Inan'abelas // DAI; Solas

Among the Dust and Ashes

"Forgive me hands, 

for I have held, 

everything but myself."

-Janne Robinson

~~◇~~

Daybreak was among them. Ashinne held anxiety within her veins, and the men that followed her walked only a few short steps behind her. To run would mean her death, but to stay would mean complete annihilation. Genocide, even-- to use that word would be the harshest of terms.

She would remain a sole survivor...and she knew this perfectly well.

"We are here." She muttered silently.

Only her foolish mistakes could lead her to this point of hopeless abandon... destruction, obliteration, demolition, eradication-- she could see every one of their souls laid bare upon the long horizon.

Only a fool would do such a senseless thing.

"Halt, lethallen," She told the hunters watching upon the entrance of their camp. "They bring no harm, only to bring negotiation to our clan."

Her lie was well-weaved through her teeth, not a single vowel faltering in fear. Years of telling dramatic stories had strengthened her tongue.

And the first step she took past the hunters would be the first she regretted. And so would the second, and the third, and the fourth...

There was no going back from here.

Her eyes met with Tamet's as she grazed by his shoulder, his muscles tense from holding his bow tight. He was not as confident as she was... and he had every right not to be.

She bit her tongue as her eyes flicked forward once more, aware of the sins she had committed and would live to apologize for. She knew that once she introduced the men as merchants to the Keeper, she would have committed them all. It was plain murder, and it was wrong.

But what was murder without a side serving of pride? The very thing to drive her here? Pride: it's what Ashinne feasted upon, and it's what she convinced herself would save her from this mess she was two steps from creating.

And then they met the Keeper.

"Tomorrow night. Be out of sight, or we will not hesitate to kill you," One of the men had whispered to her once they were out of earshot, his accent thick and bothersome in her ear.

She had no choice but to wince, goosebumps running up and down her body.

The next day, it was her turn to be deceived. They promised they would only capture the Keeper and the Hahren. They promised they would leave silently, and without a trace. They promised that her friends nor her lover would not come to harm. But it was not the slavers that had deceived her, no. It was her eyes.

She had not foreseen their lies nor their plans to set fire, rape, kill, torture, and capture the elves of her clan. Her eyes, which she had before seen as a boon from the gods, ruptured a massive link in her chain of pride and let sorrow begin flooding the gates.

When she had heard Tamet's pained screams, that's when she knew that everything had gone awry. It took only one look at the arrow lodged within his head for the panic to start setting in, and she started running.