Free Heir of Scars I: Parts 1-8 by Jacob Falling

would remain as one of you. I would fight for you, and join the long retreat which comes. I would die as one of you.”
    Shíshaonly nodded, with no sign of emotion.
    “I say what you already know to be true of me, Lichushegi,” Adria continued. “I say this because… because where the Aesidhe heart may not have had a choice, the Aeman heart has, and I have made a decision for both. But… where the Aesidhe heart returns me to my brother, my father, and my father’s kingdom, the Aeman heart longs to remain here.”
    “I understand,” Shísharesponded, with a small nod. “You wish to show me your weakness. You wish for healing.”
    “I wish for the knowledge which brings calm to the heart.”
    Shíshaconsidered. Adria waited, head down. She breathed deeply, and she stilled her body and mind.
    “No,” Shíshasaid at last. “That is not what you want. Not yet.”
    Adria raised her head to see Shíshashaking hers.
    “You love the war within yourself, your two webs and your two hearts,” Shíshacontinued. “You do not wish to choose. You want the heart of peace that many among us have, but you still follow the Fire Heart, the fierce heart of defiance.”
    It took Adria a moment to understand her words. Then she swallowed, and even an Aeman could have heard the sound across the space. She felt the truth of the admonition which, strangely, wasn’t spoken as one — it mattered little to the sting of conscience Adria felt.
    It is true … I asked to be a warrior among the Aeman, and now I am a Hunter among their enemy, destroying those I would have joined, had I been allowed. Where would I have ended, had Father allowed me that final request, somehow?
    Adria offered, a little weakly, “A mind divided can only defeat itself.”
    Shíshachuckled. “Good words. You have learned them well, but many of the best sayings have a bit of a trick within them.”
    Again, Adria was a little slow to understand.
    “Remember that being a whole person does not mean destroying half of yourself,” Shíshaoffered. “Healing does not mean denying that you are wounded. It means joining all parts into a whole. Even enemies can grow into friends, allies, lovers... We need not destroy each other to become a people of peace, nor can we ignore one another’s existence. It is the same for a nation, for a family, for the self. It is the same on the outside as within. No matter how much we may use the word, there is no Other.”
    Adria nodded, and she realized truly, just then, that this could very well be the last time she spoke with Shísha, with Preinon Watelomoksho, with Mateko.
    If I had only one thing to ask… Adria thought, and decided quickly. “ Why do we want what we want, Chosen Mother? ”
    Shísha nodded for a long moment. It was a good question, whose answer was neither given swiftly nor easily. “To stop any village from burning, you must know why it burns.”
    Adria remembered. And Adria Understood.
    “Zho wateli limiyati,” Adria said. “We would burn what we know for the desire of something new.”
    “Too often it is True,” Shísha nodded.
    “ The words work better in Aesidhe, ”Adria smiled, nodding, having relearned her own lesson with words. “Aeman is a weak language for wisdom.”
    Shíshashrugged. “Aeman is a young language, a much-borrowed language. It is a language of war, and there is purpose in it. It too will grow into itself, become whole, just as we pray its people will.”
    “Will it be too late for us?”
    Shíshagave no sign of response. It made it easy for Adria to again assume that, somehow, Shíshamight actually know the future. And Adria realized, as well, that she didn’t truly want to know such a future herself, even were it carved in stone.
    Still, I see a little, Adria nodded, then spoke aloud. “You sent Mateko to follow me yesterday. You knew I would fail.”
    “It is not that simple,” Shíshafrowned. “But… I sent him. It is True”
    “What is it that you saw?” Adria