Rogue Firefury

LOST

When she reached the door, Lexie hesitated before she turned the handle. This will be cruel, she thought, but it needs doing. She took a deep breath, then opened the door.

Tiene, as usual, sat on the window ledge overlooking the Great Sea, twirling Camnath's lock of hair around her fingers. The elf turned her head slowly as she heard someone enter. Tiene's eyes had lost their lustre; she looked almost as undead as Lexie herself.

For once, Lexie was thankful for the mask she wore. It prevented Tiene from seeing the semblance of a vexed expression which played on the undead's ruined face. She missed her friend; the feisty Firefury who she believed in, loved and revered. This shell before her was not the girl she once knew.

Now that she stood before Tiene, she felt loathed to say some of the things she planned. Lexie loved Tiene very much and did not wish her more hurt, but the woman could not be allowed to continue wandering in a shroud of grief and misery for the rest of her days. Camnath would not wish this for his wife. Nor did anyone else who loved her. With a deep rattling breath, Lexie turned, closed the door then stepped into the centre of the opulent room.

Dressed in the traditional red and gold drapes and matching soft furnishings, the room's colour scheme mirrored the Silvermoon standard. Fine golden voiles over the open windows, billowed, the breeze carrying them in ghostly dances.

Lexie approached Tiene and took a seat on the nearby chaise longue. There was no greeting offered. Tiene's eyes, if not wet with tears, seemed to be set in a perpetual stare, sunken and never blinking.

There was no point trying to make small talk, Lexie decided, it never worked anyway, so straight to the crux of the matter.

Music: Let Me Fade by composer Adrian von Ziegler

 "Just what does that lock of hair mean to you, Tiene?" Lexie said in as sarcastic a manner as she could muster. "Anything?"

Tiene's eyes narrowed and held Lexie's gaze, but she did not respond.

The undead rogue spoke again. "What do you think Camnath would be saying if he stood in front of you, right now?"

Tiene's eyes welled. Her fingers were furiously knotting through the lock of hair. She tore her gaze away and resorted to staring out the window once more.

Lexie stood, determined to get a reaction and invaded Tiene's space, leaning against the window frame facing her. "He'd say, "Who the hell is this woman? Because she isn't the one I married!"

Still nothing - other than the tightening of Tiene's jaw to indicate she'd heard the words.

"What was it he called you that night when he lay bleeding against that tree?" Lexie persisted.

"Stop it!" Tiene hissed. Her eyes darted back and forth, agitated, but she did not look at Lexie.

"You were the brightest star amid my darkest skies. That was it! Well you're not shiny or bright now, are you, Tiene? Look at you! When your time comes, how is Camnath meant to find you if you are as dull and lacklustre as you are now? Huh?"

The blonde elf turned away, her shoulders shuddering with suppressed sobs.

Lexie closed in on her friend, taunting her, desperate to get a reaction. "Can you picture him? Is he still handsome, with his bright green eyes and long black hair? Or is he torn, shredded, oozing blood and pus, with half his face gone..."