Heal me, I'm Heartsick

The snow never stopped falling, not for a second. It hurled itself down from the skies in determination to cover the world in white, so beautifully contrasting from the sky that was always so black in the north. It seemed the world ended where the sky met the ground in the horizon, and so it felt, for all he had seen for weeks was seas of snow and ice in every direction he looked in.

Farder Coram was lost in thought. The sledges they travelled in hurtled towards the distance, the wind stinging his cheekbones and dragging the tears from his eyes in streaks across his pale face, which froze almost instantly. He had forgotten what it meant to be warm after all this time. Warm, well-fed, clean, safe... all these things were part of memories which grew cloudier by the day,as if his past life had been a story someone had told him he couldn't fully remember.

One thing he never forgot was his cause. Why he was doing this, why he had given up comfort, safety and happiness. It was a mission that someone had to go on. He hadn't left a wife behind, or children, and it was the least he could do to ensure that all the kidnapped gyptians and land folk alike were returned to their families. You couldn't find anything more precious than a family in his opinion, without them, there was little point for existance.

It was a noble cause to be sure. He had never had doubts about his sincerity in this mission, but it was true- everything is easier said than done. Knowing that the mission would be hard and then maintaining that same determination in minus 30 degrees with an empty stomach and the beginnings of frostbite gnawing on your bony fingers with their aged , thin skin are two different things. He was strong for sure, even now he was beginning to get old, old enough to want to stay at home and be looked after, he could never have sat back and let the fate of the children rest in another's hands.

But although his mind was quick and his soul was strong and good, his heart ached and ached from earlier years, pining for something he had lost. He too had loved, there was once a being that had set his heart and soul on fire and flooded his life with its light and warmth- everything that he didn't have now. His eyes eternally searched the skies in hope for a glimpse of her grace, the beauty which had owned his eyes and which he had longed to own...

Serafina.

Her emerald eyes catching the moonlight as she flew through the night, trailing black silk from her delicate shoulders, waist, thighs, ankles, her bare arms half concealed by flowing fair hair. That's how he remembered how from all those years ago.

And that's how Serafina still looked. A witch by nature, she would live for hundreds of years, to see his body, then his grave then his name corrode with time.

It had been decades and yet, still his head tilted toward the sky, hoping to see her before he died. Hoping she might cure him of this disease, free him from the inescapable prison he had lived in since he met her.

He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.

Serafina?

He blinked.

Serafina?

Is it you?

Of course not. It never is.