Bereavement

[Cliu Beothach]

His hand lay on a freshly written note, the ink was still wet. Glancing through it, his face turned red and with that he stormed the town in anger. Rushing through the tavern to the library and on, Aokan seemed flustered as he thought about his hopelessness. The man finally reached the inn and walked up to the second floor into the room where Gerard once dwelled.

He purveyed the room and stepped up to the mirror. One thought crosses his mind as he subjected himself to judging, The Potion.

Why did he have to give Gerard a potion?

What would have happened if he did not?

Soon the thoughts passed and Caitlin knocked on the door. She led him downstairs with promises of his mock sister. After a bout with the druidess that damage was a repaired left arm, Aokan stormed out the door. He thought long and hard as he retreated to the warm pillar. Rhiannon found him wandering aimlessly and he told her of his leaving. Before he journied forth he handed her a small red book with an empty assurance of life. More calm and resolute, he left out the west gate.

[.Rhiannon.]

Rhiannon sits in the top floor of the little abandoned building, sobbing and writing in her diary...Her hand shakes, and teardrops splatter the page. Every now and then a hiccupy sob travels out the window to the street below but she does not notice.

I miss Aokan... she thinks,
I hope he comes back...Please come back, Aokan...

Rhiannon stay awake the whole night, as she did only once before, long ago in the inn. She stares down at the pages of her diary, then takes out a small red book...She thumbs through the pages, then suddenly throws it out the window, and screams

"The bad guy does win! It's never happy! Why did I ever think it could be?"

[.Rhiannon.]

A small dark green diary is left, obviously forgotten in a rush, on a table in the upstairs of the inn...On the cover are scrawled the words "Keep Out", and inside, the name "Rhiannon". It looks like the word "Fayed" has been crossed out after her name.

[.Rhiannon.]

Rhiannon looks at Aokan's sleeping form at the little camp, and kisses his cheek softly, before taking out a book from her bag and a quill. She folds down a page corner, scribbles a note in the book, and leaves it for him to find. With that, she gathers her bag and sets off.

The small girl walks through field and forest, searching for Anither.

After the better part of a day, she opens her bag and leans against a tree trunk, pulling out a quill and...and..

Rhiannon digs in her bag, frantic. Her diary! Where could it be? With a sinking heart, she realizes that she left it back in the inn. Hurriedly, she shoves her things back into her bag and sets off for the town again at a run.