In the darkness

Esus helped pull the grate back over head before descending with Charyic. He was almost afraid to speak to her. She had loved Malav. She hadn’t thought of him the way he had thought of her.

He lit the way with a murmur, bringing a ball of light to his hand and she turned to look at him in surprise. “You expected to walk all the way in the dark?” He smiled halfheartedly.

“I did.” She laughed. “I thought I’d be feeling ahead with my staff and you’d be holding my other hand.”

Esus looked at her as they walked and teased hopefully, “If you wanted to hold hands…” He almost called her ‘my beauty’.

She took in the way he looked at her before she smiled bitterly and shook her head. “You still look at me the same way.”

“Yes. You... “ He sighed. “You spoke of aching for Malav, I ached for you. I got to the temple and you were gone.” Esus looked ahead into the darkness. “I thought-” He swallowed the words he wanted to say, “I thought he wanted to hurt you.”

“I thought the same, and he was frightening when I met him. But also earnest. And with this staff, he can feel what I feel and know what I’m thinking. He said what I wanted to hear and touched me exactly like I wanted to be touched.” She shook her head. “It was easy to fall in love with him. But I think I knew I had made a mistake before we got to Cearazon. I just-just didn’t want to believe it.”

They continued in silence.

After a time, Esus spoke softly. “Tell me if you need to rest.”

“You do the same. I heard them talking about you healing yourself. I don’t-don’t know what Malav did to you.”

Esus nodded. “Resting would be-” He rubbed his face.

Charyic stopped and leaned against the rough wall. She closed her eyes and moved her hand over her belly. Esus leaned next to her and let the light go out. There was absolute darkness.

“I haven’t done this much sneaking and walking in months.” Charyic said wryly. “Light Bringers at least kept me moving.”

Esus laughed softly. “I hope you manage to escape Malav as well as you did the Light Bringers who tried to take you.”

There was another long silence. “Did you really come back for me? Or did you-did you hand me off to my new owners like Malav said you did.” Her words were quiet.

Her words left him heartbroken in the dark. “I came back for you.” Esus tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “How could I leave my beauty?” He felt her lean against his shoulder.

After a moment she sighed. “We should start moving again. If you still need to save your strength we can walk in the dark.”

“Yes.” He felt her take his hand and they began to move cautiously forward, the sweep of her staff making a soft sound in the darkness.