"It's funny."
"What is?"
"Everything."
"How so?"
She looked up directly into his sapphire eyes, as brilliant as it was all those years ago. His black hair seemed darker than before, though, and his eyes held a degree of sadness not there before. All in all, he was as young (or as old) as the second he turned to dust all those years ago. "It's taken your death for me to learn not to hate you."
He regarded casually, returning her violet stare with one of his own. "My dear, I do not have all the time in the world. Stop dwelling on the past."
"I never dwelt on it before you visited."
"You lie. Thom's been watching you, that Dragon friend of yours and your despicable cat, too. Don't think for a minute that i haven't either. It's not so hard once you learn how." He looked with contempt around the room, noting the large bed and soft snores coming from it.
"Great, an evil dead man has come to lecture me," she muttered. "What does a woman have to do to make a person stay dead?"
"Not much, since I'm technically dead still." He jerked his head in the direction of the bed again. "You married him ? What did you do--celebrate your wedding at my funeral? Or didn't my cousin host one for me?"
Silence.
"You wouldn't have done too badly to have gone with him, you know."
She looked up from her brooding. "Roger, get to the point, please. It's...uncomfortable talking like this."
"You said yourself you've learned to stop hating me. And I..." He stopped, as if the next words where impossible for him to say. "I...want to apologize."
She stared up in horror at him. "W-what?"
"For killing whoever happened to die because of my...ill wishes to your King."
A longer silence.
"You can't just apologize for all you've done and get away with it, you know," she whispered quietly. "I may have stopped hating you, but I haven't forgiven you."
He was more translucent now. "I know, and that's why I came. Watch your children closely, Lioness, they may be growing up and scouring the world of evils before you can blink. And what with this next war coming up, you need to remember you're not in your prime."
Her brow furrowed. "Why do you care about what happens to me?"
"I don't. I just wanted to remind you that this next war wasn't started by me. That's the second one Tortall has seen which I haven't taken part in." And with that, he faded.
"What war?" she asked after him.
"I hope you're satisfied," he mutters.
"I am. Thank you," the violet-eyed figure responds.
The longest silence yet occurs.
"It's strange seeing her in person…she's changed much," he speaks
up suddenly. "She's aged beyond what I've thought possible. Wiser, but no
less...mortal." He fades slowly again.
Her twin stares mutely after him.