Dusk of the Realm

10

Tarin missed her every day. Every second.

He had accepted Ambrose as one of his elites, and the archer had integrated himself with surprising tenacity. The elites still looked to Tarin for instruction, and while they had the drawback of having to deal with his new emotionless mask, they were benefitted by his utter lack of regard for others in that they learned to be ruthless as they had never been before.

Queen Triana had spoken to him again, but only long enough to kick him off of her council and tell him that she no longer felt comfortable having him live in the castle with her, based on the notion that she had expected results by now, and she was no longer sure that he could be trusted by the crown. Where once they had been friends and allies, the queen had sufficiently phased him out of her life, some part of her being unable to stop blaming him for what had happened. He did not blame her for that, and acquiesced to all of her requests without argument.

He had a feeling he was only allowed to maintain his position as general of the armies because of how violent he had become. There was simply nobody better suited to the task of keeping the warriors in top condition, prepared to destroy at a moment's notice. He focused all of his energy on fighting during training, and physically had to hold himself back from delivering the killing blows.

Nobody looked like a friend to him anymore.

            _______________

Ten birthday candles marked seven different foster homes. Seven, in three years. She had never remained in one place long enough to make a lasting friend. She had never stayed in one house long enough to form the type of bond that she had heard other kids talk about. She had never stayed in one school long enough to even get to know the teachers. She was admitted, and then she was sent out the door a few months later, once the social worker came and told her that another family was waiting for her.

She was always convinced that it was her fault. She must have done something wrong. She could just never figure out what it was that she had done; after all, she hardly ever spoke to anyone. She always did her chores. Her room was spotlessly clean. She never caused trouble that she could tell, besides the fact that she had trouble answering questions occasionally - but so would anyone about their past, if they had amnesia clouding their mind.

People would talk to her at school, but there seemed to be something about her that drove them away rather than kept them close. Perhaps it was the sadness that pervaded every movement she made, or the desperation for some sort of escape from her reality that was tangible in every word she uttered. So she would sit alone, and when she got back to her foster home later in the day, she would go to her room and shut the door, focusing on her homework as if it was the only thing that mattered.

As if her completion of the assignment would not be meaningless once she left that school, too, in just a little while.

                    _____________

On the princess' eleventh birthday, Tarin appealed to the Eternal court.

'Appealed' was probably the wrong word, actually. 'Attacked' was more like it.

He yelled and yelled and yelled. Not even the king or queen interrupted him as he let loose the aches of his heart and soul. 'How can it be that you have not found her yet?' he would demand. And always, always, he would come back to the argument that 'I would have found her by now. I would have brought her home.'

He would have; he knew it. Unfortunately, he did not have a choice but to rely on his allies to get the job done. If he entered the mortal world with his magic, he would perish before he even had the chance to track his princess down. If he gave his magic up to somebody and they died or proved untrustworthy, then he would again perish and be no good to her at all. He would never get to see her again, or swear to her that if she forgave him, he would be her servant for the rest of eternity, and would never let anything, anything, ever happen to her again.