Removed for magazine entry... I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!
-Damaris Ann

They found Chance in the stables.
But before they did, he just waited. He could hear the crowds and personnel drop into desperate clamor, and he knew that his team was successful. He found himself useless at this point in missions, given he discouraged himself from fighting. He knew he could, but experiences were burned in the back of his mind. They held him back. Even sparring in between missions proved difficult to do. He wished he could harden up, but memories kept him soft - broken. There was no time to let his heart cool before another memory burned it in despair.

God mentioned two things necessary to add to creation before He created Eve.

1) It was not good for the Man, Adam, to be alone.
2) The next creation should be a helpmeet suitable for him.

I want you to know me
To see my open soul
I want you to heal me
Without you, I'm not whole

I want to know you
And embrace your every scar
Though you push me away
I will never be far

Know me, see me
I want you to hear me
You and I could be intertwined
If you could only see my mind

I want you to know me
For my spirit you quelled
And though you'll never love me
I just want to be held

The next day was like a remake of the rehearsal, with ten times the pomp of before. Thousands of the people of the kingdom crammed themselves in the squares and streets. Carriages and parades whizzed by, not that the four men were paying attention. The two Údaens had to hide themselves under leather jerkins and hoods to shadow their dark faces; an ongoing war tore the two nations apart, and to see the face of a strange Údaen on a special occasion would rouse the crowds with suspicion and contempt.
This time, their suspicion would have been understandable.

it was so much easier
to fall in love
when I was younger
I could see a set of
blue eyes and a
nice jawline in the street and
imagine our future together

how it would start with
his hands on my waist
rocking from
side to side, and then
he would push my hair back and
we would go on adventures and
all we would need is each other

Beyond life
Will I find rest?
Beyond sorrow
Will I find joy?
Beyond chaos
Will I find peace?
Beyond hate
Will I learn to love?
Beyond death
Will I be alive?
Beyond reason
Will I lose my mind?

Will I transcend?
Rising beyond
All the pain of this life
Will I rise again?
Defying death
At last with my Lord
Transcendent

Silent and depressed
Pushed into a corner
Lonely and a mess
But nobody bothers
To care or just look
To see all the pain
To speak to the breaking
And ease the aching
No one can see me
Lost and forgotten
No one can help me
They brush me away
Ignoring my cries
The silence grows stronger
The pain multiplies
Through sickness increasing
Til death do us part
How long can I live
With a shattered heart?

I don't want to sleep
I don't want to dream
My dreams are all of you
Tied up in your touch
Lost in the love
That I wish was real
I feel you too well
Hear your voice too clear
See the light in your eyes
As I play with your hair
I hold you tight
I won't let you go
But it always ends the same
And I wake up in tears
Alone

“Did you hear what happened to our poor princess, Ash?”
“I most certainly did, Morrin. Thank the Protector she’s back on her own two feet again.”
“But it was so sudden! Had she contracted the Black Death?”
“Hush, now, Sioned! She’s perfectly well now! You might-”
“Quiet your superstitious lips, Tesni!”
“Humph. You’re one to talk, Wynne.”
“I’m a fearer of the Protector’s Word, Caron; anything else is idolatry, so you can keep your prejudiced thoughts to yourself. Just because I’m an outsider does not make me a pagan.”