Wake under.

This is... strange.

I drag my mat, sliding it next to Cilla's own mat; the sides touching ever so gently. I go to take a seat, using my newly enhanced wings to wrap myself like a blanket.

Confused; among other things, I ask. "Prissy, what is this about? Was it getting caught by those traps? The transformation?"

Priscilla removes both her cloak, and patch, laying them beside herself; She glares at me, eyes with gleaming green and raging red, hissing out. "All of it, and then some... you're a frustrating friend to have, you know that?!"

Hearing these words stung worse than Scott's needlework in the dungeon; I look away, saying. "I... I'm sorry. I'll try to be better... I'll fix it."

I'll fix it... those words sound so right coming from my mouth.

"I apologize as well." She says, her voice seeming to struggle to maintain its normal steely composure. "My anger has not been... properly conveyed."

I hear her heartbeat. It's ****, but persistent; she's trying to get the courage to say her mind on something.

"I wish to speak to you, of your... 'Quest.'" This is it, the subject behind her anger; her heart beats freely now.

I feel its fury, pity, and woe.

Cilla takes a deep breath, speaking in a much more genuine way, with no hiding her feelings with a matter-of-fact tone, no hiding her face; this is her, through and through. "I believe your journey to be folly. If Tomoko is your old lover, which seems to be true according to your 'engagement ring' story... I do not believe she will still love you."

What... did this worm just say...

"No!" I shout, slamming my clenched fist onto the floorboards next to me; then reeling at my own sudden anger. "Sorry! I just... why would you think that?!"

Concern in her eyes, but not seemingly not for her own well being, Cilla looks to me with a sort of... pity; she says. "I know what it is, to love. To be taken from that love suddenly, and violently. To return, years later... I do not wish for you to experience the same as I. It is a pain that does not end; an icy scourge in your heart that pulls at each moment of joy, love, and intimacy. This warning comes now, and not before, in Saltmoore, because of... that night... another intimate reminder of my loss."

There is no weeping, no tears, no lamentations... only experience, and wisdom in her words.

"Who was it?"

After I ask that question, Priscilla leans towards me. I open my wings, allowing her to rest her head on my chest.

She says. "A boy named Edwin, in the little town I grew up in. A day's walk from Tomo, if you use the woods. Two if you use the road; old paths, inefficient. Verdhaus, it's called. Me and Ed, we were sweethearts for the longest time; since we could speak, even. He would bring me little flowers, I'd do his schoolwork for him. He was my first kiss. My first dance. My first lay. He was mine... and then the curse happened. I and my mother were persicuted and accused of treason by everyone... except for him. If it weren't for Ed's intervention, I wouldn't have been exiled; I would have been hanged..."

I feel warm, wet spots form on my chest as she continues. "Twelve years later; only two years since I had left Maxwell's cult. Mother Mary achieved her promotion to head of a branch, and chose Tomo as her destination, I knew it was my chance to see him again, so I requested to be deployed there. Once we arrived, I headed out to Verdhaus as fast as my legs could carry me. I arrived, using my cloak to obscure my face, and enter the town... I found Edwin. He had four children, a fifth on the way. His wife was lovely; made me tea and everything."

"Prissy... I..."

"That was twelve years, Monster." She interrupts, looking me straight in the eyes; her own wet with tears, and filled with serious intent. "You've been without her for two; after seeing her die. She's been without you for twenty, possibly thinking your still on that 'Earth' you two come from. What happened to me will happen to you; tenfold... I can't abide that... I won't be quiet while someone I care for destroys themself."

I'm at a loss for words, as I can't argue with her logic. Would Bell really have moved on from me so fully? Ariel and Thrusk said she refused to take another man as her lover, but did that mean she still loved me; or simply that she had abandoned love entirely...

Priscilla presses against me more firmly, and I begin to lay back; my handler continuing to lay on my chest, now holding me to provide comfort; after having ravaged my hope so thoroughly, it's the least she could. After such a physically and emotionally draining day, I just wish for this night to just end.

I close my eyes, and allow sleep to take me...

...

I wake over a sloping hill... not again. Looking about, the tree is back; no longer a stump. The Bell figure sits next to me, and the memory box lays nearby, awaiting another glimpse.

I think not; not tonight at least.

I take a seat, and look out across my mind.

Watching the sunset with Bell... at least here, she loves me...