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Solace.

Finally, solace.

As if her shoulders had been eased of the entire weight of the world.

She had barely even walked into the room, barely even had taken two paces across before she found herself staggering a step back-the pressure of the arms wrapped tightly around her waist-solace.

Lenora was a paler, skinnier child than when she had last laid eyes on her, and her embrace, with more fear than relief, the way she held onto her. The entire room as well was sprinkled with this unpleasant air of dejection, the walls and floors lined with grooves of melancholic blue. And when they broke apart, when they saw one another, their smiles were brief.

Behind them, the escorting Elf-Knight gave a departing bow, closing the door behind them, and leaving them both finally alone.

.....

“I thought I’d never see you again...” Lenora said, backing away, her hands trembling, overflowing with emotions. “When Terra said you were being taken away, I didn’t know what-I was so scared-Eshwlyn... they’re going to take you away from me. Please, I don’t want that. Gurwa fromtur! They can’t do that! Not you! Why you?!”

Then came the tears she tried so desperately to fight down glistening so brightly. In falling droplets, Eshwlyn could see the clever, crafty mischievous little child no longer looking back at her behind those watery eyes.

“Lenora, don’t... don’t cry, please. It’s okay, shh, come here, come,” Eshwlyn took her sister into her arms once more, and at a complete loss for words, spoke regardless. “I know, please, I understand your distress. I am just as frightened. For weeks, the fear mounting. But it will be okay. I promise you, everything will be just fine at the very end of this. It will be fine.”

“No, it won’t! Don’t say that it’ll be fine-it won’t!” Lenora pushed free from her sister’s grasp, her swaying locks a cluttered mess of stress. “What? Fortur?! What part of any of this is fine with you?! There is nothing fine about this at all.”

“My life for yours, Lenora.”

“No, no...”

“That is all that is required. That is all that is needed. For your salvation, then...”

“And what about yours?” Lenora shouted. “Your salvation? Your life?! Doesn’t that matter to you at all? to me?”

Her clothes were like of a pauper’s, and there was a slight distasteful scent to her. Lenora has not been taking care of herself well. Why was she thinking this? And why did she suddenly feel the rising urge to lecture her in the heat of this argument?

“That man! Wilvur!” Lenora continued, briefly the ends of her lips turning into a sneer. A glimpse of outright hatred that she had never directed to anyone else. “Once you are his Knight, he knows he won’t need me as your motivation anymore! He will have your full compliance anyway. He’ll take you away from me! I won’t be able to see you again.”

“Yes...” She nodded her head, noticing the grime clinging to the soles of Lenora’s feet. “It is most likely that today we’ll be our last time seeing each other.”

“No, I don’t want that! And besides, what if-?” The little Elf clenched her teeth, her lips crackled and dry. “What if he kills me anyway? After your a Knight! As I said, he won’t need me anymore so-”

Wilv... Master has no reason to do so,” Eshwlyn quickly said. “More than anything, I know his cruelty is not without purpose, aim. If lives can be spared, they will be spared. He is not vile for the sake of being vile. He only does what is necessary to achieve his goal, any more will simply be unnecessary. And killing you will just be an unnecessary cruelty.”

Lenora’s shoulders slumped an inch, she took a pause, confusion, bewilderment, as the tears continued to fall. “You’re defending him? His actions?”

“I am simply stating what is fact, nothing more,” Eshwlyn said. “And it is a fact that if he attains what he desires, there will be no reason for him to harm you in any way.”

But... he... but, you... tivi’duir! Eshwlyn!” Lenora sputtered, senseless, her thin ears wriggling in indignation. “This kind of existence, this kind of life. Nobody, no species, not even ours is deserving of such a cruel fate! Not you especially! Look, never mind about me! Just leave! Run! I don’t care what happens to me just-!”

“And what of you to me, Lenora?” Eshwlyn interjected, resisting the sudden impulse to wipe the dirty stains from her sister’s gaunt expression. “You know me too well, don’t you? You know I love you. I love you so much. And I will never, ever think to give your life for mine.”

“Neither will I!”

“But it is no longer about our wants and needs, my dear Lenora, it is essential you understand this, please!” Eshlwyn took her sister’s hands, placing them in hers. “I would want nothing more right now but for this to never have happened. If I could just break a window, whisk us both away from here never to be seen again, I would not hesitate to do so.”

“You could!” Lenora interrupted. “Tonight. Flimir’truna tro? We’ll be quiet, we won’t be seen. We can escape. Nobody would know!”

“In the beating, brimming heart of human civilization, Lenora?” Eshwlyn’s eyes softened, watching as despair further strained her sister’s already pained look. “I have thought of it. Every possible chance, every improbable opportunity. In my head, I longed for the future where we both emerge unscathed. But alas, it is not meant to be. I have accepted this. It is time you do too.”

Silence. Just silent and the occasional hitch of breath, as her lips trembled, wanting so badly to say much more... but ultimately finding nothing to say at all.

“But with this, if I am to become a Knight... at least one of us will still be fine, you will still be fine, Lenora. And it is all I could ever hope for, if the both of us cannot see through this together. All this time, I have been ready for this. Ever since I told you to run that cold winter night so long ago... all along, ever since then... I have already forfeited my life for you.”

“And what am I supposed to do after?” Lenora finally spoke, no longer shouting, crying, a sole teardrop clinging to her face. “I always had you. You are all I know. You’re going away, you’re going to leave me, I’ll be all alone and what... tell me, please... just what am I supposed to do without you? What do you want me to do?”

Slowly, Eshwlyn raised her hand, her instincts as a sister finally overtaking her... and with a slight smile so tender... she wiped the tear hanging from her little sister’s cheek... knowing that this was the last time that she ever will have to again.

“Fil,” She simply said. “Live.”

And she hugged her again.

It was a warmer, gentler squeeze, one that lacked the alarm and the urgency that could be felt in the other. Eshwlyn tried to make it last. Every moment from now, it had to last.

Every word mattered.

Every second priceless.

For if this was truly to be their final goodbye... then she will not depart by her side the loyal Servant of a human... but as a doting sister to an even more loving little Elf.

Right now, that was all that mattered.