Fourteen words. That was all the words that had been said after Luna's admission about the trap. Madi had kept track of the count in her own head.
First there was the cleared throats, and the awkward exchange of needing to clean up the fire and the food that was left. That was five words.
Clarke and Lexa had returned to their own room, without much talk—something about the pressure sores, they'd said, but all of them knew that it wasn't true. That was seven words, and two words more with both Madi and Luna's low murmurs of agreement.
And now, Luna was sat on the couch of the living room, contemplating it all. She didn't meet anybody's eyes since that talk—Madi would've thought that she would've retired to her abode by now, but she didn't. And now, Madi would be saying the fifteenth word.
''C-can we talk?'' Madi asked, her voice nearly a whisper, as she slid beside Luna onto the couch. And that was when Luna closed her eyes, tightened her fists, and nodded a small, determined nod.
When she opened them again, they weren't the same anymore. ''We should,'' she said, her voice constricted. ''Ther—there is a lot I still need to tell. Madi. Too much.'' Luna took a deep breath, and wrenched her eyes away from Madi's desperate gaze. She couldn't do this—not when her little sister was staring at her like that.
But you have to, Luna. Remember? No more secrets. No more foul memories to hide. Say it. Spit it. Tell her you will answer her questions truthfully. Sworn on a blood pact.
Luna sucked in a slow breath. And when she expelled the breath, she straightened her back, gazed at Madi with determination. ''Madi, I swear to you. If I shall not tell the truth—''
''— then I may give you a death by a thousand cuts,'' Madi ended glumly, as she looked up at her sister. ''I know how it ends, Luna. Y—y'don't need 'ta explain it to me.''
Luna. Not ai sis. Spirits, she's serious, then.
''Alright, Madi,'' Luna said, and breathed in a long breath. ''You understand. So tell me your questions.''
''H-how long has—has it been since...?''
''Two years,'' Luna said, voice lamentful. ''Two years since I arrived at Shallow Valley.''
Madi gulped. ''Y-you've been alive for so long. All—a-around Shallow Valley. S-since two y-years after P-praimfaya struck. M-maybe even longer. So why'd you take so long?'' she said, her voice striken. ''To-to tell us—to tell me—that y-you're alive?''
Luna bit back a sigh. ''Shallow Valley is large, Madi,'' she said. ''F-for the first year or so, I had been around the southwest forests of the Valley. Hunted until there was no game left; not enough to sustain an ecosystem, apparently,'' she said, her voice rueful. ''You—you were around the northeast. After I had exhausted most of the hunt, I had followed the river upstream to your end. Even then—'' and at this, she chuckled, ''—even then, I had not realised.''
''But you saw me,'' Madi said, urging. ''Saw me in 'ta woods. I know it, 'cause you wouldn't've appeared if it was something less.'' she took a breath, and met Luna's eyes. ''I saw you. T-the flash o' b-brown hair. The shadows in the woods. Y-you took my bow,'' Madi said, and her distress was apparent as it magnified in size. ''Y-you saw m-me, an'—an' I saw you. How didn't you realise it was me?...'' she asked, trailing off in disbelief.
And at Madi's desperate words, Luna chuckled bitterly. ''I was not seeing you. I was seeing ghosts.'' And with a rueful smile, another chuckle, and one small breath— ''and you were, too.''
Or at least, we thought we had been.
Madi closed her mouth. But another thought after another barraged after itself, until there were too many to count—all those thoughts she had ignored, in her bliss at her sister's arrival, at her being here, at her being alive and alive and alive— that she had deliberately forced back down, convinced herself that it didn't matter, that she had a good reason why, that she didn't let herself to think about, because she told herself that her sister was alive and that was all that was gonna matter to her now anymore, but now they all slammed into her mind like a truck, and then when she opened her mouth the words tumbled through like the start of a waterfall. ''A-an' why—why'd you set that trap?'' she blurted out, and even then Madi knew she was becoming more distressed. ''T-the one w-we blamed Carl for?! W-why...?'' her voice faltered, and she trailed off.
