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Round again
Aug. 10th, 2019 09:10 pmThe summer was nearly over and the children would be departing soon. It seemed a shame not to spend every minute around them, but they never wanted to come to the temple and Silvis never wanted to push them, especially now, when they valued their hard-earned teenage independence.
"It's fine Papa, just go. We'll stay with Aunt Haleth and go swimming again, after I bake a surprise."
Claudia was already mixing something in a bowl as she absently motioned him toward the door. He stopped and leaned against the doorframe, unable to avoid voicing futile regrets.
"Sometimes I wish I'd shared more of this culture stuff with you when you were younger."
"Didn't you? You used to sing us to sleep."
Soren looked up from stoking the fire for the oven.
"Yeah, that was nice. After you left Claudia used to get mad cuz Dad didn't know the same songs."
"But he read from the book of myths. And sometimes he made shadow shows, too."
"He did?"
Back when Riva was his boss, she and Silvis used to bond over being unimpressed and disapproving of the soulless uses of magic in Katolis. Yet that had never applied to Viren's shadow shows. Even when the message was political and pragmatic, the pageantry and passion brought the narrative to a more transcendant level. Knowing Viren had used that skill to breathe life into his people's stories for their children touched him deeply.
"Yes. We like the stories. We just don't really believe them the same way you do. Dad says Katolians worship-"
"-one god, at the most. I remember."
*
Silvis has needed this badly. Spending time with the children makes memories resurface, dragging intense emotion with them. He struggles to seek balance again. He finds it in the dance, the song, familiar, holy rhythms of sharing, and celebration, and sacrifice.
The priestess's voice guides him on an inward journey to meet with the Lady of Harvest. Her hair is gold, like his, and Soren's. Her sickle is as sharp as her smile.
She tells him to remember to choose wisely. Not to hold on to that which should be sacrificed. Not to sacrifice that which must be kept.
It feels like a truth he's been holding off for years. That things that hurt to lose were never right to keep. The marriage was wrong, but the children were right, and the love... but where does that leave them? They don't hate each other, but they did for a while, and they had to, or he'd have stayed, and kept fighting, and they'd all be more broken than they are.
"It's fine Papa, just go. We'll stay with Aunt Haleth and go swimming again, after I bake a surprise."
Claudia was already mixing something in a bowl as she absently motioned him toward the door. He stopped and leaned against the doorframe, unable to avoid voicing futile regrets.
"Sometimes I wish I'd shared more of this culture stuff with you when you were younger."
"Didn't you? You used to sing us to sleep."
Soren looked up from stoking the fire for the oven.
"Yeah, that was nice. After you left Claudia used to get mad cuz Dad didn't know the same songs."
"But he read from the book of myths. And sometimes he made shadow shows, too."
"He did?"
Back when Riva was his boss, she and Silvis used to bond over being unimpressed and disapproving of the soulless uses of magic in Katolis. Yet that had never applied to Viren's shadow shows. Even when the message was political and pragmatic, the pageantry and passion brought the narrative to a more transcendant level. Knowing Viren had used that skill to breathe life into his people's stories for their children touched him deeply.
"Yes. We like the stories. We just don't really believe them the same way you do. Dad says Katolians worship-"
"-one god, at the most. I remember."
*
Silvis has needed this badly. Spending time with the children makes memories resurface, dragging intense emotion with them. He struggles to seek balance again. He finds it in the dance, the song, familiar, holy rhythms of sharing, and celebration, and sacrifice.
The priestess's voice guides him on an inward journey to meet with the Lady of Harvest. Her hair is gold, like his, and Soren's. Her sickle is as sharp as her smile.
She tells him to remember to choose wisely. Not to hold on to that which should be sacrificed. Not to sacrifice that which must be kept.
It feels like a truth he's been holding off for years. That things that hurt to lose were never right to keep. The marriage was wrong, but the children were right, and the love... but where does that leave them? They don't hate each other, but they did for a while, and they had to, or he'd have stayed, and kept fighting, and they'd all be more broken than they are.
