She had given up everything for her family.
And she would do so again without question, without hesitation, without thoughts of if and then. If there was something Minah loved most, loved more than herself, it was her family. The legacies were her world and so she vowed herself to them, to her ancestors, to those who still lived and breathed. No matter how far they may be, how long gone, Minah was in their servitude. It was a weight upon her shoulders, but she bore no burden.
She remembers that day. Liam had already left them, there had been some sense of finality when he left that said he would not return. And then Aunt Elena left, and then Aunt Lilli, but it didn't matter because Minah still had Maren. She still had her parents. She still had Tarian.
Until she didn’t.
“You took him from me!” She screamed at her father, kicking at him, butting her head against his strong, silvered chest. “Bring him back!” She yelled between sobs. Malachi did nothing to quell her anger, Kalina sat mute in the corner with Kildare. Her father let her exhaust herself until she grew tired. More than she was upset, she was terrified, if gone too long, he would forget about her, as one forgets their shadow that follows them when they do not look upon it often.
Her eyes finally grew heavy and her body limp, and her father let her lean her small, fragile body against his own as he took her to bed and Minah drifted into a fitful sleep. She might have imagined she stayed asleep until Tarian returned to her. She might have awoken to have her brother standing watch over her as she had often caught him doing. But it was her silvered father who came to her bedside. “You…” she stuttered out before Malachi quieted her. And she did not sob, but perhaps silent tears are the ones that sting the most.
He turns to her, with blue eyes that remind her of glistening waterfalls and her entire body heaves in blissful anticipation.
Until it all shatters.
That heart of her weeps inside her chest with his words. She can feel her entire body breaking, fumbling. This pangs worse than so many other things. Minah has endured losing her home, losing her parents, watching family members drift away to find their own way, but somehow this may be worse. To have him before her, but be unable to hold him, to love him and he do the same in return.
“I’m Minah,” she says to him, clearly hurt. “You forgot about me.” There is a shadow of their Glam in those brown eyes. “You told me you wouldn’t. I asked you if you said you forgot about me and you said you never would,” she says, and she almost grows angry. Almost. But Minah chooses to break instead, as if she could not hold anger in her body, and it crumbles into anguish.
“I’m Minah.”
And she starts to cry.
“I’m Minah.”
@Tarian