A dry branch snapped, echoing sharply through the silent forest. The walker stumbled blindly, one hand outstretched to regain balance, the other clenched so tight it trembled. In truth, her whole being was caught in tremors, eyes blind to their surroundings as she walked in the mind numbed state of one who has been dealt a terrible blow.

Slowly, the sound of trickling water filtered to her ears and her head rose almost ponderously at this new noise. Eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting found beneath shading branches and were confronted by two rivers that joined together into one broad waterway. Recognition was slow, but when it came it created the final crack on her thin grasping hold to barring her emotions and thoughts. The mind that she had kept so blessedly silent for the week she had wandered began to work once more and with it the emotions she had banished rose up like a wave to smother her as she remembered.

Retreat; it had been her only option at the time, the only thing she could do to ensure she did not break. Yet that smothering oblivion she had sought so fervently neither provided comfort nor answers. It shed no further light on her situation and if anything, retreating could not have been done at a worse time.

She had retreated; unable to grasp the reality of what governed one friend’s existence.

Awakening, she found she was abandoned by the person who had been both mentor and steadfast friend. One more crippling loss added to the other, for with him gone there was no hope of her ever being able to solve the riddle they had both sought to answer.

Prince Hunter Merridale was gone, and in his departure she was more broken than she would have imagined.

She was left behind with no answers as to what had happened while she had been controlled by her icy heart. She could recall nothing about his leaving and in fact, she could not remember anything after her transformation.

As she thought of how she had escaped, the weakness she had shown before someone who had only been doing his best to aid her, she became aware of a harsh ragged sound that filled her ears.

Shame, it was shame. Shame that caused her breath to gasp and her lungs to believe there was a clamp wrapped tight about them. Shame that the last thing the Prince would remember of her was her cowardice and because of that she would never be able to say goodbye.

Never would she be able to thank the Prince for the patience he had shown her, how he had treated her so fairly even when she had been shy and unsure. How he had encouraged her and supported her in their quest. How he accepted her cursed existence, and on that accepted her when he had lived a life where magic was merely myth.

She would never be able to thank him for being her friend.

Without knowing it, she had fallen to her knees and her gasping breaths had turned into whimpering sobs as her tears finally fell. Her hands that had been clenched tight around a once clean red sash, now wrapped around her waist as though to hold herself in as she shuddered. Wings she had no recollection of summoning curled protectively around her as the feathers began to change to a deep black.

So it was on that same riverbank where she had revealed the true extent of her powers to the Prince that Kyralie bid him a late farewell, making the first of many steps to recovering her inner balance and letting go.

__________________

RIP Duke
BA Characters:
Joker Kyralie Calista
Artwork - No requests =(