Chapter 25 Tula #2
"I'm not drunk. Just fortified." He set the glass down on the table with exaggerated care. "Go ahead. Say what you need to say. I promise I won't cry."
Tula glanced around the cabin. Most people were asleep or absorbed in their entertainment. Yamanu sat at the front with headphones on. Across the aisle, Elias and Tamira were sleeping or just resting. It wasn't ideal privacy, but they weren't likely to get better.
"I care about you," she started, keeping her voice low. "You know that, right?"
"But?" Tony prompted.
"But we can't keep deluding ourselves that this can work.
The longer we drag it out, the more it's going to hurt.
We didn't plan for this to become serious because we knew from the start that this relationship couldn't last. But it was good, so we stayed together for longer than we should have, and then I got pregnant, which was a miracle, and I'm not sorry for one moment that I'm having your child. "
"I'm glad." He lifted his glass and emptied it down his throat. "I want this kid, Tula. I hope you are not thinking of keeping me away from him or her. You won't know if that's a boy or a girl until you get an ultrasound."
"I want you to be part of our son's life, even though it will be difficult for him knowing that his father is mortal. And yes, I'm convinced it's a boy."
Tony smiled, which was a good sign. She didn't want to break his spirit. "You know what I was thinking?" he asked.
"I'm not a mind reader."
"I might be a Dormant. Hey, if Kaia was a Dormant, why not me? We won't know until someone induces me, right? The universe keeps sending me to places where I find myself around Dormants or immortals. It has to mean something."
She hadn't thought of that, but he wasn’t wrong. There was a very small chance that Tony was a Dormant. "You are most welcome to try. We can ask Yamanu how inductions are done in the village."
He pinned her with a hard look. "Would you stay with me if I transitioned?"
"We are not each other's truelove mates." She let out a breath. "You know it, and I know it. We both deserve the chance of finding that special someone. Someone that the Fates designed specifically for us."
He was quiet for a long moment. "Love can come in many forms. We made a child together, Tula.
If I can become immortal, we should give this child a home with both parents, even if it means compromising on that mystical, special kind of love.
Once the child becomes an adult, we can part ways and go searching for that magical unicorn called a truelove mate. "
He was making an awful lot of sense for someone who was drunk.
"So, what are you suggesting, that we stay together until you find out whether you can transition?"
He nodded. "Would it be so bad?"
"Yes, it would. I've already said goodbye to you in my heart, and it was hard.
I don't want to have to do it again. Do you want to go through this pain twice?
Do you want to live with the uncertainty?
I think it's better we separate when we get to the village.
Neither of us is going anywhere, so if you transition and I still haven't found my truelove mate, we can get back together.
But frankly, I think we should not compromise on love.
We can raise this child together in this village easily. We can live right next to each other."
He winced. "No, thanks. I don't want to watch you with another guy."
"Who says I'll find my special someone first? Perhaps you will find yours before I do. You deserve someone who loves you to pieces, who looks at you like Tamira looks at Elias."
They both turned to look at the couple, who were sleeping with their faces turned toward each other and holding hands.
"That's disgustingly romantic," Tony said without much heat. "I hate them because I want what they have."
"So do I." She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "We can still have it. Does your bioinformatician have a sister?"
"Yeah, she does." He snorted. "I think Cheryl is fifteen."
Tula shrugged. "So, you wait a few years. If you turn immortal, time becomes irrelevant."
"You are talking as if it's a done deal. I'm probably not a Dormant."
"Then you find a nice human to love." Tula took another sip from her juice. "Yamanu said that there are humans living in the village. People like you and Elias who have been exposed to immortals or the Kra-ell for too long to thrall their memories away. Maybe your truelove mate is one of them."
"Humans don't have truelove mates."
"Right." She leaned back. "But humans are much more fruitful. You could probably produce several siblings for our son, which is not something I will be able to do. I think you will be a great father, and I want us to be friends."
"I need another drink." He got up and walked over to the bar cabinet to refill his glass.
When he returned, they sat in silence while he worked through his whiskey. Tula wanted to say something comforting, something that would ease his pain, but she'd already said everything she could think of.
"For what it's worth," Tony said eventually, his words starting to slur, "I hope you find your truelove mate."
Her eyes burned with unshed tears. "And I hope you find someone special too."
"Yeah." He stared into his empty glass. "Maybe. Right now, I just want to stop feeling this."
He got up to get another whiskey, and then another, and by the time he'd finished his sixth or seventh, his eyes were barely staying open.
"You should sleep," she told him.
"That's the plan." He fumbled with the seat recline button until Tula helped him, lowering his seat but not all the way flat because she was afraid he would puke. "Wake me when we get to Tokyo," he said. "Or don't. I don't really care."
Within minutes he was snoring softly, his face slack with the oblivion of alcohol-induced sleep.
Tula felt drained and guilty and relieved all at once. She'd done it. She'd ended things. It had hurt, but it was done.
There was one more thing she needed to take care of before arriving at the village, though.
Esag.
She had to find out why he had invaded her dreams.
The plane was quiet now, most of the passengers sleeping with only a few still absorbed in their entertainment. If she was going to have a private conversation with Esag, this was probably her best chance.
Tula unbuckled her seatbelt and stood carefully, mindful of the slight turbulence that made the plane shudder occasionally. She made her way down the aisle, past sleeping ladies and softly glowing tablet screens, toward where Esag sat several rows back.
He looked up as she approached, and something in his expression shifted. Initially, there was surprise, then hope, and then wariness, all flickering across his features in quick succession.
"Do you have a moment?" she asked quietly.
"I have nothing but time." He motioned to the empty seat beside him.