"A room for the three of ye, a room for the two, and one for meself." ’Dáire Cuar’ clapped his hands. "That’s the best I can do, lads."
Hermes frowned. That wasn’t the best he could do. The old man was planning something.
"That’s awfully convenient." Aphrodite raised a brow.
Apple grunted, crossing his arms. "Suspicious."
Somner leaned on the desk with a smirk. "Oh, I see what you’re up to, old man."
"Up to?" Dáire feigned innocence. "I’m doin’ nothin’ but offerin’ ye beds. Unless ye’d rather share with me, eh?"
He gave a cheeky little wink. Hermes half-laughed, half-coughed, not expecting that from someone his age.
"Pass." Somner said quickly. "I’ll take the wagon before that."
Hermes pinched the bridge of his nose. He already knew what this was about. "Fine. Just give us the keys.
And so they were divided into their own little rooms in this totally normal inn.
Later that night, Hermes sat on the edge of the mattress. Glasán was lying down already, arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling.
"Yer quiet," Glasán said.
Hermes glanced at him. "So are you."
Glasán gave a short laugh. "I’m only wonderin’, sure. About you."
Hermes looked away. He knew Dante had set this up.
Glasán shifted, the straw rustling. "Ye don’t lie well, Hermes. I see it in yer face, same as the sea mirrors the sky."
Hermes closed his eyes. "Then stop lookin’."
There was silence for a while. Then Glasán spoke again, his voice quieter. "Easier said than done."
Hermes turned to the wall and stayed silent. He hated that the old fox was probably sitting in his own room, smiling, knowing exactly what he had done.
But Dante had more tricks set up for that night.
Hermes dreamt of the sea again. But unlike that nightmare with Eirwyn and his potential child...
The waves were peaceful and languid, and evoked the feeling of watching the falling petals in autumn. There was a deep sense of loss but also belonging when Hermes watching their movements.
It was like watching the steady breathing of a lover you will never see again.
Hermes chuckled at his thoughts. "I sound a lot like Aphrodite, waxing poetic ... Ah."
Maybe the reason why he was thinking this way was because the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was...
Hermes turned, and sure enough, he was there.
He was really there. For some reason, Hermes knew that he was actually here, and not just a phantasm in his slumber.
"Glasan? What are you doing in my...."
Glasan was also confused, standing by the shore with his golden hair tussled. That shade of gold was truly unique to his bloodline, Hermes thought. The way it glistens in the sunset...
Hermes’ eyes widened. "How did you...."
But then it flashed in the sky. The very memories that Hermes was thinking about. Memories of a different time, of a different existence.
Glasan watched them like someone who had seen an eclipse for the first time. He was scared, of course. It was incomprehensible for him at first, but soon enough, he came to understand...
He reached out his hands, as if trying to touch Hermes’ face that was painted among the clouds.
Wasn’t this like Mindbloom? But it also felt different, because instead of reading someone’s mind... Hermes was projecting his thoughts into Glasan’s mind.
But perhaps this was for the better. Because this gave him the best way to say goodbye. By showing, not telling.
"Glasan..." Hermes started. "I’m not from this world. Not from this time. I am from far into the future."
Glasan’s eyes widened. He then turned to watch the events that led to Hermes’ journey here in the first place...
He watched as Somner almost lost his life, about how much he suffered because of this responsibility given to him, even the memories that Apple acquired as his life flashed before his eyes, of his sister dying while having disdain for him...
Because of the standards set by Glasan’s bloodline.
Flashes of other things that were not Hermes’ memory appeared in the sky by the sea.
"Take your blades, you worthless men—loose of loins, puffed with pride. Stab them into your filthy hearts... AND DIE!!!"
It was Muirenn who said those words, who was now older... and monstrous.
Her skin was covered in green scales, her hands webbed. There were fins and gills replacing her ears, her mouth full of jagged, shark teeth. Her words were just as fatal as her appearance, and the strong hatred for men was clear.
And she said that to thousands of men in the battlefield, who then did as she had commanded.
"Leave me be, woman. I need not your consolation."
A man with blond hair and green eyes slapped his wife with the back of his hand. He had crown on his face.
It took a while for Hermes and Glasan to realize who it was.
"Apologies, my king... But please. You must not let this ’curse’ be your burden and the burden of your sons and their sons—"
"It is my burden to carry! It cannot be carried by women, you have seen what it had done to my sister. And it could not be carried by anyone else but my blood! Only in my blood can I trust, my brothers have gone and betrayed me! Betrayed our people!"
This jaded, vindictive man... It was so different from the one that’s standing beside Hermes.
The king looked at his hands as if there was blood on it. "The curse of the Ridire Na Mara... It must only be carried by the firstborn of my bloodline. So the world will not fall into ruin."
These flashes then stopped...
And walking on the water was a figure with white hair and a cape.
"Innkeeper." Glasan said.
Hermes understood now how these ’memories’ entered his dream. And what their purpose was.
After all, weren’t dreams also tiny dimensions of their own inside our minds? And here was a man who can travel in any dimension.
Dante gave him a smile that says ’thank me later’ at Hermes.
"The future has changed... Because of a brave man who travelled through time, Ridire Na Mara." He said to Glasan.
He gestured at Hermes. "This man did not mean to deceive you, but only wished to save someone dear to him, as well as generations of pain and suffering. Yet, love came like a thief in the night..."
He looked up at the sky as it turned into twilight.
"And took away his ability to think about the consequences... of the impossible distance that you two will soon face."
Dante then vanished after those words, becoming one with the night breeze.
Glasan turned to Hermes, his eyes rimmed with tears. There was a long silence that passed as both of them processed what just happened.
"Sit there... And let us talk."
Glasan has pointed to a familiar boulder, where they once made love on the very night they met.
That seemed too fast...
And so was the time to say goodbye. Both wanted to hold on, but were now clearly aware that it was futile.
As futile as hoping the flowers would never fall right after they bloomed.