Legends of Belariath

Vera

Vera's Story

Vera's life was pretty normal, growing up with her sister Vaena and her parents. Both vulpine were taught to fend for themselves and teach themselves at a young age. The two were unseperable it seemed, which could have been their downfall.

A defining moment, probably the most defining moment in Vera's life, was the day she lost her sister...<.p>

It was a beautiful afternoon and the twins decided to make their way down to the river to play faeries and goblins with some village friends. When they got there, it seemed it was only the two of them, and well, not being the type of girls to just sit around and do nothing, they would play until the rest of the children joined them.

The fort they had was amazing. There was a small tree-house, enough to hold the two girls and about ten other children to play, and a large rope that you could swing into the lake attached to the river, though only on calm days. And there was a little bridge covered with vines and flowers to make things look more magical.

Well... The girls decided to swing, and run and play... Although there was a reason that there was no one else out to play... There was a storm rolling in...

It wasn't noticed until too late that the waters were churning and rolling, begging for something, rushing and rolling, charging down the rivers beg and rising higher and higher. On the way running back to the village, the bridge gave way to the churning depths below, taking Vera's sister with it.

A scream rang out as the young vulpine ran along the water's edge, looking for any sign of her sister. She would sit by the water's edge and wait, wait for things to die down, sitting in the pouring rain, begging the Gods not to take her sister... Although by that time... Her pleas were in vain...

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Vera nodded slightly and cleared her throat, though she did not speak right away. There were only two other people who knew about this, making Cyric the third. She shifted in her seat, though careful not to disturb him since he was leaning into her. She would then begin her tale of her childhood, her spine tingling at the thought of it. "I will tell you anything about me Cyric... It's only fair." She whispered softly, leaning to kiss the top of his head before leaning back. "When I was little... I was born with only one other sibling. My sister. Twins, we did everything together. We were inseparable. We would run and play... And our imaginations were unlike anything I could ever imagine even today. The sky was the limit and nothing could stop us. Well... We had a tree house, and this log by the river that the small tree-house that allowed us to almost.... Separate our worlds..." She paused, a smile touching her lips as she remembered. "On one side of the river was our everyday lives, but on the other side... We were the princesses of our own kingdom, and the entire world was at our feet. We each had necklaces. Her's... Is this red ruby pendant I wear, and mine was amethyst. We switched, so that we would always have each other there... Even when we weren't around one another. They are the colours of our eyes actually... We used to pretend that in our kingdom, they held all the power." She whispered softly, falling silent a moment, blinking away the tears. "One day... There was a really bad storm... It just wouldn't stop raining. In fact, it had started when we were in our tree-house, and though not far from home, it was far enough that we felt alone and part of our own world. Well, we had told mom we would be out playing, and thought if we stayed there we would be safe, but... I was scared... I wanted to go home...." She paused, closing her eyes, a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. "I begged her to take me home, and when she finally agreed, we were walking across the log together.... We refused to go alone. Holding hands, we were sure everything would be fine, but the log... It was old, the wood was rotting... It gave way..." She paused, taking a moment to steady her voice. "She pushed me out of the way, but she couldn't jump with me. She made the choice to save me, to keep me alive... And when I landed on the riverbank on the other side, I was dazed, confused..." She swallowed the lump in her throat before pushing on. "I tried to turn back, to go in after her, to save her, or look for a long stick, rope... Anything... But even if I had found something... I did not find my sister..." She breathed, her mind all too vividly remembering that day. "It was like the river swallowed her up, devoured her and any chance of me getting her back." Slowly she would turn to look at him, shifting slightly where she sat. "I was the reason my sister died...." She breathed softly, shaking her head. "It was my fault..."

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