Spirit Animal Ficlets

Just Take My Heart And My Eyes

Rollan felt... Nothing. His body felt empty, everything going in pilot mode as he followed Abeke and Shane around the redcloak base.

His eyes ached with tears being held back. Rollan hadn't mourned for Essix. He told himself she wasn't dead, yet the ache in his chest felt like somebody had ripped out his heart.

Do not stand at my grave and weep;

Sometimes he would stare at the sky, hoping- Begging -Essix would show up like she always did. She'd be her brown speck against a blue sky. Yet each time since she was stolen from him, she was not there. Rollan had done the same thing when he was younger, searching for his mother when she wasn't ever around. Why him? Why did he lose all the people he cared about?

I am not there.

First it was his mother.

He missed her like any child would. Eyes roaming the streets, hoping to see her and her raven. He had gotten her back only to find out she was with the conquerors but after the war she was free. She was finally back. He didn't even know where she was now. Rollan feared that she had been takem by the Wyrm. One of the many people bending to Zerif and that parasite of his.

I do not sleep.

Then Tarik.

Rollan had seen him like a mentor, a father he never had. Watching Tarik die just to protect him had done a real number on him. Rollan pulled his cloak tighter to him, the green fabric loved and worn from the years and journeys. Tarik didn't have a proper grave, buried in the sands of Nilo by Cabaro's once great Oasis. Rollan would never forget what Tarik had done. He wore the greencloak now to respect him. Everyone knew that.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

And Conor.

Rollan felt his throat squeeze painfully as his eyes aches grew worse.

Poor Conor. He didn't deserve this. Trap thousands of feet underground with Meilin and Takoda in the darkness with the Wyrm making its way to his forehead. It was a rare worse than death. If Conor would be taken down there, Rollan would never forgive himself. Their friendship started off rocky. The sheep boy finding him in the middle of running away to all the slack Rollan gave him for giving away the Iron Boar. He'd never was sure if Conor really did forgive him or if it was just Conor being nice to give Rollan a clear mind.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

And finally, Essix.

Essix was the greatest thing that ever happened to Rollan. She had given him so much in this life. From getting off the streets to finally finding a home and a family. Rollan would have taken the Parasite himself if he had the chance to save Essix from The Wyrm. He would do anything to keep her safe just as she had done all this time.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

That's what had happened, wasn't it? Essix was loyal to Rollan as he was loyal to her. She had seen it before he had. The sneak attack from Zerif, Halawir would attempt to attack from behind and Rollan had seen it happen within mere seconds.

The tussle of feathers, Essix scream and her rocketing into the air.

That deathly squeeze in Rollan's chest followed by Nothing.