With no response, he hobbled his way down the stairs to stand in front of the flowerless bush.
“Prithee,”he said,“pray hear me.”The courtyard remained silent and breezeless.“Y am not what Y was or who Y was.Y wolde not seek to change now.Y cannot be this, never agayn.Y am all the worse.”He knelt when there was no response, eyes stinging with tears.“Y doon not want this.Prithee.She careth about me before.But now...”He bowed his head and put his face in his hands.
He had once, long ago, found himself alone in a body he did not know how to use.He had never wanted to repeat the experience.And yet, here he was, punished anew.
Now what?Came a sweet, silken voice in his ear.
Baró raised his head but did not turn to witness the nothingness of his long-time Tormentor.This time, however, it was relieving to hear anything besides his own unsteady breathing and the frantic beating of his own heart.He remained kneeling.
“Now, everythyng yn me she pryzeth ys gone.”
Now you can go out in the world, She countered.Now you are no longer a prisoner.
“And what good doth that do when the only reason Y wolde venture out ynto the world now ys her?”He shook his head, trying to stop the unbidden tears.“Better to be here and alone than out among others who wolde maketh me feel more alone yn companie.And yf Y sholde fynd her again, she woldeth not want me lyke this.”
You are handsome enough.There would be others,She encouraged.
He growled at the suggestion.“Nay, Y want none but her.Prithee, take this back.Makest me a monster once more that Y may styll be assured of her regard.”
She told me she loved you,She confessed.She told me she would love you even as a “dull human man.”
“She dyd love me?”
Yes.Yes, she did.There was a pause.If you could only win her by being a monster again, you would do it?
“Wythout reservationne.”
Surprised laughter filled the air.Then go, beast, and tell her that.
.
XXXII.
“When I asked for hospitality, Mother stared at my face and told me she saw another,” Vallon confessed.“I can only suppose that it is still there, masked by something others find more palatable.”
Sahtiya stared at their clasped hands before gazing into his eyes.She released one hand and touched the network of scars on his cheek.“How?”
