Chapter -80: Let Me Live This Lie
Aquamoria.
The sea was relaxing as the day came to a close.
Most people would be content with a hard day's work and go to sleep. Brine was not that kind of person these days.
His meetings with Torren had become a daily occurrence. They were like two teenagers trying to see how much time they could spend together before being caught.
But what they felt for each other was a lot more mature than that. How could it not after that one special night?
And tonight they were spending the one year anniversary of that day atop the whale-shape rock formation to the east of the village.
From there they could watch as schools of fish made their climb up the ponds dotting the back and hopped into the stone's "blowhole", where they would swim about to mate in peace.
Brine had been working hard all week to make this moment extra personal for them. He had Carmine's help in making a wooden basket and filled it with vegetables, while Lulu helped him pick out good fish to compliment them.
Then he tied together palm tree leaves with some fishing wire to make a sheet, which they sat upon with their feast spread out.
Torren laid on her hip with her feet pointed at the sea. Her whole body was radiant. Of course, it always was, but tonight there was something different.
It was her smile. She had one ever since she arrived.
When Brine gazed upon those pearly whites the moon could not compete. And if jewels could feel emotions they'd all turn green with envy from one look at her eyes.
She let her face be blemished with juice and then pretended to be embarrassed when he caught her on it.
He then reached out, slowly, tenderly, to wipe her cheek clean.
But instead he held on, bridging their gazes that shone under the moonlight.
Oh, the passion that fell upon their faces, it was the spark that pulled their lips together, and made a minute last for hours.
But as they parted there was embarrassment on both their faces.
For they had stuck their elbows in the mashed yams.
"Whoops." They said a second apart, with Torren then looking towards Brine and giggling.
She then twirled her finger around, pulling up a tiny stream of water from the habitat. Even with these simple motions, she created a beautiful dance.
She guided it around to clean their elbows, then flicked it off into the sea, giving it nary a look as her eyes could only see the man she loved.
Brine smiled and leaned in to whisper, "I wish we could stay up here forever..."
Torren blushed and squeezed her eyes part way shut, rubbing the ground, "Why don't we? If we just pretend time doesn't exist, we can remain up here as long as we want."
"I reckon the sun would spoil those plans." Brine said playfully.
"Oh..." Torren's sigh and the way she slowly looked away showed she was being serious.
Brine in a haste to correct his slip of the tongue said, "Well why do we hafta keep lettin' the sun get in our way? We should be together all the time!"
Torren's gaze perked right up in shock while Brine froze up and sucked his lips in.
But then he popped them right out and swung his hands up, adhering to what his heart was feeling, "No no no. Y'know what, I mean it. I really, really...mean it."
The two sat on their knees and Brine reached out to grab her hands, "Torren...we've been doin' this for more than a year now and I..."
He chuckled dryly at himself, knowing he'd come across as an utter fool for saying this, "I can't get ya out of my mind."
Torren's blushing cheeks were luscious under the moonlight, highlighting the impact of his words, "And ya feel it too. We're caught in a net...A net of love. And we keep gettin' all...tangled up in all these silly self-imposed restrictions instead of lettin' our love swim free."
"I know..." Brine's face tensed up like he had eaten something sour, and he let his mouth open with a gasp, "I know...We enjoy this. It's special. It's ours."
"But I want to be with ya through sunrise and sunset...I want to be lookin' at ya when I wake up, and cuddle beside you to fall asleep..."
"I want to go fishin' with ya, teach ya how to make spears out of wood..." In his impatience he sped straight towards the finish line to show just how serious he was, "I-I want ya to teach me how to be fearless on the water, so I can dance at yer side!"
Torren's expression regressed to what it was like in the days when they first met, a timid face that could not look him in the eyes.
In his drive to let his heart speak in earnest he may have put too much pressure on her all at once, and the long silence that followed was hurting him more than if she had simply said "No".
She held his hands tighter, like she did not want to let go, but her arms were shaking...
"I-I can't..." She whispered that rejectful pair of words, defanging the man she loved of his passion-filled demeanor.
She turned her wettened gaze to the side of her face and let her mouth slip open, her grip somehow getting tighter as she tried to muster sincerity in herself, as cruel as her words may be, "I want it...e-everything you just said. But...I can't."
Brine raised his brows slowly and then began to frown, his gaze shifting towards the left as he muttered, "R-Right...you still have your mission..."
Torren squeezed her eyes and bobbed her head, loosening the tears from her face, while her lips were pressed together like she was holding back a gasp.
His sigh deflated the atmosphere, her limping posture spoiled the beauty.
And there they sat, two silent figures under the moonlight.
And at this moment, Brine thought about a conversation he had with Sarajin a few months back...
"W-What?" He was sitting on his own bed to let his legs heal, and then his friend had come in to deliver a piercing blow to his heart.
Sarajin would normally maintain eye contact when he spoke. But here he struggled, and it was not because of a lie, at least so he believed...
"I'm telling you, Torren is one of the Ten Sages."
Brine could recall feeling like he was getting rocked around by a bad tide at that moment. His head started spinning, and he held onto the side while muttering to himself very quietly.
Sarajin made a kind gesture and like it was second nature to him, he apologized, "I'm really sorry."
"What proof do ya have?" Those words were spat up without a second thought.
Brine turned to his friend with a clouded gaze, "Maybe Auris is wrong."
Sarajin had every right to look offended. And he held back his temper, but lord did it not feel like it..."How could she be wrong, she lived with the Ten Sages for years! Brine...!"
Instead, Brine stood up and shoved his finger against his friend's chest, putting a stabbing pain into his legs that only served to fuel the rage he would soon express.
"And what if she is one of 'em? I love 'er, Sarajin!" Brine then unfurled the rest of his hand and grit his teeth in a scowl, "What? Are ya the only one allowed to love an Aurian?"
Sarajin trembled. He was hurt, and it showed in how he was glaring back at him in anger. But he held back, biting his teeth and with a pained hiss admitted the truth, "I-I just don't want to see you suffer the same betrayal I did..."
Brine glared down at him harder, shaking his head with pity as he bluntly whispered back, "Well y'know what? She ain't nothin' like Nimus. So take yer paranoia...and get out of my house, Sarajin."
The two stared at each other for a little longer, leading to Sarajin relenting and turning away. Once he was out the door, and Brine had plopped back down onto his bed, Sarajin turned aside and muttered, "Please just...be careful, Brine."
In the present, Brine let out another sigh and looked over at Torren.
It was moments like this that left him vulnerable to those voices, gnawing at him like a fish taking the bait.
He didn't care what the truth was. It wouldn't change how he felt.
And right now, he felt that if anyone was betraying anyone, it was him...
"Just look at 'er, Brine..." He said, settling upon her fidgeting fingers and slug-like posture, "Ya forced a tough decision on 'er too quickly."
He knew what needed to be done.
Should he do it though? Of course not...but he had to.
With a deep breath through his teeth he hissed out a sigh and then addressed her respectfully, "Torren..."
She finally looked his way again, where he whispered to her from what felt like a wide expanse, "I think...it'd be good for us both if we spent a little time apart. Y'know...cleared our heads, took care of what's important."
"Y-Yeah, yeah..." The speed at which she answered surprised him, "I feel that would help."
She was hiding something, locking it up in an urchin-thorned cage around her heart.
And yet, it was him that felt pricked with every inch he withdrew himself from that lovely face and heavenly glow.
He let out a couple sniffles and then gasped, twisting his gaze away from the moon and sea, "R-Right."
He then dared to look at her one more time to express hope in their future, "I'll be sitting where we first met. Every night. Until yer ready to come back."
Both of them looked down. Their right hands had been subtly sliding closer to one another atop the blanket.
But Brine immediately tried to withdraw his, feeling her touch would only make his heart tender.
She then swung out and grabbed his fingertips with her cold, silky smooth touch, forcing him to look at her tearful eyes.
"I-I promise I'll come back," She whispered, her voice cracking in an attempt to sound happy, "So wait for me...I'll be ready, for everything that comes after..."
It was this slim hope that kept their heads afloat as they went down the rock formation, and parted ways. Torren returning to the sea, and Brine, returning home for one restless night's rest...
Except when Torren swam into the sea, she did not go far. Instead she waited with her head just under the surface for Brine to leave, and then returned to the shore.
She then wedged her fist between her chest and laid her hand just above her waist, trembling.
"What am I going to do...?" She whispered to herself, struggling between confusion and outright panic.
She took a deep breath and then darted for the wastelands, leaping into the air like a dolphin escaping the sea.
The rocky ground suddenly transformed into water and she dove into it belly-first, guiding it and herself forward faster than the roaming Rot Walkers would be able to sense.
Her destination? Sancturia.
She swam right in and then left the water in her wake as she stepped out onto the cold, glistening floor.
It was late at night so the city was only dimly lit by the stars above, with very few of her people still wandering about.
She made her way towards the palace, her legs stiff and heavy, the pressure drowning her thoughts like she was deeply submerged in water.
She was being flooded with memories of the time she had spent with Brine. All those halcyon days where his eagerness and kindness helped her feel brave and wanted...
Only for her to selfishly rip them away, because she could not breach the surface of the sea separating their two worlds.
"I want to be with him, I do! I do! With him, I'm happy...With him, I want to do what I want...With him...I feel like it was a good thing I was born."
She burrowed her chin against her chest and felt her tears pressing against the lens of her eyes, wanting to be free, "B-But...I'm a Sage! My duty is to Sancturia. My people! If I don't do my part, then I am less than useless...!"
Images of ten bodies lying on the ground around a table, choking on blood with a faint purple tint, scratched through her mind. One, a woman, being held in her arms...
She heaved her head back and let out a series of pants, then went on to slow herself down until her breathing was normal. Yet the cold sweats, they did not cease...
She bit her teeth down and continued to stand there, motionless, for a few minutes.
She held her hands up to her throat like there was another set there. And when she confirmed there wasn't, she resumed dragging her feet back to the palace.
Gabriel was off his post. The foyer was drenched in dreary silence.
She yearned for the moonlight to beam down upon her face, its sapphire sorrow, and bring her calm once more.
But this was no longer a wonderful dream she lived in.
This was home. Her one and only...
She struck up a marginally confident strut and with a heavy sigh, began making her way back to her room on the eastern hallway.
She slipped between the pillars separating them and began to reach out for the door knob...
Only to freeze.
The air stirred with a murky chill.
She turned her head stiffly, her mouth partially agape, to find her fellow Sage Lilith standing beside the pillar.
Her delicate hands laid tucked together against her waist, and her smile disarmed with the unnatural way it curled and wrinkled near the cheeks.
With every step closer she took, her presence was gigantic. Torren was the taller of the two, but Lilith was bigger, more certain, more alluring, and more mature. Everything Torren could ever want to be as a woman, she had...
This intimidation by appearance was rarely shown, and for Torren to earn this meant a dire fate awaited her...
Lilith's final step pinned her heel atop Torren's heart, and made a sound like glass.
"Torren," She uttered in a nurturing tone, her eyes closed, yet her stare piercing through, cold as water at midnight, "Out late yet again, are we?"
"Lady Lilith, I...I was-"
Lilith pressed her fingertips against her mouth, then slowly turned her wrist so that she may prop Torren's chin up, and keep her jaw closed.
"You have missed another meeting. Our dear Lord Borealis is getting oh so concerned about your tardiness lately. But surely you must have a...reasonable excuse," Lilith slid one fingernail down Torren's neck until laying it atop her goosebumps ridden chest, feeling her frantic heartbeat, upon which she uttered in a soft but forceful tone, "No?"
Torren gulped and the lie frantically spilled from her lips, "I-I lost track of time performing my duties. T-That's all."
"'That's all', so utters the siren..." Lilith withdrew her finger and smiled with a sardonic shrug, "Yes, I'm sure Lord Borealis will be completely won over by your work ethic."
The eyes parted open, making the smile take on a more hostile, cautionary vibe, like that of a hungering bear, "Because...I dare not imagine what would happen...if you were to lie."
Torren felt her heart sank to her gut, chained by an anchor, and let out a quiet, tense gulp.
Lilith then closed her eyes gently and widened her demure smile, "Good night...Torren."
She slipped away into the nocturne halls, while Torren went into her room, her now weak knees forcing her to slump onto her rear against the door once inside.
Her room was cluttered with seashells and other trinkets she found with Brine. Tiny, little pieces of trash that'd be insignificant for anyone else...
Her bed sheets were wrinkled and her pillows were in two places.
She pulled herself up, tried to make her bed, then laid on her back to stare up at the ceiling.
Algae had been layered below the crystal light to give this room an aquatic atmosphere. Here she could relax, and gently fall to sleep.
The first few nights back left her feeling tense and feverish with a refusal to leave her room.
She wasted hours paddling her feet in the air, choosing different spots to lay down, or just slumping against the wall and sighing.
She went to whatever meetings were called, but drowned out the conversation by focusing on a simple strand of water and dancing it around.
Nobody chastised her, so she was superfluous.
She ate two meals a day and it was always breakfast she skipped. Every day her body felt heavier.
But after a month had passed she felt hungrier, and started taking larger servings back into her room.
She ate herself full through tears and sobbing. And when her plate was empty she let it slide off her soaked legs onto the ground.
At that same time, the door gently opened and in walked Carolina.
Torren slowly raised her head and rubbed her eyes dry. A miniscule mewl slipped out, and then she tried to greet her friend without her voice cracking, "C-Carolina...I'm...I'm fine, you don't-"
Carolina laid her dainty hands before her waist and shook her head.
She then floated over and sat upon the bed beside her with a weight not unlike a feather.
She rubbed her back, and offered her hand to hold on to.
So kind, so delicate. She was a perfect, proper lady, and a friend Torren did not deserve...
After the sobs from her friend settled down, Carolina rested her fingertips upon her chest and started flapping them like the flutter of a chick's wings when showing eagerness to fly.
Torren bit her lower lip and following a hiss, began to mutter, "There was...someone I was seeing over the past year."
Carolina put her hands up and made the shape of a heart, using the pinkies to emulate the nudging of eyebrows.
Torren giggled and then pressed her lips in a half-baked smile, as the fondness of past days led her to speak up, "Yes. It was someone I fell in love with. B-But the thing is...they're from Aquamoria."
Carolina stiffened, her cheeks sliding down until her smile was straight.
Torren then broke down in a fit of panic, "If Lord Borealis finds out what I have done the shame will kill me before he gets the chance! Please Carolina, you're my best friend, you have to help me keep this a secret!"
Carolina's lips continued to sink, a bit of dampness soaking into her blindfold.
Torren's mouth went agape, as she muttered with increasing worry, "What...? What's wrong?"
Carolina rested her hands upon her lap, a strained quivering coming off her shoulders.
She then slowly brought her arms up together below her chest, rocking them back and forth.
Torren's pupils shrank and her face turned pale, with her steadily becoming out of breath.
Carolina then pointed her finger against her friend's waist, trying to smile, as tears smeared out onto her cheeks.
"N-No...!" Torren pulled off and shuffled away, throwing her hands around with wild fervor until bringing them together against her chest.
"How...! When...! No no no no no no no no no no no..." Torren's voice faded until she was silently mouthing her despair.
Carolina brought her hands to her face and they looked at each other. She wanted her to know that her tears were not hers alone.
Carolina then pulled her friend in closer and let her head rest upon her chest, letting her gasp and heave in panic, "W-What am I going to do...? L-Lord Borealis...he'll...he'll..."
I don't want to die,? She whimpered, "PLEASE...don't let me die...
They sought to keep their lives going as normal for as long as they could.
The stress of carrying this secret inside of her was an impossible weight to bear, one that grew by the week, and affected her body in ways illness could not cover.
Her stomach bloated, her chest began slushing with milk. Her mood became erratic, and at times, she would even lash out at her best friend.
Carolina was tolerant to it all, and did her best to support.
She used her floaty wiles to sneak extra food into Torren's room, and knitted her a sash to help obscure the stomach just a little, justifying it as protection against the coming winter.
With the rarity of meetings came easy evasion from Borealis' gaze.
But this palace was a minefield of very perceptive people. Fortunately, the likes of Stonestein and Glade were heavily involved in their work outside Sancturia, while Nimus come and go as he went.
But after months of this, Torren's stomach had bulged enough that it was poking up from the top of the sash, and thus she made a mad, desperate play to quarantine herself inside of her room while Carolina stood guard.
However, there soon came a day where Torren was robbed of the protection of her friend, as Lilith made a request of her to aid her brother in exploring a potential Wellspring hiding place in the back of Cryofloe's mountain.
The timing was too peculiar. The logic behind this decree is wrong...
Torren felt darkness encircling her without her friend's shining smile to ward it off.
Footsteps echoed in the darkness, clacking heels against stone cold ground.
The door's hinges creaked and moaned with an ear-grating sound, and Torren froze up, almost accepting of her fate.
There was a light to be found in the darkness, but it cast a dull glow.
It was Lilith, entering the room with an almost detached muttering of, "Let us see, what that pesky mute has been guarding…"
She stood before the door, staring at the panicked, half-pregnant Torren.
Her nostrils flared, her lips curling down towards her chin, before she muttered in a tone of dull surprise, "You again…"
Torren heaved breaths trying to form words. She raised her hand and flailed it out, a pitiful wall against this massive force approaching her.
"You bear a child? Why, my dear, sweet, pitiful Torren...how, pray tell, could this have happened?"
"D-Don't...!" Was the best Torren could muster against her.
Lilith began to reach out, her hand appearing to take the shape of a claw, and her face, save for the slits in her eyes, drowning in shadow.
Torren felt as though she was giving up her last breath to Death's embrace...And instead, was graced with warmth, as Lilith surrounded herself in a white, surrogate light, and laid her hand upon her cheek.
Torren's tears dripped with warmth, as Lilith got on one knee and whispered, "Tell me. Mother's listening."
She was...willing to listen?
Torren was aching so much for allies that she immediately broke down and spilled her guts, "I-It was someone I love...from Aquamoria."
Lilith cooed, rubbing up and down her cheek, "Oh, my poor dear...You've been tainted."
"W-What...?" Torren murmured back.
"Letting a savage sow his seeds on your pristine, fertile ground. No Aurian will ever want to touch you again," Lilith spoke in a deep, soothing tone, "Oh, the disgrace this will bring upon the legacy of the Water Strider clan. Or worse yet, the shame that our dear, dear Lord Borealis will feel…"
Torren's pupils shrank as that cold claw of fear clung to her heart, Lilith's words continuing to drill their way in, leaving behind a faint, haunting echo, "Twas a bad enough look that his own daughter takes the side of savages. You, do not have the mercy of his love."
"W-What am I supposed to do...?" Torren gasped.
"Why, I will watch over you," Lilith said, continuing to caress her cheek with a smile, "And help you give birth to this child beneath Lord Borealis' notice."
"B-But...wouldn't you be going behind his back too?"
Lilith then proposed in a concise manner, "Would you rather I kill the unborn child?"
"N-NO!" Torren's maternal instincts sprung forth, delighting Lilith enough to widen her smile more.
"Good…" She used her thumb to wipe Torren's cheek dry, "There's no need to punish a child for living. Being born an inferior savage is punishment enough."
"But...!" Lilith's sudden word was a blunt attack on Torren's heart, "An exchange, I require you to swear two things to me. One, no more flirting with savages. You will remember your pride as an Aurian, and put your all into your duty to claim the Wellspring."
"And second...you will give up your tainted child to the man who sowed his seed inside of you."
"W-W-What...?" Torren whispered.
"It will serve the greater good of all Aurians," Lilith murmured, seducing Torren with a sanctimonious tirade, "There's no hope for that child. It will grow up to be a putrid, blood-spilling beast. Least outside our walls, it can mingle with its herd. You will be doing it a great service, Torren."
Torren diverted her gaze and every smile, every handholding and every dance she experienced with Brine flashed through her head in a collage.
There was nothing insincere or savage about him. And even if he was one-of-a-kind, it put everything Lilith and Lord Borealis believed in into question.
"You're wrong…" Torren whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
There was a ghastly chill in the air. A tiny vein throbbed in the corner of Lilith's eye, and the right side of her smile twitched.
"I'm...wrong?" Lilith uttered, a voice devoid of all emotion.
She pulled herself up by the skirt and then turned for the door, speaking up in a swift, dismissive tone, "Then perhaps you don't require my aid after all-"
"N-NO!" Torren lashed her hand out and fell off her bed on her elbows and knees, crawling towards Lilith and grabbing tightly to her skirt.
"I'm sorry, I'm SORRY! I-I'll do anything...just please, give this innocent baby a chance to live…"! She dragged Lilith's skirt down in her grip and whimpered her tears onto the floor.
Lilith's smile grew wider, curled at the ends with the pinnacle of satisfaction.
She then turned back around and stared down as Torren craned her head back.
"See? You are a wise Sage after all…" Lilith then bent at the waist and wrapped her little fingers around Torren's chin so she could look upon her savior and all her holy light.
The months continued to pass on by.
Lilith kept to her word, guiding Borealis' attention away from Torren with a series of well-spoken lies.
And Carolina continued to play her part to keep Torren comfortable, happy, and healthy.
Neither side knew that they were working together for the same cause.
Torren found herself being pulled along by guilt at what she was doing, but assured herself that at the end of it all it would be all too easy to give her child up...
Pained, laboring breaths heralded the countdown to the baby's final arrival, and when it came to that point Lilith barred the room with light magic and watched over her.
Torren was screaming in pain as the baby was pushed out between her legs, Lilith's delicate hands guiding them out of the womb.
The agonizing process seemed to take forever yet was over, just like that.
And for all these months of pain, stress and crying, Torren's reward was the triumphant sound of new life wailing in her ears.
With reduced vigor she could barely hold her head up and look upon her child, who had been cleansed and wrapped in a pearl white blanket.
Lilith let her hold it, then spoke something that sparked utter joy in Torren's heart, "It seems...it is a girl."
Torren's gasps were intersped between her painful expression morphing into a wide smile, as she held this bundle of joy against her chest and looked at her lovely face.
She was so small...so light. Her skin was red all over and she wouldn't stop crying.
There was a very faint sign of sea blue hair on her head, just like her father...
Then, Torren began to cry, her tears falling upon the baby's face.
This couldn't be hers, couldn't be theirs...
The Lord gave her the gift of life, just to cruelly remind her that it would be taken away.
And there was nothing she could do...
She had already brought enough disgrace to the Ten Sages by bearing this child.
She had failed Lord Borealis, failed her mother, failed herself...
So why...must this child have such a beautiful face?
Why couldn't she have been ugly. Why couldn't she have been deformed.
After so long holding her, the baby settled down and smiled, and it was a haunting reflection of her own.
This...was her child.
This...was the happiness she was giving away.
"..." Torren pressed her face softly upon the child's and continued to cry in silence, no one there to comfort her.
Instead, Lilith reminded her of what was to come, her tone fanged with thorned cruelty, "You promised, Torren."
"I-I know, I know…" Torren wheezed, pulling her face away from the baby's and pleading to Lilith with her soft, simple innocence, "But...can I please ask for one favor of my own…"
Nighttime, in Aquamoria...
Brine sits at the beach, staring out at the sea, just as he had every night for close to a year now.
The sea's waves brushed against his feet with their midnight chill, and he shivered but endured.
Any second now, Torren would pop from the sea to greet him, and they would kiss, they would dance, they would enjoy the tiny, simple things that made them happy...
But like every night for close to a year now, he would stand up disappointed, yet strive to return again the next night.
However...
When he turned around this time...she was there.
The sea breeze picked up and blew between them.
She was as radiant as ever, with a pinkish blush in her cheeks and a fist clenched nervously between her chest.
"H-Hey." She whispered.
"He-hey…" Brine spoke through a loosely agape mouth.
He tried to take one step forward, she took one step back. It was then he saw that she was standing next to a woven basket with a few blankets layered inside.
His nerves were tense and his stomach began to churn. He reached his hand out and muttered, "I-Is everything alright? Torren…"
When she did not speak up, he continued on unrelentingly, "Look it's been a long time, ya got to say somethin'."
"Please, don't make this any harder on me than it already is, Brine...!" She said, her voice cracking between joy and sorrow.
Brine pulled his hand away, watching her struggling to look him in the eyes.
She closed her eyes and then brought herself front and center facing him, taking in a deep breath before saying, "I need...to tell you the truth…"
She grabbed hold of her wrist and from her body, radiated a faint, sapphire glow. Brine was left aghast, his vision blurring as the world spun around him...
"I'm an Aurian," She whispered, "A-And one of the Ten Sages. Torren...the Elegant Strider."
"..."
Brine felt faint, and pulled himself up on thin fishing wire to look her in the eyes, where regret ran deep.
"You must hate me more than anything." She assumed.
"No, no!" Brine shook his head and viciously swung his hands out, "Who cares what ya are? It doesn't change the way ya've make me feel!"
Her expression rejected his comfort and shed tears in the absence of relief, "I-I wish you would stop listening to your heart…"
"Ya can't expect me to do that…'' Brine spoke, laying a hand upon his chest, "I can't stop thinkin' about ya Torren. We're meant to be together, forget the borders that separate us!"
"I-It's not that easy…"
"Auris and Sarajin make it work! If they can-"
Torren pulled her head back with a deep sniffle, "If only I could be so courageous…"
She then weaved her hands together and laid them down at her waist, looking towards the sand shifting at her feet, "I...it is the duty of a Sage to watch over the Tribes, and secure the Wellspring for the leader. To fail in this task, is to bring disgrace to all those who came before and came after you."
"B-But then...I stumbled upon a very kind and friendly person, and let myself get distracted...Let myself be happy." The steadiness in her voice was tearing at the seams, and she regulated it through heavy, quick breaths.
She forced herself to look Brine in the eyes and tell him, "I don't hate you. I never could…"
"There were plenty of fish in the sea but you snagged a timid, worthless one like me in your net and showered me with love and affection," The tears were breaking free, as she brought her hands up just below her chin and tried to smile, "These...these p-past two years have been full of the happiest moments of my life. Enough to make me believe there is a life for me beyond my duty…"
Brine brought his squeezed fist up and swung it down, pleading with pained desperation, "There still can be...! Let me be the one who frees ya!"
"You can't…" Torren said, "It's a dream."
"...And what's wrong with wantin' to dream?" Brine muttered.
"Because eventually...you have to wake up." Torren then forced her smile to show for a brief moment.
She then reached into the basket and pulled out the bundle of blankets, cradling them in her arms as she walked towards him.
Brine was then expected to extend his arms and take what she had. And inside, bundled warm, was a small, newborn baby...
His heart was stabbed by a feeling of guilt and betrayal simultaneously as he stared up at Torren and gawked.
"This is...our daughter." Her shaky hand lingered beneath the baby's head while she pulled away.
She kept pulling back and Brine wanted to follow. She quickened her pace, sliding atop water created from the sand.
With a withdrawn gaze, she whispered to him tenderly, "You have to forget about me Brine. Please...forget a worthless person like me who can't even be there for her daughter."
"Let her grow up...Let her be happy...Please. Let her be whatever she wants to be…"
With one last tear shed, she swerved her head away and muttered, "Goodbye…"
She then rode atop more water to flee the land of shining seas...
"TORREN!?" Brine ran after her until he was at the border. But she was far gone, a shimmering speck in a dirty expanse, now...once more beyond his reach.
The tears she left behind floated in the air, shining, shimmering, splendid, as beautiful as the woman who cast them off...
The baby awoke with a cry, her wail rending Brine's heart so tender, he dropped to his knees and stared blankly into the distance.
A baby, whose heart cried for its mother...
A man, whose heart cried for his lover...
And together, they listened to the waves dancing in the distance, unable to say a word...
Next Time: For Want, We Can Never Have