Tracia sent them to the Triangle Glade on the Disc of Agê. When she emerged through her portal, Metatron was sitting on the mossy root of a tree that was so large, it seemed like a tree in itself.
“I missed you,” Metatron said.
Tracia looked down at him. The Glade was cool and there were many Fonlanders there enjoying the cozy environment that was ripening into what Earthers might recognize as autumn. Seasons are not ubiquitous on Age’s disc, but the jungles and forests are defined by the areas that seem to share the same cycles of temperature changes that encourage the growth of certain plant kin of the Disc. The jungles do not experience temperate seasons, but rainy seasons, and there is one forest that only exists in the coldest temperatures of the Disc. The Triangle Glade is in the forest that experiences autumn and spring, and the foliage of the Glade is changing colors. Under the soft glow, the view of the Glade is awe-inspiring, but Tracia cannot appreciate it.
“Then why were you away from me?”
“Because duty is everlasting,” Metatron said and he motioned for Tracia to sit so he didn’t have to look up at her. She sat cross-legged. “Even when you all named new Supremes, you were still Tracia, and too good for a creation of Lêgba. I am still your dirty secret even though you have lived and shaped the destiny of two realms for so long that neither would be the same without you. We are ancient, but forever the children of the Vodun. We can never have the future that I want with you.”
“Agê will not hate Lêgba forever, and we could be together however we want in the other realm. There are no Vodun there to object to us, if we actually want to be together. It’s ok if we are both done. We gave it our best shot. I won’t be happy, Metatron, but I will understand. It’s better than waiting and hoping, staring up and past all the beauty and wonder surrounding me, hoping that you will return to me. I miss so much pining for you.”
“And I you,” Metatron said, resisting the urge to move closer to her and touch her face. “But I don’t regret it, in the absence of you, nothing is more beautiful to me than your memory.”
Tracia wanted to snuggle up with him then, to kiss his lips and run her fingers through the curls of his thick hair, but she did not. She felt a tear on her cheek and she brushed it away.
“It is on you, Tracia. It is your move to take,” Metatron said. “I would defy my maker for you, never lay eyes on the Fonlands again if that will keep you from conflict with your maker. I want to be with you always, I don’t want to waste more time. Be mine and I will be yours and we will make a world that accepts us.”
Tracia smiled. “I guess both our makers will think less of us. And this is the last time we will see the Triangle Glade.”
Metatron moved closer to her and they kissed for a long time before returning to the other realm and Lorv’s ship.
“Change it back!” Yana screamed from the mists. “Why are we seeing Tracia and Metatron! You did this didn’t you?”
“Maybe the Chamber is as curious as I am about how those two settle things,” Owuo said ironically. He couldn’t care less about the relationship between Tracia and Metatron; even if things ended badly in this instance, they would still have to work closely together at some point in the future and things would inevitably change. He liked keeping tabs on them, though, seeing what abilities they displayed in their advanced ages that would benefit in a game of Smiting, or for fighting against the feared enemy that Yana had glimpsed in the mists of the Chamber.
Yana was quiet for a moment and Owuo could tell that she was communicating with the Chamber; when she spoke directly to the chamber, Yana’s eyes turned Essence blue and she was stone still. When the blue from her eye disappeared, she sighed with annoyance.
“You’re right, it cares,” Yana said. “Probably for the same reason you do, the reason you think you’re better at hiding than you are. It only cut to this to spare me the stress of seeing Zacchaeus until he is well again.”
“If he ever gets well again…” Owuo said.
“When! Shut up! I deserve some time in the Triangle Glade,” Yana said with a pout. “I’m always stuck in these caves solving other people’s problems.”
PRL Serials 