She was right, Chenzhou realized.
It was a terribly sad realization. Not because it was from Eirian or even because he hadn't figured it out himself.
It was sad because the realization itself was sad.
And it was sad because Anna would be sad, and probably angry and hurt.
And because Chenzhou was sad. That seemed fitting for the end of such an important, formative relationship. It had been Chenzhou's first and the most significant relationship of his life thus far. If he'd died from the miasma, it would have been the only significant relationship of his life.
Which made Eirian laugh again and ask him if Yuze would feel insulted to hear he wasn't significant.
Which just made Chenzhou feel worse.
"Not all significant relationships are romantic." Eirian pointed out. "I learned that the hard way when I was a teenager. Eric didn't talk to me for a month after I said a fling was more significant than our friendship. Uncle Jacques sat me down and talked to me about how Aunt Helena was so important to him, even though he wasn't in love with her the way most people assumed. He told me friendships frequently last longer than romantic relationships and carry more emotional weight because there's less required in return. Romantic relationships require a certain amount of effort to survive, but friendships can stay strong through periods of absence on one or both sides. He had an entire lecture about it."
"He was a wise man," Chenzhou murmured, deep in thought. Yuze was the only person Chenzhou's age that had known him from childhood. The rest of the people around him had all been adults, who, despite caring deeply about Chenzhou, couldn't really understand anything from his point of view. Yuze had been the first one he told about Anna and the one whose advice Chenzhou valued above all others.
Even Anna's and now Eirian's.
But with that realization came a bigger one.
"I need to talk to Anna before I talk to anyone else." Chenzhou sighed.
Eirian nodded in encouragement. "And then you need to talk to Mingzhe."
"You need to talk to Mingzhe." Chenzhou sniped.
"Fine, we'll both talk to Mingzhe." Eirian rolled her eyes.
They floated around for another hour before finally climbing out. They still had a few hours of daylight to continue travelling, and the children were all exhausted from playing in the water, so they managed to cover a good distance before darkness fell.
Chenzhou bedded down next to Eirian that night, but it took a long time for him to fall asleep.
Instead, he stared up at the stars and tried to formulate the words that would somehow stop the pain that was coming.
He didn't find them before drifting off.
***
Exhausted from the day, Eirian fell asleep as soon as she laid down, and she found herself back in the dead world immediately.
She was back at the veil, but there was a whole group of them now. Twenty she counted, when she realized she couldn't speak. Everything about them varied, their hair color, build, even the way they spoke and stood.
But they all had the same electric eyes. Different colors, all shades of the rainbow, she realized, but all the same bright shade Eirian saw every day in a mirror.
They were arguing about something, and it took Eirian's brain a minute to translate the words. They were arguing about the veil, she realized, and heard herself speak to,o even though she had no control over it. It was like someone else had control of her body, and all she could do was watch.
After a few minutes, it became clear they were arguing about crossing the veil. Eirian couldn't quite catch why it was such a big deal, but they were certainly passionate on all sides of the argument, and they seemed to be split down the middle.
They argued for what seemed like hours, getting distracted by the world of the living through the veil and the seemingly random appearance of shadowy dragons, while Eirian managed to piece together the larger issue.
The two worlds weren't meant to mix.
More than that, they weren't allowed to.
Eirian couldn't quite figure out who or what was going to enforce it, but whoever it was, they were all terrified of them.
Death was nowhere to be found, though Eirian could see the mountain in the distance, opposite the veil. Maybe it was him?
Or the dragons hovering just beyond.
Either way, it seemed terrible things would happen if they stepped through the veil.
Eirian was aware it made her a spiteful and probably more defiant than was normal, but every time someone argued it wasn't allowed, the desire to cross the veil increased.
And she was clearly not the only one who felt that way.
They were all getting more and more wound up, limbs flailing as they tried to argue their points, but just ended up going in circles.
Eirian could see the sun start to rise in the world of the living, and she suddenly remembered the beautiful sunrises she'd seen. She was by no means a morning person, but there were a few that had made staying up all night worth it.
What did it look like in this time? Because she'd figured out this wasn't her time. There were no dragons in Eirian's lifetime; if they'd ever existed at all, it was long before humans.
And on top of everything else, that made her curious about what they looked like. The stories were certainly varied. There was practically a dragon for every land, and they only had the fact that they were flying beasts in common.
She was seriously considering sticking her head through the veil just to catch a glimpse before she woke up, when a deafening crack of thunder silenced them all.
Death had arrived, as formless and terrifying as he had been when Eirian encountered him in the mountain.
~ tbc