Page 78 of The Source of Storms

He turned to me. “You were never a lie, Halja. You were liedto. You were hidden, deceived, for too long. Sheltered from the truth. But there was never, ever, anything wrong with you.”

I looked up at him, so close to me in the ethereal glow. “Thank you.” I stepped closer and held out a blanketed arm. He pulled the blanket over his shoulder and I leaned into him, savoring his warmth and his familiar scent of warm spice and leather.

“You didn’t seem very surprised by it,” I said.

“Oh, I was surprised. Don’t let my cool demeanor fool you. But I’ve always known you were special, Halja. Always known there was more beneath your surface than met the eye. So when I finally saw it, it felt… right. It felt like I had always seen you like that, in a way. Just visible now instead of hidden beneath.”

“It doesn’t scare you?” I asked.

“Not at all.” He squeezed my shoulders, his arm still around me.

We watched the Lights dance quietly.

"So how does it feel, to know you’re immortal now?” he asked.

“Ha! Oh wow, I haven’t even thought of that. Daunting, I suppose. Lots of time to live with all my mistakes.”

“Lots of time to make new mistakes too.” He smiled in a way that made his nose wrinkle.

I blew out a long breath. “Eternity is a lot of pressure.”

“Not quite as carefree as us humans anymore. Are you going to become really responsible and boring now?” He nudged me teasingly.

“I have a feeling you wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to.”

“No more big drinking nights for you. That liver is the only one you have forever,” he bantered back.

“That’s true for you too, you know. Forever is just a shorter time.”

As the words left my lips, my heart dropped, and I felt like my chest would cave in on itself. My life would be so much longer than his. Than everyone I knew. I would spend hundreds of years without him, maybe an eternity.

If Byrgir thought the same thing, he didn’t show it. We both looked up again, watching the display.

I broke the silence. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Make these jokes. Stay so bright, even when everything around you is dark.”

He exhaled and was quiet for a moment, then said, “When my father died, the pain was overwhelming –– especially for my mother. The way she grieved… it nearly killed me. She screamed and cried and howled. She barely ate, hardly slept for weeks. It was horrible to witness, as a child. I didn’t know if she’d live through it.

“But then she found us a new home. She started teaching herself new skills, working harder than ever. When the holidays came, she made us go to every celebration, and every little bonfire gathering in between. Anywhere there was music and dancing, she went. She would drag my brothers and me into the dance with her, spin us around until we were dizzy. She was always the first one out there and the last to leave.

“She brought herself back to life. Watching her survive losing him… it taught me what resilience really means. Taught me how to live, not just survive. There will always be suffering. Tragedy and death are inevitable. And you can either let that defeat you, or you can keep dancing.”

I let his words sink in, watching his face as he watched the sky. For someone who lived most of his life with death only a sword’s length away, I had always wondered how he seemed so fearless.

“So that’s how you really learned to dance, then,” I said, a smile touching my voice.

He nodded.

“Do you still feel like you don’t have a home?” I asked.

“No,” he answered. “I have a home. I have people I love. But I will always feel what I lost. There are wounds that are never whole again. Just stitched back together. They hurt less, over time, but you just learn to carry them with you. To go on anyway.”

“You’re lucky,” I said, still looking at the sky, “to have somewhere you know you belong. To have a home.”

“You could have that too, if you want it.” He was still looking at the sky, his emotional wall completely up, no messages passing through to me beyond his words. “You could have a home in Rhyanaes. El is already completely taken with you. I have no doubt you could stay with her forever.” He exhaled a soft chuckle with a breath, then said, “We could be that home for you.” He paused, and I felt his gaze on me again. I looked up at him.

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