Chapter Text
She finds Edér on the other side of the temple, deep in conversation with an older woman, one of the priests by the look of her.
"She's living with her... husband, then?" he's asking. Something about the way he says it...
She shakes her head. She knew he'd be looking for his friend, and she knew they had history. It's none of her business.
"Not so far as I'm aware," the priest says, one eyebrow raised.
"Must be laying low," Edér murmurs almost to himself.
"Last I knew, it was just her and her boy."
Edér drops his pipe. "Her... her boy? How old was he?"
Aloth snickers from beside her. "I can help you do the math, if you'd like," he mutters under his breath, shooting an amused glance sideways at Mara. His mirth fades the moment he gets a look at her face. "Are you all right?"
She nods stiffly. "Fine."
"Aren't you going to ask where she is?" the priest is saying.
"Right, yeah, was just about to ask."
"Last I heard, she'd settled in Hasongo. Got herself a nice plot of land."
"Right, right. I'll have to stop by. Thanks, again." He almost drifts away, back toward the entrance to the temple. Exchanging a look with Aloth (his eyes are filled with concern, but she doesn't have time for it right now), Mara follows.
The others hang back as she approaches him outside, ankle-deep in water. He doesn't quite look at her—the acknowledgement of her presence is in his words.
"You know how I've been saying there's nothing more important to me than us freeing you from Berath's bonds?"
The question hits her like a physical blow. For a moment, she can't speak, and so he continues.
"Well I meant that. I did."
She manages one word. "But?"
"But there's this other thing I need to see about. On the way, like. I was gonna tell you."
"You... mentioned your friend," she says slowly, keeping her voice steady with every last drop of her willpower. He's too absorbed in his thoughts to notice, thank the—well, thank something. "There's more to it," she concludes. "Start talking."
He absentmindedly scratched a spot on his chest. "This woman, I... well love's not the right word. But she was something to me once, back in Gilded Vale." He shakes his head, his eyes still fixed on nothing, staring into something she can't see. Can't know. "When I was mayor of Dyrford, I had this vision of what I wanted it to look like. It was gonna be what Gilded Vale was, before the Legacy. And in some ways, it got there. I was proud of that. But... it didn't feel like I thought it would. Come to realize maybe there was someone I needed to show it to."
She's frozen, there, so utterly blindsided by what he's saying that she has to be grateful he's not looking at her. That he can't see what she'd thought she wouldn't have to hide.
"Elafa, she'd have been about the last person left in Dyrwood who'd have seen what I made and understood." He shakes his head again. "Last I saw her, she was going to New Heomar. Went looking for her there only to find that she'd left a long time ago." He half glances at her, but either he's not really looking or it's not enough of a glance to see what's on her face. "Anyway, I don't expect you to understand. But I gotta know she ended up all right."
"It sounds..." Mara says slowly, forcing her voice steady, "like she ended up with a son."
"Yeah. That's—that's something, coming out of Dyrwood during that time. When I knew her, she had another little boy, just a baby. But the Legacy deprived him of a proper life. Never found out what happened to him. But with the Hollowborn, you didn't have to ask. Guess he got a brother, though." He's somewhere else again, well beyond her reach. Maybe he always has been.
"You... sure you want to know where this leads?"
He huffs a laugh. "No. But I don't see a way to let this go. Leastaways not now. Last time I saw Elafa, we got friendly. Now she's got a son."
He shrugs, rigid, his smile half a wince as he turns back to her, as she schools her face into what she hopes is a passably neutral expression. "But that lady said she's living on Hasongo," he finishes, quiet.
"I know," she says.
"I—I know you got business here," he says. "But as soon as we can—"
"I know," she says.
He gives her a tight smile. "Thanks, Mar."
She's not sure how long passes after he drifts away before there's a hand on her shoulder.
"You're comin' with us, lass," says Iselmyr's voice behind her.
"The others will meet us at the ship," Aloth finishes.
"Where are we going?" she manages to ask.
"You need a drink," he says.
She can't exactly argue.