Chapter Text
"Child," he said with a rusty chuckle, "it's not that I don't hear you. Sure my sight might be lost, but these old ears haven't failed me yet. I don't think you can hear yourself, though. Put those mad thoughts to rest. You're a young woman, and darn if I'm not flattered, but us being some sort of star-crossed lovers? Are you sure you didn't hit your head, young lass?" he teased, and she bit her lip in frustration.
It wasn't that she was trying to seduce him, gnarly old goat, but she couldn't give up without at least a try to convince him.
Of what she wasn't exactly sure, but she knew she couldn't give up.
He was the man who had haunted her dreams since she was a child. He had even visited her in something akin to a fever vision in broad daylight once.
She knew exactly who he was, or perhaps more correctly, who he had once been.
A brave warrior and a loyal lover.
So loyal that he had once defied both time and death so that they might be together in another life.
A life, a sacrifice that was now wasted as they were reborn in different times. Her whole inner self was screaming in frustration.
Oh, the irony of finding him here in the market-place, three times her age.
In this life, he was a simple fishmonger. Sitting on a whittled wooden stool right there in front of her smiling kindly, he was still far beyond her reach no matter how much she wished it wasn't so.
The knowledge she carried threatened to crush her.
It was not fair! How cruel could the gods be to create this scenario? It would have been better if she had never met him.
Was this the punishment they were given for daring to defy the skies and ask for what was rightfully theirs?
She took his hand in one last desperate measure and felt his bony, of age wrinkled and bent fingers, squeeze hers back when she begged him one more time to remember. "Listen, I know it sounds insane but we have a connection. Please, I beg you, can't you feel it? Can you not remember the ties we share? I'm not asking you to be mine, only to remember our destiny," she asked, and the lump in her throat grew when he shook his head in sympathy.
"Young lass, you shouldn't bother yourself with an old man like me. Go out and live your life. You have your future ahead of you," he smiled. "Mine is behind me, and trust me, lass, it has been an interesting one, but I would never want to tie a child down to this old shell of mine. I can hear in your voice that you are kind and caring, and I think you will lead a wonderful life."
She swallowed and gave his hands one last squeeze to let him know that she had understood, before apologising for bothering him and turning to leave.
Another life wasted.
Another life having gone by without a true reunion.
A sorrow she couldn't shake.