As soon as they were out of the tent, Styxx looked up at the sky and started opening the sides of the tent so that they could take advantage of the much cooler night air. “You don’t have a view like that in New York.”
Urian gaped at the sight of the vivid night sky. Styxx was right, he hadn’t seen anything like that in a long, long time. “I’d forgotten how beautiful and bright they are.”
“Yeah. When I was a kid, I’d sit out on my balcony for hours staring at them. Most of the time, I don’t pitch the tent. I sleep out here on the sands, watching them. It was one of the things I missed over the centuries. They don’t exist on the Vanishing Isle or Katateros.”
“Kalosis either. And I never think about the fact that Katateros only has a moon. Alexion said the stars faded when Apollymi killed Astors, I think his name was?”
“Asteros.”
Urian cocked a brow at his answer. “I’m amazed you remember any of their names.”
Again that expression that said he’d stumbled across another brutal memory. Urian kicked himself. He’d come here to make Styxx feel better, but apparently, he was just being an inadvertent asshole.
“Are you hungry?” Styxx asked. “I have dried scorpion, nuts, figs, dates, and apples.”
“And you dared to mock jumbo shrimp?” Urian twisted his face up in distaste. “I really hope the scorpion offer is just to screw with me.”
“No, it’s actually quite good. Tastes like chicken.”
“Ar, ar, ar.” Urian feigned laughter over what he used to default to whenever Styxx would quiz him on what things tasted like in New York. “I’d rather live on blood … or my shoes.”
Styxx tsked. “I might have some beef jerky left.”
“That I could be talked into.”
Grinning, Styxx went back inside. “It’s good to have you here, Urian. I’d forgotten what it was like to actually carry on a real conversation with someone outside my head.”
“Well, now that I know where you are, I might occasionally bother you. As long as you don’t feed me grasshoppers, ants, scorpions, or other nasty multilegged things the gods never intended us to eat.”
“Stop being a baby. Eat your meat or you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?”
Urian laughed. “I am stunned you know Pink Floyd.”
Styxx shrugged as he opened Skylos’s dinner first and poured it into a small metal bowl. “Modern music is the only thing I miss about your world.”
“Next time I come, I’ll bring you a solar battery charger for your phone. Not like you don’t have an abundant supply of sunlight here.”
“That I do have. Definitely.” Styxx paused as his gaze fell to a small chest near his rifle. He went over to it and opened it, then pulled out an oiled cloth and handed it to Urian. “My gift to you, little brother.”
Urian frowned. “Thank you.” He unwrapped the cloth to find Styxx’s black-and-bronze vambraces. “Wow … how old are these?”
“They were mine back in the day. My mentor, Galen, gave them to me, and I wore them into every battle I fought.”
Urian’s jaw went slack as he realized exactly how old and valuable these were. These were a piece of history. And a treasured piece of Styxx’s past. They needed to go to a son or a museum, not to someone like him. He shook his head. “I can’t take these.”
Styxx pushed them back toward him. “I have no use for them anymore. They’re just something else I have to pack and carry, or worry about losing.”
Urian let out a long, appreciative breath. “These are incredible. I can’t believe how pristine they are. Thank you. I’ll cherish them always.”
His gratitude made Styxx extremely uncomfortable. “I know how much you like to collect antiques. And they don’t get much older than those.” He went to start the campfire so that he could cook their dinner.
Urian carefully wrapped the vambraces back into their cloth and tucked them into his backpack as he watched Styxx. His heart broke for his friend who’d felt so out of place in the world that he’d had to come to the remotest place on it to find some sense of belonging. Urian hadn’t been joking when he said that he’d go insane with this kind of isolation. This was truly a desolate, hard way to live.
But sadly, it was all Styxx knew.
All he’d ever known.
And as sad as it was, at least Styxx had found a place where he belonged. Urian was still looking. He envied Styxx his mental health here. Because the truth was, he didn’t have it.
