Look at the time it's taken me to get away from what was said
I'll never leave, I'll always love
“No,” Aura answered thoughtfully. “Actually, I think it’s a good thing.”
It felt like a betrayal of Mallos’ privacy to elaborate on that, so she chose not to. If this relationship went the way she had a hunch it was going, Mallos might even be inclined to open up of his own accord in future years.
When Croe said she’d do anything for her new lover and child, that settled the matter, as far as Aura was concerned. Whatever Croe had done in the past, assuming she was telling the truth now, would just have to swallowed. Sperantia, Arthur, Tsi and Morgana could disapprove of the relationship all they wanted, but they couldn’t deny it and their disapproval alone wouldn’t end it. Mallos was used to people disapproving of the things he did. He wasn’t about to throw something as rare as this out of the window just because other people didn’t like it.
“Good luck to you both.” She shrugged, which was about as much an open display of approval as Croe was likely to get.
Considering how much benders obsessed over the question of death, no one had actually asked Aura was it was like. She acknowledged that by tilting her head and considering it for a moment.
“Broken.” She said truthfully, before frowning slightly. “If you mean can I find people there… maybe.” She glanced across the room at the scythe, still leaning against the far wall. Brock had hunted high and low for an owner’s manual for that thing in the Great Library, but no such book seemed to exist. Aura hadn’t magically acquired any great wisdom when she became the Guide of the Dead either, so she really had no idea how to work it. If the staff had a ‘locate dead originals’ setting, she’d yet to figure that out. “If you mean can people in general find the people they’re looking for… the Realm of the Dead is large enough to comfortably hold every person who has ever died in any world, and is expanding every second as thousands more souls pass over. There’s no technology there and limited magic.” She traced the embroidery on the chair with her finger, her frown deepening slightly. “Some people, travellers, journey through Death looking for their loved ones. Exposure to the air in Death causes everyone to lose their memories of life, so eventually you forget who or what you’re looking for.”
She turned her left arm over to show Croe the four symbols portrayed there: Caspian’s dual heart, Mallos’ sun, Thoth’s ibis and her own star. Now that her memories were restored Aura didn’t really need to keep the marks, but she wasn’t quite ready to let them go yet. She’d retraced the ink only a short while earlier so it gleamed in sharp black against her white skin.
“Wish I could tell you I know how to fix it.” Aura turned her arm back around the right way up and sat back in the chair. “If you have any ideas, I’m all open.”
me and you, we are ghosts
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