Page 15 of Sea of Stars

"Were there any...well I was wondering if..." Breghton seemed to be struggling to find words. "I mean, was there anyone close to your age at the Iron Gates?" He said it almost in a whisper.

I began to wring my hands together. "Yes. I mean, no. I'm sorry, there were. But no, not anymore."

"Oh." There was sadness in his voice.

I wasn't sure why he had asked me that. At first I thought maybe he was trying to find out if I was dating anyone. He would have sounded excited, not disappointed in my response if that were the case though. Maybe he just felt sorry for me.

We were both silent for several minutes, and then he spoke: “What I was getting at before was that I wanted to bring you here because I knew we were supposed to be together. I don’t know, like we had something important we had to do,” a smile cut across his face. “Now we’re finally going to start that journey together that I promised you all those years ago.”

His words surprised me, making my face flush. I must have imagined the grief in his voice when he had asked about the other divinares imprisoned at the Iron Gates. He was definitely just flirting with me. Suddenly my body began to feel warm. I moved a few inches farther away from him and watched his smile slowly vanish. I pla

ced my hand on my back and felt the heat beneath the cloth. I tried hard to concentrate on our conversation. I knew looking at the symbols forming on my body wouldn’t help anything. And I didn’t want him to know about them. Everything that he was saying made him seem like he cared about me, but I still wasn’t convinced that he could be trusted. Besides, whatever the symbols foretold seemed inevitable anyway.

“I’m sorry about Chinook…er...my mom,” I said. I had been rather confused all day about what to call the owl. It seemed strange to call an owl "Mama."

Breghton laughed. My hair fell in front of my shoulders, wanting to hear more of it.

“She doesn’t seem to like me very much,” he shrugged. “I guess I can't blame her. She’s just being protective.” He reached over and lightly touched my cheek. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but no words came out.

“Protect me from what?”

He dropped his hand, looking embarrassed. “I thought it was obvious.” He smiled and then looked back at the fire. “We should probably get some sleep.” He lay down on his side and closed his eyes.

I made sure my shirt was completely covering my back before laying down. I didn't want him to be able to see the marks glowing. There were so many thoughts running through my head. At first I thought Chinook wanted to protect me because Breghton was a liar. But from our conversation, I was beginning to think it may be something different. Breghton seemed to have a crush on me.

Tears began to fall from my eyes. All these years I had built up Breghton, a boy I thought was probably dead, in my head. Maybe it was just a fantasy of being away from the Iron Gates, or maybe it was more, but he was in my dreams all the time. A week ago I would have been thrilled that Breghton had a crush on me, but right now all I felt was guilt. My dreams about Breghton had helped to mask my true feelings for Jeremody. And now Jeremody would never know how I felt about him. I tried to cry silently.

There was a tug on the blanket and before I knew it I felt the heat of Breghton's body behind me. He wrapped his arms around me.

“Everything's going to be okay, Mahlia,” he whispered, and I felt his breath on the back of my neck. His words were comforting, even though he didn't know why I cried. And he was wrong, nothing was okay. I wanted to be strong, but I felt weak. I tried to imagine myself back in my hut at the Iron Gates. Jeremody would have been the one telling me everything was alright and wrapping his arms around me. The more I thought about it the more obvious it became. Jeremody had loved me. He was patient and understanding, yet so playful that it was sometimes hard to take him seriously. It made it difficult to pick up on his subtle clues. It was so clear to me now, though. He had been waiting for me to realize it was love for all these years. But I was too late. I continued to cry quietly.

Chapter 6

I yawned and slowly rose to a seated position. My eyes felt puffy from crying all night. Breghton was busy slicing up a large blue piece of fruit. His brown leather vest and white shirt were next to him in the sand and his hair was wet. He must have just been for a swim in the ocean. He was lean, yet had defined muscles. His skin was tan from living on this sunny island. I stretched my arms above my head and tried to ignore the fact that Chinook was keeping busy by glaring at Breghton.

“Want some blumberry?” he asked, tossing me a slice before I could answer.

I caught it in one hand, despite the fact that it was really slippery. “What is it?” I asked, although I didn’t really care what it was. I was starving.

“It’s what most divinares grow up eating,” he chuckled to himself.

I think he enjoyed the fact that I didn’t understand the divinare culture. I took a large bite of the blumberry slice to show him I was a true divinare. I knew instantly how it got its name. I tasted the sweetness of plums and blueberries within its juices. Breghton handed me a whole bowl of the delicious fruit and I ate slice after slice until only a small amount of juice remained at the bottom. I brought the bowl towards my mouth and tipped it, drinking every last drop.

“I think you just ate as much as I did in my whole childhood,” he said and gave me a wink.

I shrugged. “I had to catch up to everyone else.”

He smiled and then turned to face Chinook. “I have some for you too, Chinook,” he said in a friendly tone. Chinook just stared at him.

“Well, it’ll be here if you change your mind,” he added, and placed the bowl on a nearby rock. He got up and started dousing the fire.

"Do owls eat blumberries?" I asked.

"She's still herself. You won't see her swallowing mice whole, if that's what you mean."

I nodded. That explained why she had eaten an egg sandwich. I was relieved to hear that Chinook wouldn't be bringing any mice around. They were terrifying rodents, larger than my feet. I looked at the scorched village that surrounded us. This was probably what the old village looked like after the Great Ravage. I sighed. If the rest of the town had believed my mother’s prediction then maybe things would have been different. I might even still have my mother with me in divinare form. But the newest village that the divinares had built was now ruined as well. There was no escaping the harsh life of a divinare.

Breghton’s humming brought me back to the present. It was the same tune he hummed on the day I first met him, and it was also the very song that my dad used to hum to my mom and me. Chinook cocked her head to one side. Apparently I was not the only one that noticed the familiar tune. Chinook started to walk over toward Breghton, never taking her eyes off of him. When she reached the bowl of blumberries she leaned over and began eating them. Her eyes remained on Breghton’s face.

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