The Girl Born of Smoke (39 page)

“I won’t be gone long,” she muttered,
dressing quickly. “I’ve been asleep for three days. Another day
won’t matter that much.” And before he could reply, she
vanished.

She flew in bodiless form, her energy
soaring across the valley like the wind itself. She felt countless
other signals of energy, living things radiating their own life
force, but she concentrated on the one she knew almost as well as
her own. Swooping over the hills and skimming the tops of rivers,
she picked through the threads of energy, sorting for the one she
was looking for. And when she found it, she grasped hold, letting
it pull her ever closer.

Twirling and fluttering through the air, she
reclaimed her body as she lightly touched the ground, directly in
front of Djerr. He was trudging down a dirt road, his backpack
weighing heavily on his shoulders. Seeing her appear, an expression
of surprise passed only for a moment across his face and was
replaced with a tired look.

“What do you want, Tarana?”

She held out her hand. “Come with me,
please?”

He shook his head. “I’m not like that
anymore. I’m sick of this. I’m tired of being led on by you, only
to be ignored and abandoned a few moments later. I don’t want to
just follow you around anymore. I might’ve been content with that
once, but it’s different now. That’s not the life I want.”

“Please, trust me? I just want to talk this
time, Djerr. Just once more. If you leave after that, I’ll let you
go.” With a long sigh, he loosely took hold of her hand and closed
his eyes. Taking a step forward, Tarana leapt forward,
concentrating deeply on a single place. As her feet left the
ground, she felt a sensation of movement. Holding tightly onto
Djerr’s hand, she closed her eyes and only reopened them when she
felt water trickling around her ankles a moment later.

Catching Djerr as he stumbled forward, she
waited for him to open his own eyes and recognize their
surroundings. Overhead, the leaves rustled slightly, throwing spots
of sunshine into the stream where they lit up a single dragonfly,
hovering over the water. She hopped up on the moss-covered log that
lay across the stream and found that her feet no longer dangled
above the ground. “Sorry,” she said. “I should’ve gotten you to
take off your shoes first. I forgot.”

“S’okay,” he said, sitting down next to her.
“Why did you bring me here?” he asked cautiously.

“To talk.” She slowly looked around. “This
place never changes. It looks exactly the same as last time we were
both here.”

He nodded. “We’re the ones who changed.”

“Yeah.” She was quiet for a bit. “So you
followed me to Ralinos?”

Shrugging slightly, he leaned back on his
hands and looked up at the sky. “Well, I figured you were going to
do something stupid, so I headed back to Ralinos. A couple days
into the trip and I started hearing rumors you were taking your
place as the head of the Wizard’s army. I just came to make sure
you were okay, that’s all.” His voice sounded flat and
emotionless.

“You were in that crowd down there?”

“Yeah.” He gave a small nod. “I don’t know
what you were thinking, getting up there like that. You nearly got
yourself killed. That old wizard guy turned out to be alive,
huh?”

She sighed. “Yeah. It took me awhile to
figure it out. The only reason I realized it in the end was because
I remembered the first time I met him. It was after that girl
Prisca poisoned me and I was unconscious in the street. I found
myself back in the meadow you took me to, in front of the Academy
of Magic and Rupert was there, sitting under a tree. He wasn’t
expecting me then, so I saw something I shouldn’t have.

“It was like I was in his memories because
the academy was brand new again and there were people running
around and playing, but there was something off about the whole
scene. I didn’t notice it at the time, but when I thought back
about it, the tree he was sitting under was the same one I noticed
when we were there. It was the same size and everything.

“There was no way that tree looked exactly
the same 75 years ago. So I realized he must have really been
there, in Kain, in present time, but remembering what it used to be
like. Still, I wouldn’t have been convinced if it weren’t for one
other little thing I totally overlooked. Rupert was always very,
very careful not to use magic in front of me. Oh, occasionally he
would change the surroundings of the cave or show me something from
my memories, but I didn’t really think he was using magic. It was
more like manipulating a dream.

“But then he started to make mistakes.
First, he admitted that he created a virus to wipe out all the
people in Delobo after I left. Then, there was one time he couldn’t
help but use magic right in front of me. Something happened as I
was leaving Shae’lin. I was kind of out of it at the time, but he
saved my life that time with his magic. One of the first things he
ever taught me was that when a wizard dies, his magic is dispersed
back into the planet. If he was really dead, he wouldn’t have
magic. That’s when I knew he was alive and not some kind of ghost
or something.”

“Well I’m glad you figured it out.” He
pushed himself forward, off the log. “Seems like everything worked
out pretty well in the end.”

“Wait!” she cried, pushing herself forward
so that she stood next to him, the water tugging at their feet. He
turned away. Clutching his arm tightly, she stopped him from
leaving. “Not everything worked out pretty well,” she began
brokenly. “I know I’ve been disappointing. And I know I haven’t
always acted like I cared about you. But it’s not because I didn’t
like you, it’s because I’m afraid to get close to you.”

She bit her lip lightly, trying to explain.
“I thought I wanted to be alone. I never asked to come to Kain with
Roxanne and Kirian. I didn’t ask for you to come with me that first
day in Kain, when I went shopping. I didn’t ask for you to follow
me into the army. But once I met you guys, once I fell accidentally
into place with you, I didn’t want to leave.”

She loosened her grip slightly on his arm,
her fingers leaving a white mark on his skin that slowly faded. “I
don’t know how to act around you, Djerr. You’ve known me as so many
different people and I don’t know which one is really me. They all
kind of are, I guess. But I don’t know which part of me you want to
be with and I’m afraid I’m going to slip up and turn into someone
you hate, like I did in Shae’lin. If you had ever left me along the
way, I wouldn’t have stopped you. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to
be with you. It just seemed easier to only worry about myself. But
the truth is, I’m stopping you now, Djerr. I don’t want you to
leave. I’m willing to take a risk, now that I know what it feels
like to lose you. If you end up hating me, at least I know.” Her
heart was beating quickly as she finished and he slowly turned back
to face her.

He seemed to consider her words for a
moment, and then shook his head. “I think it’s too late for us,
Tarana. I don’t want to go back to hopelessly following you around
and being deliriously happy with the smallest bit of attention you
offer me.”

“That’s not what I’m asking for.” Her hand
slipped down his arm and into his hand. “I’m asking for a fresh
start. I’m not promising it’ll work, but I want a real relationship
with you, not a one-sided one. You’re my best friend, Djerr. I
think maybe we can be more. All I want is another chance.”

He gave her a familiar half-smile and his
fingers tightened around her hand. “I don’t know. I’m so tired.
Come lie down with me while I think about it.” He led her out of
the stream and up the bank opposite the town. They slipped into a
circular gap where no trees blocked the sun and a small patch of
grass and flowers grew.

Reclining on the ground,
Djerr put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Carefully
lying down next to him, she nestled her head against his shoulder
and was comforted by the sound of bees lazily buzzing in the
clearing around them. Slowly, she felt her eyes close. As she
drifted back off to sleep, she heard a whisper in her ear with one
simple word:
Okay.

The two didn’t wake again until late morning
when the sound of a squirrel scolding them nearby startled them
both. Groaning, Tarana stretched and sat up slowly, smiling down at
Djerr. “Hey, you.”

He yawned and pulled her back down. “So
what’s the plan now?” he asked, burying his face in her hair.

She snuggled closer. “I suppose we better
get back to Kirian and Roxanne. I think they’re going to help me
start rebuilding all the houses and towns that were destroyed
during the war. There are people who need to be healed and all
kinds of work to do. Will you help us? I could really use you.”

“
Of course, Tara,” he
said, sounding pleased. “Wait, Kirian and Roxanne are actually
working together?”

She laughed. “Well, I don’t know how well
that part will really work, but we’ll see. Anything’s possible,
after all.”

Brushing back her hair, he nodded. “Yeah, anything’s
possible.” Silent for a moment, they stared up at the clouds
overhead, watching them shift and change shape, merging together.
And with a sound like a soft sigh, the two vanished, leaving only
their imprint in the grass.