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Annie finds herself sitting upon a wet rock, only large enough for her to sit semi-comfortably, the ocean stretching out in all directions around her. Endless, empty, with no sign of land in sight. She is alone, waiting. For some creature to come upon her. Perhaps a ship to sail nearby enough to wave to. She combs her hair slowly, watching the horizon. Waiting. Longing.
Around her, the oceans of time rise and fall through countless tides. She loses count of how many times, but as she stares down into the water she realizes that the tides bring death to her. Corpses drift just under the surface. Out of her reach, the water distorting them enough that she can’t quite make out details--but they are there. Hundreds… thousands… people she once knew. People she once loved, in a different life. People she called family. Eventually, she sees the Star of David embroidered on the corpses’ breasts. She sees thin bodies and hollow faces and empty eyes.
A voice echoes inside her mind. No--it is a dozen voices, all echoing together. All feminine, but all with different inflections. Some sound despairing, some angry, some kind. They blend together to create an eerie, all engulfing cacophony that rings through her mind, through her soul, through her body, through her Wyrd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzoI-W01VJE
You are safe here. You are alone here.
Away from the world. Away from genocide.
Away from home and family.
Time is cruel. Ignorance is mercy.
"And yet we are commanded to mend the world, not to retreat from it," Annie says after a moment, glancing around. "Time may be cruel, but ignorance is no bliss. The family of my birth is lost to me, yes, but that does not mean I cannot find a new one, for all that I have been as a stranger in a strange land."
Family...
They will fade in time as well.
The corpses are washed away with the tide, but others drift to replace them. This time the faces are ones she knows well. She sees the faces of Eugene, Polly, Aaron, Petra--so many others.
I have seen hundreds of lives begin again and end.
I tried to protect them.
But I see now. There is no greater safety than to not be.
"And yet that safety lies in the abandonment of all that makes it worthwhile, makes it meaningful," Annie counters. "What is safety for, if one ceases to be, and therefore cannot enjoy it?"
You truly would endure your miseries?
For them?
For love that will only end in loneliness?
"A thousand times over, I would, for all that I am no Winter," Annie's voice is soft, but her tone certain. "I have endured loneliness before, and their love is all the sweeter for it."
Love...
This is the love of being?
The bodies start to wash away again with the tide, but this time none drift back to replace them. The ocean washes against the rocks around her peacefully, clear enough she can see sunlight streaming down into it.
What would you give, to be with them?
"What would you take from me?" Annie asks, then. "Shall I offer up my voice, to sing no longer? My skill as a musician, to never again play the melodies passed down from my mother, and from her mother before her?"
I will not take what is not freely given.
Your voice...
Such unique beauty.
Beauty empowered by your Wyrd.
Sing.
And sing Annie does, quietly at first but then growing louder.
Annie sings the most beautiful song of her life. At first her voice is strong and clear, but as the song continues her voice starts to crack. It's a struggle to get out each note. Her throat aches from the effort. Until finally, there's nothing that comes out. Nothing but raspy breaths and painful sounding groans. There's resigned horror there, as she gives up the one of the most powerful things that is her. Her mind threatens to unravel at the thought--is this real? Will she wake up mute?
"Wait," comes Cypress voice. Not echoing and ringing, now--just one desperate, panicked voice. "This isn't right. This isn't what I want!"
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