by Kelly Napoli
CHAPTER 13
TRUTH
“Kiethara, calm down!” Aaron said sternly.
“No! All this time, all my life! It’s all been fed by lies!” she screamed at him. Her hands burst into flames. She didn’t notice, for her rage consumed all her thoughts as she turned her back to Aaron and stalked off. She just had to get away from him.
“I have not been feeding you lies,” Aaron told her, still calm. He kept pace with her easily, but that only infuriated her further.
So Kiethara spun back around to face him. As she did, her enflamed hands brushed a nearby tree, catching it on fire. They spread quickly; she could feel the intensity of the heat as they burned behind her. But she was so far gone she ignored it. Aaron didn’t.
“Kiethara! Mind what you’re doing!” he yelled back as the fire behind her disappeared. His tone had become so forceful, the atmosphere around him so menacing, that it brought her up short. The fires on her hands fizzled out.
“Tell me,” Kiethara said in a low, broken voice. “Is Gandador my father?”
The atmosphere around Aaron once again changed instantly. Instead of menacing, it was now somber, and…hesitant. Unwilling. His hand extended halfway, but then fell, as though he had thought better of it. Kiethara did not know what she would have done—could have done—if he had touched her. Any trace of love or respect for him had been sapped out of her by Gandador.
He finally decided to answer. He sighed a worn, defeated sigh.
“Yes.”
Kiethara had expected his answer, no matter how much she had not wanted to hear it. The fact, this confirmation, did nothing for her though except bring her lower, and she continued to spiral into a deep pit of pain.
Gandador was right. The truth did not necessarily bring anything good. It could, in fact, bring pain! The truth now stabbed at her heart, fierce and unrelenting. Gandador was gone, but he had left her with something more terrible than the blows he inflicted. How could her mother do such a thing? On the stone of her grave it was written: Our greatest gift is love. But what did that mean now? When her love had been wasted on Gandador? She had loved him before she had loved her. What did that say about her mother’s love, or of the love for a child who was the spawn of a fiend?
And with the truth came the revelation of lies. Aaron had been the only one to lie about this truth. Aaron! His betrayal was the most painful thing she had felt today.
“I can’t believe you!” Kiethara spat in a disgusted tone.
“Would this have been any easier if I had told you earlier? Would you have survived the first encounter with Gandador if you had known the truth?” he asked.
“I barely survived this one! All because he held this power over me—he had me stunned! You can’t defend yourself on this one, Aaron! There is nothing you could possibly say to make this better. I know now. Gandador was right,” she hissed, hating the fact that she knew she was right. Aaron was silent for a long time.
“There is no way to deny the truth. Your appearance states it all. You have all your mother’s features, yes, but they have been darkened—not without beauty—by Gandador. Your dark blue eyes, your hair…everything except for your skin tone, which is purely your father’s.” he sighed. This time, she was silent.
“I have made many mistakes in my life and yours, I admit that. I am sorry. I can’t change what I’ve done…and I cannot change the truth.”
“You can stop telling lies! Did you really think you could keep this from me my entire life?” she asked.
“Of course I didn’t think that, Kiethara. I will stop lying to you. You’re right. You’re strong enough to know, and handle, the truth.”
Aaron paused again, as though he were chewing over the right words to use. Kiethara could understand his hesitation, for she was already in so much pain. What else would he say that could possibly destroy her?
“I lied because I didn’t like the truth any more than you do,” Aaron began. “I…was ashamed that your mother fell in love with him. That a guardian made such a mistake. I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to tarnish the memory of your mother in your eyes. She was a magnificent guardian, only fooled by a man with ulterior motives. I didn’t want you to suffer anything, for you had already lost so much. I feared the day you would meet Gandador. As you can see, ignorance certainly is bliss.
“When Earthaphoria first met Gandador, she had been ecstatic. Love between the outside world and the forest was common; that’s how our line does not die off. Never had that relationship gone this wrong before. Only the courageous venture this far into the forest. Someone as brave as that usually fell in love with the guardian simply because of the adventure of it.”
Kiethara felt a flash of smugness. Navadar was courageous; he was the same way. He had saved her life.
“Not one guardian loved an outsider enough to tell them the purest secrets of their magic, except for your mother. She was so passionate, so affectionate; it was as though she was love itself. She was the definition of love. One hundred heart beats of any person hardly matched one of hers.
“Then Gandador came. He was as brave and as selfless as Navadar…at the time. Of course, your mother fell in love with him instantaneously, just as you seemed to do with Navadar. Don’t you see, Kiethara? Do you know understand why I was so against him? I was afraid you have the same love as your mother,” Aaron told her.
Kiethara opened her mouth, but she didn’t know which words to force out. She now understood, and it felt good to obtain some level of comprehension, but the logical conclusion she was coming to wasn’t one she wanted. She loved Navadar, she admitted to herself; surely he wouldn’t turn into Gandador?
“A lesson to be learned—love can make you foolish. I’m sorry to say, but your mother’s love did no good for any of us. She loved him so much that she started to show him, and teach him, her magic. You see, the magic of others is very limited compared to our magic. They hardly have any magic at all, because most fear to take it from the forest. The ones who do either have dark motives to use it, or use it domestically, but the limit to the amount of magic they can store is pathetic. The most they have power for is to fly, and very few do. Sinsenta and Gandador are one of those rare beings. They’ve had to train their bodies to hold that amount of magic.
“That being said, your mother saw no reason why she couldn’t teach Gandador what she knew. I was not with her, I couldn’t stop her…not physically. I had not been awaken yet and my communication with the guardian was limited until now. I could only communicate a few words, as your mother has to you.”
“Wait…what?” Kiethara’s mind reeled. “You mean…my mother’s voice…”
Too much.
Far, far too much. She had crossed that invisible line of her mental capability to accept all of this before this point, but now she was above and beyond what she could handle. As far as endurance went, she felt she had reached the breaking point. Now, she was certain she would snap. Not just snap, but break into a million different pieces, pieces with sharp, ragged edges and long, jagged cracks. Pieces that crashed and shattered and burst away from her to places where she would not retrieve them any time soon.
Kiethara put her back up against a tree and slid down until she felt the forest floor beneath her. She put her head in between her legs and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing the forest, Gandador, and even herself away.
“I’m sorry, Kiethara. I know how hard this must be for you. But if you must know…it is possible that you could hear your mother’s voice. It takes a good ear to hear the voices of your ancestors,” he complimented gently.
So her mother had talked to her in the lake. Just fine. That had been her mother’s opinion. The words seared through her, but she was still too numb to understand what emotion they were stirring.
“I have some good news,” Aaron tried again.
“Good news? In what twisted world could there be any good news after today?”
“Yours,” he replied. “Navadar is safe.”
The words sent a stab of guilt through her. She hadn’t put one thought to him after he had left. How selfish was that? Even after that amazing kiss…
“He got out of the forest all right?”
“Yes. Events today have also made me realize something…I do not believe that Navadar is a risk to the forest as I once did.”
“You mean…” she began. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“Well, Navadar doesn’t use magic. He also doesn’t want it gone. He doesn’t have any reason to turn out as Gandador has, no reason to ask about the forest’s secrets. If this changes in any way, my opinion on this matter will change, but for now…he doesn’t possess the greed for power as most do.”
“No,” she whispered. “He doesn’t.”
“But he still remains to be a weakness,” he warned. “Gandador knows about him now, so Navadar is in an extremely vulnerable position. He can be killed.”
“I know, I know. I can do this. I can protect the forest and his life!” she declared in a somewhat weary voice.
“I’ve never doubted your strength before, Kiethara. Which is why we must do one last thing today.”
“What is it?” Kiethara groaned.
“To the lake. It is time for you to learn the water element.”