”…Do you still think that?” Kes asked, feeling not only her own dread and fear but Anara’s as well at what their son had just told her.

”I don’t know. Maybe…” He admitted quietly. ”It would…” He shook his head. ”I don’t want to die.”

Kes breathed a sigh of relief for that at least. ”That’s good… because, well, we wouldn’t be alright. If that had happened, we wouldn’t have been alright… I mean, I would have taken care of them with all that I had, you know that I would have… but we all love you, so, we wouldn’t have been alright. Just… think how you’d feel… if Lanam died. Would you be alright?”

He looked over at her sharply, his eyes wide. He didn’t say anything, he just looked off in the distance. ”It would destroy me.” He finally said, simply. ”I’m… I’m sorry, mother.”

Kes smiled softly. ”It’s alright.” She told him.

They sat there in silence a little while longer. ”We should go now.” Tresit finally said.

”No, there’s… there’s one more thing.” Kes spoke.

He turned to her, curious but apprehensive. ”Yes?” He asked.

”Thalla, Miteza… Artem…” Kes spoke.

Tresit looked at her a long moment. ”What about them?” He asked soberly.

”Anara tells me that Tulk’s death could be very bad for them.” Kes told him.

”…If Miteza remains unmarried, you mean.” Tresit spoke, looking off into the desert again. ”They could end up like we did, that’s what you mean, isn’t it?” He said, obviously feeling the weight of his words on his shoulders. ”I should have thought of that.” He sounded angry with himself that he hadn’t.

”It’s understandable you didn’t.” Kes told him. And it was – after everything that had happened yesterday, of course it was.

”…What should we do?” Tresit asked.

Kes shook her head. ”I don’t know. I don’t think it’s really something we can plan for… I just think we need to help them if we can. If they need it, or if they’ll let us.”

Tresit thought a moment and nodded. ”Agreed.” He told her. ”It’s only… Artem will try to kill me.” He told her, meeting her eyes again. ”He’ll… he’ll have to, if he wants to have a chance at prosperity. Especially… especially if he wants to protect his family from ruin.”

”I won’t let that happen.” Kes told him softly.

”I didn’t think that you would.” He said back just as softly. ”You didn’t last time, I mean.”

”It’ll work out.” Kes told him.

”What if it doesn’t though?” He asked. He didn’t usually talk like this, Kes knew. At least… She wished it hadn’t happened, but at least it had made him question some things. That was a healthy thing for anyone to do, in Kes’s considered opinion.

”Then we’ll deal with whatever happens together, elshyash.” She told him.

He met her eyes and she saw faith there. He looked off into the desert then. ”It’s funny. When you say things like that, it makes me believe it too. Mostly, anyway.” He said. ”That…. That means a lot.” He told her. ”I remember, I was sure of things like that once too though. Too sure, I think…” He admitted. ”What I mean to say is, it can be dangerous to be too sure of things sometimes.”

She smiled a little sadly at that. ”Trust me, I’m not.” She told him. ”I just know… when you’re in the middle of a desert, building a house isn’t an option, you have to walk.”

He laughed a little at that, getting down to his feet from the ledge they’d been sitting on and looking back to her. ”Then I guess we should get walking again.” He told her.

Kes hopped down onto her feet. ”You’re right of course.” She told him, offering him a soft smile.

———–

to be continued