Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20141003213306/@comment-5583506-20141010202642

"I don't blame you, Rowan, but as you clearly understand now, I don't think she will ever be the same again. In fact, I think it would be best for her if I eased her suffering and make sure that she finds peace once and for all. There is nothing left for her here after all."

"That's... not true", sobbed Myling.

Riamide seemed surprised by the response. "Hmm? What's that?"

"There... there is something keeping me here..."

"And what would that be?"

Myling looked with teary eyes on Rowan, but said nothing.

Riamide sighed. "You are clutching to delusions, my poor child. When you passed so did some of the memories of your fiancé. You couldn't remember what he looked like or what his name was, right? So you projected those feelings onto Rowan instead, picturing him as your long lost love."

"You are wrong", sobbed Myling. "I love Rowan as a singular individual. I love even though my fiancé is still on my mind. You will not take those feelings from me. You have taken enough."

Riamide looked with confusion upon the crying girl as if she couldn't believe what she heard.

Myling still looked at Rowan and smiled sadly. "He... may not love me, but I will always love him. There is not a force in the world that could hinder me from doing so. He was the only one there to help me when everyone else was looking straight through me... like I was..."

"A ghost", added Riamide somberly.

"And he was the one who slowly helped me to remember those feelings I had for my fiancé, buried deep somewhere inside me. It immediately felt as if though I had loved Rowan for hundreds of years even though I only met him on that first day back in Riften." She slowly rose up. "But... those dreams can't be fullfilled. I... I know what happened that day now..."

She turned around and gazed out over the lake. "I had just told Grita Snow-Fog of my plans to elope with the man of my dreams. When I came back home I told my parents. My mother said nothing as usual, but she expressed fear when father became cross with me. When I attempted to escape he hit me. He pulled my hair and dragged me out here... to the pond... He held me down. I remember now. He held my head down underneath the water. I remember staring up at his face through the surface. I remember hearing my mother's muffled screams as she begged him to stop. Then I recall how he finally let go of me, only that I was slowly drifting away... drifting towards the bottom, unable to move and unable to act. Then everything went dark..."

She faced Rowan and the witch again. "I was to be a bride... but my dreams were shattered right here in Maiden's Rest. In truth I never left this place. Five hundred years have passed since then. Grita is dead. My parents are dead. Even the man I loved as much as I love Rowan is dead. And yet I am still here... when there is nothing for me here... nothing except for the love I hold for Rowan. But if that dream cannot be fullfilled, then I do not want to remain here any longer. I want peace..."

The witch was moved by the girl's speech as a single tear traced down her cheek.