Fires of Aggar Read Free Page A

been a tenmoon-and-a-half, Gwyn.”
    Eyes opened, blurred with tears. She nodded.
    “Has there been no other?”
    At Tawna’s concern, Gwyn offered a fond smile. “You count yourself so little, Soroe?”
    “No, but I count myself as your dear friend,” Tawna returned solemnly, “not as your heartbound companion.”
    “Truth,” she sighed faintly. “No, there has been no heartbond since Selena.”
    Tawna nodded, realizing she had always known this. Gwyn was a woman of intense, committed passions. Their time together would have changed, altered from loving rapport to gentle companionship if someone that special had come along. Gwyn was not capable of losing herself in one woman’s arms for long, if her heart was entwined with another.
    “It takes time to heal,” Tawna added belatedly. “What you had with Selena is rare, it will not be easily replaced.”
    “It will never be replaced,” Gwyn corrected hollowly.
    “No, but there are as many ways in loving as there are women to love.”
    “I know that.”
    “It is a hard thing to remember through death’s empty wake.”
    A slow breath passed her lips, and Gwyn shook her head vaguely, “It is perhaps that I am more frightened of finding… awakening such feelings again, Tawna. The intensities, the depths given with such heartbonds. But still, how do you bear the loneliness?”
    “For me it is not lonely,” Tawna murmured, the truth of it reflecting in her gentle gaze. “We are different, our needs are different. You are meant to follow passion and bright stars, while I? I’m content to watch the Twin Moons, to sing with my lute, and pray with my poetry. This rocky alcove offers a priestess’ seclusion for me, dear Gwyn. It is not lonely. It’s merely my home.”
    Gwyn thought about that, listening to the whispering winds as they stirred through the mountains. For a moment she could almost imagine the stars swirling, dancing in the moons’ light beyond that rough hewn roof. Still, it was only a glimpse of what her companion embraced, and she knew again the differences they would never breech.
    “I think, it is not only the companionship you are missing,” Tawna mused, watching Gwyn’s face closely. “Perhaps it is the intimacy of the Blue Sight as well?”
    Gwyn laughed with a sudden shout, and her friend grinned with her. “Intimacy? What a delicate word from you, Tawna. Aren’t you meaning naked exposure? Sheer lack of privacy? Isn’t it always you who maintains that to love a Blue Sight is to drop every barrier to the depths of the soul?”
    “Well, perhaps I lack that particular sort of courage. After all, I am not Niachero.”
    No… Gwyn sobered, remembering just how many women were frightened by the very passions that would bind their hearts to another’s life. It hurt to remember those who had turned from her own offer because of that fear.
    “And…,” Tawna reminded her with a teasing smile, “I was not raised with a mother and a sister of the Sight. My hermitlike ways would have been quite lost in that sort of household, don’t you think?”
    “In truth.”
    “Also, Selena was gifted with years as well as Sight. You held much to treasure there.”
    Again Gwyn had to agree.
    “Yet why now?” Tawna probed, concern reflected with fond love as she tipped Gwyn’s face upward. “What has happened to bring on this soul searching, Soroe?”
    Gwyn shrugged, growing almost off-handed as she turned to slide her arms about Tawna’s smooth shoulders. “I go to escort a Blue Sight. Perhaps the thought has made me nostalgic?”
    Tawna felt her lips curl in amusement as Gwyn’s soft mouth claimed her. She knew better than to pry, but she wasn’t about to object to the delicious distractions either.
     
    ◊ ◊ ◊
    Off in the darkness, Cinder gave an annoyed snort and stomp. Gwyn glanced up from her whittling, squinting to make out the wavering shapes beyond the fire. She could see nothing. A warm muzzle laid itself down across her knee