Finding Her Way

[Amber Eyes]

I was lost. Part of me was gone. I wasn't sure where to begin to piece myself back together. I remembered my last few moments. The sudden sleepiness, the fear, the anger.

Most of all the anger.

I can't say for certain why only part of me left this realm. I only know that I awoke just a fragment of myself. I could feel something missing. All I could think of was hate.

And I loved it.

All the years I'd wasted atoning for past sins. All the days spent training people only to send them to their death for the greater good. The hours spent begging and pleading with the likes of Sei Orlouge for just a chance at doing something more than just putting out fire after fire. The life of a hero is not something to be envied. You spend all of your time trying to control the damage of other men instead of making your own mark on the world.

Isn't destruction its own form of creation?

I wandered about weightlessly. I was neither gone nor here. My body was buried beneath the lilies in Ixian Castle. My glove was on the arm of a chair in my chambers. My anklet was in the hands of one who took my life. My soul, well, what was left of it was suspended in nothingness.

I was going to need some help.

[Taste of Treason]

The inn had finally reached some semblance of quiet. I allowed the slightly lull from the floor below to soothe me into a deep sleep. I had just reached the cusp of a dream when a strange presence filled the room. I opened my sleepy eyes and searched the space. The nightstand stood empty save the dying candle I'd left lit. The moonlight lit up the rest of the space enough to make out a worn chair and the small dresser against the far wall. My luggage sat unmoved near the doorway. It was, as always, ready to go at a moments notice.

Leona had been gracious enough to spare me some time. Since the cleansing of the Red Forrest, most of the members of the Tarot Hierarchy were busily creating alternate forms of protection for our hidden paradise. I needed some time to process the days spent beneath the crimson trees. I needed to escape the nightmares of my attacker's blade against my cheek. I needed to remember why exactly I felt I was strong enough to fight against Pode.

Instead, I was hiding.

My eyes scanned the room once more before allowing my heavy eyelids to fall shut. Then, the breeze hit. The candle lost it's flame and cool air cut my cheek.

I sat upright and grabbed the small dagger that I'd begun to keep beneath my pillow.

I froze. The person at the window had haunted my dreams for years.

"Kyla...?"