Legends of Belariath
Tsunami
Grief
She sat there, all night long, alone, totally alone… no one to share her feelings with at all. She sat there, kneeled looking at a tree… hours and hours. The tree before her a network of beautiful branches… at least, that is what it had one day. She had seen it last night as it suddenly started to wither a lot… the tree… once holding the most delicious peaches started to decay before her very eyes. A tree she had nurtured for weeks and months… she had dug up the tree when it was hurt… very hurt and took it along to the sanctuary of her halls of life… her glade… her lair. She had looked at the burnt tree when it was found. Daily she had taken care of it, trying to make it better… and it did… it bloomed and bared fruits again… a bowl on the table in her lair showed still fresh peaches… peaches… belonging to her sister… the one she shared the lair with.
A sister… who now is no more… she knew that when she saw the tree die before her eyes… it withered and started to turn to dust. Falling apart before for nymph’s eyes and she was silent… petrified… scared… more scared than ever before… her heart stood still for a long time. For a while… not true life was present in her lair, in a place which was a focus point of leylines… a source of life itself. She finally started moving again… her ocean… this time not affecting her, but it now responded to her.
Three nereids looked on as how the weather where they lived turned for the worse… a powerful storm suddenly started to form… the focus point was the heart of the two nymphs who had left them about a year ago. Wind raged, rain poured and thunder was heard… but no lightning… Even they felt what it was and grieved along… their sister was in pain.
In the house named Dragon Rose another nymph sat silent, holding onto her slave sister Mairu, trembling. The kitten had no idea what was going on safe that the nymph against her was lost… and would be lost for a while… She sat on the bed with her, clinging, mourning in silence.
She sat alone… alone in a dark cave… the lights had dimmed as the very mosses, which with their luminescence gave light to the cave, felt the grief, leaving the dark blue nymph her darkness she now felt. She looked at the ashes on the ground… showing she had lost her sister. Trembling she grabbed for it while her tears started to run over her face… her pink eyes going red from her anguish of losing her lover and friend. She was gone inside… she knew… this was no return… no Unigo would bring her back now for her life-force was gone too. Lost… forever.
Crying for hours and hours the nymph sat there on her knees, looking at the emptiness in the middle of her lair, where once the huge tree stood, showing the vibrant life that was her sister. She looked sideways at the smaller sister tree of Aijen, that of the other dryad living with her, the pine tree, still hurt, but clearing up. Life was there still… then she looked over at the bowl on the table and jumped up, running over to the bowl.
Grabbing one of the peaches she opened it… looked at the core and took out the seeds… She took them and holds them to her heart… life is lost… but new life can bloom from it…
Hope.
It was then that the nereid realized things… the hope that the dryad had left to her… The nereid had entered this world as a being of hate and anger… yet part of her turning to join her sisters to the way she should be, yet still be strong, was thanks to the dryad Aijen. With all the time she had spend with her sister, she had improved. The love of Aijen had opened her more and more to the good sides of life. It had made her into a better person by being with Aijen. Aijen who took the brunt of some of the early anger of the nymph, yet remained loyal to her… loyal like a slave… loyal like a lover. She always was there for her, even when she herself had fought with death. Aijen had been there, been there to watch over her.
Aijen had brought hope to the nereid, hope to improve herself and become a better being. She was the light in the dark cavern that is the home of the nereid. And in her hand she held the last remains of the dryad… a seed… of hope… for herself and others. Hope.
This writing is my lament for the loss of a dear friend who died in a car accident… the player of the character Aijen, named Amy. She was a friend… and were we closer in distance… she would have been a lover. I will miss her with all my heart and never forget her. Also, this dedication goes also to her lover Rachel, who I too knew and was good friends with. Their love will be an inspiration for me, forever.
Marc Tuijtelaers, the player of Tsunami.