Ina'lan'ehn Abelas

Chapter 2

Ir abelas - I am sorry

Atishea ima minera'vun - Peace be with you this night

***

Abelas stood outside her chamber, contemplating whether he should knock or stride right in. After a fashion he decided that knocking might garner a more polite response.

"My lady, may I enter?"

There was no response. He had expected that. If what his King said was true, then she would not be one to let him know his welcome.

After a minute of waiting, he said, "I am entering, My Lady."

He entered the room and quickly scanned the area. There was no sign of her. On alert, he strode forward and glance over every section of the room. It looked as though it hadn't been touched since it was created. The bed has been made, no wrinkles. The floor shiny and waxed. No precious baubles or trinkets. It was a sad room. An empty room.

Without pause, he went over toward the balcony. The doors were open. As he stepped into the light he paused. She was there. Her small body was wrapped in a thin blanket, light hair shining and loose in the sunset, staring out into the sunset. There was no recognition that she knew he was there. Just silence.

"My Lady, I have been appointed your new guard."

Silence. Nothing.

"My lady, Fen-"

It was like a switch. One moment there had been nothing, now there was a burst. Her magical aura swirled around her in fury. He noticed her eyes now were on him. Hard. Unyielding. Beautiful. Their emerald hue full of fire. This was not the same woman he had seen all those years ago. Her magic was far more. She was far more. He felt her and the Well. His King had been right. They were now one. Their magic had blended. He felt in her glare the message. He will not make that mistake again.

"Ir abelas, My Lady. I will not speak of him, should you not wish it."

He felt the magic recede, felt her gaze sharpen even further. What must she be thinking? She was more open before. He remembered feeling her through her aura at the Well. Bright. Brighter than anything that he had seen since before the fall. Since his fist mistress, Mythal lived. It was one of the many reasons he didn't stop her from the Well, quickling though she was at the time. The Well knew too. He could feel its curiosity at the strange creature that was near it. But now, there was nothing. Just a steady, desolate aura. She was now like him. It saddened him.

She turned from him suddenly and looked back over toward the sunset.

"I will stand guard, My Lady. I will not speak further, unless you wish it. Atishea ima minera'vun." He vowed that he would guard her forever, should she wish it. It was his duty. 

~~~~~~~~~

She felt him through the door before she entered. His aura the same, steady sorrow she felt from that time all those years ago. The Well knew too. They sang to her that he was trusted. That he was a friend. Falon. (friend) But she knew better. She knew the real reason that he had been stationed here. Abelas even spoke it; before she let her emotions get the better of her.

It was him. He knew as well as she did that she was stuck. There was no going back to what was. No going forward either. Why couldn't he just leave her alone to her sorrow?

She felt him enter her room, halt, then steadily make his way over toward her perch on the balcony. Felt him pause as he assessed her. The Well was happy. She was not. They wanted to talk to him. They missed his presence. His steady aura. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. She would break if she let so much as a sound escape her lips. She knew. The Well knew too. But they were too excited at the presence of their old friend to remember. She was balanced on the edge of a blade. She was tired. She was hurt. She was sorrow. Broken.

After her explosion of emotion, where she almost spoke, almost broke, she stared at the man. He was tall, but then, so were most elvhen men she had ever come across. He had the same vallaslin as she remembered. The tree branches of Mythal bold on his face. She noticed that his eyes were a somber amber. She couldn't remember if she noticed that from before. She was so distracted from Corypheus and another pair of eyes that she missed his. His strong angular face was beautiful, she realized.

She turned quickly from him. What was she thinking? This was Abelas. Her keeper. Her guard. Her jailor. She had no business noticing how attractive he was.

The Well approved. She scoffed in her mind. She would not fall for another man, no matter how handsome. She could not take another blow. She was shattered. The pieces would never go back together.

As the stars settled into the night, she stayed there. There was no reason to go into the room. She would not sleep on the bed. How could she have that luxury when those she loved no longer could either?

She would allow Abelas to stay, she decided. After all, what choice did she have? The Well just hummed happily in her head.