Heart of Edana 18b
Epilogue Version 2 An alternate ending. If Ilhen had been stillborn, and Onris never knew. He’d never have a reason to settle down and live a simple life. He’d just keep wandering, looking for answers.
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The days would soon be coming where the heat of the sun would bear down on those that dared to live in the dry scrub of Mediah. For now, though, the shrubs and cactus would find themselves in bloom. A pleasant spring before the sweltering summer.
That was certainly part of the reason Adessa was able to convince Ira that he should visit their new friend in Grana. She could continue her work and he could have a break away from it. He didn’t take the heat as well as she. Besides… she might quietly hope that the two of them could someday be more than friends. He deserved that happiness.
Thinking about it brought a little smile to her lips as she made her way through the market. Call it devious but she even packed a few casks of Tarif wine made from cactus fruit. A little gift from her to Tau… and Ira.
“Oh… what’s that? It looks delicious.”
A voice from her past made Adessa stop in her tracks. A memory from a different time, a different life. She could still hear the name Veil on those lips. She dared her mind to be playing cruel tricks on her when she saw that silhouette. The same dark skin she remembered. When he finally turned back into the crowd there was no denying it.
“Onris…?”
The crate she carried crashed to the street, one of her ceramics of wine shattering on impact. Adessa cursed as she tried to clean up the mess and salvage the other goods before they were soaked. “Are you alright?” that voice stopped her heart in her chest. “Here, let me help.”
Her heart hammered as she saw his hands delicately take out the pieces of the broken vase. It was him. He was here. Snapping herself out of the daze, she quickly gathered her things to try and get away from this interaction before her heart could break again. He doesn’t remember. He won’t remember.
“Thanks… sorry about that.”
Onris offered her a small bundle of dried fruits that had spilled from the crate. As she took it, their fingers briefly touched, and she looked up into his face. Even if she could have tried to pretend it wasn’t him she couldn’t deny it now. Those unmistakable blue eyes smiled back at her.
“You seem… familiar. Have we met before?”
There it was. The cracks in her armor started to reform anew. It had been years since she pulled the black spirit from his mind but that vacant look, the unfamiliarity, still haunted her. Adessa quickly looked away as she gathered the last of her basket. “Oh, I… doubt it. I don’t leave Tarif much.”
“Well, be careful. Never know if there’s thieves looking for a free opportunity.” He tossed one last little satchel to land in her basket before she could run off. It was a bag of little baked sweets. She hadn’t even noticed they’d gone missing. As she glanced back up at him, Onris winked and walked back off into the crowd of the market.
It took everything Adessa had not to let that interaction break her down to her foundations. She found Ira still waiting at the stable for her to bring the last of what he would need for the long road to Grana.
“There you are! Is… is everything okay?” He could always read her like an open book.
“I’m fine, just… dropped the crate is all. Broke a vase of wine. It’s alright.”
“I know you better than that Adessa. What’s wrong? I can cancel my trip, Tau will understand.”
“No! No, I’m… I’m okay, I promise. You deserve this trip. A little vacation from it all - and the heat.”
Ira pursed his lips and held the crate of supplies without making any motion to put them away. It was never hard for him to tell when she was keeping something from him. “Adessa.”
She sighed and looked away. “I… thought I saw Onris. It’s nothing.”
“Oh… I’m…” A layer of guilt painted itself on his face. As much as he didn’t like the man, he knew how she felt. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright. Like I said, I’m okay. Just make sure you get this wine to Tau. I promised her I’d make sure she got some next time we were there.”
“Why don’t you come with?”
“Too much work to do.” Ending the conversation before he could coax her to join the trip, she kissed his cheek and backed away from the horse. “Tell Tau I said hi. And have fun, dammit! You’re allowed to.”
“Ha, ha.”
Adessa managed to keep the smile on her face as she walked away from the stable back to her small little home. Deep down everything she had been trying so hard to keep together was falling apart. As the door latched closed behind her the walls broke. Her agony poured forth as her heart shattered into the pieces that had been so delicately pieced together. The life and the mistakes of Veil came back as she slid to the floor. She screamed through the pain of those memories. Memories she could not share because he no longer held them as she did.
With time the tears would stop. They always did. Veil pushed herself off the cold wooden floors and wiped her eyes to erase the evidence of her past. Maybe there was a chance for something new. He may no longer be the Onris she knew, but he was still Onris. And even though she was now Adessa, she was still Veil. His Veil. This could be a chance to start fresh. If he wanted it.
Cleaned up and refreshed, that renewed pain buried once again, Adessa ventured out into the market. She went to the little baker’s stall and bought a small pouch of the little baked treats that used sugars from last season’s cactus fruit. A special delicacy here. The same as the bag of treats he had briefly stolen.
Before stepping into the inn, she stopped by a small cactus to pluck the pink flower from it’s crown. Just a little something extra for the gesture.
The innkeep confirmed that a man fitting Onris’ description had rented a room there that morning and told her which door. The second door. Never the first… never the last… never the middle… Just like she always would do. The knock on the wood came back hollow. A few minutes with no response. Adessa tried one more time but still heard nothing from behind the door.
Instead of waiting what would probably be all night she simply left the little bundle of treats and the cactus flower at his door. No note. Just… a gift. Maybe he would know what it meant. As she walked away Adessa cursed herself for being foolish. She was just a stranger to him. He wouldn’t know there was some connection between the gift and the person he’d helped in the market.
Sulking into her steps she slowly returned back home. In the morning this would be just another painful memory to put away. Maybe she would be able to catch up to Ira before he got too far. A trip to Grana might not be so bad. Enough to get her mind off things.
The door had barely shut before a shadow stepped out of the dark of her study. It wasn’t Ira - he wouldn’t be hiding from her in the dark. Without thinking she pulled a blade from the back of her belt. A few steps and he was standing in the faint light from the window. It was… Onris? Curious but still hesitant she lowered the blade a touch. “Can I help you?”
No words left his mouth as he continued to walk towards her. Anxiety pounded in Adessa’s chest. Why was he here? Why wasn’t he saying anything? The dark made it hard to read his expression. His hand reached forward and she flinched but he made no motion to take her blade from her. He was… offering something.
A kunai. Her kunai.
Realization dawned on her then. There was a memory there. He knew it was hers. He knew she left it for him. He remembered. The blade she had held in her hand clattered to the ground. She dared to get her hopes up as the pain seized her heart again. “Onris?”
His voice was barely a whisperer, struggling with the word as if he was learning to speak it again, “… Veil.”
There was no rational thought left. He remembered. Veil threw herself into him, bleeding away years of pain and regret as she felt his warmth, felt his arms around her as she held onto him. There was no point in holding back her tears mixed from joy and hurt.
“I found you,” Onris croaked out. She could feel his own wet tears on her neck as he buried his face in her hair.
They held each other there in the dark. Her hands tight on his shirt to never let him leave and his arms so tight he was afraid she might disappear. The overwhelming emotions weakened their knees as they slowly sank to the floor. Never once did they think of letting go.
“Do you remember? All of it…?” she finally managed to ask, pulling away only enough to look up at him through the dim light. That same face she remembered. It never changed. Through all the pain she’d given him he still looked at her with love.
Onris’ hands brushed across her cheeks, wiping her tears and the hair from her face. “I didn’t, not until today, until I saw you… and then I saw you.”
His forehead touched hers and suddenly all the regrets she had found their way to her lips. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Everything that happened to them was because of her. She always left him, she was the one who did everything to him, yet he always came back.
Despite all of that he quieted her apologies with a kiss. Whatever this was, whatever they shared, was enough for now. He didn’t care about whatever apologies or explanations would be given. They could sort that out later. All that mattered now in this moment was that he found her. He found the thing he didn’t know he had been missing these years. And that was the only thing in his world that mattered.