Arietta bid farewell to the temple quietly, leaving without a grand exit. Selesti was gathering her recruits in the main hall to announce the dissolution of the Resistance, so after a change of clothes, she used the opportunity to slip away.
It wasn’t hard to find Ed, the shipmaster. “A small boat, big enough for about ten? Sure, I can do that.” Arietta handed him the money that Selesti had given him, keeping back a little for provisions. It was enough that he would certainly keep quiet if the authorities came snooping for information.
The Homemaker was an old boat, but sturdy. Arietta inwardly scoffed at the name, but she knew she could change it later if she wanted. She wondered what name lie below the cheaply-applied paint that the Moral Revolution had found it so offensive. Probably a reference to the now-banned Fire God of San Ria.
She hastily shopped for provisions, keeping her head low and the hood of her cloak up. It was a cold, dark day, so nobody thought anything of it, and she was soon back at the boat. She stowed the provisions, untied the boat, and headed away before any guards came to ask difficult questions.
“Arietta,” called a female voice from the cabin, once she had reached the open sea. Startled, Arietta jumped and drew her sword, to find Tami standing behind her, open-handed arms up in the air in surrender.
“Tami! What are you doing here! Selesti will kill me!” Arietta sheathed her sword.
“Doing what she can’t do,” Tami said, “She was the one who told me we have to be apart for our safety, but she has to stay in San Ria to help the others remain in hiding. I know she wanted to help you. So I came in her place.”
“They’re not her friends,” Arietta said, “She-- you don’t have to...”
“Selesti is not the woman you remember,” Tami said, “She told me what happened to her in Garania. She’s so much braver now, willing to put her neck out for others. I think she’s trying to atone for what she did to you. She wants you to find your friends, Arietta. She wants you to be happy, to find the place where you belong...”
“I had the place where I belonged,” Arietta said, her face sad, “With Ariel, fighting the good fight against the Moral Revolution. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do with my life. Even when I was aboard the White Ship, it never felt quite right. I always questioned why we wanted to live away from men, away from the world that we wanted to see and accept us.”
“The world’s not ready for us,” Tami said, “Not yet. Once the Moral Revolution is swept away, I believe our time will come. But until then, we need a place we can be safe. That’s why Selesti’s been fighting, and I believe it’s what those aboard the White Ship wanted as well.”
“First we have to defeat the Moral Revolution,” Arietta said, “That’s looking more hopeless by the day. They’re so deeply entrenched into society now that people don’t even see them as extreme. They use codewords to hide what really happens to their neighbors, their friends...”
“It’s not over,” Tami said, cutting Arietta off, “Selesti told me you had given up hope, but you can’t! Ariel believed in what you believed. Honor his memory by continuing to fight! We’ll find your friends, and we’ll start again. A new White Ship, a new Sanctuary, a new Resistance. Whatever we need. They can’t crush our dreams, Arietta. They can’t!”
“They can, and they have,” Arietta said, “The man I loved is dead. My friends may be also. The Resistance is in hiding. My warship adorns a murky grave beneath the waves...”
“Yet that’s not what made you lose hope, is it?” Tami said, “You started wearing black long before that. Right after you were captured and freed from Garania...”
She knows. Horror flowed through Arietta’s veins, “Tami, don’t... I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You saw the heart of darkness, the root of evil in human form. That’s what made you lose faith. Before it was a fight. Even when Selesti told you what happened, it seemed distant, unreal somehow. Then it happened to you...”
“Shut up!” Arietta slammed her fist down, “What gives you the right to come aboard my ship and presume to know what’s going through my mind? You don’t even know me!”
“I’m sorry,” Tami said, hurt in her eyes, “I just want to help you.”
“There is nothing you can do,” Arietta said, “You shouldn’t have come. This is a suicide mission, looking for friends who are most likely dead in an ocean full of invisible enemy warships. I don’t care if I die, I have nothing else. But you...”
“That’s why I’m here,” Tami said, “I’m not just going to let you throw your life away. I won’t let Garania take away the leader of the Resistance, the woman who embodies all our hopes and dreams. So they hurt you, and it’s hard. I get that, I’ve held Selesti after her nightmares. But you have to find a way to go on. Everybody is counting on you.”
Arietta turned away, hiding the tears in her eyes, “I can’t be who they want me to be,” she said, “I thought I was strong, but I made a mistake. I could have led the charge and destroyed Garania forever. Instead I scouted ahead and was captured. The alliance fell apart. The person who came back from that... wasn’t the same, I know. That’s what Garania wants, to defeat us inside, but still have us walking around. I don’t want to be like that... I don’t want to let them win... Yet I can’t help feeling this pain inside. I couldn’t even look at Ariel the same way again after I came back, I felt so ashamed.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Tami said, “So you made a mistake. You’re human. You didn’t want more people to die than had to. Did you ever consider that maybe you were right, even? Garania has technology we couldn’t have dreamed of, relics ripped from the Ancient Tower. Your fleet could have been torn to shreds. Caution wasn’t stupid. It was you, caring about what happened to the people who were fighting at your side. That’s what makes you different from them. You care.”
“Perhaps that’s true...” Arietta said, looking out at the waves, “Tami, would you take the helm for a while?” She pulled out a map, “We’re heading for these coordinates. I’m going to take a nap.”
“Okay,” Tami said, “Arietta...?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s going to be all right.” Tami said, and Arietta managed a wan smile.
~
“Wake up, Arietta! There’s something strange on the horizon!” Tami shook Arietta, and she was up at once, rushing out on deck.
“What is that?” Arietta said, pulling out her telescope. She looked through it and handed it to Tami.
“Looks like some kind of black void,” Tami said, “There’s a lot of activity around it, things flying in the air. What happened here?”
“Pull us closer, but not too close,” Arietta said, “We need to take a look.”
Driftwood started to appear in the water, growing thicker as they approached the void, “There was clearly a huge battle here,” Arietta said, “This is debris from several ships.”
“Look out!” Tami cried, as a demon spotted them and flew over. He landed on the deck and took a swipe at Arietta, who had her sword drawn and was on it in a second.
“Arietta, we have to get out of here!” Tami cried, “It’s too dangerous!”
“I’m not leaving until I find the White Ship!” Arietta said. Her sword cut through leathery skin, but the demon rushed her and knocked her off her feet, pinning her down. Tami abandoned the helm and drew her sword, lopping the creature’s head off. Arietta threw off the demon as it disintegrated.
“Thanks,” Arietta said, brushing herself off, “What’s that... over there?”
Tami moved closer to the white driftwood and saw a white clad figure hanging on for dear life. Arietta helped the White Knight aboard. She was badly wounded, but conscious.
“Arietta!” The White Knight looked both happy and frightened, “We have to get out of here at once...! The White Ship is gone, Arietta... and Sanctuary was completely destroyed... All that’s left of our dreams are a few rocks that fell from the sky... Everybody I cared about is dust...” She started to cry as Arietta handed her a cup of water. She drank heavily, her lips dry and cracked.
“Start at the beginning,” Arietta said, “What happened after my ship left?”
“We... were going home,” the girl said, “Elisha, Pandora and Luna returned to us, having escaped the San Rian authorities. Thea decided we should return to Sanctuary, where it was safe. There was a lot of crying, upset... mostly about you, Arietta, and how you’d changed. People liked you...”
“Yeah, well...” Arietta lowered her head. They haven’t seen what I’ve seen, known what I’ve known. They are still children, naively dreaming that this world will fix itself.
“Pandora signaled the island to begin its descent. As it did, ships appeared out of nowhere! Like they had been there all along, but we just couldn’t see them. Two were lashed together, supporting this giant machine that was directly underneath Sanctuary. Then it unleashed a bright beam that shot up into the sky. Sanctuary was caught in it... and it melted, turned to dust right before our eyes...”
“It must be the Ancients’ technology,” Arietta said, “The Garanians have been excavating the Ancient Tower. I knew they found weapons from the past, but I never imagined anything like this...”
“Pandora went crazy,” the girl continued, “She became really powerful! She could destroy ships with a scream or the swipe of her hand. She wiped out the fleet. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have escaped, but...”
“What about the void?” Arietta asked, “Where did that come from?”
“Pandora opened it,” the girl sighed, “It was as if she tore the world open with her grief and rage. Then she sprouted black wings and flew away, leaving Luna and her friends to their fate. Demonic creatures came from the void and landed on the ship. Thea fought one off, but the void also brought with it a black storm. We couldn’t get the ship under control and it tore apart... The last thing I remember from the ship is Thea telling everybody to abandon ship.”
“Then you clung to driftwood and survived,” Arietta said, “Tami, did you hear all that?”
“Yes,” Tami said, “It would seem that we need to find Pandora. She opened the void, she must know how to close it. If she flew away though, she could have gone anywhere...”
“We need to find other survivors,” Arietta said, unfolding her map, “It’s likely that any survivors would have washed up here, on Mason’s Cove. I say we go there and see if we can find any clue as to where Pandora might have gone.”
“Arietta...” the girl spoke up, her voice weak, “I can’t believe all this has happened...” Then she fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from her ordeal.
Arietta went to the side of the boat and looked out at the void, at the choppy ocean of driftwood that swirled all around her, “I can,” she whispered, “I can.”
~
Arietta spent the afternoon crudely scratching names into her sword. It was ugly, but Faith had been lost to the ocean and she suspected it would be a while before she could get to a blacksmith.
Tami came to her when it was time to change shifts, “What are you doing?” she asked.
“My old sword, Faith, had all the names of people who had lost something to the cause,” Arietta said, “I lost the sword when I escaped from my warship. Now I have to remember them all and engrave them on my new sword.”
“Arietta,” Tami said, “You know, the whole weight of the world doesn’t have to be on your shoulders. You have friends. You are not responsible for all these names, these people.”
“If I don’t remember them, who will?” Arietta said, feverishly scratching, “Garania won’t. Nor the Arian Empire. Not even San Ria. If they are remembered at all, it is as traitors. Somebody has to remember that they existed. Otherwise, they didn’t.” She started to tear up again, “I didn’t even know the names of all the White Knights who perished on Sanctuary, or all of Ariel’s warriors aboard Twilight. So many people are gone and we have no idea of their hopes and dreams, their wishes and desires... I should have stayed on Sanctuary. Maybe I could have stopped this if I’d just stayed with the others. They wouldn’t have come looking for me...”
“Stop it, Arietta.” Tami said, “Look at me. You can’t change it. Sanctuary is gone. Your ship is gone. Ariel and the others are dead. Regardless of what could or might have been, it’s gone now, and all we can do is grieve and move on.”
“You didn’t know any of the people on Sanctuary!” Arietta said, “It’s easy for you to say that!”
“That’s not true,” Tami said, “My childhood friend, Mira, left to join the White Knights. At the time, I was too afraid and uncertain about myself to take a stand. So I let her go, and never saw her again. I wanted to see her again so many times, to tell her that I’d overcome my fears and grown up to find love. I often hoped that Sanctuary would come down so I could speak with her, but time passed and I got on with life. Now I can never tell her.”
Arietta stood up, tossing her project to the side, “Rest, Tami. I’ll get us to the shore.” She stalked past Tami and out onto the deck. Tami, exhausted from the day, shrugged and climbed into the bunk below the White Knight they’d picked up at the shore. As Tami fell asleep she realized they hadn’t even asked the woman her name.
~
“Tami, wake up.” Arietta’s voice spoke urgent words, but they came with a quiet, sad tone. Tami rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes and sat up.
“What...” Tami protested.
“She’s dead,” Arietta said. The body of the White Knight was cradled in her arms, pale and still.
“How?” Tami said, suddenly jerking to awareness, “We gave her water, fed her, and I didn’t see any major injuries...”
Arietta held up the knife that she’d been whittling the sword with the night before, and Tami saw the knife cuts across the woman’s wrists, the dried blood all over her hands.
“Gods... she bled to death as I lay sleeping...” Tami buried her head in her hands, pulling at her hair.
“It’s not your fault,” Arietta said, “I should have paid more attention, talked with her. I didn’t even ask her name. She knew me, but I didn’t have a clue who she was...”
“The White Ship had a lot of recruits,” Tami said, “You can’t have known them all.”
Arietta shook her head and snapped back to business, “We’re near land, anyway. We’ll bury her when we get ashore. I have to get back to the wheel or the boat will stray off course.”
“Of course,” Tami said. You were right, Selesti. Arietta does need someone to watch over her... But what if I can’t help? I promised you I’d help her... but I don’t even know where to begin! You should be here, you know her better than I do...
~
It was dusk by the time they made their way to solid ground and buried the White Knight, along with two others they had found washed up on the beach. Tami said a few words, having had to bury people at the temple who had died.
“I’m tired of tragedy,” Arietta said, “Just when I think my heart can’t break any more, something else happens. I’m so tired...”
“We should go back to the boat and rest,” Tami said, “I don’t want to be out here when it gets dark. Not with those demons around.”
They turned to start down the beach when Arietta heard a distant cry. She turned her head and saw two figures emerging from the nearby forest; one with brown hair and one with pinkish-red hair that stood out.
“No... it couldn’t be...” Arietta said. She broke into a run.
“Arietta, wait!” Tami said, but Arietta was running.
Elisha couldn’t believe her eyes, “Could it be Arietta?” she asked Luna, who was standing next to her. In her mind, Thea stood there also, smiling, before she disappeared.
“That looks like Tami with her... Odd traveling companions... Where’s Selesti?” Luna asked.
Elisha, though, didn’t care about Tami or Selesti. She started to run, seeing Arietta’s golden hair as if she were dreaming. Arietta is running towards me... she wants to see me... perhaps Lady Thea was lying and she’s not married?
She embraced Arietta and spun her around. Arietta clung to her, tears in her eyes. They held each other for a long time while Luna greeted Tami and asked about Selesti.
Finally, they parted. Elisha saw Thea’s image standing next to her, “You should ask her if what I said was true,” she said.
“Arietta...” Elisha let go of her and looked down at the ground, “Is it true... is it true you’re married to a man?”
“Yeah... it’s true,” Arietta said, “Ariel Valentine, a young lord from Garania. We were going to take back Garania together...” She started to cry and Elisha put her arms on her shoulders, “He’s dead, Elisha. He died saving my life... My dream is over...”
Elisha was speechless. He’s dead... He’s dead! Gods, I’m a horrible person... Arietta is in pain and all I can feel is a sick feeling of hope...
“You’re only human,” Thea said, “It’s normal to feel jealous. Anybody else would do the same in your position.”
Get out of my head! Elisha thought, and Thea vanished. She looked up at the sobbing Arietta and held her close. Arietta rested her head on Elisha’s shoulder.
I’m the one you come to only when everything else is broken and lost, Elisha thought, yet somehow, I’m happy. I hate feeling this way, like a dog happy to receive a treat from its cruel master...
Yet she stroked Arietta’s hair until she was done crying, and took her by the hand to the cave she was using as shelter. She barely heard Tami and Luna say they were going to sleep on the boat, or notice them leave.
As soon as they were alone in the cave, Arietta was on Elisha, kissing her. Elisha kissed back, knowing that she should say no, but Arietta wanted the comfort, and so did she. It had been so long since she had felt Arietta’s warmth, smelled the scent of her golden hair, felt the curve of her breasts in her hands. She let herself be consumed by desire and gave in completely to Arietta’s touch.
While Arietta slept, Elisha looked up at the cave’s ceiling. A million spikes threatening to come down at any second and pierce her heart. That’s how this was. In the morning, who knew what Arietta would say? That they had needed warm comfort, but it was too soon after her husband’s death to enter into a relationship? Or that she wanted to go back to the way things were and pretend she’d never left and taken a husband?
Lady Thea appeared. Elisha was almost grateful to see her. She would give her some advice, surely, even if she was just a manifestation of her broken mental state.
“You look beautiful,” Thea said, sadness in her eyes. Elisha felt her nakedness but Arietta was wrapped in the blanket and she didn’t feel like getting dressed and possibly making noise. Let Lady Thea see her like this, did it matter?
What are you? Elisha asked inside her mind, You appear at any time, you can read my thoughts, yet you sound nothing like me... Am I going mad? Or are you a ghost, here to tell me what I have missed? That I should have taken your marriage proposal and stayed on Sanctuary?
“In truth, I don’t know,” Thea said, “I am think I am alive, but I am neither here nor there. I did at first wonder if I was dreaming, but you are definitely you and I sense that these events are certainly happening. I am sorry if I have invaded your privacy.”
Could it be some power of your Ancient blood? Elisha asked, But why me? Why not Pandora, the other Ancient? Or Luna? Someone less troubled than I...
“I would think that would be obvious,” Thea said, “You are the only person left in this world I feel close to. The only one I truly care for. Sanctuary is gone and everything I have worked for has crumbled down, but the truth is, it stopped being my dream the day I nearly destroyed the world. Everybody lost faith in me. They took Sanctuary and made it theirs, and I was happy for them... but I never felt I belonged there. That’s why I left with you. I thought if I could make you happy, give you some closure... maybe you would finally see me. I’ve been so selfish all along, I’m so sorry...”
I know you care for me, Elisha said, Sometimes... I wish I could fall in love with you. I love Arietta, but she hurts me and then comes back and expects my love... I give it every time, I can’t help myself around her. I hate myself for it. I’m so tired of being hurt, I just want something simple.
“That’s for you to work out,” Thea said, “I can’t make you love me. I don’t want to be second best, either. That’s how you feel to Arietta.”
What should I do? Elisha asked, I can’t find Pandora and honestly, I’m not sure if I want to. I don’t want her to give her life to close the Gate... I can’t let Luna’s heart be broken like that... Meanwhile, my life is a mess...”
“Find me,” Thea said, “I will help you work all this out. I don’t know exactly where my body lies, but I see a small island, with a beach. Beyond that, there is a field of flowers and a small temple. An old man and a child are caring for my body, but they can’t wake me...”
I’ve been there! Elisha said, Manheim Island. It’s a holy shrine built on an island way out in the ocean... in the heart of the Arian Empire! It’s at least three weeks from here... how did you manage to travel so fast so quickly?
“Who knows?” Thea said, “Strange things are happening. The very fabric of this world has been torn apart. Find me, and we’ll search for Pandora together. She’s the key to all this.”
The Gate, perhaps. But what about Garania? Arietta isn’t just going to give up on her dreams so quickly. Elisha sighed, There’s nothing we can do about the Moral Revolution, is there?
“At present, no,” Thea said, “If we don’t make the Gate our priority, the world will certainly perish. The Moral Revolution comes second. You have to make Arietta understand that, or go your separate ways.” Thea walked over to where Elisha was standing and took her in an embrace. Even though Thea’s form was intangible, Elisha still felt comforted, “You can do it, Elisha,” Thea whispered, before disappearing.
Down on the floor of the cave, Arietta began to stir. Elisha felt exposed and dressed before Arietta could wake fully. She went outside and looked at the ocean, the waves roaring and crashing into the rocks. It was a new day. Somehow, they had to pick up the pieces that were left and carry on. The world was depending on them for its very survival... and so was Lady Thea.
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