She had been so strong for such a long time, her strength supported me, her blood shielded me from the worst of the Shadows, her love held me upright when all I wanted to do was lie down and give up. The night Phever was taken by Cross, mutilated and used, my own will died; any strength I may have projected, from that moment on, came from her, not from me.

But she wasn't the same after that night either; I watched her transform into something other than herself, something born out of loss and pain... angry, sullen, vengeful. The smile was gone, the light in her eyes, which had once shown brightly only for me, now burned with her desire for revenge, causing my heart to shatter, taking my soul with it.

For months after her abduction and disfigurement she fought as one possessed, hunting, killing, practically bathing in the blood of her foes, growing more and more sullen and withdrawn. I think her one purpose was to kill Cross, exacting her pound of flesh, and her entire being was focused on this one goal.

The scars upon her face, though traumatic, were nothing compared to the scars upon her soul; those were the scars I saw, every time I looked at her, every time I held her. They went deep, those scars beneath her skin; deeper than I have ever seen on anyone, perhaps deeper than even my own.

Teuriz, the powerful Tehir blood mage to whom I will be forever indebted, took away the facial scars, he healed her... on the outside; she looked, once again, like the woman I had fallen in love with, but the only scars that ever concerned me were still there, buried deep within her.

Then, when Elithain Cross was killed, I knew what was bound to happen... the dam was about to burst and there would be a flood, it was simply a matter of time; and last night it did, as I knew it would, eventually. I believe in my heart that the funeral service for Walkar was the final straw, the last bit of grief and loss that she could bear; something had to give.

We had not been home long, having returned from Walkar's funeral, when I saw the solitary tear roll slowly down her cheek, though she tried to wipe it away before I noticed; there is very little I do not see, when it comes to her. I had just donned something comfortable after removing my full dress uniform, put everything away and had been kneeling in front of the fireplace, adding a bit of wood and stirring the coals to ward off the chill of the evening, and I stood and walked over to her. Her eyes were lowered, which was her feeble attempt to escape my notice, but I knew that this was the moment she needed me most.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me, feeling the warmth of her body and the brutal agony within her, and it began. The tears, the wracking sobs... the painful release. No words were spoken between us, none were needed; the only sounds were the crackling of the fire and her anguish, pouring from her heart and soul, purging everything that she had endured and held back throughout this whole ordeal.

I held her tight for what seemed like hours, as her tears continued to fall; just being there, letting her get it all out so the real healing could begin. When she began to regain her composure she gently pushed herself far enough away from me to look up and into my eyes; I gazed back into those same turquoise blue eyes that caught my attention so many years before. She smiled at me and said, in barely a whisper, "Thank you". I smiled back at her and gently kissed her on the forehead, pulling her back into my embrace, the smile remaining upon my face as I silently thanked all the powers that be for allowing this woman to come into, and remain a part of, my life.

Eclipse had been observing us from her spot near the fireplace, neither moving nor making a sound, only watching, her golden eyes aflame in the flickering light of the fire. When I kissed Phever, Eclipse rose and came to sit beside us, leaning gently against Phever, her way of asking for attention. Phever smiled at me and nodded, and I lowered my arms, releasing her from my embrace. She then knelt before Eclipse, taking the wolfs head into her hands, ruffling her fur. As Phever spoke softly to the wolf, Eclipse began gently licking the tears from her face; then something wondrous happened, Phever laughed... the first laugh I've heard from her in months, since that dark night.

That one laugh is the beginning of our long road back, picking up the pieces of our lives, remembering, healing, and growing. I know that in the future there will be times when I'll catch her staring off into space, or gazing, unseeing, out of a window, and I will do then as I did last night; I will be there for her, as she has been there for me, without fail, for so long.

General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq




Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato