Chapter 12: Inner Demons the Sequel: Illario's Journey
I have reached the stage where I am still very proud of this story, and I love it dearly, but it has also become a houseguest that needs to go home.
Full chapter on AO3 here.
We are back in Lucanis's mind, but this time it's Spite and Illario navigating happy memories of Rook, trying to find Lucanis to convince him to come back.
Spite kept a tight grip on his hand. The air pushed on him and with a flash of light, Illario found himself standing in the courtyard of the Lighthouse. It looked desolate. Unlived in. There were pieces of rubble scattered across the stone and the buildings looked dim.
Spite pulled him off to the side. “Nothing. The Lighthouse gains life. As we live there. This is our first night. After the Ossuary.”
The door to the library opened and Lucanis and Rook emerged. Her hands were full of bowls. Lucanis was wearing the old set of leathers he had sent with her on the rescue mission. She was chatting easily. He couldn’t hear the words, but he could see the confidence on her face. Lucanis responded. His face was calm but not that of an assassination. Naturally calm.
“They could never talk like that before,” he said. “From the start, they were that easy around each other?”
“Yes. She taught me. Joy. Laughter.”
Spite pulled him through the dining hall door, but they instead were back outside. Arlathan Forest. Illario recognized it from the trip to attend the funeral of Bellara’s brother. This was a nicer area, with the low hum of the river and the bright blue sky.
Again, better than the flowers in the Hossberg Wetlands.
He could see Lucanis and Rook lying on the grass, both partially clothed. It was still his set of leathers discarded on the grass. “When was this?”
“Few days later. She jumped off a cliff. To save us. Couldn’t swim.”
Laugher bubbled out of him. He had tried so hard to teach her to swim and nothing ever worked. “She almost drowned trying to save him?”
“So mad. At her. No connection yet.”
“He was an idiot,” he said, looking at the beautiful form of Rook. Only a few days after Lucanis’s rescue. He turned to Spite. “Are we going to walk through every good memory he has of her?” He held up his free hand at the look on Spite’s face. “Not that I’m complaining, but….”
“All right, I am. They met almost a full year ago. We don’t have that much time.”
“Time is slower here. Must look. Not sure. Which memory. Is actually him.”
Curious now, he walked over to where Lucanis lay on the ground. He tried to nudge his foot, but his boot passed right through him. Just a memory. Not solid. “Lead on.”
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