Writing the vows
She balled up the parchment and threw it aside, adding it to the mountain of already discarded words, emotions and thoughts that she would try to write as she prepared for her wedding day.
How would she even begin to put on parchment what this man meant to her? How would Ana articulate in such a way the way in which he had changed her life and continued to do so every single day just by merely existing?
The task seemed so simple, yet so daunting as she would try over and over again to express such simple, yet such powerful things. This wedding, this union with Tindómiel Singsorrow would be the most important of her life to date, and it needed to be perfect. So she would keep trying until she found a way with words that proved to be elusive. She would find them, and she would write her vows and promises to this man whom she had no doubt that she would follow to the end of her days.
He was her light in the dark, her hope, her one and only love and she would find the words that she would speak to him on that magical day in the not too distant future in front of their "family" and friends, and they would be perfect. He deserved nothing less.
I'll see you in another life, brother
Ana looked up at the moon and the stars in the sky and then closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath of the crisp night air as she felt the sand beneath her toes and she sank to her knees and allowed herself to cry. Really cry. She finally allowed herself this one weakness and it poured from her freely and easily. She cried for the family she'd lost, but mostly for her brother. She cried for what would be one of the happiest days of her life coming in a few short weeks, but that he wouldn't be there to see it, and to share in it all. And she cried tears of anger that she'd been careless and allowed herself to be found, by the one person she'd been so careful to conceal herself from for such a long time. She sobbed so hard that it hurt and finally, she didn't even know how long later, an hour, two, maybe longer, she finally stopped and in a hoarse voice whispered.
"I'll see you in another life, brother. I miss you every day, but I hope it's not this one."
The Black Frog
"Hello, brother."
Ana had simply blinked in surprise and elbowed Tindómiel lightly. What brother? She'd no clue he had other family other than the ones he'd mentioned, and they were by no means close, the opposite in fact. Or so she'd been told.
"Yes, this is my brother. "The Black Frog". One does not simply address him so boldly. It's unwise in most circumstances."
But the man had smiled at her, introduced himself and so she had done the same, as one does. He had taken her hand, kissed it and gone on to explain.
"Although my brother has not mentioned me, he has most certainly mentioned you, and his description was not entirely accurate, for there are clearly not enough words in our spoken language appropriate enough to describe such loveliness."
And with this, she had been won over, despite Tindómiel's initial "warning", of sorts. Evidently, he had come back from a long time away in Pandaria, and was to be a guest at their upcoming wedding. Abruptly, any further conversation or details outside of a little exchange between the two about estranged family had ended when the man had to take his leave again, but Ana was intrigued. And House Singsorrow would seem to grow, slowly, but surely.