Chapter Text
Anemone hears it from Tangent, who says it as matter-of-factly as anything: Sol has disappeared.
To be fair to them, it was a planned, voluntary disappearance. Anemone hasn't seen Sol in 3 years, and yet the pang of hurt in her is as fresh as the dew on her boots. Already impossibly far, they have moved into some new to her unreachable realm, drifting ever farther and farther away.
Sym never quite learns to lie outright, so he cannot tell them honestly if Sol is happy or not.
Only that they are getting better.
They are trying. They are trying to get back to everyone
and themself. Even if to all of them it looks like doing the opposite.
Once,
Sol uploads a 20 minute long soundscape to the holonet. It is entirely taken up by the sound of crashing waves.
A particular cry of a seabird
makes her hear it for what it is- Vertumna- no Earth recording. Sol is at the ocean. Their voice hums beneath the waves, going in and out at various intervals as it follows one pattern,
then loses its tail only to start trailing another, lulling one into a sense of calm with just the slightest touch of loss. Reminds one, gently but insistently, of the vast distance between her
and Sol.
Their voice is salt-cracked and hoarse.
Now a stranger to language, their tongue bends only for the small, simple sounds. Are they eating well? Their mouth cannot answer.
It must be inferred
from the thinness of their breath.
Does salt crust the corners of their eyes? There is no way of telling.
Are they cold? Do they sleep? Are they shivering? Do they think of her? Are their pets well-fed? Do they miss their mother? Does she miss them? Are there holes in their shirt that need mending? Does the scar still itch? Have they shelter? A home? Does it get lonely? Is she at fault? Will they ever talk to her? Does the uncertainty in her voice still linger? Does it hurt? It hurts her. Did they catch Echina's first steps? ´ Do they follow the life of the colony at all? Is their knife still sharp? Are they drinking enough? Too much? Do they sleep better now than they had before, at home? Is it enough to keep it at bay? Will they ever see their friends again? Are they still friends? Where does the line fall between friend and savior? Can Sol ever look at all of them the same way again? As equals? Were they ever equals?
Are you alive? I miss you.