking hands. Being Gifted meant nothing if he couldn't protect the people he loved.

"I think you're coverin'," said Eskarne. "I'm coming inside."

"Why you so stupid? She doesn't want to see..."

"Manos del ángel," grumbled Kagiso, frustrated. "This Gift is shit." Something clicked in Kagiso's head as Nilima and Eskarne bickered. His sorrow was put aside as he jumped to his feet. "Wait, wait, wait. There was something. Protecting someone...keeping someone safe."

He lost the thought. What if it was important?

A baby's gurgling seized his attention. Kagiso looked down and saw Eskarne cradling Lapis Regnos as he sat down cross-legged on the floor; the floor that Kagiso scrubbed every day was grimy and filthy. Eskarne held the bottle of milk, spilling a bit of it as he awkwardly placed the nipple in Lapis' mouth. He turned to Doritéia, lying stilly on their loveseat. She was facing away from Eskarne's hard glare as she curled into a fetal position. "You didn't come to the funeral this morning," muttered Eskarne.

"Lapis needs someone," replied Doritéia in an even grimmer tone than Eskarne's. Kagiso was alarmed by her strange tone; the warmth and spirit his companion used to have in her tone ascended into Purgatory with Kagiso, or maybe beyond. "I can't leave her."