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Brea solemnly walked the path down the mountain. The silver circlet in her hands was heavy as she made her way along the path. Her heart grieved and she wanted more than anything to curl up in a ball and hide from the world, but she knew this had to be done. She knew that there was someone else who needed to know, maybe more than anyone else in Thra.
The way down was rocky, and at times the only thing she could see through the heavy mist was the light of the lantern. When she came to a cliff with handholds worn into the side of the adjacent stone wall, she lifted off the ground and fluttered towards the warm glow of the Seafarer’s Lantern.
When she arrived there was a figure waiting. A Sifa girl, a few trine older than Brea with unruly red hair and a worried expression. She gasped a little when she saw Brea, and Brea sucked in a breath. She landed on the sea shore quietly and stepped towards the Sifa.
“You must be Onica,” she said softly. When Onica nodded, Brea continued. “I’m Brea. Tavra’s younger sister.”
“Yes, she’s told me all about you,” Onica said.
“I-” Brea stumbled over her words, her voice breaking and tears forming in her eyes. “I have something for you.” She held out the silver circlet that once belonged to her older sister. Upon seeing it, Onica gasped and dropped to the ground, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Brea came and embraced her older sister’s beloved. They cried together, mourning the loss of Princess Katavra of Ha’rar.
When the sobs lessened, Brea loosened her grip on the Sifa girl. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you before.”
“Me too,” Onica whispered. After a pause she said, “Did you see it happen?”
Brea nodded shakily.
Onica held out her hand. “Would you show me?”
Brea was shocked. Had it been the other way around, she wasn’t sure she would’ve wanted to see her sister’s fate. But she supposed there would be some comfort in seeing it for herself. Closure of knowing what had exactly happened, not sitting and wondering endlessly. Waiting. Like Onica had been when Brea had arrived. How long had she been there, waiting for Tavra to come back?
Brea nodded and the dreamfast began. She remembered when she had seen Tavra, slave to a spider in the depths of the Skeksis castle. Onica shuddered. Brea called back the memories of Tavra and the spider becoming one, of their escape from the Castle of the Crystal, of skekSil running his blade through Tavra’s side. She recalled their trek through the woods, Tavra growing weaker by the second, until she succumbed to her wound and lay still, returning to Thra.
Brea and Onica’s eyes filled with tears once more as the dreamfast ended. They hugged and cried more, sharing their sadness. When the tears stopped again, Onica held Tavra’s circlet in her hands. She smiled a soft, heartbroken smile and whispered something that Brea couldn’t make out, but something told her that the words weren’t meant for her.
“I loved her very much,” Onica whispered. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Brea said. “She loved you, too.”
“We were going to run away together,” Onica said softly. She must’ve seen Brea’s eyes widen and continued. “But she couldn’t leave you. She loved you too much to leave. So we stayed.” Onica smiled.
“I wish you could’ve gone,” Brea said, not knowing what else to say.
“Me too,” Onica said. “But she fulfilled her task for Thra. So now all we can do is fulfill ours.”
Brea nodded, looking at the silver circlet resting in Onica’s hands. She would play her part in the song of Thra. For Tavra.