Tales of Merlia: The Tale of Holly Day

Part 13

The anger seemed to melt away the more Redbeard and Solaria talked through the night. It started with talking about Holly. Her deeds and her life and the like. Little things like how she came up with Salmonberries after finding salmon eggs in a stream and getting inspired to make those sour fruity berries found in clusters on Rockweeds. Or how she regretted making piranhas because she lost the tip of her left index finger, and yet, she couldn't part with them.

Solaria spoke about Holly as though they knew each other their whole lives, though they didn't. She spoke about their adventures in the Caribbean, where they discovered coconuts, and the more important thing, that they hurt when they were dropped on your head.

"I wanted to burn those fuckin' trees. Those stupid fruits gave me a lump on my head that lasted a good long while, I'm lucky that it didn't kill me."

Redbeard could no longer feel his own body, but he didn't care. He howled with laughter as Solaria chattered on, and not to be polite, but he found Solaria being attacked by coconuts humorous.

Solaria turned to him and scoffed, "Quiet, it isn't funny!" she couldn't help but give a weak smile, "It could have killed me, I know it!"

"What I can get is...i-is..." Redbeard huffed through his laughter, wiping the starry bubbles from his eyes as they floated into the sky, "You kicked them thinking that...th-that you could get rid of them, but you slipped on them like glass marbles and cracked the damn thing open, spilling the water from within it and discovering the meat as well..."

"And Holly was starstruck by the bloody thing! She marveled over the white filling inside and tasted the milk and was just..." Solaria puffed, her shoulders raising like a puffer fish displaying its spines, "In awe of the thing. To me it was like a hairy ball of death to her...t-to her, it was a gorgeous thing that gave life! And don't get me started on pomegranates. She loved those more than anything."

"I've only had pomegranate wine," Redbeard admitted, "It was heavenly, though it left Estellaria a tad tipsy."

"She could never handle her own..." Solaria muttered, "I'm sorry you had to deal with that...ghost of a bitch."

Redbeard stiffened, "She's...something."

"She's a bitch, always has been, even in life. She has emotion, but she's stingy with them. She only cares of her work, and even that she handles it with such...a lack of feeling sometimes I wonder if she even had a heart to begin with."

"She is the Goddess of Death and Life..." Redbeard reasoned, "She must be hardened to such things. You'd have to be if you have to be the person who decides who lives and who dies, add to the fact that you know when everyone is going to die, and I don't blame her for being so closed off...she must be miserable.

Solaria rolled her eyes, "I don't care if she's bloody miserable, we all are suffering. The least she can do is tuck Luna in at night or...or..." Solaria winced, "I'm going to sound selfish for saying this, but I needed her when Holly died. All I needed was some shred of kindness, some understanding that I'm in pain, some reassurance that everything is going to be all right. But all I got was, 'Get up, raise the sun, sow the seeds, don't be lazy...g-get over it...'"

Redbeard winced, "Surely she's not that cold."

Solaria watched as Luna added a red button nose to the now built snowman, her voice low, "Oh she said it, I heard her. And she said it with such disgust. And this wasn't a month or two in, this was the night after Holly died."

Luna glanced over at them, "It's true, she told me not to cry when Holly died, she said a real goddess never cries."

Redbeard blinked in surprise before scoffing, "Pardon me for saying, but how do you not plot her murder every day if she is so difficult?"