Everheart: Chapter 19

"Holy shit, did it work?!"

Good morning to you, too...

"If any of you youngsters profane in this place one more time..."

"Kraio..."

"Sorry, sorry!"

It felt to Ginal as though she had been sleeping for days.  Her eyelids were so heavy that opening them was a feat of willpower, only to be met by light far too bright for her taste, and her body was stiff and sore.  However, much to her pleasure, she no longer found herself as two separate beings locked in a struggle for control, but rather...just herself.

I've never been so glad to be only myself.

She found Selah next to her, offering a groggy smile and squeezing her hand.

"Welcome back, Kitten."

"Thanks...I feel like I've been trampled by a herd of chocobo."

There was something else, Ginal realized, and the realization startled her.

"Your eyes!"

A hand was offered to Ginal, belonging to Timothy.  "Gods be good, it's the both of you."

Ginal stared, shock and wonder plain as day in her expression.  She leaned forward, as Selah did the same, and they searched each others eyes.

"Selah, your eyes, they--they glow like magiced sapphires!"

"And yours like enchanted emeralds."

"Well, that's...odd, but really pretty." Kraio remarked.  "Guess you can use your eyes as candles during sexy time, now!"

The old priest, Timothy, Selah and Ginal all looked upon Kraio in disbelief.

"Kraio..."

"What?" 

Accepting Timothy's offered help and rising to her feet, Ginal's perceptions finally caught up with her surroundings.  Her ears flattened as her eyes sparkled with wonderment.  The chandeliers, the fountains and waterfalls.  The grand, sprawling architecture, the stained glass and the regal carpeting.

"Oh...gods, this place is beautiful.  Where are we?"

"You're inside the Ivory Chapel, within the Sanctum of the Twelve." the old priest answered.

I would give anything to be bonded in this place...

Shaking herself from her reverie, Ginal looked to Kraio and Timothy, giving a tired, but heartfelt smile.

"I take it you did something to allow Selah to help me.  Thank you, so much."

"What are friends for?" Kraio remarked.

Selah came up behind her lover, kissing her ears and gently rubbing her shoulders, eliciting a contented purr from the miqo'te.

Such a simple thing...gods, I missed this.

"Hey...is there a place we can be alone for a minute?" Ginal inquired.

Kraio chuckled, "Hey, I don't think gramps here would like you two doing...what you do, in the chapel."

"No, no..." Ginal laughed as her ears fluttered.  "It's just...we need to talk, while there's time."

"Indeed." Selah agreed.

"Very well.  Kraio, let us go check on the others." Timothy suggested.

"If you'll follow me, young ladies." the old priest gestured ahead.  "We are still working to repair and renovate, but we have a waiting room ready to use."



Ornate, wall mounted vases of gold and white porcelain.  Sconces of shining brass, or even gold itself.  Fountains pouring water from the walls, and luxurious, thickly cushioned couches.  There would have even been rays of brilliant sunlight pouring through the round-edged window that covered the entire back wall, if the sun hadn't already set.

Truly, this Sanctum never ceases to take your breath away, does it?  Maybe Ginal and I really can host a ceremony here...assuming we could ever afford such a thing.

"Gods be good." Ginal drawled.  "I want a room like this in our own home."

"I"ll get right on it, dearest."

The hyur took a seat on one of the sofas, and pat the spot next to her for Ginal to join her.  "But, seriously, Kitten...What were those memories?  Have...have we lived before?"

The miqo'te chewed on her lip as she thought.  Selah could tell she didn't have an answer she was comfortable with, and couldn't blame her.

"When I was...pregnant, before..."  Discomfort and unease crept over Selah as she spoke the words.  It needed to be said, though, so force herself on she did.  "It wasn't just being Geoffrey's child that felt wrong.  It was...I had this overwhelming feeling, that...it just felt wrong to be pregnant.  And, hells, I don't know...just wrong."

Ginal listened, and the hyur knew by the particular twitching of her ears that she wanted to speak up, but wasn't sure what to say.  Selah smiled and gave her beloved's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I wonder...  If I was pregnant in another life, with a child I wanted...then losing that child might be what's made me feel this way?"

"It makes sense...as much sense as any of these dreams." Ginal commented.

"And that night, in Hyrstmill...and all the times we've been looking to that same cluster of stars.  It really does feel like we've been looking for each other all our lives, doesn't it?"

With a heavy, shuddering breath, tears began to well in Ginal's eyes.  She lay her head on Selah's chest, her ears folded down.  "I always knew someone important was looking at those stars.  Someone I needed to find.  And even from the first day we met, I knew that I had met you before."

Selah nodded, "I felt the same way.  No matter how new and exciting things may be, there's always this comforting familiarity to everything between us."

Neither were certain how long they sat, enjoying the ambiance of the fountains and the warm calm of cuddling.  Minutes, certainly, and maybe more.  

"Selah...I'm sorry.  I really fucked up here, and I'm sorry."

"I know you are.  It's oka--"

"I was on my way to find you, you know?  But then the Wailers came calling for help, and...  I felt like I couldn't just abandon my people when they needed me."

Funny.  An appeal to help my people is what kept me in Mor Dohna.

Selah shrugged, "Sometimes we all get sidetracked and forget what matters most.  But you're my love, and of course I forgive you."

She paused, her jaw clenched as she thought over how to continue, but realized Ginal was falling asleep.  Being a sentiment she concurred with, she closed her eyes, held Ginal close, and drifted off to the ambiance of her beloved's steady breathing.

Gentle knocking on the door roused Selah and Ginal.  The door opened partway, and Elysande peeked her head in, offering her friends a warm smile.

"Hey guys--gods bless!  Your eyes!"

Ginal smirked, "Yeah, we know.  We don't know what it's about, either."

"Seem to be a response to our souls' intimate joining." Selah offered.

Elysande seemed entranced for a half moment, then shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, anyway, the Wailers and their conjurors have turned back.  I convinced them that the massive aether outpouring outside was the 'demon' dieing.  Conjurors said the elementals confirmed it, whatever that means, and they left."

"Wonderful," Selah happily exhaled, "no more fighting for today."

Worry and remorse crossed Ginal's features as she shot to her feet.  "Oh gods, Ely, the others!  Are they okay?  Di--did I kill, any of them?

Please, gods, tell me I didn't kill anyone else.

A gentle wave of her hand and a reassuring smile were Elysande's reply.

"Battered and bruised, to be sure, but we're all accounted for.  Gods, girl, remind me not to piss you off!"

The miqo'te offered an apologetic, sheepish smile, prompting Elysande to enter the room.  The tall and more muscular hyur embraced her friend tight, laughing warmly.

"Gin, honey, we'll all be fine after some rest and potion treatments.  I know a good alchemist."  

In the days following, the lovers decided to make their way back home by bird, carriage, and ferry.  It was much needed time to think and rest, as well as an opportunity to examine some of the changes that had manifested as a result of recent events.

For one, the brilliant glow in their eyes seemed to be permanent, as it had not diminished even slightly during the trip home.  The looks people gave them ranged from amusing to annoying, and by the second day Ginal wasn't sure whether to be grateful for the attention, or fed up with it.

While stopped within the towering wooden walls of Quarrymill, and older, gray-haired elezen woman had stopped to peer into Ginal's eyes, and began to remark on them.

"Yes, I know, shining emeralds, thanks." she snapped.

"Dearest, she was only trying to pay a compliment." Selah chastised.  "But...I agree, this may be getting old quickly."

Ginal also discovered that her new found powers also seemed permanent.  Lobbing spheres of shimmering black and green energy, creating violently jutting spines of darkness that ripped boulders in half, even the manifestation of a sword from nothingness.



Dusk was upon them when they reached the makeshift outpost at Buscarron's Druthers.  A tavern nestled among a small clearing, with partial protection of a perimeter of small wooden walls, a small stable, and a handful of bored adventurers for guards.  It brought back pleasant memories, of a day months ago when things weren't so dire and complicated.  When the two had known they were falling in love, but had not the courage to stand their ground and speak up.  It was a fine moment in time to revisit, with loving kisses that complimented the malty-sweet beers from the tavern.

On a whim of curiosity, Ginal purchased a steel-forged sword from a traveling merchant setup outside the tavern, and focused her energies on it.  After a while, minutes or maybe longer, crackling green energy had covered the blade, and then it simply faded away.  With a moment's concentration, shimmering swirls of green and black formed in her hands, and the very same sword manifested.

"Well, that's useful." Selah remarked.  "I'm not sure if I should be envious or frightened."

"Both," Ginal grinned.  "I'm pretty damn awesome."

On another whim, Ginal found herself curious if it was more than glowing eyes she now shared with her beloved.  Selah needed a new weapon anyway, the road to The Goblet being as long as it was.

Unfortunately, they were short on traveling gil, and needed to conserve what was left.  Fortunately, Ginal had noticed the merchant making sideways glances at the two or them, and figured she knew a way to charm him out of a lance.

A playful pout and batting of the eyes, a compliment of the middle-aged man's pudgy physique buttered him up well enough, but sharing a heated kiss with Selah and giving a suggestive glance seemed to imply pending attention of which the man was desperate for.  Ginal knew she could have convinced the man to hand over his wallet at that point, and was tempted to ask.

The smirk on Selah's face as they strolled away with her steel and oak carved weapon only served to make Ginal giggle.

"You're mean, you know that?"

"You knew this already."

It was hard to explain to Selah how to concentrate on the lance.  When Ginal first discovered she could create a sword from aether, it was born from an instinctual need to defend herself.  Breaking that steel sword down and summoning it from the aether was almost like willing it to become a part of her, a literal extension of her being.

So Selah sat upon a stump, bathed in the pink and orange of sunset, and concentrated.  She, too, willed the weapon to become a part of herself.  And willed.

And willed.

Shimmering white and blue light enveloped the lance, and within moments, it had disipated into strands of aether.  Shocked and excited, Selah willed the weapon's return.  From her hands sprang forth the same crackling blue and white, which coalesced into the oaked- carved, steel-bladed lance.

"At least it will be very difficult disarm us."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ginal smirked, "I bite."

"Mmhmm, and I may still have teeth marks on my back from the last time."

It was good to slip back into the playful banter.  You never know how much it means until you have to go without.



The road was quiet and welcoming, until the following midday.  They arrived at the grand achievement of masonry, the Highbridge, to find a particularly aggressive band of those rat-faced Qiqirn menacing the merchants and guards.  The commotion pulled Ginal from a lovely dream about wintertime indulgences of pumpkin flavored coffee and pecan pie, shared with a talking squirrel.

"What do you suppose they're looking for?" Selah inquired.  "These things rarely want anything substantial like territory."

"Don't know, don't care." Ginal replied.  She leaned up on the tips of her toes for a stretch that quickly became a kiss, her lips playfully meeting those of her beloved.  "They're in the way of getting home."

The two hopped down from the carriage and readied their weapons.  Exchanging a glance, they silently agreed to disarm the diminutive pests and send them fleeing, rather than kill them.  There had been too much bloodshed of late, from any living creatures.

"Wow." Ginal whispered.  "This place looks a lot more grand in the daylight."

It had been well into the night the last time they had come this way, and though Ginal could see the shapes and edges of things just fine in the dark, it lacked depth and color.  In the bright Thanalan sun, though, the Highbridge was a marvel.  The bridge itself must have easily been miles long as it spanned the great gorge that separated this part of the land, forged of gray-brown brick and mortar.  On this side of the gorge, the bridge merged into a great stairway that fed into an entire small settlement that had been built.  There were two or three rectangular buildings, and a tall windmill, all made of the same matching brick and mortar.

"Love, you're staring." Selah teased.  "I've got to take you out of the Shroud more often."

"You can take the girl out of the Shroud..."

The engagement itself was simple and straightforward.  Qiqirn could be aggressive, but rarely trained properly for battle, and these fools were no exception.  Judging from the way the over-sized rodents were dashing about frantically, it appeared they were simply looking for things to steal, or break what they couldn't.

It was good to fighting side by side again, instead of facing each other.  It felt natural, simple, and right.  They fought in tandem, a true union like they had never done.  Ginal would create an opening, and Selah would press it.  Selah would leap into a group to gain their attention, then back to Ginal's side, where the miqo'te would stand her ground with Selah at her back.

And through the encounter, they would brush past each other, exchanging winks or briefly caressing.  It was foreplay, a sensual dance that stirred them both to push for victory, and spoke of what was to come.  It had, after all, been nearly a month since they had made love, and even Selah was growing anxious.

"Ugly little pests." Ginal groaned, the blunt edge of her sword sweeping one qiqirn from its feet.

As if in response, Selah turned in time to witness one of the beasts at a distance toss a black orb, a sparking fuse on the top hissing as it landed.

"Bomb!" she shouted, pointing at the ground.  

While Selah leaped away, a small explosion consumed the immediate area, the roiling hot concussive force knocking Ginal over and winding her.  The hyur jumped back to her lover's side, worry plain on her face.

"Ginal!"

"Yeah...I'm fine." Ginal coughed.  

As Ginal shook off her disorientation, she realized her sandal had fallen off.  As she found herself wishing for its return, shimmering green and black aether surrounded her foot, and the sandal materialized.

"Whoa...that's neat."

Shortly after reading themselves to return to the fray, the rat-men squealed and chittered at each other, sounding their retreat.  Ginal was disappointed, but acknowledged that the ache creeping into her limbs and body would only hinder her.

Note to self: stop getting blown up.

Th couple embraced, Selah petting Ginal's ears to elicit a purr.  They stood in silence, willing the moment to stop indefinitely.  The hyur enjoyed her beloved's subtle musk, and the miqo'te's nostrils indulged in the piney-sweet scent of lavender lotion.

It was good to be back.

Everheart: Chapter 18

 It was like a living dream.

Everything in this place was skewed, slanted in a way that defied explanation.  It was dark and weightless, and stretched on for eternity.  And there lay Ginal, her naked form glimmering with light that was dimmer than Selah remembered.

"Kitten!" she cried.

Only silence and echos.

As she approached her beloved, a haze gathered and hung in the air.  It was thick, and alive with energy.  A consciousness given form, and she knew she wasn't alone.  The haze swirled and gathered, changing into brilliant green flame.

"Why are you here?" the flame demanded. "Come to mock me with more of your plans to leave me?  Or to tell me how much of a freak I am?"

It was the same sultry, predatory growl of the Emerald Demon.  Dread threatened to overtake Selah, an all-consuming chill tickling her spine.

"Leave me alone." Emerald commanded.

The fire dissipated, returning to the haze, and receded into the shadows of this insubstantial cave.

"No!  Come back!" Selah called.  "You can't just leave me!  You HAVE to talk to me!"

Silence, and echos.

Ginal lay still, curled upon herself.  Not even a twitch of the ear or flick of the tail in response.  Desperation edged its way into Selah's heart as she glanced around.  She finally realized she was biting her lip, or whatever was the equivalent in this place of formless existence.

Alright...we'll try it again.

"Oh, I get it." Selah's tone turned condescending.  "You're jealous, aren't you?  Of him touching me, kissing me.  Jealous that he knows how to use what's between his legs better than you?"

Forcing these lies had become exhausting, to say nothing of the utterly nauseating effect having to listen to herself was having.  If Selah were still in her body, she was certain she would have retched this time.

"You shouldn't do that..." Ginal whispered, slowly pushing herself up from her makeshift bed.  "Don't mock her.  I can't calm her anymore.  I don't know what she'll do."

Selah was at her side, embracing her and petting her hair, trying to offer the most reassuring smile she could fake.

In the near-distance, twin flames of emerald simmered in the dark.  Their gaze narrowed upon the hyur, and the rage they cast was palpable.

"I'll tell you what I'll do..." Emerald purred.  "I'll find him and rip him apart!  Make him suffer and bleed for all he's done!"

A pause in Emerald's words, and the emotional energy that filled the place shifted suddenly, from a consuming rage to a penetrating arousal.

"...But not until I've made him watch a woman show him how to really use these bits."

I would love nothing more than to watch you torment him so, Ginal.  To humiliate him, break him and vaporize the bastard.  But where would it end?  This state you're in, your passion has been consumed by rage.  If that were indulged and fed, it would be like unleashing a new primal upon the world.

Dammit, what do I do?

"Help me, Kitten." Selah whispered as she cradled Ginal.  "What can I do?"

Ginal could only shrug.  "She's our drive, our...fire.  And now she's carrying all our pain.  What can you say to someone so lost to their pain that they believe the entire world has turned against them?  Even their own beloved."

Selah rose to face the eyes simmering in the dark.  Heated anger swelled in her heart as she stalked forward, pointing sharply at the emerald eyes.  "I didn't turn against you, Ginal!  Not in my heart, not even for a moment!"  She knew it wasn't really tears in her eyes, but the perception was identical to wet, blurred vision.  "Did you EVER stop to think, AT ANY FUCKING POINT, that for once I needed YOU?!  That after these MONTHS of you pleading for patience and understanding, that I needed at least a FUCKING FRACTION of it back?!"

The emotion crackling through the air stilled, as the intensity of the twin flames cooled.

Her fists trembled desperately, and though her legs threatened to buckle, Selah forced herself forward.  "Geoffrey was my worst nightmare, Ginal!  Everything you've experienced across your whole life, was condensed to five years for me!  He HUMILIATED me, DOMINATED me, BEAT me and FUCKING RAPED ME for five--FUCKING--years!"

The wet pools had turned to streams of liquid exasperation, as Selah snarled at the Demon in her shroud of shadows.  "So yeah, Mom came barging in with this damnable letter, and I didn't know what to think!  Was it a hoax, was it real?  If he was really alive, then what did I need to do to get him out of my life, so that we could have our life together?  And hey, maybe you could come with me, stand by me, FUCKING SUPPORT ME?!  But no, you got all hurt and you left me to face this alone, where I had no idea what was right or wrong anymore because all I can think of if how desperate I am to be rid of the bastard and go home to you!  You made ME the bad guy for NO REASON, when all I asked for was some love and support!"

But buckle they did, and Selah found herself on the cavern floor.  She could only barely see for all the tears clouding her vision, as she angrily punched the floor.  "I didn't know...I didn't know what happened while I was gone.  How could I?  But then I got these letters telling me you were in this catastrophe, and there was this demon, and I knew it was you without even being there, and I ran as fast I could, and finally found you, but...  But gods, Ginal, it was a twisted you, and you were trying to kill the people who only wanted to help you.  And I had to get your attention, to get you to burn off this rage, but I went too far and I said these horrible things, and--I..."



Only Selah's sobbing echoed through this place.  Ginal came to her lover's side and embraced her, staring up at the eyes hanging in the shadows.  "It wasn't her fault.  She didn't do this to us.  You know this."

Emerald knew it was true, though pulling away from the intensity of the moment to actually see what was right in front of her was the most difficult thing she had ever done.  She watched as her other, lighter half embraced thte sobbing heap that was Selah.  She knew Selah had also experienced true pain, but had never realized it.

And she knew that Selah, her one and only love, HAD needed the same love, support and understanding that she had been asking for all these months.  Disgust and self-loathing washed over Emerald as she turned away.  She couldn't bear to look upon what she had done.

Is this all that I've become?  Is this all I can do?  Lash out and hurt everyone who cares every time I get lost in moment?  And Selah...  Gods, I've finally broken her, haven't I?

Maybe it's time for me to go away.

Quickly, Ginal rose and reached into the shadowy veil, and pulled Emerald forward.  Smiling, she embraced her darker half as she laughed softly.

"No, Emerald.  Your place is here with me.  We're part of a whole, and should have never acted separately.  You bring us passion and lust, the drive that pushes us ever forward.  I bring us calm and thoughtfulness, the contentment to slow down and love.  We can be something great, larger than ourselves, if we would join back together."

Selah took Ginal's hand and Emerald's hand, offering both a loving smile, "And then it can be us again, Ginal and Selah."

Disbelief, dumbfounded shock, and a humbling relief that threatened to bring Emerald to her knees.  "You...you would still have us?  After everything I've done?  As much as I let myself lose control?"

"You're my Kitten, my one and only love.  I know you didn't mean for this to happen to you, and I know you wouldn't have chosen all this.  I forgive you, Ginal, because I love you."

Selah was always better to me than I deserved.  Why does she love me so?

"I wish we could go back to how things were, but..."  Emerald offered a mournful smile as she pulled away, looking back to the shadows.  "As long as I still exist, we will be too dangerous and selfish.  I'll fly off the handle again when someone says something I don't like.  I'll lose myself to the fire and hurt people...  I'd be like some new, awful Primal."

Emerald willed her spirit weapon into being, its blade pulsing with darkness in the cave's dim light.  Selah pulled Ginal away, watching wearily as Emerald rested the sword with the blade facing up.

"But I can do what Primals won't.  I can end myself, and free the rest of you of my darkness."

"The hells you will." Selah scolded.

The hyur pulled emerald away form her sword forcefully, and her palm meeting Emerald's cheek echoed loudly through the cavern.  Emerald's eyes flared and she bore her canines.

"Damn you, Selah, I'm--"

"And damn YOU, Ginal, for ever thinking that killing an entire part of yourself is going to solve anything!  We need you--I need you--as you are!  Passionate, driven and loving.  You think you can really help anyone, or be the woman I love, if you just kill that part of yourself off?"

Okay...  She has a point.

Ginal approached, tenderly petting Emerald's cheek.  "I can't do this without you."

Emerald didn't even realize she had embraced Selah until she felt the hyur wiping the tears from her cheek.  

"I...can't make any promises." Emerald explained.  "I've always been the loudest and strongest of us.  I may need both of you to help me, to give me direction."

"I know." Selah answered.

Ginal took Emerald's hands in hers, her ears twitching happily.  "We'll do it together."

The light and dark halves of the miqo'te shimmered as they embraced, their bodies distorting and bending.  The haze gathered and swirled about them, crackling with emerald lightning, before erupting into a green fire that consumed both forms.  The flash was too bright to look upon, forcing Selah to look away, but the light quickly faded.

Ginal stood, her eyes aglow with energy, but no longer aflame.  She examined her arms, the wild curls of her hair, and her entire body, and at last set her gaze upon Selah.  Smiling and purring, she embraced her beloved tight.

"Thank you, Selah...for coming for me."

"I always will."

"So...what now?"

"I'd say it's probably time to wake up, hm?"



The two lingered a moment longer, in this place where substance had no meaning.  A world of thought and feeling, where consciousness was the only form, where they could touch each other on a level where skin would not allow.

Ginal smiled to herself, feeling more safe now than she had in years.

Crying echoed around them. The image of a young woman weeping, a miqo'te adoleacent of wine red hair, manifested near them.  It was translucent and shimmering, real, and not.

"What...is that?" Selah asked.

"It's me...I was just thinking that I haven't felt this safe since I was young, and..."

"Tell me, child, what despairs you so?" asked a voice as deep the ocean, and as gentle as satin.

The youth looked up to see tall, broadly built man kneeling before her.  He was clad in armor as dark as night, spines protruding from all over the suit, and helmet that looked like a dragon's head from tales she had heard.  Her heart ached too much to feel awed, or frightened, and merely continued to tremble and weep.

"I...my...my parents..."

He shook his head.  "Gone from this world?"

She nodded.  "They went a-away...to t-that Cart-t-tin..."

"Carteneau?  The place of the great battle?"

Again she nodded, and could speak no more through the whimpers and tears.  The man hung his head, whispering something to himself that she couldn't hear through her distress.  He reached to his helmet and pulled back, removing it to show the ears of a hyur, the wrinkles of his face indicating middle age.

"My name is Grezel.  I find myself in The Shroud for a time.  If you have no have nowhere else to go, come with me.  I will watch over you."

"I was compelled to go with him." Ginal explained.  "Maybe it was just the grief.  Hard to say.  But, I had never felt so safe in my life as I did that night."

"Wait..." Selah peered searchingly upon the living memory.  "I know this."

"You do?"

"Yeah...  I was there.  It was Hyrstmill, a couple months after the Calalmity.  The sun had just set, and I had stumbled into the town while the gates were being rebuilt.  I was starving, my clothes were ragged...and then I heard this girl crying, and saw this dragoon trying to comfort her.  I wanted to go to her, to tell her she'd be okay.  It was...a compulsion I can't explain."

"Why didn't you?"



Cast out by my mother with nothing to wear or eat or defend myself with.  Living off scraps I've stolen from inattentive housewives and workers, with no home to call my own.  Wandering for weeks, hiding from wolves and beastmen.

But I'm an adult.  She's still a bit young, pretty as she is.  I lost things I never cared for anyway.  She's had her whole world torn from her.  She needs to know she'll survive.  She needs to know someone will come and love her, someday.

Selah rose to her feet, wiped the dirt from her face, and stepped forward.

"You there.  The girl in the tattered shirt."

The voice was sharp, commanding, but oddly reassuring.  The man to whom it belonged, a hyur of roughly her same height, and eyes that pierced her very soul, approached.  The scar between his eyes spoke of experience at his own cost, and the heavily padded tunic he wore seemed at odds with the wood-carved lance harnessed on his back, seeming to argue for comfort and practicality over an imposing visage.

"What?"  She leered at the man, weary and already caught off guard by that piercing gaze.

"You clearly have need of food and shelter.  Gridania has need of those who can aid it.  A fair trade, wouldn't you say?"

"I...what, are you offering me work?"

"Work, basic needs met, maybe even a sense of purpose."

"And the catch is...?"

"You get what you give.  There are no handouts in The Shroud, but if you're willing to earn what you want, then you want for little."

She searched the man's eyes and posture.  Their was pride evident, but tempered by wisdom and...compassion.  A truly foreign sentiment, if ever there was one.

And not even a hint of arrogance or malice anywhere to be found on this man.

"What would I have to do?" she inquired.

"We'll see where you fit best," he replied, "though judging by that glint in your eye, I suspect you'd make a fine archer for our Godsbow."



The ghostly image of Selah's haggard self and Ywain faded into the void, and Selah smiled at her beloved. "By the time I was done talking with Ywain, you were gone." Selah continued.  "I had always hoped that girl was okay...  I'm glad she was." 

"Have we been searching for each other our entire lives?" Ginal asked.

"It seems that way.  I always felt like there was a part of me missing, somewhere out there.  If I just kept looking to the stars, they would guide me."

"Wait...  That wouldn't happen to be the bright star cluster of eastern sky, would it?"

Ginal knows these stars?

"Kitten...have you been looking to them as well?"

The miqo'te squeezed Selah's arms and nuzzle her.  "I've always felt the same way.  What is it about those stars that's so special?"

"If it's true...what they told us...then when we next wake...look to those stars.  I promise...I'll never stop looking for you..."

An apparition of an elezen woman, laying in a pool of blood, flickered to life before them.



Ginal squeezed her wife's hand as she lie there, her lifeblood draining onto the soil.  The elzen woman clutched her stomach with her other hand, a pained and distraught expression on her face.

"I...can't feel the baby...she's gone...I'm sorry, S-sserafine..."

The miqo'te didn't know what to say.  Her heart had shattered in ways she never dreamed possible.  To lose not just her truly beloved, but the child they would have soon greeted into the world...  To look upon Selah now, seeing her dying...

"It;s....it's okay, Amani."

She wiped blood away from Selah's lips and leaned down to kiss her as tenderly as she could.  Ginal's heart ached, her body plead for permission to tremble and collapse, but she had to be strong, if only for another moment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Amani...I'm so sorry."

"You fought a--as....hard as you...could..."  Selah's breathing was growing more shallow by the moment, and the once awe inspiring and beautiful bright glow of her sapphire eyes had grown dim.  "If it's true...what they told us...then when...w--we next wake...look...to the stars...our stars...I promise I...I'll never s--stop looking for...you..."

The glow faded entirely from Selah's eyes, and her chest ceased its rise and fall.  Ginal gently closed her eyelids, and gave in to her body's pleas.  Her lips quivered and tears hot with grief poured from her eyes.  She lay her head on her wife's stomach, and wept like a lost child.

"Amani..."

"This is because of your defiance, Serafine." The Lady stated.  "Had you only held true to your oath, you could have had any love you wanted."

"I wanted Amani!" Ginal snapped.  She looked over her shoulder at The Lady, standing in all her divine, shimmering glory, and bared her canines.  "I served you twelve with all my heart my entire life.  You couldn't allow me this one thing?!"

"Not with Amani.  She served the Others."

"SHE WAS MY WIFE!"

Ginal's world had crumbled beneath her her feet.  She had nothing left to live for, no reason to go on.  Her trembling hand clutched the hilt of her sword as she rose from the ground, her blonde hair matted down with the lifeblood of her wife.  She spun about, desperate tears falling of her cheeks in a blur, and she swung her weapon.  The Lady caught the blade, and flash of light flew from her other other hand, striking Ginal across the chest.

The miqo'te fell to her knees, looking up at her former master with disdain.  Blood poured from a long gash in her breastplate, and the brilliant emerald glow in her eyes slowly grew dim.  With her last reserve of strength, she spit upon The Lady, and fell over.

Darkness wrapped around Ginal.  A welcoming void of non-existence.  Slumber eternal, or close enough.

I'd do it all again...just to look into those eyes once more...



Selah was aghast as the living memory faded away.  If only she could place where that horrible event had taken place...but she knew, in her heart, that it had happened to them some long time ago.

But that's ridiculous.  There's no way we could have lived lives before this...right?

"What...what was that?" Ginal pleaded, her eyes filled with sorrow.  "Why do I remember that so well?"

"I don't know, Kitten.  I...don't know."

She pulled Ginal close in a protective embrace, and kissed her forehead.

"Come, love.  Let's wake up now."