Under Our Forefathers' Stars

[Aagaron 124]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjAWAUc_33k

 

Aep stepped onto the docks of Greyhaven, the smell of salty brine washing over him in the waning daylight. Before him, the Winter flagship bobbed in the changing tides and appeared impatient to cut the waves of the open ocean and break against them. Martin Winter went ahead and attended Lord Harold in shouting at the sailors as they set about their work, but Aep stopped for a moment and listened to the noise of the waves lapping against the ship’s hull. He tugged at the low brim of his vest and pulled a thrice-folded letter from within, tracing his fingers along its edges and looking over the name of the recipient on its topmost face. With a smile, Aep placed it upon a nearby bench and a single glimmering mina on top of it to keep the letter from fluttering away in the breeze. He looked back to it once more, lovingly, but left it to be read by any who should chose to- yet it would feel wrong to take it.

 

Dearest Renae,

It has been many years since your passing, and yet I find myself thinking of you often. At first the idea of writing this letter to you seemed silly, but I have grown to find the concept indispensable. Not a day goes by when I do not regret withholding the only three words we never said to each other, but some part of me knows it was for the better. I met your son once in Thales. He had your eyes. I am glad you could find someone that you could share a life with, for I feel I would’ve fallen utterly short, and watching you grow old would’ve killed me. We never spoke after we went our separate ways, but know that I only remember you fondly and I will cherish your memory until I too pass.

I wish you could’ve seen Athera. This land has a beauty without equal (yourself excluded, of course), yet I plan to leave it all the same. We plan to follow the light of the plow-oxen (a constellation; I remember only after writing this that your brother was the one who enjoyed astronomy, not you) to the distant land of Aeldin. This world has dimmed significantly without you to brighten it, but whatever awaits me on the other side of the sea may bring some clarity back to me and I am eager to discover it. Know that my thoughts are with you, and if there is some life awaiting me after this one, I will find you there.

 

P.S., As I loved you in life, I continue to do so, always.

 

Yours, Aep

 

Aep steps aboard the ship full of shouting and cursing sailors but blissfully finds sleep below the deck. His slumber is dreamless and uninterrupted as the ship floats upon the silvery surface of the sea to lands unknown.

[OhDeerLord 673]

An unnatural breeze would slip through the cracks of the deck, flowing down below before it reaches the sleeping elf, passing across his cheek and through his hair. The slight jingle of bangles and the thoughtful hum of a woman might barely be heard. Outside- a gust of wind pushes the mina off the note and into the water, the letter fluttering away in the breeze.

 

The love that was never spoken, though always thought about, the regrets of words unsaid weigh heavy on the woman's spirit, and she can only watch as the man she should have waited for rests. It saddens her that he thought she was happy, that she had found someone to spend her life with- when she had been left alone to raise her son by a husband with no time for their family.

 

The breeze licks across his cheek again as long-gone fingers push his hair out of the way to leave another small kiss before she returns to watching over Adrian.

 

Love unsaid, but always felt.

[Huh 91]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.