Wandering Spark - Part 35
"They told us that you were executed."
Nila was sitting in a hammock. Varan stood in a round stone aperture. And so they talked without moving.
Nila has changed. Overnight she became older. Instead of light pants embroidered with pebbles, she wore a long black skirt. Now it seemed to Varan - years have passed since the day they last saw each other.
"It was announced that you were executed," Neal repeated, examining his silhouette. "Tell me... are you a dead man?"
"No. They let me go. So ordered Imperial magician."
"We made three hundred petitions," Neela said after a long pause. "After three hundred and first we were told that you..."
"But, I'm alive! They just said so - to get rid of you."
Varan was angry on himself and all around him. He imagined this meeting in another way - with embraces, tears, maybe even mutual...
Neela was sitting in a hammock, so mature and strange.
"So, can I stay here?" Varan asked. "Or, since I was executed, good-bye?"
"No," said Neela, barely audible. "Since you're alive... come in."
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34
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