Leafiara (prime)/Tales/Morning Musings

Original Story: Ivastaen 4, 5118

The red-haired half-sylvan girl narrowed her green eyes suddenly, staring through a portrait of a smiling man bedecked in roa'ter-themed gear. "That was a year and a half ago, Deacon! Nobody cares anymore except you." She twisted her head, cracking her neck, then gazed again into his still eyes. "And nobody should. I don't have to rest on my laurels. Leave the past in the past. I--"

"It doesn't matter." She turned back toward the bulletin board lying on the writing desk before her. She'd taken it down from her sanctuary wall earlier and it had several notes pinned up, each bearing a word and a symbol or two.

Chaston √	Raznel X~	Disean ~	Crux X√	Hapenlok X
Ambrus X	Luxie √	Larsya ~?	Dennet X	Cyph XX
Reannah X	Drandea X	Carenos √	Quinshon X?	Landing X
Crux X	Osment X	Acorn X	Rodnay X	Stephos X
Shinann X	Lheren N	Rooks ~?	Rone ??	Landing X
Icemule X	Crux X	Thrayzar N	Grishom N

"A must win," she murmured, her gaze fixed on a single note. She traced a finger over two lockets she wore, one fox-shaped and the other ivy-patterned, and then lifted both up before her face. Sev, Cay... I know, I know, it's a matter of trust. But who?

She released the lockets, letting them fall back and hang freely, then glanced toward two objects at the corner of her desk: a discarded Adventurer's Guild badge, now adjusted to look like a mock militia badge, and a bent and twisted mask with a broken beak.

The half-sylvan girl tilted her head, red hair falling around her face. I would have signed up already if I were ever going to, wouldn't I? "But I'm terrible at following orders," she said, chuckling. There must be another way. I'll find it.

She withdrew an elegant gold-hilted eonake dagger from a weapon loop in her cape--and the morning light in the sanctuary caught on it just so with a blinding glare shining near Aetheri's crafting mark. The girl smiled faintly at the sight, thinking right away of his wife Luxelle, but shook her head.

Time is short, but I'll be with you a little while longer, Luxie. Long enough, at least... to get the job done.

She slammed the dagger into the top of the board, stabbing it right through Raznel's name.