Forty-Seven - Tarka

The scene before me was playing in slow motion. Everything was a blur and I couldn't really take it all in or really even understand what was going on. The next thing I knew, Alden was flying out the door, and everything sped up again. My first instinct was to run after him, but Rhythmus put down his hand on my shoulder before I even took a step.

"Don't go after him; he'll be back."

"How can you be sure?" 

"He has to come to terms with this himself, without any help from anyone else."

I nodded, then turned to Tristram. He took a step back away from me, unsure of what my next action was going to be. I planted my feet firmly in the floor. "Why did you kill his brother? How long have you known that he was his brother?" 

"I've known almost as long as we've all been friends. I didn't want to tell him because no one would want to help me then. You two were my only refuge for a long time. I didn't want to lose that." He hung his head in shame. 

"So the first question still stands . . . why?"

"He was treating the Brackin people poorly on the job. He even pushed aside an old man! He was not such a saint like everyone thought, I guess. I could not stand by and watch. To think that my people actually tolerated this behavior! I got mad and threw a rock; it wasn't supposed to kill him, just to get his attention and teach him a lesson. I had forgotten my own strength. That is why I was banished originally." The story slowly came back to me as I recollected him telling Alden the story when they had first met, with either not knowing about the others' role in his brothers' life, or death. 

"It makes sense. I really wish Alden would come back and that everything would be alright."

Rhythmus took a step forward between the two of us. "It will be, eventually. Soon enough. Patience, my lady." 

I looked out the window towards the direction that Alden had run off to. "I hope so, Rhythmus."