Simoun - Aaeru/Amuria/Neviril
Title: Princess
Fandom: Simoun
Word Count: 7150
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Amuria/Neviril/Aaeru
Prompt: Simoun - Aaeru/Neviril/Amuria - a destined meeting. (Angst is certain, but smut would be even better!)
Summary: Neviril and Aaeru crash-land in the foreign era of a foreign land, with a foreign religion and a foreign race. And Amuria.
Princess
Amuria opened her eyes to find a group of people crowded over her. They did not seem hostile, merely curious.
“Are you Aaeru?” one of them asked.
Amuria blinked.
“Who is Aaeru?” she asked.
“Aaeru, our goddess, the highest form of love,” they replied.
Amuria laughed.
“No,” she said, “my name is Amuria.”
---
“Princess, princess! Princess Amuria!”
Amuria glanced up from the garden she was toiling in, wiping the sweat off her brow. She straightened as a little brown-haired boy ran up to her, eyes wide in excitement.
“Princess Amuria,” he squealed, waving his arms up and down frantically, “Some people fell out of the sky again!”
Amuria blinked.
“You’re sure of this?”
“Yeah, and they’ve got a giant machine with them! You have to come and see!”
Amuria rose, frowning slightly, as she followed the boy out to the woods. There was a tendril of smoke rising in the distance, which she assumed was caused by the Simoun crashing - if indeed it was a Simoun.
The clearing was a short distance away. It was extremely distinctive, marked by a great swath of dirt combined with grass scraps that had been scorched away. In the center was positioned the presumable cause of this destruction. A Simoun.
Amuria rushed towards the Simoun. She desperately hoped there were survivors. It was awfully lonely, living in a world that had no comprehension of her culture. Those Sibyllae, they could bring her news. They could keep her company. They could share her life.
As Amuria neared the Simoun, she saw a shock of pink hair. A sudden shiver went through her, foreboding and forbidden. No, it couldn’t be. The pink hair belonged to the Sagitta, and Neviril had always been the Auriga… Sure, she had always felt the tingle when the situation concerned Neviril, but it had been so long since she had given up hope on ever seeing the other girl.
Then Amuria saw her face. Even through the blood-smeared window and the giant gash that partially obscured the pink-haired girl’s features, Amuria recognized the face. She had spent countless hours memorizing it, and even a lifetime couldn’t make her forget it.
She clambered up the Simoun by scaling the wings, ignoring the blond Auriga who was coming to, twitching and gasping for air. Finding the latch, she sprung open the hold, reaching in and feeling for a pulse. For a moment there wasn’t one and Amuria was terrified. No, this couldn’t be happening. No, no, no, no. Yet another, the penultimate reason to stop believing in Tempus Spatium.
Then the pulse flickered alive, and Amuria thought she hallucinated Neviril stirring. It was only the wind picking up her bloody hair, but Amuria started crying uncontrollably. It was too much.
A groan from the cockpit below alerted Amuria to the presence of the other girl. A revelation occurred to Amuria, sending a stab of jealousy through her. There was no way these two could have arrived here except for a proper Emerald Ri-Maajon. There was no way they would have performed it perfectly unless… She savagely suppressed that thought, clambering down to pop open the lower window. Still, she could not help but cast an appraising, competitive look at the other girl, who could not even possibly have registered her gaze yet.
The blond groaned again and attempted pathetically to reach a hand to her face. Amuria stared at her for a second longer before going back up to Neviril’s hold.
“Neviril,” she said, “Neviril, can you hear me?”
No response.
“Benji!” Amuria yelled to the little boy, who stood there in shock, unresponsive.
“Benji!”
The boy snapped to attention.
“Yes?”
“Benji, run to the village as fast as you can, and get four people to come with stretchers.”
“Yes, Princess!”
He sprinted off, leaving Amuria with the two Sibyllae.
“Neviril?” Amuria tried again.
She reached a hand to Neviril’s face, cupping it tenderly and then stroking her hair, brushing a few strands out of her face. She made care not to touch the open wound on Neviril’s forehead. When she finally realized that she could not aid Neviril in any way until the medical help arrived, she focused on the blond, who had managed to open her eyes and now was struggling to get out of her seat and turn around.
“Neviril?” the girl croaked, “Neviril, are you alright?”
“Neviril’s not awake right now,” Amuria answered, leveling herself to the blond’s surprised gaze.
“Are you okay? What’s your name?” Amuria inquired.
“Aaeru. I think my left hand is broken,” she said, raising her arm to dangle the unnaturally bent hand and smiling sheepishly. “Who are you?”
Amuria stared. Aaeru? The one the villagers spoke of? What a coincidental name.
Ignoring Aaeru’s question, Amuria asked, “Do you think you can get out by yourself?”
“I’m trying,” Aaeru responded, “But it’s really hard. My left leg hurts a lot too; I think something might have fallen on my left side when we crashed.”
“Okay,” Amuria said, “Let me take a look.”
She leaned over into the cockpit and took a look inside. A piece of glass was gouged in Aaeru’s thigh. It penetrated the side of the cockpit too, binding Aaeru to the seat.
“Alright, you’ve got a piece of glass stuck in you. Let me get it out, and then you should be able to move a lot better.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” Amuria said. She grabbed ahold of the brown tunic she was wearing and ripped off a strip in one quick movement.
“Hold on, this might hurt a lot,” she told Aaeru, who nodded and squeezed her eyes together.
She grabbed the piece and with a grunt yanked it out. Aaeru hissed through her teeth but otherwise made no noise. Amuria quickly tied the strip around Aaeru’s thigh and knotted it twice, tightly.
“I’ve sent for some other people to come and help you two,” Amuria said, “Just sit tight and wait until then.”
“Thanks,” Aaeru said.
“So where am I?” she asked.
“Kyoku Village,” Amuria replied. “We’re known for our freshwater fish, but all of that can come later.”
“Huh.”
“I bet you want to know what this is and how it got here, don’t you?” Aaeru asked Amuria, after noticing her staring at the glowing jewel. “Must have been a spectacular crash.”
“Not particularly,” Amuria responded, “That can come later too. It was actually Benji that noticed the crash.”
“Who is Benji?”
“A little boy who helps me with the garden.”
Amuria smiled secretly to herself as she noticed Aaeru’s eyes widen. She could easily predict the urgent question Aaeru had, but to voice the question for Aaeru would be to give away her cards, and she needed them for the moment.
Aaeru did not ask the question.
“What’s your name?” she asked instead.
“Hold on, I can hear voices in the distance,” Amuria said, dodging the question.
She cocked her ears, hoping for but not expecting to hear anything. To hear pleasant surprise, there was a chorus of male shouts, heralded by a cloud of dust along the path.
“Wait here,” she told Aaeru, who nodded.
She leapt off the Simoun and ran to meet the men, intercepting them about a hundred feet from the disaster.
“Princess Amuria, Captain Kline with Rahim, Lodoss, Chrono reporting!”
“Hello, and thank you,” Amuria said. “Aaeru and Neviril have landed.”
The men let out a collective gasp, eyes transfixed on the destruction before them.
“Princes… really?” Kline stuttered out.
“Yes. They are injured. One of them is unconscious, the other one awake. Please take them to the village to be cared for.”
Kline nodded curtly, then gestured for his men to run over to the Simoun. They stopped momentarily in front of it, falling to their knees to pray, the wide swath of cut grass a perfect complement to their ritual. When they were finished they gathered the two girls onto their cloth stretchers. Amuria stood by, staring at them motionlessly. Her only movement was to stare at Aaeru, who stared back curiously from her mangled position, as the men rushed past.
It wasn’t until the men had disappeared completely, stampede of dust invisible as well, that Amuria walked over to the Simoun. She had not had the presence of mind to examine it earlier, but now as she ran a hand over the surface she realized the Simoun belonged to - once belonged to - her and Neviril. This new girl, this Aaeru, she had taken Amuria’s material possessions from her too. Who was she?
Amuria had no one to pray with and no god to pray to, but she kissed the jewel anyway. Then she turned around and walked slowly back towards the village. She needed to collect her thoughts.
---
The four men took Aaeru and Neviril to what was probably the town center, where a crowd had gathered for them. Aaeru could hear the gush of a spring, which gave her a buzzing headache. She struggled to listen to the conversation between the men and the rest of the villagers, managing to discern that two beds were to be cleared for them, but not much else. There was a shuffling of feet, and Aaeru allowed herself to pass out.
Her eyes shot open next to a burst of pain in a dimly lit room. She could not see anything through the film of tears across her vision, and she almost passed out from the pain shooting up her left arm, but fought ferociously against it. Someone placed a soothing hand across her forehead, wrinkled and cool against her sweat, and murmured a lullaby that Aaeru did not recognize. She almost fell asleep under the soporific singing, but a flash of pink in the corner of her eye sharpened her consciousness again.
“Neviril,” she croaked out. “Neviril.”
“Shhh, shhh,” someone said. “Rest and relax. We’ve stitched your leg up, and we’re almost done setting your wrist right, and afterwards you’ll be just fine.”
Aaeru raised her head briefly to look at her leg. She was still crying and couldn’t see anything, but now she noticed a dull pain there that had previously been eclipsed by her broken wrist. The hand on her forehead pushed her back down and started stroking her hair.
She heard a shearing noise and felt an extremely tight pressure on her wrist that allowed her to feel her blood pumping through in flashes of pain.
“There, all done,” the voice said. “Now you lie here and just rest for a while, okay? Get some sleep. We’ll be back soon.”
The hand left Aaeru’s forehead, and a coarse blanket was pulled up to her neck. She heard steps filing out the door, leaving just her and Neviril in the room.
Now that Aaeru had been bandaged up and left alone she could tolerate the pain. Her vision gradually cleared, allowing her to get a good look at Neviril for the first time since the crash. The other girl was not in her best shape. A gash on her face had been stitched up crudely, and Aaeru could not see the rest due to the blanket covering her body, but she doubted it would look good.
Aaeru desperately wanted to sleep, but she simply could not do so while she could see Neviril in her condition, and while she was in a strange, foreign land.
She took a deep breath, grunted, then sat up, ignoring the throbbing headache. Using her right hand she brushed aside the covers. Her uniform had been removed and she had been left in a cloth tunic that extended down to her feet. There was a thigh-length slit on the left side, and Aaeru uncovered her tunic as well to get a better look at her leg. Her left thigh greeted her in an awful mess, blood everywhere on top of the rudimentary stitches.
Painstakingly Aaeru rolled out of bed, landing on her right side. She slowly pulled herself up, then half-hobbled, half-hopped over to Neviril’s bed. A chair had been placed conveniently right in front of Neviril’s bedside, and Aaeru collapsed into it, breathing heavily.
She stretched out her right hand and ran it down Neviril’s face lightly, pausing on Neviril’s lips before allowing it to drop back down to her side. Aaeru stared at Neviril forlornly for some time, before finally taking hold of the situation. She surveyed her surroundings. Two beds in a single stone-walled room with two windows and a dirt floor. One partial wall that obscured an open doorway. Nothing else. It was a crude construct.
“Where is the bathroom?” Aaeru thought, suddenly filled with the urge to pee.
She considered just going on the floor, but decided against it. She pushed on the chair to help her stand up again, then hop-shuffled towards the doorway. It took an eternity, with even slight pressure on Aaeru’s left leg making her want to scream, but she finally reached the bright outside, panting and leaning against the wall.
What Aaeru had thought was a spring was actually a river, roaring along in front of her. Wooden bridges criss-crossed along its length, with people meandering along them doing their business. A few people stopped and stared when they noticed Aaeru, and she smiled weakly at them before hobbling over.
They dropped to their knees when she reached them, to her surprise. One woman clapped her hands together in prayer, with the others following suit.
“What, I’m not…” Aaeru started.
“Oh, great being from the sky, what can we do for you?” one person intoned.
“Oh, um… I was just looking for the bathroom?” Aaeru asked.
It was absurdly comical, but the effect was lost on the village people, who answered her question with the same serious tone.
“Down the path from the second bridge. Can we be of any more assistance?”
“Well, I guess you could carry me there,” Aaeru said, half in jest.
She wasn’t entirely surprised when, without a word, two of the villagers descended upon her, each grasping one side of her. In unison they used one arm to lift up her legs - Aaeru nearly cried out in pain, but clenched her teeth and hissed instead - and slid the other arm under her armpits, creating an awkward chair construct for her.
They started a slow march, the other villagers murmuring foreign prayers behind them as they departed.
“So, what are your names?” Aaeru asked, attempting to glean some information.
“Glen,” the person on the left said.
“Frog,” the person on the right said.
“Okay, I’m Aaeru,” she said.
“We know,” they replied.
“You know? How do you know?” Aaeru asked, confused.
“You are a goddess from the sky, the highest -“
“Form of love,” Aaeru finished for them, stunned. These people were Plumbum descendents then, or else Plumbum ancestors. Their legacy lived on.
“Yes,” they said, “Princess Amuria told us you had arrived.”
“Amuria?” Aaeru asked, astonished.
“Yes, she who also fell from the sky.”
“Was she the purple-haired girl that found us?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about her,” Aaeru said.
“She fell from the sky two years ago,” Glen said, “We thought she was Aaeru at first.”
“Did you now?” Aaeru asked in amusement.
“Yes,” Frog said, “Because she appeared like a goddess. But she told us her name was Amuria, and that she was not a goddess.”
“How did she become a princess?”
“We asked her what kind of priestess she was if she wasn’t a goddess, and she said she wasn’t a priestess either. So we asked her what exactly she was, and she said a princess,” Frog continued.
“And you guys just accepted that?”
“We asked her what a princess was. She told us it was a different kind of divinity, different from a priestess but not godly.”
“Actually, first she told us a princess was royal but not divine,” Glen interrupted, “But we didn’t know what royal meant either.”
“Princess Amuria is confusing much of the time,” Frog said.
---
The two men carried Aaeru back to her temporary abode once she had finished and left her at the doorway, bowing in a quick prayer to her before rushing off. Slowly, she shuffled in. She opened her mouth to ask for Neviril, but froze at the doorway.
Amuria occupied the chair by Neviril’s bedside. She sat delicately on the edge of the seat, gazing intently at Neviril. She was a caricature of eternal love, if there ever was one.
“So you’re Amuria,” Aaeru said.
Amuria looked up in surprise. She had not noticed Aaeru’s entrance, a testament to her complete absorption in Neviril.
“Hello again,” Amuria said.
She stood up as Aaeru shuffled over, allowing Aaeru to collapse onto the seat. Aaeru gave Amuria a cautiously grateful smile.
“How did you find out my name?” Amuria asked.
“One of the villagers told me,” Aaeru said.
“Ah,” Amuria said, “I’m surprised you managed to get out of bed, considering your injuries.”
Aaeru shrugged.
“I didn’t want to sit there,” she said.
“You’re a strong person,” Amuria said.
“Perhaps,” Aaeru said, shrugging again. She seemed uncertain of how to act. Amuria smiled to herself.
“So, what did Neviril tell you about me?” she asked.
“Nothing much,” Aaeru said, “She didn’t like talking about you very much, and we weren’t paired together for a long time.”
“I see,” Amuria said.
“Well, how did you end up as the Auriga? That was always Neviril’s position when we were paired.”
Aaeru turned slightly red.
“I sort of… forced her to be my Sagitta. I wasn’t willing to be anything besides Auriga.”
Amuria grinned at that. They remained in companiable silence, Amuria leaning against the wall and Aaeru sneaking sidelong glances at Amuria.
“What?” Amuria asked finally.
“You still love her,” Aaeru stated, simply.
“Of course,” Amuria said, “Wouldn’t you?”
The corner of Aaeru’s mouth turned up in a rueful smile.
“You’re an interesting person,” Amuria said.
The sound of a bell ringing brought a stop to their convivial conversation.
“It looks like it’s time for dinner,” Amuria said, “Let’s give Neviril some rest.”
Aaeru nodded and slowly rose from the chair. She was pleasantly surprised when Amuria walked over to her left side, throwing an arm around Aaeru and supporting her.
“You ready?” Amuria asked.
“Yeah,” Aaeru said, “Let’s go.”
---
The villagers ate communally, with two large cauldrons full of whatever fish they had caught for the day, mixed with vegetables they had harvested in a giant soup.
Aaeru didn’t think it tasted very good, but she didn’t object, sipping her large bowl in silence. She felt cloistered by the incessant staring of the villagers. Their curiosity was massive, but their awe and fear held them back. Likewise, Aaeru wanted to ask about the prevalence of male children, but she didn’t.
The littlest one, a tiny boy that sat next to Amuria the entire time, finally summoned up the courage to ask Aaeru a question.
“Aaeru?” he asked.
“Yes?” Aaeru responded.
“What is Simulacrum like?”
“What?” Aaeru asked, blinking in surprise.
“Shhhh,” Amuria interrupted hastily. “Benji, Aaeru isn’t answering questions right now.”
“Why not?” Benji asked.
“She… she has other things on her mind,” Amuria said.
That seemed to end the matter, and the rest of dinner was a quiet affair. When they were finished, Amuria returned with Aaeru back to the house they were staying in.
“How did they know about Simulacrum?” Aaeru asked Amuria.
“I told them it was where you lived,” Amuria said.
“Me and Neviril, right?” Aaeru asked.
“Neviril and I,” Amuria said, “But yes. Did the villagers tell you that too?”
“Yeah,” Aaeru said, “What else did you tell them?”
“Just that Simoun are your mode of transport. And a lot about Neviril.”
“Oh. Did you tell them anything about Aaeru?”
“No. It would have been too heretical for them.”
They walked in to the shelter, and froze. Neviril stared back at them, shaking, blue eyes wide open.
“Amuria?” she whispered.
Amuria smiled.
“Neviril.”
Aaeru cast a quick glance between Neviril and Amuria, then turned around.
“I think I’m going to explore the village a bit,” she said, “You two enjoy yourselves.”
“No, Aaeru,” Neviril said from her bed, “Stay.”
Aaeru smiled at Neviril.
“It’s not a problem, Neviril,” Aaeru said, “I need to go assess the damage to the Simoun anyway.”
She left in a hurry, without the chance for Neviril to reply. Amuria stared after her, then walked to the chair and sat down.
“So,” she said.
“So,” Neviril responded.
“How are you?” Amuria asked.
“Okay,” Neviril said, “My head hurts a lot, but otherwise my injuries aren’t that bad. Aaeru looked to be a lot worse.”
“Where are we?” she asked Amuria.
“Kyoku Village,” Amuria responded.
“What year is it?”
“314, according to the villagers. But their calendar is completely different from Simulacrum’s, so the number of years might have been restarted as well. I don’t know whether we’re in the past or the future. They don’t have any history that is relevant to our world.”
“Ah,” Neviril said, “How are you doing?”
“As well as could be expected,” Amuria said. “I’ve made a living here, planting vegetables and telling the villagers stories.”
“Stories?” Neviril asked.
“Yes, stories,” Amuria said.
She leaned in and gave a conspiratorial smile.
“I told them you were a beautiful goddess,” she whispered to Neviril.
Neviril blushed bright red, causing Amuria to realize that perhaps she had been a bit too forward. This was their first meeting in a long, long time, after all.
Amuria retracted, coughing slightly. There was a nervous tension in the air, one that had never, ever been there between them. What was it caused by? The distance between them? She didn’t think it would have been a problem. The interjection of Aaeru in Neviril’s life?
Do you still love me, after Aaeru, was what Amuria really wanted to ask Neviril, but that would have been in embarrassingly bad taste.
“What kind of vegetables do you plant?” Neviril finally asked, in an attempt to restore the conversation.
“Oh, you know, just whatever is in season,” Amuria said, “Cabbages, tomatoes, pumpkins, apples.”
“I see,” Neviril said.
They made awkward small talk for a while, until Aaeru returned.
“It looks like the Simoun just has some structural damage,” Aaeru said, “The helical motors aren’t damaged or anything. It’s easily fixable in a day. We won’t even need to make new sheet metal or use special tools, just a hammer and some glue. I mean, it won’t be as good of a job as if we had real technicians working on it, but it should be usable.”
“That’s good news,” Amuria said, smiling tightly.
“You look exhausted, Aaeru,” she continued, “Both of you should get some rest. I’ll sleep a little bit too. Tomorrow we can work on fixing the Simoun together.”
She stood up and walked out, the tense smile never leaving her face. Both Aaeru and Neviril stared after her.
“Aaeru,” Neviril whispered, at length.
Aaeru turned and made her way over to Neviril’s bed. She crawled in, burying her head in Neviril’s neck.
“Neviril,” she breathed.
---
Morning brought no sense of serenity to the fractured situation. Aaeru and Neviril woke up at roughly the same time. Together, they sleepily stumbled over to the river, where several villagers were milling about. Upon seeing the two together they dropped to their knees in prayer.
“Aaeru and Neviril,” they said.
“Hello,” Aaeru said, “Do you think you could lead us to our Simoun?”
The villagers nodded without hesitation, and after a short walk they arrived at the disaster clearing. Amuria, a little boy, and two grown men were already hard at work on the Simoun.
Amuria did not notice their arrival until after she had finished gluing one section of the Simoun carefully together. When she did see the two, she smiled brightly down at them.
“It should be done soon!” she called down.
Neviril didn’t want to, but she found herself smiling sunnily back. A dark look passed over Aaeru, who had noticed Neviril’s uncontrollable grin.
“Hey,” she said, “I doubt I can do any work in this condition, so I’m just going to head back, okay?”
“What?” Neviril said in surprise, “Why don’t you just stay with us?”
“I really just don’t feel up to it,” Aaeru said, “All this noise is hurting my head.”
Neviril frowned.
“If this is about Amuria,” she started.
“It’s not,” Aaeru said, cutting her off.
“Really,” she added for emphasis in response to Neviril’s suspicious gaze.
“…Aaeru…” Neviril said.
“It’s fine, Neviril,” Aaeru said.
She leaned in and pecked Neviril quickly on the lips.
“I’ll see you later then?” she asked.
“Yes,” Neviril said doubtfully.
She watched Aaeru’s retreating figure until it disappeared completely, then walked over to the Simoun. It looked like they were almost finished repairing it. The Simoun didn’t look very good, with its dents and obvious glue joints, but it was definitely functional, and that was all they needed.
The two villagers and Amuria hopped down shortly enough. With a quick bow to Neviril and a murmured prayer, the two men ran off to perform the rest of their morning chores. Amuria and the little boy stayed behind.
“Benji, you can go too,” Amuria said to the boy.
“Are you sure, Princess?” Benji asked.
“Yes, Benji,” Amuria said, “It’s almost time for lunch.”
“Okay,” the boy responded enthusiastically.
He turned to Neviril, clapped his hands together and bowed once, then bolted off down the dirt road. Neviril and Amuria were now alone.
Neviril smiled shyly at Amuria, then walked up to the Simoun. She ran a hand over its battered surface, then touched the jewel briefly in wonder.
“How could it break?” Neviril asked, “I don’t understand.”
“It’s just a machine, Neviril,” Amuria said.
“But it’s not just a machine. We achieved the Emerald Ri-Maajon with it.”
“I have no doubt that you did,” Amuria said, “But that doesn’t mean you two or the Simoun became invincible.”
Neviril stopped her examination of the Simoun and turned to stare at Amuria.
“What happened to you?” Neviril asked, “You were the one that wanted to reach Tempus Spatium and become stronger through the Ri-Maajon.”
Amuria flinched slightly, which did not escape Neviril’s notice.
“Nothing,” Amuria said, “I just found other things that were important to me besides being strong.”
“Really?” Neviril asked in wonder and Amuria thought vainly, a little admiration.
“Yes,” Amuria said.
“Anyway, the Simoun is fixed,” she said, tinged with a hint of bitterness, “So you and Aaeru are all set to go.”
“…Thanks,” Neviril said softly. Her voice had a slight stutter to it.
Instantly Amuria focused her attention on Neviril. She always noticed when something was off about Neviril. Even when she was an era apart, stuck in this rural backwater, she knew she could sense Neviril’s moods. She was a part of Neviril and Neviril was a part of her. Amuria knew this in her heart.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Neviril.
“It’s just, seeing you…” Neviril said.
Amuria suddenly sat down heavily. She looked at the newly-repaired Simoun and bowed her head.
“It would probably not be a good idea to continue that thought, Neviril.”
Neviril froze.
“Yes, you’re right,” she said slowly.
“Ask me a question about this place instead,” Amuria suggested.
“Okay,” Neviril said, “How is it that Benji…”
“Is a boy?” Amuria finished for her. Neviril nodded.
“I don’t know. People here are just born this way. Everyone here has lived like this for centuries, they say.”
“But then what about the Spring? Is Onashia still there? Does anyone go into it?”
“There is no Spring,” Amuria said, the unhappiness even more prevalent in her voice.
“What?” Neviril asked, gasping. “How?”
“The Spring collapsed during the war, or else it has not been invented yet. It is either gone forever, or somewhere in time and space that I will never know.”
“But Tempus Spatium…”
“Tempus Spatium is a lie,” Amuria said, forcefully. “Tempus Spatium is a construct, created to take control of the general populace. It allayed their fears and disappointments by placing them upon an unknowable will.”
Neviril was silent. She sat, leaning against the tree post, staring at the sky. Amuria watched Neviril closely, waiting for a reaction. Had she been too jarring? She didn’t think so. Neviril knew it too. The destruction of their Simoun must have demonstrated that.
When at last Neviril opened her mouth, it was a different question.
“If the Spring had disappeared when you landed, then how have you chosen your gender?”
“I haven’t,” Amuria responded simply.
Neviril gasped softly.
“That’s right, Neviril,” Amuria said with a rueful smirk, “I am just as eternal as you and Aaeru.”
A chaotic mess of emotions flashed through Neviril’s face, until she dipped her head, covering her face with her long pink hair. She reached out a tree branch and slowly staggered to her feet.
“I think… I think it’s time to return to the village,” Neviril said.
“That sounds good,” Amuria said.
She wrapped her arm around Neviril’s waist to help support her. Neviril twitched and tensed, relaxing slightly only to shiver again. Together they took one small step forward. Then another. And another. It was a broken-up, arduous journey, one that was to end soon.
---
Aaeru was nowhere to be found when Neviril returned. She sat on her cot in the borrowed house instead, twiddling her thumbs, waiting for lunch and hoping Aaeru would arrive soon.
A rap on the wall brought her out of her fidgeting. She looked up, hoping it was Aaeru. It was Amuria.
“What is it, Amuria?” she asked.
Amuria looked distinctly uncomfortable but determined. She opened her mouth several times to speak, but stopped each time.
“I think…” she finally started, “I’ve been thinking, and… and I want you to stay with me.”
Neviril had been bred with too much dignity to allow her mouth to drop open in shock, but her eyes widened noticeably.
“What did you just say?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
“Stay with me,” Amuria repeated, “We could fly together, again.”
She suddenly leaned in and kissed Neviril, hard. It was an aggressive kiss, much like the one they had first shared when they’d met. It represented everything she had loved - did love about Amuria.
“You know your religion doesn’t exist anyway,” she said.
Neviril shied away and shook her head.
“You know it’s true,” Amuria said.
“You can’t just say that,” Neviril said.
“Why not? Tempus Spatium isn’t real,” Amuria said, relentlessly.
“Maybe not, but haven’t you perpetuated the same myth?” Neviril asked.
“What?” Amuria asked, confused, “What are you talking about?”
“No, they don’t have Tempus Spatium,” Neviril said, “But instead they have Aaeru and Neviril. They have always had faith in Aaeru, and you gave them Neviril. Didn’t you?”
Amuria didn’t respond.
“And maybe this, right here, is destiny playing out. How else could you explain Aaeru as a goddess and my elevation to one, and then our crash landing in this era? How else could we have found you?”
“I don’t know,” Amuria said, shrugging.
“What else could it have been but some higher power?”
It could be a coincidence, Amuria thought, but she was not inclined to believe in them with such a fantastic situation. She noticed Neviril about to speak again, and willed her not to, anticipating what was coming next.
“And what about you? Maybe you’re not a priestess, but you’re a princess. You couldn’t explain to them what a princess was, and they didn’t believe you were something other than divine, so here we are.”
“Did Aaeru tell you about that?” Amuria asked, her mouth a rigid line.
“Yes, she did,” Neviril said, “I also know that you told them that Simulacrum is the abode of the goddesses, a kingdom in the sky. You told them about the Simoun, the transporters of the goddesses. Why? None of it is true.”
Amuria smiled wryly and sighed. She withdrew from Neviril slightly, and cast her eyes in a corner.
“I needed it, Neviril. I needed to hear it for my sanity. I needed… I needed a representation of you, if not you yourself, to live on. I wasn’t trying to create a religion for them.”
Neviril put a hand on Amuria’s shoulder.
“But you did.”
“But I did.”
They sat in silence for a while, staring at the blank stone wall.
“Maybe… maybe Tempus Spatium was created in this way too,” Neviril said.
“What?” Amuria asked.
“The Simoun do transcend time and space, but maybe they aren’t divine. Someone just made it that way, to explain it to us.”
“History repeats itself quite easily, doesn’t it?” Amuria said.
“Yes.”
Amuria wasn’t sure there had ever been such a depressing moment in their relationship, back on Simulacrum. Certainly they had never discussed heavy issues like this. For Amuria mostly it had been about the freedom of the sky and strength, which were fine pursuits for a Sibyllae who did not have to deal with the world yet. She doubted Neviril had thought much about such issues once she and Aaeru had escaped reality either.
It was a different feeling. She leaned in yet again and kissed Neviril again, trying to taste the bittersweetness. Neviril did not yield, but sighed ever so softly.
A louder thud from the entrance alerted them to the presence of Aaeru. She stood without a hint of surprise in her face, only resignation.
“Aaeru-“ Neviril started, but she had already disappeared.
“I have to go get her,” Neviril said, clambering out.
Amuria briefly considered attempting to stop Neviril, but she doubted it would have done any good. There would still be time later, anyway.
---
Aaeru had not managed to escape too far away before Neviril caught up to her. Neviril reached out a hand quickly and stopped Aaeru, who collapsed to sit down at the edge of the river bank. She dipped her feet in and splashed them aimlessly.
“Aaeru,” Neviril tried.
No response. Aaeru stared out sullenly at the grove of apple trees.
“Aaeru,” Neviril tried again, sitting down beside Aaeru.
Aaeru still didn’t speak, but she turned her head to face Neviril, giving Neviril her full attention.
“Aaeru, what happened in there was an accident.”
Aaeru continued gazing at Neviril, but otherwise gave no indication she’d heard.
“I didn’t want it to happen,” Neviril said.
“That’s not true,” Aaeru said, staring straight into Neviril’s eyes. There was no accusation in Aaeru’s voice, only fact.
Neviril paused for a moment, a revelation coming over her.
“No, it’s not,” she said, “But I didn’t want it more than I want you.”
Aaeru continued to stare at her, unconvinced. Neviril suddenly thought back to the first and only time she had confessed her love to Aaeru. Aaeru hadn’t looked like she believed Neviril then, either.
Neviril cupped Aaeru’s face in her hands and leaned forward, kissing Aaeru softly. Aaeru blinked, then kissed Neviril back desperately.
Eventually Neviril pulled away, but she kept her face close to Aaeru’s, looking straight into her precious green eyes.
“Remember,” she breathed, blowing hot air onto Aaeru’s lips, “I love you, and I chose you.”
She pulled away and stood up. Aaeru stayed still, deep in contemplation and wonder. Neviril smiled gently, then walked away. She was sure Aaeru would join her soon. It would all work out. Tempus Spatium would lead them down the right path.
---
Neviril sat against the wall, her knees curled up to her chest. She stared through the window at the swollen harvest moon. Aaeru still had not returned. She was getting worried.
A shuffling noise by the doorway brought her attention to Amuria, erect and serious at the entrance.
“No,” Neviril said, suddenly scared.
Amuria ignored her. She took slow, deliberate steps toward the cot Neviril was sitting on. The indecision was clear on Neviril’s face. She had been able to see it ever since Neviril had woken up. It would be resolved tonight. It had to be, for none of them could continue on like this.
Neviril remained immobile as Amuria sat down beside her. She sat frozen even as Amuria reached a hand up and cupped her cheek. Amuria’s lips brushed against her, and then Neviril found herself being pushed back by Amuria.
“No,” Neviril said, struggling upright again. “Stop.”
Amuria froze in her motions, although her fingers continued to trace circles along Neviril’s shoulders, eliciting slight shudders from her.
“Are you sure?” Amuria asked.
Confusion and agony ran alternately across Neviril’s face. It painted a hauntingly beautiful expression, one Amuria had never seen - there was so much she had not experienced of Neviril, so much that she might not have seen even if tragedy had not befallen them.
“Stop,” Neviril choked out in anguish. “I’ve,” and here she really struggled to get the words out, “I’ve made my decision.”
“No, you haven’t,” Aaeru said from the doorway. When had she arrived?
“Aaeru?” Neviril whispered.
Aaeru hobbled over, to where Amuria and Neviril remained frozen in their positions.
“It’s okay, Neviril,” Aaeru said, smiling sweetly and bending down to kiss Neviril on the forehead, right on the scar. “You’ll make your choice soon.”
Aaeru rose up again, then fixed Amuria with a hard stare.
“Amuria,” Aaeru said.
“Yes?” Amuria replied, a fiery edge in her voice.
Aaeru leaned forward and kissed Amuria. It was nothing like kissing Neviril; it was more like kissing herself, or what Aaeru imagined would be like kissing herself. A tiny humorous thought ran through her head - she had never made out with anyone besides Neviril, had she? - before it was drowned out in a cacophony of motions.
What happened next was chaos. A jumble of limbs fought for control of each other, shedding clothes like old skins onto the floor. Amuria gasped and moaned as her senses overflooded. She made her way down Neviril’s writhing body hungrily, only to throw her head back and moan keenly as Aaeru assaulted her from behind.
She thrust her head down anyway and buried it into Neviril’s wide open legs. Neviril smelled exactly the same as she remembered, and Amuria sucked and pulled on Nevirli’s clit in ecstasy, inserting her fingers, one, two, three, into her open folds. It was deliciously warm, and it felt incredible.
Neviril trembled soon under Amuria’s ministrations, and it didn’t take long before Neviril let out a single, drawn-out, elegant breath, and came all over Amuria’s fingers.
“Still no endurance,” Amuria gasped out, in between uncontrollable moans.
Neviril growled at Amuria, slightly red, swatting her in the face. She wriggled out of Amuria’s grasp and leaned forward to kiss Amuria, shoving her tongue in savagely. The kiss was all too brief before Neviril broke away and crawled behind Aaeru, who stopped eating Amuria.
“Hey,” Amuria started vehemently, but Aaeru flipped her over deftly and pushed her down. She buried the fingers of one hand in Amuria and reached out with the other to fondle her breasts, and Amuria suddenly found herself too out of breath to object.
Behind Aaeru, Neviril was tenderly kissing her neck, biting down each time until she reached Aaeru’s shoulder. She snaked her right arm around Aaeru’s stomach, while the other arm reached down to Aaeru’s bush of blond hair. Aaeru hissed and then choked a little bit as Neviril traced small circles on Aaeru’s side with her fingers.
They were so beautiful, Amuria thought, and she found herself beginning to clench up.
“Ah,” she gasped out.
“Ah,” Aaeru responded, apparently to the same feeling.
“I’m, I’m coming,” Amuria moaned.
She squeezed her eyes shut as her body began to shudder, then opened them again, gripping the sides of the bed. The image of Aaeru and Neviril greeted her, locked together in their intimacy, and as Amuria came a hot, burning grief spread through her. Tears flowed freely down her face, and Aaeru and Neviril stared at her with the same realization for a single united moment before Aaeru rocked back violently against Neviril, squeezing her eyes shut and moaning loudly. Neviril held on and clamped her teeth onto Aaeru’s left shoulder, her long pink hair falling in a brilliant cascade down Aaeru’s body.
When Aaeru finally stopped shaking, Amuria had stopped crying. The night had just begun, but already she felt exhausted, as if a great chunk of her had been stolen away. The other two intertwined lovers seemed to agree, their limpid motions verifying the atmosphere.
But the bed was not meant for three people, and one of them would have to leave. With a heavy finality Amuria sat up straight in the bed. She leaned forward, kissing Aaeru first. She did not kiss Neviril, instead brushing her lips past Neviril’s left cheek to her ear to whisper, “I love you.”
Neviril closed her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly in response. Satisfied, Amuria rolled out of bed. She did not bother looking for her clothes among the mess, opting instead to run back to her house, naked and free.
---
The sky was stunningly clear, with no clouds to speak of. The lone Simoun floated serenely along, in alignment with the birds that were beginning to migrate south.
“Aaeru?”
“Yeah, Neviril?”
“I’m sorry I put you through this. I didn’t expect things to turn out that way.”
“Mmm, it’s fine. I’m glad we found Amuria. I can see why she meant so much to you.”
“…”
“Are you glad you met her?”
“…Yes. Yes, I am. I feel better now. Much better.”
“Ri-Maajon then?”
“Yes, Aaeru.”
---
Streaks of light dancing across Amuria’s vision alerted her to the spectacle in the sky. On her right side Benji gasped, transfixed by the beautiful dance Aaeru and Neviril were performing. As the pattern was completed, a great flash exploded from the center, engulfing the Ri-Maajon paths entirely. When the flash finally faded, the Simoun had disappeared.
“So that’s what the real Emerald Ri-Maajon would have looked like,” Amuria murmured to herself, a little regretfully.
Benji turned and looked at her curiously.
“What’s a Wi-Mahzhon?” he asked.
Amuria turned and looked at Benji. The dance of your fake gods, she thought. She shook her head.
“I don’t know, Benji,” she said, “You must have heard me wrong.”
She bent down to examine the cabbage, running her hands over the leaves. Not ready for harvest yet. As she removed her hand, she was startled to find fine gold dust coating the cabbage leaves. Had it always been there?
It was no matter. There were other things to worry about.
“Princess Amuria, I think the apples are ready!” Benji yelled out.
Amuria grinned and walked over to Benji, who was sitting on a tree branch, munching on an apple, a satchel full of them by his side.
“Couldn’t you wait until we got some ladders?” she asked.
“Here, you can have one too,” Benji said, tossing a bright red apple down.
Amuria rolled her eyes, but bit into the apple cheerfully. It was juicy and delicious, just as she had anticipated. Simulacrum never would have had apples like these.
Just as well, she thought. This was her life, and it was good.
Fandom: Simoun
Word Count: 7150
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Amuria/Neviril/Aaeru
Prompt: Simoun - Aaeru/Neviril/Amuria - a destined meeting. (Angst is certain, but smut would be even better!)
Summary: Neviril and Aaeru crash-land in the foreign era of a foreign land, with a foreign religion and a foreign race. And Amuria.
Princess
Amuria opened her eyes to find a group of people crowded over her. They did not seem hostile, merely curious.
“Are you Aaeru?” one of them asked.
Amuria blinked.
“Who is Aaeru?” she asked.
“Aaeru, our goddess, the highest form of love,” they replied.
Amuria laughed.
“No,” she said, “my name is Amuria.”
---
“Princess, princess! Princess Amuria!”
Amuria glanced up from the garden she was toiling in, wiping the sweat off her brow. She straightened as a little brown-haired boy ran up to her, eyes wide in excitement.
“Princess Amuria,” he squealed, waving his arms up and down frantically, “Some people fell out of the sky again!”
Amuria blinked.
“You’re sure of this?”
“Yeah, and they’ve got a giant machine with them! You have to come and see!”
Amuria rose, frowning slightly, as she followed the boy out to the woods. There was a tendril of smoke rising in the distance, which she assumed was caused by the Simoun crashing - if indeed it was a Simoun.
The clearing was a short distance away. It was extremely distinctive, marked by a great swath of dirt combined with grass scraps that had been scorched away. In the center was positioned the presumable cause of this destruction. A Simoun.
Amuria rushed towards the Simoun. She desperately hoped there were survivors. It was awfully lonely, living in a world that had no comprehension of her culture. Those Sibyllae, they could bring her news. They could keep her company. They could share her life.
As Amuria neared the Simoun, she saw a shock of pink hair. A sudden shiver went through her, foreboding and forbidden. No, it couldn’t be. The pink hair belonged to the Sagitta, and Neviril had always been the Auriga… Sure, she had always felt the tingle when the situation concerned Neviril, but it had been so long since she had given up hope on ever seeing the other girl.
Then Amuria saw her face. Even through the blood-smeared window and the giant gash that partially obscured the pink-haired girl’s features, Amuria recognized the face. She had spent countless hours memorizing it, and even a lifetime couldn’t make her forget it.
She clambered up the Simoun by scaling the wings, ignoring the blond Auriga who was coming to, twitching and gasping for air. Finding the latch, she sprung open the hold, reaching in and feeling for a pulse. For a moment there wasn’t one and Amuria was terrified. No, this couldn’t be happening. No, no, no, no. Yet another, the penultimate reason to stop believing in Tempus Spatium.
Then the pulse flickered alive, and Amuria thought she hallucinated Neviril stirring. It was only the wind picking up her bloody hair, but Amuria started crying uncontrollably. It was too much.
A groan from the cockpit below alerted Amuria to the presence of the other girl. A revelation occurred to Amuria, sending a stab of jealousy through her. There was no way these two could have arrived here except for a proper Emerald Ri-Maajon. There was no way they would have performed it perfectly unless… She savagely suppressed that thought, clambering down to pop open the lower window. Still, she could not help but cast an appraising, competitive look at the other girl, who could not even possibly have registered her gaze yet.
The blond groaned again and attempted pathetically to reach a hand to her face. Amuria stared at her for a second longer before going back up to Neviril’s hold.
“Neviril,” she said, “Neviril, can you hear me?”
No response.
“Benji!” Amuria yelled to the little boy, who stood there in shock, unresponsive.
“Benji!”
The boy snapped to attention.
“Yes?”
“Benji, run to the village as fast as you can, and get four people to come with stretchers.”
“Yes, Princess!”
He sprinted off, leaving Amuria with the two Sibyllae.
“Neviril?” Amuria tried again.
She reached a hand to Neviril’s face, cupping it tenderly and then stroking her hair, brushing a few strands out of her face. She made care not to touch the open wound on Neviril’s forehead. When she finally realized that she could not aid Neviril in any way until the medical help arrived, she focused on the blond, who had managed to open her eyes and now was struggling to get out of her seat and turn around.
“Neviril?” the girl croaked, “Neviril, are you alright?”
“Neviril’s not awake right now,” Amuria answered, leveling herself to the blond’s surprised gaze.
“Are you okay? What’s your name?” Amuria inquired.
“Aaeru. I think my left hand is broken,” she said, raising her arm to dangle the unnaturally bent hand and smiling sheepishly. “Who are you?”
Amuria stared. Aaeru? The one the villagers spoke of? What a coincidental name.
Ignoring Aaeru’s question, Amuria asked, “Do you think you can get out by yourself?”
“I’m trying,” Aaeru responded, “But it’s really hard. My left leg hurts a lot too; I think something might have fallen on my left side when we crashed.”
“Okay,” Amuria said, “Let me take a look.”
She leaned over into the cockpit and took a look inside. A piece of glass was gouged in Aaeru’s thigh. It penetrated the side of the cockpit too, binding Aaeru to the seat.
“Alright, you’ve got a piece of glass stuck in you. Let me get it out, and then you should be able to move a lot better.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” Amuria said. She grabbed ahold of the brown tunic she was wearing and ripped off a strip in one quick movement.
“Hold on, this might hurt a lot,” she told Aaeru, who nodded and squeezed her eyes together.
She grabbed the piece and with a grunt yanked it out. Aaeru hissed through her teeth but otherwise made no noise. Amuria quickly tied the strip around Aaeru’s thigh and knotted it twice, tightly.
“I’ve sent for some other people to come and help you two,” Amuria said, “Just sit tight and wait until then.”
“Thanks,” Aaeru said.
“So where am I?” she asked.
“Kyoku Village,” Amuria replied. “We’re known for our freshwater fish, but all of that can come later.”
“Huh.”
“I bet you want to know what this is and how it got here, don’t you?” Aaeru asked Amuria, after noticing her staring at the glowing jewel. “Must have been a spectacular crash.”
“Not particularly,” Amuria responded, “That can come later too. It was actually Benji that noticed the crash.”
“Who is Benji?”
“A little boy who helps me with the garden.”
Amuria smiled secretly to herself as she noticed Aaeru’s eyes widen. She could easily predict the urgent question Aaeru had, but to voice the question for Aaeru would be to give away her cards, and she needed them for the moment.
Aaeru did not ask the question.
“What’s your name?” she asked instead.
“Hold on, I can hear voices in the distance,” Amuria said, dodging the question.
She cocked her ears, hoping for but not expecting to hear anything. To hear pleasant surprise, there was a chorus of male shouts, heralded by a cloud of dust along the path.
“Wait here,” she told Aaeru, who nodded.
She leapt off the Simoun and ran to meet the men, intercepting them about a hundred feet from the disaster.
“Princess Amuria, Captain Kline with Rahim, Lodoss, Chrono reporting!”
“Hello, and thank you,” Amuria said. “Aaeru and Neviril have landed.”
The men let out a collective gasp, eyes transfixed on the destruction before them.
“Princes… really?” Kline stuttered out.
“Yes. They are injured. One of them is unconscious, the other one awake. Please take them to the village to be cared for.”
Kline nodded curtly, then gestured for his men to run over to the Simoun. They stopped momentarily in front of it, falling to their knees to pray, the wide swath of cut grass a perfect complement to their ritual. When they were finished they gathered the two girls onto their cloth stretchers. Amuria stood by, staring at them motionlessly. Her only movement was to stare at Aaeru, who stared back curiously from her mangled position, as the men rushed past.
It wasn’t until the men had disappeared completely, stampede of dust invisible as well, that Amuria walked over to the Simoun. She had not had the presence of mind to examine it earlier, but now as she ran a hand over the surface she realized the Simoun belonged to - once belonged to - her and Neviril. This new girl, this Aaeru, she had taken Amuria’s material possessions from her too. Who was she?
Amuria had no one to pray with and no god to pray to, but she kissed the jewel anyway. Then she turned around and walked slowly back towards the village. She needed to collect her thoughts.
---
The four men took Aaeru and Neviril to what was probably the town center, where a crowd had gathered for them. Aaeru could hear the gush of a spring, which gave her a buzzing headache. She struggled to listen to the conversation between the men and the rest of the villagers, managing to discern that two beds were to be cleared for them, but not much else. There was a shuffling of feet, and Aaeru allowed herself to pass out.
Her eyes shot open next to a burst of pain in a dimly lit room. She could not see anything through the film of tears across her vision, and she almost passed out from the pain shooting up her left arm, but fought ferociously against it. Someone placed a soothing hand across her forehead, wrinkled and cool against her sweat, and murmured a lullaby that Aaeru did not recognize. She almost fell asleep under the soporific singing, but a flash of pink in the corner of her eye sharpened her consciousness again.
“Neviril,” she croaked out. “Neviril.”
“Shhh, shhh,” someone said. “Rest and relax. We’ve stitched your leg up, and we’re almost done setting your wrist right, and afterwards you’ll be just fine.”
Aaeru raised her head briefly to look at her leg. She was still crying and couldn’t see anything, but now she noticed a dull pain there that had previously been eclipsed by her broken wrist. The hand on her forehead pushed her back down and started stroking her hair.
She heard a shearing noise and felt an extremely tight pressure on her wrist that allowed her to feel her blood pumping through in flashes of pain.
“There, all done,” the voice said. “Now you lie here and just rest for a while, okay? Get some sleep. We’ll be back soon.”
The hand left Aaeru’s forehead, and a coarse blanket was pulled up to her neck. She heard steps filing out the door, leaving just her and Neviril in the room.
Now that Aaeru had been bandaged up and left alone she could tolerate the pain. Her vision gradually cleared, allowing her to get a good look at Neviril for the first time since the crash. The other girl was not in her best shape. A gash on her face had been stitched up crudely, and Aaeru could not see the rest due to the blanket covering her body, but she doubted it would look good.
Aaeru desperately wanted to sleep, but she simply could not do so while she could see Neviril in her condition, and while she was in a strange, foreign land.
She took a deep breath, grunted, then sat up, ignoring the throbbing headache. Using her right hand she brushed aside the covers. Her uniform had been removed and she had been left in a cloth tunic that extended down to her feet. There was a thigh-length slit on the left side, and Aaeru uncovered her tunic as well to get a better look at her leg. Her left thigh greeted her in an awful mess, blood everywhere on top of the rudimentary stitches.
Painstakingly Aaeru rolled out of bed, landing on her right side. She slowly pulled herself up, then half-hobbled, half-hopped over to Neviril’s bed. A chair had been placed conveniently right in front of Neviril’s bedside, and Aaeru collapsed into it, breathing heavily.
She stretched out her right hand and ran it down Neviril’s face lightly, pausing on Neviril’s lips before allowing it to drop back down to her side. Aaeru stared at Neviril forlornly for some time, before finally taking hold of the situation. She surveyed her surroundings. Two beds in a single stone-walled room with two windows and a dirt floor. One partial wall that obscured an open doorway. Nothing else. It was a crude construct.
“Where is the bathroom?” Aaeru thought, suddenly filled with the urge to pee.
She considered just going on the floor, but decided against it. She pushed on the chair to help her stand up again, then hop-shuffled towards the doorway. It took an eternity, with even slight pressure on Aaeru’s left leg making her want to scream, but she finally reached the bright outside, panting and leaning against the wall.
What Aaeru had thought was a spring was actually a river, roaring along in front of her. Wooden bridges criss-crossed along its length, with people meandering along them doing their business. A few people stopped and stared when they noticed Aaeru, and she smiled weakly at them before hobbling over.
They dropped to their knees when she reached them, to her surprise. One woman clapped her hands together in prayer, with the others following suit.
“What, I’m not…” Aaeru started.
“Oh, great being from the sky, what can we do for you?” one person intoned.
“Oh, um… I was just looking for the bathroom?” Aaeru asked.
It was absurdly comical, but the effect was lost on the village people, who answered her question with the same serious tone.
“Down the path from the second bridge. Can we be of any more assistance?”
“Well, I guess you could carry me there,” Aaeru said, half in jest.
She wasn’t entirely surprised when, without a word, two of the villagers descended upon her, each grasping one side of her. In unison they used one arm to lift up her legs - Aaeru nearly cried out in pain, but clenched her teeth and hissed instead - and slid the other arm under her armpits, creating an awkward chair construct for her.
They started a slow march, the other villagers murmuring foreign prayers behind them as they departed.
“So, what are your names?” Aaeru asked, attempting to glean some information.
“Glen,” the person on the left said.
“Frog,” the person on the right said.
“Okay, I’m Aaeru,” she said.
“We know,” they replied.
“You know? How do you know?” Aaeru asked, confused.
“You are a goddess from the sky, the highest -“
“Form of love,” Aaeru finished for them, stunned. These people were Plumbum descendents then, or else Plumbum ancestors. Their legacy lived on.
“Yes,” they said, “Princess Amuria told us you had arrived.”
“Amuria?” Aaeru asked, astonished.
“Yes, she who also fell from the sky.”
“Was she the purple-haired girl that found us?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about her,” Aaeru said.
“She fell from the sky two years ago,” Glen said, “We thought she was Aaeru at first.”
“Did you now?” Aaeru asked in amusement.
“Yes,” Frog said, “Because she appeared like a goddess. But she told us her name was Amuria, and that she was not a goddess.”
“How did she become a princess?”
“We asked her what kind of priestess she was if she wasn’t a goddess, and she said she wasn’t a priestess either. So we asked her what exactly she was, and she said a princess,” Frog continued.
“And you guys just accepted that?”
“We asked her what a princess was. She told us it was a different kind of divinity, different from a priestess but not godly.”
“Actually, first she told us a princess was royal but not divine,” Glen interrupted, “But we didn’t know what royal meant either.”
“Princess Amuria is confusing much of the time,” Frog said.
---
The two men carried Aaeru back to her temporary abode once she had finished and left her at the doorway, bowing in a quick prayer to her before rushing off. Slowly, she shuffled in. She opened her mouth to ask for Neviril, but froze at the doorway.
Amuria occupied the chair by Neviril’s bedside. She sat delicately on the edge of the seat, gazing intently at Neviril. She was a caricature of eternal love, if there ever was one.
“So you’re Amuria,” Aaeru said.
Amuria looked up in surprise. She had not noticed Aaeru’s entrance, a testament to her complete absorption in Neviril.
“Hello again,” Amuria said.
She stood up as Aaeru shuffled over, allowing Aaeru to collapse onto the seat. Aaeru gave Amuria a cautiously grateful smile.
“How did you find out my name?” Amuria asked.
“One of the villagers told me,” Aaeru said.
“Ah,” Amuria said, “I’m surprised you managed to get out of bed, considering your injuries.”
Aaeru shrugged.
“I didn’t want to sit there,” she said.
“You’re a strong person,” Amuria said.
“Perhaps,” Aaeru said, shrugging again. She seemed uncertain of how to act. Amuria smiled to herself.
“So, what did Neviril tell you about me?” she asked.
“Nothing much,” Aaeru said, “She didn’t like talking about you very much, and we weren’t paired together for a long time.”
“I see,” Amuria said.
“Well, how did you end up as the Auriga? That was always Neviril’s position when we were paired.”
Aaeru turned slightly red.
“I sort of… forced her to be my Sagitta. I wasn’t willing to be anything besides Auriga.”
Amuria grinned at that. They remained in companiable silence, Amuria leaning against the wall and Aaeru sneaking sidelong glances at Amuria.
“What?” Amuria asked finally.
“You still love her,” Aaeru stated, simply.
“Of course,” Amuria said, “Wouldn’t you?”
The corner of Aaeru’s mouth turned up in a rueful smile.
“You’re an interesting person,” Amuria said.
The sound of a bell ringing brought a stop to their convivial conversation.
“It looks like it’s time for dinner,” Amuria said, “Let’s give Neviril some rest.”
Aaeru nodded and slowly rose from the chair. She was pleasantly surprised when Amuria walked over to her left side, throwing an arm around Aaeru and supporting her.
“You ready?” Amuria asked.
“Yeah,” Aaeru said, “Let’s go.”
---
The villagers ate communally, with two large cauldrons full of whatever fish they had caught for the day, mixed with vegetables they had harvested in a giant soup.
Aaeru didn’t think it tasted very good, but she didn’t object, sipping her large bowl in silence. She felt cloistered by the incessant staring of the villagers. Their curiosity was massive, but their awe and fear held them back. Likewise, Aaeru wanted to ask about the prevalence of male children, but she didn’t.
The littlest one, a tiny boy that sat next to Amuria the entire time, finally summoned up the courage to ask Aaeru a question.
“Aaeru?” he asked.
“Yes?” Aaeru responded.
“What is Simulacrum like?”
“What?” Aaeru asked, blinking in surprise.
“Shhhh,” Amuria interrupted hastily. “Benji, Aaeru isn’t answering questions right now.”
“Why not?” Benji asked.
“She… she has other things on her mind,” Amuria said.
That seemed to end the matter, and the rest of dinner was a quiet affair. When they were finished, Amuria returned with Aaeru back to the house they were staying in.
“How did they know about Simulacrum?” Aaeru asked Amuria.
“I told them it was where you lived,” Amuria said.
“Me and Neviril, right?” Aaeru asked.
“Neviril and I,” Amuria said, “But yes. Did the villagers tell you that too?”
“Yeah,” Aaeru said, “What else did you tell them?”
“Just that Simoun are your mode of transport. And a lot about Neviril.”
“Oh. Did you tell them anything about Aaeru?”
“No. It would have been too heretical for them.”
They walked in to the shelter, and froze. Neviril stared back at them, shaking, blue eyes wide open.
“Amuria?” she whispered.
Amuria smiled.
“Neviril.”
Aaeru cast a quick glance between Neviril and Amuria, then turned around.
“I think I’m going to explore the village a bit,” she said, “You two enjoy yourselves.”
“No, Aaeru,” Neviril said from her bed, “Stay.”
Aaeru smiled at Neviril.
“It’s not a problem, Neviril,” Aaeru said, “I need to go assess the damage to the Simoun anyway.”
She left in a hurry, without the chance for Neviril to reply. Amuria stared after her, then walked to the chair and sat down.
“So,” she said.
“So,” Neviril responded.
“How are you?” Amuria asked.
“Okay,” Neviril said, “My head hurts a lot, but otherwise my injuries aren’t that bad. Aaeru looked to be a lot worse.”
“Where are we?” she asked Amuria.
“Kyoku Village,” Amuria responded.
“What year is it?”
“314, according to the villagers. But their calendar is completely different from Simulacrum’s, so the number of years might have been restarted as well. I don’t know whether we’re in the past or the future. They don’t have any history that is relevant to our world.”
“Ah,” Neviril said, “How are you doing?”
“As well as could be expected,” Amuria said. “I’ve made a living here, planting vegetables and telling the villagers stories.”
“Stories?” Neviril asked.
“Yes, stories,” Amuria said.
She leaned in and gave a conspiratorial smile.
“I told them you were a beautiful goddess,” she whispered to Neviril.
Neviril blushed bright red, causing Amuria to realize that perhaps she had been a bit too forward. This was their first meeting in a long, long time, after all.
Amuria retracted, coughing slightly. There was a nervous tension in the air, one that had never, ever been there between them. What was it caused by? The distance between them? She didn’t think it would have been a problem. The interjection of Aaeru in Neviril’s life?
Do you still love me, after Aaeru, was what Amuria really wanted to ask Neviril, but that would have been in embarrassingly bad taste.
“What kind of vegetables do you plant?” Neviril finally asked, in an attempt to restore the conversation.
“Oh, you know, just whatever is in season,” Amuria said, “Cabbages, tomatoes, pumpkins, apples.”
“I see,” Neviril said.
They made awkward small talk for a while, until Aaeru returned.
“It looks like the Simoun just has some structural damage,” Aaeru said, “The helical motors aren’t damaged or anything. It’s easily fixable in a day. We won’t even need to make new sheet metal or use special tools, just a hammer and some glue. I mean, it won’t be as good of a job as if we had real technicians working on it, but it should be usable.”
“That’s good news,” Amuria said, smiling tightly.
“You look exhausted, Aaeru,” she continued, “Both of you should get some rest. I’ll sleep a little bit too. Tomorrow we can work on fixing the Simoun together.”
She stood up and walked out, the tense smile never leaving her face. Both Aaeru and Neviril stared after her.
“Aaeru,” Neviril whispered, at length.
Aaeru turned and made her way over to Neviril’s bed. She crawled in, burying her head in Neviril’s neck.
“Neviril,” she breathed.
---
Morning brought no sense of serenity to the fractured situation. Aaeru and Neviril woke up at roughly the same time. Together, they sleepily stumbled over to the river, where several villagers were milling about. Upon seeing the two together they dropped to their knees in prayer.
“Aaeru and Neviril,” they said.
“Hello,” Aaeru said, “Do you think you could lead us to our Simoun?”
The villagers nodded without hesitation, and after a short walk they arrived at the disaster clearing. Amuria, a little boy, and two grown men were already hard at work on the Simoun.
Amuria did not notice their arrival until after she had finished gluing one section of the Simoun carefully together. When she did see the two, she smiled brightly down at them.
“It should be done soon!” she called down.
Neviril didn’t want to, but she found herself smiling sunnily back. A dark look passed over Aaeru, who had noticed Neviril’s uncontrollable grin.
“Hey,” she said, “I doubt I can do any work in this condition, so I’m just going to head back, okay?”
“What?” Neviril said in surprise, “Why don’t you just stay with us?”
“I really just don’t feel up to it,” Aaeru said, “All this noise is hurting my head.”
Neviril frowned.
“If this is about Amuria,” she started.
“It’s not,” Aaeru said, cutting her off.
“Really,” she added for emphasis in response to Neviril’s suspicious gaze.
“…Aaeru…” Neviril said.
“It’s fine, Neviril,” Aaeru said.
She leaned in and pecked Neviril quickly on the lips.
“I’ll see you later then?” she asked.
“Yes,” Neviril said doubtfully.
She watched Aaeru’s retreating figure until it disappeared completely, then walked over to the Simoun. It looked like they were almost finished repairing it. The Simoun didn’t look very good, with its dents and obvious glue joints, but it was definitely functional, and that was all they needed.
The two villagers and Amuria hopped down shortly enough. With a quick bow to Neviril and a murmured prayer, the two men ran off to perform the rest of their morning chores. Amuria and the little boy stayed behind.
“Benji, you can go too,” Amuria said to the boy.
“Are you sure, Princess?” Benji asked.
“Yes, Benji,” Amuria said, “It’s almost time for lunch.”
“Okay,” the boy responded enthusiastically.
He turned to Neviril, clapped his hands together and bowed once, then bolted off down the dirt road. Neviril and Amuria were now alone.
Neviril smiled shyly at Amuria, then walked up to the Simoun. She ran a hand over its battered surface, then touched the jewel briefly in wonder.
“How could it break?” Neviril asked, “I don’t understand.”
“It’s just a machine, Neviril,” Amuria said.
“But it’s not just a machine. We achieved the Emerald Ri-Maajon with it.”
“I have no doubt that you did,” Amuria said, “But that doesn’t mean you two or the Simoun became invincible.”
Neviril stopped her examination of the Simoun and turned to stare at Amuria.
“What happened to you?” Neviril asked, “You were the one that wanted to reach Tempus Spatium and become stronger through the Ri-Maajon.”
Amuria flinched slightly, which did not escape Neviril’s notice.
“Nothing,” Amuria said, “I just found other things that were important to me besides being strong.”
“Really?” Neviril asked in wonder and Amuria thought vainly, a little admiration.
“Yes,” Amuria said.
“Anyway, the Simoun is fixed,” she said, tinged with a hint of bitterness, “So you and Aaeru are all set to go.”
“…Thanks,” Neviril said softly. Her voice had a slight stutter to it.
Instantly Amuria focused her attention on Neviril. She always noticed when something was off about Neviril. Even when she was an era apart, stuck in this rural backwater, she knew she could sense Neviril’s moods. She was a part of Neviril and Neviril was a part of her. Amuria knew this in her heart.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Neviril.
“It’s just, seeing you…” Neviril said.
Amuria suddenly sat down heavily. She looked at the newly-repaired Simoun and bowed her head.
“It would probably not be a good idea to continue that thought, Neviril.”
Neviril froze.
“Yes, you’re right,” she said slowly.
“Ask me a question about this place instead,” Amuria suggested.
“Okay,” Neviril said, “How is it that Benji…”
“Is a boy?” Amuria finished for her. Neviril nodded.
“I don’t know. People here are just born this way. Everyone here has lived like this for centuries, they say.”
“But then what about the Spring? Is Onashia still there? Does anyone go into it?”
“There is no Spring,” Amuria said, the unhappiness even more prevalent in her voice.
“What?” Neviril asked, gasping. “How?”
“The Spring collapsed during the war, or else it has not been invented yet. It is either gone forever, or somewhere in time and space that I will never know.”
“But Tempus Spatium…”
“Tempus Spatium is a lie,” Amuria said, forcefully. “Tempus Spatium is a construct, created to take control of the general populace. It allayed their fears and disappointments by placing them upon an unknowable will.”
Neviril was silent. She sat, leaning against the tree post, staring at the sky. Amuria watched Neviril closely, waiting for a reaction. Had she been too jarring? She didn’t think so. Neviril knew it too. The destruction of their Simoun must have demonstrated that.
When at last Neviril opened her mouth, it was a different question.
“If the Spring had disappeared when you landed, then how have you chosen your gender?”
“I haven’t,” Amuria responded simply.
Neviril gasped softly.
“That’s right, Neviril,” Amuria said with a rueful smirk, “I am just as eternal as you and Aaeru.”
A chaotic mess of emotions flashed through Neviril’s face, until she dipped her head, covering her face with her long pink hair. She reached out a tree branch and slowly staggered to her feet.
“I think… I think it’s time to return to the village,” Neviril said.
“That sounds good,” Amuria said.
She wrapped her arm around Neviril’s waist to help support her. Neviril twitched and tensed, relaxing slightly only to shiver again. Together they took one small step forward. Then another. And another. It was a broken-up, arduous journey, one that was to end soon.
---
Aaeru was nowhere to be found when Neviril returned. She sat on her cot in the borrowed house instead, twiddling her thumbs, waiting for lunch and hoping Aaeru would arrive soon.
A rap on the wall brought her out of her fidgeting. She looked up, hoping it was Aaeru. It was Amuria.
“What is it, Amuria?” she asked.
Amuria looked distinctly uncomfortable but determined. She opened her mouth several times to speak, but stopped each time.
“I think…” she finally started, “I’ve been thinking, and… and I want you to stay with me.”
Neviril had been bred with too much dignity to allow her mouth to drop open in shock, but her eyes widened noticeably.
“What did you just say?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
“Stay with me,” Amuria repeated, “We could fly together, again.”
She suddenly leaned in and kissed Neviril, hard. It was an aggressive kiss, much like the one they had first shared when they’d met. It represented everything she had loved - did love about Amuria.
“You know your religion doesn’t exist anyway,” she said.
Neviril shied away and shook her head.
“You know it’s true,” Amuria said.
“You can’t just say that,” Neviril said.
“Why not? Tempus Spatium isn’t real,” Amuria said, relentlessly.
“Maybe not, but haven’t you perpetuated the same myth?” Neviril asked.
“What?” Amuria asked, confused, “What are you talking about?”
“No, they don’t have Tempus Spatium,” Neviril said, “But instead they have Aaeru and Neviril. They have always had faith in Aaeru, and you gave them Neviril. Didn’t you?”
Amuria didn’t respond.
“And maybe this, right here, is destiny playing out. How else could you explain Aaeru as a goddess and my elevation to one, and then our crash landing in this era? How else could we have found you?”
“I don’t know,” Amuria said, shrugging.
“What else could it have been but some higher power?”
It could be a coincidence, Amuria thought, but she was not inclined to believe in them with such a fantastic situation. She noticed Neviril about to speak again, and willed her not to, anticipating what was coming next.
“And what about you? Maybe you’re not a priestess, but you’re a princess. You couldn’t explain to them what a princess was, and they didn’t believe you were something other than divine, so here we are.”
“Did Aaeru tell you about that?” Amuria asked, her mouth a rigid line.
“Yes, she did,” Neviril said, “I also know that you told them that Simulacrum is the abode of the goddesses, a kingdom in the sky. You told them about the Simoun, the transporters of the goddesses. Why? None of it is true.”
Amuria smiled wryly and sighed. She withdrew from Neviril slightly, and cast her eyes in a corner.
“I needed it, Neviril. I needed to hear it for my sanity. I needed… I needed a representation of you, if not you yourself, to live on. I wasn’t trying to create a religion for them.”
Neviril put a hand on Amuria’s shoulder.
“But you did.”
“But I did.”
They sat in silence for a while, staring at the blank stone wall.
“Maybe… maybe Tempus Spatium was created in this way too,” Neviril said.
“What?” Amuria asked.
“The Simoun do transcend time and space, but maybe they aren’t divine. Someone just made it that way, to explain it to us.”
“History repeats itself quite easily, doesn’t it?” Amuria said.
“Yes.”
Amuria wasn’t sure there had ever been such a depressing moment in their relationship, back on Simulacrum. Certainly they had never discussed heavy issues like this. For Amuria mostly it had been about the freedom of the sky and strength, which were fine pursuits for a Sibyllae who did not have to deal with the world yet. She doubted Neviril had thought much about such issues once she and Aaeru had escaped reality either.
It was a different feeling. She leaned in yet again and kissed Neviril again, trying to taste the bittersweetness. Neviril did not yield, but sighed ever so softly.
A louder thud from the entrance alerted them to the presence of Aaeru. She stood without a hint of surprise in her face, only resignation.
“Aaeru-“ Neviril started, but she had already disappeared.
“I have to go get her,” Neviril said, clambering out.
Amuria briefly considered attempting to stop Neviril, but she doubted it would have done any good. There would still be time later, anyway.
---
Aaeru had not managed to escape too far away before Neviril caught up to her. Neviril reached out a hand quickly and stopped Aaeru, who collapsed to sit down at the edge of the river bank. She dipped her feet in and splashed them aimlessly.
“Aaeru,” Neviril tried.
No response. Aaeru stared out sullenly at the grove of apple trees.
“Aaeru,” Neviril tried again, sitting down beside Aaeru.
Aaeru still didn’t speak, but she turned her head to face Neviril, giving Neviril her full attention.
“Aaeru, what happened in there was an accident.”
Aaeru continued gazing at Neviril, but otherwise gave no indication she’d heard.
“I didn’t want it to happen,” Neviril said.
“That’s not true,” Aaeru said, staring straight into Neviril’s eyes. There was no accusation in Aaeru’s voice, only fact.
Neviril paused for a moment, a revelation coming over her.
“No, it’s not,” she said, “But I didn’t want it more than I want you.”
Aaeru continued to stare at her, unconvinced. Neviril suddenly thought back to the first and only time she had confessed her love to Aaeru. Aaeru hadn’t looked like she believed Neviril then, either.
Neviril cupped Aaeru’s face in her hands and leaned forward, kissing Aaeru softly. Aaeru blinked, then kissed Neviril back desperately.
Eventually Neviril pulled away, but she kept her face close to Aaeru’s, looking straight into her precious green eyes.
“Remember,” she breathed, blowing hot air onto Aaeru’s lips, “I love you, and I chose you.”
She pulled away and stood up. Aaeru stayed still, deep in contemplation and wonder. Neviril smiled gently, then walked away. She was sure Aaeru would join her soon. It would all work out. Tempus Spatium would lead them down the right path.
---
Neviril sat against the wall, her knees curled up to her chest. She stared through the window at the swollen harvest moon. Aaeru still had not returned. She was getting worried.
A shuffling noise by the doorway brought her attention to Amuria, erect and serious at the entrance.
“No,” Neviril said, suddenly scared.
Amuria ignored her. She took slow, deliberate steps toward the cot Neviril was sitting on. The indecision was clear on Neviril’s face. She had been able to see it ever since Neviril had woken up. It would be resolved tonight. It had to be, for none of them could continue on like this.
Neviril remained immobile as Amuria sat down beside her. She sat frozen even as Amuria reached a hand up and cupped her cheek. Amuria’s lips brushed against her, and then Neviril found herself being pushed back by Amuria.
“No,” Neviril said, struggling upright again. “Stop.”
Amuria froze in her motions, although her fingers continued to trace circles along Neviril’s shoulders, eliciting slight shudders from her.
“Are you sure?” Amuria asked.
Confusion and agony ran alternately across Neviril’s face. It painted a hauntingly beautiful expression, one Amuria had never seen - there was so much she had not experienced of Neviril, so much that she might not have seen even if tragedy had not befallen them.
“Stop,” Neviril choked out in anguish. “I’ve,” and here she really struggled to get the words out, “I’ve made my decision.”
“No, you haven’t,” Aaeru said from the doorway. When had she arrived?
“Aaeru?” Neviril whispered.
Aaeru hobbled over, to where Amuria and Neviril remained frozen in their positions.
“It’s okay, Neviril,” Aaeru said, smiling sweetly and bending down to kiss Neviril on the forehead, right on the scar. “You’ll make your choice soon.”
Aaeru rose up again, then fixed Amuria with a hard stare.
“Amuria,” Aaeru said.
“Yes?” Amuria replied, a fiery edge in her voice.
Aaeru leaned forward and kissed Amuria. It was nothing like kissing Neviril; it was more like kissing herself, or what Aaeru imagined would be like kissing herself. A tiny humorous thought ran through her head - she had never made out with anyone besides Neviril, had she? - before it was drowned out in a cacophony of motions.
What happened next was chaos. A jumble of limbs fought for control of each other, shedding clothes like old skins onto the floor. Amuria gasped and moaned as her senses overflooded. She made her way down Neviril’s writhing body hungrily, only to throw her head back and moan keenly as Aaeru assaulted her from behind.
She thrust her head down anyway and buried it into Neviril’s wide open legs. Neviril smelled exactly the same as she remembered, and Amuria sucked and pulled on Nevirli’s clit in ecstasy, inserting her fingers, one, two, three, into her open folds. It was deliciously warm, and it felt incredible.
Neviril trembled soon under Amuria’s ministrations, and it didn’t take long before Neviril let out a single, drawn-out, elegant breath, and came all over Amuria’s fingers.
“Still no endurance,” Amuria gasped out, in between uncontrollable moans.
Neviril growled at Amuria, slightly red, swatting her in the face. She wriggled out of Amuria’s grasp and leaned forward to kiss Amuria, shoving her tongue in savagely. The kiss was all too brief before Neviril broke away and crawled behind Aaeru, who stopped eating Amuria.
“Hey,” Amuria started vehemently, but Aaeru flipped her over deftly and pushed her down. She buried the fingers of one hand in Amuria and reached out with the other to fondle her breasts, and Amuria suddenly found herself too out of breath to object.
Behind Aaeru, Neviril was tenderly kissing her neck, biting down each time until she reached Aaeru’s shoulder. She snaked her right arm around Aaeru’s stomach, while the other arm reached down to Aaeru’s bush of blond hair. Aaeru hissed and then choked a little bit as Neviril traced small circles on Aaeru’s side with her fingers.
They were so beautiful, Amuria thought, and she found herself beginning to clench up.
“Ah,” she gasped out.
“Ah,” Aaeru responded, apparently to the same feeling.
“I’m, I’m coming,” Amuria moaned.
She squeezed her eyes shut as her body began to shudder, then opened them again, gripping the sides of the bed. The image of Aaeru and Neviril greeted her, locked together in their intimacy, and as Amuria came a hot, burning grief spread through her. Tears flowed freely down her face, and Aaeru and Neviril stared at her with the same realization for a single united moment before Aaeru rocked back violently against Neviril, squeezing her eyes shut and moaning loudly. Neviril held on and clamped her teeth onto Aaeru’s left shoulder, her long pink hair falling in a brilliant cascade down Aaeru’s body.
When Aaeru finally stopped shaking, Amuria had stopped crying. The night had just begun, but already she felt exhausted, as if a great chunk of her had been stolen away. The other two intertwined lovers seemed to agree, their limpid motions verifying the atmosphere.
But the bed was not meant for three people, and one of them would have to leave. With a heavy finality Amuria sat up straight in the bed. She leaned forward, kissing Aaeru first. She did not kiss Neviril, instead brushing her lips past Neviril’s left cheek to her ear to whisper, “I love you.”
Neviril closed her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly in response. Satisfied, Amuria rolled out of bed. She did not bother looking for her clothes among the mess, opting instead to run back to her house, naked and free.
---
The sky was stunningly clear, with no clouds to speak of. The lone Simoun floated serenely along, in alignment with the birds that were beginning to migrate south.
“Aaeru?”
“Yeah, Neviril?”
“I’m sorry I put you through this. I didn’t expect things to turn out that way.”
“Mmm, it’s fine. I’m glad we found Amuria. I can see why she meant so much to you.”
“…”
“Are you glad you met her?”
“…Yes. Yes, I am. I feel better now. Much better.”
“Ri-Maajon then?”
“Yes, Aaeru.”
---
Streaks of light dancing across Amuria’s vision alerted her to the spectacle in the sky. On her right side Benji gasped, transfixed by the beautiful dance Aaeru and Neviril were performing. As the pattern was completed, a great flash exploded from the center, engulfing the Ri-Maajon paths entirely. When the flash finally faded, the Simoun had disappeared.
“So that’s what the real Emerald Ri-Maajon would have looked like,” Amuria murmured to herself, a little regretfully.
Benji turned and looked at her curiously.
“What’s a Wi-Mahzhon?” he asked.
Amuria turned and looked at Benji. The dance of your fake gods, she thought. She shook her head.
“I don’t know, Benji,” she said, “You must have heard me wrong.”
She bent down to examine the cabbage, running her hands over the leaves. Not ready for harvest yet. As she removed her hand, she was startled to find fine gold dust coating the cabbage leaves. Had it always been there?
It was no matter. There were other things to worry about.
“Princess Amuria, I think the apples are ready!” Benji yelled out.
Amuria grinned and walked over to Benji, who was sitting on a tree branch, munching on an apple, a satchel full of them by his side.
“Couldn’t you wait until we got some ladders?” she asked.
“Here, you can have one too,” Benji said, tossing a bright red apple down.
Amuria rolled her eyes, but bit into the apple cheerfully. It was juicy and delicious, just as she had anticipated. Simulacrum never would have had apples like these.
Just as well, she thought. This was her life, and it was good.