Silenced Voice

Chapter 19 Winter

They were gone. Moment ago Moon had asked him to join her and hugged him, and now she was no longer visible. Qibli had kept Moon so tightly close to him that he had no chance to talk to Moon anymore. Maybe that was better. He might have said something that he would have regretted and been ashamed of. Now he should just forget. Again.

He lay down with trembling legs, let his head fall against the rock and closed his eyes.
It was more painful to break from the inside than from the outside.

Wren sat down next to him and put an arm on his neck.
"You should go after her. This might be the only chance..." she whispered.

"No... the opportunity already passed. It would have been better to die in that ravine than feel this pain. If I would have known..."
"You can't say that! You don't know what life still has to give you and what you can give to the world. You have been building a bridge between two different species! You play a more important role than anyone realizes."

I can immerse myself in work, but all that's left is a shell when the inside is broken. There are no more colors in the world.
"Sky must be worried... We should go to Sanctuary", Winter said in a hollow voice instead of answering.

"Oh Winter..." Wren sighed and leaned her fluffy head against him. They lay there in silence for a while until Wren got up.
"You fly ahead to tell Sky, so he can come get me. I'll follow on foot, and then you can pick me up along the way."

"There is no way I will leave you walking up the mountain alone! Sky would never forgive me if I lost you now. If you can't come and sit on my back, in that case I'll walk with you."
"We don't have anything I can put on your back so I can come aboard, but company would be nice", Wren said with a smile.

Winter stood up and stopped to breathe in the fresh mountain air. After the storm passed, the scorching heat of weeks was gone and the rain had brought out all the scents of the soil, which the heat had diluted and bound in place. Even the distant and familiar smell of snow came with the wind from the more distant mountain peaks. But now nothing felt like anything.

When they started walking over the mountain, towards its western slope, the sun had already sunk close to the horizon, and the wisps of cloud left by the storm were colored in different shades of orange, gold, pink and purple, deepening the colors of sand, forest and rivers in the landscape that spread out ahead.

"Look how wonderful colors!" Wren gasped.

But Winter was not able to enjoy the beauty of the surroundings. Everything felt black and white. Or rather gray.
"Yes..." he said without even looking around. Wren glanced at him and sighed.

"Everything will be alright again. That experience was so traumatic that you need to give yourself time. As soon as we get to the Sanctuary, you'll first rest properly and then go see your friends. She asked you to come along. You could visit Jade Mountain."

"I don't think she meant it... She just didn't know what to say", answered Winter.
Or at least that's what she looked like... Why did she say she could walk into Sanctuary healers? She probably wouldn't have wanted others to do so much work for her... He wouldn't let his conscious mind come up with another explanation, even though some part of his unconscious mind was trying to forcefully offer the explanation he was missing. Missed more than anything else.

"Maybe we should make a plan in case that Invincible Lord tries to capture more dragons", Wren mused.
"He wants you. You need to be kept safe. He doesn't do anything with just dragons. I think he hasn't given up and must be really angry when he wakes up. We don't necessarily know what he is capable of yet", answered Winter, his expression darkening.

"Perhaps. But I can be careful now. I fear more for Sky. If he sees a snail, he forgets everything else", Wren laughed. "Right now we don't need to think about what Invincible Lord is capable of doing. Let's forget about him for now, shall we?"
"I'd rather forget him completely", Winter grunted.