Path of Dragons 14 - Chapter 20 - The Reality of Time

Elijah sat on a tree branch overlooking the coast, watching a squad of crab-mounted Hartwood Sentries patrolling the beach.  He didn’t recognize any of them, but by the way they moved, they all had a decent amount of power.  Enough to protect themselves, at least. 

Nearby, Elijah sensed a curious white fox he now recognized as the young Animist he’d met immediately after his return.  The boy remained in stealth, but it was entirely insufficient to protect him from Elijah’s senses.  Still, he acted like he didn’t know the boy had been following him since he’d come back from the massacre in Meridian Lux.

And that was what it had been, too.  Elijah didn’t fool himself into believing it was a battle.  He knew it was an extermination. 

Thankfully, his input hadn’t been necessary with the refugees.  The nature-attuned among them were offered places in the grove.  Not as full members, of course.  That wouldn’t be a possibility until they’d proven themselves, both in terms of utility and loyalty.  However, there was a program where they could live and work on and around the island.  And one day, they might be able to join the Hartwood Grove in an official capacity.

Ironshore took a few others, though from what Elijah could tell, they were quite picky when it came to who they let live in their city.  In a perfect world, citizenship would be open to everyone, but the reality was that the city didn’t have the resources to support everyone.

For everyone else, there was the Hartwood Foundation. 

Elijah hadn’t really understood how big the organization had become, but it soon became clear when they sprang into action.  In only a day, most of the refugees had been relocated. 

And Elijah hadn’t needed to do anything.

Except pay the bills, it seemed.  Not that he minded that.  He wasn’t using most of his money anyway.  Other people might as well benefit from it.

For the longest time, Elijah just sat in that tree, enjoying the atmosphere.  There really was no place like home, especially when he’d spent the past few decades fighting against the corruption of the abyss.  His eyes still hadn’t reacclimated to the deluge of color that came with the dense forest around his island.

Even Druhmor, for all the work he’d put in, seemed almost monochrome by comparison.

Elijah didn’t move even when a light drizzle misted his surroundings.  The smell of rain was another difference, and one he’d sorely missed. 

But it was while he was enjoying the soft shower that he felt something he’d anticipated for the past couple of days.  His locus extended to the Conclave Spires, so he felt it keenly when Sadie arrived.

For once, she wasn’t wearing her armor.

Elijah still wasn’t sure what to think of their previous meeting.  She’d obviously come ready for a fight, but she’d abandoned that posture the moment they were alone.  Her current lack of armor told him two things.

First, that she hadn’t come in an official capacity.  He’d asked around a bit, and he’d discovered that the Order of Adjudicators had become an extremely powerful organization.  Mostly, they focused on mediating disagreements between powerful factions, but they weren’t above judging individual citizens.  Where they went, respect followed.

Fear, too.  And a good bit of resentment as well, but that came with the territory.  After all, no one liked being told what they could and couldn’t do, and they tended to lash out at those imposing the rules and consequences for breaking them.  It had been true in the old world, and it was still true now.  Perhaps it always would be.

It was just a part of the human condition, he supposed.

The second message sent by Sadie’s lack of armor was meant for him.  Or he hoped so, at least.  She wanted to relax.  To be comfortable.  To embrace without the impediment presented by sheets of elaborately worked metal between them.

It was a good sign.

Elijah leaped from the tree, startling the young Animist, and bounded off Cloud Step.  He was strong enough that a simple leap could take him hundreds of feet, so he sailed through the air, deploying his humanoid wings at the apex of the arc.  He still couldn’t really use them to gain altitude, but they were great for gliding.

Like that, he covered the distance between him and the Conclave compound, landing just before Sadie exited the gate.  Acting casual, he leaned against a nearby tree and summoned a recently-picked grove fruit from his Arcane Loop.  He timed his bite just right to coincide with the moment she caught sight of him.

“Oh,” he said around a mouthful of fruit.  “Fancy meeting you here.  Come to Ironshore often?”

“Elijah…”

“What?”

She just shook her head and rolled her eyes before stepping forward and weaving her arm under his.  He took the hint and, together, they strode down the lane connecting Ironshore to the Spires. 

The brief shower had ended only a few minutes before Sadie’s arrival, leaving the atmosphere slightly humid.  But the smell was enough to make up for the soggy air.  Elijah took a deep breath, saying, “You have no idea how much I missed that.”

“It didn’t rain in your terraformed world?”

“I didn’t finish.  I only managed to terraform a continent.”

“Oh, pardon me,” she said.  “Just a continent.”

“Right.  You get it,” he responded with a grin.  “And yes, it rained.  After a while, at least.  But it didn’t smell like this.”

“What did it smell like?”

“Artificial?  No.  That’s not the right word. Manufactured, maybe?  Like someone had turned the sprinkler system on,” he said, attempting to describe the difference.  It had gotten better over the years, but he suspected it would be a long time before Gorveth felt as natural as Earth.  “The point is that you tend to take things like this for granted.  Or I used to.  Not anymore, though.  I don’t intend to take anything for granted now that I know what it means to lose it.”

Sadie didn’t respond, but she did tighten her grip on his arm. 

The rest of the trip into Ironshore went like that, and they made light conversation along the way.  They didn’t touch on anything important, and neither wanted to break that particular seal. 

“Elijah.”

“What?” he asked.  “What’s wrong?  Is it the Meridian Lux thing?  Is there going to be a response?”

She shook her head.  “No.  Yes.  I don’t know.  Maybe that’s part of it,” she answered, looking around, almost as if she wanted support.  Then, she went on, “I want you to know that I didn’t just look the other way.”

“What?”

“With the slavery.  With what was going on there.  I didn’t just turn my back on those people.”

“I didn’t think you did.”

“We rescued some of them,” she explained.  “I couldn’t be involved, but we saved as many as we could.  We –”

He reached out to grip her arm.  “I kind of expected as much.  I trust you.  And not just to have my back.  I know you will, but I also trust you to make the right decisions.  Or at least try to.”

“It doesn’t always feel like I’m doing the right thing.”

“Maybe you’re not.  But you’ll try to.  That’s all any of us can do, right?” he asked.

“I…I guess.”

“But there’s something else, right?”

She nodded, then said, “But I don’t want to do it out in the open.”

Elijah’s heart leaped into his throat, but he suppressed his anxiety.  Instead, he suggested, “I could get us a private room at a restaurant or something.  I don’t know if you realize it, but I’ve got a little pull around here.”

She gave a soft chuckle, but shook her head.  “No.  I’m not hungry.”

“The island?  I haven’t really taken advantage of the hot spring since I got back…”

“No.  Here.  Follow me.”

She grabbed his hand and led him along.  Elijah could scarcely see the city passing them by.  He didn’t pay attention to the crowds, either.  All he could see was the memory of Sadie’s determined expression.  That did not bode well.

He dwelled on it all the way to Druid’s Park.  Soon enough, he found himself sitting beside her on a small, damp hill overlooking the park.  Children played in the distance, but only a few other couples were around. 

“This is not what I expected,” Elijah said after a few moments.

“I wish I could have planned it better,” she admitted.

Elijah started to get a bad feeling, but he pushed it down. 

Sadie sighed, then looked away.  “I’m sorry for not responding when you messaged me.”

“I figured you were busy.”

“I was.  But I could have replied,” she said.  “I was scared, though.  Surprised.  Nervous.  I…I knew you were alive, but…”

Elijah put his hand over hers. “It’s fine.  I’m fine.  We’re together now.”

She pulled away.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You keep saying that.  What are you sorry for?” he asked.  “Just so we’re clear about what this is.”

Elijah already knew what was coming, and in hindsight, he should have expected it.  But he hadn’t.  For whatever reason, he had convinced himself that they would just pick up where they’d left off.  It was stupid, he realized.  Stupid, unfair, and presumptuous.

“You were gone for so long,” Sadie breathed, tears flowing down her cheeks.  “The first few years, I expected you to just show up.  But after the first decade, I started to understand that if you weren’t back already, you were probably gone for good.  Not dead.  But still gone.  And after the second decade, I moved on.”

“I see.”

“No.  You don’t.  I didn’t find someone else.  I…I threw myself into my work.  Into the Order of Adjudicators.  It…it became my life.  My everything.”

“That’s okay, though.  We can still be together.  I won’t interfere,” Elijah pleaded.

“It’s not like that, Elijah.  It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.”

“So, you’re leaving me?”

“Elijah, we haven’t been together for thirty years.  Thirty years.”

“A blink of the eye by the standards of the multi-verse.”

She shook her head.  “But not to me.  I…I rehearsed this.  I had a speech ready.  I talked about how you deserve to be free.  You deserve to find someone who can love you like you should be loved.  About how you need someone who will put you first,” she explained.  “I know you, Elijah.  You’re not going to sit still.  You might not have meant to leave Earth.  Not this time.  But it won’t be the last time you go.  And it probably won’t even be the longest duration.  Be honest with yourself.  You’re already getting restless, aren’t you?  You’re already looking forward to your next challenge.  I can see it.”

“If I had some reason to stay…”

“But you don’t.  Or I won’t be that, Elijah.  I won’t be the anchor holding you on Earth,” she declared.  Then, in a whisper, she repeated, “I won’t.”

“Do I get a say in this?” he asked.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Seems like you said a lot.”

“Please don’t be like that.”

“Like what?  Hurt?  I’m sorry, Sadie.  I can’t help it,” he spat, pushing himself to his feet.  He paced back and forth, anger and frustration mingling in his mind.  “Do you know what got me through all those years of isolation?”

She shook her head.

“I made these clay statues,” he said.  “You know, of my friends.  My family.  Of you.”  He sighed.  “I knew they weren’t real.  I wasn’t that far gone.  But it helped, talking to them, you know.  It helped to pretend.  To act like I wasn’t so devastatingly alone.  I even made these little hats for them to wear for Treebie’s birthday.”  He chuckled, then pushed his fingers through his hair.  “God.  I sound insane.  I feel insane.  No wonder you don’t want to be with me.”

“That’s not what I said, Elijah,” Sadie insisted, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing his arm.  “This isn’t about you.  It’s about me.  I can’t…I can’t be what you need me to be.”

“It sounds an awful lot like you don’t love me enough to be what you think I need.”

“Elijah, I –”

“No.  It’s fine.  I get it,” he interrupted.  “I understand.”

And he did.  Sure, the self-pitying part of him wanted to latch onto his surface-level pain.  But he was intelligent enough to know that the real culprit was time.  After all, thirty years was a long time, and in that interval, Sadie had moved on.  She’d dedicated her life elsewhere, and there just wasn’t room for him anymore.

He didn’t want to acknowledge that realization, though.  Not at the moment.  Instead, he just looked at her and said, “I do love you.  I always will.”

“I love you too, Elijah.”

There was a part of him that wanted to scream that love was all they needed.  That they could rebuild their relationship on that foundation.  But he knew that argument would fall on deaf ears.  Sadie had already made her choice.  She’d come to inform him, not to be persuaded. 

So, he wiped his eyes and said, “I guess we’re done here, then.”

“Elijah…”

“I told you.  It’s fine.  Better than fine.  I’m happy you’ve found your purpose, Sadie.  If you need me, I’ll be there.  All you have to do is ask.”

Then, he wrapped her in a final embrace that was far too short.  When she pulled away, her eyes were red-rimmed, and her cheeks were wet.  But she remained resolute.

Elijah had no choice but to move on.

“I guess I’ll see you around, then,” he said.  Without listening for a response, he turned and walked away.  But he continued to watch her via his locus.  He saw her break down.  He saw her fall to her knees.  He felt every tear fall onto the turf.  And he felt the unassailable reality that, despite her sadness, she never tried to follow him.