"No! Don't leave me!" Aeryn cried out in anguish, trying to hold onto her hands.
Anya's voice cracked with tears. "Promise me, Aeryn! You won't let this curse ruin you! Promise me that the future generation won't go through the same cycle of misery, revenge, and pain that me and my mother Hawasa passed!"
"No, please! Don't leave me!" Aeryn sobbed, her hands slipping through empty light.
"Promise me!" Anya cried, her fading figure shining with grief and urgency.
Aeryn dropped to her knees, her forehead pressed to the cold stone floor as tears spilled freely.
"I promise! I PROMISE!" she wailed. "I won't let anyone face the calamity that you faced!"
A hard knock echoed through her skull. Her eyes shot open. She was on the velvet couch. The fire still burned in the hearth, quiet and real.
Was it… a dream?
She wiped her face. Tears stained her cheeks, damp and warm. Her hands were shaking. But the promise, the warmth of the figure, and the crushing weight of Anya's sorrow still lingered inside her, ringing like a bell that could never be unrung.
She stood up and walked slowly to the door. She stepped into the hallway, the heavy door groaning shut behind her, sealing the chamber's secret.
Outside, the torches flickered low. The castle was silent, cloaked in the kind of hush that only followed grief, revelation, or devils.
She paused, then turned; and there, just to the right of the door, sat Sakina. Curled into herself, elbows on her knees, face buried in her hands. Her shoulders shook in silence, not from tears, but from a sorrow too heavy for sobs. The woman who had been her anchor was quietly unraveling.
Aeryn knelt beside her. "Sakina?" she said gently.
Sakina lifted her head, eyes red and rimmed with exhaustion. She immediately stood. "Aeryn! My apologies, Your Majesty!"
Aeryn let out a soft chuckle, brushing her hand across her eye. "No apologies. Get up, Sakina; we have things to do."
She reached for Sakina's arm, helping her up, and led her back into the chamber.
The New Command
They sank onto the couch beside the fire. Aeryn leaned back, gaze thoughtful, the last traces of grief replaced by fierce intent.
"I want to train girls," she said simply, without preface. "In secret."
Sakina blinked. "What?"
"I want to train them," Aeryn repeated.
Sakina looked aghast. "Why?" she asked, breathless. "Why would you want to do that?"
Aeryn smirked playfully, cocking her head. "Sakina, are you… questioning me?"
Sakina's back snapped straight. "I wouldn't dare, my Queen!"
Aeryn burst out laughing. "I'm joking, Sakina! Lighten up, would you?" She nudged her gently. "So the plan is…"
She started to explain: the location she'd scouted in a dream, the old stone sanctum on the edge of the Ashfen cliffs where no one dared go. The scrolls buried beneath Hawasa's chamber. The whispers of water, fire, and blood that followed certain girls like shadows, waiting to be named.
She spoke with fire in her voice now, brighter than the hearth. But Sakina wasn't listening to the words. She was watching her.
This can't be Aeryn! she thought. She was devastated moments ago! What happened to her so suddenly? Sakina was watching the light in Aeryn's eyes, the way she imagined a future not built on vengeance but rebuilding. The way her hands moved, urgent, tender, strong. There was a grace to her pain now.
Sakina, caught between fear and devotion, was completely smitten. It had been so long since she had seen such hope and valor in the young woman she had raised.
Aeryn didn't notice. She kept talking, voice alive with ideas.
Then, suddenly, Sakina reached forward and hugged her, tightly, fully, as if something inside her had broken loose and could no longer be contained.
Aeryn stiffened in surprise. "Sakina?! Are you good?"
Sakina didn't answer. She just held her, arms trembling, her face buried in Aeryn's shoulder, breathing in her strength, mercy, command, and pain.
When she finally let go, she stood upright, her eyes wet but determined.
"My queen," she said, her voice steady now. "I don't have to know. I will obey whatever you say. I am confused by this sudden change in you, but even if you are preparing to die, I will not stop you. Instead, I will follow you, without a question!"
"Sakina, I want to train them," Aeryn repeated, slower this time. "I want to protect them."
She looked at the fire. "Because I've seen what happens when power is buried instead of taught. When girls carry pain in their bones and have no name for it. When no one tells them they have a right to exist, to resist, or to fight back."
"I want to protect what matters to me. And that means ending the cycle. No more girls like Hawasa, used and broken. No more daughters like Anya, hiding who they are. No more queens like me, forced to carry the weight of blood and fire without knowing where it began or where it ends."
"I don't want revenge," Aeryn concluded. "I want something better. I want to gather girls from every nation and teach them to master what's inside them, not fear it. Because the echoes of pain are still alive, Sakina. They live in the boiling blood under the earth. In the memories passed through veins. In the hatred that simmers quietly until it burns down cities. I want to stop that."
Listening to this, Sakina dropped to her knees.
"My Queen! I will begin preparing for the journey."
And just like that, she stood up and disappeared through the doors, her light, quick footsteps determined and loyal.
Aeryn stayed seated, her fingers lightly brushing where Sakina's embrace had lingered on her arm. The fire crackled quietly. She closed her eyes.
And a smile came on her face.
.
.
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