Rule of Three Blog Fest: Part Two

 
I have to apologise upfront because I have so far been absolutely terrible at participating in the Rule of Three Blog Fest. ;_; Thank you so much to everyone who commented on the last entry I made; this week I really need to get myself together and do some more wandering and commenting on other people entries, because honestly there's some fantastic stuff coming out of all of this!

My next entry also manages to be a bit of a rush job; last week I had just come back from Egypt, and this week I have just come back from a couple of days Oop North in York. Hilariously it's going to be evne stupider next week as I am going to Western Australia via Singapore on Wednesday; I've really managed to pick all the worst days for this, because travelling is cheaper during the week. Never mind, I am going to play better the next few days (although I'm spending the weekend in Suffolk, probably...).

In the end I did manage an entry for this week, although I am pushing the timing thing (it's seven in the evening on Thursday in London here, though I suspect my journal is still on New Zealand time anyway). I've got a few details to go with it after the continuation of the story. So...let's head back to Renaissance, shall we...?

SALVAGE

Part One: Flotsam
Part Two: Jetsam

She hits the ground hard, and for a moment she sees stars – but it is bright daylight, and the sun blinds her when she looks upward. There is no night sky here, save for that which has just fallen over her heart.

“Don’t even try to get up.” His voice is all that remains of him, the rest wreathed in shadow. “This is where you belong.”

“No, I—”

“It’s done. It’s over. I am through with you.”

“No, please—”

The slam of the carriage door steals the last of him away. The horses rear, and the wheels turn – then, they are gone.

The pain follows fast. Curling around her abdomen, she wants to weep for her loss. But she can feel the heat of the sun and knows it will be pointless; in the hours to come, she will scarcely have moisture enough to sustain herself, let alone the burden he has gifted her with.

She should hate it, she knows. But it is not its fault. It asked for life no more than she asked for this death, and she supposes they are in this together and must muddle along the best they can. That is what allows her to push aside her fear and sit up.

She knows where they are, for all it is a place she knows only from vague stories. The fallen mining town had never had enough glamour even for ghost stories, and she herself had never thought to come here. It had been so far outside the sphere of her existence as to be in another universe. It had been nothing more than a place from his past.

It is most likely the reason why he put her there, too.

“Us,” she corrects, voice sudden in the silence. “Us.”

One palm lies flat on the ground, the other over her stomach as she pushes up. She grimaces; the fall had not been far, but it has jarred her. When she looks to the distance, she finds the carriage long gone. The dust settles, golden and dancing in the late afternoon light; it is much closer to the earth than stardust, for all its glittering colour.

She is not given to despair. But as she looks about, she realises suddenly that despite its name, she is the only new thing in Renaissance. The age of the town weighs it into insignificance, and it is a place of forgotten things.

“My name is Leidi,” she says, as if she is afraid she will soon not remember. And her fingers move into her palm.

“…but what shall I call you?”

There is no answer, at least not from the tiny spark of life deep in her belly. But even if there had been, she likely never would have heard it any more than she did the actual answer that did come.

“Hello.”

Leidi’s head has fallen forward, her thoughts adrift as a comet with no trajectory. But then the voice comes closer, and a cool hand anchors her again to the earth.

“Hello,” the voice says again, and Leidi looks up, like she’s heard the wind whispering her name. “I think I’ve been waiting for you.”

Prompt: Someone is killed, or almost killed/a relationship becomes complicated.
Word Count: 532
Main character: Leidi (supported by the as-yet unnamed man and woman from the first part).