The King's Challenge #183 and #184

We are halfway through this challenge!

TKC 183 and 184

Mirlin leaves to meet Damin soon after, which leaves Lyra and myself with Kay, and Kay is about to release every pent up emotion he possesses.

Fortunately, Siri comes in then, and the man deflates instantly. Lyra is wide-eyed before she hides a smile, but my eyebrows shoot up. So this is how it is for the westerner. Siri Mur has crept into his heart and, by the looks of it, she returns his favour. Her blush is quite marked when she realises Kay is with us.

“The awning collapsed,” she murmurs. “We need a strong hand to drive the stakes in again.” She looks only at Kay. She is with the other women in charge of the children, and the awning is a makeshift roof to protect the young from the elements.

Kay smiles. “Something I am able to do at last. Lead the way.”

Siri, laughing, swirls around and vanishes back into the night, and Kay follows in a far better frame of mind than earlier.

“Well,” Lyra says when we are alone, “I did not see that he feels the same, although I noticed her sending him glances.” She laughs lightly. “Good for them.”

“Damin will not like it.”

“Damin’s arse,” she grins. “I will set him straight.”

She will indeed. Poor Damin. “You used to set me straight as well.”

“Horin, don’t. There is too much going on.”

Standing, I wander closer to where she prepares dough for bread. We have not much in the way of flour or yeast left, so the result will be quite a treat. “Looks promising,” I murmur, seeing the dough already rising in the heat of the cave.

Lyra gazes up at me. “What will happen to you? Horin, will you have a chance to fall in love, to know happiness? Have you known happiness?”

Her questions completely demolish any peace of mind I have, which is not much. I sit untidily opposite her. “I see someone in my dreams of a past time, but I cannot remember her name.” Staring at my sister, I add, “I think she was my wife.”

Swallowing convulsively, Lyra says, “I always thought our souls forget when a life is over.”

“Souls remember; it’s the vessel that forgets.”

She stares at me then, tears brimming. “I understand the concept, Horin, but it is hard to apply to …”

“Yourself? It is hard, and it took me a while to accept as well. My true acceptance came when I was known as Enris Makar and therefore this time I do not need to question it.”

“Were we all someone else before?”

“Some are new, but that is rare for the Ilfin. We tend to return to our roots, because our souls will not surrender to anonymity until this war with the Glonu is done with.” I stare back at her. “I look forward to anonymity.”

“Why?” she cries out.

“Peace,” I murmur.

Silence falls between us as we watch each other’s faces. When Lyra closes her eyes tightly, I know she has realised my time will be short in this cycle. I hope she and Damin have a long life; they will remember me even if I lose all memory.

“Who was I in a time before?” Lyra eventually asks.

I give her a skewed smile. “My sister.”

Again her eyes go wide; I have surprised her. “As in born to the same parents?”

I laugh. “As in, yes. And it’s not the first time. We have always been brother and sister.”

“What was my name when you were Enris? And why do I not remember as you do?”

“You never came to Massin in that cycle; I guess Arc has something to do with my memories. Your name was Iniri and you were sent to another Ilfin world … where you met Damin by another name.”

Astonished, she has not the wherewithal to speak.

“I remember all that, but not her name. I wish I can remember her name,” I whisper.