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The Art of Poison
"Here I was in the city where dreams come true and the streets glitter
like gold and I was struggling to stay alive. I had been hiding in the
catacombs for weeks and was healing slowly. I was beginning to hunt alone
successfully and thought I might actually have the strength to return home to
the gardens soon." Jewel prods you in the ribs and scowls at you. "Are you
listening to me or what?" Jewel clears her throat and looks at you testily.
"Fate had other plans for me."
"I met my poison on Day 12 of Cherrin of the Year 117. I was 18. So
young..... so foolish." Jewel looks down and picks absently at invisible lint
on her cloak. Her voice lowers as she continues. "He walked into my solitary
confinement and stole my heart. I loved him with my heart and soul for many
years, but he was restless. He eventually became unsatisfied with the spoils
of the land and traveled to other lands to find fortune and fame. I saw him
less and less."
"Under the cloak of darkness I would stand upon the crumbling wall by the
North gate and send him messages through the wind. The sun would rise and its
warmth would cover the city. He would come to me then, hold my face in his
hands and whisper into my ear." Jewel sighs heavily and continues to avert
her gaze. "They were good times. Those were good days" Jewel's hand reaches
up and covers her mouth for a moment and she rests her elbow on the bar
table. A long breath escapes her, and she continues, not moving her hand.
"Then he stopped coming."
"I would stand on the North wall in the night, surrounded by the whisper
of the wind, and call to him. I waited. I waited some more. I was comforted
by the darkness that hid my tears and covered my heart. Then I realized the
truth. The wind had changed directions, and was singing to me. For the first
time, I listened to it."
"I love you dear sweet Jewel."
Jewel raises her head and meets your gaze finally, and there is a new
fire in her eyes. "Such unfair last words." Jewel clenches her fists in anger
"I screamed from the soul of my being and all that was good in my heart
shattered. I stood there as darkness swirled around me and I felt the shadows
embrace me. Suddenly I had found my voice. I had found my strength." Jewel
draws in a long breath and pauses. She relaxes her hands and pulls on her
cloak, smoothing it out.
"'That was many years ago, yet still, as I walk down that road now, I
smile at the silly medicine man peddling his potions of love, and at Maude
and her shop of heartache. I stand on that wall now in the dark of night and
once again send my messages through the wind. I know that where ever
Archimedes is, the wind will chill him to the bone, and hit his face like a
well placed slap." Jewel cackles at the thought.
'It was now clear that I could no longer return to the gardens. I would
never be what they had wanted me to be. I had been poisoned by the bitterness
of love, but it had made me strong and led me to the shadows. But, that, in
itself, is another story." More...
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