• Closed • Twin Souls

[Aeodan]

45 Ashan 717

Viden in Ashan wasn't warm by any standards, and Aeodan stoked the fire with the iron poker. The logs shifted around, and the Burnett boy stared into the flames absently as he arranged the rest of the wooden fuel to be consumed. In truth, Aeodan wasn't even watching the flames as they licked at the cracked and ashen bark of the log. Instead, Aeodan's mind wandered back to the scene in the Temple.

Suspended there, impaled through by the very stone that secured them inside the earth, Edalene's lifeless body hung limp. Her head lolled back, and above her, Envoy gazed at him from the triangular prismatic eyes. In them, Aeodan saw Edalene. He saw her, the true her, staring back at him. And though Envoy spoke with her voice, Aeodan knew that it was a facsimile of his sister. He knew she lay there, dead. And he couldn't help her. He couldn't save her.

He gave up his Voice. His Ability. He offered his Love and Kinship. He offered his Life. And when she came back, he knew that he had succeeded. The price, as hefty as it was, never was a consideration. No, instead, the only thing that mattered was seeing her smile one more time... Feeling her soft touch, her silken lips... He needed her. He couldn't go on without her.

The flames took her shape. Every time he gazed at the fire wistfully, he saw Edalene's face staring back. The charred coals outlined her face, charcoals where her eyes should have been. The flames were ever shifting, their plasmatic tendrils moving Edalene's hair as if she were afloat in a lake. He saw her in the flames. But then again, he saw her in everything.

Behind him, Edalene sat quietly, reading a book. She had been withdrawn on their voyage to Viden, and even her excitement of being in the city waned quickly. Much more quickly than it should have. Obsessed with the Shay and their Temples, she'd gone straight to work, and Aeodan knew it was because of the Temple. She hadn't said a word about her dying, or what happened... Or if anything happened. He couldn't imagine that she'd been returned without so much as a word from the Immortal of Death. After all, the absence of colour on their fingers reminded them that he'd had a hand in her return.

Envoy, who wasn't present, also had a grotesquely shaped hand in it. And though Aeodan was intensely grateful to both Envoy and Vri, he knew that it was himself who'd brought Edalene back. Not through magic, or some devilish pact. Not through begging a god, old or new. Aeodan brought Edalene back out of sheer Need. He Needed her, then and now, and he would spend every trial proving that to her. So far, he'd failed. Sighing, the boy stood on shaky legs and made his way to his sister. Duncan, who was out for the trial, had left her with a thick blanket, and Edalene had only left a small corner of it unused. Aeodan pulled it up and slid under it, pressing cold hands into the small of Edalene's back.

"I love you." They'd said it a million million times in their lives, but Aeodan still made sure to murmur it as he nuzzled her shoulder. Cuddled with his sister, he placed a hand on her forearm, finger trailing over the skin.

"My love... We've spent our whole lives together. I know when you are sad, or angry, or hungry. I can tell when you're flowering, I can tell when you're ill. And since the Temple... Edalene, I know what happened was mortifying. And I can't imagine what it was like... But you're here. WE'RE here. And, since we've left Rynmere, I don't feel like you're here with me. I love you, Eda, more than life, and I've proven that. Please... Whatever happened to you when... When..." He huffed. "When you were gone. Share it with me. Let me take this burden from you. Please."

His voice was a plea, pathetic in its frailty. He tried to stiffen, to seem more brooding or masculine, but it did not work. Instead, he squirmed uncomfortably. He needed her to open up to him, but he knew that she would have to open up in her own time.

"If you can't tell me, I understand... But I was down there too. I saw Farafan. I saw Envoy. I saw you... I saw you fall. If anyone can share this with you, it's me. Nothing can be harder than losing you, Edalene. And I've already survived that." She could feel his smile stretch on her shoulder-skin. It wasn't a joke, but it was his attempt to insert some levity into the tense situation.

[Edalene]

Her eyes blurred as she read the same line over and over again. Nowhere. She was getting nowhere. It felt, since the Temple, that she was running through thickened mud, and that every step forward took an agonising effort. The ground wanted to keep her here, quagmired in grief, and all she wanted to do was leave. But she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she was still stuck in a loop. Everywhere she went she saw death. Perhaps most cruelly of all, her own hands were stained black - a reminder forever, along with the scar. She saw death and nightmares and she could not see where she was anymore. It was just - a blur.

Edalene turned the page mechanically. She knew, tomorrow, she would need to reread the chapter she had just read. It was Theories of the Shattering, a new experimental writer from a somewhat deranged scholar from Scalvoris, a Biqaj who claims to have seen the Originals in the skies at sea. Most discredited it, and Edalene did too, so far, but with so little out there on the Shay, she needed to get her hands on anything she could. She had to. Because if she could discover what happened, maybe there was another way. That did not involve Narav.

She started when Aeodan crept under the blanket with her, and managed a weak smile. She had not seen him approach, too caught up in the pretension of surviving, of reading. Edalene wrapped her fingers around Aeodan's thigh, and made to go back to reading, but his murmur stopped her. "I love you too," she murmured, bending down to press a soft kiss to his hair. With Aeodan, the meaning did not lessen each time they said it. It felt honest and true every single time.

And then - he spoke. Her heart clenched. Ever since they had left the Temple, the twins had avoided speaking of it. But she knew that for both of them, it plagued their hearts and minds every day. And there was so much they needed to speak of - her death. What Vri told her. Aeodan's truth. But speaking it made it real, and then how could they come back from that? Edalene stared down at the book unable to look at her brother, but the words remained blurred. She shuddered involuntarily at the name of Farafan. She knew she had to speak, but how could she do so?

"You know I love you, Aeodan," she whispered, and the words seemed so much - more now. They meant more than she could ever have thought. Not just in the wake of his Truth, but in what Justice had said to her in the Beneath. "You don't need to convince me. I love you. Those words do not cover what I feel for you." Edalene swallowed, her throat dry. Suddenly, she felt exposed. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Aeodan. Even if I were to tell you, you could not take the burden from me. All it would do is weigh you down too. It would destroy both of us, Aeodan. What ... what I have to do. What..." Edalene swallowed, and finally said it aloud, stll speaking down to her knees. "What Vri said to me. What Vri bade me to do." Edalene finally looked at her brother.

"I should be dead, Aeodan. I was dead. The only reason I am alive is because I wagered something I shouldn't have." Edalene looked up to the ceiling, unable to look at her brother. "I will be forever grateful I came back to you, my love. To be with you, in every way, is all I could want and need." And again, those words carried a meaning they would not have before the Truth. "But it comes with a heavy price. One I am not sure I can pay."

It was the most she had spoken of what had happened in the Beneath, and while she spoke, though her eyes remained dry, her body shook with fear.

[Aeodan]

Aeodan listened to his sister, gaze glazed over and far away. Over and over, Edalene's face disappearing the darkness of the pit looped in the darkest recesses of his mind. Even as she spoke, he could see the scene again, as vividly as if she were falling right in front of him again. His skin flushed with adrenaline, his limbs feeling both heavy and restless in that moment. He resisted the urge, reminding himself that they were home and safe. Though, in his stomach, Aeodan really didn't feel safe.

A loud pop from a log in the fireplace jarred him back to reality, and he realized his eyes had filled with water. He wiped them away with the back of his hand, replacing his hand on his sister's shoulder. He heard every word she said, but the only part that resonated was her saying she should be dead. His stomach muscled tightened painfully, and he gritted his teeth so hard that Edalene heard it. A sharp inhale of breath and Aeodan's face was red with fury.

"Don't you ever say that again! You don't deserve to be dead. What happened in the Temple... It happened. But in no way did you deserve it. There is never a trill in this world that you deserve anything less than pure bliss. You are the greatest soul in this gods-forsaken world, and you had better believe that. If I ever hear you say you deserve to die again, Farafan's wrath will seem like a warm bath compared to mine."

His tone was stony and harsh, hissing in her ear like water dropped in a hot pan. Tears of anger welled in his eyes, and again he wiped them away. Immediately after his tirade, guilt washed over Aeodan. He couldn't stem the tears anymore, and he leaned in and hugged Edalene tightly. Warm droplets of saline fell on her bare skin, and Aeodan tried to wipe them off of her, only spreading the wetness across her arms.

"I'm sorry, Eda... I... I just can't lose you again. The first time... It almost killed me. I... What did Vri ask you to do? Whatever it is, we can do it together." Aeodan could not know what the task was, but he knew that it did not matter. Edalene was the most important person in the world to him, and he would bring down mountains around them if that's what Vri asked. Aeodan would change the course of a river, or lay to rest every Verse in the Shay's Litany. There was no price too hefty for Edalene's happiness. Not one.

[Edalene]

Edalene wrapped her arms tenderly around her brother. Even now, after all they had been through, Edalene still worried for her brother. Fragile, small. A hidden strength within him that the world doubted, but still so plagued with fiery emotions. "Oh, Aeodan," Edalene whispered, holding him tight in return. Again, she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "That's not what I meant. Did you not hear me? I said, and I meant, I am glad I am back here with you. The thought of you alone... that I couldn't be here..." Edalene shuddered, and then, oddly, laughed.

"You know, I actually yelled at Vri about it." She was trying to make him laugh, but it seemed as good a part as any. "Imagine. There I was, dead, everything murky, and I had the gall to call an Immortal unfair." Edalene chuckled, shaking her head. She took a deep breath, and then helped Aeodan sit up, though she kept her arms around him. "Alright. I will tell you. But please... don't interrupt, okay? I just need to get this all out in one go."

She had a strange feeling of deja vu. A season ago, they had done the same thing - Edalene had told Aeodan the truth about Narav. How she wished she could go back to that. That she had murdered a man had felt so much more simple now, in retrospect. But then she had not had the fate of a dead race and their gods on her shoulders. Then it had only been her own conscience.

There was a long silence as she gathered herself. "It's hard for me to talk about Aeodan. Partly because it feels so unreal, but also ... well. You'll see." She passed a hand through her hair and huffed. "After I ... fell," she began, shooting a nervous look to Aeodan. She didn't want to bring up that awful memory. "I don't remember much before I died. I remember falling, and then agony, and then - nothing. I don't even remember if you were there when I... when I died." She shrugged, feeling oddly embarrassed at the vulnerability. "I hope you weren't. Not because I wouldn't want you there, but because... I don't know how I would survive if I had to see what you saw."

Edalene cleared her throat, which felt clogged with emotions. She had to keep going. "When I... well, woke up, I guess. I didn't really 'pass on'. I came to in the chamber but everything was blurred, murky. Like ... water through stained glass. I could see you and my body, but it was like a surreal painting. I was next to you. The whole time. I sat next to you in death and wished I could hold you. Did you... did you feel me?" Though she asked him not to interrupt, she needed to know if he had. "Did you sense that I was next to you?"

When he had responded, Edalene swallowed and continued. "Anyway, there was - Pier and Pre, and Vri, and Ralaith. I hadn't realised so many Immortals would come to watch me die. They argued for a while, about me, around me. They spoke strangely, the Twins. I think..." She trailed off. She'd been about to say I think you'd like them but there was only one way he would meet them - and she could not contemplate that. "Vri asked me to tell them my truths, my facts."

Edalene reached out, and wound her fingers with Aeodan's. Tenderly, she brought them up to her lips and pressed a kiss to the knuckles. "They - all of them - were about you. You are my other half. My love and my life. And I was so ... so angry. That I could just be taken away from you like that. It wasn't right. We're not meant to be apart. Pier and Pre even said something about our births being foretold, but I didn't know what that meant."

Edalene sighed, and shifted again. "But... in my rage, I could see the dying light of the fight between Farafan and Thomas, and I was so angry... they said in the Song, Aeodan, didn't they - it was Lisirra and Raskalarn. Before, Farafan would have been a peaceful god, and I ... well, I yelled at the Immortals. I said it wasn't fair that their interference should do something so horrid to an innocent people."

She laughed, bitterly. "I don't know how many have accused the Immortal of Death of cruelty, but oddly, he and Ralaith - they agreed. And they told me I could go back. And there were two ways I could. I could just come back to you, as I was, or I could come back with knowledge on how to save Farafan. And how could I refuse that? After I'd seen its madness, and after I'd accused Death and Wisdom and Justice? And so... I took it."

Edalene laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "I wish now that I hadn't. Because I must do this. Now that I Know, I have no option but to fulfil this task. And it's a task... that requires sacrifice. A personal one." Edalene swallowed and looked at the twin's joined hands.

"I have to kill Narav."

A whisper into the silence, only the twin breaths and the singular heartbeat bringing sound to the room.

[Aeodan]

Aeodan's heart pounded, alone in that regard. He stared at Edalene, slack-jawed at her revelation. Ever since the twins had entered and escaped the Temple of Farafan, Edalene had been distant. Aeodan felt that she was pulling away from him in light of his Truth, but this proved something else. This proved that the weight that he saw bearing down on Edalene was a Truth not involving his own. It was her Truth, the Truth of their situation, and the Truth of Edalene's future. Instinctively, Aeodan kissed the soft flesh of the back of her hand, his lips sticking slightly. As he pulled them away, his hot breaths were shallow on the skin.

"Vri told you to kill Narav? What does Narav have to do with this? Is Vri punishing you for coming back to me?"

Aeodan's cheeks flared red, and he tightened his grip on her hand. Since the Temple, Aeodan had been quietly strong, like a stone sentinel, hoping to bolster his sister's mood with an understanding and calming presence. Now, he realized what she needed was action. He knew that the task given to her by the Immortal of Death was one that she could not complete alone, and that it would be as much his task to share. He stares down at the void coating his fingernails, the eternity of death staring back at him from each thin digit. For a few silent trills, he stared. When he broke the silence, his voice quivered with rage.

"It is unfair of him to ask for that. He has to know what you and Narav have been through. Did you tell him that? Did you tell him, Eda?"

A frown formed across his face. A metre to his left, Envoy appeared to Aeodan, squatting on frog-like legs and watching with prismatic eyes styled like Aeodan's. As the Burnett looked at it, the Diri titled its head slightly. The motes of light on the anemone hair tilted towards the twins, while a smile spread strangely perfect slowly along its ceramic face. Aeodan watched, knowing that Envoy wanted to feed off the heavy emotion it could sense. Aeodan watched it, his mouth forming a frown that foiled the smile. Aeodan could feel the strong depression and fear in his sister, and he needed to stay strong.

Taking a deep breath, Aeodan looked back to Edalene. He could feel Envoy watching the two of them, and he ensured that Envoy did not feed off of their emotions. Not yet, anyway. It may be a sweet release for her, but he would not invade her privacy like that. Envoy's choice of food could be a boon, but in this instance, Aeodan needed Edalene to feel. At least a bit longer.

"Perhaps there is another way. Perhaps we could ask Vri if there is another way... Or... Or maybe Narav will make the sacrifice himself." As it left his lips, Aeodan doubted the sincerity. He knew that Narav would never willingly give his life for an old god. He may not even care that the mission is Edalene to bear, and that would be worse to Aeodan.

For the younger Burnett twin, that was a sin. He would do anything for his sister. He would give his life, if he were asked. He would walk back into the Temple and straight into Farafan's maw. He would agree to be conscious and feeling the entire time, as long as it would free Edalene from her burden. But alas, he knew that Narav would not agree. Narav's survival was Narav's prime directive, Aeodan knew. And again, the fire leapt into his cheeks.

"Or I could do it." The words were so soft, if Edalene couldn't feel Aeodan's emotions, she would have never believed them. But the trepidation and determination mingling in his soul echoed in hers, and she knew he truly said it...

[Edalene]

Edalene gripped Aeodan's hand just as tightly, almost reflexively. Her own breath felt shallow, and Edalene had never realised just how silent the world was without a heartbeat. Edalene laughed, a bitter sound, and drew her body closer to her twin. He was her only source of warmth and comfort in this world.

"I don't know why. He said something about sacrifice. I didn't have a chance to ask why - I woke up after he told me my mission. And if it's sacrifice, I got the sense that... if it wasn't him..." She trailed off, shuddering, barely wanting to contemplate the idea. She couldn't even comprehend hurting Narav. To hurt the one person more dear to her... the thought refused to give words to it in her mind.

Edalene huffed a laugh. "Narav, sacrifice himself?" She shook her head. "No. After all he's been through... No. He's fought so hard to survive." Edalene looked to her brother sharply. "Aeodan... no. No. I can't just ... kill him. Please. You know I love him - it's not any better if you do it either." Edalene sighed, and took a moment to breathe.

"I need to tell you something. And you can't... you can't tell anyone, okay? I didn't know it until Vri told me." Edalene turned to face her brother, and put her hand on his cheek. "It might make you hate him more - but I need you to understand that I love him, and not do anything rash, okay?"

She swallowed. "Vri told me - I never knew, but... it explains a lot. He's ... the son of Syroa. I don't think he knows. He's always been looking for his family, but he should have been looking for her. And... Aeodan. It gets worse." Edalene gripped her brother's hand. "He's... marked by Lisirra. And I think maybe that's why I need to kill him. Because Farafan was corrupted by her. If I can get rid of her influence on him... maybe I won't need to kill him. Maybe he'll be free."

A part of her knew it was naive, but she couldn't help it. She loved Narav.

[Aeodan]

Aeodan was surprised at how calmly Edalene took his offer to do what she couldn't. He knew before he'd offered that Edalene would exhaust every source, she would call in every favour, she would accost every scholar who could even remotely offer her the faintest sliver of a way to avoid killing Narav. Not that Aeodan could blame her. Aeodan was always slightly jealous of Aeodan, and it coloured the lenses through which the younger twin viewed the other man, but he knew in his heart that Edalene loved him. And contrary to what she'd said since they'd returned from the Temple, she might even loved Narav more than she did Aeodan.

And why shouldn't she? Aeodan loved Edalene, more than the fish loved water. He would, at any given trill, swap places with her and offer his life for her. And he would never apologise for loving Edalene like that. But he could not expect her to truly replicate the feelings. In fact, he wasn't sure that she was capable of loving him as he did her. There was an intangible quality to his love that he wasn't sure any other mortal could understand. He doubted even Vri himself understood the depth of his devotion to Edalene. Perhaps that was the true reason that the God of Death and Love allowed them to reunite through the Final Shroud. Because he knew that Aeodan's love truly surpassed all love.

Aeodan felt ashamed, as if he'd learned something that was so intimate that he shouldn't know it. Narav Tobelle was the true son of Syroa, the Immortal of Lust. Perhaps that was Edalene's true draw to him. Because of his fell mother's influence, Edalene's predisposition was to adore the man. Aeodan, who was innately more logical, would be far more resistant to it. Additionally, though, Edalene exposed Narav as a Marked of Lisirra, the Plague Goddess. Aeodan's stomach tied itself in knots, but not from rage, as Edalene expected. A cold realization flowed over Aeodan, and he concentrated on hiding that emotion from his sister.

"There has to be some way that allows him to live. I can inquire at the Academy. Perhaps Dean Keant will be able to point me in the correct direction." He managed a half-hearted smile, trying to comfort his sister. Aeodan knew that removing the Plague Queen's influence would not be as simple as asking, but he didn't have the heart to tell Edalene that. Casting a quick glance at Envoy, he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Are you sure? Aeodan's own voice echoed in his head, and he knew it was Envoy. Yes. The answer was resolute, and Aeodan felt the coldness draining away from him. He needed to shield Edalene from his dread that killing Narav was the only way. He would do his best to try and find an alternate path to save Narav, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Vri knew the only way to remove the affliction: Killing Narav. As the emotion drained from him, Aeodan wrapped a thin arm around Edalene.

"I'll help you however I can, love." He tried to maintain a positivity in his voice, but he wasn't that great of an actor. He meant it, though. He would do whatever Edalene needed... As much as it may kill him inside.

[Edalene]

Edalene looked to her twin, alarmed. "Ask? No, Aeodan, you can't," she said urgently, before lowering her tone. She was not angry at Aeodan - far from it. But Narav's safety could not be guaranteed if they knew about his heritage. "Aeodan, if they know about his association with Lisirra, and he ever comes here... no good will come of it." Edalene sighed, and looked down at her hands, where they were entwined with his.

"He said he'd come, you know? He said he'd come to Viden. And it's been a season, and he hasn't come." Edalene smiled a weak smile. "You know... after everything that's happened, I don't know what could happen between us anymore. I died. I actually died and came back. I have been burdened with a task that could save an ancient creature, but doom a young one. It's almost better he never came. Can you imagine... knowing all this time, and him being here? It would be horrible." Her voice lowered. "I just wish he'd at least... written me."

The irony did not escape her. For years, Edalene had ignored his letters, and now Narav couldn't be bothered to write to her. Maybe... maybe if he never came, Edalene would never have to fulfil her mission. Her gut clenched with guilt at that. It was selfish, she knew. How could she worry so much about a sacrifice when she had killed a man at a young age? There was no malice there, sure, but she had already done that deed. And this was not a murder, not wholly. This would save a creature that had been tortured for endless time in its own mind. It was a good deed - it was.

But that didn't mean it wasn't hard.

Edalene smiled at Aeodan's last words. "I know you will, love. And you know I will help you on any of your ventures." Edalene stared at her brother, smiling, all of a sudden feeling warm in his presence - even with what they were discussing. Suddenly the world had melted away. It was just the two twins, together and separate, and nothing else mattered. In some deep part of her, Edalene knew she would choose life with Aeodan over all else - and that when it came down to it, she would murder to protect that.

But there was something else they hadn't talked about. Not just Edalene's death.

"Aeodan," she began hesitantly, swallowing. She reached out a hand and placed it under his chin, tilting his face up to look into her eyes, so that he could see how sincere she was. Twin brown eyes. "Aeodan, we've been avoiding something else. I don't - I haven't brought it up before, but ... you know, I don't even know if it changes anything, I don't know what it means--" She cut herself off with a huff. She was rambling. How did she say this?

"Aeodan... if Narav had never met us, if I'd never had that girlhood crush on him... what would we be?" It was a coward's way of asking. She should have been more blunt. She should have kissed him. But there was Narav and Duncan to think about - and maybe, though Aeodan loved her in every sense, he did not want to act on all of them.

But she sat silently, and squeezed his hand to support him. Edalene needed to know - and that would inform the future.

[Aeodan]

He could see how passionate Edalene was about not bringing any harm to Narav, and it brought both a twinge of jealous and a pang of guilt. Aeodan knew she would do anything for the Mortalborn, but this was not something that could be put on her. Nonetheless, if Edalene wanted him alive, Aeodan wouldn't attempt to have him killed. He would be discrete in his inquiries.

"I'm not going to run around the Academy shouting, 'Oi, I've got Syroa's son branded with Lisirra's blessing over here. I need some to help me remove the blessing!' I'll be discrete."

He smiled at his joke, knowing that it was not a comical matter. Still, for a split second, he could see in his mind's eye him rushing around, gathering a mob with pitchforks and torches, all stomping the cold ground to remove Narav... And his mark. The smile faded, though, as he regarded Edalene again.

"My love, Narav not arriving here is just delaying the inevitable. If we truly want to save him, and Farafan, we need to be vigilant in our search for a cure. A true cure, one that does not involve Narav's death. But, should it need to come to that, if it's the only way... Can you do it?"

His eyes flashed to his sister's, locking onto them with a caring stare. He knew it was nearly unspeakable, but with Envoy feasting on his emotions, he was more logical and analytical about the situation. If the only way to release Farafan from her torment was to kill Narav Tobelle, Aeodan wanted to make sure that she would be able to do so... Or at least would not stop him from doing so. He knew she loved him, and though he was jealous and angry at Narav for having hurt Edalene, Aeodan supposed he cared for the man too. Perhaps it was just Edalene's emotions echoing in, or perhaps Aeodan understood why Edalene had chosen Narav...

Aeodan had known his Truth would change the two of them, for better or worse. When he cut his hand at the Obelisk, he knew that the feelings he felt were going to come to light, and that Edalene would be forced to choose a path afterwards. It was unfair of Aeodan to have laid that on her, and even more unfair of him to have survived the ordeal to remind her every trial that he, not Narav, was her true soulmate. Edalene's assurances did little to assuage his guilt over the night's happenings, and every step they'd taken since that night had been coloured in the lens of his Truth.

Though he felt guilt, he also felt weightlessness. Finally, he'd told his sister, his one true love, that she was his other half. Not just from birth, not just sharing the same space in their mother... Their souls were crafted to be the composite of the other. Twin souls. Where Aeodan's ethereal foreverness ended, Edalene's began, and they were to be linked as such through every reincarnation, through every cycle. Whether they emerge from the same womb time and again, or they are the world apart, they finish each other's flaws. And Aeodan knew that his Truth would cement that across every iteration of their lives.

"Edalene. I love you. There aren't enough grains of sand, each being a microcosm of love, on Idalos to outweigh my love for you. It transcends this life, the next, the million before. It's purer than Vri's understanding, more natural than the land of Idalos itself. I can't speak for the unknown, nor will I. You know that I intend not to insert myself between Narav and you... I couldn't live with myself were I to destroy your love for him. But no matter what, no matter where we are... You're the one for me. Duncan, I care about him more than I'm comfortable admitting. And if I end up with him, I could have done much, much worse. But through it all, at the end of the trial, you are my heart. Always now, and forever then."

He reached out and laid a hand on Edalene's, squeezing it tightly. Though Envoy was feeding off his emotion, Aeodan was supplying it just as quickly now. The love that surged through him warmed him thoroughly, and he knew Edalene could feel the purity of it.

[Edalene]

Edalene flashed a smile at his joke, almost morbidly amused by the ridiculous image of Aeodan running through the Academy shouting anything. Though the conversation was hard, forcing Edalene to think about things she had never wanted to contemplate, she already felt lighter, and she could feel that her brother was there for her. It was a reminder: no good came from keeping secrets from Aeodan.

"I know," she whispered, looking down. Though for now she did not want Narav here, not now that she had this mission, she knew that at some point, he would have to come here - or she would have to go find him. "I know that eventually... just, for now, I am glad to have this respite. This time to just ... process it." Time. Ralaith was giving her Time to make the most Wise choice.

Edalene looked to her brother, surprised by his bluntness. She knew, though, that he was not asking to hurt her - but it was something that needed to be asked. Something that Edalene had refused to ask herself. Something she knew the answer to, but speaking it aloud was more horrible than anything. And yet, under her brother's compelling gaze, and warm touch, she couldn't help but do so.

"Yes," she finally said, feeling the dread coil in her stomach. "Yes. If there were no other way, no other choice... I could do it." Edalene knew that it was true. She loved Narav, that was true, and there would always be a part of her that was drawn towards the man, but she was bound by Death to fulfil her word. She would kill Narav, if she had to. She had seen the torment of Farafan, and she truly believed it outweighed the devastation that would come from killing Narav.

If they had asked her to kill Aeodan, then the gods could all burn. But Narav? Yes. She could do that.

And the words Aeodan then spoke only cemented that. Not just his words, but through their link, she could feel Aeodan's love for her, surging through his every breath. It was a warm circle of light, pulsing between them, binding them to one another. "Aeodan..." she whispered, gripping his hand tightly. She leaned forward, rested her cheek against his shoulder, taking strength and comfort from her brother. When had he become so strong? Or had she just been too blind to see it all this time?

She spoke now, but did not meet his gaze. Not out of discomfort or embarrassment, but because here, leaning against his chest, she was comfortable and safe. "I wonder now how much I truly love Narav. Please don't feel guilt for that. But I've been thinking. Not because of your Truth, but perhaps because it made me realise my own. I think... I do not think that this love between Narav and I is healthy. I pined for years. I tormented myself with nightmares. And even now, before the Temple even happened... at the graveyard, when we reburied Godryn, he was cold. I offer so much, and he does not take it. He does not want it. And now knowing who his parents are, and what Lisirra has burdened him with... I do not think it is a pure love. Our love literally destroyed another life. No love that did that could be good. Not like..."

Edalene sat up, still close to Aeodan. She looked deeply into her twin's eyes. "Not like ours. You know - you know I love you the same way, right? Not..." It was hard to put into words. "Not the same, not exactly the same. But ... a perfect complement. Our loves, they fit together. It's just... it's right. It's meant to be." She splayed her hand over his chest, where his heart still beat, taking comfort from the rhythmic pulse there. A pulse she no longer had.

Her eyes darted down to his lips. "I'm jealous of Duncan," she admitted, a breathy whisper. "But, like you, I do not want to come between you and him. I love you both. I want you both to be happy. I just wish you could be with me too." She grimaced. "But if that is not the kind of love you want with me, I understand. Whatever love you give me is enough. Everything about you is enough for me. And that... that is why I could sacrifice Narav. If you love me, that is enough. I will never need anything else."