Page 112 of Earthbound

He could barely catch his breath to say, ‘How can I be when I don’t even remember my own children?’

His world had been shattered so completely that he was glass turned to sand, his identity just particles in the breeze.

‘But you remember me. You remember the Nomads, you remember Golan. We are your family.’

He let himself relax into her arms as his sobbing grew in pitch.

‘We are your family,’ she whispered over and over.

He let her hold him for some time. When he was spent with his grief, he pulled himself out of her arms.

‘My affinity to the earth makes sense now,’ he said. Another terrifying thought struck him. ‘Can I manipulate the earth?’

Lettle shrugged. ‘I imagine so. You share his soul so are earthbound too. Try it.’

Alder shivered, petrified of his own power. He lowered his hands to the earth and tried to coax a flower from the soil.

Nothing happened. His relief was immeasurable.

‘Maybe it is like magesight, and you must attune to it,’ Lettle said.

Alder shook his head. ‘I don’t want to attune to it. I would rather the power lay dormant.’

Ajax let out a sigh. He was tucked tightly into Lettle’s side.

She noticed Alder watching him. ‘He travelled with us all the way from Mosima,’ Lettle said with a smile.

‘Mosima,’ Alder said the word slowly. It meant freedom according to Lettle. He let out a little laugh. ‘The city was never a curse, it was a safe haven, a place where Afa could not reach his children.’

‘Yes.’

‘My children,’ Alder said with horror. ‘Those of the Jani dynasty are my descendants.’

‘Yes,’ Lettle said again. She had tears in her eyes now.

But though Alder’s eyes burned, he did not cry. He laughed sardonically. ‘You were right, I do have family.’

Lettle tensed, then looked away, and Alder wondered if he had suddenly looked like Afa.

She spoke her words to the waterfall. ‘Family does not have to be blood, it can be the other parts of us too: our breath, our bones, our heart.’

When she looked back at him, she was smiling. ‘And it is time to return to those parts of us. We did what we set out to do. We found a way to remove the boundary and bring back the humans.’

Alder nodded. It was true, but the victory was bitter. ‘But what of Afa? He was content to never return? I am free to be Alder for evermore?’

Lettle hesitated. ‘His whole purpose in life was to help bring back the humans. Whether that is as Afa or Alder, I do not think it matters. As long as the spell is spoken.’

Alder felt uneasy. He did not like thinking that it would only require a few steps to cross the sanctuary threshold to turn him into someone else entirely.

‘I’ll never go back,’ he said.

‘I would not let you,’ Lettle replied grimly.

He squeezed her hand in the silence that ensued.

They took comfort from each other for a moment before Lettle stood. ‘This path should lead us down into Caperly. I am sure everyone is very worried about us. We should go.’

Alder walked to the edge of the path where the water crashed down into a pool below. He ran his fingers through the water and thought about jumping.