A Sudden Goodbye

ANDRA

Andra opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.

She ~did~ want to stay with the Freemen.

She felt welcome.

She felt like she ~belonged~.

~So why can’t I say it?~

Kael looked down at her wrist, and Andra realized that she was fiddling with her leather bracelet.

“Does your heart lie with Talias?” he asked her. “If you had a way back to him, would you go?”

Andra looked up at Kael in surprise and found herself hiding her hands behind her back.

“How did you…?”

“Eithne told me,” he said. “She overheard your thoughts about him, and she could tell that you cared about him. And I’ve seen enough of your attachment to that bracelet to guess that he gave it to you.”

Words failed her. She wanted to stay. She wanted to help with the rebellion.

But something about Talias still drew her to him. A warm familiarity that promised safety.

“So, if you had a way back to him, would you go?” he asked again.

“I… I don’t know,” Andra said. She felt a pang in her chest as she remembered Setora’s palm reading.

The incomplete lines of love and death.

~What does my future hold?~ she thought, staring at Kael.

Slowly, Kael nodded, and she saw that mask falling back into place—the mask of a soldier.

“You should go to bed,” he told her. “It’s late, and you have training with Colmen and my mother tomorrow. Goodnight, Andra.”

Without waiting for a reply, Kael turned and walked back into camp, disappearing in the shadows under the trees.

She wanted to reach out to him, but something held her back. She could feel Tiri’s gaze, the dragon’s words from before still fresh in her mind.

~“Your heart can never truly be lost, Andra. You must simply choose to see where it is leading you.”~

But her heart was just as confused as her mind.

Andra watched Kael go, wishing she’d been able to give him the answers he was seeking.

KAEL

Eithne fell into step beside Kael as he walked back to Bellris. The dragon had been waiting for him in the forest.

~“I’d prefer to be alone,”~ Kael said.

~“A Rider is never alone, Kael,”~ Eithne replied. ~“For better or for worse.”~

Kael went silent, focusing on the forest around him. He urged his mind to wander, to stray from thoughts of Andra.

But he heard her laughter in the sigh of the wind, saw her smile in the starlight that twinkled through the trees.

~“When do you think it happened?”~ Eithne asked.

He wanted to ignore her. He wanted to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. But he was tired of it all. Tired of pretending, tired of denying.

At what point did the silent servant girl from the manor become so important to him?

~“I’m not sure,”~ he said. ~“Maybe it was when I heard her speak for the first time. When she broke her silence in defense of a dragon. Maybe it was when I saw her in that dress she wore for the celebration.”~

Kael sighed. ~“Or maybe it was none of that. Was it her quiet strength? The way she’d smile and look away, her cheeks turning red? Her unbelievable courage in the face of her trauma?”~

Kael could feel Eithne’s happiness glowing in his mind. ~“Perhaps it was all of those things,”~ she said.

Kael groaned, finding a seat on a fallen log. He picked at the peeling bark, wishing he could chip away at the ache in his heart.

~“This feels like torture, Eithne.”~

~“Well, you were never one to sit around and wallow in your problems.”~

Kael glanced up at the dragon. ~“I’m not wallowing,”~ he said.

Eithne snorted, hot air blowing from her nose.

~“Things were so much simpler when all I had to worry about was leading a rebellion,”~ he lamented.

~“So do something about it.”~ Eithne shrugged in an eerily human gesture, her wings going up and down. ~“You’re my West Wind. Face your problems head on—like you always do.”~

Kael snapped off a large chunk of dead bark, whipping his arm forward to skip it along the forest floor. ~“What can I do about it? Not even Andra knows what she wants.”~

Eithne flicked her tail on the ground, and she sent the wood chip darting back toward Kael. Kael caught it before it could hit him.

~“So help her decide,”~ Eithne said.

The Rider tossed the bark farther away in frustration. ~“How? Who am I to tell her what her heart wants?”~

Eithne’s large brown eyes traced the wood as it flew through the air. She trotted over to it, her tail poised to smack it back to Kael.

~“She’s burdened by many things as well, Kael,”~ she said. ~“Before Andra can make a decision, she has to be free. Truly free.”~ She smacked the wood piece back to Kael, but this time he didn’t catch it.

In fact, it smacked him right in the face.

~“Kael?”~ Eithne asked, alarmed.

“That’s it!” Kael suddenly shouted aloud, standing atop the fallen trunk.

~“Kael, I think you’re bleeding—”~

He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, quickly healing the scratch there. ~“Eithne. I have an idea.”~

It was reckless.

Stupid.

Irresponsible.

But he had to do it. It was the only way he’d be able to clear his mind and focus on the rebellion.

Eithne’s eyes widened as she read his thoughts. ~“I think I hit you too hard on the head,”~ she said.

Kael jumped off of the log and took off toward Bellris with renewed determination. A gust of wind swept around him as Eithne took flight, landing in front of him, barring his path.

~“Don’t try to stop me, Eithne. I’m doing this. Alone if I have to.”~

~“You never listen, do you?”~ Eithne bared her teeth in a draconic smile. ~“A Rider is never alone. For better or worse.”~

ANDRA

Andra groaned as the night gave way to predawn and the birds woke up with the sky.

She’d barely gotten any sleep. She’d tossed and turned in bed, replaying her last conversation with Kael over and over again.

~Was there something else I could have said? An answer I could have given that would have satisfied him?~

Andra got up from bed, admitting defeat. She wouldn’t get any more sleep for today. She slipped out of her room and was greeted by the chilly morning air.

Maybe a walk around Bellris would clear her mind.

She’d been strolling along the wooden walkways for a few minutes when she began to hear the sound of a flute.

She followed the music and found Colmen sitting on the ledge of a wooden balcony, his legs dangling below him.

“You’re up early,” she called to him.

The gentle tune he’d been playing stopped as he looked up, a smile already on his face. “As are you.” He waved her over and she sat beside him. “I always like to start my day with a little practice. Although I’m hardly getting any better.”

“I think your flute skills are lovely,” Andra said.

Colmen chuckled, handing the flute over to her. “But you’re much better.”

Andra played for a while, the tune of the only song she knew drifting in the morning air. She wondered briefly if there was a sycamore tree somewhere in these woods.

“Why are you awake so early?” Colmen asked. “You have a long day of training ahead of you.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Andra said. “Kael and I spoke last night and…” Her voice drifted away, and finally, she shrugged. She wasn’t sure how to explain it.

Colmen didn’t prod her. They watched the sunrise together, its light painting Bellris gold. Andra sighed, enjoying the quiet moment of companionship.

“Well, it’s time for me to get on with my duties.” Colmen stood up. Andra tried handing him his flute back, but he shook his head. “Keep it.” He smiled. “You’re far better at it than I’ll ever be.”

Her eyes widened. “But you made it for your sister—”

“I insist.”

Andra stared up at him and saw the message hidden in the elf’s violet eyes. She cradled the instrument to her chest, her heart about to burst. “Thank you,” she said.

Colmen winked at her and turned to leave. “Oh,” he called. “Kael should be awake by now, if you wanted to pay him a visit.”

Andra watched him leave, her thoughts far away. It was true that she didn’t want to leave things the way they were with Kael. Maybe she should clear the air.

With a final look at the awakening city below her, she made her way along the network of wooden bridges and walkways until she was in front of Kael’s room.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Kael?” she called.

There was no response.

“I just wanted to talk about last night…” She tried knocking again.

~Is he still asleep?~

She opened the door and peeked inside, but found his room empty.

Andra still had a lot of time before her training session with Colmen, so she decided to look for Kael. But no matter where she looked or who she asked, he was nowhere to be found.

A pit of unease opened up in her stomach.

~He wouldn’t just leave without saying anything, right?~

~Not just to me, but to the other Freemen as well…~

But the longer she searched, the more clear it became.

Kael had disappeared without saying goodbye…