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In my heart's sequestered chambers lie truths stripped of poets' gloss
Words alone are vain and vacant, and my heart is mute
Had the woman's many enemies been able to lay eyes on her, they likely would have done a double-take. The dirty, ragged and broken figure in simple clothing curled up with her arms around her knees on the bare mattress bore little resmblance to the proud priestess of Torm that had caused them so much trouble.
Tamara Roth shifted in what passed for sleep, her eyelids stirring at a whisper of movement before settling back in place. Almost of its own volition, one of her hands moved up to clutch at a pendant around her neck, a piece of simple steel worked with care into the holy symbol of her god. That brief stir of movement lasted only a few moments before she lapsed back into stillness. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths for one asleep... perhaps owing merely to her position, perhaps owing to whatever dark visions had chased her tormented soul from the Prime into the astral void of human dreams.
In response to aching silence, memory summons half-heard voices
And my soul finds primal eloquence, and wraps me in song
Various pieces of Tamara's life lay scattered on the floor next to the bed. There was a leather-bound journal, mostly empty, its last page warped slightly from moisture. A quill and inkpot stood next to it in a precarious position, awaiting the sweep of an unwary foot.
Bound with cord to prevent being drawn in violation of her oath was a greatsword -- not the one that had been in her hand so much over the past months, but the blade that Kai had given her so long ago upon her acceptance into the Order, outside of Unstoppable Forces. The plain, almost blocky metal of the crossguards and hilt bore numerous chips that attested to its many battles before and after it had come to her hand.
There were three small wooden cases, each one open and each one containing a set of silver pins, all half-covered by the discarded and bloody remnants of a uniform of the Order of the Vigilant Eye. In contrast to the uniform's sad shape, a purple cloak in almost perfect condition draped off one of the bedposts, its bottom edge tickling the floor as it swayed in a slight breeze from no apparent source.
If you would comfort me, sing me a lullaby
If you would win my heart, sing me a love song
If you would mourn me and bring me to God,
sing me a requiem, sing me to Heaven
Light flared in the darkened room, a burst of soft white radiance that faded in an instant -- a heatless stroke of lightning.
With deliberate care, a pair of booted feet stepped through the scattered memorabelia, deftly avoiding the waiting inkpot. Half a wingbeat stirred the air, causing the cloak to flutter once again.
Tamara stirred in her sleep again before once again settling back, oblivious to the luminous eyes that studied her.
A whisper of cloth on metal came as the figure slowly bent and slowly...carefully... set something on the bed next to Tamara. After just a moment, the figure removed something from around its neck, draping it carefully around the bundle with a tinkle of metal links shifting against one another. Seemingly satisfied, it turned on its heel and vanished in another flare, still mute.
Tiny hands spent a moment groping about for the source of comfortable, remembered warmth... then shifted their focus, finding the medallion and pushing it partially into a a tiny mouth. A muffled, contented cooo sounded a moment later. This smelled and felt familiar. This was home. Mother was nearby. The mean people in shadow were nowhere around.
Tamara's eyelids fluttered open. She beheld what was now cradled in her arms instead of her knees, and froze, shocked wordless and motionless in disbelief.
Having accomplished their previous goal, Leigh's hands reached up for Tamara's face. "Ma...rrra..."
With slow movements, and deliberate, as though fearing that her child was some illusion that would disappear if handled too strongly, Tamara sat up and gathered her daughter up to her chest. "...easy... easy, 'Marra's here... 'Marra will take care of you..."
Tears flooded the mother's eyes, and she did not hold them back this time. It was welcome to know tears of joy, after so much unbroken grief. Part of her was brimming with questions -- how had this happened? Why? -- but the rest of her recognized that for this space in time, it didn't matter. Her child had returned to her -- her baby girl -- Kai's most beautiful legacy.
Touch in me all love and passion, pain and pleasure
Touch in me grief and comfort, love and passion, pain and pleasure
Sing me a lullaby, a love song, a requiem
Love me, comfort me, bring me to God
"You'll never know him..." Tamara gave a sigh as she cradled Leigh, staring towards the door she had come through, seen the two priests dead and the empty bed. "And he won't know you. It's... he would have been so proud of you... he would have kept you safe..."
"...Marra?"
Tamara nodded, smiling through her tears. "'Marra is here. 'Marra will watch over you, protect you from the mean people... and... what's that in your mouth...?"
She gave a gentle tug on the chain, and Leigh gave up the metal bit without protest. It had tasted like metal, after all. Nothing very interesting. Tamara wiped the saliva off with a part of her sleeve and held it up, squinting in the dim light as she tried to make it out.
"Tyr..."
"'eeer!" Leigh echoed with enthusiasm.
"Yes." Tamara gave her baby a tender smile. "Tyr came and got you, and brought you back to me... can... can you say Tyr?"
"T'eeer!"
Later, Tamara would speculate and pray on what all of this had meant. She would wonder if Tyr had indeed marked her child out for something special with his symbol, or pledged his protection against injustice and wrongdoing to the young Leigh. She would mourn the fate that had taken Kai away from his child before he could have seen his own offspring. She would marvel at how unharmed her daughter seemed to be from the entire thing, and quietly wonder how much of that had been the protection of the gods as well.
But for this moment, one blessing was enough, and her heart was full. It blunted the dual emptiness of Kai's death and her own fall, and enabled both mother and daughter to fall together into a contented slumber, where they were found the next morning.
Sing me a love song
sing me to Heaven
"Sing Me to Heaven" Text by Jane Griner
Composed by Daniel Gawthrop
Words alone are vain and vacant, and my heart is mute
Had the woman's many enemies been able to lay eyes on her, they likely would have done a double-take. The dirty, ragged and broken figure in simple clothing curled up with her arms around her knees on the bare mattress bore little resmblance to the proud priestess of Torm that had caused them so much trouble.
Tamara Roth shifted in what passed for sleep, her eyelids stirring at a whisper of movement before settling back in place. Almost of its own volition, one of her hands moved up to clutch at a pendant around her neck, a piece of simple steel worked with care into the holy symbol of her god. That brief stir of movement lasted only a few moments before she lapsed back into stillness. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths for one asleep... perhaps owing merely to her position, perhaps owing to whatever dark visions had chased her tormented soul from the Prime into the astral void of human dreams.
In response to aching silence, memory summons half-heard voices
And my soul finds primal eloquence, and wraps me in song
Various pieces of Tamara's life lay scattered on the floor next to the bed. There was a leather-bound journal, mostly empty, its last page warped slightly from moisture. A quill and inkpot stood next to it in a precarious position, awaiting the sweep of an unwary foot.
Bound with cord to prevent being drawn in violation of her oath was a greatsword -- not the one that had been in her hand so much over the past months, but the blade that Kai had given her so long ago upon her acceptance into the Order, outside of Unstoppable Forces. The plain, almost blocky metal of the crossguards and hilt bore numerous chips that attested to its many battles before and after it had come to her hand.
There were three small wooden cases, each one open and each one containing a set of silver pins, all half-covered by the discarded and bloody remnants of a uniform of the Order of the Vigilant Eye. In contrast to the uniform's sad shape, a purple cloak in almost perfect condition draped off one of the bedposts, its bottom edge tickling the floor as it swayed in a slight breeze from no apparent source.
If you would comfort me, sing me a lullaby
If you would win my heart, sing me a love song
If you would mourn me and bring me to God,
sing me a requiem, sing me to Heaven
Light flared in the darkened room, a burst of soft white radiance that faded in an instant -- a heatless stroke of lightning.
With deliberate care, a pair of booted feet stepped through the scattered memorabelia, deftly avoiding the waiting inkpot. Half a wingbeat stirred the air, causing the cloak to flutter once again.
Tamara stirred in her sleep again before once again settling back, oblivious to the luminous eyes that studied her.
A whisper of cloth on metal came as the figure slowly bent and slowly...carefully... set something on the bed next to Tamara. After just a moment, the figure removed something from around its neck, draping it carefully around the bundle with a tinkle of metal links shifting against one another. Seemingly satisfied, it turned on its heel and vanished in another flare, still mute.
Tiny hands spent a moment groping about for the source of comfortable, remembered warmth... then shifted their focus, finding the medallion and pushing it partially into a a tiny mouth. A muffled, contented cooo sounded a moment later. This smelled and felt familiar. This was home. Mother was nearby. The mean people in shadow were nowhere around.
Tamara's eyelids fluttered open. She beheld what was now cradled in her arms instead of her knees, and froze, shocked wordless and motionless in disbelief.
Having accomplished their previous goal, Leigh's hands reached up for Tamara's face. "Ma...rrra..."
With slow movements, and deliberate, as though fearing that her child was some illusion that would disappear if handled too strongly, Tamara sat up and gathered her daughter up to her chest. "...easy... easy, 'Marra's here... 'Marra will take care of you..."
Tears flooded the mother's eyes, and she did not hold them back this time. It was welcome to know tears of joy, after so much unbroken grief. Part of her was brimming with questions -- how had this happened? Why? -- but the rest of her recognized that for this space in time, it didn't matter. Her child had returned to her -- her baby girl -- Kai's most beautiful legacy.
Touch in me all love and passion, pain and pleasure
Touch in me grief and comfort, love and passion, pain and pleasure
Sing me a lullaby, a love song, a requiem
Love me, comfort me, bring me to God
"You'll never know him..." Tamara gave a sigh as she cradled Leigh, staring towards the door she had come through, seen the two priests dead and the empty bed. "And he won't know you. It's... he would have been so proud of you... he would have kept you safe..."
"...Marra?"
Tamara nodded, smiling through her tears. "'Marra is here. 'Marra will watch over you, protect you from the mean people... and... what's that in your mouth...?"
She gave a gentle tug on the chain, and Leigh gave up the metal bit without protest. It had tasted like metal, after all. Nothing very interesting. Tamara wiped the saliva off with a part of her sleeve and held it up, squinting in the dim light as she tried to make it out.
"Tyr..."
"'eeer!" Leigh echoed with enthusiasm.
"Yes." Tamara gave her baby a tender smile. "Tyr came and got you, and brought you back to me... can... can you say Tyr?"
"T'eeer!"
Later, Tamara would speculate and pray on what all of this had meant. She would wonder if Tyr had indeed marked her child out for something special with his symbol, or pledged his protection against injustice and wrongdoing to the young Leigh. She would mourn the fate that had taken Kai away from his child before he could have seen his own offspring. She would marvel at how unharmed her daughter seemed to be from the entire thing, and quietly wonder how much of that had been the protection of the gods as well.
But for this moment, one blessing was enough, and her heart was full. It blunted the dual emptiness of Kai's death and her own fall, and enabled both mother and daughter to fall together into a contented slumber, where they were found the next morning.
Sing me a love song
sing me to Heaven
"Sing Me to Heaven" Text by Jane Griner
Composed by Daniel Gawthrop