Mercy & Fire

17. Survivor's Affliction

Adelia

Nerves tickled along my scalp as dull fingernails traced trails through my hair. Mother's chest was a pillowy refuge for me. I loved snuggling my head on it as she told me stories of the Kingdom of Camela's former glory. Boisterous sunlight warming even the most traitorous of winters and seemingly immortal fields of flowers faltering at the boundary between their deep roots and the white sand of the coast.

Mother's eyes are closed as she imagines the place her parents called home.

A soft smile with a hint of mirth splayed on her lips, "It was a beautiful place to call home."

Then she opened her eyes and tilted her head down toward me.

"We may live in darkness now, darling. But there is a place sweeter than all the land you can see." Her nimble fingers stretched across the air above us.

"Are there sweet cakes there?" I whispered.

"Oh, the sweetest. There is no pain, no loss, and no suffering there. There are rivers of honey and milk. Endless forests of fruit trees as sweet as sugar cane." She paused to close her eyes again and dream for a second. "The breeze is just perfect..."

I glanced up at her through my lashes in wonder. This place sounded like heaven.

"That's where we'll go when we die. But they say that there's a little piece of that land here for the weak and the weary to rest." She unhooked a chain from around her neck.

She gently grabbed my hands and opened them. The pale pink pendant looked large against my palm.

"In this pendant is the map to get there, darling.  You mustn't show it to anyone unless you absolutely trust them, okay?"

I knew I only had three more days with my mother, and it made my chest ache.

"Must I go, mama?" My voice was whiny.

She pushed my curly hair to the back of my head, "Yes, darling. You must. Remember, Adelia, you're a survivor. You must live for the both of us, okay?"

"Okay, mama."

My eyes were vacant as I flipped the pendant between my fingers, the last memories of my mother replaying in my mind. I could no longer remember what she looked like or what she sounded like, but in my mind, she was always soft and warm. Like honey on a warm muffin.

It's been around ten years since I last saw her, and I hated how easy it was to forget her. I longed for the day that I would see her again, but it was getting harder and harder to hold onto the hope that I would.

It was similar to the sinking feeling I felt when the fear that I wouldn't see my family again reared its ugly head. Jonas always treated me like a little sister, and though I always tried to be respectful and tactful, I never realized how much I'd come to see him, Roselena, and their father as my family.

Anxiety still jumped at me whenever I remembered the charmed scroll I had in my bag. That scroll would have been the only source of communication between me and Roselena when she found it. The idea was to have the message erased five minutes after it's been opened to leave space for a response. Now it was useless.

"I think I may fit through now." Bellfire announced from my side, drawing me out of my thoughts.

He was halfway through the bottom of the wooden fence with an accomplished expression on his face. We'd chosen the part of the fence that had the thinnest branches constructing a tall wall to dig a small tunnel under.