Cualli leans on Elu, her eyes closed, her head heavy on his shoulder. Her hair is no longer in its meticulous braids that, months ago, she would spend hours on; currently, it's been reduced to dark, shoulder-length waves. She's tired, despite having been fed and watered and provided a place to sleep, even if that 'place to sleep' was a metal slab with a bag for a pillow and a thin blanket on it. The sleep that she did manage to get left her feeling lethargic and unfocused. And despite how long she's been resting her head on Elu, she hasn't been able to doze off. Her mind is still racing, full of anxiety about what her future holds for her.
She'd been rescued by Imperials rather than friendly Aesthians, which meant that, obviously, she'd be spending gods know how long in a military prison. Cualli was at least able to keep Elu by her side throughout her voyage thus far, and for that much she was thankful. But while she still had her surrogate son with her, she was still missing something-- someone-- deeply important to her.
The one blessing that came out of being lifted from the waters by Imperial forces was that Arkhip was on this side of things. Or he used to be, at least. She wasn't sure where he was anymore. It felt like years since she'd heard anything from him, and it was beginning to sink in that it would be nearly impossible for the two of them to be reunited again. For one, Arkhip didn't know where she was: if he'd heard about the Tordenskjold going down, he'd probably assume that she was killed on it and might not bother to look for her. And if, somehow, Cualli was released into Imperial society after the war ends and she's released from prison, she wouldn't have a clue where to start looking for him. The Imperium is a big place, after all. But if she finishes her time behind bars and gets shipped back home to Aesthia, there'd be no way for Arkhip to ever see her again: her boyfriend would be considered an enemy of the state, and who knows what might happen to him if he tried to set foot of Aesthian soil after the war.
All of this is assuming that he's even still alive, Cualli. She squeezes her eyes shut tighter, feeling the chilling pangs in her stomach as she tries to push down the terrible, terrible thought. She didn't want to believe that Arkhip might be dead. She didn't want to believe that she might never get to see him again. At this point, the only two things holding her will to live together were Elu and the faint hope that she might someday be reunited with her beloved.
"Elu," she says quietly, "what do you think is going to happen to us after all of this?"
Poll