Chương 44: Chapter 43: The Scales

Only then, when Kaela knew she was safe, did she gesture with her hand, calling her over. When Selena reached her, Kaela did not stop talking. She turned and began to walk, her pace quick, almost urgent, glancing back every now and then to ensure Selena was following. The tanner led and Selena obeyed, feeling the weight of the cave shedding from her shoulders with every step that took her away from its depths. Until, at last, they emerged. The sunlight hit them with a warmth that felt like an embrace.

Selena blinked, momentarily blinded by the brightness after the gloom of the cavern. Kaela, without pausing, sought out a grassy spot to sit, a small green clearing beneath the shade of a tree. She let herself fall onto the grass and exhaled loudly, a sigh that seemed to come from deep within, dragging with it minutes of tension, fear, and waiting. —I thought you weren't coming back— Kaela reproached her, her face stricken, her eyes still reddened by the tears shed in the dark. —Time passed.

The minutes went by and you didn't return. I even considered running, like you said. She paused, her chest rising with a shaky breath. —Even so, despite everything, I waited for you. She sighed once more, the air escaping her lips like a ghost. —You owe me many explanations. Selena felt the guilt in her chest like a tangible weight. It wasn't just for making Kaela wait, but for dragging her to this place, for putting her own obsession above her friend's fear, for turning her into a lookout for her own heresies.

When she spoke, her voice broke slightly, betraying the emotion tightening her throat. —I am so sorry— she said, the words sounding small and insufficient. —Kaela, I finally got answers. And I can get more, but I'll have to go back. She paused, looking into Kaela's eyes, searching for understanding, searching for something to hold onto. Then she spoke again, and this time her voice gained firmness. —Kaela, they offered me work. And not just to me. To you, too.

She saw the tanner's eyes widen, surprise etching itself onto her face. —The most important thing isn't just a little money— Selena continued. —Five bronze crowns, no less. Per day. Kaela opened her mouth to say something, but Selena didn't let her. She needed to finish; she needed to say it all before fear or doubt interrupted. She took a deep breath and only then finished speaking. —It's not just that. As a gesture of good faith, they said they would offer you something more.

They will teach you to read and write. The revelation fell between them like a stone in a pond, creating ripples that expanded uncontrollably. Selena, hurried, added before Kaela could react: —They aren't like you imagine. They only want to expand thought so that society improves. Like you told me about our first night, remember? She looked at her for a moment, searching her eyes for the memory of that conversation in the darkness of the bedroom, when Kaela had leaned into whisper,"I feel the same way."

—You shouldn't fear them— Selena concluded. —They are more like me than you think. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. Kaela sighed again. This time it was deeper, longer, as if the exhaled air carried away years of fear, resignation, and the acceptance of a fate she had believed immovable. Then she leaned back on the grass, propped up slightly by her arms, her gaze lost in the blue sky filtering through the leaves of the trees.

—Aelthra, the Goddess of Compassion— she murmured, her voice low, almost a whisper to herself. —The Church of the Eternal Sap and the eternal flow. She paused; her eyes fixed on the clouds sailing slowly by. —I don't fear religion, Selena— When she spoke again, her voice was clearer, firmer. —I fear the same thing the miserable nobles and the corrupt clergy do. I fear the pyre. She let the words settle in the silence, letting them find their weight and meaning.

Then she continued: —We, the poor, are only tiny insects beneath their boots. We try not to get crushed, and we are happy when we go unnoticed. She sat up again, straightening her back, and crossed her arms over her chest. —Aelthra, with the infinite compassion the church preaches, was never able to save my mother. She shook her head; a slow movement loaded with bitterness. —I'm sure you took me for a fanatical devotee. I believe in Goddess, it's true.

But I would be lying to myself if I blinded myself to what my own eyes see. Her voice had an old resignation clinging to it, like a second skin she had always carried and was, for the first time, daring to shed. This wasn't the speech of a fanatic, nor of a coward. It was the confession of someone who had seen too much, lost too much, and had learned to survive by expecting nothing from anyone. —It's not a matter of money— Kaela continued, and now her words flowed with clarity Selena had never seen in her before.

—You are offering me a balance: stay poor and live as Mama did, perhaps until twenty-two... or get money in exchange for an immense chance of ending up dead at any moment. She shook her head, almost as if trying to convince herself, to find the internal strength to make the decision she already knew was inevitable. —I choose to live. At least for more than twenty-two years... Her voice faltered, breaking, but she didn't stop. —I choose to learn, even if the pyre takes up my life.

A tear crossed her cheek, tracing a clean path through her skin. —I choose not to end up like Mama. The speech landed harder than any blow. The silence that followed was even more haunting than what had come before, denser, heavier. It hadn't been a dogmatic decision, nor an emotional one. The tanner spoke from something deeper, something at her core, at the very nucleus of her being the chance to live despite death lurking at her heels.

The possibility of being more than a statistic, more than just another woman on the long list of the poor who died of exhaustion before thirty. Only then, after the silence, after everything had been said, did Kaela extend a hand toward Selena. Still with tears on her face, still with the trace of the confession fresh on her lips, she looked her directly in the eyes and said finally, with a blood-chilling firmness: —Deal.

The word fell with more solemnity than an oath, with more weight than anything Selena had ever heard in this world. It wasn't a commercial pact; it wasn't a negotiation. It was a blood alliance, a commitment of life or death, the acceptance of a shared destiny. Kaela looked at her in the eye. Hers no longer held tears. Her expression was rather the cold determination of one who has weighed their life and placed it in the hands of others, of one who has weighed all the risks and decided it is worth it.

Only then did Selena take her hand. She felt the warmth of Kaela's skin against her own, the firmness of her grip, the strength of this young woman who had decided to gamble everything. And with the same gravity, with the same feeling in her chest, she uttered the clearest words she had spoken since waking up in this foreign body: —Deal. There were no more exchanges between the two. None were needed. What had just occurred was beyond words, beyond written pacts, beyond anything they could express with their mouths.

Selena helped her up. Their hands separated, but the connection remained —invisible but real, a thread stretched between their hearts. Then, with synchronized steps, both women— both lost, both condemned, both determined to live despite everything, walked toward the cave. They stepped into the gloom, leaving behind the sunlight, the warmth of the day, the safety of the known. The darkness welcomed them with its embrace of stone, its millenary silence, its echoes of heresies and forbidden thoughts.

They walked together, shoulder to shoulder, until they reached the threshold once more. Selena looked at Kaela. Kaela looked at Selena. And in that shared glance, in that eternal instant, both knew that nothing would ever be the same. Then, together, they crossed the threshold.