Prologue of the Prologue: Nelora Mahariel

Chapter 15: Epilogue

Summary:

Epilogue through the eyes of the green eyed elf (Merrill).

Notes:

"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." - Marcus Tullius Cicero

"After the search for Tamlen failed Nelora she wasn't the same. We went looking for him a few more times but it was like he left without a trace. Nelora didn't take it well. With time she grew weaker, her skin was paler and her blood vessels shone through it, her hair begun to fall out and her skin began getting these blackish greyish spots. The keeper tried her magic over and over again but it was only a momentarily relief for Nel. After the healing sessions when I went to see how she was doing she always said: "The voices are quieter now."

Things were even worse when the night came. Mahariel couldn't be left alone because she told us that she can hear him call out to her. There are many voices screaming in her head and he is there too and he is telling her to go to the forest and that he is waiting for her.

It wasn't just her body braking down but her mind as well. She used to be a brilliant hunter and a great dreamer but then she had the mind of a 3 year old. She often forgot to eat, to wash, to go to the forest for bathroom. All that was left of her was this shell of a person who she used to be.

The keeper was almost certain that her condition wouldn't improve and she worried that the child within her wouldn't be well. Could Nelora stay alive long enough to give birth to the poor babe or would they both die as Mahariel's mind and body decay away.

The last time I saw her was a beautiful summer morning. I went to her tent and there she was sitting in the middle of it staring at the entrance point. Her skin was thin and slightly see-through, there were intense black circles under her eyes and her once beautiful amethyst eyes had turned to some grey shade with black dots all over. She was sickly thin; when she changed you could literarily count her ribs, only her baby bump seemed to be not underweight.

Things got that bad that sometimes she slipped away when someone was supposed to be watching her and Nelora she wondered the camp looking for Tamlen because she had something to tell him.

One morning I was meant to go take care of her, but she was gone. On the floor of her tent she had left her family necklace next to her journal.

I don't know where she went, why nor if she is alive but what I do know is that she'll always be with me. She will always be with the clan and she won't be forgotten. She'll always be my best friend.

Looking back at it all must sound very strange but that is what happens if the blight and the taint in the blood go uncured. Hawke it is a mercy to be put down before things get as bad with Carver as they did with Mahariel..."
THE END

Notes:

This took a bit of a dark turn.

This is it with Nelora Mahariel. Perhaps one day I'll see what happens if Duncan is there to save her and how the things will proceed from there but for now I'm going to let the dead have their peace.