an eye for an eye and the world goes blind
When the Gods finally emerged from their wayward respite to walk the land of Novus once again, Somnus donned his mottled brown cloak and did the same.
His return to Delumine had gone without fanfare, without notice, without grandiose preamble or unnecessary embellishment. ’As it should be,’ the wise voice of Oriens echoed in his ear, remnant phantoms from the vast time he had spent in his patron deities’ company.
The climb down from Veneror had been difficult, but it had transpired with far more ease than his climb up many seasons ago. Back then, he was new to his blindness, the gashes upon his milky-green eyes barely even scabbed over. It had been recent, and he had struggled to traverse the land that he could now barely see. The smallest of rocks were enough to trip him and leave him unbalanced, wayward sticks and natural debris an utter nightmare, but Alba had been a patient, cautious guide. The barn owl had become his eyes, guiding him with remarkable patience that she had never before displayed, pedantic and spoiled as she was…
But in seclusion, he had mediated. With no visitors save for the sparse pilgrims who made the dangerous trek up Veneror, Somnus of Delumine had lived his life in quiet servitude to his godly patron. He mediated, he prayed, and he learned.
The dunalino adapted. It took weeks, months, years, but he learned. He learned to navigate the world without the use of his vision, to step lightly but with purpose, to listen and feel in a way he had never done before. He could move with grace and poise like a dancer across the worship hall of the temple, tending to the candles and incense and cleaning the dust and grime from the dias reserved for each holy relic. It took a great amount of resolve to test his patience such a way, but Somnus had always been a patient man. This had simply been a larger test than all of the others, but he had always so loved a challenge.
His first visit would not be the streets of the Court he had loved since Vhallen. Instead he walked through the forests to return to the dusty tomes, ancient scrolls, reaching wood archways with leaflet halls, and wondrous knowledge that was the Library. It had always felt like home, even when his own Court had not.
It was there that he sank, letting himself go through the motions despite his lack of vision. Somnus was so intimately familiar with these halls that he could, quite literally, traverse them with his eyes closed. He reached out and plucked up a number of old scripts that Alba ensured he could read before finding a quiet place to read.
Roosting upon the top of a shelf, Alba bristled at the sound of someone approaching. Her head swiveled around, beady black eyes blinking slowly as a soft trill left her hooked beak. ’You have a visitor, Somnus.’
He smiled. So he did. A graying-gold ear ticked back to listen, yet he remained focused on the scripts unrolled before him. The cadence of hooves did not sound familiar, but it had been so long since he had been around anyone save the presence of the Gods. The newcomer, whoever they were, had no qualms with simply, speaking, and so that is what Somnus let them do.
’You’re the former king, right?’ Ah. Is that what this was about? Somnus frowned softly, his sightless, milky-green eyes focused on the unrolled manuscript in front of him. Was he truly still recognizable? Had Ipomoea not done enough for Delumine that the golden king of Dawn could not retire and be forgotten in peace?
’Where have you been?’ Somnus knew that tone. The tension in a jaw, the blame like nails in a throat. What had happened during his absence?
With a deep breath, the dunalino took a step back from the table and turned his head, focusing his sightless, scarred eyes upon the young man standing only a few short paces away. Was he truly still so recognizable? Even with his narrowed frame, the dullness of his horn, the weakness in his wings, would he still be recognized everywhere that he went? Alba had bristled, and rather rudely did she pop her beak loudly at the stranger. Lifting his head with a cocked ear, Somnus offered this youth a rather melancholic smile.
