The Colorless Land

Chapter 34: Restless

Would she ever get to tell them all the things she had wanted to tell them someday later? Would she ever get to ask them all the questions she still had?

What if she had already missed her chance?

What if she never saw her parents again, even if they found the dragons and undid all the spells? What if it would be too late? What if, by the time she could finally do something, they would be dead and gone?

She stared more intensely at the landscape, the road they followed through the hills, the greens of the grass and the yellow of the stones and the blue of the sky. But all the colors around her never made it past her eyes. On the inside she was fading into white, hollowed out and consumed by guilt and dread and despair.

And ever on the edge of her consciousness, hovering and pulsating, was the temptation of all-defeating blue.

~ ~ ~

They slept in a small town that night, in an inn, unafraid of being followed for the first time in many weeks.

Jolette pretended to sleep, but her mind was awake. Lisha's face, Evariel's words, the fingers of the unnamed shadow circled on and on in her head, and no soft beds or cotton sheets could put her at ease. Not far from her Edmian's breaths rose and fell gently, peacefully, promising that at least he was asleep. The others were in different rooms. Jolette could only assume what they were doing.

Carefully opening one eye, then the other, she peered into the dark room. The moon shone in through the window. All around it stars glistened in the cloudless sky, but the constellations were unfamiliar. Somewhere along their journey the very sky had changed.

Slowly, gently, Jolette turned around and sat up. Edmian did not react. He really did seem to be asleep. She relaxed slightly. Good. That meant she could sneak out in peace without having to worry about him noticing.

Without bothering to put on shoes or a jacket, she slipped through the room, out the door and into the dark corridor beyond. The carpeted floor creaked faintly under her feet. On the walls hung woven tapestries she couldn't make out in the dark, the kind that would have been reserved for nobles in Firland. The air smelled faintly of herbs she didn't recognize.

Little by little her feet led her down the stairs and out of the building, until at last she stood in the middle of the Jadirian town under the light of the moon and stars. Everyone else was asleep. The only thing moving was the wind, breathing through the trees and carrying with it the faint scent of unknown places.

Taking a deep breath, Jolette looked up at the sky, gazing at the unfamiliar stars, trying to find patterns. She wondered what they were, exactly. How far away they were, if they could ever be reached. The darkness felt soothing somehow. As if, for the first time in an eternity, she could breathe properly.

Her footsteps led her around the house to the back of the inn. A small garden lay here, peacefully dreaming, olive trees and a well and a bit of grass. She sat down, wondering if Lisha had ever been here. Somehow wishing she could have showed her this place if she hadn't.

On the side of the well sat a figure. Jolette could not make out the details between the dark shadows from this distance, but it seemed to be a woman, her long hair blowing faintly in the wind. Snippets of her voice carried over. Mutters...no...sobs?

"I knew I would find you here," Aithal's voice emerged from the shadows.

Instinctively Jolette hid in an evergreen bush, peering between blossoms and leaves as she crept closer. Part of her chided herself for snooping. The other part of her knew there was no way she could leave now without being seen.