Chapter 23

I squinted, and it took me a moment to make out the shape of the old woman lying in bed. She was covered by a duvet, and her dark skin was wrinkled, yet her hair remained bright, shining with a metallic hue despite her age. She peered at me, and then smiled and whispered to herself,

Soft like a feather,

hard like a steel,

shine like a star

in the starry sky.

I froze, hearing those words directed at me. I wasn’t who she thought I was. What did she want me to do? Aki saved me by breaking the silence.

“I am Aki, and this is Rina”

She pointed at me, smiling slightly too brightly. The old woman peered at us.

“I am Elante”, she replied. “And this is my daughter, Dora.”

She gestured at the woman standing by my side who had followed us up. I tried to smile, not knowing what to do, but Aki walked over and sat down on the bed. I stood awkwardly until Dora offered me a stool and then left, closing the door behind her. Elante peered at me and then turned to Aki.

“You brought Her because you overheard my son saying I wanted to see her…”

Aki nodded and smiled. Elante closed her eyes.

“You are a good girl. I will rest in peace knowing that my family will be safe.”

I squirmed. I wasn’t who she thought I was, and hearing her put her trust in me made me uncomfortable. Aki didn’t seem to notice, though, because she smiled and whispered, as if sharing a secret.

“The Queen is here, too”

I turned to her, confused, hoping she wasn’t making it up for the old woman’s sake.

“But Altea stayed in Akka…”, I said, bewildered.

The old woman chuckled.

“There are more Queens than Altea.”

I didn’t understand what she meant, but I didn’t dare to ask, and she didn’t explain it further, and only continued,

“Most of my people settled in the South when Lantis fell, but my great grandpa fell in love with the Naira trees blooming in the spring and decided to settle here…”

She chuckled.

“But everyone knows it is a lie. He stayed for a young and pretty soldier who was too wounded to travel that far.”

I tried to smile, not knowing what she was talking about. At least it didn’t look like I would need to heal her.

“I don’t want to keep you with my chatter, you probably already have enough of my stories”

She turned to me and gave me a solemn look.

“Thank you for coming, Rina. When you call, my son will follow your banner to Tarnis.”

We stood up, and her words weighed heavily on my heart as we left.

We walked back to the inn, and even though it was pitch black outside, Aki didn’t seem to have any problem finding her way back. I held on to her hand and tried to follow, stumbling in the darkness, thinking about the hopes the woman had put on me.

Somehow, I managed to walk back without breaking a leg. Aki left to join Uruk and Karim for dinner, but I wasn’t hungry, so I headed to our room, trying to avoid the glances people gave me. Selene sat on her bed as I walked in, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. I didn’t want to disturb her, so I quietly sat down on my bed, but she must have heard me because she opened her eyes and walked over to sit next to me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah”

“What happened?”

I sighed.

“Aki took me to see this old woman… She...”

I looked up at the ceiling.

“Everyone thinks I am someone who I am not…”

She looked at me.

“I am sorry. I didn't realise it would be like this. I’ve gotten used to it myself…”

Her voice faded, and she tried to smile.

“Used to it?”, I asked, confused.

I peered at her, and suddenly the pieces fell into place.

“Queen of Lantis… You are the Queen the woman spoke about…”

“It is just an empty title…”

She looked away.

“But people believe in it”, I pressed.

“They do…”, she sighed and lied down next to me. “Rina, you don’t need to do it all alone”, she said softly.

I turned to face her.

“Yeah, you neither.. ”

She frowned at first before chuckling.

“Fair enough”

She put her hand on mine, and I neither pushed her away nor accepted it fully. So I guess we were pretty similar in the end.

“Let’s get some rest while we can”, she said quietly, and left for her bed.