Lake Rodney and not a drop to drink

"i don't know what you are to me, adi. but whatever it is; i care for you in a way that's different, somehow."

why had he come here, of all places? the conversation rattled through his mind as if it was yesterday. and yet he stood on the banks of this massive lake, the same water lapping at the toes of an irreversibly changed man.

these memories were better than others, aditya supposed. these were farther in the past, the blows they dealt cushioned by much time gone by. the valley reminded him of his newcomer days in morningside, when things had been simpler. when grayday had lived and breathed, and he was head-over-heels for the leader's daughter. simpler, easier, happier.

would he ever feel that kind of ease of existence again?

"i want this. i want us, adi." and yet she had hurled herself into the embrace of another, and he had shed blood for a woman who'd never given him a verbal confirmation like that. what was wrong with them?

aditya heaved a sigh, staring across the water with eyes that saw things miles and moons away.