The Light in His Darkness

The Meeting

Every time that Tam closed his eyes that night, he kept imagining some faceless person coming to cut him with a knife.

He shivered, wondering how Glimmer had been able to do it all those years.

He twisted to his other side, pulling his blankets with him, but that didn't help.

He sat up and inhaled, trying to calm himself down.

It had certainly been an eventful day, and had led to more than he originally expected, but what it had revealed left Tam sick to his stomach.

He didn't regret hearing Glimmer out. There were still a lot of questions to be answered in the morning, but he decided not to bother her now while she was trying to sleep.

They both needed it.

All Tam could do was sit and stare at his wall, thinking through each of the questions he had.

Not just for Glimmer, but for Tiergan, as well, in regards to Foxfire and what else would be happening there.

Tam started as a stunning light filled the room. He looked around, but it couldn't have been anything he had done, so maybe . . . .

"You awake?" he asked.

"Yeah," Glimmer said. He could feel her trying to gather some more shadows, and he wanted to laugh - had she just figured out another way for them to communicate when they weren't sure the other was asleep?

Smart girl.

"I couldn't sleep," she said.

"Neither could I," Tam admitted.

"Has anything happy happened to you lately?" she inquired.

Tam sighed. "Not particularly, if I'm being honest. My life kind of sucks right now."

Glimmer laughed breathily. "You can say that again," she said. "So now that you know more about my life growing up, can you . . . tell me more about yours? Or - or Linh?"

Tam settled back into his bed, not sure how to respond. "What do you want to know?" he asked cautiously.

"Well . . . what was it like, growing up as a twin? Being able to - to see and interact with actual people? To see the sights of your world?"

He heard the longing in her voice, even if it was only mentally. "Wow, that's right. You haven't really seen the Lost Cities, have you?"

"I haven't," she agreed. "I was kept in the hideout for . . . as long as I can remember."

"Hmm." So he laid down and started to tell her about Atlantis. She'd heard of it before, but had never actually heard anything in all that much detail, since, she said, the adults had never really cared for telling her.

Tam told her all he could remember about it - how to get there, the statue in front of the entrance into Nightfall, the Eurypterid carriages, the shops.

He notably didn't tell her about the first time Linh flooded Atlantis, or what they had done there not that long ago, even though she probably knew.

He just wanted a few minutes where he didn't have to talk about the Neverseen. He suspected that Glimmer wanted the same.

So he didn't mention that.

After a while, he realized that she'd fallen asleep.

Tam smiled, almost unaware of it.

And miraculously, talking to her had put his mind at ease.

It didn't take long for him to sleep either.

"So do I, like, need to be going with her everywhere?" Tam asked Tiergan the next morning, deliberately not mentioning what Glimmer had told him the night before.

He wanted to have all the information about what she expected, and what he was thinking, before he said anything about it. "I mean when she leaves Foxfire, and all that?"

"Here's the thing, Tam. I don't want to stress you out when you're struggling with your mental health. But it's up to Forkle. He's the one who's really in charge of this stuff."

"Did you tell him about . . . .?" Tam fidgeted.

"I did," Tiergan said calmly. "And I also asked him not to share the details with anyone. He won't."

"Thank you. So do I need to hail, or what?"

"There's a meeting this afternoon, and he'll explain it all in more depth then. You can ask him there."

For whatever reason, Tam almost felt a little apprehensive at the thought of another meeting with his friends. "Where is it?"

"Havenfield, like usual."

"And do I need to bring Glimmer?" he asked.

"That's up to you, I think, but things might be a bit harder if she's there."

"Why?"

"Tam . . . let me teach you a lesson. We adults aren't blind. We don't fail to notice if you guys are going through some drama or another. I can tell that Glimmer is putting a strain on some of your relationships right now. So it might be nice to get out of the house on your own."

"It might," he murmured. Maybe it was worth a try to see if it'd be better without Glimmer there.