When Auron
told her the truth, showed her the truth, she was affected by pyreflies. She
still remembered how little control she had over her feelings as the floating
lights swirled around her and stripped her emotions bare as well as gave her
others that weren’t her own. It wasn’t like when the Mist burned her and yet,
it felt the same. No control. No filter.
Now, in a
small room near the Moonflow, the distant sounds of happiness filling the air,
Fran could analyze what her heart was telling her.
Surprise.
Disbelief. Worry.
She watched
Chuami apologized over and over, but truly, what could she do about it? From
her point of view, it was unnatural, yes. But could she push Chuami away and
treat her like a monster?
Slowly, she
got closer to the young woman and, without hesitation, her hand reached for
Chuami’s cheek with kindness. Immediately, the pyreflies animated under her
touch, almost craving it, and the viera was suddenly filled with sadness.
“What
happened?” was all she asked as her thumb softly caress Chuami’s cheek.
Her first instinct was to pull back from Fran’s hand – but it was only uncertainty, and not on a conscious level, but from her very make-up. It wasn’t normal for pyreflies to resonate with anything but themselves; so they immediately perceived the Viera as a threat, before Chuami’s thoughts overrode them.
She did not pull away. She only sighed, looked anywhere but up, and eventually – eventually met Fran’s eye once more.
“I… I was five or six, I’m not sure. My mother had a salvage ship. It’s a pretty standard story… Sin attacked and left me an orphan. I was supposed to die too, but…”
But what? She didn’t know for herself how she had managed to hang on; how was she supposed to explain it to another?
“But I didn’t, for some reason. I mean, I… I guess I died in the explosion. I guess I drowned, after that. But it didn’t kill me, and I washed up back on Bikanel.
“It’s been so long… I don’t know what it’s like to not be like this. So, it never seems like a big deal to me. Hahah… that’s crazy, isn’t it?
“I don’t like to think about why the Farplane didn’t let me in. What I do know is, I can be useful like this.”
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