His was not the only voice to reverberate in the icy chamber. Though he had whispered he had no doubt his words were heard as clearly as he could hear the others. His coworker Bastien, regretting a younger, more selfish heart and a lost lover. Something so simple... yet powerful, in the mark it had left on his memories.
His friend Isla, her regrets in tune with her profession and kind heart, and far less tainted than his own.
A stranger, a woman, who spoke simply but profoundly with the certainty of one her knew her own heart far more clearly than most ever would. She was followed by another stranger and another lost loved one - though this one, it sounded like, was of a more permanent nature than Bastien's vanished lover. A wild creature spoke next, with such naivete and arrogance that the bard's hand scraped against the ice as his fingers curled into a fist. The unexpected question had shattered his usual composure, but he drew in a slow breath, forcing his heart to slow and the reopened scars back beneath the surface.
As he regained his feet he heard a familiar voice, one whose answer he both dreaded and listened eagerly for. A parent's loss... something the boy couldn't have prevented. A regret of circumstance, not so much of choice. Jigano sighed, missing most of the regal woman's regrets over country and confrontation, feeling more than a little sick. For one who loved the knowing of things this felt... wrong. These were secrets shared not in trust, but under duress. In fear of what the winternymph might do to them if they didn't play her game. The echoes of the final voice died away, simple and vague enough to at least do no harm, leave no worries in the hearts of those who had never asked to know.
He had hoped that might be an end to it, but experience had taught him better. His pessimism was rewarded as the mysterious reflection of a sprite praised the wild woman in a way that had him repressing a shiver at how little she understood of mortal hearts. The only way? No... there were others. Lacking a conscience was one such. Living as a beast, with no thought to others, or to the future was another. But of course, this was all a game to her, while for them...
It was, in many ways, a battlefield.
He looked down again, expression grimmer as she skated beneath him, but her question brought a smile to his lips. One that lacked humor, or kindness, or warmth - but still, a smile.
"The thing I desire most? It has always been within my grasp, lady of the snows. And, perhaps someday, I will weaken and take it." He spoke with courtesy and respect, though he slanted a glance at Alorhea, a momentary tension in his jaw before he looked back at their... host. "But until then... there are some prices too high to pay. I am not so far gone that I have abandoned that."
His friend Isla, her regrets in tune with her profession and kind heart, and far less tainted than his own.
A stranger, a woman, who spoke simply but profoundly with the certainty of one her knew her own heart far more clearly than most ever would. She was followed by another stranger and another lost loved one - though this one, it sounded like, was of a more permanent nature than Bastien's vanished lover. A wild creature spoke next, with such naivete and arrogance that the bard's hand scraped against the ice as his fingers curled into a fist. The unexpected question had shattered his usual composure, but he drew in a slow breath, forcing his heart to slow and the reopened scars back beneath the surface.
As he regained his feet he heard a familiar voice, one whose answer he both dreaded and listened eagerly for. A parent's loss... something the boy couldn't have prevented. A regret of circumstance, not so much of choice. Jigano sighed, missing most of the regal woman's regrets over country and confrontation, feeling more than a little sick. For one who loved the knowing of things this felt... wrong. These were secrets shared not in trust, but under duress. In fear of what the winternymph might do to them if they didn't play her game. The echoes of the final voice died away, simple and vague enough to at least do no harm, leave no worries in the hearts of those who had never asked to know.
He had hoped that might be an end to it, but experience had taught him better. His pessimism was rewarded as the mysterious reflection of a sprite praised the wild woman in a way that had him repressing a shiver at how little she understood of mortal hearts. The only way? No... there were others. Lacking a conscience was one such. Living as a beast, with no thought to others, or to the future was another. But of course, this was all a game to her, while for them...
It was, in many ways, a battlefield.
He looked down again, expression grimmer as she skated beneath him, but her question brought a smile to his lips. One that lacked humor, or kindness, or warmth - but still, a smile.
"The thing I desire most? It has always been within my grasp, lady of the snows. And, perhaps someday, I will weaken and take it." He spoke with courtesy and respect, though he slanted a glance at Alorhea, a momentary tension in his jaw before he looked back at their... host. "But until then... there are some prices too high to pay. I am not so far gone that I have abandoned that."
