Part Two: What They Tended

Surgete Timoris

Warmth.

Light.

Manu opened his eyes and saw the open sky above him. Clouds drifted aimlessly through the blue ocean, and a flock of birds passed overhead, singing. The sun was directly overtop of him, and was blinding to his eyes. Yet, he kept looking at the brightness out of shock. Was this the afterlife?

"Oh, Manu," A voice to his left exclaimed. "You're finally awake!"

He turned his head just in time to see a blur throw two arms around his torso. Golden hair intermingled with his own white hair as a small head pressed itself against his cheek. It took him a few moments to realize who it was. He struggled to move his mouth and speak. He had no energy in him at all, and he felt like a sack of meat resting on a cutting board. "Aanya?" He pushed the words out of his weary body.

His sister let go of him, and he looked into relieved gold eyes that were surrounded by red and haggard crows feet. "I'm so glad you're alright." She told him. A breeze brushed over them, gently tickling Manu's bare chest. "I was worried the spell didn't work."

Manu stared at his sister. "Spell?" He asked, confused. He realized he was laying down, and he tried to push himself up.

Aanya put her hands on his shoulders, keeping him down with surprising strength. "No, no." She chided him. "You need to stay still. I don't know how effective it was."

Manu let himself rest back. He moved his eyes to look around him. He was on his balcony of his villa, and it was midday. He saw a tray of familiar books and a pile of dust slowly disappearing into the gentle breeze. "How did you…" he started, but then realized he was too weak to finish the sentence. His mouth was dry, and screamed for water.

Aanya took her hands off his shoulder, but he felt a light touch on his hand. It was familiar, comforting. She looked at him with a glint of mischief in her eye. "Manu," she said. "Your secret staircase is hidden behind a bookshelf with dusty books. You would never let books get dusty unless you cared about something more that was behind them."

Manu sighed, the deep breath causing him a slight discomfort. He lifted his head slightly, prompting Aanya to move to stop him, but he only move so far enough that he could see his stomach. A pink line was all that remained of the stab wound from the elven assassin. He let his head fall back, as things slowly began to make sense. "You found my magic components, too." He said, knowing that the only way for him to still be breathing would have to be a miracle. "You used dark magic."

Aanya looked down at the ground, her eyes distant. "I did," she said, her voice resolute. "But if I hadn't, you would be gone too, like our mothers." She visibly swallowed back her emotions, steadying herself, and then she looked back into Manu's eyes. "Luckily, you kept all your starfish arms by your healing books, so I did not have to look around for too long. Also, your house is a mess."

He smiled. "Yeah."

Realization dawned on him. He looked down at his left hand, and saw that, under Aanya's small tanned hand, he could see his own. He counted four fingers.

His heart pounded. "Aanya, I-"

His sister shook her head. "It's fine." She said, knowing already what he was going to say. "When you fell, I saw your horns, and your hands, but all I could think about was what I would do if you died. The spell that you cast, it made the purple elf scream like I had never heard anyone scream before. She ran back into your house and hid from whatever you made her see up until the royal guard arrived." Manu met her eyes, and he saw that the mischief was back. "I used one of your phoenix feathers to get them to come."

Manu gave her a faint smile. "You found those, too."

Aanya shrugged. "You organize your secret things better than you do everything else." She admitted. "After I sent for help, I found the starfish, and figured that I had to try something. So, I opened one of the healing books, tore through it, and then cast a spell with the starfish that healed you. I kept you covered with a sheet when the royal guard arrived. I just told them that you had killed one of the elves and had gone out looking for more."

Manu blinked, a bit disturbed that his sister would pretend he was a dead elven assassin. His sister, who had healed him, spoke of dead elves like it was nothing different than killing a farm animal. He tried not to think about that, and instead be grateful she had saved him. It was easy, at the moment, but he knew that he would return to these thoughts again. "I never knew how to tell you, Aanya." He said.

Aanya looked up and into the distance. "Well," she spoke softly, lost in her thoughts. "It doesn't matter now." She looked back down at him and smiled. "You're ok." She reached a hand up, still keeping one of hers on his, and he felt her rub one of his horns. It was a strange, foreign feeling. "I like the horns."

Manu pressed his lips together, overcome with shame as he realized how much he had missed his sister in the past few days. He felt his eyes grow moist, and he used what little strength he had to bring his four-fingered hand to cup Aanya's soft cheek. He looked at her, and tried to put his apology into words. He thought of what had started it all, how it had felt when the door to her bedroom had closed shut, how it felt both ignoring and being ignored by her in the privy council after the shade attack, and how it felt to be making huge decisions without her by his side.

He could not think of any words that would be right, but hoped she would understand what he meant. "I love you, Aanya." He said, realizing it was something he had not told her in a very long time.

His sister smiled back at him, and he felt her squeeze his hand. "I love you too, Manu." She said.

He lowered his hand, and they stayed like that for awhile. She kept his hand on his, and he closed his eyes and tried to rest in the warmth of the sun. He expected to feel seriously uncomfortable being seen in his elven form in the light of day, but somehow, knowing that only Aanya could see him, he was fine. It was a strange turn of events that had brought them back together.

"A lot has happened these past few days," He broke the silence. "I should have told you."

Aanya looked at him with warm eyes. "I was not the most welcoming." She confessed. "I wouldn't have spoken to me, either."

Manu tried to shift his position, but a sharp pain racked his stomach and he gave up. "I'm getting married, Aanya." He said, figuring it was best to start with the biggest information first.

Aanya was silent, and although she looked away, she kept her hand on his. It was a silent reminder to him that she was terrified to lose another member of her adoptive family. He was too. "To whom?" She asked. He could hear a touch of disapproval in her tone.

Manu realized he could not think of his fiance's name, having only met her the day before. A lot had happened since then. "She's the daughter of Lord Talika," he said.

His sister smiled sadly down at him. "You don't even know her name, do you?" She surmised. She was a lot wiser that other girls her age.

Manu turned his head away. A touch of shame made his cheeks flush. "It's the only way to grow our House." He said, sensing that the original conflict with his sister was about to be revisited. He thought back to what their conversation had been like before he had been stabbed. "The Talikas made me an offer that would have been stupid to say no to."

Manu looked out at what little of Duren he could see from where he lay. The fields were all harvested now, leaving only the short wheat remnants behind. Birds flocked flocked overhead, eagerly looking for what little scraps they could find. He knew his sister would not approve of his marriage, but he had already committed to it. It bring dishonor into the history of House Amin for him to back out now.

Aanya was quiet for a few minutes. Manu watched the birds above the fields as they swooped down occasionally in hopes of finding some scraps. He saw a few fight in the air as they descended, clearly interested in the same small, minor seed. "Well," she said quietly. "If you think it best."

"What do you really think?" He asked, surprising himself with the question. It had slipped his tongue.

Aanya was quiet again before she replied, clearly thinking over her words. "I think," she started hesitantly. "That people should not be used like pieces on a game board. They're worth more than that."

Manu wondered what life must be like for Aanya, who was able to have such a perfect and innocent view of politics and power, and still be in the center of it. "That's what everyone else does." He told her, knowing that she already knew.

"That does not make it right." She said plainly. "I understand that sometimes, it seems like there are no better options," she continued. "But if the options are not good, then how can the reasons be good?"

Manu thought about it for a bit. Right and wrong were not something that concerned him - he knew that his duty was to his House and that it came before all other things. Innately, he knew that it was not the way the Queens had raised him, but rather the imprint of his forgotten elven upbringing. "I can't think like that." He told her. "Not if we want to preserve our mothers' legacy."

Aanya sighed. "I know." Her tone was much more accepting than her words, and took the sting from them. He knew she meant no offense. "What did you do to the other elf?" She asked, changing the subject.

Manu the corner of his mouth. "I tried to think of the most harmful spell I could cast," he recalled. "The first thing I thought was of two different spells, and I took parts of them and just put them together."

"But what did the spell do?" Aanya repeated.

Manu considered hiding the full truth from her, but then realized that she deserved to hear all of it. "I made her see whatever it was she feared the most in the world." He told her, knowing that, deep down, he had taken a dangerous step in the usage of his moon magic. He had never used it to scare or hurt another person before. "What did you see?" He asked, curious if it had affected Aanya at all. He turned his head to look back at her. She looked surprised.

"I didn't see anything, Manu." She confessed. "I don't think it worked on me."

Manu thought back to what she had said earlier about seeing him hurt. It dawned on him that his spell had not affected her because, when he cast it, she was already seeing her greatest fear: losing another member of her family.

"I guess not." He said, letting her keep the privacy that he himself had enjoyed all these years.