Frozen Heart - chapter 10

Sand spent the night standing at his window, his sharp elven eyes clearly seeing the Merchant Quarters, to be sure this beautiful dream was not going to disappear in the morning. As dawn painted the sky light red, the building was still there, and nobody had exited.

"Oh, sheesh!" Rustyn, lying in her bed, looked sadly as the tiny bubble floated for a mere second before popping.
Falma awoke, and hopped to her.
"I still can't do it properly…" she sighed, running her fingers along the golden letters, the name of the author, on the cover of a thick, dark red book.
Walking to the adjacent bathroom, and dipping a finger in the basin of fresh water, she frowned. This fresh water was no real use; her home was out there, in the ocean. Nonetheless, she quickly washed herself, then stared into the mirror. She still didn't get used to her hair being so short, not even reaching her shoulders; after all, it's been only about three or four months since she cut it, after letting it grow loose and unkempt for 96 long years. Rustyn was 111; a young adult elf.

"Sand!" she smiled, then walked to the common room to have breakfast; she greeted Volo, who immediately left his half-finished bread and cheese on his plate, and ran out screaming.

Sand, seeing Volo running as if hellhounds were at his heels, immediately knew Rustyn was up. Somehow, the way the bard feared her gave him a strange feeling: yes, he knew she was powerful, but those reactions still seemed odd.

"Rustyn!" still hardly believing he finally got his little wonder back, Sand ran to her.
"Sand!" she smiled brightly.
He took her hand without hesitation, and led her up to the fortress.

Sand was happy, living his dream. He didn't know how fragile the balance was.

"Here" he handed her a lovely bouquet of white flowers.
"Thank you!" she drank in their sweet scent, a few locks of jet black hair falling on her forehead.
"Rustyn…" Sand reached up and gently brushed them off, to stare deeply in her lovely sunset eyes.
"Thank you…" she smiled again, as she covered Sand's hand, caressing her cheek, with her own.
"Ah, anyway" Sand, feeling a little awkward, quickly removed his hand "there's this tome I wanted to show you…"
Strangely, Rustyn once again told him the book was not unknown to her.
"I have read it a few decades ago, I believe…" she wondered when exactly.
"Where were you? I mean, where did you find it?" Sand couldn't help but ask.
"On an island" she answered, obviously not willing to give any more details.
"Oh… you mean, one with a library? Which one, then?" Sand would not be deterred; not this time.
"One of the Nelanther Isles…" she still didn't want to disclose too much.
"Which one? There are no great libraries, as far as I know, and…"
"I lived there alone" she slammed the tome on the desk, irritated "and the waves carried me the books I wanted. Or the sailors who wanted me to grant them a safe journey."
Sand scratched his head. Some memory began to surface, but he couldn't nail it down.
"…but I was not a priestess, like that stupid Volo said. I have always been a wizard, and that will never change. Anyway, what do you think of the studies of the scholars who gathered all that information in the libraries of Candlekeep? I think their path should be followed, and…"
"You!" Sand's sharp and incredulous voice made Rustyn stop in mid-sentence, and look up at him interrogatively.
He slowly shook his head, his eyes widened… no, it couldn't be!
"You!" he repeated "you were the one supposed to kill me!"
She blinked.
"Excuse me…? I don't remember anything like that… ah, yes, once I was asked to tell the mighty Queen of the Depths to sink any ship some stupid wizard gets on and… you!"
They just stared at each other.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know!"
"How could you?!"
"Sand…!" Rustyn stood up "I left that life behind!"
"But you… where's your mind gone, Rustyn? Where's your heart gone?!"
"I'm me, Sand! Please! Don't!"
Though she knew nobody cared for her, losing the illusion in less than a day seemed too much. She rather unceremoniously let herself go, falling in Sand's arms, hoping he will understand. She let out a sigh of relief as he held her up.
"What's happened to you, Rustyn…?" Sand whispered, not knowing what to think any more.
As they talked, as she read the books, as she looked at him, all seemed to be back on the right track. But this… this was too much, the heavy secret unveiled weighed heavy on him, how could the evil priestess she despised so much, the one he would always refuse to go and meet with some of the other mages, be the one he would mourn every single night? The very same one?
He felt her body tremble, and took pity on the lost soul. He wrapped his arms around his beloved Rustyn, and they silently stayed like that until she finally relaxed.

The balance had not been broken yet.

"Rustyn" said Sand finally, after they spent half the afternoon exchanging stiff, unnatural sentences and trying to keep the topics neutral "please, believe me, I am here for you, and nothing, no matter what you did, will change that."
Oh, if you only knew.
Rustyn tried her best to believe what her former master told her, and found herself actually feeling like she really should. The illusion was still intact.
"Thank you."
It was as a heavy cloud had lifted from above them.

The balance was still intact. But not for long any more.

Evening came, and Sand and Rustyn retired to one of the smaller common rooms of Crossroad Keep, as he kept some scrolls there he wanted to show her.
"Divination spells, I see…" she looked through them with interest.
"Yes. You see, remember that boy… um… Xavier? I would have never thought he'd become a great diviner!"
"So you kept on teaching him, or did you keep contact with him?" she lowered the papers.
"No, I just got to know these days, by reading a book. I never looked after what happened to him, to be honest…"

Crack. The balance broke.

"So, let me get this straight" Rustyn slammed the scrolls on the desk "you left without even bothering? You didn't care about him?"
"Rustyn, calm down" Sand failed to understand the gravity of the situation "you were dead, and he was nobody compared to you."
"So, he was nobody, I see" she said coldly "and you were fine assuming I was dead!"
"Rustyn, please" he was still unaware that all was about to collapse, and said the worst thing possible "really, I would have been happier had you never approached those waters…"
"No!" she screamed, and covered her ears, her body shaking violently "you don't care!"
"Rustyn!"
It was too much. Too many painful memories emerged at hearing those words…
The day in Evermeet, when the crown was placed on her head. The words, those scary words, that she should never go near the sea again… the bird, the bird trapped in a golden cage, as she had all she could ever want in the magnificent palace, but was kept from her natural element…
Then it happened again.
Sand at first thought she was crying, but then backed away with horror and surprise.
A single, large piece of ice, shaped a like a tear, ran down her cheek and hit the floor, shattering. The crystals melted instantly. Then, all of a sudden, the water began to rise, flooding the room.
"Leave me alone, I hate you!" Rustyn tore the door open, salty water pouring out on the corridor, and, casting Haste, ran through the rooms out to the courtyard, then out of the gate onto the road, not willing to stop.
By the time a shocked Sand managed to ask the guard, he could only say she had left too long ago.

Moonlight reflecting on the mighty waters, Rustyn waded into the sea, feeling the energy running through her body.

The body of a woman, a heart frozen over and the soul of a child who just wanted to be loved and cared for, Rustyn let herself float, the gentle waves slowly carrying her farther and farther away from the coast.