Chapter 9: Confession
Yaten could sense something was wrong when she met Rael in the garden. As they lay under a tree in the late afternoon sunshine, he seemed to be trying to put something into words.
She just let him figure out what to say on his own, a tight knot of worry settling at the bottom of her stomach. She could sense this was not good.
"Yaten…" he started softly, looking down.
"Yes?"
"I-Well… I've been summoned back home by my father," he said quietly. She was silent for a moment. Part of her was not surprised- things always turned out for her like this. Happiness for her did not last.
"I understand," she said calmly. Long ago she had learned to keep her emotions under tight control.
"I am so sorry… I will come back to visit and you are always welcome to visit Amyrlin anytime.." Rael said but he knew it was no use. There could be nothing between them separated by light years.
"Thank you," she said, watching the leaves fall from the tree above them and landing on the fish pond. How she wished she was free to follow the wind.
She and Rael lay there, watching the sun pass behind the moon and then slip below the horizon. How long they laid there in the twilight she didn't know but she grasped every moment as it was their last.
He left the next evening.