She had just reached the outskirts of Vallaki when a familiar man came into her view. Gaunt, pale, shrivelled and near death, but it was him. It was Serghei. She rushed to open the door for the woman who had found her lover on the side of the road. Once inside the lady's rest they made their way upstairs and into Mikhails room and lowered Serghei onto the bed.
Erzsebet kneeled beside the bed and stared at the husk of the man she loved. She barked at the young girl to get some fresh water, but was met instead with insistance to use the clay jar in the room. With a sigh, she tested the water and wet a cloth, pressing it to his cracked lips before giving him some water to drink. Mikhail and Erzsebet argued over how to care for the man and what was real.
"The Children?! Anca? I have to find the children."
Something had happened to him, in his mind several years had passed and Erzsebet had left him. Serghei had found a new woman, married and had children. Whatever delusion he had experienced was so real to him that it robbed Erzsebet, once again, of her dream of a family, of having children. To Serghei, it had been near a decade, he had remarried, helped his wife through childbirth and raised his babies, he was in love with his new wife and cherished his precious children, but that was suddenly ripped away from him as he now lay in the bed listening to the two women arguing. His head hurt, and he could not make sense of anything, Erzsebet had left him for a Hazlani man, why was she suddenly so concerned?
Sick of the arguing, Erzsebet gave in to Mikhails desire that she leave the room. Full of sorrow and bitterness she sat in the hallway outside their room, but it was too much. Her heart hurt at the thought that he may no longer love her. This was a fact that was confirmed a day later as they spoke in the inn near the fire.
". . . Go live your life, you never know when the rug will get pulled from under you."
"It just did."
With those words said in an icy breath she walked outside and set down her wares to sell. She would get rid of the things she did not value. Erl Queens Lace, it was a poison that rendered the victim unconcious, after her items were sold it was her plan to find a nice mossy spot in the woods and drink that plant from Forlorn. She was ready to let the green vines creep up her skin and into her brain, she did not want to be aware, the delusion her lover had suffered was so real to him that whatever they had shared was long departed. It broke her heart, and so she would let nature take its course.
Standing there in the rainy spring day the only that kept her from falling to pieces was the simple crystal on its leather string that she wore around her neck. The Heart of Ice, just as it strengthened the mind, it chilled the heart. It numbed her emotions enough to maintain herself, she knew it wouldn't last. How could it? When the source of her agony sat inside with a young Barovian woman. She turned her focus to conversations around her, listening to the Garda speak about going to the blood brawl, to outlanders babbling about adventure, and the other merchant selling their wares from a box. She was soaked from head to toe from the cool rain, and she was cold, but truly she did not care. Erzsebet had decided she would test that poison on herself in hopes that she would not awaken. All she wanted was a family. A husband, children. Yet each time she got close to that, it was ripped away from her.
Perhaps things would change with the meeting of Orzsolya.
The minute, tiny, Gundarakite woman approached Erzsebet a few hours before night and asked to meet with her at Anglers Dive. Why not? She agreed to meet her there, although it did take her a while to find the place. Once there the two women spoke throughout the night, Erzsebet learned of the trials and hardship she had gone through, and of her success within the Red Vardo Traders. She gave Erzsebet some hope, a tiny spark to relight a fire that was almost out. She was proud to know that her original gain of the permit had continued on through other Gundarakites, that there were others who shared her goal, her dream. But all those accounts of betrayal had added up and built a thick wall around her trust, but maybe Orzsolya could break through enough to learn all of Erzsebets plans and goals.
"Don't let your dreams die."
Those parting words held more weight and meaning to Erzsebet than the other woman could ever know. A spark was there again, and a small fire began to grow. Tonight she would not test that poison, tonight she would let those words sink in, come the morning she would begin again.