Trial by Flame

Chapter 8

"So this is where you've been hiding?"

Eithien found Clariya in the upstairs healing room, a teasing edge to his voice.

"Is it that much of a shock?" she responded, holding her palms flat over an unconscious body. They glowed weakly.

"Not at all. But a part of me was hoping you'd finally talk to her."

Clariya's healing flickered. Her eyes darted from bed to bed, counting the few still bodies and more common empty sheets. To him, her guilt was obvious.

"Do you think there's any other ill downstairs?" she asked, feigning a sudden interest in the door. "I'm sure this can't be everyone who needs healing."

"I don't know. If only we had someone who could detect that," Eithien said flatly. His words were sopping with sarcasm.

Clariya pursed her lips. Checkmate.

"I don't see why you're still trying to avoid it," he continued, plopping down in a nearby chair. "Both of you know the truth. At this point, you're just making her feel like you don't care."

She looked out the window, refusing to face him. "Maybe I don't."

"You know that's not true."

"Then maybe I want it to be."

"For Lydiia's sake, Clariya," Eithien muttered, holding his head in his hand. "You're acting like a kid. Is this what it was like dealing with me for so long?"

At that, she stiffened, turning slightly towards him. The corner of her lip twitched.

"What about you and Faren?" she asked, that defensive shield not quite fallen. "You all haven't exactly been acting brotherly."

"He goes by Mirtis now," he reminded her, though it doubled as a reminder to himself. He practiced the name again and again in his head, but still felt it slip sometimes. "And it's a lot harder to feel intimate when you don't have memories. We treat each other better now than before, I'd say, but it's not going to be the same as it was back then. I think we both accept that."

"Then why can't Eden do the same?" A shimmery spike of mana surrounded her, a sign of her control faltering. Her eyes widened, and she closed her eyes, putting a cap on it.

"You don't have to stay in your human form if it's straining," Eithien mentioned, a brief and quiet tangent. "But it's because she still has memories, Clariya. All of those years that you were absent—she can still feel them. With her magic leaking out, too, and all of this conflict with the gods, she's trying to find her place in the world. She already had a life, and now, all that she's known is changing. I don't think it's too much to ask for you to try to talk to her, or at least show her a little of a mentor role."

His words hung in the air, met only by silence. She slumped against the windowsill, staring off where the sun and forest combined. Eithien knew he'd won.

"Why do you care so much?" she murmured, barely intelligible. Her cheek was pressed against the glass.

"Because I respect you more than anyone, and I know this will help you in the long run," he said, lifting himself from the chair. He softened his voice, feeling the slightest dull ache in his chest. "And because she deserves what I can't have."

He didn't need to say it for her to know. His parents were long dead, hated by the people. Mirtis may have been alive, but he wasn't the same person. Eithien was locked in memories of a different time, a different world, and one that, now, he'd experienced alone. No matter what the future held, it was the one victory that Hjerti would always have over him.

"I'll try," Clariya said, peeling herself off the glass. She steadied herself on her feet, looking over where one of the sick men began to stir. "I don't know if I can do what I need to yet, but I'll try."

"There's still time. Don't stress over it too much," he said, ruffling a wave in his hair. "I'll help you if you need it, too."

"You better," she said, stalling before she faced him. Her face was blank, delaying emotion, which was an odd look on someone as usually forward as Clariya.

Eithien nodded, turning for the door. The floorboards creaked beneath his feet.

"And Eithien?"

Clariya's voice broke through the sound, louder now than before.

"Thank you."