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Ecaeris snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Where did you go? Are you listening?”
“Uhm, yeah.” I shake my head. “What were you saying?”
“I need you present, Ada,” he nearly pleads. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s been a long day is all,” I explain and shrug. “Once you get the stitching down, the monotony of the task leaves your mind wandering. But I’m here. One hundred percent present.”
He leans his hip against the table as he regards me. “So, you didn’t hear me apologizing for my outburst or the things I said—”
“How did I miss you apologizing?”
Ecaeris gives me a bland look. “You were sewing and humming.”
“I was humming?”
“Yes. And I was apologizing.” He sighs. “I know I was—am—a dick, Ada. But I wouldn’t bring up your past in front of others or use it to hurt you. I wish I would have chosen my words more carefully. I was angry, and I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. For that, I am sorry.”
“I know you wouldn’t. We’re really great at miscommunication, you know?” I try to smile, but it falls flat. “I should have been more aware of my temper, too. Seeing Madi again brought up some deeply rooted feelings, especially after talking about my past. She was the last person I expected to see standing there.”
He picks up the plush ball filled with concealed sewing needles and spins it between his fingers. “Is it strange?”
“What?”
“Having someone here that you know from Earth?”
I frown. “Strange isn’t the word I would use. It’s almost… Intrinsic? Predestined? Auspicious?”
“Meaning?”
“Favorable.”
Ecaeris observes me, his brow furrowing as I fold up my skirt. “How so?”
“It’s like a right on time scenario.” I scrunch my nose, not liking my quick response. “Madi is the representation of my reality before I washed onto Spiran’s shores. She connects the end of my Earth life cycle to my new island life. If she’s the past, then the news Isolde gave me today is the future. All of these things gave me the opportunity to process what I haven’t ever processed before. Or at least the beginnings of it. And it’s exactly what I needed.”
He huffs his annoyance at my answer. “That sounds cryptic.”
“It is,” I agree. “But only because I’m not ready to say it aloud.”
“This is what you were thinking about when I came in?”
“That and war and Madi and—” I stop myself and stand, dropping all my supplies on the floor. “I need to go.”
“What?”
I grimace. “I know you won’t understand this, but I have to go. Thank you.”
“Where are you going?” he inquires. “Why are you thanking me?”
“To Madi. And I’m thanking you for everything. From day one to today, and tomorrow, and all the things that come after that.” I kiss his cheek before I slam the sewing room door in my haste.
* * *
Madigan sits in her steaming bath water, arms crossing over her chest as she glares at my intrusion.
“Well?” she prompts.
“Well, what?”
