So sorry this took so long! Quarterly finals are here along with an ocean of homework and a scatter of other miscellaneous tests and quizzes. Either way, here's the newest installment! Enjoy!
~Ashlee
〰〰〰
Confusion fills Kagon as his gaze links with his scribe. Her eyes fill with tears and that's when he's struck with realization. His eyes immediately go back down to the journal and he begins to furiously flip through the many pages.
Just as I though--they're all blank.
When he looks back up at the lass, he sees the tears that had clouded her stormy eyes have begun to fall down her face in thin, trickling streaks like rain on glass.
"You're not a writer." Kagon says, face closed off and grim.
Delia bites her lip and shakes her head, pieces of copper-blond hair sticking to her wet cheeks.
"Wait, what's going on?" Heswyn in Thil question in unison.
In answer, Kagon simply tosses them the empty journal.
He is no longer confused, but dumbstruck. The only reason why he had allowed her to accompany him on their journey--his journey-- was because she had said that she would document his tales. But she hasn't been doing that.
Then why is she even here? Kagon thinks coldly.
"Delia?" Kip asks quietly after looking at the journal. However, his voice is buried under the mounds of tension.
"I knew that you had cunning, but I never thought..." Kagon trails off before speaking in a hard tone, "You've tricked me."
"Kagon, I--"
The hero shuts her up with a harsh glare. "You've lied to me."
Kagon thinks back to all the times he had faced dishonest people. Part of being a hero is having to face such people. Even false friends.
"Wait." Heswyn says, realization dawning over her features. "Can you even read Delia?"
"No, I only know some of the letters and can recognize only a couple words. My mother tried to teach me to read before..." Delia lets our a strangled noise. "I'm so sorry." She sobs into her hands, hiding her guilt-ridden eyes. "I had to get away from my father, it was the only way!"
Kagon's jaw clenches and his lips thin into a straight line, eyes flashing with anger, but deep inside he feels a deep cut of pain, of betrayal.
Heswyn, Thil, and Kip can only look upon the situation with pity. They're the outsiders looking in, they dare not interfere.
"I'm so sorry." She lets out a smothered cry, drowning in her shame.
In her lies.
Kagon shakes his head, stands abruptly, and walks straight out the library's heavy doors.
〰〰〰
Delia hasn't cried this hard in a very long time. The guilt she feels is crisp and cold, a jagged knife tearing at her insides. Her eyes direct to the ground and she visibly winces when the library's heavy doors slam shut after Kagon had left.
After a few minutes of crying, she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see Heswyn, Kip, and Thil surrounding her. Delia tries to dry her face, but only more tears replace them. It's like a battle where one side is outnumbered. Troops keep coming to replace those that had fallen.
"I'm sorry."
Heswyn offers her a soft look. "You should of told him, Delia. You were wrong not to, but I understand why you did it."
"But it really is a dream of mine, to write that is." Delia says. "That part isn't a lie, but it still doesn't make what I did right. I betrayed him." She sniffs.
Thil looks uncomfortable as he shifts from foot to foot and Kip only looks upon her with expressionless eyes.
"Are you still going to help me?" Kip asks suddenly.
Startled by this question, Delia looks up at him, her tears no longer falling as the inquiry rolls around in her mind.
Will I?
After a moment of thought, Delia's eyes look to the ground. Her head angled downward slightly Despite her height, she feels small and humble. "It is not only Kagon that I have lied to, but you as well, Kipdale. However, I still wish to go to the Shadowlands with you. You are my friend and I have come to care for the starved, trembling boy you were and the man you have become. I'll journey with you.....If you'll have me."
She looks up in an attempt to read her friend's expression. There's a waver-y sort of look in his amber eyes that lets her know that her words have touched him.
"Of course." He croaks, offering her one of those small smiles of his. "But before you come, I'd like you to know that you have never once lied to me, Delia. You've always been completely you. I don't know much about writing, but I can see the innovative scribe in you."
Her heart breaks at his kindness and she has tears welling up in her eyes again as she grabs him in a warm embrace. His body stiffens, but then melts into her arms. When she pulls back she can see his eyes look far away.
I wonder what he's thinking?
Thil clears his throat, gaining her attention. "If you're serious about your dream of learning how to read and write than I can give you a book made specifically to teach those that don't know how to read to read."
"How would that work if I can't read the pages?" Delia asks, brow crumpling.
"I came from a poor village, but I do know how to read, though I'm not the best at it. I can teach you the best I can and once you learn the basics that I know, you can go on to read and learn from the book the best you can." Kip suggests.
Delia wants to hug him again, but she only smiles. "Thank you both so much."
Minutes later, Thil hands her the thick book. "This is it, think of it as a going away gift." He muses.
"Thank you." She takes the book and tucks it in her bag,
"Now, you better leave." Heswyn says. "There's no time to spare."
Delia places her hand on Heswyn's right shoulder and Heswyn puts her hand on Delia's left as is the custom goodbye in Pik and Lanthos. Though, Lithko is not included in this tradition, she still feels it necessary to bid the people that she had grown close to farewell in this way.
In the back of her head, she remembers not saying goodbye to Azzbell and her family in this way before she left. She had been so upset with the whole Kagon's one night stand incident that she had left in a hurry. A part of her regrets not saying goodbye to them in this tradition and intimate way.
"Farewell, writer Delia." Heswyn says with a wry smile. "I know your books will fill the Great Library after you learn."
"As I know that your book on the Paridian culture will make difference to many oppressed women."
They share a smile before she moves on to Thil and says goodbye to him in the same fashion. "You'll invent something incredible someday."
"Of course I will." He says with faux arrogance.
"Take care of yourself!" They shout as Kip and Delia leave the library.
"Oh, and don't pay too much mind to Kagon's sulking! He'll forgive you once he either sees or remembers just how true of a person you are, Cordelia of Pik!"
The heavy doors shut with a bang, leaving Kip and Delia to descend the marble stairs and head to the docks.
They meet Kagon and Maude on the ship. Maude turns to them with a frustrated gleam in his single eye while Kagon continues to stare out at the sea, arms crossed and muscles taut like elastic ready to snap.
She feels her heart sink, ignoring Maude's snide, condescending comments on their tardiness.
She pretends to listen, but once he's done with his rant she travels farther done the boat, away from Kagon and the other, but looking at the same sparkling sea nonetheless.
Her hand brushes her bag, feeling the heavy lump of the book. Cheering up, she pats the book through the bag, a happy look on her face.
Her eyes are bloodshot and face red, but she feels a new hope blooming within her heart.
I'll make my lie into truth. I'll become the best writer in all the lands and my first tale shall be of us. Kagon of Pik, the courageous Hero of all the lands. Kip of Lanthos, the loyal and the tormented. And, Cordelia of Pik, the shrewish girl who left her tyrannical father for something more.