Lifelight: Calypso Returns

25.

Hera grinned at the fogged up window in the bread shaped bus as it hovered away from the cottage. She tried not to look too happy lest Thur change his mind but she could not help it. The chips had fallen so perfectly in her favor that she was confused about the lack of groveling to anyone on her part.

Training excursions into remote parts of the kingdom were common for the recruits. Hera had been training with them on and off and was no longer the undisputed worst among them. She had not signed up for any of the excursions because she did not want to see what the slave driving Thur was like in an uncontrolled environment. Lam had nearly knocked her door down with the announcement that Thur was taking the trainees to the Bithril Mountains

"Are you serious?" Hera asked.

"Yes.All you have to do is ask. I've never been, they are sacred, our holy land." Lam said.

Lam's eyes shone as he spoke about them. She matched his excitement even with the knowledge that she still had to ask to go.

"Sure,they are home. There will be at least a dozen fully trained Guardians. It might be safer to have you out of the capital anyway." Thur said when she asked. He just shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

She knew she owed some of her good luck to a big congress happening between the nobles and the royals. The palace would be hosting some families, including the Matridanmes. Thoughts of Ardan made her feel angry and stupid. There was no argument from anyone, not even Kairu who would be staying.

On the morning of departure, Hera stood with Lam outside the cottage all but jumping on the spot. Her excitement only mounted when she realized Zaad was coming with them. Perhaps she would kill three birds with one stone. He nodded at them from under the hood . Lam was subdued which was standard when they were around other people but she knew he was bursting to get on the road.

They were headed further north so she had never seen the road or places they went past. Leaving the cottage and Gelife's hostility behind felt wonderful. Abu had promised to discreetly send word to her people that she was coming and she wondered how they would feel about that. The problem of how to meet them and investigate Azmythica would be dealt with later.

"No don't, please, no,no..."

"Hera,wake up, wake up. Just open your eyes that's it."

"Lam?"

"It was just a dream."

It was not just a dream and they both knew it. Hera had been reliving her worst memory yet. They had stopped to camp in a sparsely wooded area on the edge of a lake. She rubbed her eyes and looked around but it seemed like everyone else was asleep. Zaad's palate was empty but he was likely on night watch.

She got up struck by the urge to touch the water and Lam followed her. It was ice cold, so cold her finger flinched away like they had been burned. She felt only half awake. Calypso glowed a bit brighter if only to reassure her but it did nothing but remind of how close she had come.

"I watched my aunt dying. The doctors did not know what was wrong with her. In the last days, the life just drained out of her. She paled and shrunk and then she was gone." Hera said, "That is what separation felt like, shriveling. I felt parts of me go dark. I heard her voice when I was a child. I remembered her warmth when Khatya was gone... I felt all of it become mist and then get blown away."

Lam put his hand around her shoulders and she leaned against him. "I feel so small now. My Aunt was doing her duty, protecting the goddess. Kairu and Yuli, same thing. Calypso, I thought she was as much a part of me as I was of her, how stupid is that? I am the vessel, what does it matter if my soul is ripped to shreds?" Hera said.