Resolution
Tali sat in the sun, head tilted towards the sky with her eyes closed, a slight smile on her face. She wasn't entirely unaware of the soft, limping footsteps in the moss as Trynn approached. Still, she didn't stir, but her smile faded. "Beautiful day," he said as he came to stand behind her. She responded with a soft sigh and tilted her head down, eyes still closed. She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the man standing over her. He was looking over her, towards the edge of the forest.Both stood in silence for a moment, Tali squinting up at him, Trynn statue still. "Did you need me for something?" She finally spoke, trying not to sound impatient. It was his way, she knew, to make his presence felt, that cold stare that never touched anything but affected everything. He continued to let the silence build for a moment and looked down at her. His eyes looked sad, she thought, odd for him, usually so stoney. His eyes pierced hers, his jaw clentched slightly and he looked away again. "Come on," she coaxed playfully, "spit it out." She tugged his pant leg, gently inviting him to sit, but he didn't budge.
"Don't," he said and looked down at her again. His eyes flashed, sudden irritation replaced the sadness, then melted to nothing. He was on the verge of breaking loose, his mind set to unleash his voice, but he held back. She could feel it building like a storm on the horizon. Her hands fell to her sides and she pushed herself to stand.
"Say what you need to say, or leave," she was annoyed now, tired of this game of silent rebuke that he played. "Better yet, stay, I'm leaving." She turned around, avoiding his stare and took a step to walk past him, and his hand reached for her arm to stop her. She dodged his grip, nearly tripping on her own feet, clumsiness betraying the grace she normally tried to portray. "Don't! Don't touch me," she hissed, her face going red, her eyes angry and welling suddenly with emotion.
"You're such a child," he said callously. She stopped and stared at him hard, her own jaw clentched now, the two mirror images of each other.
"Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare! You don't get to treat me like this anymore. I am not a child, not anymore."
He laughed, though there was no joy in it. "You don't know what you are."
"And you do? Enlighten me then, Trynn, tell me what the hell I am, you're so fucking wise." She leaned forward, her face level with his, her fists clentched at her side, she was shaking. He returned her look unflitching but said nothing. The air boiled between them. "That's what I thought," she said. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but get over it. I'm not playing this game with you anymore. You may have been stronger once, but not anymore. You aren't keeping me locked in my room anymore. I won't be caged by you again."
"I protected you," he said, his words hissing between clentched teeth like steam. She felt the heat of them, of his breath hit her face and seemed to burn. "You couldn't deal with yourself, and you hid behind me all that time. You were a child then and you still are. You can't face yourself let alone the rest of the world. Try to be brave, I dare you. Get out and see how strong you are. You aren't ready to let go and be an adult, to be the person you think you are. You still hide behind me and the rest of us. The door is open to you, walk through it." He gestured a mock bow. "I didn't cage you, you did. You still do because for all your confidence, for all your bravery and strength, you're still afraid to let go of my coat tail."
His words moved through her, and knotted in her stomach, and then she let them go. The anger and hurt she'd felt melted and washed off of her, and for a moment, she felt nothing. She stood straight again and took a step back from him, squared her shoulders and smiled. "Wow, that's really how you see it, is it? You protected me? You took away my ability to protect myself. I could have been anything you are. I could have done anything you do, but you locked me in a box and fed me scraps. You made me weak trying to shield me from the horrors you thought I'd face. I never got to be the woman I would have grown into. You didn't protect me, you asshole, you took away the chance to protect myself. I'm done now, Trynn. You've tried to hide me away not to protect me, but to protect yourself, because you know if I had been strong enough, you wouldn't be needed anymore. That's what this is about, not about my insecurity and weakness, but your's."
The stoney look returned to his eyes, and again the two were like twins, and the silence returned, both too frustrated and spent to speak further. "You're both weak," a soft voice broke the silence. "Neither of you is strong anymore because you're halves of each other. If you two don't learn to work together again, neither of you will be any stronger. Ever. Chew on that for a while." Lan stood from beneath a nearby tree and stretched out his front paws, yawning. Tali turned to see the fox as he turned a slow circle in the shade where he'd been sleeping and laid back down, closing his eyes. "Why do you think you two are so opposite? Trynn so old and crippled, Tali too young and unsure. You two are opposite ends of the same tapestry. Incomplete pictures of the same story. But by all means, don't let me interupt, I was just about to see you come to the same conclussion. Eventually." Lan openned one eye slightly to see the two of them staring at him now in silence. He smirked slightly and closed his eye again, pretending to sleep again.
Tali turned back to Trynn and gently took his hand. He was unusually warm, she thought. She couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him. Once he'd been so strong, so sure of himself and his purpose, and she knew she took some of that from him the night he was crippled, when she'd run the knife into his back. He was like a shadow of himself now, a ghost, desperately trying to hold on to the world that had let him go. And it occurred to her. "Trynn, I have to be true to myself now, and where I can see how you tried to keep me safe, now I have to find my strength. I have to be stronger for both of us. Maybe it's time I protected you."
Lan openned his eyes again and raised his head to look at the pair. He imagined all kinds of ways for this to turn out, almost every one ending with Trynn limping away in a fury. He was shocked to see Trynn's head drop, his knees bending and lowering himself to the ground. Tali bent with him, helping him down, and leaned her forehead against his. She kissed him gently between the eyes, and Trynn, eyes closed, softly began to cry. Lan stared, shocked. His old friend had never cried in as long as he could remember. He had always distanced himself from any emotion that wasn't frustration and anger, never allowing himself to feel. Trynn's body seemed to soften then, the strength went out of him and he collapsed against Tali's breast. She held him and tears came to her own eyes, falling on her companions head. The two continued to hold each other, seeming to melt together in the high afternoon sun, and Lan quietly stood and walked around the tree to leave the two alone.
