Still the Sun by Charlie N. Holmberg
Author:Charlie N. Holmberg [Holmberg, Charlie N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3923144210
Published: 2024-06-30T16:00:00+00:00
Chapter 16
When I pull away from Heartwood, he lets me go.
âWhat?â A dry laugh escapes me. âThat isââ
âAbsurd, yes, I know,â he finishes for me, the word half-formed on my tongue. He looks at me almost wryly, rubbing his chest where my hand just was, as though Iâve burned him. âAnd no, I canât demonstrate.â
I was about to ask him to. To prove it. Reasonable deduction on his part, I think, but find myself shaking my head.
It takes me a beat to find my voice again. âIâd . . . Iâd call blasphemy, butââ
âYouâve never been particularly religious.â He looks out over his garden, again guessing my next words. Again striking me speechless. He canât read my mind . . . can he? âThere are many gods,â he continues, quieter. âI am not one necessitating worship.â
I laugh again, because I donât know what else to do. I walk down the path a ways, then come back, albeit not as close as before. âWell, maybe Iâm a goddess. And I also canât demonstrate.â
Heartwood sighs, like Iâm a child, and it instantly puts me on edge.
âOkay, HeartwoodââI fold my armsââfrom some other Serpent-made world, if weâre to believe the lore. Why in the universe are you on Tampere?â
His answer softens me. âIâm searching for my sister.â He meets my eyes. âWhat Moseus said about the tower, about the wall, was not false.â
My shoulders are so rigid, they start to ache. I force them to relax. âAnd what, is she a god, too?â
He pauses. âI should not have burdened you with this.â Thereâs something else he wants to say; I can see it in the movement of his lips. But he adds nothing.
âWell, Iâm burdened.â I stride past him to the rock he perched upon earlier and sit. âExplain.â
He rolls his lips together, debating.
âTell me where you come from, Heartwood. Give me that.â
He exhales long and slow. Without looking at me, he says, âWe trace backâall of usâto the Well.â
âThe Well of Creation.â Iâve heard of it. Amlynn is really into the legend.
He nods. âIt was in the beginning. It made the fabric of the universe, the starsââ
âWhat are stars?â
He points to the sun. âThe first life to extend from its depths was the World Serpent.â He gestures to me, knowing Iâm aware of the great snake. I swear on it often enough. âAnd after, it stemmed the gods.â
Still skeptical, I ask, âAnd what number are you?â
A wistful cast envelops his face. âI do not know. After Ether.â
âEther?â
âMy sister.â
âTheyâre . . . kind of all your siblings, arenât they?â
âIn a sense.â He kneels down on the path, then sits, folding his long legs before him. Pieces of hair have loosened from his braid and catch on the subtlest breeze that scoops into the gorge. For some reason, it . . . does make him look a little godlike. With the right lighting, he could have an etherealness about him. Heâs always been lovely, in that sense.
âSo the Well just spit you all out, and you, what, followed the World Serpent around until you settled down?â
He shakes his head.
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