She fled up to her room, but even more memories of her twin haunted her there. She kept turning around, expecting Bri to be standing beside her. Her heart ached.
Time, seeming totally irrelevant, passed without her being aware of it. She felt like she was just living in a trance, not willing to pull herself out of it. If she did, it would begin to hurt for real.
The soft knock on the door disturbed her hard won detachment. Ignoring the intrusion, she tried to regain the disconnection, but Terion's soft voice asking, "Mianna, are you all right?" shattered it.
Sobs overtook her, her whole body shaking with them until she could barely breathe. Somehow, Terion was holding her, rocking her, lending her his strength by his silence. He made no attempt to say anything, for what was there to say? Nothing could make this right. Nothing could undo what had been done.
If only she hadn't tried to convince Brianna to move on from Kylis. If she hadn't mentioned her growing feelings for Terion, maybe Brianna would still be here.
She pushed him away. She couldn't do it. How could she be with Terion, knowing their feelings for each other were what had sent Bri to her death? She would never be able to look at him again without seeing the loss of her twin.
"Mianna? What's wrong?" Terion asked, confused.
"It's all our fault. If it weren't for … us, she'd still be here," she choked out.
He said nothing to that, and she looked up to see a stricken expression on his face. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I should never have told you how I felt about you. I knew Brianna didn't like me, so I should have kept quiet."
Mianna shook her head. "It's not anyone's fault. It just is. And now we have to live with it."
But how could she live without her twin?
She'd never expected to have to. They were supposed to live long, happy lives, then die together, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Neither of them was supposed to ever have to live without the other.
In fact, according to legend, a twin was not supposed to survive the death of her other half. The emotional connection between them should cause her to want to simply give up on life.
Yet, though she felt devastated, she didn't feel like giving up.
She took a moment to reach out to Brianna, to really search for her. As a child, she'd always been able to find her twin when they played hide and seek, and she'd always known when Bri was in any kind of trouble.
But she felt no sense of trouble surrounding her twin now. And …
She sat up, and wiped away her tears. "She isn't dead."
"Mianna?" Terion's brow furrowed.
"I'm not crazy," she assured him. "But she's my twin, if she were dead, I'd know it. She's not."
"But … but she wouldn't stand a chance against the trolls."
"She didn't go that way," Mianna said with certainty. "She's at the ferry pier."
Terion jumped up. "We'll go find her and bring her back."
Mianna put out a hand. "We can't Ter," she said sadly.
"Why not?"
She hesitated, searching for the right words. "It's not right for either of us, Terion. I can't ask Brianna to marry you, but I can't give you up either. And anyway, Bri's the happiest I have felt her in a long time. She needs this. She needs to get away, to see the rest of the world. We always talked about doing it with Kylis. It's fitting that she's going to go now."
Indecision warred on Terion's face. "So what do we do then?"
Mianna took a deep breath. "We mourn. Then we get married, and live our lives."
Terion's eyebrows shot up. "But what about Brianna? Will she come back?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
*****
Brianna sat on the end of the pier, waiting for the weekly ferry to arrive. For a while, when she had sensed Mianna's distress, she'd regretted her decision. She'd almost given up and gone home. But when Mia cheered up, she knew she'd worked it out. They'd shared a moment's wordless communication, and she knew her twin would be all right.
Leaving her with no regrets, only anticipation of what was to come.
Bymere. The big city. The unknown and exciting.
What would she find there?
She passed the hour's wait pleasantly in the warm sun, thinking of all the possibilities ahead of her. When she sighted the ferry coming down the river from its final port of call at a mining village, she jumped up and waved frantically, lest the ferryman miss her. Though the ferry passed her village every few days, it only infrequently stopped here.
Seeing her, the man waved and pulled up to the end of the pier, tying up the ferry before extending a narrow board to bridge the distance. Brianna balanced her way across with little fear and only took the ferryman's hand to jump to the deck out of politeness.
Even the trip on the ferry was a new experience to Brianna She'd never gone further afield than the next village, half a day's ride. As the ferry sailed down the river, they passed other villages, stopping at some to take on or deliver goods. Sometimes children ran alongside the ferry, waving excitedly.
It wasn't until the ferryman unpacked his lunch box and the smell wafted over to her, that she realised she had neglected to pack her own food. She looked longingly at his home packed sandwiches, then pretended to look out over the railing when he glanced up.
"Did you bring lunch?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "I was so excited, I forgot," she admitted. "I'm fine though, I'll get something when we get to the city."
"Well, my wife packed more than I can eat. She always does. Why don't you help me eat it so I don't have to throw it over the side and waste good food," he offered.
Brianna opened her mouth to politely decline, but her stomach rumbling interrupted her. She hadn't eaten any breakfast either, since she had snuck out before dawn, so she was hungry enough already.
"Thanks," she sat down next to him and took the offered sandwich.
"So, what are you hoping to find in Bymere?" the ferryman asked.
What was she hoping to find? She couldn't really say, she wasn't searching for anything but rather avoiding something. "I don't know," she shrugged. "Just thought I'd see what it was like. You know, before I settled down and all that stuff."
The man smiled. "Do you have any friends there?"
Brianna shook her head, trying to look nonchalant. But inside, doubts began to rear their ugly heads. "I guess I'll find an inn or something."
The ferryman hesitated for a moment, then offered, "My brother has an inn at the harbour. I can take you there if you like and introduce you. If you have nothing else to do, he's always looking for some help in the kitchen."
It seemed almost too good to be true. "Why are you offering to help me?" Brianna asked suspiciously.
"Because you remind me of my daughter. And I would hope someone would offer her the same help if she were in a strange town far from home."
Brianna relaxed, and smiled sheepishly. "In that case, then yes, that would be wonderful, thanks."
Lyall stamped the mud off his boots and slipped back the hood of his cloak as he walked into the inn. The warmth inside was a welcome change from the rain splattered streets and for a moment, he allowed himself to let his guard down. He'd stayed in this inn each time he visited the city. He felt as safe here as he could anywhere this far from home.
Little had changed since his last visit, nearly twelve months ago. It was a Tuesday night and the common room was relatively quiet, only a few patrons enjoying a late dinner, and one lone bard playing a ballad half-heartedly on the dais.
A kitchen maid came over to him, looking bored and tired. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, dinner and an ale please," Lyall asked, ever polite.
The woman nodded and headed back towards the kitchen doors.
Lyall's attention was arrested by a sudden scent, so unexpected here that it took him a moment to process it. The scent of power. Instead of slamming him with spices as his father's magic did, or the scent of roses that characterised his mother, this scent was fragile, yet fresh, with a hint of sweetness, vanilla maybe?
He looked around the room, switching to mage sight, taking more notice of the people he had all but ignored before. That would teach him to be complacent. But what was a mage doing here, so far from home? And was it a friend, or foe?
Was it the bard? The couple necking at the next table? No, their auras were dull, washed out and lacking any magical talent at all. Where could he find that elusive scent? He was just about to convince himself that he had imagined it, when it teased his senses again. The serving maid slapped his meal wordlessly down in front of him and there was no mistaking it. The blue-green glow from her aura blocked out everything else.
He switched back to normal vision, glancing up at her, trying to appear disinterested. She was young, barely into her twenties, and behind the bored expression he sensed something lurking. Something other than the magical power that emanated from her.