Assailant
If he could hear her thoughts about the fairies, he might have to give her credit for a highly accurate assessment. That is almost exactly what transpired after he and the others were given a chance to repair the Baltian/Stratosian rift before it could fracture into what they had come to know in the present day. In the initial months after their experience, he’d gone through the quite unpleasant self-examination, which led to a lot of self-doubt. But still, he is not ungrateful for the changes that have befallen him because of it all.
He listens intently as she describes her ties to Tephra, takes note of the immense prestige she bestows upon it and her family. A lonely longing washes over him as she extolls their virtues. While he had been mindful of his sons and setting an example of what he believed to be ideal masculinity for them, while he had known that a daughter had grown to rule the Valley, he had never developed relationships with them. If any still lived, he was sure they would have nothing kind to say of him, let alone boast of him as Kreation does of her father. He is somewhat surprised to find himself dabbling in regret as he contemplates all of this.
When she heads for the lake, he follows, fascinated by the devotion she expresses. Her declaration unknowingly sparks something deep within him, but he is too focused on the pictures that she paints with her words. He can feel the heat of the volcanic atmosphere she describes, the humidity that must saturate the air he finds himself wanting to explore. A smile to match hers blooms when she turns to look at him. He can almost taste the brine the breezes must carry from the nearby ocean.
The salt.
Like a mirror, his face falls as hers does. Everything she mentions fits perfectly into how Adriana came to be what he knows her as. A sea-creature with a warring combination of ice and fire in her blood. It seems to suit the purple woman beside him as well. His gaze drifts to the lake when she falls silent, where the illusion of a red-gold kelpie girl sinking into its water taunts him yet again. Kreation’s words come back to him, just as a tightness closes around his chest, stealing his breath in a single heartbeat.
“I would go to the ends of the worlds to bring her back!”
What started as an unnoticed flicker suddenly flares into a blinding light that overwhelms every fiber of his being. He had intended to tell Adriana what she means to him, but perhaps there is a way to show her. Beqanna fells and resurrects kingdoms as she sees fit, would she consider an ignorant man’s request to return Tephra to its glory? He looks back to Kreation, traces of his growing conviction glimmering in his eyes as he thanks the stars for dropping her so unexpectedly in his path.
His voice is thick and rough with emotion when he speaks again. “Perhaps we should take a little trip to the mountain.. surely the magics that be have a price for returning Tephra to you… and others that surely still love her as you do.”
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware
--Martin Buber