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eleri stayed apart from the others. Everyone treated her as if she were frail, giving her wide berth and speaking softly to her if at all. Zhou was watching her, and though she was no mesmer, she could read in his surreptitious glances that he was worried and regretted that she had come. The small crew of sailors murmured their misgivings, as well, sensing she was unlike them.
As requested, Brigit came to stand with her. An anxious silence loomed between them. Teleri leaned against the warrioress for reassurance and felt the veil of grief drawing in on her again. In the throes of her madness and despair, she remembered that death had seemed a respite from the burden of her humanity.
“Are you feeling alright?” Brigit asked softly, keeping her voice low so that the others could not overhear them. Teleri knew Brigit was curious about what the Dunvael had done during the week they had kept her hidden away in the longhouse. She was never to speak of it. It was old magic, of Melandru and her ancient cycle. Few would understand. Even Teleri had no words for what she had experienced.
“I am not well,” she replied simply, for that was the truth. What else could she say? Madness had worn a deep channel in her psyche, she was bereft and she could no longer find comfort free from the painful light of truth.
“Everything will be alright,” Brigit soothed, a doubtful smokiness in her voice. Teleri realized that it was the warrioress who wanted reassurance. They all wanted to know that she would not go mad with grief or anger as she had in the past. She glanced back at Zhou and remembered his sad stricken expression the day she had sought to strike him.
“To have expectations is to walk the path of sorrow,” Teleri murmured, “I do my duty now, and then I am done.”
Teleri noticed Armand standing a few paces away, his golden hair flickering in the wind as he stared fixedly at the horizon. Mog was propped between the gunwales at the prow snoring fitfully with his pipes gathered on his lap like some strange exotic pet.
“You will marry Armand?” Teleri asked.
Brigit said nothing for a time, clearly flabbergasted.
“I… I don’t know. I love him, but some times I get so angry at him, and he’s a stubborn annoying… man sometimes.”
“Life is too short to waste on petty things, Brigit. If you do, you end up like me, broken beyond repair and filled with regret.”
“Ah Tel, it hurts now, but you’ll be alright. We’ll get Pen back and you have a daughter and a son.”
“I want you to love them as if they were your own. I want to know they are with someone I respect and care about. You promised me that once.”
“Don’t talk like this,” Brigit protested, upset and flushed with anger and sadness, “I will tell Master Bei.”
“Tell him what? I do not intend to throw my life away or do something foolish. You misunderstand.”
Brigit still looked upset. Her freckles had almost vanished against the blush of emotion that reddened her face.
“Why then are you asking me to care for your children? These are the words of someone who believes they are about to die. How am I to think otherwise?”
“In the ritual I learned certain truths.”
“But you will not tell me,” Brigit replied angrily, “You’re going to abandon your kids and you won’t even tell me why.”
“In the span of one moon’s passing, I will be gone.”
“Talk to Xiang Yi,” Brigit protested.
“There is nothing he can do. It is not within the realm of Dwayna.”
“Stop talking nonsense,” Brigit protested, “Tell me what happened.”
“I have seen too many that I loved destroyed, perverted, or used. My wounds run deep. I cannot be made whole in this lifetime. That is all I can say. I’m sorry.”
“For the love of the gods!” Brigit exclaimed.
“Promise me. Please.”
Teleri saw Mog jolt awake and look around in puzzlement. Armand was staring at them. Brigit blushed an even deeper shade of red.
“Yes, I will if it comes to that, but it better not,” Brigit replied over her shoulder before she strode toward the stern and vanished from sight.
“I’m sorry,” Teleri repeated softly, a whisper that no one could hear above the wind soughing through the sails and rigging.
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