Chapter 129: The Calm
The days that followed were calm. Pierre wished they never ended. He spent hours with Vivianne; he tried to calm Coalim with promises of speaking with Adelaide. There was no reason to kill Clément, even if he wasn’t Vivianne’s and Coalim’s friend. With Gregoire, the hours flew quietly. They spoke little to one another, but it was a comfortable silence. Neither brother had picture they’d end up like this. Neither had guessed what the other was capable of. Pierre told Gregoire about his journey to the Land of the Banished.
‘He calls you a Study object and you still risked your life for him?’ asked Gregoire.
‘I was hurt when I read that,’ said Pierre. ‘It is a shock to know yourself uninterseting to someone who means the world to you. But I decided I didn’t care. Nothing changed what he had given me. Maybe he wasn’t my friend, but I was his.’
Most of the time Pierre spent with Chelag’Ren. They talked a lot, but not like in old times, with stories and curiosities. Now they exchanged words of doubt and both looked for a place where they could belong. Chelag’Ren no longer spoke with sarcasm about the friendship between a dragon and a human.
They went once to the Mouth of War. Darkness had shattered, but death remained. The War was dead but its consequences would be there for many a generation.
‘Do you think this valley will ever be what it was?’ asked Pierre.
‘Wounds like this one leave scars, but they heal,’ said the dragon. ‘Look.’
There was a green stain in the ash. A fragile stem with two little leaves reaching up to the sky. A hazelnut tree.
‘Are you going back to the Land of the Banished?’ asked Pierre.
‘I am no longer who I used to be,’ Chelag’Ren.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘We have won in the end. Your faith in me kept me sane, your friendship guided me back to myself. I can’t be what I once was, but I am not lost. I owe that to you, so don’t feel sorry.’
They left the valley in silence and went back to the road. It was three steps to Chelag’ren, but he waited patiencly for Pierre, who sat on the grass. Chelag’Ren lay down on the hill.
‘What would you like to do?’ asked Pierre.
‘I would like to correct the eveil I caused. Since that is not possible, I would like at least to help avoid something like this in the future.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know yet. How about you, little one? I believe that, just like me, you can’t go back to the Frontier.’
‘It would seem that I am not who I used to be either.’