"I... I..." Caela was still unsure how to respond to Fae. Should she be honest about the many things she shared in common with him? Should she tell him that she had slowly begun to believe in the old myth? Should she confess that she had been searching for the truth in what Rieva had been telling her all along?
Fae tilted his head slightly, waiting for Caela's response.
"... Never heard of it…" Caela said softly and hesitantly.
Fae let out a sigh, sounding slightly disappointed by Caela's answer. He felt like she wasn't being honest—but it was also possible she really hadn't heard of it. Fae then continued his story.
"I have to be honest with you, Caela," Fae said.
Caela raised an eyebrow, jolted out of her thoughts. "About what?"
Fae stepped closer to Caela, his crimson eyes locking with Caela's sky-blue ones. "At the Forgotten Ruins, I heard the same thing, the same taboo phrase of the heretical group… when I touched you," Fae said, his voice filled with vulnerability, as if he was frustrated with himself.
Caela's eyes widened as she heard that. She knew very well that she had seen and heard visions that might be the same as Fae's. Caela lowered her gaze, cornered by the weight of the moment. Seeing this, Fae suddenly grabbed her wrist—and both of them gasped, as the voice of the gods and the vision came rushing back.
Still weakened from her conversation with the god Varuna, Caela collapsed to her knees, and both of them panted for breath.
"You saw and heard it too, didn't you…?" Fae asked again, his eyes filled with vulnerability, his breath uneven.
Caela could only focus on trying to breathe. She didn't know what to say. She hesitated. She wasn't ready for this.
Fae stood, trying to calm himself, then knelt in front of Caela, looking at her face hidden behind her white hair.
"It's alright if you're not ready to talk yet. But Caela… you can trust me. I won't judge what you're feeling… and I won't tell anyone," Fae said, then quietly left Caela's side.
Caela remained kneeling, watching as Fae walked away through the veranda. She tried to calm herself again and process everything. She was starting to believe more and more in the old myth. Was she truly on a path to the truth, or was she becoming one of the heretics? Should she trust Fae and tell him everything? But now her thoughts drifted to the undead creature she had destroyed earlier in the Forgotten Ruins. She began to wonder what if she suddenly also turned into something like that.
***