ISLA
"More than his thoughts," Isla says with a sudden laugh like the chime of a bell. "I told you, it's hard to describe. If you ever get a companion, you'll be halfway to understanding it." But even then maybe not, because humans are a lot more complex than animals, and Isla had been privy to Remi's very, very human mind. And as Flora responds to her second death (some people are just lucky, right), Isla can't help but shake her head.
"I don't hate him at all," she says softly. "Pretend for a second that it isn't your father, and it might be easier to understand. He killed me out of love, just like he'd tried to save me out of mercy. And I was free from there. I went to Mort, and spent time as we're all meant to when we die here." Sighing, because it really had been the last time she'd felt at peace, Isla almost doesn't want to continue.
"At the Festivals of Lights one year, the Voice managed to interfere with proceedings. A huge group of souls came back as Ascended from Mort's realm - it was a choice she gave us. And I chose to come back." Both knowing and not knowing, of course, just how fucked things were about to be. "By then, though, sides had already been formed. People had already drawn lines. And Remi and I were on opposite sides of a war on the horizon. But of course I went to see him. I met Mateo, we had all those tearful reunions and everything you might expect. But it always felt like it wasn't the same."
After being so, so close, it was unsurprising that nothing would compare, in retrospect. "We found ourselves trying to get back what we'd had, even in the middle of a war. Socially, emotionally, physically, even. To cut that part short, though, you know how your father can be killed right?" She's not about to overshare if Flora doesn't know, put it that way.
"I don't hate him at all," she says softly. "Pretend for a second that it isn't your father, and it might be easier to understand. He killed me out of love, just like he'd tried to save me out of mercy. And I was free from there. I went to Mort, and spent time as we're all meant to when we die here." Sighing, because it really had been the last time she'd felt at peace, Isla almost doesn't want to continue.
"At the Festivals of Lights one year, the Voice managed to interfere with proceedings. A huge group of souls came back as Ascended from Mort's realm - it was a choice she gave us. And I chose to come back." Both knowing and not knowing, of course, just how fucked things were about to be. "By then, though, sides had already been formed. People had already drawn lines. And Remi and I were on opposite sides of a war on the horizon. But of course I went to see him. I met Mateo, we had all those tearful reunions and everything you might expect. But it always felt like it wasn't the same."
After being so, so close, it was unsurprising that nothing would compare, in retrospect. "We found ourselves trying to get back what we'd had, even in the middle of a war. Socially, emotionally, physically, even. To cut that part short, though, you know how your father can be killed right?" She's not about to overshare if Flora doesn't know, put it that way.
apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood
after me comes the flood
