A/N: Sorry for the crappy length and quality of this chapter, I just really wanted to get it up here quickly. I forced myself to write at least 1,000 words for this chapter, which was way harder than it sounds, and wow! it turned out to be 1,001! I'm such an overachiever! *inserts sarcasm*

For some reason I really did not want to write this chapter, and I procrastinated so much that my procrastination became productive, so . . . I finally have a detailed outline for this fanfic, which is good I guess. And I've started writing practically every chapter except for Ch8, because procrastination! So there wouldn't be so much filler in Tam's chapters, I pretty much compressed Linh's chapters and smushed several of them together, so some of her chapters are going to be simply crammed with plot. Um, what else was I going to say . . . right, I think in Ch4 I said there would be a chapter in the twenties, well don't pay any attention to that because in my new outline this is only an 18-chapter fic. Which is still way longer than anything I've ever written. This'll be the last chapter of mindless filler (thank the stars) because I actually know where I'm going with this story now, and I'm going to stop talking because I'm sure you're all so interested in my plot-writing struggles. *inserts even more sarcasm*


CHAPTER 8

QUESTIONS AND MAYBE ANSWERS

Who was this boy?

Why was Linh with him?

And what had they been talking about?

Tam couldn't get the image out of his head as he stood, rooted to the spot on the craggy cliff, watching the two hooded figures walking together hand in hand like they had known each other their entire lives.

The image was of his sister's eyes for that one moment she had lifted her face to meet the igneous stare of the Empath. Her eyes had burned gold, with a fierce determination that Tam had never seen before in his twin. Linh had always been like water — even her talent — quiet and placid, and going along her path alone. But in that moment, he had seen something of himself in Linh's eyes. She was walking against the current.

Then the Empath had shrugged slightly and said something, and held out his hand, and Linh had taken it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

What had happened?

That was the question Tam didn't say out loud. That was the question he had been asking himself, not just that day, not since they had been banished, but a question that had slowly been creeping upon him, encroaching on his mind and growing like a virus.

The fish, and the lake, and bare feet swinging, and how she couldn't see that he hated it.

The silver glistening in her eyes like tears as she said, Tam, you're scaring me.

Him backed up against the water, choking on tap water, a black patch just out of his line of sight.

How they couldn't talk about anything pleasant anymore.

A rift had been driven between Tam and Linh, created by the steady chip-chip-chip of a microscopic rock hammer, over the course of years and years.

What had happened?

The Empath took out a crystal and leapt away on a beam of emerald light, a stark contrast to the light of the red-painted evening.

As soon as he was gone, Linh seemed lost and unsure again. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around. She saw Tam on the cliff and beckoned him over.

What could he do? She had their only crystal, after all. He started down the rocky hill, the question nagging at the boy who had promised to ask no questions.

What had happened?


Back in Wildwood, Linh seemed happier than she had been in a while. Sadysa let her help make the stew for dinner, and showed her how to stir it and when and where to add ingredients. It was obvious that Sadysa was fond of Tam's sister, and Linh liked Sadysa, too. Possibly because she reminded her of Nari. More than possibly, probably so.

Tam had known the old gnome who gardened Thorndale's grounds, but had never been as close to her as Linh had. In fact, he had always felt like there was something — off about her. Something missing, or something there that shouldn't have been. Like she was hiding, or trying too hard.

It was Linh whose hair Sadysa braided every night, Linh who walked barefoot through the throng of gnomes, passing out steaming bowls of stew; it was Linh to whom the gnomes were indebted, and Tam had no right to be there. He was just tagging along.

"Hey, Linh?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how I said I wouldn't ask you any questions?"

"Mhm."

"I kind of need to ask you one now."

"Okay, but I get to choose whether I answer or not."

Tam took a deep breath. "I saw you talking to a boy today," he said quickly.

"What, not you?"

"He was an Empath. A little older than us, brown hair, about my height."

"Oh, you mean Tristan?" Tam was shocked at how utterly casual Linh was acting. She had been talking to someone! At Exillium! And someone had seen! Wasn't she at least a little worried?

"Is that his name? He wouldn't tell me," he replied, feigning nonchalance as well. "How do you know him?"

"Just an old friend from Foxfire," she responded, but Tam had been listening carefully. There had been a slight hitch in Linh's voice between the words "from" and "Foxfire".

"Just a friend?"

Now Linh looked surprised. "Tam, I don't like him! I mean, he's nice, but yeah, he's just my friend."

"Oh — okay," said Tam, trying to hide how relieved he felt. "I just didn't want — I mean, I thought —"

"No, no, it's alright," said Linh. "I get why you were worried. It's like how Father can't help being a jerk. But you don't have to protect me all the time, Tam. I'm fine on my own."

"You didn't really mean that, right?" Tam asked after a moment.

"What?"

"About me being like Father."

"I didn't say that," she said. "You have to stop taking things so literally."

That hitch in her voice again. A ripple in a lake. The pop and crackle as a twig burns to ash.

Linh had never lied to him before they were banished. There had been some things she and Tam had preferred not to tell each other, and they were okay with that, but neither had told the other an outright lie. At least, not as far as he knew. What had happened?

It was only one question, but had an infinite number of facets. It was a circle, Tam thought, one of Linh's water-beads that refracted light every which way. And the answers could split into rainbows. Endless questions and maybe answers. What had happened?

Maybe nothing. Maybe Linh had been lying to him their whole lives.

Maybe she was just better at keeping secrets than Tam thought.

Maybe the hitch in her voice said she realized she couldn't keep them much longer.


A/N: Thank the stars that that's over. Well, Ch9 is fun. And I'm actually almost done writing it :P Hopefully I'll have it posted soon!