Chapter 6 - Returning Home… For Now
It was in the early hours of morning when Lili finally returned to the place she had come to call home, in her time on Jaridia.
All was conveniently dark and quiet as Lili gently laid Ariel in her crib. For a few minutes she simply watched her daughter sleep, wistful thoughts about that which she had discovered in Balvak's lab passing through her mind. As she stood there, gazing at the porcelain perfection of her daughter's tiny face, she knew. She was going to do it. Had to. Whatever anger she might have felt toward Da'an for deceiving her had completely melted away, and all that was left now was her aching need to set things right, and have the one last time she thought had been robbed of her.
Lili sank to her knees, hand still resting on the edge of the crib, as fatigue began once again to claim her. She drifted into sleep, there in the nursery; wishes about what could be, and thoughts of the life she had left behind, invaded her dreams.
Lili woke to see Vorjak standing before her, cradling the smiling baby Ariel in his arms. Sensing Lili awaken, he turned his gaze to her.
"Why did you run?" He asked, his voice low - barely a whisper. Lili almost didn't know how to respond. He saw much. More, perhaps, than anyone had ever seen in her before. It was one of the things that had opened her heart to him in the first place, when they had met all that time ago. In this moment, she saw the same piercing gaze, the same knowing look; the same Jaridian she had once known but had almost forgotten. She knew then that she had to tell him what was truthfully in her heart.
"I was afraid." She admitted.
A look of surprise crept over Vorjak's face.
"In all the time I have known you; I have seen only the soldier that you are. You have never betrayed fear of any kind. Why now?"
"I couldn't face admitting it, until now."
At Lili's words, Vorjak placed Ariel back in the crib and turned to kneel before his wife.
"You know you have nothing to fear from me." He told her, earnestly.
"I know." She replied, quietly, her eyes fixed on her knees.
"Lili, I love you."
At those words Lili's eyes flew up to meet Vorjak's, and she again felt her strength awakened under his fiercely passionate gaze.
"I know you love me, just as you have my love. But there are things in my past that I need to resolve, and I need you to trust me. To allow me that." She pleaded. Vorjak lifted his hand to caress her cheek.
"You do not need to seek my permission. If this is what you need, then this is what you shall have."
For the first time in so long, Lili felt comforted by his words. She believed him. No longer felt afraid. And for that she loved him.