The Mar's eyes shifted away.
'Certainly, Seema must think so '
Atreus's heart sank at the word 'certainly.'
'It's a simple question, Rishi. I look no better than before?'
The Mar dropped his gaze and said, 'No.'
'By Sune's red hair!' Atreus cursed.
He plucked the vial from Rishi's hand and hurled it against the wall, then heard a small gasp. He turned to see Seema standing on the stairs behind him, her hands to her face, her gaze fixed on the shattered remains of the vial.
Atreus's fury was instantly replaced by shame and remorse. 'Seema! This isn't what you think.' Realizing how insincere and deceitful that particular lie sounded, he began again, 'Well, I can't imagine what you must think.'
Seema pointed at the corked neck of the broken flask and said, 'I think that you broke one of my vials.'
Atreus nodded.
'What was in it?' she asked.
Atreus started to answer, but found his throat so dry he could not choke out the words.
'It was my doing,' said Yago, ever the loyal guard. 'I took one of your vials-'
Atreus waved the ogre off, then said, 'But I am the one who filled it… from the pool of sparkling waters.'
Seema frowned and said nothing.
'It's what we've been looking for all along,' Atreus explained. 'My goddess, Sune Firehair, promised to make me handsome if I brought her a vial of sparkling waters from the Fountain of Infinite Grace.'
Seema studied him for a long time, her eyes growing harder and more angry as each moment passed. Finally, she came down the stairs and began to pick up the pieces of her shattered vial.
'I do not know this Sune Firehair of yours, but I think you are a fool for worshiping her. To ask such a thing, she must be a heartless witch.'
'Fickle as a game of knucklebones,' agreed Yago.
'Fickle is not cruel,' said Seema. She continued to avoid Atreus's gaze. 'What Sune Firehair asks is impossible.'
'I was afraid of that,' Atreus sighed. 'The last thing I want to do is harm Langdarma, but-'
Seema whirled on him and shouted, 'Do not lie to me!' Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. 'If you feared for Langdarma, then you would have asked first.'
'You said it was forbidden for anyone but healers to see the shining waters,' Atreus explained. 'We were-I was- afraid you wouldn't do it.'
'I would do anything for you,' Seema answered bitterly. She tossed the broken glass shards into the hut's fireplace. 'Have I not proven that already?'
'You would not help him find Langdarma,' Rishi reminded her.
Seema cringed, and her expression grew more sad than angry. She looked up at Atreus. 'It seems we have both agonized over the wishes of our goddesses. I will fetch you all the sparkling water you wish, but that will change nothing. What your goddess asks is impossible. The pool's magic lasts only a few hours. By the time you return to her, the water in your vial will be as plain as the water from your own well.'
Atreus was too stunned to reply. 'What do you mean?' he finally asked. 'It stops sparkling?'
Seema nodded. 'Did you not see that for yourself?' She ran her fingers along the rough skin of his cheek. 'I am sorry, but your goddess sent you for nothing.'
'No!' Atreus collapsed onto a chair, shaking his head numbly. 'All this way… why?'
Seema sat beside him and said, 'I do not know. If she is not a cruel goddess, then perhaps she sent you looking for one thing knowing you would find something else.'
'What?' Atreus demanded. 'The knowledge that I'll always be a monster?'
'Perhaps it was me.'
'You?' Atreus took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was not the only person who had been deceived here. He took Seema's hand and shook his head. 'Perhaps Sune is fickle, but she is not cruel, not when it comes to love. She would never have sent me to find you, knowing I would only lose you a few weeks later.'
'Perhaps you do not have to lose me,' said Seema.
'Then you can convince the Sannyasi to let us stay?' asked Rishi.
'That is not what I was thinking,' said Seema. 'The san-nyasi never changes his mind, because nothing he decrees can ever be wrong.'
'He is wrong this time!' snapped Rishi. 'We are not going to bring any harm to Langdarma.'
'Your anger is harming it now,' said Seema. 'And there is no sense in it. The Sannyasi's will cannot be challenged.'
'Then he is an ungrateful fool,' Rishi said, his eyes burning with indignation. 'I would not live in a place ruled by such a buffoon! But if he thinks we are leaving without our reward…'
'Reward?' asked Atreus. 'What reward?'
'Our reward for saving the daughters of Langdarma,' Rishi said. 'I did not risk my life battling Tarch for free.'
Atreus started to chastise the Mar for his greedy attitude, but Seema spoke first. 'What is it you want, Rishi? You are welcome to take anything you like, but we have no gold or jewels in Langdarma, and yaks will not survive the Passing.'
Seema's offer calmed Rishi as no argument of Atreus's could have. The Mar glanced around the hut with an appraising eye, then simply shook his head and muttered, 'How can a people so poor be so happy?'
'Perhaps we are happy because we are poor.' Seema smiled at the Mar's bewilderment, then turned to Atreus and said, 'But as I wanted to say, I would be happy with you wherever we were. Could that be the reason Sune sent you here?'
'Not likely,' scoffed Yago. 'Seeing a beauty like you with a beast like him would only insult that prissy hag. He'd be lucky if she didn't strike him dead on the spot'
Atreus barely heard the ogre's appraisal of the situation, so astonished was he by Seema's offer.
'You would leave Langdarma for me?' he gasped.
'If that would make you happy.'
'It would… it does.' Atreus's heart was suddenly as light as a bird. He took her hands and said, 'Just knowing that you would come with me makes me happier than I have ever been in my life.'
'Would?' Seema echoed. 'You do not want me to?'
'I want you to…'
Atreus paused to gather his strength, imagining what Seema's life would be like in Erlkazar. Court ladies whispering that she loved Atreus's gold more than him, freshly slaughtered meat at every banquet, jousts, bloodbaths, and wars that sprang up on the whim of an angry king.
'I can't ask you to leave Langdarma,' he continued. 'My world would poison you, just as surely as Tarch poisoned Langdarma.'
Seema squeezed his hand. 'You are not asking me to leave,' she countered. 'I am asking you to let me come.'
Atreus did not even hesitate in saying, 'I can't The Sannyasi is right about the Outside. It ruins everything it touches, and I would hate myself for allowing that to happen to you.'
'I am strong,' Seema insisted. 'You cannot know-'
'He's right' Yago came around the table and laid a big hand on Seema's shoulder. 'I'd like nothing more than for you to come with us-for Atreus's sake-but it wouldn't be right Sooner or later, you'd start missing this place more than you love him, and then you'd hate him for it.'
Seema furrowed her brow and said, 'I could never hate-'
'In Erlkazar, you could,' said Atreus. 'The Outside is full of hate. I love you more than my own life, but you are not the reason Sune sent me here.'
'Then Sune is a cruel goddess,' said Seema, 'because I am going to miss you, and there was never any hope of finding what you came for.'
