Archives of Avloriea, The Tale of Atlantis, Part One: Water
an excerpt

They fell quiet and Helena walked away from him to the edge of the railing and reached out to curl her fingers around the cool, carved marble. She knew he watched her, but she didn’t look back. She couldn’t. His vehemence was startling to her. They had always discussed that they would keep the secret from Valae, but maybe, one day, they would tell him. It seemed that his mind had changed, “His being may change without us revealing the secret to him or not.”

“What do you mean?” He stepped up to her side and leaned against the railing while he watched her with a careful eye.

“Look at them,” she gestured to the garden. The two children had fallen to the soft grass and laid hand in hand, temple to temple, and watched the sky as it faded into a the deepest of blues and the stars made their appearance in the sky, “They will become inseparable. I feel like that bond has already formed. When Valena goes to take her rightful place… what of Valae? He will be crushed. Stricken with grief. He cannot be separated from his sister.”

“He will be strong. He will be fine,” her husband’s voice wavered and she looked at him curiously.

“Do you know? The bond between siblings is stronger than you may understand.”

“What do you suggest? We take them apart now?”

“No! Of course not. But if we give no explanation to Valae why he cannot follow his sister, if we do not tell him why he cannot live in Solea or Lunea, he will be destroyed that he cannot follow her.”

“He will survive, Helena. He must,” he looked full of regret and pushed away from the railing, “and he must do it without knowing the reason. He is a smart child. He will be a smart man. He will survive.”

As he walked away, Helena turned her gaze back to her children and then called out to them. They ran to her hand in hand, and followed obediently as she bade them to bed. Tucked safely away in their little beds made just for their size, she watched from the hallway as they chattered on for awhile until it faded away and deep, steady breath filled the room. She closed the door and walked to her bedroom. She retrieved the last packet that contained her son’s true pendant and fingered the beautifully constructed piece. One day, one day she would tell him, with or without Poliao’s consent.

She placed the pendant around her own neck and looked in the mirror… and for no reason than her own sense of dread, wept.