I really have no idea what this is. I'll continue, if you want me to. Give me some ideas. It'll be all of ours, not just my story! Help me out here!

--- Seyraa Analaka Everette

I own Sarabi and Raquel. I don't own Krynn but, blast it all, I wish I did!



To Walk On

They left so suddenly.

Raquel was never a great mage, but no one would accuse her of laziness. There was nothing she loved more than the feeling working the Art.

Many frowned on her. In her bloom, she was an astounding beauty. She had long red hair, more of a garment than anything else, and already webbed with lovely strands of silver. Chocolate eyes mesmerised the young men who struggled with an invisible opponent for her affection.

The magic.

No. She never had felt an emotion as strong as love for any man. First was the Gift. Her and her own, unseen lover.

Now it was gone.

Raquel had gone into a deep depression. She'd rather live with the evils that roamed while the moons still hung high, than now, with that sneering, cold moon that mocked the vanished Solinari. She was empty now.. so very alone. She would have ended her meaningless life long ago if it weren't for the support of an old friend she had ran into.

Sarabi sat across from Raquel, her crystalline azure eyes watching the flames with a warm kindness. The musician was compassionate with all things, unconditionally loving those who deserved to be stranded in the abyss.. The abandoned, empty abyss, Raquel thought, a wry smirk on her thin lips.

Raquel had lost her beauty long ago. Now, slight wrinkles marred her freckled face, her once dazzling eyes had dimmed. Her hair was already a solid silver, the fiery color had faded with her magic. Sarabi would hear nothing of her friend's lamenting, saying that she was truly lovely, and time would never change that, no matter how hard it tried. Raquel sat now, staring over the flames to Sarabi enviously, adoringly.

Sarabi was the same age as Raquel. Forty. They had grown up together. While Raquel was entirely lovely, Sarabi was an ugly duckling. She was frail and kept her childish face and innocence. Now, though.. oh, how the tables had turned.

Sarabi watched the flames, playing a golden flute made for her by the elves, who were amazed by the homely woman's musical ability. She was unaware of her best friend's scrutiny.

Sarabi's flesh was flawless ivory, untouched by time. Her hair as well was white, as it had been all her life. She held nature spellbound, such a divine girl she looked. Passers-by would swear she was no older than twenty- five. Sarabi had always loved that Raquel had gotten her love. Her magic. Sarabi's love was music, which was a hypnotic magic all her own.

"You've gotten better, if it's possible, Sara," said Raquel, breaking the delicate tune whispered by the instrument in Sarabi's slender hands.

Sarabi looked at Raquel, startled, as if coming out from a daze. Rapidly a smile appeared upon her youthful face. "Perhaps," she chuckled, laying the flute on her lap. "I've never been that good, friend. When we passed by the bards the other day, I nearly cried at the music they made. It was the sighing of one of the gods, returning for an instant to mourn, I tell you."

The gentle look on Raquel's face had been wiped away. Sarabi was always to dramatic with words, though she never meant to be. She was just so taken by things! A farmer they had passed offered her a single apple blossum the other day. That was enough to bring color to Sarabi's pale features, a beaming smile to her lips. Raquel scowled. It had been as if she didn't exist in the man's eyes.

"My friend," began Sarabi in concern, "Are you alright? Is it your loss? Again, I am so very sorry. I don't know what I would do if I lost my music. Oh, but you were so much better than at magic then I ever shall be at music. Krynn is sad, too, I think." Sarabi placed a hand softly on the trunk of the tree she leaned upon.

"You can have no idea of my pain, Sarabi!" Cried Raquel, twisting to her feet. "You have no clue! You have no inkling of how it is to see you praised, while I am thought of as your pitiful shadow. You--" And Raquel froze.

A sad smile was on Sarabi's lips. Rising to her feet, she padded softly to her friend and brushed a strand of the ragged silver hair behind Raquel's ear. "No. No, Raquel," she whispered. "I.. do not know."

Raquel stared at Sarabi. She did know. Raquel had been beautiful, and Sarabi... her miserable shadow, ignored by the world.

"In the morning we shall go to Solace," chatted Sarabi, trying to soothe her distraught friend. "We shall be at the Inn of the Last Home. If I remember correctly, we were children the last time we stepped through those doors."

Raquel said nothing. She gazed over the path that would take her to Solace. It was cold, unwelcoming. The emotionless, soulless moon hovered lifelessly overhead, lighting the way, mocking her friend.

She had no choice but to walk on through the days that promised nothing but emptiness, while life and hope lit Sarabi's angelic eyes.

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