The freezing rain created sharp ambience as Ilenia paced, shadows cascading from her and onto the old man who stood idly in the corner. He tried not to stare or judge as he could been seen doing the same thing late at night. She kept fighting herself from looking into the orb that sat on a golden stand in the middle of the room, her hands wrung between the thin skirts of her dress anxiously. It had been a full year since she had last seen her sister and even then it was only for a brief moment while she slept, she was so peaceful... Ilenia thought of how easily it would have been to kill her right then and there, before closing her eyes and turning to face the glowing orb.
It reflected images of a ship filled with sweaty men carrying boxes and a burly captain with dark hair. She leaned over the orb, her slender hands clasping onto it as she focused all of her energy on her sister. The scent of flowers filled the room, they were exotic and intoxicating-much like Willow. Finally the images cleared up enough so she could watch her sister childishly galivanting around with a gnoll. Her lips turned to a sneer as she gripped onto the orb tightly only to throw it to the ground with a thud and roll. The old man stepped out from his shadow, reaching for Ilenia-she flinched and slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch me." Her voice was demanding at first, then flittered into a quieter tone. "You disgust me."
"I am your elder, you should respect me."
The elf rolled her shoulders as a smile appeared across her red lips. "You aren't my elder, you're just my grandfather who doesn't know how to mind his own business." She sauntered to where the orb fell and picked up.
For a long time she was silent, watching her sister laugh as if nothing at all had happened. She let out a sigh as she placed the orb back on its stand, her hand falling limp by her side.
"Why do you insist on making her life miserable?" The old man inquired, stepping closer so he could see the images. A pained look overcame him when he saw her, so full of spirit... "Why can't you just leave it be?"
At first the elf didn't reply, she stood by the window now, running her fingers through her long red hair, it was longer than Willow's now. "Do you hate me, grandfather?"
The air between them became stiff and tense. He tried desperately to answer as fast as he could but found that no words would form. Did he hate her? Something in his heart said yes but he knew what he had gotten into all those years ago. Ilenia turned to him then, her angled features creating pressure in his chest, and seemed almost sincere. He knew she was lying. "You know I don't hate you, my dear."
She walked back to the orb, letting her fingers just barely dance across the warm surface. "Then you understand why I'd like her dead..." The image blurred to a young man and a green girl talking. He was drawing something beautiful. "...If I'm to be in power I can't have some girl who knows me like a sister walking around spilling secrets, now can I?" He hadn't noticed that she was so close to him now, he was sweating. She had become something he couldn't control anymore and that terrified him.
"All this time you thought you were manipulating me, you thought that I was under your rule, didn't you? You thought you could use me to climb the royal ladder..." The elf lifted her hand to touch his face and smiled when he flinched. "...But I am no puppet."
The old man could see her long hair beginning to move beneath him like snakes, it began to tangle around his legs and up his waist. When the hair began to squeeze he grabbed her arm and begged. "Please! Ilenia, you're wrong! I would never use you like that, you're too strong for such nonsense... Please don't do this, not after all I've done for you."
The enchantress said nothing as she manipulated her hair to coil around his fat neck, lifting him inches from the ground. He began to choke, frantically reaching for anything to help him. Her hair acted like rope to keep his arms by his sides. Ilenia told herself to look away but found fascination in the way his bright eyes bulged from his now beet red face. He was trying to say something but she wouldn't allow the tendrils to loosen any.
Eventually he stopped moving and she let him fell to the ground against the bookcase looking like a ragdoll. She turned to look at the orb one last time before stepping over him and exiting the room.
Willow awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of gentle waves crashing somewhere outside. It should have been something beautiful but instead it left a heavy feeling in her stomach. Her shaking hand grasped for her chest as she began to sweat and tear up. Somehow she knew something absolutely awful had happened to her grandfather, she could feel it in the air as she turned towards the wall in bed. It was the same feeling she got when Dillon went for that walk and never came back. The elf tried to pretend that it was just a bad dream but she knew that wasn't true. There was an encroaching feeling that her sister was getting closer to her goal, whatever that was, and there were less and less people standing in her way.
And she was one of them.