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Kaelivh remained on the beach for a time after Gal’s departure. His gaze was cast ahead, riding along the currents of the waters spread out before him like a blanket upon the world. In his right hand he held the metal flask that he rose to his lips. The pull he drew from the flask sent the alcohol down his throat accompanied by a slight burning sensation. At this point he had grown numb to that feeling and almost welcomed it every time. “Yeah, but I got shite to do, don’t I?” he said aloud to himself while replacing the top on the flask. He had spent the evening searching for information regarding Valiant Pride, the Immortal Flames airship that held a cargo hold full of various weapons meant for lands Kaelivh wasn’t allowed to hold knowledge of. He moved from tavern to the next listening, sorting out folks and discerning anything he thought would be useful since those who were filling his coin purse were choosing to be anything but helpful. Yet they want me to find these weapons or the raiders responsible for taking the cargo? The Flames can get voidsent for shite like this for all I care. Yet a job was a job and Kaelivh had to admit he needed something to preoccupy his mind rather than the memories that wrenched him out of his sleep far too many nights. It had gotten to the point he barely registered sleep choosing to instead saunter through day by day despite the fog descending over his mind with the lack of rest. “No avoiding it, is there?” he said aloud with a resigned sigh. “Time to find a place to bed for the night.” He found her sitting on the bench surrounded by shrubbery and flowers peaking beneath the touch of the sun. It had been the bench they occupied many days and some nights. She had chosen to teach him how to read there and shared her life experiences with many wrapped in laughter and smiles. Not now. This time she sat there with her hands folded within her lap, eyes downcast like a burden laid upon her shoulders. Her raven black hair cascaded over her features hiding them from his prying eyes while her willowy white gown seemed to shift slightly in the breeze. Her hands seemed to cradle something in her lap. Something that could fit in the palm of her hands but he was not close enough to truly see past the shadows of her looming over the object. Kaelivh stepped closer without speaking a word. Dragging her gaze upwards he found himself meeting emerald green eyes settled in an oval shaped face with a peach cream complexion. She stared at him as if not truly seeing him and slowly, gradually, raised her cupped hands… The heart still beat with a pulsating beat. Blood that was not there before slithered over her fingers with an agonizingly slow drip toward the stone floor beneath her feet. Kaelivh blinked. More blood covered her hands down to her wrist. She held the heart up like an offering. A slow spreading of blood began to bloom in the center of her chest. Kaelivh blinked again. The blood from her wrists traveled down to her elbows like it sought to crawl along her flesh… “Where were you?” her voice nearly whispered through cracked lips. Kaelivh jerked upright in the bed. The blanket had fell from his upper torso revealing his form to while air was swallowed into his lungs and expelled deeply. His eyes shifted within the room in a frantic search that would yield him nothing but at the same time everything. They brought the realization in slow and agonizing seconds that he was still alone and that he was still trapped in a prison of his own making. Hurling the sheet aside he reached for the flask on his night stand, hesitated, then dropped his hand. I can’t keep going like this, he thought. I have to find out what happened to her or it’ll be the damned end of me. Gathering himself, he climbed out of the bed and stepped toward the window. His gaze swept into the evening while he continued to take calming deep breaths. The dreams seemed to vary so much with little in common except to mark him at fault for what had happened. Guilt wrapped around him like a coat but he knew it was one of his own weaving. His presence had been aboard his sister's ship, Stormdancer, when the one woman he had ever given himself to had been taken from the known world. Standing there he shook his head as if that could rid him the remnants of the dream that haunted the corners of his mind yet still. It had been too vivid and darker than he had grown accustomed to. Did some sort of symbolism lie in the giving of her heart that he wasn't aware of? Then again what symbolism could lie within such images when he was his own jailer, his own judge and executioner. Kaelivh sighed heavily before moving back toward the bed and falling to sit on the very edge. He buried his face in his palms feeling the weariness creeping through every fiber of his being. He knew he would attempt to sleep again because his body had grown to the point of demanding such. Did I fail you, Maeliel, or is all this torture only me trying to find yet another reason to punish myself for something in life, he thought to himself. I don't even know the answer to my own questions except for one truth. I need to find out what happened to you and see if I can right that wrong if there is ever to be some damned peace to my own soul. With that final thought he sighed heavily before lying down once more seeking the peace in slumber he craved so much.