Songs of Fallen Stars

12

Elara

I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much as I did tonight. After Rion killed the beast, I broke down. Something inside me snapped and I just let go. I’ve always been the kind of person to not let others see my pain. To never let it show, but tonight, it was all over for me. Rion held me as I sobbed, he cleaned off my face and got rid of the blood and the body.

He held me all night as I cried myself to sleep. I listened to his heart beating, evenly. It was the only thing that kept me grounded. The steady strong beating of it lulled me to sleep at long last.

“Elara, we have to get up.. We need to go”, He whispers to me at some point in the morning. I groan, not wanting to move. I look down at myself, I’m filthy.

“You can bathe quickly before we leave. But we must leave soon” He releases me and goes to the bath, It appears full and steaming hot right before my eyes.

“I will get your breakfast” He moves so quickly, leaving me alone.

My fingers tremble as I remove my clothing, letting it drop to the floor in a dirty heap. As soon as I step into the water it becomes filthy and bloody, I don’t linger. I scrub the blood off and get out.

Once I am redressed in clean clothing, Rion comes back in. I am brushing out my hair when he places my breakfast on the bed. I set my comb down and pick up the bowl of porridge, inhaling it.

Rion picks up the comb and begins to brush out my hair while I eat. It feels nice, I have to admit, having someone touch my hair. I haven’t had that since my mother did it when I was a child. His fingers move expertly as he braids and fiddles with my hair. Within a few minutes, I have a beautiful braided crown atop my head.

“Thank you” I turn to him, he just smiles and tells me we must go now.

I get back into the carriage and we set off, another day of boredom. I wish I had my cell phone, so I can listen to my music or play a game. Something. Anything, I am so bored, I reach into the bag Rosa sent along with me and pull out a book.

Of course, she would send a book about Siren tales along with us. Like I didn’t already know too much about them, now I get to read folklore about them.

I use the small chamber pot in the corner and change my makeshift pad. The bleeding has nearly stopped. It must be due to the overwhelming stress I’m under. Sometimes back home, when I was super stressed out I would skip it all together. I wish this was one of those times.

We stop sometime later for a quick lunch break and to spread my legs, Rion and I walk through a small patch of woods, letting me get some fresh air.

“I’m sorry this journey is so hard” He tells me, as if it is his fault.

“I expected it to be tiring, it’s alright” I say

He leads me back to the makeshift camp and we eat. Within half an hour we are loaded back up and traveling once more. We don’t stop again until dinner, this time Rion stays in the tent with me. Dinner is brought in by one of the soldiers and he quickly leaves. It’s just the two of us. After last night I’m not sure how to act with him. Something inside me has flickered. My hatred, and walls are falling down. Slowly.

The next few days are long and exhausting. By the time we stop for dinner, I barely have enough strength to eat and bathe. I just crash into the bed and pass out, my period has stopped and I no longer get looks of curiosity from the men. Rion sleeps on the floor beside the bed every night. He tells me tomorrow we will begin our flying journey. I am terrified of heights, I don't have the courage to tell him that though. He says he had something special made for me to make it easier. I have no idea what it could be, or how it’s going to help make things easier but I don’t question him.

He says once we begin flying it will only take two days to get to the Siren Kingdom. I am nervous, after all my readings on Sirens, I wish we could just go back home.

I get out of the bath, even though all my limbs are begging me to stay in the water. Being in that carriage all day for days on end is making everything hurt. The roads are rough and I’m bounced all over the place. I have bruises all over my body and I’m so very sore.

I crawl into bed and close my eyes tight. It’s storming outside again. It’s cold, I pull the furs up around my neck. I hear Rion come inside, shaking off the snow. It falls to the ground and forms a puddle, he kicks off his boots and begins to undress.

“What are you doing?” I am puzzled. I watch him remove his tunic, leaving him in just his slacks. He has tattoos going down his arms, spreading across his chest and shoulders. When he turns to toss his shirt I see it spreads across his back as well. It looks like fire and water colliding.

“I haven’t bathed in three days.. I want a hot bath” He says as he begins to pull off his pants I lift the furs and cover my eyes.

I hear him chuckle and then the splash of the water as it overflows from his size. The water soaks the ground around the tub.

“It’s safe now. You can open your eyes”

“Are you still naked?”

“Yes..”

“Then it’s not safe!”

He bellows out a hearty laugh. “I’m not so bad on the eyes, you know” He says sarcastically defensive.

That’s exactly why I’m covering my eyes.

It’s entirely too much too fast, my heart is beating so quickly I fear it may explode from my chest.

“Can I ask you something?”

I peek out from behind the furs and see him looking at me patiently.

“What is it?”

“Do you have a lover? Back in your land, I mean”

I think back to the last relationship I had, it ended badly. Triston was not the kind of guy you put on hold to further your career. He didn’t understand why I wanted to take things slowly and not jump in head first. He broke my heart when he left. He had told me he would wait, that he wanted to marry me and then he left.

“No.” I say, I have no lingering feelings for him, it happened so long ago but thinking of it makes me feel so empty.

“Do you have a large family?”

“No.. I lost my parents in a fire when I was a child. My uncle took me in but he died ten years ago”

“What is waiting for you back home?” He seems genuinely curious.

Thinking about it, all I really have back home is my fish, which are probably dead by now. A big empty house, student loans to be paid off, a dwindling savings account and a horribly stressful job.

I don’t tell Rion any of this, of course. But there is a little voice in the back of my mind that tells me I really don’t have anything to go home to.

“If we are not able to find a way to send you back home, staying here, in my land… would it really be so bad?” There’s hope in his voice.

“No”