A Shattered Dawn

Chapter 25

Celia Niehdre did not expect to receive a package from a foreign postman. She couldn't confirm, but the woman had an almost Celestial appearance. She could recognize those eyes anywhere. Upon further observation, she noticed that the package had no name on it. She ripped it open, seeing Gabriel's familiar messy handwriting on a small note. A stone was wrapped in cloth beneath the letter. It felt odd and wrong yet powerful in her hands. Her heart sunk as she read the letter.

Celia—

I don't have much time, and neither do you. By the time you receive this letter, I will be well on my way home to you. But that doesn't matter. The stone I sent is valuable and dangerous—protect it, but not with your life. Tell Finn that I order him to stay with you and guard you throughout your journey. I trust him, too, in dealing with the stone. Keep it with you both. What I need you to do, right now, is pack up, only as much as you can carry. You need to take Acilya and head west until you hit the northern rails. Then you need to get on the soonest train you can to cross the Split. It doesn't matter how—hide out in a cargo car if you have to. By then, the rails may be closing. Listen to me—you need to do everything you can to get on that train, understand? Danger is coming and we do not have much time. I will meet you in the town just south of the train station in the mountains. Keep walking south with Acilya and you'll make it. I'll be there.

I love you with everything I am.

Love,

Gabriel

She knew he wasn't going north for a trade deal. She had known him long enough to know when he was lying. She didn't call him out for it, no matter how worried she was for him, because she trusted his judgment. Celia wasted no more time thinking of this, and she listened to Gabriel's instructions without question. To Acilya's confusion, they spent the rest of the day packing up what they could bring with them on their horses. Then, once they were fully packed, Celia stepped outside to talk to Finn, their supposed protector. She explained Gabriel's letter, the stone, and their current situation. She told him that they all had to leave the next morning. He agreed to meet at dawn.

The next morning, Celia waited on their front porch with her daughter, and Finn still hadn't shown up.

"Why do we have to leave?"

Acilya was old enough to understand, but Celia didn't want to make her afraid.

"We're going on an adventure, my love." Celia smiled at her daughter but it quickly went away. She was too worried. The sun was rising higher.

She waited an hour but he did not arrive. She knew she could wait longer and risk the danger, but she knew there was a chance he would never arrive. She strapped the bags to her horse, leaving a note to the neighbor that he could take the other horses, and lifted Acilya onto the back of the horse.

They rode away from the only real home Celia ever had, never to return.

~~~

Finnick was tired of doing the right thing. He was tired of caring for his family, however terrible it seemed. He had an amazing wife and son, yet he was tired. After his youngest son's untimely death, he was racked with grief, more so than his wife, who held in her emotions, even from her husband, and his older son, who was too young to understand and fully feel the grief. So when his friend asked him to care for his wife and daughter on their journey to the Celestial lands, he decided that he would draw the line there.

He knew Gabriel would die. If he was sending his wife orders to run, attached to a powerful weapon, he must know that he was in danger and would not make it back. Finnick cared about Gabriel, sure, they had been close their whole lives. But if he was going to die... Finnick knew Gabriel trusted him to take care of his wife and child. But he had his own family. Who would also likely die in the next few weeks. He would not take his family across the Celestial border. But he didn't want to watch them die.

So he packed his things, not bothering to say goodbye, and left his home. He didn't want to see them die, and leaving was his only escape. Maybe it was cowardly, but Finnick didn't care.

Finnick was not afraid. He ventured to the one place he never thought he would end up—the Celestial lands of the south. He didn't miss his family. Maybe that made him a bad father and a bad husband, but he knew he was a coward. It was something he accepted yet couldn't move on from. So he took the journey south, where his closest friend, who was like his brother, had ventured countless times. The journey was hard and long, but Finnick never once looked back. And he smiled as he reached the gates to the royal grounds, as he walked willingly, with open arms, to his death.

But death was not kind to him.

~~~

Celia and her daughter had been traveling for about a week when their food ran out. They had been heading to the train station in the west, riding as close to the Split as they dared, and they were almost halfway there. Celia noticed that her daughter was oddly quiet throughout the journey, and she frequently asked Acilya if she was doing okay throughout the ride.

Eventually, Acilya asked her mother, "Is Dad dead?"

Celia whirled around in surprise to see her daughter's beautiful and innocent face.

"Of course, he's not dead, honey." She hesitated. "We're going to see him very soon."

The words tasted sour in her mouth.

"You promise?"

She leaned forward, her dark hair falling forward—Celia's locks. It hurt Celia to lie to her daughter, so she didn't.

"No, honey, I can't promise you." Her daughter's frown made Celia's chest ache. "Where we are going is a very dangerous place, and I can't promise you anything about our safety. But right now, you have me. And even if you have no one, you will always have yourself. Always."

Acilya nodded, her frown fading away. It hurt Celia to tell her this. She wished her daughter never had to go through this, to feel afraid that her family might die—that she might die. Even so, she knew Acilya would have to face the fact that they lived in a dangerous world, and the possibility of death would always linger. Especially with them, since Celia was in constant danger. Acilya knew that her mother was a Celestial. They told her as soon as she could understand because they believed in telling their daughter the truth. And no matter how hard it may have been to hear the truth, Acilya always wanted to know it. Was desperate to know it, actually. She sought knowledge constantly. So, as they traveled, Celia told her daughter her love story, and Acilya listened with wide eyes.