This is a oneshot inspired by Halef Sief and the Sourceress of Alois. I hope you like it. Please review.

Departure

As I watched the sun set over the desert, I felt a hand slip gently into mine. For a second I was startled, I'd thought myself alone, but the hand was welcome, and familiar. I knew every bone and every scar on the soft skin so I hardly needed to turn to look at his strong face, wise before his years. He smiled softly at me and not for the first time I felt that wrench like a dagger in my heart.

"Do you really have to leave?" he said softly.

I smiled. "Do you really have to stay?"

There was a long silence as we stared back out over the sand.

"Maybe one day the gods will bring us back together…"

"Maybe." Though, somehow, I knew that they never would.

The daylight was fading fast now, and I squeezed his hand a little tighter. He gripped mine back. The silence of the desert would have been unbearable if it wasn't for the way that it left me feeling like we were the only two people in the world.

"You should go back," I whispered.

"I don't want to."

"They'll be wondering where you are."

"I don't care."

"We've come this far, why ruin everything now."

He turned to look at me. "I would have married you long ago if I'd have thought you'd have agreed to it. My position means nothing to me compared to you."

I looked away. "Don't say things like that. It's too late now. Don't torment me with things that might have been."

He nodded. "All right. I just wanted you to know that I would have given everything up for you."

I couldn't look back at him. My eyes pricked with tears and I had promised myself I wouldn't cry. It took all my self-control just to whisper "I know."

Gently, I felt his fingertips on my chin and he turned my face to his. Without a word he leaned down slowly and pressed his lips softly against mine. I felt a tear escape to trickle down my cheek and pulled away quickly, taking a deep breath.

"What is it?" he said quietly.

I shook my head and tried to smile. "Nothing." Another tear fell, betraying my lie. He reached out a finger to brush it away.

"You're allowed to cry. I won't tell anyone."

I shook my head, but I couldn't stop the tears coming now. Burying my head in his chest, I cried bitterly.

He slipped his arms around me and pulled me close. "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

Choking back the tears enough to speak I nodded. "But it does. How can the outcast marry the headman?"

"You wouldn't be the outcast if you married the headman."

I shook my head. "I will always have the Gift. I will always be an outcast as long as our shaman lives."

"The man's a fool. He hardly has the magic to light a candle. How he ever passed the Rite I do not know."

"But he did. And until he dies, he is the shaman here." I swallowed. "And I will always be the outcast, barely worthy of a scrap of bread. I have to leave, I'm becoming a danger to the tribe."

I felt him take a deep breath before he said slowly. "I know. I know… I just wish…"

I cut him off. "Me too." Repeating more softly. "Me too."

And there we stood for what seemed like forever, his arms around me, watching as the last fragments of the day slipped away and we were plunged in to darkness, waiting for the moon to rise. In that moment, I suddenly felt his lips on mine again, and I wanted the world to stop right at that second and let us stay here forever. But I knew it was impossible. He was the son of the tribe's chief and I…? I was nothing, nobody. Someone everyone except him was too afraid to talk to. Let alone anything else…

Then the moon rose, and we broke the kiss, my head resting softly on his chest. Slowly he ran a hand over my hair and I held him tight.

"I don't want to go." I whispered.

He smiled. "I don't want you to."

I laughed wryly. "But I have to go and you have to stay."

"Fate is cruel," he said heavily.

I nodded, the tears beginning to flow once more

I watched her leave. It broke my heart that I couldn't run over to her, throw my arms around her and hold her to me. If I had been alone I would have, but I wasn't. I stood between my father and the shaman as a representative of the tribe to see that 'the will of the gods' was carried out.

She mounted her horse with a grace that I have never seen before or since, all her worldly possessions in two small saddle bags and rode out without a word.

Once she looked back. Her soft dark eyes meeting mine and in that moment I knew that she wasn't coming back.

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