To Hide a Secret

[Kender Bard]

Kenia smiled and nodded, bowing her head and finding somewhere else to eat.

---

That night, in Christian's chamber, the wind blew fiercely at his window, rattling the glass a little. A full moon was out on this Spirit Night - and its luminous rays fell brightly into the room.

[Devon]

Christian stirred out of his sleep and got up to stand in front of the window. He knew what tonight was and enjoying the sight of the moon, he opened his window to peer out into the night sky.

[Kender Bard]

The wind gusted forth into his room, frighteningly cold for the desert. It swirled about his room unnaturally before a smoky form flickered into being and slowly took greater shape.

Thessa smiled and 'sat' on the edge of Christian's bed. "Hello my love."

[Devon]

"Hello again Thessa," Christian said as he sat down beside her on his bed. "I used to look forward to this holy day before I met you, but now it holds even greater meaning for me. How are things beyond the veil?"

[Kender Bard]

Thessa tossed back her hair a little and smiled at Christian. "They are well. There are many eager spirits thanking our Lord today for their freedom as they go back to visit their beloved. Lord Taed is in good spirits as well, for the impending war between Maelstrom and Ekaitz. He looks forward to bringing more spirits into his arms. He is also exceedingly pleased with you."

She touched his cheek softly, cold suffusing her ghostly fingers. "You've done everything I knew you would. You are a man of greatness."

[Devon]

"You praise me too much Thessa," Christian replied. "But I'm glad both you and Taed are please with the work I've done. The only thing that troubles me is that war, I only hope they don't get too close to Athrug."

[Kender Bard]

"I believe they will respect their boundaries," Thessa stated. "Lest they incur the wrath of Taed, which has been too freshly imprinted on the minds of the people to be so easily forgotten. How do you fair these days?"

[Devon]

"I am well," Christian replied. "Busy, very busy, I think I'll be needing some sort of a vacation soon. This isn't anything I can't handle though." Christian turned toward Thessa to get a better look at a face he hadn't seen in so long. "I'm glad overall, the temple of Taed is so full of activity now, compared to how it was when we met."

[Kender Bard]

Thessa obliged and turned to look him in the eyes. Though she was only of spirit-matter, every detail of her being was still as it was in life. "Aye, as am I. This is how it should be. Though some would say a dead Athrug is more poetically fitting, it is not right." She bowed her head forward a little and her hair fell over her cheek. "And yet, in the heavens where there are thousands of brethren, I feel great loneliness."

[Devon]

Christian raised a hand to touch her cheek, but stopped just beside it since he couldn't touch her without his hand brushing through her. "It is only lonely because your heart is with me on this side of the veil. I long to join you, but I have work here that must be done and you've been too far gone to come back to me."

[Kender Bard]

Thessa blinked and moved away from him with a cautious look. "Have you found another, warmer, more earthly body to put your heart's love in?"

[Devon]

"No, my heart is with you as it always is," Christian said. "I meant that it might be hard for you to come back to the world of the living after all you've seen beyond the veil."

[Kender Bard]

Thessa's eyes grew less hostile and she slowly eased back into her relaxed positions. "It would be hard to leave the side of my lord," she admitted. "But... Perhaps I could. I serve him no matter which side of the Veil I reside."

[Devon]

It was Christian's turn to blink. "What? You think Taed would really allow you to come back after all this time?"

[Kender Bard]

"I don't know," Thessa said, but was clear from her concise tone that she lied. "I make an able messenger, but he has millions at his command to perform mere errands. The afterlife is a time of rest and reflection; servitude is in simply reveling in the presence of our Lord."