Heartbreak
He is gone.
Isley did not say when he would return.
Only that duty had called him,
and that I would understand one day.
I do not.
All I understand is the ache where he was.
The nights are longer without him.
I keep looking for him in every shadow,
listening for his voice in the wind.
But there is only silence.
It hurts more than I thought it could.
And yet, he left me something.
A gift.
I am with child.
When I lay my hand upon myself,
I feel it... a rhythm.
Not mine. Not his.
New. Steady. Alive.
The sisters would call it an omen.
The elders would measure it as prophecy.
But I do not care what they see.
This life is not theirs.
It is mine.
It is his.
It is ours.
Even if he never returns,
I will not let them take this from me.
— Orryn, Age 21
