The snow fell over the distant island, and the people watched the phenomenon with excitement, but they were too fearful to approach.
In Rykenzon, Elisa and Shaphira sat under the shade of a small dwelling made of leaves. The soldier lifted a simple cup to her lips, feeling the warm and measured taste slide down her throat. The Pillar of Unification cleared her throat after swallowing and let out brief murmurs while rubbing her neck.
The leaves rose like a door and Slady entered the dwelling carrying a brownie on a wooden board. He sat cross-legged, placed the dessert on his lap and invited the two women to eat.
Curious, Elisa asked where the food had come from. Slady only said that he had his own ways of preparing food, leaving no space for further questions.
The sweet reminded them of simpler times. In the late afternoon, when they arrived exhausted with Ferinish, Slady welcomed them with his favorite dessert, which they also loved. Why had that not lasted forever?
Now they were there in that state. They might be reunited again, but it was not the same as before.
Slady noticed the nostalgic look on their faces and asked what they were thinking about. Elisa answered without hesitation that she missed everything, that even with the difficulties of the time, everything had been so beautiful and so perfect.
The man fell silent at her words. His inner thoughts whispered guilt for the mistakes he had made. He could not avoid recognizing his failures. He wanted to improve, but the feeling was painful.
Leaning against the leafy wall, he recalled random moments from their old routine. When Shaphira only wanted to rest in his arms instead of working. When Elisa failed in her training but remained determined. When the two of them, along with Ferinish, competed to see who would finish dinner first.
These and other memories made the two women laugh, but soon they felt themselves sinking into a past that would never return.
After finishing her piece of brownie, Shaphira asked with enviable sincerity if everything could return to how it once was, if they could be a family forever.
He replied with melancholy that nothing would be the same again. He said he had made many mistakes with them, with his friends, with the person he loved. He did not deserve forgiveness.
He believed Ferinish would find someone who truly deserved her. That thought made him happy, because it meant she was capable of moving forward despite the pain.
He, on the other hand, was already at a depth from which he could not return. All that remained was to live as best he could and pursue his goals until his inevitable end.
Each word tightened their hearts. It was not self pity and not pessimism. It was only a man paying for his sins.
With her hands against her chest, Shaphira asked if that was truly how he would end, if there was no other chance.
He denied any possibility of salvation. He said he was already bound to the path he had chosen and only needed to finish it, with glory or with death.
He added that, regardless of his end, he did not want them to worry or follow him, since they could get hurt or end up like him. He asked that when they completed the mission, they keep living their lives in the best way possible and never doubt the love he felt for them, even if at times it had seemed cold or apathetic.
After finishing his speech, he stood up with the empty board and left the dwelling. Silence settled between the sisters. Elisa noticed the tension in Shaphira, her head and ears lowered. It was not only sadness, it was the feeling of being powerless against the destiny of someone important.
Her murmurs were words of guilt. She wished she had done more, been more.
But nothing could be done.
Elisa stood and left the dwelling, finding Slady sitting on a tree trunk. Hugging herself for warmth, she sat beside him, her eyes fixed on the pieces of the moon drifting across the sky and scattering among the stars.
With a quiet voice breaking the silence, she asked what that vengeance meant to him. Slady, gripping his staff like an amulet of sanity, said that it was not only for justice for Raizer, Rentalya and all who had died.
It was his way of forgiving himself for what he had done, like a light at the end of a tunnel. But he had already given up on reaching that light.
Everything he had done, including the killings, was not for money, pleasure or the idea of removing pests from his home. It was an attempt to reach that light, to cleanse the blood that stained his hands, but he only sank deeper into more blood.
What he had believed for years to be the right thing revealed itself to be a mistake. His supposed goodness was only a way to hide his own malice.
This cruelty, which he had mistaken for virtue, pushed him away from everything and destroyed everything he touched.
Now that everything was already destroyed, all he could do was live and put an end to the pain, either by fulfilling his revenge or by dying. But he was determined not to involve anyone else.
Elisa nodded, accepting that she would never fully understand the man beside her, but understanding his wish. Without looking at him, with a trembling voice, she asked that if his path led to self destruction, he should never appear in anyone's life again. She asked that he not bring pain to anyone else.
He agreed. When the mission was over, she would never see him alive again.
He added that it was difficult to make that decision and face that destiny.
Elisa shared the same feeling. Knowing that she would never see him again after leaving the island felt like carrying a story she could never tell anyone.
And so, for the rest of the night, they remained in an anguished silence that neither had the courage to break.