Note: I don't own RotG.
Prologue
"Give up and surrender! Please, I do not want to hurt you, or for you to hurt me. If this continues, that is the way this will end, whether we like it or not." Light grey eyes cut across the clearing to meet a pair darker than shadows. They are darker than even the night sky itself, a pitch black expanse stretching unbroken from one horizon to the next. It is not yet time for dawn, and there is no form of light until then. Nonetheless, each can see the other clearly. The dark eyes narrow as their owner steps forward.
"Never! You speak of peace between us, yet you conspire with the villagers behind my back. Do not think I have not seen you whispering to them when you think I have left. You are spreading distrust and thoughts of mutiny amongst them!" The speaker's voice is a sharp hiss towards the end, and his lightless eyes burn in rage.
"No! You misunderstand! The villagers fear you; they seek a way to guarantee that they will be protected from your tempers and your actions. Why would I wish to have you banished? We have been close ever since we were young. That has not changed for me, and I can only hope that it has not changed for you." Her voice holds a hint of doubt at the end.
She has witnessed his changing moods. Where he once had been as constant as a shadow, he now swirled with all the turbulent chaos of the galaxies above; lightless as they are, their movements can still be felt by the two of them and their people. With his very self changing, the truths she would have taken as fact no longer have the same certainty they once did, and that includes his feelings towards her. As far as he is concerned, they may no longer hold even the bond of friendship if his words are to be believed.
"Lies! All lies! The villagers are preparing to mutiny, and you are planning to rule them when I am gone. You have turned against me, and I cannot believe the words that you say for fear of deceit. You leave me no choice but to stop you from continuing to spread your poison among our people. You cannot be banished, as while you are alive, your poison can continue to spread. This leaves but one option." Her eyes are sad but determined when she responds.
"You have lost yourself to the chaos of the unborn stars you love so much. Where you see yourself as left with one option, I am left with one choice. I would not have chosen this path for us, however you have chosen it for me. Forgive me for this. If it is the last thing you ever do, forgive me."
She cups her hands together and brings them close to her face. She whispers a short phrase into them, and her companion is suddenly blinded as blaze of flame leaps into the darkness. His cries of pain only grow the longer he looks at the light, and he soon is forced to turn away hunched into himself on the ground. They hear shouts of alarm coming from the village, and she knows they are about to have an audience. She reaches into a pouch by her side with one hand as the other holds the steady blaze.
"Forgive me." With the final whisper, she removes what appears to be a strange dust from the pouch and gently blows it over her companion's hunched over form. With a sigh, he slumps to the ground just in time for the first of the villagers to witness what is happening. It is with a mournful gaze that she looks upon his slack face.
She then walks several paces away to where a stone bowl holds sticks and spare grasses, to be used later for whatever they could be. She tilts the hand holding the flame, and it slides gently into the nest of dry plants. They light fairly quickly, but she knows they will remain lit long enough. She turns back to her counterpart. Lifting his prone form into her lap, she looks up briefly to where the stars are still not yet in place.
"My final gift to you will be a place among the stars you love so much. Sleep, and be at peace." The young earth beneath her has just enough energy within it to accomplish her goal, and she draws on every last drop she can. A short but complex incantation later, his body begins to become less solid as it drifts towards the sky. It begins to pick up speed the higher it gets, until it is merely a streak. Within moments, he is too far away to see, though she can still feel it as he comes to rest in the center of the heavenly bodies that swirl around them. He no longer exists as he did before, and expands to fill the empty space with his presence. She allows a single tear to fall down her face, then turns to face the people.