Fan Fiction
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Beyond My Knowing, chapter 31
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Miteza gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, then she looked to Artem and Vastu. ”…Artem, elshyash… what do you say of this?” She asked softly. She didn’t know what she wanted his answer to be. It would be a risk, but, fool though she considered herself to be, she knew well enough that her family’s position among her people had become an uncertain thing. She’d… she’d seen, with Anara, how easily things could turn very wrong. Was it better to risk that, or to risk trusting Kes?
”I…” Artem looked from his mother to Anara, then down at Vastu, over to Kes, then back up to his mother. He felt the pressure of the decision, the responsibility, weigh hard on him. This was what it was to be a grown man, he thought. Would he be a good one? A worthy one? He thought of his father then, and found himself speaking. ”I think we should go with them.” He said. ”I think… I think that’s what we need to do.” He told his mother, sure of himself. He hadn’t been sure, at all, until right that moment. He’d asked himself what his father would have him do, and he’d known, just known down to his bones that he did not want that. He didn’t want his father’s life. He didn’t want his family, his mother, his brother, his sister, or even his cousins or aunts, to have the life his father had left for them. He wanted something better. Something more than struggle and violence and danger. He wanted… He wanted peace.
Miteza met her son’s gaze, saw the confidence there, and more than confidence… she saw what she’d never seen in her husband’s eyes. She saw true caring there. True belief in their family. In that moment, she felt so proud of him, and so proud of herself that, despite her husband, despite whatever else she’d failed at, she’d raised a good son. She nodded and looked to Anara, then over to Kes. ”We’ll go with you.” She told her in gentle acknowledgement.
Kes smiled, relieved, and nodded. ”Thank you.” She said. Because she hadn’t wanted to face the other option, hadn’t wanted to split up her family. She turned to Artem. ”Thank you.” She told him as well.
He nodded.
”Um… what’s going on?” Vastu finally spoke up.
Miteza got up and went over to him, Kes getting up to give her room and to go sit by her wife. ”We’re… We’re going somewhere where we can be safe.” She told her nephew. ”We’re… going somewhere where we can heal our family.”
”…Is father coming? Is Thalla?” He asked.
”Thalla… Thalla will come with us.” Miteza spoke, hoping she was speaking true. Even before her husband’s death though, she’d felt… like she was losing her daughter. There had been more and more distance between them. Now? Now she didn’t even have any idea where she was. Worry battered at her heart anew.
”What about father?” Vastu asked. A part of him knew the answer, but he didn’t understand it. Or, maybe he just didn’t want to.
Artem put his hands on Vastu’s shoulders. ”We have to be strong, you understand?” He asked him softly.
Vastu hesitated a moment and then nodded.
”Father is dead, Vastu. You… We have to accept that. We have to be…” He sighed. ”We have to be strong for him. We have to take care of mother and Thalla for him, like he’d want us to.” He told him.
Tears fell from the little boy’s eyes. He nodded. ”I’ll be strong.” He said, looking down, and then over to Miteza.
Miteza ran her hand through Vastu’s hair and smiled a little wobbly to him.
(to be continued)
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Exceptional dialogue between ARTEM/MITEZA. KES wanting her family safe and ARTEM wanting peace,so onto OCAMPA where they wll have both.Happy for MITEZA/ANARA to embrace with love.THALLA coming or not? will wait on next post.THANKS