Touch connected their bodies yet could not bridge the gulf that yawned between their hearts. Hadama knew his selfishness was cruel, but no less so than Harper's farewell. On this last day together they could only wound each other with the love that remained even after the year and more apart. It should have been reason enough to let the Stalwart go, this mutual destruction they indulged in, but still the Tidebreaker held fast to the hand of a man who had once been his best friend and steadfast other half when they had ruled together.
"If you remain in Caido, I will find you," Hadama rumbled, his deep voice rough with the emotions that he fought to pull back from the Attuned bond, to give his friend what peace he could in the time remaining to them. "And if you go to Mort too soon, know that I can call on His champion to speak with you again." And that was as much threat as reassurance.
The questions he might have asked when he had hoped that they would rebuild their relationship meant nothing to him now. The past was passed and could not be changed, and all that mattered was to cherish the moments that remained to them before Harper left on his impossible quest. Hadama squeezed the hand he still held and took a deep breath to give his friend what was asked: a retreat from the world and from their pain; the names of sea creatures and the adventures of palace pages growing into their fins. The latest fashion craze beneath the waves that had the King bewildered (shirts, with and without sleeves, made entirely of nets), and the newest song Hadama's sister had composed. The last dish that Hadama had created in his endless pursuit of new land-and-sea fusion flavors...
The sun had long since relinquished the sky to the moon and stars before his voice grew hoarse and he finally bowed his head in defeat, unable to hold the Stalwart back from his future any longer. He rose alongside his old friend, pulling him into an embrace that felt all too final and ended far too soon.
He watched Harper go quietly into that good night, and he did not gather up the box and vanish from Mourn until long after the former King had passed from his sight.
~Fin
"If you remain in Caido, I will find you," Hadama rumbled, his deep voice rough with the emotions that he fought to pull back from the Attuned bond, to give his friend what peace he could in the time remaining to them. "And if you go to Mort too soon, know that I can call on His champion to speak with you again." And that was as much threat as reassurance.
The questions he might have asked when he had hoped that they would rebuild their relationship meant nothing to him now. The past was passed and could not be changed, and all that mattered was to cherish the moments that remained to them before Harper left on his impossible quest. Hadama squeezed the hand he still held and took a deep breath to give his friend what was asked: a retreat from the world and from their pain; the names of sea creatures and the adventures of palace pages growing into their fins. The latest fashion craze beneath the waves that had the King bewildered (shirts, with and without sleeves, made entirely of nets), and the newest song Hadama's sister had composed. The last dish that Hadama had created in his endless pursuit of new land-and-sea fusion flavors...
The sun had long since relinquished the sky to the moon and stars before his voice grew hoarse and he finally bowed his head in defeat, unable to hold the Stalwart back from his future any longer. He rose alongside his old friend, pulling him into an embrace that felt all too final and ended far too soon.
He watched Harper go quietly into that good night, and he did not gather up the box and vanish from Mourn until long after the former King had passed from his sight.
~Fin
