Chapter 40. Farewell

familiar chill drew Uriel awake in the small quiet hours before dawn. Shivering, she rolled onto her side, drawing the comforter against her as the straw of her mattress rustled.

“Uriel!” said a voice like the night wind, sweet and melodious yet so soft it might be swept away.

The small room she shared with Lemony lay starkly exposed in silver, all shadows fled before a shimmering figure drifting at the foot of her bed.  Uriel sat up quickly, her back pressed against the wall behind her as confusion and fear were overwhelmed with awe.  Momentarily afraid for her friend she shot a glance at Lemony and saw that the little monk was also sitting up, her face suffused with wonder.

“Luitha?” Uriel croaked in response, amazed by the transformation.  The image drifting before her was not the sad faded ghost bent by centuries of grief, but a being of purest light.  Her unworldly beauty was not meant for mortal eyes and as a result Uriel’s throat clenched with emotion, strained with longing and joy as she gazed upon Luitha’s radiant visage.  Luitha was glorious, sculpted of starlight and joy.

“I cannot stay, my friend,” Luitha replied, her musical voice drew tears to Uriel’s eyes.  Unthinking, Uriel reached out to the woman, longing to touch her and find union in her blazing form.  Luitha shimmered lightly but did not come forward, “It is my final wish that Pendaran should walk once more beneath the sun.  I beg of you to help him.”

“I will do as you ask if it is within my power,” Uriel replied as the beauty of the woman’s smile wrenched her heart.

“Farewell.”

And in a twinkling of starlight Luitha vanished, never again to walk upon the mortal plane.

“So beautiful,” Lemony wept softly, “You never said she was so beautiful.”