[Lady Moreta]

Okay, first off - I have read the other snippets and I loved all of them. I will comment on them as well, but not right now because I need to be able to think first

On the other hand, I did write a snippet about Lyra (not the one I was intending, but oh well)

Not sure what to call this, but we'll go with...

ALONE

Spoiler

I am alone. They’ve decided to see how well I can take the silence I suppose. They’ll see.

Alton was the first one to leave me. He just stopped coming to the inn – none of his group came any more. I had my ribbon all ready to play our game, it was the time they were due. And – no one came. No Alton. No one. And no one could explain why. Mama suggested later that they had found another trade route, but that was a lie. One of the other members of Alton’s group came in three days later, covered in blood. Mama tried to make me go upstairs, but I slipped out of her grip and stayed where I was. I can still remember his words, they had been ambushed, they were all dead, all of them – even Alton. Then the halfling caught sight of me and my ribbon. He limped over to me and loomed as best he could. It was all my fault, he said. Alton had stopped to buy a new ribbon for the barmaid’s daughter. He sneered at me. Alton had left me and it was all my fault.

I am alone. Not a word all morning, no food either. I am hungry.

Mama left me next. It was all my fault. I wasn’t careful enough and Tanner got nervous. I suppose that was understandable. Mama almost killed him. But he went to the Barkeep and the Barkeep went to the temple and the temple took Mama away from me. I wasn’t there. Mama had told me to go out and play with the other children. I shouldn’t have gone. Mama needed me with her. She struggled with the curse for years and years. I knew all the warning signs and all the ways to snap her out of it. But I wasn’t there because Mama sent me away. I wonder if she knew. The temple wouldn’t let me in to see her. They said it was too dangerous. I ignored their rules and went in anyway. This was my Mama, she couldn’t hurt me. But she said I could hurt her. She insisted that I would get caught and that they would do things to me. I ignored her as well. I wouldn’t leave my Mama alone like I was alone. Only then, she left me anyway. Her body was there, but her mind had left me all alone. She didn’t recognise me any more. I wonder if she knew.

I am alone. The day is getting late. They aren’t coming. I have been alone all day. It is so quiet.

Garret. I killed him, as surely as if my hand held the sword that pierced him. He had tried to save me, that was all he ever wanted to do. He tried to protect me like I tried to protect my Mama. But we cannot be protected, cannot be saved from the curse. All that we do is destroy and ruin. Oh, we do not cause physical damage, I have never burnt a building or caused its stones to be pulled down. But I have destroyed minds. I had destroyed Garret’s mind long before his body followed it. Otherwise he would have left long ago, to protect himself as so many others have done. Garret was an optimist, he thought I could be cured. I don’t know who was more foolish, him for believing it was true, or me for hoping it was. If I close my eyes, I can see Tredan’s sword slide smoothly through his chest. I should be grateful it was so easy I suppose. I can see the surprise on Garret’s face, neither of us had realised the paladin was so close. It was my fault. If I had not stayed, if I had run when he told me to he would not have stayed himself. He would have run. He would have survived. I would not have killed him – no matter that I did not intend it. He would not have left me alone.

I am alone. It is full night now. The ropes that bind my hands behind me have ceased to chafe. Or I have ceased to feel it. I can no longer feel my feet or legs up to my knees. The ropes that bind my ankles and keep me from moving from this spot are doing their job well. They have not come all day. Why should I care? Why should it make my heart ache that my tormentors have left me alone for an entire day? I should rejoice in their absence. My soul should not cry out for their presence. They bring nothing but pain to me. They force the curse from me, call out to it and try to exorcise it from my body. They bring only the wrongness so familiar to me. So familiar it is – comforting. I am alone. They have not come. And it hurts.

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Two figures shrouded in dark cloaks watched through the barred window set into the door. They silently observed the tears that slid down the face of the young woman in her cell. They listened to her sobs with quiet satisfaction. Perhaps tomorrow she would be willing to cooperate with them. All in all, today had been a good day. A productive day. As one, they turned to leave her alone.