FicWad

Streamers were hung over the path to the Diwata's shrine, and candles were planted along the ground to light the babaylan's way tonight. More buntings crisscrossed above the clearing, and a gaudy arch of multicolored rice-paper flowers adorned the cave's entrance. Two large wooden candleholders stood on either side of the opening. They looked like the ones beside the altar in church, except that Father Jorge would have run naked through the town before he allowed candleholders carved with pagan images of a woman with a serpent twining around her in his church. Rose-scented smoke wafted from the inside of the cave. Luckily, it seemed my sister had finished her preparations, as there was no sign of her. The whole place was so transformed that I failed to notice when Consuelo released me, too busy turning around and taking in the sights.

"It looks like a wedding is going to be held here," I commented, laughing. "All these flowers and candles. Is this what you wanted to show me, Consuelo? Consuelo?"

She was gone. I was standing all alone in the clearing. She'd probably fled down the path while I was gawking at the decorations. I groaned in disgust. Apparently my brother and his friends weren't the only practical jokers in town. Unable to hold on to my irritation without an object to vent it on, I settled on straightening one of the candleholders that had been leaning to one side, noting with amusement the exaggerated shapeliness of the Diwata and the frightful face of her serpentine Guardian. A gust of wind ruined my efforts, however, toppling down both candleholders, one of them nearly on top of my foot. Squinting against the wind that had picked up so suddenly, I looked up at the gathering storm clouds in puzzlement. That was strange. The day had started out so clear--

"Amihan."

My breath caught. Slowly I turned, half-afraid I'd fallen asleep in front of the cave and was now dreaming this up. He was wearing his white shirt, which had recovered remarkably well from our last encounter, with the black and gold sash tied once again around his waist. His hair rippled in the wind, and my fingers itched to brush back the shimmering black strands from his face. He hadn't changed at bit, except to grow even more breathtakingly handsome. The sight of him broke my heart all over again.

"Skyblade," I said dazedly.

He walked toward me, golden eyes dark and intense. I took a step back, my stomach churning in a mad combination of joy, fear and aching uncertainty. He had kissed me the last time we met. My dreams last night brought it all back in unstinting detail. He had come to me at my most vulnerable moment, and I ended up thrusting my heart into his hands, literally shouting my love for him. In return, he kissed me and gave me my first taste of magic. Then he vanished again, leaving behind the memories of a kiss and a frigid warning about the perils of loving an elf-prince.

And now he was here. I touched my cheek to check for tears. Every time he'd appeared before I'd been sobbing my eyes out, but my face was dry. I stopped crying years ago, when I finally stopped wishing for him. I was content with my dreams of him. I promised myself...and within three seconds he had broken every barrier I'd painstakingly erected in the last two years.

All these thoughts crammed themselves inside my head in the span of a moment, because he was already striding toward me and dragging me into his arms in a bone-crushing hug. My breath whooshed out of my lungs and my face pressed against his chest, but he only bent his head to mine, tightening his hold. "Amihan," he whispered hoarsely. "Amihan."

All resistance crumbled away. This was Skyblade. Skyblade, who was holding me as if he would never let me go, who spoke my name like a holy incantation. Skyblade, who had rescued me and comforted me and given me this love that was the most precious part of me. My own arms slid around him and my hands rubbed his back soothingly, just as he had done for me years ago. "Skyblade, what's wrong?"

He pulled back and met my worried gaze. For the first time I saw fear shadowing those golden depths. "I can take you away," he said urgently. "I know a place far from here where you'll be safe. Say you'll come, Amihan. You must."

"What?" For one skewed moment, I thought he was asking me to run away with him, like those secret lovers in Marikit's stories. Then the rest of his words pierced through my rose-tinted haze. "Why should you take me anywhere?"

He released me and took a deep breath. "She has been angered, Amihan. The townspeople have committed a grave offense against her. They have--" He stopped, his eyes becoming unfocused, as if he was seeing something I couldn't. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be good, judging from the way the color drained from his face. "The fools!" he swore, half-turning in the direction of the town, his eyes blazing. Golden light began to swirl around him, and I grabbed his arm.

"Skyblade!" I shouted, unable to keep the fear out of my voice. For a split-second, Skyblade had changed. The lines of his body had shifted, trying to rearrange themselves into something...not quite human. It happened for only an instant but the sight still left me shaken. "What're you talking about? Who is she?"

His face was a study in icy fury. All of a sudden, I knew who 'she' was, and my hand fell away. "The Lady," I whispered in dawning horror. "The /Diwata/. By all the gods, what did we do? What have we done?"

"An act of cruelty to one who most deserves kindness. You humans--" He broke off and turned away. Tension radiated from him in waves.

For some reason, an image of a dirty, wild-haired woman dancing on stage while my brother and his friends laughed at her flashed in my mind. "Oh no," I moaned. "Oh no, Consuelo. Oh sweet Lady, I shouldn't have let her go back!"

He turned and pinned me with a stare. "What do you mean?"

"She brought me here, then disappeared. She must have gone back to town. She wanted to dance so much." The wind turned cold, and lightning tore through the clouds, briefly illuminating us in stark white. I gazed at him miserably. "I'm so sorry, Skyblade. You must be so disgusted with us." My eyes widened. "Oh no, the town! My family is--I have to go!"

He grabbed my arm before I could take the first step. "Amihan, listen to me!" he growled. "She means to destroy the entire town. You cannot go back."

"Let me go, Skyblade."

"No. You are not going to throw your life away like this."

"I'm going to be with my family," I corrected angrily. "They need me."

"What? To slave for them and take your brother's punches while you wait for death?"

I jerked back as if slapped. "What do you care?" I snapped, goaded beyond endurance. "What do you care, anyway? You're never around to see how they treat me. You're never around, /period/! You come and go as you please, never giving a thought to how I feel, and now you just barge into my life and tell me I have to abandon my family and run away to the Lady knows where? I'm sorry, but you don't know me as well as you think you do."

"I know you better than you know yourself, human," he snarled, his eyes glowing like twin suns in his rage. Even through my own anger, I noticed a definite lengthening of his fangs. "Do not prattle on about things you have no knowledge of. I have watched over you and your wretched family for sixteen years. I have defied my Diwata for you, stretched the limits of the covenant to breaking point for you--if you ever accuse me of not loving you again, so help me I will make you regret even considering it!"

The raging winds died out; the electrical storm fell silent. I stared at him, hopeful and terrified at the same time. "You--you love me?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "Oh by the stars, couldn't you tell?!" When I continued to gape at him, he reigned in his temper with visible effort. "Yes, Amihan, I love you. Beyond all that is sacred and profane, I love you. And right now, my love for you is the only thing that is keeping me from flying to my Diwata's side and razing your pathetic little town to the ground, so do not presume to--"

I flung myself at him in a hug nearly as fierce as the one he gave me, cutting off the rest of his words. I felt his body stiffen in shock, then something seemed to break inside him and he relaxed, whipping his arms around me, holding me tight. He loves me! He loves me, he loves me, he loves me! I was wild with joy, all the fear and anger of the last few minutes and the heartache of the last two years melting away, and I raised my face to his, wanting to see the truth in the light of his eyes.

There was no light. Only heart-wrenching anguish. "Amihan," he whispered brokenly. "Amihan, forgive me. I shouldn't be doing this; I am forbidden to. I am bound to her for all time and I--I cannot be divided like this. But stars forgive me, I cannot let you go. If my life were mine to give, I would give it to you, but I've already broken too many rules when I gave you my heart."

I felt cold. As if someone had carved out all my insides and let the wind blow through the gaping hole. What do you mean? I wanted to wail. How can you be forbidden to love me? Why should the Diwata possess your soul when she couldn't hold on to your heart? Instead, impelled by a dark, growing suspicion, I asked the one question I should have asked long ago: "Who are you, Skyblade?"

He shuddered and closed his eyes. "I am hers," he said. "All that I am is hers. I have no right to beg your forgiveness for what I am about to do, but I can give you something that will always be yours and no one else's." He gripped my shoulders and stared deep into my eyes. "My name is Dawani. 'Skyblade' is what I am called, but 'Dawani' is my true name. Summon me, Amihan, and I will come to you, though all the stars stand in my way. Use this power wisely. It is yours forever."

Dawani/, I thought in wonder. /His true name. Dawani.

He shuddered again, his fingers digging into my shoulders painfully. "I must go," he rasped. "Forgive me, my love, and remember."

He pushed me away from him, sending me stumbling back as light erupted from the ground where he stood, enveloping him in a pillar of gold. The smell of scorched grass and paper buntings grew overpowering as the light shot up to the sky and into the clouds. The resulting backlash of air nearly flattened me, sending candleholders, flowers and buntings spinning wildly. When I looked up again, I was all alone in the ruins of the shrine, shivering in the murky darkness.

He left me, and a stirring of intuition told me not to hope that he would ever come back to me again. I had no time to dwell on my loss, however, as it was at that moment that the screams began.