A/N: The last of Huei's trilogy before the next arc of The Silent Song. Huei speaks to the sea, and comes to terms with his guilt. This chapter references chapter 10, Huei of Glee Anselm.
Music for this chapter: Spirited Away - The Sixth Station
Home is the Sailor (Part 3)
Warm waves lap at Huei's feet, then his ankles, and knees, and hips.
The next breaker surges at him out of the blurred mist of the Force, and takes him under.
Huei exhales once, bubbles tickling his cheekbones–
Child.
A voice in his head, melding into the roar of the currents as they heave at him; he is spun out, further, until his webbed feet leave the curved edge of the Gampassa's shell, and then–
Child.
His eyes fly open instinctively as the Force crashes down on him all at once. Though he cannot see the sunlight through the water, he senses all the same.
Gampassa.
Glee Anselm to Huei Tori in this moment, through the eyes of the Gampassa, king of the oceans:
Endless, azure water, a realm deeper than the highest mountains of the land far-off and few, scattered patches of green on an ocean a whole world across, cycle after cycle of air and water, sky and sea, midnight depths and sunlit skies, breaths inhaled and exhaled over ponderous half-millenia, generations of Nautolans born and passing before one breath completed – rise, fall, and rise again; children that swim beside and laugh and run on the great expanse of shell, Father, Mother, I caught a fish! Spears of mother-of-pearl and a city of coral, sea-birds above and sea-wraiths below, glowlamps in navy blue depths and sunlight lancing through the shallows, sea-songs of silverfish, deep, salt-scented notes from the deepsea creatures that murmur so low that their cries echo and warp a thousand times before reaching the surface–
Huei gasps in a breath of pure water, and breathes. His headtresses flicker with the scents of a thousand species.
He cannot see. But he sees so much.
–and there, right beside him, languid and calm in the currents, a massive, ancient presence, each thought as slow and ponderous as the curling of the tide.
The Gampassa.
"Hello," Huei whispers into the water, a susurration of bubbles against his lips.
The brushing of that great mind against his own; an impression of a juvenile sea-bird curled in its nest, eased and cajoled to leave its warm burrow to spread its wings, rising on a thermal towards the sky.
"Yes, I've returned," Huei murmurs. "Because…because I–"
Because I left him there, with Xanatos, in that Sith Temple.
The ache of knowing Obi-Wan is at the moment somewhere in the guts of a slave-ship light-years from home is only eclipsed by the pain of not knowing where he would be; what would happen to him, or if they would ever meet again, brothers in all but blood.
The currents stir, and the Gampassa's thundering rumble thuds through Huei's headtresses, bringing with it the scent of the sea; not as a salt-limned sunset or sharp-scented waves, but the ocean – the pheromones of a fish-swarm, the scent of whale-oil and sea-fronds, coral and rock and sulfur-tinged clouds from volcanic islands, half a world away.
Listen.
Huei curls in on himself, shaken, drifting with the current.
The ancient mind breaks through his shields like a storm-surge through driftwood.
The sea-bird.
It flew far on its first flight; when it returns borne on the ochre flames of sunset, it has grown the full plumage of young adulthood, sharp-winged and smooth-beaked. Its eyes are scarred from battle, but it draws a straight line across the sky as it returns home.
"But I have not returned the same," Huei whispers.
The Gamapassa's presence flares, so bright in the Force that it sears Huei to the bone.
Far above, the sea-birds are taking flight; how Huei knows this, he is not sure.
"Gampassa!" a child's voice shouts, out of the swirling depths of the Unifying Force, where it bleeds into the endless expanse of the ocean, even as the sea-birds shrieked as they took flight beside the laughing child.
That was–
That was Huei.
Huei, with stubby legs finally strong enough to walk out under open air, laughing at the seaside with his mother.
The Gampassa's presence curls around him, wraps him in what can only be described as an embrace.
Welcome home.
An embrace without judgment; uncaring that he had no sight by which to see his old friend. His mother's embrace, so soft and careful and yet so filled with warmth; his master, whose face he has never seen, but yet teaches him to laugh where he had forgotten how.
Huei has not returned here unchanged, yes; and neither will Obi-Wan.
But should the Force will it that they should meet again, will they not still be friends forged in adversity and brothers in all but blood? Will they not greet each other with an embrace and a laugh – a wheeze, on Obi-Wan's part, but a glimmer to outshine it in the Force – and move on together?
Wait, the Force murmurs, as the waves ebb and flow. Wait, and listen.
The Gampassa's mind slips back into the bright background of the tide, and Huei reaches out at the loss, despite himself. But then the words of the Gampassa and the Force come to him again, and he relaxes into the current, letting them take him where it will.
The sea takes him and deposits him gently on the shore, splayed on his back in soaked tunics in the glorious afternoon warmth, the smooth steadiness of the Gampassa's shell at his shoulder blades and under his fingertips, the waves lapping at his knees.
The sea-birds are singing.
"Huei?" A voice from above. Feemor sounds slightly wary.
Huei breathes in a lungful of air that turns into a wet half-chuckle. He feels…almost drunk. On the Force, no less.
A rustle of cloth next to him, and a hand finds his shoulder. It brings him back – to the air and the sky, out of the timeless, borderless sea.
"I think I'm better now," Huei says, in reply to the question his master is not asking. After the intricacies of the Gampassa's vast, untamed mind, Feemor's Force-presence is like an open book.
Feemor's signature flares in relief, then mischief. "You look drunk."
"The Force," Huei says. "Just. I mean. The Force."
A pause.
Huei can hear the smile in Feemor's voice as his master replies, "I understand."
"Is this what it's like for Obi-Wan all the time?" Huei murmurs.
A snort, on Feemor's part. "Perhaps."
Huei sits up, slowly. Dabbles his hand in the water.
"I left him there," he says, quietly.
Feemor sighs. "The fault is not yours."
"I know," Huei says. He inhales, slowly. And then: "So I am all the more glad he will have the Force with him, no matter where he is."
Feemor's arm settles around Huei's shoulders, and a bearded chin rests on top of his head. "Yes."
Huei returns his master's hug, and although not everything is all right, and likely will not be all right for a long while to come, here, in this moment, the Force is more than enough.
The Gampassa glides on, through warm waters, as the sea-birds descend to nest.
A/N: I've hashed out the details of the next arc of The Silent Song, so I'll be putting out the first chapter of the new arc in the next few days! I just finished an exam this week, so I'm taking advantage of the short lull in workload to get the next arc going. It's been very hectic but I've posted a couple more oneshots to my tumblr, if anyone is interested! eirianerisdar tumblr com (replace the spaces with dots)
Also, I really want to thank everyone for reviewing and favouriting. I'm sorry I couldn't reply as much as I used to - I was so busy I barely had time to put out chapters. But I treasure every one of your comments, and each one brings a smile to my face. Thank you all so much!
