Late Autumn – A restless spirit

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My love for Ieya brought me here. Though for years I had thought her dead, her written invitation to join her here ignited hope in my heart that we might live together, share a life together, be as one upon the blessed earth and go once again in search of adventure.

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But this is not our fate.

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Whether it was by the nature of my birth, or the nurturing of my spirit, I am a nomad. I met Ieya because of that hunger for adventure. I lifted myself from the darkness of grief because my nomadic heart could not linger in sadness, just as my body could not linger in one city. The khumos theatre troupe with whom I have lived for so many years has both shaped and fed my emotional and spiritual needs, as they helped write the script of my destiny.

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A destiny that I cannot ignore.

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Ieya cannot leave the Grey Marshes.

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I cannot remain.

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My years of searching have only deepened the sense of mystery I feel concerning both the Gloom and the Brightsong. Here in the Marshes, I have seen Gloomspawn live in harmony with each other, building a community, helping one another, telling stories, creating a deeply weird and unique culture. I have seen the love of my life, whom I can no longer deny is a Gloomspawn creature, lead them in ceremonies of forgiveness and contrition for the violence they commit. Though the Brightsong cannot forgive them, they can forgive one another, and try to live a life worthy of the love Ieya shows them. 

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Though a year has passed, I have not asked Ieya to tell me what happened all those years ago in the cave. I have not asked, and she has not volunteered to tell me. I suppose that some stories are simply not worth telling. What could be gained by my knowing the truth? That I might also be haunted by the nameless horrors that took her from the Bright world? No, I am content to know that she is still herself. I am content to know that she has grown and changed, and that, though she can never again walk among the civilised lands, she instead walks happily upon the garden paths she has made for herself.

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So comes the day that I must sail away on a flood of my own tears, leaving the Grey Marshes behind me, and return to the bright paths of Telanya.