Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone

WESSEX

There are doubts; the potential level of rejection and sadness is massive and unknown. It lingers like a giant black hole over Wessex’s head, throwing questions and internal disarray into her life at a time when she cannot afford to have such quandaries.

The skies are blue. LongNight is fading into yet another distant nightmare. Flowers bloom and singing bees are beginning to show up, the tree tips turn green and yet - and yet -

That sense of dread continues to invade, and in the end she is able to manufacture some bullshit excuse as to why she needs to go to the Outskirts and see Rory. Which is ridiculous, because she’s never needed an excuse to see him before. But they are two people who will uniformly respect the other’s need to privacy and hermetic tendencies, assuming that there are reasons for the others’ absence and in this way, continuing a cycle that can be difficult to break. I should have... or I assumed… are already prepared, along with I’m sorry… for any number of things.

The Wraith waits until Rory is alone at his farm, no sign of either Jigano or Amalia, though she has no doubt they’ve already whispered poisoned words into his ears. There’s a big part they don’t know about - nobody does, really, and she’s not entirely sure how he’ll take the news, but Wessex is mentally prepared for the worst. Or so she thinks.

The evening light is waning and Wessex remains cloaked, despite the low levels of light filtering through the not-so-skeletal trees. She pauses, just outside the boundaries of his farm, to allow the dogs to catch her scent, in case they didn’t catch her near-silent footsteps. More like her nickname than ever before, Wessex knows what she’s capable of, in theory, but has yet to test her new demi-abilities in front of people. Secrets keep her alive in a world where it she keeps making enemies, and right now all she can think of is sitting at a friend’s hearth and catching up, hoping that he won’t reject her too

No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all