The heat is less intense out here, especially by the water’s edge. He stands quietly on the bank, the soft mist of water from the falls is soothing.
Gael closes his eyes against the spray. Droplets collect on eyelashes and between his nostrils. How long had it been since he just allowed himself to exist? He’d never quite been okay with the idea of being anything more than muscle for hire because that meant he would have to feel more than an aching numbness. He would have to allow other emotions to seep into his heart, which, he quite sure he didn’t even have a heart – at least until he met Corinth.
She was all he could think about. When he closed his eyes, he saw her face. Without her he felt lost and without reason to keep going. Yet, even still, she gave him reason because he had to find her or find out what happened – where she had gone after all this time.
Had she fallen in love with someone else after he disappeared? Did she have more children? Gael couldn’t understand why it meant so much to him to know these secrets and it caused a strange pain in-between his ribs.
Gael opens his eyes and turns away from the falls. He ambles slowly back towards the trees where the sounds of rushing water are not so thunderous and demanding.