When the word ‘death’ came out of her mouth, Camaz immediately reached towards the stranger with strange eyes through the Great Solvent. He can feel it yet it was stranger than even Aris’s solute, like plunging his hand into a body of water filled with hair.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to do that,” the woman smiled. “What is the charming name you people gave that? Inner Eye abilities? Quite a mouthful, might I add, and not at all a good way to classify abilities of your people. But still charming.”
Camaz wasn’t taken by her light tone. He had a bruised face and was exhausted from the day’s events, now he continues to worry about Aris’s mortality. This stranger couldn’t have mysteriously appeared at a worse time as he simply didn’t have the energy to play the conversation game. “Please tell me who you are,” he said.
“I have been called Imron,” she said, curling the sound of her name curiously. It was like she was savoring the syllables of the words. She turned to study Aris’s floating body again. “Although your people know me better as a Part.”
There was silence. He felt he should be denying what she was saying with every fiber of his being, but seeing how her liquid eyes danced and swirled in the same color as the gemstone growing out of Aris’s eye sockets, his instincts told him there was truth to it. His mind made leaps and bounds, following the urge to come to a conclusion before the other person reveals it. “You’re here to exact revenge on your brethren?” he asked. He rose slowly. Somehow he’ll have to defend Aris physically. His gaze flickered over to his sleeping students, neither of them stirring at their conversation.
“Revenge?” the woman genuinely looked surprised, turning to look at him with widened green eyes. Then her face scrunched in contemplation. “Why would I, when my ‘brethren’ caused all this nonsense in the first place? No, my brother wouldn’t appreciate it if I took part in revenge.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Oh, it’s useless asking me to explain. The words are locked away for all of us,” Imron said. “But no, I’m not here for revenge.”
“Then why are you here?” Camaz slowly approached the Part, cautious of her every movement. But she simply stood next to the floating Aris with her hands clasped behind her. “You said your business is in death. Why would you be here if not to deal death to my ward?”
“Hmm, your ward here isn’t exactly in the state to accept or deny any deal,” she said. “No, Gaian, I am here to simply watch her death when it happens.”
Her crisp and matter-of-fact words were worse than the punch to the face earlier that day. Aris was going to die. This whole mission would have been for nothing. And Aris, poor Aris…
Imron must have interpreted his stunned silence as an invitation to explain. “I can taste it in her solute. It is cracked and damaged beyond repair while my brother’s residual existence seeks to take over. On top of that, her mind has been badly fractured from her ordeal. She wants to die, Gaian.”
“There is no way you would know that.”
“You have heard her pleas, you simply refuse to acknowledge them,” the Part shrugged. “I have tasted many deaths over the course of my existence. I recognize it.”
“Then what are you doing here,” Camaz burst out, his patience running thin despite the conversation being probably with the most important one he’ll have over the course of this mission. “Are you seriously staying to watch this girl die a horrible and painful death?”
“Why yes,” Imron said. “She was the work of my brother and the end result of hundreds of thousands of manipulations to get to where we are now. Her death will be important - significant. I need to be here to witness it.”
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It was all too much. In his panic, he couldn’t even dissect everything she said about a brother and manipulations. All he knew, all he could feel was the stomach-churning dread that Aris was going to die soon. He had to do something. He owed it to Taurin, to Caelis, to the Caelisian captain, to Aris - Parts damn it he owed it to himself.
“If your business, your deals, are in death, then surely you also deal in life,” he said. “One is simply the absence of the other. Surely you can help.”
The Part then gave him a curious look, her eyes glowing slightly and her lips lifted in a small smile. “What are you proposing?” she asked.
“My life for hers,” Camaz said. His mouth felt dry. “If you’re truly a god, you can do that, right?”
“Despite what your people believe, I am no god,” Imron said.
Camaz felt himself deflate slightly. “So you can’t do anything.”
“I never said that. But also, she’s not dead so that deal won’t work. The appropriate exchange would be to shorten your life to lengthen hers. Do you have that intention?”
“Yes, I do.”
The Part studied him for a few long heartbeats, eyes swirling and glowing. “Why are you doing this for her, Gaian?”
“She is my responsibility.” The answer came easily.
“Do you love her?” Imron pressed.
“Yes, I suppose I do. She’s a daughter to me. At least she is supposed to be.” Again the answer came easily. It surprised Camaz to be able to admit aloud he loved her like family.
“Is that the complete reason why you would throw your life away for her?”
Camaz stared at the Part. “Why does it matter what the complete reason is?”
“Your intention is important for this to work. It mustn’t be marred by self-deception or delusions. You need to be honest to yourself about this.”
Camaz turned his stare to Aris, her shallow breathing and filthy hair framing a gaunt and stone-encrusted face. “I failed her,” he whispered. “I had a chance to do something good for once and this is what became of her.” He passed a hand over his face. “I wanted to fix it. I need to make it up to her.”
“Redemption,” the Part said simply.
Tired, he looked back up at the Part. “Yes, redemption.”
“Your honesty tastes like… cream with crushed berries,” Imron said, tilting her head. “I understand. Let us make the exchange then.”
She reached out a thin hand and he took it uncertainly. It would be too late if this was a trap. But then again it would be too late regardless. With her other hand, she gently took one of Aris’s hands. Then Camaz felt as if something squeezed his heart horribly tight and he collapsed to the floor, gasping. His blood felt sluggish in his veins.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Imron knelt beside him. Behind her dress, he could see Aris gently sinking down to the ground. “But you’re not going to die. At least not now. But you’ll feel it for a while from the amount I skimmed off your solute.” She paused for two excruciating heartbeats. “You might have trouble using your abilities too. I’m sorry.”
Shaking, Camaz rolled weakly onto his back. Imron appeared in his field of view, green eyes swirling magnetically.
“Also your ward still doesn’t want to live. She lacks the will to. I fixed her solute but… I can’t fix her heart. I’ve never… I’ve never been able to fix the heart.” The Part looked stricken. “You’ll have to find a way to fix that or she’ll choose to sleep forever.”
There were more than a few dozen things he wanted to say but the words choked at his throat.
The Part hesitated, then continued. “I hope you find your redemption. My sister and I can make all sorts of deals yet neither of us have given redemption before because it’s impossible to give it to someone. But you have done a great deal for your daughter. You have paid your dues. Perhaps you’ll learn to forgive yourself.”
Imron was as silent as when she arrived. So silent like she was never there. Camaz spent the rest of the night on the watchtower floor, struggling to breath.