Elowyn's Arc

Chapter 8 of 12

Elowyn stepped through the doorway of light. The moonlit side pulled at her like a slow tide. Ahead, past the coral arches and hanging crystal drips, a single pale bloom glowed among the flower-shaped towers. Tavian followed close behind her. Then a small voice spoke from the seam itself. "You dropped through and forgot to pay the toll." Tairo sat on a low arch, legs swinging, his sash heavy with bells and charms. Elowyn knew him well. He was the godling who collected lost things, and she had traded him her crescent moon charm once for a map page. He grinned like they were old friends, which, in a strange way, they were. "You followed us through," she said. "This place lost so much," Tairo said. He waved a hand at the moonlit towers. "Someone has to collect it." He hopped down and stood between her and the bloom. "But that flower isn't free. Give me a keepsake, and I'll step aside." Tavian folded his arms. "She's already traded away half of what she carried." "Then she knows how this works," Tairo said, unbothered. He rested a finger against his cheek and waited. Elowyn opened her satchel. Her fingers moved past dried petals and beads. She had so little left. The map page was gone. The crescent charm was gone. Her grandmother's pressed flower was gone. She had learned that value meant giving something up. Her hand closed on a small necklace she'd found on the sunlit shore days ago. Muted teal cord, a creamy spiral shell, tiny brass leaves and stars. She had meant to keep it. "This," she said, and held it out. Tairo's eyes brightened. He took the shell necklace and lifted it to the moonlight. The pearly shell caught the glow and hummed faintly, like a held breath. "A quiet thing," he said. "I like quiet things. They stay lost the longest." He looped it over his sash, among the bells. "Now move," Elowyn said. Tairo stepped aside with a small bow. "The bloom is yours. But you gave me shoreline." He tapped the shell. "This came from the sunlit half. Now it's on the moonlit side, with me." He smiled. "Careful what you carry across. The boundary keeps score." Elowyn didn't wait to ask what he meant. She walked to the pale bloom and pressed it gently between the pages of her herbarium. Its petals were thin, almost see-through, and warm. Another forgotten flower saved. She let out a slow breath. When she turned back, the seam behind them had changed. The shimmering wall no longer showed the sunlit coast. It showed only more moonlit towers, folding deeper into the dream. The doorway they'd entered was gone. Tavian looked at the empty place where the sunlit shore had been. "He warned us," he said quietly. "We carried something across. Now the way back is closed."