The Windcaster [Fantasy/Adventure | Featured | Complete ]

Chapter 42: Gone with the Wind

As she caught up to him in her chase, he spun around, shrieking in glee. He danced around her; his joyful laughter echoed in the misty but surprisingly warm air. She giggled too, spinning on the tips of her toes as she used to, feeling the air sift through her fingers.

“It is so warm here,” he said. His voice was light and chirpy.

Tia started, a delighted smile spreading on her face. “I can understand you!”

“Yes,” he said, with a cheeky grin. His face was much fuller and no longer pallid and dirt-streaked. “And nothing hurts now: not my head, my tummy or my chest. I feel so happy here.”

Tia stopped, curious. “Where is ‘here’?”

“Thank you, Tiamat.” His voice became fainter and her eyes fogged over. She blinked, but his outlines were merging with the mist.

“Humbaba!” She raised her voice when he didn’t reply. “Tell me – where are you? Humbaba!”

But he had vanished into the mist. Tia, puzzled, found herself talking to nobody. The only sound was a gentle background buzz.

Another set of happy giggles floated through the air. The child ducked behind a pillar, waving her fingers at Tia as she gave chase, laughing. Tia looked behind the large column but the flame-haired girl had disappeared. She turned around as the giggles came from a new spot.

Three people – two adults and one child – stood hand-in-hand, laughing and talking, their words indistinct, but the little girl’s melodic voice and striking red hair was very familiar.

“Aga?” Tia called out. The child turned. Her light eyes lit up as she recognised Tia. She let go, running forward and then stopping right in front of Tia, her arms outstretched as if she were about to throw herself at Tia for a hug. A confused expression was on her little pink-cheeked face.

“What is happening, Aga?” Tia said, confused.

“I… I don’t know. Why are you so far away, Tiamat?”

“Far away?” Tia was nonplussed. “But I am here… where are you?”

“With my mama and papa. It feels wonderful to not have to worry about the farm now, or about the food, or money.” Little Aga’s face was glowing, looking healthier than Tia had ever seen her. A smile stretched across each round, rosy cheek. She took a few steps back and linked hands with the two adults, who Tia guessed were her parents. She couldn’t make out their features except for the pale eyes on Namru, the tired farm owner. Even Namru looked healthy and relaxed. He had his arms around a woman with the same vibrant hair as Aga. His eyes twinkled at her, but he remained silent.

“I have done good things in life, Tiamat,” little Aga burbled. “I am in a happy place now, like Mama – we are all together.”

A fleeting, haunting realisation dawned and then drifted by again, just out of reach, almost like the Wind itself. She grasped at it, but the more she reached, the more indistinct it became, until she was left in a daze, certain that she was on the edge of some epiphany.

The background buzz was getting louder.

“That was not terrible,” said a neutral voice. The almost-praise filled Tia with a strange sense of satisfaction and a jolt of surprise. She gathered her belongings at once, eager to please. After a year of slaving with no rewards, she was finally getting her acknowledgement! “I suppose you will not be a massive failure at this rate.”

Tia bobbed a curtsey, arms full of scrolls and quills. A pen fell out of the pile and tumbled to the ground; before it made contact, it disappeared into the white mist that was covering the ground up to her knees.