Breakfast was a simple affair, eggs and toasts with jam, but to Silay it was a feast. Eating inside, at a proper table was not something she had ever thought to consider a luxury. Jarlen all but inhaled his breakfast before Silay was barely halfway done with hers. He stood up and dropped his napkin on the table the two of them had been sharing. "Well, back to the apothecary." Before Silay could respond, he was out the door.
Edo approached the now empty chair. "Mind if I join you?"
Silay gestured for him to sit, and he did so. She waited for him to say something, but he he didn't. Deciding he still didn't feel like talking, she finished her meal in silence. She thought it should have been awkward, eating in silence like that, but was surprised to find it wasn't. When Silay was done eating, Edo finally spoke.
"Would you go for a walk with me?"
"Sure." Silay stood and picked up her and Jarlen's plates. Edo walked over to the door, waiting for her. After Silay set the plates down on the bar tables, she joined Edo. "All right," she smiled. "Let's go."
Edo returned the smile, but like the his earlier one, it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I didn't really have anywhere in particular in mind. I just thought we could walk around the town and maybe...talk?"
"Fine with me!" She smiled again.
The two of them set off down the main street, heading away from the town hall where they had been last night. Again, Silay waited for Edo to say something, but when he didn't, she decided it was time to start the conversation herself.
"Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"
Edo paused before answering. "You're a very strange person."
"I--What?" That was not the reply she had been expecting.
Edo blinked. "Ummm...sorry. I think I meant to just think that, not say it out loud. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Silay raised her eyebrows. "And that makes it better?"
"No! I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just...it's odd. Sometimes, you seem really young, naive. And other times you--"
"And other times I seem like, oh, I don't know, like I'm the same age as you, which I am?"
Edo shrugged. "Like I said, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Nor do I think it's bad. But it is odd."
"I'm odd."
"No! I'm saying that! Just that the way you act..."
Silay cut him off again. "I know you aren't saying that. I'm answering your question. I am odd. That's why my behavior is strange. I'm not upset with you." She had intended the last part just to be kind, as Edo really did seem to regret what he had said, but as she spoke the words, she realized she really wasn't upset with him. If anything, she was upset that he had pointed out something that she was too aware of herself.
Edo hadn't said anything else, and Silay realized he was waiting for her to explain what she meant. She sighed.
"It's the whole not having a future thing. It made me an outcast in Dargrosa."
Edo nodded, and Silay continued.
"It was more than that though. Since my Fortune Day and before this...quest," she almost said unquest, but remembered her decision about that last night, "the only people I had to talk to were my parents. And of course, I was their little girl to them. Not an adult. Which is why I am the way I am. I haven't had a lot of experience talking to other people. Or even being around them. Which, I suppose, does make me strange."
Edo grinned regretfully. "That probably wasn't the best word to use."
Silay smiled back. "No, probably not."
A turn in the road brought them to a residential street, filled with small cottages with gardens in the front. "All, right." Edo turned and walked backward, so he was facing Silay. "Another question for you."
"Technically, the first was a statement, not a question. And stop walking like that before you run into something."
"A first question, then." Edo turned back around. "When we escaped Sojan, why did you have me go back for Talis?"
Silay thought before answering. She knew the simple answer. At the time of their escape, it had just seemed like the right thing to do. But why had it seemed right? She tried to put her thoughts into words. "It's hard, growing up in Dargrosa. I mean," she added hurriedly, "it's wonderful, don't get me wrong. I know how it seems to outsiders sometimes, that people are forced to do whatever their fortunes are, but that isn't case at all. My mom's a good example. Her destiny was to grow the best strawberries in the town. But she was gardening long before her Fortune Day. It's something she loves. Her destiny just confirmed it for her. It's like that for everyone. And no one is ever forced to do what their destiny says they supposed to do. Some people have ignored it, and a few years down the line, their fortunes' change. And that's all right. But for most people, it's like my mom. They get to officially do what they love to do for the rest of their lives. And when everyone lives that way, it's wonderful."
"But it wasn't that way for you."
"No. Nor was it that way for Talis. Not all destinies are straightforward like my mom's is. When your destiny is vague, it's hard to know what to do, and even harder when everyone else around you has a set goal they're working towards. You don't know where you belong, and that's hard feeling in a town where everyone knows their place, and is the best person for their position." Silay paused to gather her thoughts. "Talis' destiny was...is to achieve greatness. But no one told him how to do that, or when or where it would happen. So in a lot of ways, he's like me. Lost. Wandering around the world hoping to make something, anything, happen to tell him who he is and what he's supposed to be."
"You don't seem very lost."
"No, not anymore, I guess. Not like I was." They walked in silence for a moment. "My turn to ask a question."
"Go ahead."
"Why did you ask me about Talis? Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?"
"That's two questions."
"Tough."
Edo laughed. "All right. Fair enough. I asked you about Talis because you have every right to hate him, and yet you don't. Which is related to what I wanted to talk to you about." He paused, and Silay waited for him to continue. "I hated Riya."
"I know. I was there when you met."
"Before that, I mean." Edo shook his head. "I hated her my whole life, without ever meeting her. It's not right, or fair, but I did."
"And now?"
"And now? It's very hard to change something you've been doing your whole life, but I am trying. What we heard last night, that should have made it easier, but instead, it's made it harder."
"You spent your life blaming Riya, and your career serving the city she hurt. Last night, you found out that everything that happened was Sojan's fault. Of course its hard."
"It's more that." They reached the end of the street, and Edo looked both ways before choosing the path branching to the left. "My father was a member of the Sojan guard. He was on the wall that night."
Silay didn't say anything. Edo had already told her what had happened to most of the wall guards. She could fill in the blanks.
Suddenly, Edo turned, and pounded his fist into a tree. "My father gave his life to protect his city. And it betrayed him. It betrayed all of its citizens!" He pounded the tree again. "And I never noticed it. Never saw the secrets they were keeping. I wasted my life trying to help Sojan, to make it stronger, and it betrayed me! Everything I did, everything I felt, was all a lie!" He was sobbing now.
Silay watched helplessly as Edo sank to his knees. Hesitantly, she knelt on the ground next to him, and placed her hand on his back. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.
After a moment, he raised his head and wiped his eyes. "Sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Silay debated her next words. "Unless you're apologizing to the tree." Edo laughed, and Silay smiled. She had been worried her joke might be ill-timed.
Edo stood and offered his hand to Silay. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. "Well, if I have nothing to apologize for, may I say thank you?"
"For what? I didn't do anything."
"You listened. And you didn't try to fix my problems. That means a lot."
"You are most welcome, then."
They turned to walk back to the inn, when Edo spun around and grabbed Silay's hand, holding it palm up.
"What on earth are doing?"
"I," Edo bowed grandly over her hand, "am telling your fortune."
"Oh, really?" Silay wished once again that she had mastered the one-eyebrow raise.
"Really. And what I see is this. Wherever you go, I believe that you will always find a friend."
Silay laughed and pulled her hand out of Edo's grasp. "And I think you're a bit loopy from a lack of sleep."
"I mean it."
"All right, then." Silay wasn't sure what to say. How was a person supposed to respond to something like that? An idea popped into to her head. "You know how you said sometimes I seem childish?"
Before Edo could answer, Silay took off running, pausing only call back to a stunned Edo, "race you to the inn!"
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Dedicated to dimakosrou, for not giving up on the story even when it looked like I was. His comments are insightful and encouraging, and I always look forward to his feedback. Plus, he write great sci-fi that I haven't read enough of yet.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck with the story so far! As always, votes and comments are appreciated and loved :)