The End.

[Elfling]

Lamai stared quietly down at the inked parchment that sat upon the tabletop in front of her. Even as the quill had been set back into the inkwell, the colored liquid had dried upon the paper in a most permanent fashion. True, she didn't have to send it..

.. just like every other time.

Unlike every other time, the parchment would be in the hands of a most trusted pageboy, sealed with wax pressed in the shape of a crowned feather.

Dearest Altias,

Forgive my inability to do this in person; I fear that if I should see you, my resolve to follow through with my decision will crumble.

I am going home.

I have given it a great deal of thought, and in that thought, I have come to a decision. My daughter is nearly five years old, and half of that time has been spent without me. That, atop with the endless disasters Myrken will inevitably face, and the fact that Ariane will never like me, has given me no reason to stay.

I am in the way. No matter of convincing will tell me otherwise; I can feel otherwise.

But I wish you to be warned. Thadius Dhrin wants Ariane. He told me such at the lake during our first meeting. The second meeting, I caught him swimming, and there was severe scarring underneath his skin. I healed him of that, and he brought me back and put me to bed. I swear to you that nothing else happened, just in case that is why you were so angry with me.

I have left your pageboy instructions on where to send missives if you wish to keep in touch, but please don't ask me to return. You know I will, even if it is not good for me.

All my love,

Lamai Carver

[Altias_Bromn]

The parchment was crumpled in his fist. The fist slammed repeatedly into the hard wood of his desktop. Bran simply stood before him, motionless, waiting to be told to go. Instead the governor had one of his worst breakdowns ever right there in front of him.


It was impossible to say which of the governor's emotions had gotten the better of him. Goodness knows when it came to Lamai Carver, she tended to touch every emotion known to a body.

The governor had cried, screamed, cursed, laughed, pulled at his own hair, kicked every stick of furniture in the room, thrown things out the window, and now sat here silent, rocking back and forth, that dreaded missive still cluthed within white knuckles.

"G-g-governor Bromn, sir? Would it be o-o-kay for me to tend to the kitchen now, s-sir?"

A hand waved, dismissing him, though the governor did not even look upon him.

There were many parts of this short letter to consider. Most importantly, was why she was doing this. Why now, after all these years? What had changed now that drove her away? Yet, who was he to question her motives? She had a child to care for, a child much more in need of her than Altias.

Equally important, but for entirely different reasons, was this odd consideration of Dhrin. Scars. Scars healed. But Altias had seen Dhrin very recently with Lamai, and still there was minor scarring of his back. Was this not the night she had spoken of? There were too many questions!

"Bran!"

The governor's voice shook the building at the ungodly hour just before dawn.

"Bran! You've the location of where Miss Carver was going? Get our fastest horse. Find her! I have need of her here once more. Not for myself, but for Myrken!"

Even as he was shouting through what he assumed was an empty meeting house, his hand had dropped the missive, a quill and parchment of his own taken up.

Dearest Lamai,

I shall not ask you to return. You have asked me not to, and I will not. What I ask, is simply delay your leaving. I have need of your assistance. Help only you can give me. Help that may well save Myrken if what I think I know is true.

Please...come back to us, just for a few days. Then I will release you to your daughter, never to be troubled by me again, if that is truly your wish. I need only speak to you this last time. Please, Lamai, I need you. Myrken needs you.

Eternally yours,

'Tias

"Bran!"

Lavendar flowers are sprinkled within the parchment, much like confetti, then the letter is sealed with dark blue sealing wax, afixed by the governor's seal.

"Damn it, Bran! Move your arse boy! I have a trial tonight, and I want this letter in Miss Carver's hands before I set foot in that court room!"

[Thadius Dhrin]

A shift. A shadow.

A whisper in the dead tree limbs, a call of something not quite real.

"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you, little lamb?"

Thadius nearly flowed from the shadows behind. Fluidity personified. Clothing a swish and rustle of silks, seeming more an extention of him than accessory. Hair spun of the purest platinum floated weightless around him, drawn up on some unfelt breeze.

"We are friends. A friend would not run away without letting the other know, yes? Where do you go, Lamai? What is the hurry? We've only begun to get to know each other...really."

As he spoke, an effortless circle was walked around the tiny healer. Eyes which seemed to glow without benefit of moonlight searched her face, looking for the tell, the lie.

"Surely you sent a missive for me as well, it must be waiting for me in my room."

The smile which graced his angelic features seemed somehow, ruined, tarnished. A slender hand snaked out to grasp her shoulder, the question written plainly on his features. What have you done?

[Elfling]

The change in surrounding atmosphere gave the slender woman pause in her brisk walk. The lack of insects had become disturbing so deep within the forest, and the sounds of the night were silenced by the lack of nocturnal animals who couldn't hunt a non-existant prey.

Yet, she was spinning with the first sound of flowing cloth, and the notquiteright feel of the man who appeared from the darkness.

Her eyes narrowed in quiet suspicion; she knew Bran wouldn't give over her missive to anyone but Altias, but she didn't assume that anyone in this land wouldn't have other means of divining information.

Therefore, her smile was slight in the face of his guilt.

"I sent a missive to Altias. I assumed he was capable of telling anyone else who asked," she responded with a front of calm. He was acting strange, but that was hardly any surprise, anymore. No one acted *normal* in a place so cursed. Furthermore, there was the hint that Altias would've gotten a great deal of pleasure at telling Thadius that she was gone.

He would have no such missive.

[Thadius Dhrin]

The avoidance of his question was telling indeed. The smile grew on his features, when in others it would have turned, become a deep frown of hurt. Sparkling eyes of frosted emerald stayed fixed upon her face.

"Then you were not going to say goodbye. That is alright, Lamai. We'll have time to talk about it. "

That hand would rest on her slender shoulder, squeezing softly. Fingerpads pressed softly on her flesh, though the message in them was clear, movement would be frowned upon.

"I have some things I need to talk to you about, little one. I am sure you can make some time for me....won't you?"

Those fingers would move to guide her further into the dark forest. Deep within the dying wood and rotting animal corpses. The air was close, sweltering between the heat, his closeness and ....something. Something that seemed to linger in the air around them.

[Elfling]

Her breath intook with a hint of soft pain, as if the squeezing of his fingers actually hurt. Confusion flickered true in her eyes, and she ducked back, trying to escape that pinching grip.

"I am going home, Thadius," Lamai uttered with what she hoped would be a firm statement. It was obvious that she had no real desire to go anywhere with him when he was acting so utterly strange.

"Whatever you can say, you can say here. It isn't as if there is anyone nearby to listen," the little princess murmured, tilting chin upwards in a measure of obvious defiance. She wasn't going to make it *easy* for him. He was giving her a very bad feeling.

[Thadius Dhrin]

"Little lamb....the way you behave one might believe you did not trust me. What have I ever done to make you think anything awful about me?"

A finger would lift, touching her chin, tilting her face to look upon him fully. A sadness deep in his gaze, a tiny frown on perfect lips.

"I would not hurt you. At least not in ways that would ever really harm you."

As quickly as that, the smile transformed his face, from that innocent facade to that knowing feral grin.

"You will come with me, yes? Just for a little while? I promise I will let you return home."

Eventually.

[Elfling]

"No," the small woman breathed, backpeddling a couple of steps backwards. She only paused once she was out of his direct reach.

The notquiteright feeling was growing. It was a talent that she hadn't felt him in such fashions before. His skill.. was incredible.

But he didn't know.

"No, Thadius. I am going home," she breathed with the same, gentle tones. As if to prove that point, she even took a few more steps backwards, half-twisting as if to literally flee from this unknown that she had thought to be friendly.

She would run, and he wouldn't catch her.

[Thadius Dhrin]

A reasonable assumption on her part. The wonderful part was, he did not have to.

As she spun to run from him, they stood before her, as if they had been there this entire time. Perhaps they had been. That same sickly hot wind, not felt or even smelled, rustled the pale silver robes. So pale as to appear white to the common man.

Twin sets of hands snaked out to grasp the tiny healer. One, the larger of the two, would pull her up beneath his arm, throwing her over one shoulder. As she struggled the second, most decidedly female, would begin to stuff rags in her mouth, as one surprisingly strong hand held the healer's wrists.

"Lamai...stubborn little thing. You had to know I wasn't just going to let you go like that. Let him come after you...asking all sorts of damaging questions that you would no doubt answer. After all...he is your dearest love...or some nonsense. "

Approaching the Brother and Sister, slender fingers would draw across her face, no doubt bright red with rage as she kicked the very devil out of the Brother.

"It is only for a time, little lamb. A time to get to know one another, until..."

He is walking away then, back toward the deepest part of the forest. The Brother and Sister follow.

"...until I have no further use for you."

[Elfling]

"My Goddess," Lamai breathed, suddenly faced with the vision of the very 'white' robes she'd heard so many rumors about. Not white. Silver

She barely had enough time to think before strong arms had hold of her wrists, and instinct demanded that she fight back. Her arms tensed..

.. wait..

.. and then relaxed slightly, portraying the proper strength of one so little. She yelped as she was pulled up over a shoulder.

"You bast - " she started to yell, only to find her mouth filled with cloth. Her eyes widened slightly at the definitely feminine touch, but indeed, all she could do was kick.

And she did kick, for it was expected. There was no strength to the blows of booted feet, however. It was the fury of a little healer girl who had no hope of defending herself.

As they moved, a hot summer breeze settled cream and crimson feathers against the ground where she had been.. only a few. It was all she could give.