Scarlet Song

Chapter 20

I didn't know what answers awaited me there, let alone for anyone else. Being undead did nothing to slow that I spent so much time studying what killed the captain as well as the condition that Aerys and I now had. Our condition was thankfully the least of our worries, minimizing on the pressure that sat on my shoulders to have the answers for everyone. When we arrived, the smell that clung to the air was hard to place. The air was most and felt like it clung to every part of your body, even Aery's and I's cold, dead skin. Parts smelled like the local wildlife and others smelled strongly of the moss and other plants clinging to the scenery. Nestled safely amongst the swamps we had to wade through in one of our smaller boats, was a hut, adorned with bones and pelts. Despite the dead animals and blood you could smell in the air, there was a life about the place that you made you feel safe. It made you feel like someone like Aerys and myself might've had a heartbeat again for that brief moment. We are nearly startled off the small boat when the makeshift door to the hut flung open to reveal a very colorfully dressed person, the silks and colors causing their dark skin to almost seem as if it was glowing in the swamp air. They seemed young and petite for those that I seen follow this practice but, if Amsephone didn't question them, who was I to? The shaman whispered different things to Aerys inside her ear, surprisingly low enough for only her to register. Aerys took their hand they lifted her to her feet and out of the boat. Aerys listens for a moment before locking eyes with me and smiling warmly but with a sprinkle of fear teasing at the corner of her lips. "They say that we are the only ones who can pass beyond the door. They say it would've been a different story if we were not the dead but, they've had to manifest many dangerous energies to help me tonight but, they will do it. There is a possible, small chance I may not survive this so they say I should say my goodbyes before I leave you all. I will awake in a couple days if this works, though, in my chosen body. She runs her hands over her now body and blinks back emotion, smiling. I nod and take her hand and kiss it and rub my face along it before smiling warmly for her. "I will be on these very steps waiting for you, love. You will survive this, it's not in your nature to give in and go easily into the void." The rest of us, including Moira and Amsephone wait for her on the steps, Moira sleeping periodically with her head in my lap. Amsephone kept them fed while I focused on the days old tadpole that swam in the water below my feet until I heard the shaman next to me, I didn't even remember standing before I was face to face with him impatiently. "Did she make it? Where is she?" They place a hand on my chest where my heart would've been beating and nodded. "Votre fleur est vivante. Vous devez avoir de la patience et de la confiance." (Your flower is alive. You must have patience and trust.) I nod and reluctantly step back as I hear light footfalls behind them and she steps out from behind them. Her figure has taken even more shape and her assets have been aided in their growth and I can't help but lose what breath I don't have when she smiles at me around him, Her cheekbones are fuller now but her face still has it's beautiful, step angles I know. I lock eyes with her and I Look her over entirely and she smirks. "It's all there, and I mean all-all of it. I'm a woman all the way through now. I simply had to bargain with the spirits to find my true spirit's body." I barely contain myself as I grab her and pull her close and bury my face in her curly hair and breathe her in. Her scent is still the same but, sweeter now. "I told you, my lotus. You wouldn't die in there. You couldn't. Not with as far as we've made it and what we've been through already. I'm never gonna expect it to be easy, far from it actually. I vow to never be a coward like I was before. This battle is far from over but, you remind me why I fight." She nods and only the smallest of smiles teases at her lips as tilts her head. "Your lotus. When did that happen? Am I calling you Moone again?" With those words, I see her. I see when I met her, when I spent a century knowing her like family. I remembered the emptiness I felt after I left and I remember every twist and turn and I watched her change in front of my own eyes. "I-I see a beautiful flower in you. Even that first night, your hair glowed in the moonlight. You belong to the water, just like I do but, in your own way too. I can't see you anyway than with the ripples of the light off the water on your face. Nothing competes with the beauty that you've brought into my life, Aerys." She seems like she's in pain as she searches in my eyes before she answers. "But, what about all the death and pain that's followed the both of us. Could you really feel like that was a happy life for us?" It's the first time I've heard her question all of this but, I'm more certain than I've ever been about this. "It won't be like this forever. That's what we're fighting for. We're fighting for our captain, our crew, our families, and our tomorrow. We can't look forward to our tomorrow if we don't put the work in to secure it. I'm gonna give you that, even if I die doing so, Aerys. I'm doing this in hopes that the death that follows so close behind me will finally cease or that I can at least create some beauty where it does still lick at my heels. I don't expect much, I am a predator and the face of my species and people as well as yours now. It's not just my face they see anymore, they see everyone fighting for a better tomorrow when they see me bleed." There wasn't much any of us had to add to that intensity but, I spent the remaining hours until the darkest hours of that day cramming what I could in from the shaman. Moment before we were all ready to load back into our boat, the shaman grabs my arm and squeezes and speaks in loose English to me. "Something I must tell you, child. Aerys say you study the blood in captain's lungs. Answers you seek are right below your nose." They take a small blade from a table nearby and hands it to me, tears in their eyes as they hand it to me. "I made poison. Came to me and brought a charming tongue, convincing me you the dangerous one. Told me disease was better than how you eat."The words take what feels like forever before they sink in and the blade clangs to the floor of the hut and Aerys comes running in, having to grab onto me.