Dream-and-Day

The Prince and the Queen ------ The hooded cloak coiled around Akataras while he walked, white as the snow that fell from above. The black of mourning had not slipped from the elf's shoulders for long, before he had once again clad himself in light. Familiar pains were easier to bear perhaps, or he had found a new road, paved on the lives he had buried, that led to a more clear path. His path was clear, but his mind and heart were not. His long and ragged brown hair was not in the style of one whose mind was settled, or heart healed. The white furs, silks and leathers he wore only warded against the frost outside, not within. The exhaustion

       How many years had it been since that day? Thalion wondered. The half-elf sighed reminiscently as he surveyed the crater. The wreckage had long since been picked clean. He felt that strange scrap of metal in his pocket that Oreyn had given him. He also had given a piece to Azyriel. Mother . . . thoughts of the elf brought up memories of her beauty and warm smile. Her eyes haunted him because they were his own. He avoided mirrors because of them. Oreyn gave the largest piece to Raina. Little Raina why did you have to let it blind you? The look of hatred on her face from Oreyn’s murder tortured his sleep. Thalion shivered and not

He was breathing raggedly, all adrenaline spent as the last man in front of him slipped bonelessly to the floor. When the face of the unconscious hunter landed in the soaked sawdust, the squishing noise finished bringing him back to his senses and he took a deep shuddering inspiration which he regretted instantly, the air around being saturated with various stenches, spilled wine and vomit. The small move in front of him made him reach instantly for another of his daggers but the old man behind the counter merely smiled, putting on between them a cutlass, its blade stained and pitted with age but still impressive. "I wouldn't if I was you, l