Crystal Clear Remembrance

[Kender Bard]

Diamond allowed her hands to hover over his, as though holding them. "Someday we will see each other again," she promised. "And if you desire to meet me before you cross the veil, the come here once more when Spirit Night arrives."

[Deleted]

Locke bit his lip, looking at their hands, and said quietly "I don't know if I should." It's hard to leave the past behind if one keeps coming back to it. "But.... If you asked me to- you know, as a favor, or something.... I'd bring offerings."

[Kender Bard]

"No need," Diamond replied, and moved her hands back. "I just want to be there for you - to make up for my past misdeeds. But if you never come back again..." She stood. "Then I will see you when you come to the other side. If you... if you wish."

[Deleted]

She's leaving- "Wait." Locke hastily stood and moved closer, until they were almost chest to chest. "I know it's not...." He shook his head. "Oh, f--k it." He closed his left hand around her wrist as if they could actually touch, and touched his lips to hers. The contact chilled him, but remembered warmth helped keep it at bay.

"Parting now as we parted then," Locke whispered, stepping back slightly and "releasing" Diamond. "That's a better way to do it." He half smiled with numb lips. "And if you wouldn't mind meeting this foolish, naive Mind on the other side, then I'd be honored."

[Kender Bard]

This time Diamond did cry - she smiled through her tears, glistening points of light that slithered down her ephemeral cheeks and faded away to nothingness before they could hit the ground.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow," she murmured. "Until we meet again, Locke - I will sleep peacefully and dream of you."

And then she was gone, faded away to nothingness.

[Deleted]

Locke stood there in the silence, the cold, and the eerie aura for a while, collecting himself. He'd started crying again, but this time, he didn't try to stop. He let the tears run their course instead.

He had to teleport a lot of blockage from his sinuses by the time he was done, but it was a minor issue. His heart's hurts had become a dull throb, much as it had when he had taken Kiel's advice, and it would probably get better once he was back in Humontis.

The Mind wiped his face again, collecting moisture, and tapped it onto another pedestal; not much of an offering, but there it was. He levitated his staff to his hand, turned his back on Satich and started walking. He wanted to get as far from the area as possible before night fell, and go on with his life.

Life, after all, was for the living.

"See you later," Locke murmured, as though Diamond could still hear him, and blew a final kiss to the sky.