Secret Filled Stars

I couldn’t find fault in you for being engaged.   What sort of person would I be if I did?   I was to blame for the pain I felt and I knew this.   Sometimes, I think, we make our own heartbreak through our expectations, our wants, and that’s what happened.   You moved forward and it was time I did the same.   Following Luukos’ instructions, I changed my profession, starting fresh as an empath.   I didn’t understand at the time why he’d wanted the change but I listened, unquestioningly.   I returned home to my father and was greeted with disgust and hostility but it was expected.   He laughed in my face, his arrogance overwhelming, his hatred warming the blood in my veins but I said nothing, I did nothing. I was permitted to stay there but I had conditions to follow and, although they were cruel, I listened as I always had.   Rarely was I allowed to be noticed and, when I was, I wasn’t allowed to speak unless spoken to.   The chatea...

I spent a short while lost in the darkness.  I was so far not even Luukos could reach me. Minutes stretched into hours, days stretched into the months and months seemed like years.  The darkness was so thick, so suffocating, that it was almost tangible.  Some days, I swear, I could feel it sinking into my skin, mixing with my blood and strengthening my bones.  I started losing memories, my mother's face, the smell of my grandmother and the sound of her voice.  The darkness was taking over and I was letting it.  Here, in the darkness, I didn't feel anything, I was forgetting the pain.  I could stay here forever, I'd reasoned, and be happy with the monsters that prowled in the shadows.  After all, I was one of them, wasn't I? It all changed suddenly. I was making my way through the gloom when my surroundings rippled like water on a pond.  When everything settled, you were there.  It couldn't be real, it wasn't real.  Logically, I knew...

Laying on the bedside table is a large book covered in a dark leather.   Embossed on the cover is a wolf and an owl, gazing at each other.   Elegant scrollwork frames the two, ancient runes mixed in with vines.   Inside are three hundred sheets of vellum, cream hued and filled with elegant words written in black ink.   Scented with vanilla, the author has taken care with the book, ensuring the finished product is in pristine condition. On the first page you read: When I was younger, my grandmother always told me to make a wish on a shooting star.   She believed that if you believed in it, wanted it, enough then it would come true.   I trusted her more than anyone else, so I did.   I wished for silly things at first: a new doll, the newest gown, for Lisandre to sprout warts overnight.   None of them ever came true and yet, as I grew older, I continued closing my eyes and wishing on the falling stars. When I fell ill, I continued wishing. ...

The Arkati were supposed to be their saving grace.  They were supposed to protect them and, in a way, they had.  They'd led them through the Portals but, in the end, that's all they did.  Elanthians made themselves, not the Gods.  What had the Gods done for them?  For her?  Anger slid through her veins, burning everything it touched, when she thought about Luukos and how little he'd done .  She watched in the days following as clerics were rendered useless, empaths too.  It wasn't just them it affected, though, was it?  The Arkati who had once been so fearsome, so holy, were nothing now.  She was free. Free was a funny word.  While she was able to do what she wished, when she wished, it had come at a cost.  She lost her family in the crossover. she lost most of her friends and, most importantly , she lost the one thing she could rely on.  It was only her and the thought scared her more than she'd like to adm...

The Black Wolf of Nalfein.  The Hero of Jang'kai Gap.  Lord Captain of the Blackguard.  High Lord of the Susserlin.  So many titles made it hard to separate the man from myth.  How could one man be so many things?  Countless times, her potential suitors had bowed at the waist and stammered over their praises of the man .  Something that had sealed their fate.  She needed a man confident in himself, confident in his abilities.  They were not.  Still, she found herself wondering if she'd made a mistake.  If she'd accepted one, she wouldn't be so utterly alone now. He spoke finally and he had her laughing, a smirk touching her lips.  "She's always been persistent.  Sets her eyes on something and that's it." she murmured, fingers brushing a loose tendril out of her face.  Another laugh and she shook her head.  "I doubt she'd devour you.  Not in one sitting, at least.  She's pined after you ...

Things were different now.  Few of them had slipped through, making it to safety.  Her brothers hardly spoke to her, only doing so when her father deemed it necessary.  Her father no longer tried controlling what she did, choosing instead to avoid her when he was able to.  People she had once considered friends had disappeared.  Left on her own, she'd muddled her way through the new world, carving out a niche, and a name, for herself.  The few friends that had stayed in touch were ones she wished wouldn't. It had taken her awhile to find a new purpose for herself.  No longer needing to serve Luukos, she moved aimlessly through her new life until she'd discovered event planning .  The rest, as they say, is history.  She was happy now, happier than she'd ever been, but still an emptiness lingered.  She was thankful for jobs like her current one that allowed her to throw herself into the work.  It seemed to help. ...

Tick, tock, tick, tock... The steady ticking of the clock echoed over the gentle hum of patrons' conversations.  Clinking of glasses and laughter drifted over to her booth from nearby tables.  The café was busier than usual this time of night.  The booth next to hers was the only available seating and she was thankful it wasn't taken yet.  She only had a few days left to finish the numbers for the centennial.  The last thing she needed was a group of drunken couples sitting next to her, shouting their love to the world.  Star speckled eyes swept the dining room as she lifted her coffee to her lips and took a sip, dark and bitter.  How nice it must be to not have a care in the world. The door chimed, warning another arrival.  A whispered breath lifts from her lips, narrowed gaze watching the door.  She prayed to all the Gods that it was someone getting take out so she would remain in her placidity....