Various 'The Shadows Within'
June was a down month for me (accidentally), but I did manage some more Shadows Within (a couple are Story A Day leftovers). I didn't feel like posting any until I had the chance to do some reading too. Ordered chronologically story-wise instead of the order they were written for your convenience. ;)
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: The Interloper
Rating: PG
Flavor: White Chocolate #12 (compassion), Rum Raisin #3 (sister)
Toppings/Extras: Whipped Cream, Gummy Bunnies (prompt: #1 Beginnings source: WriYe Dreamwidth)
Wordcount: 421
Warnings: Mention of parental death
Notes: Lormryn and Aremu weren't always close
Lormryn glared at the interloper curled up in the bed across the room. It wasn't fair. Her parents had gone out and gotten her a new sister. Without asking her. Did they ever stop to consider the fact Lormryn was quite happy being an only child? That she liked having her parents and friends to herself? That she relished the fact she didn't have to share her room? Nooo, of course not.
It didn't help anything that her new "sister" was weird. Not just a little different, or a little strange, but really, really strange. Her parents didn't think she understood, but she did. She knew that this interloper wasn't human. An even better reason to have consulted her first.
She huffed, discarding her boring toy. They never thought to consult her about anything.
She was about to storm out of the room and find something better to do than brood when she heard a sniffle from across the room. Upon further investigation, she saw the girl's shoulders trembling, the way she curled even tighter into herself. 'Serves her right,' she thought bitterly.
But when the occasional sniffle became cut off sobs, she could no longer ignore the situation.
"What's the matter?" She asked, tone unsympathetic.
"N..nothing," the interloper stuttered, voice quivering.
"Yup, not going to buy that," she replied, jumping down and stalking over.
The girl looked worse up close.
"What. Is. It," Lormryn demanded, arms crossed.
The interloper sniffed again before whispering "I miss my parents."
Something about the way she said it knocked the wind out of Lormryn's sails. How was she supposed to answer that? If her parents hadn't consulted her--their own daughter--about this whole mess, why would they have consulted the girl?
Had anybody asked her what she wanted?
Lormryn knew her parents were dead, but that didn't automatically mean she wanted to live with them. Especially considering the fact Lormryn had been less than friendly. She let her arms fall down to her sides, tilting her head and really looking at the girl for the first time.
Sure, she was strange, but she was kinda pretty too. She hadn't been too bad this last week. Maybe she wasn't a horrible interloper?
Still uncertain, but unable to dismiss the notion, she ran her hand along the girl's spine for a moment. "I'm sorry."
"S'fine," the interlo--the girl, got out between hiccups.
"No it's not," Lormryn insisted. "I'm really sorry about your parents...Aremu."
The girl, no, her sister Aremu, flashed her a weak smile. "Thanks."
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Tousle
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Chocolate #2 (rivalry/jealousy), Mulberry #2 (when the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers)
Toppings/Extras: Whipped Cream
Wordcount: 171
Warnings: N/A
Notes: And it begins
Together they tousled, rolling all over the place in an attempt to gain the upper hand. The fight had devolved into dirty tactics, specifically, tickling. Fingers skating up and down sides and wherever else they could find a moment's purchase. Growls and insults broken by laughter.
It didn't take long for her to pin him, superior strength and agility giving her an unfair advantage. "Do you yield?" She asked dramatically, fingers poised for another strike. He hesitated, but she didn't.
"I give!" He cried, trying to fend off nimble fingers.
Suddenly they locked eyes and the world slowed around them. They laid there, caught in limbo, for a moment that seemed like an eternity.
"I yield," he whispered, and somehow, she knew he meant something else altogether.
"Come on guys, you're way too old for this," Lormryn called from across the yard, ever the scolding older sister.
And if Aremu caught the bite behind the words, or the jealously that burned in her eyes, she thought better than to mention it.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Wouldn't Miss It
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Banana Cream #25 (wander), Rocky Road #13 (library/study)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky, Hot Fudge
Wordcount: 96
Warnings: Necromancy
Notes: What is this? Another plot arc? Why yes, it is. And I've decided Banana Cream is going to be a Pocky Sundae.
For the past three hours, she had been aimlessly wandering around the library. Waiting.
Waiting for something spectacular to happen.
But it didn't want to work on her schedule and you can't rush magic, so she'd settled herself in for a long wait.
Stumbling over an uneven bit of flooring, she grabbed onto a shelf, nearly overturning its contents. One book in particular caught her attention. It was innocuous, unassuming. But she knew. Knew she'd found what she'd come looking for.
Somehow she figured no one would mind the absence of an old book of necromancy.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: PG
Flavors: Summer Challenge #36 (If there was a time these walls could guard you / Then let that time be right now), Dragonfruit #29 (one last desperate hope)
Toppings/Extras: N/A
Wordcount: 902
Warnings: References to terminal illness, one mild swear
Notes: Takes place immediately after "Sick Room Guilt"
With a long sigh Lormryn collapsed against the wall beside the closed door. Her calm was paper thin and she struggled to regain the composure she had lost so easily before. How was it that Aremu could always barrel her way through her defenses?
"I am sorry you did not find her as well as you would like."
Lormryn jumped, eyes flying open to land on the healer. She could feel herself on the brink of crying again as she took in his heavy, slumped lines and the weariness that permeated him. He had always been kind to their family. It wasn't his fault he was unqualified to handle Aremu's biology.
"I hold nothing against you. You have to know that," she assured him.
"I know, my child," he murmured, playing with his hands. "But it remains to be seen whether or not you are right."
An oppresive silence hung between, broken only by the occasional paraoxym of coughing from behind the closed door. Lormryn swallowed past the lump in her throat and finally asked the question she feared the answer of. "What are the chances she'll survive?"
He glanced at her before averting his gaze to the floor. His fiddling intensified for a moment then he dropped his hands to his side. They hung unusually limp. "If nothing changes? Next to none."
She couldn't help her indrawn breath. Torash may have stated it more bluntly earlier, but he wasn't a healer, he couldn't know for sure.
"As you are aware," the healer continued quietly. "Aremu's... differences have always caused difficulties in diagnosing and treating her illnesses. Very little affects her as it would a human. I have never before seen an ailment such as this, neither have any of the colleagues I have consulted." His hand clenched into a fist and she could hear the confusion.
"Any attempt at treatment is a shot in the dark, soothing symptoms instead of attacking the disease." His fist uncurled and he traced the lines in his palm like they might hold the answers he sought. "I know not what might help her. We are far beyond what I am capable of doing."
Once again the emptiness stretched and Lormryn finally considered the consequences of holding such a discussion right beyond Aremu's door. She might have been ill, but that didn't mean she wasn't above eavesdropping.
So Lormryn laid a gentle hand on the healer's elbow and steered him towards her father's study, which she knew to be empty. They traversed the hallway in silence.
Once inside they separated, he to the window, her to the bookshelf along the opposite wall. She traced the spines soothingly while she searched desperately for a single ray of hope to which she might cling. Aremu couldn't die, she just couldn't. Not when they'd finally started to clear the air.
Why did everything have to be so difficult? Was everything so complicated when it came to the Thyris? It always made things...
Wait! That was it!
She whirled on her heel to face the healer. "What if I found her a Thyrisian healer? Would she pull through?"
"Lormyrn..." He said, caught somewhere between chiding and shocked. "You can't seriously be considering?"
She knew she was suggesting something crazy, something dangerous, something utterly and completely desperate; but what was she supposed to do? Nothing?
"Yes, I am," she replied, not caring whether or not she sounded crazy.
It might have taken forever, but the people of Owary had come around to Aremu and her unusual heritage eventually. She was one of them now, black eyes be damned. What right did they have to complain about her bringing in a Thyrisian if it meant saving Aremu's life?
He sighed, deep and long suffering. She wasn't offended.
"It is possible that a healer more accustomed to Thyrisian physiology would know how to heal her."
She started to bounce on her heels, already anticipating when she might leave.
The healer hastened to add "But it is just as likely they will be unable."
She ignored him, they had to know what to do. They just had to. Idly, she turned away from him, heading towards her father's desk. She would have to appraise him of her plans, he deserved to know.
"Either way, her health is declining rapidly. The chances that help will arrive in time are not worth the risk."
She froze, whirling once again to face him. "Are you suggesting that averting the /potential/ for my death is worth not pursuing the /only/ option to prevent Aremu's /certain/ death? My life is not worth her's, not now, not ever." Spinning away from him she sighed through clenched teeth, flexing fingers that had fisted of their own accord. The fight bleeding out of her without her consent, her voice dropped to a whisper. "I cannot live without her. I just can't."
She didn't jump when he laid a hand on her shoulder, just gazed at her trembling hands. "If there is any chance I can save her, I have to try."
Beside her, he sighed. "I'll draw up a list of her symptoms and the remedies we've already tried. It should help with the diagnosis." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and left her.
If she hadn't been so focused on her plans, she would have thanked him, but as it was, she was already mapping out her journey to Thyris.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Banana Cream #2 (knock)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky
Wordcount: 100
Warnings: N/A
Notes: Another part of my Banana Cream+Pocky Sundae
Cursing to herself, she wavered just beyond the closed door. Why did everything have to be so... difficult? Lormryn had learned a long time ago that she would do anything for Aremu, anything at all. With Aremu's life on the line, how could she refuse? It didn't matter the journey would put her own life in danger.
But how was she going to explain that to Torash?
He deserved an honest answer, no matter how much it might pain her to give it. She might never come back.
The thought was little comfort as she finally rapped on his door.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Please
Rating: PG
Flavor: Dark Chocolate #7 (supplication), Blueberry Yogurt #14 (a miracle)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky, Gummy Bunnies (prompt: Stillness source: OneWord)
Wordcount: 99
Warnings: (fictitious) religion
Lormryn was never one to find peace in the temples. Far from a devote believer (of any power), she wormed her way out of every service she possibly could growing up. She'd given up the pretense altogether as an adult.
So she knew the situation was dire when she slipped into the back of the quiet, empty temple, lit a candle, and prayed harder than she ever had in all her life.
"Please," she breathed, wrenching her eyes closed tighter. "I've never asked for anything before and I'll never ask for anything again; but please, please, let her live."
Author: Saya
Title: It will get better
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: PG
Flavors: Summer Challenge #2 (I'm inviting you closer with each time I breathe / Surrender has somehow become so beautiful), Chocolate #12 (understanding),
Toppings/Extras: N/A
Wordcount: 471
Warnings: Terminal illness, willful death (not suicide)
Notes: Who said I couldn't write from Aremu's POV occasionally?
She awoke with a groan, struggling to salvage the remnants of her medically induced dreams. She felt disoriented, confused and unsure. How long had she been sleeping?
Something cold and wet dropped onto her forehead and she caught the hand responsible with an arm that felt as if weighted with lead.
"Hey," a voice whispered, loud despite the effort made to prevent it. "It's good to see you awake."
She tried to look up at them, but her vision swam in waves of blurry shapes and colors. The voice sounded wrong, but there was only one person it could be, even if she couldn't hope for it be so. "Lormyrn?"
She felt the long exhale across her knuckles.
"No, but she'll be here soon," the voice assured, fingers combing through her damp hair.
That wasn't right. Who else but Lormyrn would be at her bedside? Her dear, dear Lormyrn. Where was she? Why wasn't she here with her?
Oh. Torash.
How could she possibly have forgotten?
Her memories were just as blurry as her vision. She felt as though slogging through thick mud trying to remember. How could they be so stupid? All of them?
She dragged her thumb over the wrist she still clutched weakly. Cool fingers tangled in her own hesitantly. "Thank you, Torash," she got out around her dry tongue.
His intake of breath was sharp, the grip on her hand tightening convulsively. Somewhere beneath her ill haze, her heart ached for him. For all that she had put him through, what she would continue to put him through.
Maybe dying wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to her. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. She wouldn't be able to hurt anybody after that. They would mourn her loss, but then they would move on.
The old wounds might even heal, given enough time. Dying would give them the chance.
Yes, maybe dying would be better for everyone involved.
But she needed them to understand, needed them to learn to heal. To mend where she had inadvertently broken them.
Even though her mouth felt like sandpaper, she forced the words out. "I'm sorry. For everything."
He made a noise like he meant to interrupt so she rushed the rest of it out. "Things will get better, promise me things will get better?"
The fingers abandoned her hair and cupped her cheek. "Don't worry about anything, Aremu, you'll get better, I promise. They'll figure something out, Lormryn will bring help. Everything will be fine."
His voice on any other occasion would be comforting. Soothing. But now it was frustrating. How could he not understand what she meant? He had to understand.
But it was too late.
Her strength reserves were depleted and she slipped back into the warm, dark world where pain was only a dim echo.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: The Interloper
Rating: PG
Flavor: White Chocolate #12 (compassion), Rum Raisin #3 (sister)
Toppings/Extras: Whipped Cream, Gummy Bunnies (prompt: #1 Beginnings source: WriYe Dreamwidth)
Wordcount: 421
Warnings: Mention of parental death
Notes: Lormryn and Aremu weren't always close
Lormryn glared at the interloper curled up in the bed across the room. It wasn't fair. Her parents had gone out and gotten her a new sister. Without asking her. Did they ever stop to consider the fact Lormryn was quite happy being an only child? That she liked having her parents and friends to herself? That she relished the fact she didn't have to share her room? Nooo, of course not.
It didn't help anything that her new "sister" was weird. Not just a little different, or a little strange, but really, really strange. Her parents didn't think she understood, but she did. She knew that this interloper wasn't human. An even better reason to have consulted her first.
She huffed, discarding her boring toy. They never thought to consult her about anything.
She was about to storm out of the room and find something better to do than brood when she heard a sniffle from across the room. Upon further investigation, she saw the girl's shoulders trembling, the way she curled even tighter into herself. 'Serves her right,' she thought bitterly.
But when the occasional sniffle became cut off sobs, she could no longer ignore the situation.
"What's the matter?" She asked, tone unsympathetic.
"N..nothing," the interloper stuttered, voice quivering.
"Yup, not going to buy that," she replied, jumping down and stalking over.
The girl looked worse up close.
"What. Is. It," Lormryn demanded, arms crossed.
The interloper sniffed again before whispering "I miss my parents."
Something about the way she said it knocked the wind out of Lormryn's sails. How was she supposed to answer that? If her parents hadn't consulted her--their own daughter--about this whole mess, why would they have consulted the girl?
Had anybody asked her what she wanted?
Lormryn knew her parents were dead, but that didn't automatically mean she wanted to live with them. Especially considering the fact Lormryn had been less than friendly. She let her arms fall down to her sides, tilting her head and really looking at the girl for the first time.
Sure, she was strange, but she was kinda pretty too. She hadn't been too bad this last week. Maybe she wasn't a horrible interloper?
Still uncertain, but unable to dismiss the notion, she ran her hand along the girl's spine for a moment. "I'm sorry."
"S'fine," the interlo--the girl, got out between hiccups.
"No it's not," Lormryn insisted. "I'm really sorry about your parents...Aremu."
The girl, no, her sister Aremu, flashed her a weak smile. "Thanks."
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Tousle
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Chocolate #2 (rivalry/jealousy), Mulberry #2 (when the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers)
Toppings/Extras: Whipped Cream
Wordcount: 171
Warnings: N/A
Notes: And it begins
Together they tousled, rolling all over the place in an attempt to gain the upper hand. The fight had devolved into dirty tactics, specifically, tickling. Fingers skating up and down sides and wherever else they could find a moment's purchase. Growls and insults broken by laughter.
It didn't take long for her to pin him, superior strength and agility giving her an unfair advantage. "Do you yield?" She asked dramatically, fingers poised for another strike. He hesitated, but she didn't.
"I give!" He cried, trying to fend off nimble fingers.
Suddenly they locked eyes and the world slowed around them. They laid there, caught in limbo, for a moment that seemed like an eternity.
"I yield," he whispered, and somehow, she knew he meant something else altogether.
"Come on guys, you're way too old for this," Lormryn called from across the yard, ever the scolding older sister.
And if Aremu caught the bite behind the words, or the jealously that burned in her eyes, she thought better than to mention it.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Wouldn't Miss It
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Banana Cream #25 (wander), Rocky Road #13 (library/study)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky, Hot Fudge
Wordcount: 96
Warnings: Necromancy
Notes: What is this? Another plot arc? Why yes, it is. And I've decided Banana Cream is going to be a Pocky Sundae.
For the past three hours, she had been aimlessly wandering around the library. Waiting.
Waiting for something spectacular to happen.
But it didn't want to work on her schedule and you can't rush magic, so she'd settled herself in for a long wait.
Stumbling over an uneven bit of flooring, she grabbed onto a shelf, nearly overturning its contents. One book in particular caught her attention. It was innocuous, unassuming. But she knew. Knew she'd found what she'd come looking for.
Somehow she figured no one would mind the absence of an old book of necromancy.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: PG
Flavors: Summer Challenge #36 (If there was a time these walls could guard you / Then let that time be right now), Dragonfruit #29 (one last desperate hope)
Toppings/Extras: N/A
Wordcount: 902
Warnings: References to terminal illness, one mild swear
Notes: Takes place immediately after "Sick Room Guilt"
With a long sigh Lormryn collapsed against the wall beside the closed door. Her calm was paper thin and she struggled to regain the composure she had lost so easily before. How was it that Aremu could always barrel her way through her defenses?
"I am sorry you did not find her as well as you would like."
Lormryn jumped, eyes flying open to land on the healer. She could feel herself on the brink of crying again as she took in his heavy, slumped lines and the weariness that permeated him. He had always been kind to their family. It wasn't his fault he was unqualified to handle Aremu's biology.
"I hold nothing against you. You have to know that," she assured him.
"I know, my child," he murmured, playing with his hands. "But it remains to be seen whether or not you are right."
An oppresive silence hung between, broken only by the occasional paraoxym of coughing from behind the closed door. Lormryn swallowed past the lump in her throat and finally asked the question she feared the answer of. "What are the chances she'll survive?"
He glanced at her before averting his gaze to the floor. His fiddling intensified for a moment then he dropped his hands to his side. They hung unusually limp. "If nothing changes? Next to none."
She couldn't help her indrawn breath. Torash may have stated it more bluntly earlier, but he wasn't a healer, he couldn't know for sure.
"As you are aware," the healer continued quietly. "Aremu's... differences have always caused difficulties in diagnosing and treating her illnesses. Very little affects her as it would a human. I have never before seen an ailment such as this, neither have any of the colleagues I have consulted." His hand clenched into a fist and she could hear the confusion.
"Any attempt at treatment is a shot in the dark, soothing symptoms instead of attacking the disease." His fist uncurled and he traced the lines in his palm like they might hold the answers he sought. "I know not what might help her. We are far beyond what I am capable of doing."
Once again the emptiness stretched and Lormryn finally considered the consequences of holding such a discussion right beyond Aremu's door. She might have been ill, but that didn't mean she wasn't above eavesdropping.
So Lormryn laid a gentle hand on the healer's elbow and steered him towards her father's study, which she knew to be empty. They traversed the hallway in silence.
Once inside they separated, he to the window, her to the bookshelf along the opposite wall. She traced the spines soothingly while she searched desperately for a single ray of hope to which she might cling. Aremu couldn't die, she just couldn't. Not when they'd finally started to clear the air.
Why did everything have to be so difficult? Was everything so complicated when it came to the Thyris? It always made things...
Wait! That was it!
She whirled on her heel to face the healer. "What if I found her a Thyrisian healer? Would she pull through?"
"Lormyrn..." He said, caught somewhere between chiding and shocked. "You can't seriously be considering?"
She knew she was suggesting something crazy, something dangerous, something utterly and completely desperate; but what was she supposed to do? Nothing?
"Yes, I am," she replied, not caring whether or not she sounded crazy.
It might have taken forever, but the people of Owary had come around to Aremu and her unusual heritage eventually. She was one of them now, black eyes be damned. What right did they have to complain about her bringing in a Thyrisian if it meant saving Aremu's life?
He sighed, deep and long suffering. She wasn't offended.
"It is possible that a healer more accustomed to Thyrisian physiology would know how to heal her."
She started to bounce on her heels, already anticipating when she might leave.
The healer hastened to add "But it is just as likely they will be unable."
She ignored him, they had to know what to do. They just had to. Idly, she turned away from him, heading towards her father's desk. She would have to appraise him of her plans, he deserved to know.
"Either way, her health is declining rapidly. The chances that help will arrive in time are not worth the risk."
She froze, whirling once again to face him. "Are you suggesting that averting the /potential/ for my death is worth not pursuing the /only/ option to prevent Aremu's /certain/ death? My life is not worth her's, not now, not ever." Spinning away from him she sighed through clenched teeth, flexing fingers that had fisted of their own accord. The fight bleeding out of her without her consent, her voice dropped to a whisper. "I cannot live without her. I just can't."
She didn't jump when he laid a hand on her shoulder, just gazed at her trembling hands. "If there is any chance I can save her, I have to try."
Beside her, he sighed. "I'll draw up a list of her symptoms and the remedies we've already tried. It should help with the diagnosis." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and left her.
If she hadn't been so focused on her plans, she would have thanked him, but as it was, she was already mapping out her journey to Thyris.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: Everyone
Flavor: Banana Cream #2 (knock)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky
Wordcount: 100
Warnings: N/A
Notes: Another part of my Banana Cream+Pocky Sundae
Cursing to herself, she wavered just beyond the closed door. Why did everything have to be so... difficult? Lormryn had learned a long time ago that she would do anything for Aremu, anything at all. With Aremu's life on the line, how could she refuse? It didn't matter the journey would put her own life in danger.
But how was she going to explain that to Torash?
He deserved an honest answer, no matter how much it might pain her to give it. She might never come back.
The thought was little comfort as she finally rapped on his door.
Author: Saya
Universe: The Shadows Within
Title: Please
Rating: PG
Flavor: Dark Chocolate #7 (supplication), Blueberry Yogurt #14 (a miracle)
Toppings/Extras: Pocky, Gummy Bunnies (prompt: Stillness source: OneWord)
Wordcount: 99
Warnings: (fictitious) religion
Lormryn was never one to find peace in the temples. Far from a devote believer (of any power), she wormed her way out of every service she possibly could growing up. She'd given up the pretense altogether as an adult.
So she knew the situation was dire when she slipped into the back of the quiet, empty temple, lit a candle, and prayed harder than she ever had in all her life.
"Please," she breathed, wrenching her eyes closed tighter. "I've never asked for anything before and I'll never ask for anything again; but please, please, let her live."
Author: Saya
Title: It will get better
Universe: The Shadows Within
Rating: PG
Flavors: Summer Challenge #2 (I'm inviting you closer with each time I breathe / Surrender has somehow become so beautiful), Chocolate #12 (understanding),
Toppings/Extras: N/A
Wordcount: 471
Warnings: Terminal illness, willful death (not suicide)
Notes: Who said I couldn't write from Aremu's POV occasionally?
She awoke with a groan, struggling to salvage the remnants of her medically induced dreams. She felt disoriented, confused and unsure. How long had she been sleeping?
Something cold and wet dropped onto her forehead and she caught the hand responsible with an arm that felt as if weighted with lead.
"Hey," a voice whispered, loud despite the effort made to prevent it. "It's good to see you awake."
She tried to look up at them, but her vision swam in waves of blurry shapes and colors. The voice sounded wrong, but there was only one person it could be, even if she couldn't hope for it be so. "Lormyrn?"
She felt the long exhale across her knuckles.
"No, but she'll be here soon," the voice assured, fingers combing through her damp hair.
That wasn't right. Who else but Lormyrn would be at her bedside? Her dear, dear Lormyrn. Where was she? Why wasn't she here with her?
Oh. Torash.
How could she possibly have forgotten?
Her memories were just as blurry as her vision. She felt as though slogging through thick mud trying to remember. How could they be so stupid? All of them?
She dragged her thumb over the wrist she still clutched weakly. Cool fingers tangled in her own hesitantly. "Thank you, Torash," she got out around her dry tongue.
His intake of breath was sharp, the grip on her hand tightening convulsively. Somewhere beneath her ill haze, her heart ached for him. For all that she had put him through, what she would continue to put him through.
Maybe dying wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to her. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. She wouldn't be able to hurt anybody after that. They would mourn her loss, but then they would move on.
The old wounds might even heal, given enough time. Dying would give them the chance.
Yes, maybe dying would be better for everyone involved.
But she needed them to understand, needed them to learn to heal. To mend where she had inadvertently broken them.
Even though her mouth felt like sandpaper, she forced the words out. "I'm sorry. For everything."
He made a noise like he meant to interrupt so she rushed the rest of it out. "Things will get better, promise me things will get better?"
The fingers abandoned her hair and cupped her cheek. "Don't worry about anything, Aremu, you'll get better, I promise. They'll figure something out, Lormryn will bring help. Everything will be fine."
His voice on any other occasion would be comforting. Soothing. But now it was frustrating. How could he not understand what she meant? He had to understand.
But it was too late.
Her strength reserves were depleted and she slipped back into the warm, dark world where pain was only a dim echo.