Goodbye

Goodbye

                The beautiful forest paths had lost their lustre. Soff saw sights that earlier had brought smiles to her face, but she was unable to enjoy them. She was felt bitter, and so very, very sad. She'd lost everything. She might have another life, even a better one (hah), but it wouldn't be the one she had lived so far.

                No more happy, satisfied days watching the mill grind flour while her father organised the workers. Someone had to keep an eye on it at all times, in case of fire. It was an easy job, but she loved to watch the mill at work, grinding and grinding and grinding. Of course, her father had made her do other duties (sweeping, hauling bags of flour, even organising the workers herself sometimes).

                It made her happy enough to smile before sadness shocked her. Never again could she watch the mill at work. She was heading there to meet her father, but it was being cleaned today. The soft grinding of grain into flour... She sighed. There was a long way to walk yet, and she had to plan her way through town. First to home, then to her father.

                The home Soff shared with her parents and younger brother (who was to inherit the mill - it always passed to the youngest) was near the mill itself, and thus a little bit out of the town proper. Mill fires and explosions were uncommon, but risky enough that the mill was built away from the other buildings.

                Soff managed to reach the yard of the house without being seen, and made her way in through the back door. Her mother and brother would still be visiting her aunt in the next town over, which meant that (unless her father was home) she was alone.

                Her room had little in it. A few pieces of cheap jewellery and some clothing of day to day and occasional quality, a bed, and a few odds and ends. She packed it all into her 'travel bag' - a large backpack she had bought to take on the long treks the town 'Wander Club' went on. On the one trek she had attended, the packed to the brim bag had proven too heavy, and the resultant embarrassment (and a lack of free time) had kept her from participating in another.

                All that she owned filled the bag, and Soff was sure it should weigh more now than it had on the trek. But now she could lift it with ease. Carrying her pack, she wandered through the house to her mother's room. She took her mother's pen, and used it to write her a short goodbye, the best she could quickly,

                "Dear Mother,

                                I can no longer stay. Something has happened - I will explain more to father,      I have not the time. I must leave, and you will soon surely understand why. You have           my undyi love always. Tell my brother and sister that I love them as well. Please forgive me for running.

                                Your daughter,

                                                Soff."

                Soff lay the note on her mother's desk, and fought back her tears with a calming breath. She lay her bag by the door, then left to find her father.

                The mill was silent, everything locked in place for the day. Soff saw a few workers cleaning as she approached, she waved and they waved back. Though her countenance was somewhat deathlike, it was not noticeably different from her norm. As for her eyes - who truly remembers the colours of everyone's eyes?

                She approached one of the cleaner-women, Jynn. A tough yet wiry middle-aged woman, who had worked at the mill for many years. She wore one of the smocks Soff's grandfather had ordered made, long ago. "Hello lass. I thought you were off on a walk today 'til late? It can't be past the fourth hour after midday, can it?" Jynn asked.

                "No, I just came back a bit early," replied Soff. "Where's my dad gotten to?"

                "He's watching to make sure Rem cleans up the stone properly. And safely, too. Wouldn't want a repeat of the old accident."

                "That would be tragic. Thank you, Jynn."

                "Oh, no trouble for me, Soff. If you should happen to find yourself with some free time this evening we're a bit behind-"

                "Maybe, Jynn. Maybe." Soff smiled, and headed into the mill. Jynn, having noticed nothing amiss, grinned and got back to work.

                Soff only had to pass through a couple of rooms, make a few pointless smiles and waves, before she found her father in the grinding room. "Dad! Can I talk to you for a bit?" she called out to him. "In private?"

                "Hmm," muttered her father as she approached. He looked over at Rem (Remswold, one of the younger workers) and said, "Well. Don't unpin it until I return, Rem! Jynn would never let me forget it if an accident happened on my watch. She's yet to forget my father's oversight."

                Rem nodded emphatically. "Of course, master miller," he said.

                Soff's father stared at Rem for a moment, then nodded. "Alright Soff. The grain-pour has been cleaned out already; we'll head up there," he said.

                Soff followed her father through the grinding room, and up the stairway to the grain-pour. It was the room they used to pour the grain to be ground into the mill; and named by her great, great, great grandfather who had been the builder of the mill.

                "So, what is it, Soff?" asked her father.

                She wasn't sure where to begin. "I... went on my walk, earlier, through the forest. I went to the undead graveyard -" she began.

                "Ha ha, did you see the gravestone jokes? Some of them are hilarious!" said her father. Soff's father noticed then that she wasn't in high spirits. More than that, he noticed her eyes, and her pallor...

                "Something happened, Dad. There was something there - an undead that had clung on to life for all these years. He -" Soff had to pause "He killed me."

                Fear and anger both swept across her father's face. "Why are you here?" he asked.

                "To say goodbye," said Soff, choking on the last word. Tears started to spill from her eyes.

                Her father looked at her for a moment, then pulled her into a hug. "Either you're still my daughter as she left this morning, or you're doing a damn good job of pretending," he said, his words stuttering with emotion.

                "Dad," said Soff. Soff was held in her father's warm hug for several minutes, while she cried into his shoulder. She could feel the life in him, feel how she could take it - but there was no pressure to do so. No dark temptation. She had worried that she wouldn't be able to stop herself - but there was not even a desire to start.

                After a while, they pulled apart. Soff's face was covered in tears, and her father's shoulder drenched. Twin rivulets of tears trailed down her father's face, getting lost in his beard. "Did you get the bastard?" her father asked.

                "No. He's - his body is barely alive, but he has magic," Soff said. "I have to go with him. He can move, now that he's killed me, and he's my best chance to survive..."

                "Soff, no. Don't leash yourself to some-"

                "If he's one of the really vile ones I'll leave him. But - I don't think he is. He killed me out of necessity and I hate him for it but I think if he was one of the vile ones he would have come here and killed everyone to repair himself. He's already fleeing to the east."

                "He may just be a coward. Leave him when you get into the buffer, Soff. Learn what you can until then. I'll - I'll visit, or your brother will, some day. Kill him if you can."

                "Dad..."

                "I know you can't stay. Whatever nuance there is to the creature, he's your best bet to survive. I love you, Soff, and I can't protect you from the ridiculous justice the lunatics push. So I'll let - I'll let you go."

                Soff nodded. "I love you too Dad. I'll find a way to tell you where I end up."

                Her father held her by the shoulders, and stared at her for what seemed to be the longest time. "Goodbye, Soff."

                "Goodbye, Dad."

                They shared one more quick hug, and then Soff left.

                It was almost midnight when she caught up with Taoten. Almost, but not quite.

                "Hey!" she called out, getting the attention of the still walking Taoten.

                He stopped, and turned around. "Ah, so," he began, "it seems I needn't worry about the chance of foes beyond me. Hello again, Soff. I did figure you as a sensible one."

                "It's not like I have a choice. I'd... have to be far less than sensible to take another 'option'."

                "Oh, but that would not stop some. Is spite worth pain? For some it is. Come, catch up to me," Taoten said, beckoning Soff forwards.

                With some gritting of her teeth, she obliged. "So," she began, "What will you speak to me of, on this sleepless night?"

                "Oh, well," replied Taoten, "I figured I'd begin with a far more detailed description of what we are."

                "Alright. We have a long walk ahead of us."

                "Really? I do not know where this land ends."

                "Truly. We're halfway between the coast and the border of Terryd. We have - at least two weeks of walking."

                "Well then. I suppose it's good I have a lot to say."