The Waiting Game
680 Words
Two years passed without a whisper from the Deepening.
Sarah sat on the wall of Ember's Rest, watching the eastern horizon. The salt flats were quiet. The Glass Sea was still. The world had forgotten, almost, that hunger had ever existed.
She hadn't forgotten.
"The Deepening is planning something," she said.
Elara stood beside her. Fifty-five now, grey-haired, her sword still sharp.
"The void agrees with you."
"The void is always right."
"Not always. Often enough."
---
Mara had become a healer.
The woman the Deepening had used for fifty years worked in the clinic now, tending to the sick, the wounded, the lost. Her hands were steady. Her eyes were kind.
"The void says you're happy," Sarah said.
"The void says a lot of things."
"Is it wrong?"
Mara touched her chest. "No. I'm learning what happiness feels like. It's strange. I'd forgotten."
"You'll remember."
"I am remembering. Every day."
---
Grell had become a gardener.
The former Inquisitor spent her days in the soil, planting vegetables, tending flowers. She spoke little. Watched everything.
"The Deepening is waiting," she said one evening.
Sarah sat beside her on the cottage porch.
"For what?"
"For you to make a mistake."
"I don't make mistakes."
"Everyone makes mistakes. The Deepening is patient. It will wait until you're tired. Until you're distracted. Until you forget to be afraid."
"I'll never forget to be afraid."
"Good. Fear keeps you sharp."
---
Lyra died on a spring morning, sitting on the porch where she had spent so many years.
Sarah found her with her eyes closed, her hand resting on the cane she no longer needed. She looked peaceful.
"The void says she went quietly. No pain. No fear."
Elara stood in the doorway.
"She was the bravest person I knew."
"She was the most stubborn person I knew."
"Same thing."
"No. Bravery is choosing to fight. Stubbornness is refusing to stop."
"What's the difference?"
"One is a decision. The other is a way of life."
Elara looked at her mother's face.
"She was both."
"Yes. She was."
---
They buried Lyra beside James, Taylor, and Elara.
The whole city came. Deep Ones stood beside humans. Former enemies stood beside friends.
Sarah stood with her mother at the grave.
"The void says the Deepening is watching."
"Let it watch."
"It's waiting for us to be weak."
"We're not weak."
Elara put her arm around her daughter.
"No. We're not."
---
The void spoke to Sarah that night.
Your grandmother is gone.
"I know."
You are the matriarch now.
"I'm not ready."
You never will be. That's not the point.
"What is the point?"
To try. To keep trying. Even when you're not ready.
---
Kaela came to the farmhouse at dawn.
She was eighty-seven, ancient, her silver skin cracked and faded. She walked with a staff.
The Deepening moves, she said. Not here. In the depths. It is gathering its strength.
"How long?"
Years. It is patient.
"So are we."
You have trained your daughter?
"Sarah is seventeen. She's been training her whole life."
The Deepening does not care about age.
"Neither do I. But I care about her childhood."
Kaela nodded.
Then give her what years you can. The Deepening will wait.
---
Sarah found her daughter in the training yard.
Elara—named for her great-grandmother—was seventeen now, tall and strong, with grey eyes and a stubborn chin.
"The void says the Deepening is coming."
"The void has been saying that for years."
"This time it's different."
"How?"
"It's close. I can feel it."
Elara lowered her sword.
"Then we fight."
"You're not ready."
"I'm seventeen."
"The Deepening doesn't care about age."
"Neither do I."
Sarah looked at her daughter.
"You sound like me."
"I learned from the best."
---
The void spoke to Sarah that night.
Your daughter is brave.
"She's stubborn."
Same thing.
"No. Bravery is choosing to fight. Stubbornness is refusing to stop."
What is the difference?
"One is a decision. The other is a way of life."
Then I am learning to be brave.
"Yes. You are."
- Writer
