Nightly Mirage

11. Path of the Pure

Valhias still remembered vividly Liryl when, in order to stop his swing, she had thrown herself on the nahz'reim to shield her. Even if he could not fathom her reason, he had long figured that the nahz'reim ought to be somehow important to her. Therefore, when he gave her the bitter news, the ath'ar had prepared himself to the idea that the nymph could be saddened by it.

Even so, though, he was taken aback by Liryl's horrified and dismayed face.

"Sentenced ... to death?" she repeated in a whisper.

Even though he did not anticipate such a reaction, he tried to comfort her. "I know how you feel, but the people of that city ..."

"But she is innocent!" Liryl replied furiously. "They have no right to kill her!"

This time it was Valhias who was shocked. That Liryl could take that girl's side was something he had come to expect, absurd as it might sound to him. How the nymph could react so passionately, however, was completely beyond his understanding.

"What's gotten into you?" he finally blurted, unable to conceal his astonishment any longer. "Haven't you seen, too, what those nahz'reim are capable of? How can you keep defending them despite all this?"

"I'm not defending those nahz'reim." Liryl replied, bluntly but more calmly than before. "I saw with my own eyes what atrocities they can commit. But that girl ... she's different, and she shouldn't be here to pay for their sins."

Valhias sighed. He had no doubts that his friend was being honest with him, but this did not make it any easier for him to believe she was right.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked, shaking his head. "How can you say you know her well enough to be sure of it?"

To that question, Liryl stayed silent. He looked at her, puzzled, wondering if he had actually hit on the mark. After all, it would not be the first time his words managed to silence her friend.

However, when she spoke again, her words turned out to be not the ones Valhias had predicted. "There's something I must tell you."

"It's about your captivity and the nahz'reim girl, I assume," he anticipated her.

"Yes. But not just that."

Valhias could not hide his surprise, but he let her friend go on.

"Do you remember when we came to look for you on the Mountains of the Shattered Sun, two years ago?" she asked.

He nodded hesitantly "Yes, but ..."

"There's something I never told you, since that time," Liryl cut him short, staring right into his eyes. "There was another person besides me, Atorak, and that warrior nymph, who came along us."

***

Ever since she had been imprisoned in that dark and damp cell, Zavee had spent almost the whole time curled on herself, her arms wrapped around her knees. Sometimes she had even fallen asleep, only to be abruptly awakened by her nightmares. The bruises of the beating she had recently taken from the ath'ar soldiers still hurt, but they were nothing compared to the wounds which had ripped deep inside her.

Zavee had long since come to terms with her dreams and her illusions. She knew she had failed to protect the nymph, and that there would never be a place for her in the other girl's life. And yet, she had desperately kept clinging to the hope that, in one way or another, the nymph would have helped her starting over a new life.

Perhaps, Zavee had often thought to herself, staring at the shadows around her, this is why I hated that ath'ar. Because, if I had listened to him, I should have had to give up even this last hope.