Weep The Sunset, Wait The Dawn

(29 Dolefaren 413: The Crossing, Zoluren)

By day she brings things to carve to the docks to wait for him. By night, she looks for a solitary place until sleep cannot be denied, and then cries herself to sleep in their bed. His pillow still smells slightly of him.

“No news is good news,” her mother reminds her. More than once these days.

“No, mother – no news is … no news.” Dreamheart says flatly. Her mother will sigh every time.

And there had been no news. He was so long overdue. Nightmares had come, and she now lives with them each night as her eyes close. Some of the bad dreams are familiar, some are memories twisted into nightmares, and some are completely unknown, undecipherable. She prays they remain that way.

Ships come in, people walk by, but none of the people disembarking are Xixist. Crew members of various ships are coming to expect her there. She waits into the dusk, until the sun is down and all the ships come in.

She knows her mood and her dreams are spilling onto everything. Every instrument she picks up makes sad music. Every tale that comes to mind is a sad one. She knows she is not good company. But there’s nothing that she can think of to change that.

She will still wait for that last ship, and walk back with the dawn to wait again the next day.