“It doesn’t matter,” Bastion said.He lifted his blade with a smile.“I don’t need another sword.This one is enough.”
__________
He didn’t know why, but no place felt right except the Rainbow.
The roar of the waterfall held a measure of solitude, but it did little to calm the torrid thumping of his heart.
In the center of the bridge, he leaned on the rail and looked out over the city.For a long, long time, he stared at the distant sea, glittering in the noonday sun.
Bastion closed his eyes and focused on the bond.
He imagined it as a shard of moonlight, and it shimmered like the refracted light in the mist that gave the Rainbow its name.In his mind’s eye, it beckoned him, as alluring as faerie lights leading him off the beaten path.He’d glimpsed where that path could lead, and he wanted what lay at the end.
But, she might not come.
Bastion sighed and ran his hands through his hair.He’d escaped the clutches of their enemy, faced insurmountable odds during a siege, and even the king’s council.How could he do all that and still fear her absence?Hersilence.
He shook his head.He was aknight.One of the pillars of knighthood was taking responsibility for his actions, however well-intentioned he’d believed them to be.And he was desperate to see Ulla one more time, even if it was to say goodbye.
The only thing he could do was push a thought towards her, like words on the wind, and hope she heard him.
I’ll wait on the Rainbow.
There was no response.No answering flutter.No hint that the thought reached her.
He may as well have been shouting into the abyss of his own soul.
But Bastion could wait.
The afternoon wore on.Dozens passed him, coming and going between the palace and the university.Condensation collected on his eyelashes and dripped down his neck to gather along his collarbone.The rhythm of his heart remained high, tapping insistently against his sternum like a knock at the door.
The palace-side guards changed shifts, and his stomach began to growl.It swooped every time someone stepped onto the bridge and it wasn’t her.As the sun kissed the horizon, he scraped his finger over a faded spiral carved into the railing.It reminded him of the pebbled texture of her hand in his when they danced together.Had the bond begun that night, from that single moment of mutual loneliness and understanding?
The sea turned a molten gold that held no warmth, the rays of the sun stretching towards the cliffs and gilding them.Iridescent rainbows darted through the mist, each one elusive and beautiful.
He was surrounded by splendor, and it meant nothing without her.
Fear made him restless, and he paced the length of the bridge in the fading light.A suffocating, oily feeling coated his insides.He’d known this was a possibility, that Ulla might choose the sea instead of ever seeing him again, but he’d hoped she would grant him mercy.
He kicked at the puddles of water in his path.This vigil was a better test than any the island could have ever thrown at him.
Twilight fell and passed.
Still, he waited.
The guard changed again, and the moon rose over the sea, a bright pearl in the sky.
Bastion found the driest patch of the bridge he could and slid to the ground, his back to the water.The thunder of the falls had long since overwhelmed his other senses.He closed his eyes, breathed in the humid night air, and focused on the sound, searching for some measure of peace within his fractured soul.
When he opened them again, she was there, silhouetted by the moon.
Bastion shot to his feet, a terrifying, desperate thrum burning in his chest.Ulla stood so still he didn’t know if he was dreaming.Only her chest moved, rising and falling as her eyes searched his.
All of his carefully thought-out points fled like a flock of birds.What did he say to the woman who had saved his life and showed him that it didn’t matter what the world thought?The woman who could flay him open with her gaze, and gut him with her smile?The woman whose very presence was air to a man who had been drowning his entire life?
“Tell me I’m a fool unworthy of your love, and I’ll walk away.”His heart jumped into his mouth as the words rushed away with the waterfall.Was there enough light for her to see the sincerity on his lips?
Ulla remained still, her expression as smooth as glass.She gave away nothing, he feltnothing.But she was still here.He would break himself against her, like a wave forming and reforming, for as long as she let him.
