08-06-2019, 11:54 AM
In all his life, the only certain things that have kept him grounded were his parents and his eldest brother. After all, hadn’t they come running to him when the labyrinth rose up in Loess and stayed at his side until he recovered? Not even war could tear his father from them and now they are scattering like ashes on the breeze. What if they don’t return? What if they forget about someone as small and weak as Malone? Fresh tears swell up within his eyes and he finds himself shaking with each sob against Meraxes while the other boy tries to comfort him.
“I gave her my heart. I gave it to her in exchange for your eye,” he says as he sniffles, doe eyes wide as he stares up into his brother’s face. “Then I came back and Mother was leaving for Sylva.”
In his mind, he is still trying to make sense of Ophanim taking off into the skies but his heart breaks every time he remembers it all. He swore he loved the boys but how could he when he was so willing to leave them behind? Malone wanted to scream at him and command him to stay but his tongue felt paralyzed in his mouth and the words just wouldn’t come out.
But maybe Meraxes is right, maybe Starsin doesn’t intend to leave as their father did. He tries to cling to that fact but it all hurts and he’s never been more uncertain. The foundation of his life has been torn apart and left in heaps of rubble to remind him how perfect it all had been before.
The smaller boy presses once more to his brother as he begins to steady despite the ache remaining fierce within his heart. “I don’t know where he went. He just told me he loved us and he would make things work, and he would come back when he could.” None of it made sense even as he heard his own voice repeating the promises he’d been given. Make what work? Wasn’t their family just fine? They all loved each other and somehow that wasn’t enough for him. His anger chews gleefully on his heart strings as he tries to fit all these pieces together so the world makes sense again.
“Should.. should we tell Mother?” he asks, lifting his head and sniffling weakly as he watches Meraxes, praying he knows what to do.
“I gave her my heart. I gave it to her in exchange for your eye,” he says as he sniffles, doe eyes wide as he stares up into his brother’s face. “Then I came back and Mother was leaving for Sylva.”
In his mind, he is still trying to make sense of Ophanim taking off into the skies but his heart breaks every time he remembers it all. He swore he loved the boys but how could he when he was so willing to leave them behind? Malone wanted to scream at him and command him to stay but his tongue felt paralyzed in his mouth and the words just wouldn’t come out.
But maybe Meraxes is right, maybe Starsin doesn’t intend to leave as their father did. He tries to cling to that fact but it all hurts and he’s never been more uncertain. The foundation of his life has been torn apart and left in heaps of rubble to remind him how perfect it all had been before.
The smaller boy presses once more to his brother as he begins to steady despite the ache remaining fierce within his heart. “I don’t know where he went. He just told me he loved us and he would make things work, and he would come back when he could.” None of it made sense even as he heard his own voice repeating the promises he’d been given. Make what work? Wasn’t their family just fine? They all loved each other and somehow that wasn’t enough for him. His anger chews gleefully on his heart strings as he tries to fit all these pieces together so the world makes sense again.
“Should.. should we tell Mother?” he asks, lifting his head and sniffling weakly as he watches Meraxes, praying he knows what to do.
malone