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Chapter 8. Broken |
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deer Leminee, Sister Lemony could barely suppress her laughter as she scanned the crabbed writing. Some of the words were nearly destroyed by clumsy inkblots. Of course, on the outside, the message had looked like any other, a roll of light Canthan paper with Lemony's name and guild and a red lump of wax stamped with the crossed brush and quill emblem of the delivery service. Her daily trip to Lions Arch had been pleasantly quiet after the ruckus of Belenus' arrival the day before. She had paid the coin to release her lone missive, learning who it was from and deciding she would spend a pleasant hour at Uriel's monument, perhaps even reading it to her. Now she stood up slope from the little monument. It was tucked into the shade of a pair of old trees near the new shrine to Melandru. Everyone had agreed that Morisedd alone should be given the choice of where to place the monument and of course he had put it beside his matron goddess. Uriel had been his guiding star, after all. Lemony sat down on a mossy log and sighed, rolling up the scroll as she looked dolefully down on the single finger of black marble he had selected for her. A mound of flowers in various stages of decomposition and candles melted to waxen stubs were gathered at its base. There were little offering bowls of food and the ashes of incense. She went no closer, biding her time and giving Pendaran some modicum of privacy as he knelt before it. Lemony was a little surprised to find him there, but it was not her place to question his motives. People grieved in their own way and in their own time. Gods knew he had enough of his own tragedies to digest. He had confided in her once that his greatest regret was harming she and Uriel with his thoughtlessness. Her forgiveness had brought him to tears and she wished Uriel had lived long enough to reach the same place in her uneasy relationship with Pendaran. He blamed himself for her death. She wished Zhou were home. Her healer's senses told her Pendaran was not well, that the madness had not completely passed and whatever had been done to him in Torment haunted him night and day. He would not talk to her about it and so she had spoken to Xiang Yi, hoping that perhaps Zhou's best friend might have some insights into how men worked when they were hurting and broken in places Dwayna's blessings could not mend. It alarmed her to hear Teleri describe the way he screamed in his sleep, that sometimes he lay disoriented and insensible in her arms late at night clinging to her like a lost child. He was a proud man and wore his mask of quiet reserve by day. All she could do was pray for him and hope this quiet time with his family healed those invisible wounds. Lemony stretched out her legs and poked the leaf litter strewn about her feet. For a time she enjoyed the loamy smell of the forest entwined with the earth. The day was barely an hour old and the blue tint of twilight had long since fled before misty shafts of amber light threading through the canopy. For a moment she was back in the forests of old Ascalon in a more innocent time. A shout drew her back into the present and she looked on in horror as Morisedd and Pendaran wrestled in the leaf litter before the monument. Morisedd was swearing at him, his balled fists sweeping the air as Pendaran scrabbled free and ducked away. "MURDI!" Lemony shouted angrily as she leapt to her feet and rushed toward the shrine. The gangly ranger straightened, startled. He turned to regard her, his narrow features twisted with inconsolable rage. Pendaran rose without a word, his lip bloodied and a bruise darkening his right cheek. "Get away from her monument, you filthy dog," Morisedd growled at the mesmer's retreating back. Pendaran would not look at Lemony as he walked up the slope toward the fortress. "How could you?" Lemony exclaimed, shaking with anger. The ranger was menacing as he towered over her, his hatred scorching her senses. "How could I?" he rumbled, "I will not have that scum defiling this sacred place. I am guardian of the shrine and if he sets foot in it again I will kill him." Lemony winced at the venom behind his words. His gray eyes were wild with fury, a pent up beast too long denied its quarry. "Uriel made choices, too," Lemony said, her voice quavering with grief. How she missed her dear friend. How terrible it was that her loss was compounded with so much rage from the man she had loved, "Oh Murdi, why did it have to come to this? Uriel would not have wanted you to become so bitter." "Get away from me, you stupid woman," Morisedd roared, "You were ever a blind fool and Uriel only kept you around out of pity." Lemony backed away from him, tears brimming her eyes. "I will pray for you," Lemony sobbed finally, unable to contain her grief. "Get away from me, you deluded witch. The gods care nothing for any of us. If there were justice, Uriel would still be alive and Pendaran would be dead." Lemony realized it was pointless trying to reason with him, not while she was so raw from her losses and he was so insensible with anger. She turned her back to him and hurried away. The Dunvael had never mentioned making him guardian of their matron goddess' shrine, not to her, and apparently not to Pendaran or surely he would never have approached it. Poor Pen. She focused on finding him so she could at least heal his injury and, if he were not too proud to accept her consolation, she would embrace him with the blessing of Dwayna. As she crested the steep forested slope she paused for a moment to catch her breath, gazing back toward the monument and the distant shadows of Melandru's shrine. A figure in a dull green jacket trimmed with faded gold brocade lurked at the edges of that holy place, his dark hair neatly slicked back as he emerged from the trees to kneel quietly at the foot of the consecrated pool that encircled the statue of the goddess. What in the name of the Five was Belenus doing there? Well, perhaps one good thing had happened that day if the lowly drunk were seeking Melandru's harmony and wisdom. It seemed a fitting way to make amends for the harm he had done his body with liquor and rough living. Lemony sighed sadly. It was heartening to think there was hope for that one at least. |
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