Things I'll Never Say

[Avena]

Nine years.

It had been nine long years since her town was attacked, since she lost everything and started anew at the monastery. She wallked down the snowy steps from the small temple into the graveyard that had grown larger and larger as the years passed with every town theyt ried to save. She walked down the aisles keeping her eyes facing forward until she reached her father's grave.

Her blonde hair blew gently in the wind, she pushed it over her shoulders and out of her face as she knelt down beside the grave wiping some of the snow off the tombstone.

She smiled a bit, "I'm still doing well father...we haven't had too many blizzards so that helps us a bit."

She frowned again her mind dwelling on her last night with her family. There were few here who knew exactly what she was feeling, the others that had been brought normally didn't last too much longer. As it did everytime she started crying.

[Raven]

The snow crunched beneath Demetrius' boots as he walked down the seldom trodden paths among the graves. The many, many graves that littered parts of the extensive monastery's courtyard.

Today was the thirty-first day of the last month in the year. The day that Demetrius had always decided, nay appointed, to be set aside for remembrance of those who had fallen. He never asked anyone else to follow his private observance, and so he was not surprised when there was no immediate notice of any other people.

The paladin knelt down in front of three tombstones, each bearing the name of either his mother, father, or his brother Iskander. None of the trio's bodies actually lay there, and the latter was alive in body if not in spirit. But still he paid tribute to those he lost nonetheless.

After a short conversation with the silent stone he turned and prepared to leave, stopping when he caught a glimpse of Trista's sad form. He went to her, and placed a meaty hand on her shoulder to console the priestess.

[Avena]

"I've always wondered," she didn't look up at him her eyes fixed on her father's tombstone, "My mother...do you think the Goddess guided her soul to a more peaceful place? Or was she...trapped in that body?"

Her hands gripped her cloak tightly pulling it around her thin form even more, "I pray that she was...guided to a better life."

[Raven]

Demetrius frowned as he started at the writing etched into the stone, his eyes tracing the last vestiges of Arthur's existence, his name, the date he was born, and the date he was killed.

"I sincerely hope so. I cannot be sure though, such things were never revealed to me. Only the Lich King and Avena would know."

Demetrius pulled a flask from his belt, uncorking it and holding the open canister horizontally. Frothy liquid spilled out onto the snow, staining it darkly.

"For a man who hasn't tasted good drink for nine years, may he have it bountifully wherever he is now."

[Avena]

Trista's fingers reached out and traced Arthur's name before standing, "Alright...I'll be back soon Father..."

She turned walking past Demetrius and back up the steps slowly.

[Raven]

Demetrius recorked his bottle, and placed it back on his belt before following the sorrowful priestess, his heart already full of as much sadnesss as it could bear. He walked very numbly, deliberately, and in fact managed to hold the door back inside the monastery open for Trista as a gentlemanly, yet automatic thing to do.

[Avena]

She finally stopped and looked at him, then glancing back at the graves, "What brought you out here?"

[Raven]

"On the last day of every year I make certain to pay my respects the graves of my parents, and my brother," he said mournfully, closing the door as he let himself in.

"None of them are actually buried here, but I made tombstones for them all the same."

The thick wooden barricade that kept the wind from assailing the inside of their home was locked with a gentle click of iron, allowing Damien to turn fully and face the woman in front of him.

[Avena]

"What happened to them?" she gave him a sad look.

[Raven]

"There were killed," he said. "By the Lich King, long ago, before he ever even came to this place."

Demetrius silently bade Trista to leave the door. Perhaps they could sit in the meadhall and have a drink, or dinner together while they spoke.

[Avena]

She turned and started walking again, "I am sorry Demetrius, is that why you are so determined to take out the Lich King?"

[Raven]

"It's...more personal than that. They were killed by a man named Iskander the Accursed, so named by myself when he killed my entire family and those who I knew. Iskander the Accursed later went on to become the one who we know as the Lich King...I..."

Demetrius swallowed and licked his lips, unsure of just how to proceed.

"There is no point on dwelling on the past. There is no need for you to hear of it. It's only sad."

[Avena]

"It always helps to speak with those who have experience similar traumas. It helps us all realize we aren't alone in this world," she loosened the strings on her cloak.

[Raven]

He glanced out the stony slit in the wall high above him, realizing that no light was penetrating through it - soon it would be covered for the night to keep the cold out. Indeed, only torchlight illuminated their way.

"Perhaps so. There are some cups too bitter to share with even the closest friends, however."

Inadvertently they had both ended up in the dormitory's, and their inevitable good byes for the night. Demetrius came to his door on the right side of the hallway, just a little ways from Trista's a few doors down on the opposite side of the wide walkway that separated the men and women's lodgings.

He opened the door, and hesitated in its entrance, reflecting quietly to himself.

[Avena]

Trista took a few steps ready to leave it be, but she turned, "I feel there is more on your mind that you wish to say. Would you mind...some company?"