RAGNAROK IS COMING
— Better to Love a Mortal Than None At All —
Eritrea pulled the silk shawl over her shoulders to hide from the wind. This high, she could see the entire Academy as they battered and degraded the Initiates, punishing the entire class for disobeying an order to stay out of the Radox's way during the Gathering. It was the first day, someone was bound to get curious and take a peek. To catch a glimpse of a warrior they studied past reports and missions of.
Punishment came in the form of exercise in the Academy, exercise and no sleep. She had only just flown up here an hour ago but the same class had been there last night, doing the same set of push ups. Nostalgia hit her and Eritrea sighed, she missed those days. The days when you had classmates who would rather take the punishment with, than rat their fellow comrade out.
Sitting on a cliff edge overlooking the Academy, Eritrea grinned when two Elves looked to each other, one with a scowl and the other an apologetic smile; all Urfan needed to do was see that and he would have his culprits.
The beat of heavy wings made her own Skrill open his slitted eyes.
The Night Fury touched down gently and soon Eritrea felt Avrid sit beside her, hanging his legs off the edge. She turned to smile him a good morning, but there was a haunting in his eyes. One that seemed to appear every now and then like a dark cloud, there and sometimes stormy and destructive, but passing if left alone.
She held her hand out and Avrid grabbed it instantly, pulling it to his chest.
Bad, this storm.
He hunched over, putting his elbows on his knees and threading her arm through the gap.
There was no point in demanding his confessions, to ask what ailed him because Eritrea knew the list was long and dark. He didn't often show such pain, taking great lengths to pretend but with her he never tried to. He never hid and Eritrea assumed it was because he knew she could never judge him, not after the things she'd done.
Shuffling closer, Eritrea put her other hand on his back and rubbed softly against ribboned flesh.
"I had- Helena. She calls to me still." He spoke, nothing but a whisper on the wind.
Helena, that dubious creature intent on destroying Avrid. Rarely Eritrea found herself angrier than when he spoke of that wicked creature.
Still, Eritrea lay her head on his shoulder. "You loved her, she will call you until you are in the ground- or find another to love as much."
Avrid shook his head but she tapped him quiet. "Someday you will be unafraid of that heart, of letting the world know it is not as black as it appears. I am sure there is a soul destined for you, one that can love you the way you deserve." Not a queen that tortured and used, manipulated the one she claimed to love.
"She is too mortal."
It took Eritrea a second to understand but then she grinned. "Better to love a mortal than no one at all."
Avrid's breath was small and pained. "She will die."
Eritrea nodded, like many of whom he seems to allow himself to care for. "Yes but she is going to die with or without you. I would suggest with."
"And see her wither before my eyes." It was a question and not.
"If you loved her enough, then you would suffer the pain of losing her. You would cherish every minute and then have her memories after."
Avrid ran his thumb over her palm. "Remember her by memories that fade; that seems like torture. I would love her for my entire life and have her for seconds of it."
"And then you have your children. You have little parts of her to cherish, children to teach and watch and grow with." Eritrea lifted her head to look at him. "Every minute you spend away from her is a waste."
"And what of Radox?"
Eritrea sighed. "Radox- we can survive without you."
Avrid turned to her then, his brows pulling down.
"You can take a few years to yourself, many Kohuru have done it. Fallen in love with a mortal and lived out their lives before coming back to Radox."
Avrid shook his head and so Eritrea pulled him closer in her arms. Such a young creature and yet so broken. She hummed as they watched an initiate finally confess, done with watching the rest of her class suffer. The culprits were given a lecture but Urfan had grown soft in heart and let them all go to their classes for the day, sleep could be had at night.