“You wouldn’t betray him by becoming who you should have been in the first place if none of this had happened!”
She smiled sadly. “But it did happen. It did, and we can’t change that. We have to live with it. I have to live with it.”
She put her arms around him and hugged him. He stood rigid in her embrace for a few moments, then little by little, the tension and the anger drained away until at last he hugged her back.
“I love you, Bek,” she said. “My little brother. I love you for what you did for me, for believing in me when no one else would, for seeing who I could be if I was free of the Morgawr and his lies. That won’t change, even if everything else in the world does.”
“I don’t want you to go.” His words were bitter with disappointment. “It isn’t fair.”
She sighed softly, her breath a whisper in his ear. “I was never meant to come home with you, Bek. That isn’t my life,—it isn’t the life I was meant to live. I wouldn’t be happy, not after what I have been through. Coran and Liria are your parents, not mine. Their home is yours. Mine lies elsewhere. You have to accept this. If I am to find peace, I have to make amends for the damage I have done and the hurt I have caused. I can do this by following the destiny Walker has set for me. A Druid can make a difference in the lives of so many. Perhaps becoming one will make a difference in mine, as well.”
He hugged her tighter to him. He sensed the inevitability of what she was saying, the certainty that no matter how hard he argued against it, no matter what obstacles he presented, she was not going to change her mind. He hated what that meant, the loss of any real chance at a life as brother and sister, as family. But he understood that he had lost most of that years ago, and he couldn’t have it back the way it was or even the way it would have been. Life didn’t allow for that.
“I just don’t want to lose you again,” he said.
She released him and stepped away, her strange blue eyes almost merry. “You couldn’t do that, little brother. I wouldn’t allow it. Whatever I do, however this business tonight turns out, I won’t ever be far away from you.”
He nodded, feeling suddenly as if he were just a boy again, still small and in his sister’s care. “Go on, then. Do what you need to do.” He gave her a quick smile. “I’m all argued out. All worn out.” He looked off into the sunset, which had become a faint silver glow in the gathering dark, and fought back his tears. “I’m going home, now. I need to go home. I need for this to be over.”
She came close once more, so small and frail it seemed impossible that she could possess the kind of strength a Druid would need. “Then go, Bek. But know that a part of me goes with you. I will not forget you, nor my promise not ever to be too far away.”
She kissed him. “Will you wish me luck?”
“Good luck,” he muttered.
She smiled. “Don’t be sad, Bek. Be happy for me. This is what I want.”
She tightened her dark robes about her and turned away. “Wait!” he said impulsively. He unstrapped the Sword of Shannara from where he wore it across his back and handed it to her. “You’ll know what to do with this better than I will.”
She looked uncertain. “It was given to you. It belongs to you.”
He shook his head. “It belongs to the Druids. Take it back to them.”
She accepted the talisman, cradling it in her arms like a baby at rest. “Good-bye, Bek.”
In moments, she had started her climb into the mountains. He stood watching until he could no longer see her, all the while unable to overcome the feeling that he was losing her again.
Rue Meridian watched him return to the airship across the broken rock of the barren flats on which they had landed, his head lowered into shadow, fists clenched. Clearly, he was not happy about how things had turned out with his sister. Anger and disappointment radiated from him. Rue knew what he had asked of Grianne and knew, as well, that he had been refused. She could have saved him the trouble, but she supposed he had to find it out for himself. Bek was nothing if not a believer in impossibilities.