Fury

Dischord

Spring showers made for muddy boots and giant puddles. Grey skies dulled the day, though not to this extent. The grounds was becoming morose, and subdued as of late.

War knew however the morale had nothing to do with weather, nor the lull in business but everything to do with Lues.

Choosing to spend her days among her poisons and herbal remedies rather than her people, she locked herself away, hiding herself among the shadows.

A year had passed since the day of the fire, yet with each passing month, his sister wilted further away. He wanted his strong, fearless sister back. The grounds needed their matron back, their leader.

Tapping his boot against one of the wooden pegs anchoring Lues home into the ground, he shook off the excess dirt before entering.

Preferring the ways of the old, her tent was lit by candlelight. The furniture sparse - a single bed which lay off to the side, a set of draws sat at its foot.

Potted herbs and medicinal plants both healing and harmful were scattered throughout the room.

A wooden bench -where she mainly worked, stood to other side, lined with small glass vials.

"You wanted to see me?" War asked as Lues worked the pulley on the centre pole, so she could add more herbs to dry on the laundry rack she hung from bale ring.

Lues nodded, with her back to him. She held out a vial.

"Give this to Eva." She muttered, "it will help with the voices." Once the rack was back in place, she moved over to her work bench.

"She doesn't need a remedy, Lues. She'll learn to keep them at bay just as she's learned to tame rift." War followed.

Lues slammed her hands down, shaking the glass jars lining her work bench. Disturbed by the noise, Eva's moths fluttered from the medicinal plants she had scattered around the tent. Lues had become their keeper, tending to them when Eva wouldn't.

"She wasn't meant to come to us like this, she was meant to be the balance. The scales." Lues whispered.

"She'll get there, she just needs more time."

"More time? Can't you see? She'll never fulfil her purpose. She's slowly losing her humanity in her determination to see the leech dead. She sees only him, everything she does is to get closer to killing him. She learned to tame the rift in a month, a month! Something it takes most centuries to do. Her days are spent in the pit, her nights spent learning with Lucile so that she will never be under another's thrall again."

"So we let her kill the vampire, once it's done she can then focus on her true purpose." War shrugged, he didn't understand the problem, they had time, decades to help Eva. Her obsession with the leech was nothing but a small battle in the fight yet to come, she would win it and move on to the next.

"Tell me, when she takes you into her rift what do you see?"

"I hear the prayers made to her. The calls for justice to be met."

"Justice? Those who call on her are angry, grieving humans. They don't want justice, they want petty vengeance."

"What does it matter?"

"It matters because I see her getting darker every day, with every call she goes on she comes back crueller. Eventually there be no light in her left, do you understand what I'm saying? If there's no light, there's no balance. And if there's no balance, she can't be the scales on which to judge. Her true purpose will never come to pass. So this remedy -- you don't think she needs, will quieten the voices. It will give her time to heal, to find the light again. To be the balance."

"I'll give it to her but there's no guarantee she'll take it. Maybe if you to talk to her..." Gently resting his hand on her shoulder,  he squeezed it softly, coaxing her.

She shrugged away, and busied herself resetting the tumbled jars.

Turning from her, he sighed. "You said you want her to find the light again? Then be the light, Lues --forgive her. The fire was an accident, you know this."

Lues grabbed his hand, though she didn't turn and face him. She clung to him, just for moment. Feeling his coarse skin against her hand, she squeezed back.  "You and Ami treat her like she's one of us ---she's not, she was never meant to be. I know that more than most. The accident was my fault, I should've known her history, prepared better. There's nothing to forgive."

"Really? It sure doesn't look like it. You hide away from world, over what? A small scar? You -- who was so proud of standing out from others, from being different are bested by vanity?"

"Don't presume to know why I do what I do brother. Vanity? Really?" She laughed.

"Then why? Why do you hide in the shadows?"

"Because I'm not ready!" She sighed. "When her fire touched me, I saw the future. I saw what we will become, what she will make of us. And I'm not ready for it, do you understand? I need her to take the tonic, I need her to give me time. To come to terms with what will come. Please just make sure she takes the damn tonic, for me, I'm not ready."

War nodded, pulling her into a firm embrace, he held tightly as she whispered into his chest.

"Please, I just need time."

"I'll talk to her." He answered. Kissing the top of her head, he gave her one more squeeze before letting go.