“The Mist pt 2.”

We continue walking, still hand in hand.

And I listen and try to learn.

“Jorvain saved my life, he saw something in me no one ever saw, and he made me feel special...”

She whispers.

“When he found me, I was alone, on the brink of starvation, covered in my own filth. On my side under my sister's bed who along with my father and his wife, were gone. They left me to rot, but they were all I had left. My mother was…”

She hesitates.

“She was an elder elf, she was alive a long time, and yet I never got to meet her. She was a member ofthe Servus Regius. She worshiped Superbia, met my father, who was from Invidia, the town of envy, outside the cult, and had me with him, a passionate affair that ended in my mother's refusal to leave with him.

He had a daughter and a wife at home waiting for him, but he had fallen madly in love with my mother, he thought taking me from her would leave her no choice but to leave with him. But she chose her religion and he was stuck with me, but he didn’t want me. It felt like he reminded me every day. He deemed me no more than a servant, I served him, my stepsister, and his wife. They were a family, I was not a part of, I was a half-elf, my ears slightly longer, hair lighter skin paler, I didn’t belong. Unless I was making myself useful to them, I wasn't allowed out from under my sister's bed in her room. Not to eat, or use the bathroom, play, or experience life. Occasionally I’d be fed by my sister, she petted me, used to look at me like some pathetic puppy, I envied her, I envied everything about her, the sound of her footsteps up the staircase, her laughter, the smell of food on her breath, her clean skin. Anything and everything.”

She looks repulsed by the fact. And I can’t blame her, being neglected and abandoned like that, treated as if she was less than human. I never could have known, pain like that doesn’t show past the exterior, but perhaps if I had looked closer, I could have seen it, the only thought that comes to mind is how much she hated being called an elf, and would often make the correction that she was only half. She must blame that part of her for her isolation and alienation.

She sighs and puts her hat back on her head.

“The details of the life I got out of the cards dealt to me aren’t important, every day was the same really. Until it wasn’t I suppose, until Jorvain found me. He was different back then you know, hair longer, poofy and wild, both arms still intact, and not a single scar on him, and yet there was also no smile on his face. Still, he was beautiful. He picked me up in his arms, and he nursed me to health. For a while, I didn’t speak a word, I didn’t thank him, I didn’t do anything. In my eyes it didn’t matter if he was good or bad, helped or hurt me, I was nothing, useless because the people who used me left. And Jorvain never used me, just kept me around, told me to eat and rest, and when I did he praised me for it, it was such a strange thing but it’s like he knew I had no pride in my existence, that to me, I was worthless. But when he’d smile and tell me he was proud of me, just for being there, or doing the most basic thing, I started to feel like maybe I mattered, and that me mattering didn’t depend on the things I did for others, cause really, there was nothing I could do for Jorvain.”

“You’re different now, I never would’ve known you had a past like that Emrys.”

I say softly, a gentle furrow in my brows.

“That’s exactly why it shouldn’t make you pity me or forgive my mistreatment of you, because present me is nothing like that..I’m haughty, clingy, childish and still I’m envious, true to my origin, I’m a mix of pride and envy. I wasn’t a person back then, and if the person I came to be is so reprehensible, then maybe the pain it took to make me into this person is in vain.”

She says softly.

I stop in my tracks, my hand still in hers, it tightens in her grasp.

“That isn’t true Emrys! Nothing you went through is in vain, not if you're standing here today as a whole person full of feelings and desires with dreams and aspirations. “

I shout passionately.

“And you can’t—

“Roba, stop.”

She says sternly

I pause, my brows furrowing.

“Dain hurt you, you spoke to him and you forgave him, so easily, and I see no resentment in your eyes. It sounds wrong to say but, I’m not sure he deserved that, I’m not sure he’d do the same and I’m certain I don’t deserve it either. And I didn’t tell you this so you’d see why you shouldn’t hate me or something, no, I did it so you’d understand why I…hated you.”

She says with a bitter laugh

“I…I appreciate your honesty? A bit harsh..”

I say shakily.

“The truth is I’m not better than you..or, the idea I had of you. I was the first member of the Sol Viridis. But Jorvain saved me and he let me stay by his side, I didn’t earn my place, he never made me. What Jorvain saw in me was inherent value and I had never had that before. I just started feeling like him seeing the same things he saw in you…and probably more, meant that he’d never look at me again..not really, not the same way he looks at you. And so there it is”,

Her voice starts to shake.

“I’m jealous of you, that’s why I hated you, why I hurt you, it’s horrible, and I know that. Nothing I went through or felt justifies it, but you deserve to know that, to that it’s not you, it’s me. You’re…well Roba I think if I had just stopped to actually look you in the eyes, I’d recognize that you’re actually a really good person. You’re observant, you’re kind and gentle, passionate, so passionate it seems to cause you pain, you’re pretty skilled too…my point is, I don’t get to decide if you belong, and I shouldn’t make you feel like you’re beneath me. So Roba, I’m sorry.”

She says finally, tears rushing down her face.

“That’s okay Emrys, I forgive you.”

I say with a small smile, my eyes glossy with tears. I turn back ahead and keep walking forward.

“That..no but, that’s it?”

She squeaks, her voice small and sad.

But I don’t look back.

“That’s it.”

I say sternly.

“N-no but..but Roba you don’t need to forgive me! I don’t deserve that!”

She shouts, yanking me back to face her—I stumble forward, face to face with her.

I smile.

“Look, the same way you don’t decide if I belong you can’t decide if I forgive you. And that’s why that is what I’m going to do, because you apologized, you opened up to me, you admitted your flaws, you shared part of your past, and of course I’m compassionate about that. It breaks my heart to know you went through that, but seeing you here, in front of me, I can’t help but feel so honored to have been able to meet you as you are now, as this brave hero, I think it’s beautiful. But most importantly, if I hurt you, I’d hope you could forgive me too, so that’s why I’m doing the same for you.”

Her eyes go wide, welling with tears all over again. She rushes into my arms

“Thank you. Oh, thank you so much Roba.”

She cries, sobbing against my chest.

I rub her back and smile softly, a single tear rolling down my face.

“Thank you too…for telling me the truth, for saying you’re sorry, for trusting me. I’m glad Jorvain met you so that later down the line, I could meet you too.”

“Haah…you’ve got a heros heart alright, no wonder Jorvain thinks you're special. He’s right..rarely is he not,” she says bittersweetly, pulling away from me, her hand still in mine.

“It’s still bothering you isn’t it, what you heard him say?”

I ask softly.

She nods.

“I wanna understand him, how he feels, the truth is I love him, and I have for so long, I can’t stand the thought of him thinking of me that way. And I can admit that to you because I know you probably already knew that..then again, I’m sure the others know as well.”

My eyes widen, I didn’t expect that, but she’s not wrong. I did know she was in love with Jorvain, I just wonder if he knows, I wonder if he loves her back…

“Well, you weren’t exactly discreet..but, if it’s bothering you, if you love him, why don’t you just tell him so? Talk to him.

I say quietly, looking away.

“Should I really?”

She croaks, her cheeks flushed with color.

“I…if that’s, what you want.”

I say, nodding my head.

“You’ve probably loved him for a long time…”

She sighs, a small smile on her face.

“I’ll talk to him, I’ll understand him better and then I’ll tell him how I feel once our journey ends, back at Acedia.”

“Journeys end huh? I’m… I’m rooting for you.”

I say with a heavy smile.

“Are you alright?”

She asked with furrowed brows.

“This fog is starting to get to me, I don’t feel fantastic.”

I say, looking around at the sheets of fog that shroud the forest.

“That makes sense, I do feel a bit sluggish.”

She agrees, and suddenly she comes to a stop.

“Walking around aimlessly isn’t going to do any good, we need to get out of here before we give in to the effects of the environment's Ardor.”

“And this,”

She says as she takes her bow off her back.

“Is how we’re going to do it.”

She says with a smirk, strumming the strings which start to glow with her Ardor.

“Back when we were in the labyrinth, Jorvain got the fae to sing louder so you would all hear us! The sound and glow of your bow should do the same thing.”

I exclaim, suddenly full of hope.

“That’s not enough…”

She says ominously, the tune she plays picking up speed.

“I-it’s not?”

I say, now on edge.

“No Roba, we’ve gotta sing together! A duet!”

She says suddenly with a smile, beaming with joy.

“Huh?”

I ask, dumbfounded.

“You’re not the only observant one yknow, I noticed you never sang back in the bar, and I know your secret!”

She says passionately, stepping so close to me that I have to step back so I don't collide with her face.

“My secret?”

I croak.

“You love,”

She pauses, building suspense, and my heart feels like it could leap out of my chest and run away.

“To sing! But you’re shy aren’t you?”

She finishes with a satisfied smirk, surely certain she’s revealed my secret.

“What.”

I deadpan, my tense shoulders dropping with disbelief.

“I’m wrong? “

She says with a frown.

“What? No! You’re actually right on the mark! I was just so shocked you noticed how shy I secretly am…when it comes to singing, yeah..that, definitely.”

I say with a sheepish smile.

“Well of course you weren’t expecting it, but if you know my secret, I should know yours.”

She says with a haughty smile.

“Well, your secret’s a bit bigger isn’t it? Not that it’s much of one to begin with.”

I mutter the last bit.

“Hey!”

She shouts, her face going red.

I laugh

“This feels weird, we’re getting along...in a real way?”

She says with an awkward smile.

“It’s definitely new..but let’s get used to it together.”

I say with a gentle smile.

“What better way, than to sing along to a tune?”

She says, practically bursting with excitement.

She locks her arm around mine, holding her bow with both hands.

“What do we even sing?”

I say with a laugh.

“It’ll have to be something we both know”.

She says deep in thought—

“I’ll have her heart!”

She shouts all of a sudden.

“I-I know that song! It originates from Avantivia.”

I say, suddenly full of excitement.

“That’s it! A song about two knights fighting for the heart of the princes they adore. You know the words?”

She says with a smile.

“Hopefully?”

I say sheepishly.

“Good enough! Let’s sing!”

Running through a misty forest while strumming a harp, Emrys and I ran side by side, arms locked, singing a duet at the top of our lungs.

“I’ll have her heart! I’ll have her hearttt!”

She belts, bobbing her head to the tune, her golden hair bouncing with each stride.

“What gives you the right?”

I sing

“I was here from the start!”

She response

“What was the line again?”

I say in a sheepish, sing-songy tone.

“You’re supposed to say—I admire her as if she were a piece of art!”

She says singing my line for me.

“Then you say—it is only death that can bring us apart!”

I sing, now singing her line. A smile growing on my face

“And then we say—

“But I’ll have, I’ll have, yes I will have her heart!”

We sing in sync, our voices harmonizing—I feel the toe of my boot slam into a log, sending me flying forward, dragging her down with me.

We tumble and roll and slam into the ground with a thud, my eyes shut on impact.

***

“Woo! Bravo!”

I hear accompanied by applause. It’s Jorvain’s voice.

“Ow…”

Emrys groans, rubbing her side in pain.

My blurry vision comes to a stop, focusing on the people in front of me.

Jorvain claps with a smile, standing beside Dain, who is carrying a sleeping Maelis over his shoulders with a yawn.

“We made it?”

I say, looking around. We’re still in a forest but the fogs cleared.

“Look behind you”.

Dain suggests, and when I do I see a wall of fog.

“W-woah.”

I exclaim, backing away from it and wobbling on my feet.

“Wait how did you guys make it out before us?”

I ask with furrowed brows.

“Uh, about that, you guys can come out!”

Jorvain shouts with a sheepish smile—and sure enough several people emerge from nearby bushes.

“Who the hell are these people?!”

Emrys exclaims, taking the words right out of my mouth.

End.