Star Sapphire
A stoic yet startling pair of blue eyes adorned a bespectacled and somewhat mousey wizard of sheer blonde hair. She watched the resurrection of Argali Dupont. Silently the elf arose from that primordial pool. The wizard gave certain near imperceptible ticks in her assessment. Such matters weren't cheap. But the implications were always worse.
"What happened to you?"Argali took her head.
"I... don't know." She tried to recall, but not in vain.
"I find you dead? No thanks?" Her voice was soft, but there was a
sharp barb in it. Argali knew it could administer poison. But she never needed to fear.
"Thank you, Medea.""Shush."And though she did, it was with a smile. Soon after she began to wonder. It was like waking from a dream. Here I am again. I never left. I was just having a bad dream. A dream that she couldn't remember, but filled her with such passions as must further be expressed.
"How did you find me?""You know how."Argali clutched her amulet. An old gift. She remembered how the star sapphire used to shine so brilliantly. Now it was deep, and dormant.
The two old friends chatted and caught up over the evening as Argali reacclimated to
living again. She watched Medea recant tales of her travels, and prospects the less practiced arch-magician between the two had not been privy to. Ah, she was a mere mortal, after all. The evening spurned into a golden epitome of holy union. They laughed and celebrated the occasion. They had not met in over a year. They conquered the peak together, let alone all manner of hellfire. It was truly and honestly, a beautiful day. She thanked God for it. Praying on her hands and knees and very head.
Medea said,
"Yes, I remember your God, too. Still with axes and fires?""Not every tree is good for fruit."Maudlyn and Medea parted with a hug, if only a little stiff from the suddenness. Medea watched Argali, adjusting her spectacles.
"Be careful, Argali. What happened with you?"Argali wondered. She could only recall flashes of violence. The splash and scent of hot blood. A child. A crown uncrowned.
Medea studied the elf in silence as she processed the fugue recollections...
"I forsook the congregation. I acted alone, and without council."Medea was surprised.
"What? You? No way." She was a good actor when she cared to be.
What an honor, Argali thought, as she set upon the road the following evening. She had people to see. And dark corners to pay visit. Much time had passed.
"My God deliver us from evil."
"Your kingdom come."
"This sword shall not be sheathed any longer."
"If you but command it I will lay waste to every man woman, child, and animal. But you have more grace. I am and have ever been a tool of someone elses expense. You have set me free. I will walk in this light wherever I go. I will cast out every unclean spirit and work of Satan. In the spirit of truth and beauty; whose name given is Christ, Almighty. Unto death greet us, God. I pray it is so. I pray it is Lord."
When I met Medea... I was still lost. I had been pointed a star and left to follow it alone. The scars of my past were as literal as any metaphor I could cunningly concoct for you. Medea was different then too. More open. Time changed that, certainly, but it was so good to talk again. Too long had they not been on the same page. Not since those dark days. The matter of the vampire and his companion.... Everywhere she looked but ahead was darkness. She was headed for home.
This is the way.
The world was full of fighting.
Now she was never alone.