[maikafanawen]

The evening was coming to a close and the band was playing their last piece before all the guests retired. Dryea and Rhir were making their final circle around the dance floor and Alethea and Ruiel had turned in long before and only a few people were left. Finally the music stopped. Lord Isindil offered his arm to his lady and escorted her to the carriage that waited to take the Morthaniawens home. They stopped at the second flight of steps outside the front door.

"I won't sleep at all tonight," he confessed looking at the ring on her finger. "I'm simply to ecstatic." Dryea smiled and moved her hand so that she might see the rose. So much had happened that evening and only one for the good but even that was short lived. Rhir cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her. "Goodnight," he said. She watched painfully as he walked back up the stairs to the house. She would never see him again.

It was as though a gnarled hand had set its grip on her stomach and was squeezing with all its wicked might. He turned at the top and blew her a kiss. Then he opened the front door and was gone: out of view and out of life. It was the worst experience she'd ever had. Over and over the same question ran through her mind. Why? Why must it be so? And the same answer would accompany: because she'd win her mother's trust, respect and appreciation. It was necessary.

All the vibrant beauty that was once so evident in her face was gone now. Her heart was stone and no emotions lingered in her pretty head. It was all an act from here on out. She'd have to force all the wittiness and charm now. Nothing would be genuine. Nothing would be true.

The ride home went very quickly and it seemed like moments before they were home. Without a word to her mother or sister she mounted the stair cases to her room and shut herself inside, locking the door before turning and walking to her wall-size window that overlooked the East side of the house's garden. The last of her emotions bottled inside exploded. Silent tears streamed down her face and her chin quivered. Then her knees gave out and she collapsed on the window seat in heaving sobs.

"No!" she shouted into the pillow, her tears mixing with spit. "Oh Eru...." She ripped at her hair, pulling it down around her shoulders and then raking her fingers through it so it hung very limp to her back. Then she discarded her dress. The bath was full of steaming water so she slipped in for a moment or so to wash off all the glitter and cosmetics. She was still crying and she felt terrible. When she reached up for the soap, she realized her ring was still on and she began sobbing even harder.

Dryea got out of the tub and wrapped herself in a robe as she stood dripping wet and crying in the middle of her room. She didn't care anymore about anything. To hell with the corsairs and their mission! She had made a mistake falling in love with Rhir. She had paid for it. It had destroyed her.

The ring she kept on her finger as she dried herself and put on a nightdress. Then, still crying to herself she slipped into her bed and under the covers. She knew she wouldn't sleep. Things of the night seldom do. And that's what she was: a shadow. The woman felt neither living nor dead. She just was.

* * * * *

Rhircyn Isindil hummed to himself and walked with a slight hop to his step as he made his way to the corridor where his family was staying. He opened the door and laid his gloves and cane on the chair by the door. It had been a marvelous night. He undressed and bathed and dressed again before getting in bed.

By one he was asleep and dreaming contentedly of Dryea.

At around two fifty he woke. Something was wrong. He couldn't breathe! There was something inside his stomach....something moving and eating. A searing pain stabbed like a knife in his side, then again in his back. He convulsed suddenly, his chest shooting into the air and his back arching over the bed. Then another stab of pain made him curl into a ball. In another minute he was exhausted and the pain had ceased.

He sat up and groped for a glass of water that sat by his bed taking a sip then splashing it in his face. All the pain was gone except for a slight cramp in his back from the seizure. Confused at what had happened, he smoothed out the covers and punched his pillow back into a fluffy state. Then he lied down again peacefully. In ten seconds he breathed his last and was no more.

* * * * *

Dryea was still awake when this happened and was holding her nocturnal dial up to the star. It was three a.m. Rhir was dead. She waited for the sobs to come. They didn't. Her days with a human heart were over. She tossed her dial out the window. She didn't know why but it seemed like a good thing to do. She didn't want it. She didn't care. Dryea finally slipped into bed around four thirty and slept until ten, awaking only when Rheaite came running into her room in hysterics.

"Rhir! Oh Dryea Rhir! He's—he's—" she collapsed into a sobbing mess. "He's dead my Lady." Dryea turned over in bed away from the light that streamed in through the window as the sun rose. A few tears slid silently down her face. She didn't know what she had expected. Perhaps that the poison wouldn't work? No....she knew it would. The tears were an act. She'd have to wear black today. Dryea didn't want to get up. She decided to stay in bed until her mother came to see her.

[ September 10, 2003: Message edited by: maikafanawen ]