Awakening - The Last Science #1

Interlude III - Family - II

  "I think you're forgetting something," Ruby said, and her hand left Cinza's skin for a moment to point at the scroll tube resting at the back of the tree against the trunk. It was sitting next to a small pile of Cinza's charms and bracelets where Ruby had tossed them, just visible in the dim glow Cinza was keeping alight under their blanket of robes.

  She nodded. "Until now, of course. Still, we've become a religion. We even worship a goddess."

  "Well, our goddess has proven herself many times over," Ruby said smugly.

  "You know the world would describe us as a cult."

  "Let them," she said fiercely. "If we are a cult, then we're the first cult in history to be right about who we worship. Does it matter what they label us?"

  Cinza smiled. She enjoyed Ruby's passion and spirit—in more ways than one. "There was a time where I would have said the same thing about being Christian."

  "Are you confessing to me you're a skeptic?" Ruby asked playfully.

  "If I were?"

  She was silent for a moment, but her hands never left Cinza's skin, nor her face from Cinza's hair. "You're our leader. Skepticism is good in a leader, it keeps them from being blind. If you don't believe in her as a goddess, that's for you to decide. I'll still follow you no matter where it takes us."

  Cinza sighed and pressed herself closer into Ruby's embrace. "You are one of the most beautiful and magical things in all the universe, Ruby."

  "Flattery, my love?" Ruby tickled her gently. "When we were having such a serious discussion!"

  "I am being serious," Cinza frowned. "I've just been thinking a lot about my past lately."

  "Ah, the great and mysterious history of Cinza the Bold, first of her name."

  "It needn't be a mystery," Cinza said, though she felt a pang of anxiety and fear in her chest as she said it. "I'd tell you if you asked."

  "But you don't want me to ask, and I know that you don't want me to, so I leave it as a marvelous tale forever buried in those diaries you keep so meticulously next to our bed." As Ruby got more tired, she frequently began using dramatic language with flair, as if she were a bard telling stories from some ancient legend. It was endearing, as Cinza herself had always loved that style of speech, and tended to employ it herself when speaking in public.

  "I'd tell you though, if you ever asked me," she added, and her flair was suddenly gone once more, back to the quiet, bashful tone of truth and exposure.

  Ruby was offering to expose herself to Cinza in a way neither of them had yet managed. Cinza knew that Ruby wasn't her real name, just as Cinza's own true name was well-kept secret beyond any of the residents of Rallsburg. They had shared little beyond the basic details of their own stories. While Cinza kept diligently recording her life as she always had, she shuddered to share those details with the world—even those closest to her.

  "Do you want me to ask you?" she asked.

  "...Yes."

  "Even though I still don't want you to ask me?"

  Another hesitation. "Yes," Ruby whispered, but she sounded resolute. Cinza believed it was what she wanted.

  "What's your name?" Cinza asked, unsure where else to start.

  "Hannah. Hannah Newman." Ruby sounded as though she were letting out a huge sigh as she spoke her own name. They'd spent so long together that the secret finally giving way was like a breath of fresh air.