A1

From Reydala

Arciel stared up at Sanoan's starry sky. She was angry at herself, angry at the situation she had been thrust into, and yet, feeling a certain sadness that was utterly unlike her..

"Like Master, Like Servant..." she mumbled to herself, "Is that such a bad thing, does not every servant strive to be like their master?.." Her head turned down.. "If they did not, why would they serve at all..."

Her expression turned to one of anger, she knelt down on the grass, taking a dagger into her mailed palm and cutting deep into the dirt.. "If you saw these feelings... this weakness... You'd cut them out of me yourself, wouldn't you?" she lifted the well made blade into her hand, bringing it over to her other hand, pulling back her gauntlet so as to have the blade resting against her wrist. She paused there for a moment, just feeling the coldness of the blade and of the night air that surrounded her..

Eventually, she let the blade drop from her hand, bouncing slightly onto the soft grass. Instead she began tracing a scar with her finger that ran down from the base of her hand to her elbow, remembering her old training. Thinking to herself that even in it's harshest moments she felt more at ease than she did now. She was afraid of Aknier, though she would never admit it, never since her youth had she placed herself in a position of such vulnerability, it made her sick. To place her fate into the hands of someone else, this went against everything she had learned from her master. Yet there was no other way, she had tried to side-step the problem, and failed utterly. To rely on a favor from Hald, how foolish. She thought back to what he would say...

She picked herself up the ground, dusting herself off faintly, wondering just how late it was.. She had always had a preference for Sanoan, the quietness, the night sky that seems so close. She started to walk back toward Aknier's tavern..

"I hope you're watching your servant.." She spoke again to herself, thinking of the new master she had found guiding her life. She did not look forward to meeting Aknier when she returned. Though his had face seemed different before she had left, her vulnerability around him still made her very uneasy. She wondered if she could walk this path to the end, if she could look anyone she knew before in the face again. The thought that Aknier could be the least of her trials was a heavy one..

When she arrived back at the Sleeping Sage, it was in the dead of the night, she had spent longer than she intended out below the moon. She went over to one of the tables and sat down, the gentle starlight cascading through the hastily repaired windows. The thought came to her mind as she stared out to the road for a moment, "Perhaps this place does suit him.. Right now, in the peace of the night".

She didn't feel ready to face him again, she folder her arms on the table and rested her head upon them. She had intended to try and sort the thoughts of her head, and her heart... but the heavy call of slumber was too strong, she closed her eyes there and fell into a troubled sleep..