He could tell she was smiling from the way she exhaled a little more loudly through her nose.
“It can’t be that simple,” she replied, laughing a little.
He loved her. He loved that her mind always went to joy. He wanted to see the world through her eyes.
“Oh, you are being serious,” she said, breaking the comfortable silence. He could feel her twist her shoulders as she moved to face him.
He squeezed her gently, asking her with his hands to stay in place.
He would lose the battle he fought if he could see her face.
“Sol, the magic is special to you, to your people,” Meena said, her laughter gone. “I am fascinated by it, and in awe of it, and I love it, but I cannot take it.”
“You cannot take something when it is a gift,” Sol replied. “The magic has shaped my people, and we have shaped it. But it is not ours to hoard. Everyone can access the beauty of it. I want to give you this small part of me. It’s all I have that is free to give.”
She placed her hand over his. “Sol.” Her voice was sweet and sorrowful at the same time.
“I can’t teach you how to use magic in a single night, I just want you to experience the feeling of it,” Sol whispered, suddenly afraid that he had oversold his gift.
“I would love to experience that,” she replied.
“Look out at the waves,” Sol instructed, talking her through his own actions.
A small wave lazily crashed a short distance from the shore. Glowing blue light emanated from every drop that splashed.
“Breathe in, deeply.” Sol could feel her shoulders rise under her hands. “Let that breath fill every part of your body.” He waited for a moment. “Do you feel it?”
“I feel ... happy. Calm. My mind knows that tomorrow might be difficult or scary. But right now, I’m here.” Her shoulders sank with her next exhale. “I don’t feel the magic, though.”
“No, you felt it,” Sol reassured her. “That is the harmony.”
“That’s it?” Meena turned around. “Everyone can do that! Why was this such a secret?”
Sol laughed at her surprise. “It’s a little more complicated than that. You have to learn how to channel that harmony and spread it around you, which ... takes a little longer.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” She turned back to face the blue waves. “Thank you for sharing that with me, Sol.”
“You’re welcome.”
Sol’s eyes lingered on her hair long after her face had turned away. Simply being in her presence made him happy.
His wife.
He had never imagined a life for himself in which he had a comrade purely for the sake of companionship.
He was a Majis. He was leading a rebellion in the footsteps of his father, a hero. He loved his family, of course. But he couldn’t allow himself to be close to them because he knew he would lose them.
He’d been close to his father. He loved his father. He idolized his father. And then his father had been chosen. And Sol vowed to himself that he would never make the mistake of loving someone too closely ever again.
She turned back around, her soft eyes looking up at him tenderly. She lifted her hand slowly toward his face.
Sol knew he should stop her action, but he did not want to.
Before she touched him, however, she tensed, pointing over his shoulder. “What is that?”
Sol spun around, letting his eyes adjust from the brightness of the luminescent water.
“I thought I saw a torch up that canyon,” she added, still peering up the dark cliff side. “It’s gone now.”
