Ficlet: Voyager
Aug. 6th, 2009 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolevalanTitle: Voyager
Fandom/original: original
Rating: G
A/N:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rougen's third prompt, "second thoughts."
The breeze off the ocean was nothing but pleasant, that day; it was almost like a lake, as still and calm as the water could be. The clipper cut down the coastline, far enough out that it was a thin border on the horizon’s edge, but not far enough for the passengers to lose sight of the land altogether.
The sailors avoided him. Not that Tahar could really blame them for doing so. In his former life, he would have found what he’d become unnerving as well. But then, many of his former opinions and reactions no longer mattered.
He did have humanity enough left, however, to be starved for conversation. He wished his wife were with him. He wanted to show her the parts of his world that inspired pride. Awe. Contentment. He could see a heron skimming along the water with them, parallel. The sun on the water shimmered like gold thread woven through blue fabric. It was stunning, he had to admit, despite the fact it gave him little pleasure.
It wasn’t as if she had married the powerless young bard she’d first met, after all. He was the Gods’ Avatar, and even without their direct intervention, the power at his disposal was substantial now. He had been given the power to protect and heal, as well as to assault and destroy. He should not have been…
It did not matter, truly, what should or should not have been. Tahar had learned, in these later times, that preserving sanity meant accepting what was, regardless of what should have been. But that did not mean that he did not regret that he was here, alone on the Western Ocean, while his wife stood vigil through her father’s humiliation and defeat. He should have been with her. But the Gods left no room for doubt.
Only Tahar was plagued with such thoughts. The Avatar had no time for such matters.
Fandom/original: original
Rating: G
A/N:
rougen's third prompt, "second thoughts." The breeze off the ocean was nothing but pleasant, that day; it was almost like a lake, as still and calm as the water could be. The clipper cut down the coastline, far enough out that it was a thin border on the horizon’s edge, but not far enough for the passengers to lose sight of the land altogether.
The sailors avoided him. Not that Tahar could really blame them for doing so. In his former life, he would have found what he’d become unnerving as well. But then, many of his former opinions and reactions no longer mattered.
He did have humanity enough left, however, to be starved for conversation. He wished his wife were with him. He wanted to show her the parts of his world that inspired pride. Awe. Contentment. He could see a heron skimming along the water with them, parallel. The sun on the water shimmered like gold thread woven through blue fabric. It was stunning, he had to admit, despite the fact it gave him little pleasure.
It wasn’t as if she had married the powerless young bard she’d first met, after all. He was the Gods’ Avatar, and even without their direct intervention, the power at his disposal was substantial now. He had been given the power to protect and heal, as well as to assault and destroy. He should not have been…
It did not matter, truly, what should or should not have been. Tahar had learned, in these later times, that preserving sanity meant accepting what was, regardless of what should have been. But that did not mean that he did not regret that he was here, alone on the Western Ocean, while his wife stood vigil through her father’s humiliation and defeat. He should have been with her. But the Gods left no room for doubt.
Only Tahar was plagued with such thoughts. The Avatar had no time for such matters.
