Page 169 of Earthbound

Words that had fuelled each step of Golan’s journey.

‘This is where I leave you. I’ve got to relieve Farhan of babysitting duties,’ Dart said. They both knew he was giving Golan space.

Dart squeezed his shoulder before he left. ‘I’m glad you were with Alder at the end. He must have loved you very much.’

‘And I, him,’ Golan said, then he crested the staircase.

He thought he knew what he would find. A library, a sanctuary. He’d heard the tale from Lettle. But what Golan found was something else entirely.

Gone were the books that had once lined the shelves; instead, the walls were smooth without a tome in sight.

In the centre stood a house made entirely from the bark of a living oak tree. And surrounding the house was a farm.

Chickens and geese, orchards and vegetables.

And fields and fields of corn.

Golan dropped to the floor and sobbed until he could cry no more. He had once imagined this dream with Alder, a fanciful thought that neither believed would ever come true.

It had been hard to know in the end how much of him had been Alder or Afa. But with this last gift, he had given Golan one more thing than just the farm–he had gifted him the knowledge that Alder had remembered everything and had loved him until his last breath.

Lettle

Namana sat at her kitchen table nursing a cup of tea. ‘It’s a long journey here, Lettle. Are you sure you don’t want to come back to Waning? It’s different now.’

Lettle shook her head. ‘No, we’re happy here. The quiet in Mosima suits us.’

Rayan and Lettle had decided to remain in the city, despite the majority of the fae relocating to Lorhan. But they had not returned to the palace. Instead, they occupied the small dwelling they had first been housed in when they were taken prisoner all that time ago.

‘Come with me to Lorhan,’ Yeeran had begged earlier that year. But Lettle shook her head. ‘No, I think I’d like to stay here. I’m making an inventory of all the new flora that now grows in Mosima. Some of it could be useful.’

Yeeran looked hurt. ‘Is that what you want? To be a gardener? To live in books and ink?’

Yes.

‘You’ll be alone here,’ Yeeran pressed.

‘Many people are staying behind.’

Yeeran could see she wasn’t going to be able to change her mind. She wrapped her arms around Lettle. ‘You’ll come and visit though, won’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Lettle said, but she wasn’t sure. She had walked half the continent, seen more sights than she ever wanted, and she was tired.

‘I love you, sister. Through bone and skin.’

Lettle smiled. ‘Through bone and skin.’

That had been half a year ago, and Lettle didn’t regret that decision. Even though Namana wanted her to.

‘Come and join the Gural diviners, we miss you,’ she said.

‘No,’ Lettle said quickly. Like everything else in the world, divining had changed. No longer did they read the entrails of obeah; instead, they carved their tokens from trees imbued with human magic–conifers.

In the year since the humans returned Lettle had not touched her magic once. She had burned the grimoire the night she had spoken the spell, though sometimes she woke in the night still mouthing the words.

She still wore her talismans at her waist, but now they served as a reminder that not all knowledge should be sought.

‘Where is Rayan?’