ROTU: Chapter Seven

Hours later, the two entered what felt like a different world. Sunshine warmed their skin as a soft breeze whipped about the Hawaiian beaches that stretched before them.

After they settled into their bungalow, Shamira immediately began researching the best spots to cliff dive. A week passed with them exploring the islands while enjoying the sunshine, and then the two made their way to Costa Rica.

The warriors settled in again and decided to take an evening walk on the beach.

"I like it here," Shamira said as she surveyed their surroundings. "It has a good feel." She ran her fingers over the stone in the amulet around her neck. "I want to find a private beach, so I can take this thing off."

"I know. It would be nice just to be who we are without disguise."

"We are living more and more like humans with these things on…buried."

Jalena became silent as a couple ahead of them caught her eye.

The man pulled the woman to him in a tight embrace and kissed her deeply. The two stood holding each other as they watched the setting sun.

Jalena dropped her gaze. She didn't voice her feelings to Shamira but seeing couples on the beach was one reason she desired to get their vacation quickly over with. The memories they triggered bothered her. At least with work, she had something that pulled her attention away.

Her chest tightened the closer she and Shamira came to the couple. Her memories betrayed her, instantly transporting her to a time when she and Gyan were walking along the Green Sea shores—the night he confessed the depths of his feelings for the first time. The pressure in her chest ballooned even more as she recalled his words and slowed her pace as the memory overtook her. As she stared at the couple, it took all her control not to sprint in the opposite direction.

Shamira glanced at Jalena. "Even with our necklaces on, I can feel the spike in your emotions," she said quietly. "Why do you not talk about him?"

She grabbed Jalena's wrist as Jalena stopped. "I know it torments you," she whispered, "because you have never spoken about any of it."

Tears dropped down Jalena's cheeks as she turned and faced the water. She took her time answering. "Because there are no words that could express what I think and feel." She swallowed. "Even if I tried, I could not formulate the depth of it."

"Have you tried to communicate with his energy?"

"No. I am not ready—I am still…angry."

Shamira laced her arm through Jalena's. "Would you do anything differently now?"

Jalena wiped her face. "The only thing I would change is pushing away my connection with him for as long as I did, and there is no way I would have let him sacrifice himself as he did."

"You would have taken his place."

"Of course! Or we could have found a way to do it together! I don't know—I don't know what he saw—what he was thinking…that's what bothers me about the entire thing. It's just unresolved pieces of a puzzle without any trail—it's empty."

"Like we feel about this mission."

Jalena sighed and nodded.

"What I think is that he saw you sacrificing yourself for him when he opened up to the information in his Reserve and that his main reason for the choice he made that day was to ensure that you lived. I think he fulfilled his Shanlo duty through his last decision."

"That doesn't make any difference to me."

"I know. I hope we find more answers about it in time. Sir Malik probably knows everything and why. For now, let's do what the humans do and medicate to alleviate all our troubles."

Jalena chuckled. "Normally I would decline that method, but at this moment that sounds like a good idea."

"You think this would scare somebody?" Shamira said with a buzzed laugh several hours later. She was lifting her suppression amulet away from her skin and then releasing it so that her eyes changed back and forth from light warrior to human.

Jalena looked around cautiously. There were few people left at the small bar where they sat along the beach, but she still didn't want to draw unwanted attention to the two.

Shamira cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "Sorry. This thing just seems to get heavier after a while."

"I know. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I guess I just can't relax entirely because I want to get everything over with. My mind is constantly searching for and analyzing different ways we can approach this mission. Part of me won't let my guard down."

"And that," Shamira said with a wink as she raised her glass, "like I said before, is why you are the queen of our warriors and I'm not. You get to take care of me rather than the other way around. It's your duty."

Jalena smiled and stood. "Come on." She helped Shamira stand. "Tonight, my duty is to get you back to our bungalow. I'll take care of you by putting your warrior self to bed."

Shamira sighed as she allowed Jalena to lead her back to the beach hut. "I miss fighting. It gave me purpose before, and now I feel out of place."

"Trust me, the fighting is not over. We will have to protect the humans sooner or later from Drasúl." She removed Shamira's amulet and helped her crawl into bed. "For now, you sleep. Tomorrow we zip line in the forest."

Shamira held her hands up and closed her eyes. "Woohoo! That's what I'm talkin' about…"

Jalena went to stand on the front porch of the hut and watched the waves lap the shore beneath the moonlight. A longing for the Green Sea shores rose within her as she remembered the glow of violet that would linger across the water when Elsaria's day stars set.

"The glow matches your eyes," Gyan had told her once as they stood together on the beach. "It is the reason I wish to be at the edge of the sea at this time of day."

Jalena had rolled her eyes. "You sound like Jarek trying to get a girl's attention."

"Just one girl." Gyan's laughter faded from her mind as she swallowed her nostalgia and turned her focus back to the task before her.

She knew Shamira would have to root further in her resilience to see the mission through, which had become more daunting than what any in the Order had anticipated. She knew her father was probably pacing his study in concern in their home by the Green Sea. He was likely worried about her more than he let on to the other elder masters which increased her determination not to disappoint him.

She believed that she would defeat Drasúl in the end, but part of her hoped she would disappear in the battle with him. That thought was the one secret she would not disclose—to Shamira or anyone else. She decided there was no point in living a life without Gyan. She'd rather start over somewhere else. It was as Malik had told her about living without his star power on Elsaria …it would feel empty—without purpose. It was not a life she was interested in pursuing.

Don't give up. She shut her eyes to the sound of Gyan's voice. He spoke the phrase repeatedly in her mind as if he was standing right in front of her, like a beckoning light. During times when her frustration with the mission increased, his voice of resilience would burst through her thoughts as it had during their life together on Elsaria.

It was one reminder she welcomed given that there was a higher probability than normal that the mission would fail. Despite the invitation of peace that the lands of Earth granted, she didn't like the lingering deceit, malice, and pain she sensed in the shadows that often surfaced in the eyes of the population. It was not an emotional combination she desired to be surrounded by. She sighed. If she could just see some evidence—some spark somewhere that a Conduit existed...

When there is lack of knowledge but belief in solution, you will find that the knowledge needed to resolve a situation often arrives in a synchronized moment.

She chuckled as her father's favorite phrase rose to mind. Perhaps she did not need a recording of his voice after all. He had a habit of repeating important phrases so they would automate within her as a child. Although it annoyed her then, she was thankful for his consistency now.

There was no choice other than to believe in the unseen—to walk confidently into the dark and discover the path out of it. If she could maintain that outlook until she completed the mission on Earth, then she could die in peace, knowing she fulfilled the purpose that she was born for.