☾ Kelina

[Nilah44]

Family First

Living in the small village of Ast led to a relatively uneventful childhood. Her mother was loving and kind, everything a child could want for a mother. Alina understood her daughter no matter what, she listened and took all and any time needed to spend with her daughter. Her father, Gituku, was rarely present through her childhood as well as the rest of her life. Gituku would come for a week or so, working around the village whenever he could. At the end of his stay, he would leave his earnings in a small satchel in the house before he left. Kel supposed he hated leaving them like that and she wasn't even sure why he did leave. He was always in and out, it didn't seem like it was a lack of work issue, he always found plenty of jobs when he came. Honestly, Kelina didn't even know what he did for a living. The two of them weren't very close, and that only strengthened the bond between mother and daughter. Alina and Kelina spent every minute together when Alina wasn't working on healing people. Whenever someone would come back to the village with some sort of injury or ailment, they would come to Alina and she would do everything she could for her. She often enlisted the help of her daughter, going and getting herbs as well as gathering food.

Doing these jobs for her mother left her very nimble in the trees, she felt at home in the upper canopy. She often went above and beyond, gathering extra supplies. It was on one of these days that she was gathering fruit, Kel stood on her tip toes reaching for a fruit above her head. The limb, wasn't completely up to support her weight, it dipped as she stretched upward. She had just gotten her hand around the succulent fruit and with the slight downward pull, the branch dipped even more. Her toes slipped off the edge of the limb and she felt herself falling downward. Kelina couldn't tell how far she fell before she finally was able to grab a hold of a branch. Hanging there for a moment, Kelina assessed the damage. Only minor cuts and scrapes on her arms and maybe a few bruises on her legs, she'd be fine in a day. Hoisting herself up, she sat on the branch as she looked up. She had lost the fruit during her fall as well as the sack she was carrying everything else in it. Swearing silently, she picked leaves out of her hair. There was still some fruit at the house so it would be okay if she went home. But she knew that Alina would freak out even at the little scratches on her baby girl. She decided that she would camp out in the upper canopy, under the moon. This wasn't unusual for Kelina, and Alina would assume that that's what she was doing as the reason of why she didn't go home. Carefully, Kel made her way all the way up to the upper canopy. The sun was already setting so she found a nice branch to sit on as she watched the sun disappear under the horizon. With the changing of the sun, the moon rose high in the sky. It was something Kel always liked watching. Although she was one of the shifters who preferred daylight, she always felt the pull of the moon on her heart. It rose high in the sky before Kelina fell asleep that night.

When she awoke, she found that her cuts were already healing and that the sun was rising. She wanted to gather a few pieces of fruit before heading home. It only took her an hour or two before she had gathered four pieces, enough for her to take home. Carefully, so she wouldn't have any accidents like yesterday, she climbed down a few layers before making her way back home. Fruit in another handmade bag of vines, she found her house on the outskirts. Where as her mother would already be awake and on the porch, she wasn't there. This doesn't seem like much of a concern, but it was very out of the ordinary for Alina. Kel walked in to their house and noticed her mother was still in bed, apparently asleep. Alina never slept in, she always thought there was too much to do. She set the fruit down in a bowl on the table before walking over to Alina's bedside and sat down on the edge. Still, her mother did not wake. Taking her mother's hand, it was cold to the touch, almost like she had a cold sweat. It was then that she noticed her mother's shallow breathing. Something was terribly wrong. She tried to wake up her mother who did nothing more than mumble in her sleep. Kelina frowned, this wasn't good. She went back outside and scaled down the trees to the forest floor. Kel needed some herbs to make a tea for her mother. After gathering the few she needed, she climbed her way back up the tree. Back home, she scrambled about making a fire and placing a small pot over it, pouring some water into it before throwing the herbs in. She waited for the water to boil before moving it off the fire. Grabbing a cup from the cupboard, she ladled some of the tea into the cup. Making her way over to where her mother was still laying in bed. Cradling her mother in her arms, she tried to wake her. Kel succeeded as her mother's eyes opened as she made soft moaning sounds. She got her mother to drink the tea while she was awake before drifting back into sleep. Kelina didn't know what was wrong.

This routine went on for about a month or so, with no improvement from Alina. Kel didn't know what was wrong, it left her completely confused. Kelina's life became about taking care of her mother and she often forgot to take care of herself. But now, she noticed that their food supply was getting low. Kel didn't have time to go hunting, she couldn't be gone that long. So it was fruit again. She didn't know how many nights in a row she'd had fruit for dinner with the occasional jerky piece. Climbing, she found a tree that had bows of ripe fruit. Kelina was able to fill her bag and get home before noon. It took her a little longer to get home than it did to climb up. The extra weight of the fruit made her have to be more careful about her footing. Once she finally got back home, she set the fruit in the bowl like she had so many times. "Momma I'm home." Kel said like always as she started boiling some water for her mother's tea. It was her rhythm, she made sure her mother had something before taking care of herself. Taking a cup of the spiced tea, she went over to her mother's bed, carefully setting the tea on the table as she sat on the side of the bed. Alina felt cold and something was off. Putting an ear to her mother's chest, she listened for her breathing. But there was none. Kelina grasped at her mother's wrist like she had seen the older woman do so many times to her patients as she tried to find a pulse. Her hands hovered over her mother in shock. No, this couldn't be true. Kelina couldn't stop the tears from coming from her eyes. Everyone died at some point, but she never imagined that her mother would be taken from her so soon. She didn't know how long she sat there, crying and in shock but she knew it was too long. And with the help of some of the villagers, she had a nice funeral for her mother as they laid her to rest. Kel knew life would be different that day. Even more so when Gituku returned. It had been the longest time that he had been away. And even with him home, he had no words of kindness to try to help her. Kelina knew though, that her mother would be really mad if she saw how she was acting. Life had to go on, you couldn't dwell on something and just wither away. Slowly but surely, she started getting her life back together, but always missing her mother.

Word Count 1,417

 

[Nilah44]

A Learning Curve

Kelina sat down at the exit of the arena; she had just finished her first battle! With a sore and battered body, she took a few moments to relax. She was still sweaty and the bruises were making themselves known. It wasn't until now that she realized just how sore she would be afterwards! Taking the time to catalog her bruises, none were extremely bad and would heal fairly quickly if she gave them time. Kelina stretched her arms out, after that vigorous exercise, her muscles were tightening from sitting for so long. Kelina decided to walk around. As she walked, she continued to favor her knee. Out of all the hits, that ending blow was the one that hurt the most. And it was showing, the side and back of her left knee was bruised pretty badly, making all her other bruises seem non-existent. But, sometimes there were prices to pay for learning things. The price she paid for everything she learned was well worth it in her opinion. Stopping, she hadn’t gotten far from the exit before she realized she had no idea where she was going. No matter where she decided to go, it would take her a little bit to get there. The fairgrounds were on the other side of the arena from where she was, but she wanted to go back over there and take a better look at some of the shops and stands that were set up. She had a little money with her and figured she might be able to find something for Lasarra as a “welcome home” present since she really hadn’t done anything for her sister when she moved in. With a place in mind, Kel changed her course accordingly and was left to her thoughts as she made the long slow walk there.

Kelina thought back to when she had first learned about this tournament, she and her sister had been excited. Kel knew that Lasarra wasn't looking to go into any of the battle classes, but the two had decided that they would both participate. Each had spent time preparing; Kelina went out into the forest each and every morning for the two weeks prior to the tournament to practice. In hindsight, she realized that she really should have practiced more as she wasn’t completely prepared, but she had maximized her time. She spent her time working with the bow that Lasarra had brought her; she made sure to take excellent care of it and on a few occasions, brought home meat for dinner! That wasn’t until right before the tournament, though, as Kelina had a lot of work to do to get there. Her main focus was her concentration with stability and strength coming in after that. It took practice to build up her concentration and stability. When she first started, her arms shook under the pressure of holding the bowstring back for so long. Her arm muscles didn’t want to cooperate with her but she pushed them leaving her with sore arms for many nights. But after some practice and training, she built up her strength and stamina so that it would no longer be of trouble for her. While she was fairly quick in the trees, she had to think of what it would be like in an arena, and she knew her speed and agility in the trees would need to be just as good on the ground. She tried to go for a run each and every day and proved useful for more than one thing. This worked up her stamina and kept her from getting tired too quickly and it also improved her speed on land. Because of this, Kelina was often gone for the full day and she felt bad sometimes, leaving Lasarra at the house by herself or left to her own devices. Her sister hadn't complained at all though, which Kelina was grateful for. The two were getting along famously after moving in together and there really was no adjusting time also for which she was grateful for.

Just in the small time that she had before the tournament, Kelina knew that she was in love with the bow. There was a kind of solace, solitude, and peace that came with her hunting. She enjoyed that archery could be for pleasure and for work. She could sell anything she killed or keep it for her own use. Kel also took the time to keep her eyes out for any animals her sister might want to try to trap, there weren't many but she made sure to tell Lasarra whenever she saw something of interest.

Her thoughts returned to the present though, as her sore body reminded her. Setting her bow down carefully, she massaged her side where she had taken more than one hit. Her opponent, whose name she found out was Rishima, had been a good opponent and it was fairly obvious that he had more practice than she did. His attacks were so controlled and packed power, while Kelina's were rushed at times when she had started to panic. Kel thought she needed to work on her ability to dodge, had she been quicker or more agile, maybe she wouldn't have taken such a beating. But, for her first battle, she had to admit to herself, she could notice that she had surprised him and that in itself was good enough for her. She might not win the tournament, but she had given it her best. With as good as her opponent had been, she wished him luck as well as her sister and her sister's friend Rayolun that she had met. Kel also heard that Lasarra's other friend Bhima was also taking part, she wondered if they would run into her there too!

Her confidence was bolstered after her fight; she had more confidence in her decision to follow her class and over all, in herself. Kelina was ecstatic that she had finally made a decision. She knew her mother would be proud of her either way. With the horns blaring, it announced that another battle was about to start and Kelina continued her slow limping walk back to the stands to see who was up next. She surely didn't want to miss any of the battles of the people she knew!

Word count: 1,056
 

[Nilah44]

Hunting Accident

She made a mistake. A mistake that almost caused someone dear to her to lose their life. And that was something that was in the back of Kelina’s mind every day. It was always there, like her little sprite who liked to pull on her hair almost every hour. A constant reminder that she wasn’t as good as she thought she was and always needed more practice. It was a memory of pain, shock, disappointment in herself, and more than everything else: guilt. The night had started off like many others; the two shifter girls were going out hunting together. The sisters made a long trek to where they had previously seen many animals gather. Since Lasarra had started her beast taming, they needed even more meat than before, a job that had her on overtime most days. Lasarra had wanted to come with her that night, to be able to bring in more than Kelina would by herself. She had given in, of course, and the two had formed a plan that seemed infallible, they just hadn’t counted on what could happen if she had missed her shot. Of course, anything that can go wrong will, and it surely did. Lasarra had been positioned on the forest floor, Kelina in one of the trees to take the first shot. They had made up signals to use when hunting so that their speech wouldn’t scare away any animals. Their spot was well chosen and a Radaku wandered along their path. Lasarra was there on the ground to make sure the animal had a swift death and wouldn’t suffer, but Kel had wanted to make sure her sister didn’t have to do that. After hearing the signal, she had to wait an uncomfortably long time before the animal, a Radaku, was in her line of sight. Lining up her shot, she fired swiftly, as it was already uncomfortably close to Lasarra. Be it the slight wind or the Radaku’s tough skin, her arrow didn’t hit its mark and the beast lunged forward. The few moments between her first and second arrow was what haunted the young archer the most. SHE had missed. SHE had caused Lasarra to get mauled by a Radaku. SHE was the reason her sister had the scars on her legs. It was all because she wasn’t good enough. That guilt, and the feeling of not being worthy of the title and bow bestowed upon her by her great goddess made her heart heavy. Even after making sure her sister healed properly and was well again and received Lasarra’s assurances that it was okay almost every day, she still couldn’t forgive herself. She became rather over protective of her sister as she tried to right the oh so wrong she had done her. Kelina spent twice as much time training after that. She wouldn’t let herself forget that it was all her fault that Lasarra would carry those scars with her for forever. It was a form of motivation at its best, making her want to be better than she was so that kind of thing would never happen again in the future. Kelina had to protect her family, it was the only thing that really mattered to her.

Words: 541  

[Nilah44]

The Love that Bloomed

For the first time, in quite some time, Kelina spent the day in the forest. She went alone with nothing but her bow. Sitting up in the upper canopies, it was rather warm but comforting to the shifter as she enjoyed the sun rays that spotted her body. It was one of Kel’s favorite places to come, especially when she needed to think. Her thoughts were often turning to the shifter boy she had recently been acquainted with; Sauron. All in all, they really hadn’t known each other that long. It seemed like only yesterday that she had almost skewered him with an arrow because he had snuck up on her in the woods. The two had grown close after that. They had started spending a lot of time together talking about everything and nothing, and sometimes doing absolutely nothing but sitting together. His presence was like a balm for her soul; he always comforted her and made her feel way calmer than she felt sometimes. Sauron was such a sweet guy too. He had even made food for them on occasion; he was a much better cook than she was. Kel remembered the time he made soup and ran all the way to her and Lasarra’s house just to invite her to eat with him. She giggled upon recalling that memory. It had been when they had first bonded and found their troublesome sprites. That’s when they had first held hands…and kissed. The girl’s face blushed just as deep as it had when it happened. It was a sweet memory to remember and she found solace in it. Her life would be a lot different if he were not in it and she didn’t even want to think of what it would be like. Sauron had become a fixture in her life and she didn’t want that to change. Her feelings toward him led her to be rather confused. She had very strong feelings towards him, a crush of sorts, but was it love? Love was so confusing! The only love she had ever experienced was the love between family. Kel had to be honest to herself, she wanted him to be a part of her little weird family. She liked everything about him, his eyes…his necklace…his laughter and his cooking; and she felt like she could be whoever she wanted to be around him. And most of all, she knew he would always be there for her. Yes. It must be love, she concluded. She loved Sauron and she didn’t care if people thought she was too young to know what love was. A war was coming and there wasn’t time to second guess yourself or try to put things off until later because you’ll never know if there will be a later. Now…Kelina would just have to tell him how she felt. Would he feel the same way about her? Her heart told her yes, but her brain couldn’t help but second guess herself like she had just told herself she didn’t have time for. Going with her heart for once, she stood back up on the tree branch she had been sitting on. “I’m going to tell him. I’m going to tell him that I love him.”

Words: 541  

[Nilah44]

Pop Goes the Archer

Things had changed a lot for the young archer from before and after the battle. One such change was occurring that very moment, but the pain caused her to want to turn her thoughts elsewhere. So she started recounting things that led her to the life changing moment she was at.

During the battle, things hadn’t gone so well for Kelina and ended up getting more wounds than she thought she had dealt out. She had been assured by many that she had done more damage than she had received but it wasn’t in Kelina’s heart to believe that. A lot of people had scolded her for even being where she had been. It caused Kelina to think back to her actions on the battle field, something she found herself doing often. They were telling her an archer should have stayed on the back lines with everyone else where there had been all the defensive people to help protect them and shield them from as many of the enemies that would have slipped past that far. But it wasn’t so easy for Kelina to follow those instructions when the love of her life was out in the midst of the fray. Thanks to the troublesome yet helpful sprite of hers, she found out her Sauron was in danger. There was no way she was just going to hope that everything turned out okay. Dashing out into the chaos was not the smartest idea, Kelina knew that. But she had to be the knight in shining armor and rescue her prince. Things had gone well up until then. The enemies had started retreating and the Tendajians pursued. Even if she had wanted to get back to the archers there would have been no way for her to. The press of soldiers was too strong and Kelina got pushed into the clearing despite trying to push against the tide. That’s where things went wrong.

Another wave of pain brought Kelina back to the present. She was consciously aware of Ime being at her side one moment, flitting off to do whatever it was that she was doing, and then being back the next, letting her squish her hand until Kelina was worried she might break it. Once Ime’s reassurances and cooing calmed her down again, she resumed her memory play back.

She had woken in a healer’s tent. Apparently she had been in and out of consciousness for the past couple of days. When she woke, Sauron was there by her cot where the healer said he had been for most of her stay. He was such a good boyfriend; he was so loving and caring and selfless. She understood her actions and why she knew she had to save him on the battlefield. Even when it caused her to have a free stay in the healer’s tents. Well, not exactly free. She paid her price in blood and scars. After a few more days in the tent, the healer was convinced her wounds wouldn’t reopen very easily and let the very exasperated shifter leave with her love. Being the dramatic girl she could be sometimes, it was like Kelina was experiencing things for the first time again! The knowledge that they lost the battle often kept her in a sour mood, but Sauron always knew how to make it better. When she was FINALLY released, they grabbed some fruit and decided to have some “us” time in the trees. There was nothing than she would love more than to be able to relax in the trees. The only thing was that no relaxing got done. Their outing consisted of a lot of talking. Talk about what Sauron had been up to while she had been in prison (in her mind being cooped up like that was really like prison) and how things went with the battle until their conversation took a turn towards a more serious note: what they would do after all the fighting was done. It didn’t take long for children to come up in the conversation and it was decided that they would undoubtedly love to have children…someday. Of course the young couple, being so in love that they were, didn’t really waste any time getting at it. It was a little bit later, when Kelina started eating more and becoming rounder in the belly area that she figured out what had happened. What had they been thinking? Bringing children into the world in the middle of a war? Well, there was really nothing they could do about it. One thing Kelina wasn’t going to allow it to affect was her training. After catching up with Ime after the battle, Kelina had decided she needed to start training for the battle again. It might not have been the best idea to practice so close to camp as her curious little prentice friend saw her drawing her bow around her large belly, as Kelina was figuring out it was a little difficult to do when pregnant. After a talk with Namora, Ime’s mother, Kelina was advised that it was wiser to relax at this stage in the pregnancy than to do any work. Namora also offered her service to the couple as a midwife, for which Kelina gratefully accepted. For the health of the children, Kelina started doing trivial things around camp and tried not to exert herself too much. Sauron and Kelina couldn’t have been happier.

Another wave of pain went through the shifter. Each hand in a death grip on one of Ime’s and Sauron’s hands as the past had caught up with the present in Kelina’s memory recollection. The children were coming! It comforted her to have her loving husband at her side and a good friend on her other one trying to help take care of her. The pain was great, but it was worth what came afterwards. Two precious bundles of joy were placed in her arms. First a girl and then a boy. Twins, but not identical. ”Sezarra. Kresimir. Welcome into this world. Your father and I will love you dearly and give you everything we possibly can.”She whispered to her two precious children who would someday learn that what their mother whispered was true in every sense. Namora and Ime stayed around long enough to clean everything and make sure she was comfortable and with a quick motherly explanation of the care and feeding for children, they made their exit. Kelina made sure to give them her utmost gratitude, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to bring these two lives into the world without them. Their little family had grown by two.


Words: 1113  

[Nilah44]

Forgiveness

[Blurb: In this class quest, Kelina struggles with the devastating news of her husbands possible one night stand. She has to figure out if she will go back to him or not. Amidst some of the most terrible pain she has ever carried, she finds forgiveness in her heart even with the unknowing outcome of what had actually happened with Sauron.]

Tired feet trudged onward on a worn Juaharan path. A certain scene involving her husband and a pretty young thing kept replaying in her mind, giving her feet fuel to keep moving onward though just barely enough. The shifter felt like only a shell of her former self. For so long she had been a wife and a mother; her eldest had progressed so far in his chosen path and her younger bunch still had yet to decide what they wanted to do. Which was why she felt so lost. The man she had built up her rather large family with had cheated on her, or well, potentially cheated on her. He didn't know for sure.

Kelina herself wasn't sure about quite a few things right now. One being where she even was located. If she were honest with herself, she would admit that she didn't really care as long as she wasn't home. How could she? How could she be home with her husband, the man she had loved for so long but had just broken her heart, perhaps irreparably? She'd only hurt this much one other time in her life and that was when her mother had passed away, but this was so much worse as the source of her pain was still very much alive.

Did she want it any other way? Would she want physical harm to come to him? The archer stopped in her tracks, suddenly able to go no further as she asked herself those questions. Her legs felt tired and she just sat down where she had just previously been standing. Did he deserve to pay for hurting her in such a way?

”Yes?...Maybe?” Kelina sighed and shook her head even though there was no one to see the gesture. ”No.”

Her thoughts turned once more to Sauron with a younger much prettier shifter who's skin wasn't worn from years of abuse and battle. Who's stomach didn't sometimes show the 5 children she had carried. Someone who wasn't old.

Hands came up to angrily wipe away the tears that began to flow down her face. ”I don't know!!!” She shouted at the forest.

Any passers-by might think she had lost it, perhaps she had. Why did her mind like to torture herself in such a manner. Why was it trying to make her imagine what had happened. Was this Serin’s work? Her tears slowed and she sat there sniffling. How could Serin wish this upon her?

”UGHH!!” She flung herself backwards and winced slightly as her head fell against the forest floor. Just none of this made sense. The man she had fallen in love with would have never done such a thing to hurt her. Had he changed? When?

She stared up at the lower branches of the trees and slammed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to flow again. Kelina wasn't quite sure how long she stayed that way before sleep had claimed her. Nor would she be able to say how long she had slept.

The heart-broken shifter felt something nudging her foot. Eyes fluttered open to the figure of a man standing at her feet.

“I thought you were dead at first, your breathing was so shallow.”

Kelina’s eyes blinked heavily a few times before she fully took in the man literally at her feet. He appeared to be about Kresimir’s age, but the Oban descent was obvious. ”Not dead, but something like it.” She pushed herself up to sit, her hair a mess, twigs and grass were stuck periodically in her braid. With a sigh, she rubbed her aching neck before taking a sip from the water skin that had been slung across her back. ”Can I help you?” Her voice was rather flat, it held no warmth it might have once held.

“I don't need help, no. But it appears that you do.” The oban sat down in front of her a little closer than she that was appropriate though she was beyond the point of caring.

Shaking her head, her fingers massaged her temples as she tried to figure out how the oban could possibly help her. ”And how do you possibly think you could help me?”

“By taking you prisoner and selling you into slavery of course.” The man answered quickly.

What once would have gotten a snort out of her only received a slight raise of an eyebrow.

“Not funny? Too soon? TSK.” He didn't seem swayed by her lack of laughter but carried on anyway. “Actually, I have a letter for you. You weren't an easy woman to find I hope you know, though I would have normally charged an enormous amount to have to go through such lengths to find someone, this man's story truly moved me and I knew I just had to find this woman, well you.” He dramatically wiped a nonexistent tear away from his eye.

It was obvious to her who would have gone through such lengths to have her found and delivered a letter. ”I don't want it. You can take it back to him.”

“No can do Miss. On my honor as a courier I have accepted payment so I must make the delivery.” He pulled a small folded piece of paper that was tied with a blue string. He laid the letter on the ground between them and eyed her for her response. “Ahem. I can see I'm not exactly welcome here.” Standing, the oban dusted himself off. “For what it's worth, the man seemed to be beating himself up over the situation he put himself in. It seems he loves you a great deal. Think on your relationship eh?”

Kelina waited until the man was gone and she shook her head, almost in disbelief but this is exactly the kind of thing her husband would do. Her own mind paused as she used the word husband. Everything was so up in the air, yet with as hurt as she was she still couldn’t bring herself to really think of life without him.

She sat there with the letter in front of her and her head in her hands just staring at it. The letter remained unopened for quite some time as she couldn’t quite bring herself to open it up and see it’s contents. Would he be trying to get her back? Kelina couldn’t even begin to guess, and on the same note, still couldn’t really figure out why he would cheat on her anyway.

He had never shown any sort of dissatisfaction with their life, so what could it be? Kelina was so deep in thought she might as well of been meditating, which she might have been in the most basic sense of the term. The shifter felt lost and so who else would she turn to other than Serin?

”Serin, I need your guidance right now. Things just don’t add up...they don’t make sense. I don’t understand why Sauron would do such a thing, he’s never ever seemed like he wanted anything other than me, even when we were younger and he could have gotten with probably any girl he wanted. I need your help…what do I do?”

Whether it was just her mind wandering, or if it was Serin guiding her thoughts, her past with Sauron and their family floated through her mind’s eye. Their first meeting. Her rough labor with Kresimir and Sezarra, the war and their reuniting after. Making her home their home. More wars and fighting but always staying together. The triplets and dealing with Vepkhia’s weakness. All of her memories were filled with love and nothing else. Sure there were a few times they might have gotten on each others nerves or maybe not seen eye to eye, but they were so few and far between. ”Maybe he didn’t…” She said aloud suddenly. Her eyes blinked slowly a few times and she shook her head to clear the fogginess from it. ”What does it matter anyway? I still love him. I can’t imagine my life without him nor would I ever think about removing him from the children’s lives. He’s always been a good father...a good husband. It’s obvious he feels horrible for what he did...he seemed like me wanted some kind of retaliation for it but I could never do that to him…”

Kelina might have looked a little crazy sitting there and talking at the letter, but she knew Serin could hear her. ”It doesn’t matter. I know what I want to do...I know what I feel...I think...forgiveness is the only option.” She picked up the letter and held it gently in her hands. ”No matter what this says…”

With a slight smile, she stood up, and placed the letter in the small pack she tended to carry with her. It would be about halfway back on her journey, which look a little longer than the wandering she had done to get there since she hadn’t really known where “there” was to begin with, that she would finally open the letter.

“Kelina,

I know.

Sauron”

It made her stomach churn thinking of what he could have found out about it. But she clamped her jaw shut and set her resolve on what she had already decided. ”It doesn’t matter. I love him, I always have and I always will. It’s clear to me now. No matter what, I’ll be there for him and our family. Always.” She would be true to that, she promised herself and made a promise to Serin as she made her way home. Now, that didn’t stop her hands from shaking or her feeling like she was walking on eggshells as she was more nervous about this than she had ever been.

Once Kelina found her way home, it took all of her courage to walk through that door. Her hands shook and she had to calm herself down. She saw him there, working on his ledgers and she took a deep breath. ”I’m home.”


Words: 1704