Nocturne Summit (m) This is why we can't have nice things, darling.

So long as she kept her eyes shut she could float on the good feelings he had left in her. It had not been the same experience as when she'd taken Akavir; but Ibis filled her mind with thoughts of him, of them together. It made her heart ache a little less.

When the boy broke the silence with his softer voice, the illusion was shattered. She fought against it as one might fight against waking from a dream. There was no going back to that perfect place, though. Akavir was not here. What Ibis and the boy had done together had felt necessary to Ibis at the time and now, waking to the reality of it all, she was not so sure.

The woman remained quiet. On her face sat a blissful expression that she had pinned there in haste. Not knowing what to say to him, she merely sighed and made small, contented noises to bolster his ego. It was not his fault she felt so terrible after-the-fact; Ibis had done this to herself by betraying the love she held for her husband. This husband which, so far as she could tell, remained lost to her on his quest to find their daughter.

Perhaps he would never return to her. Before her thoughts could sink and twist and darken, Ibis rolled to her belly and then got to her feet. Her legs trembled a little bit.

I should get back to work... the woman murmured, taking a few steps away from where Penn lay to look dreamily upon the ruined network of weeds. They weren't altogether helpful for patching up injuries so it was not a huge loss. In the future she would find the lamb's herb growing in odd places, think of this moment, and the fragile quality of this precious dream she carried.