Hefting the weight of his hammer, Lone t'Aloscia gave it a test swing in the air. Years of effort had led to this day, and with Anu's blessing, he would live the day.
He remembered all too well Isis near-commanding Lone to take their newborn and leave the Daris area. He argued with her for hours, until she finally snapped, with a tear in her eyes, and said that she would have him removed from the area if he did not comply...
Lone blinked the images away, they had long haunted both his dreams and his waking life. For thirty years he regretted not following after her, not finding her. The few refugees of Daris told him that Isis' dead body was seen, but when he went back to find her, she had long been gone, body and all. Stumbling across Ru'itas, she took him and his son to Rian. It had been hard, Rian never easy to take in one not elf, but it was better than alternatives.Then she turned away, the attempt to not cry audible in her stern voice. "You will obey me. Try as you will, you are no soldier. If I had a final request, it would be that you would take Aidan and flee as far from here as you can."
Lone stood, visibly quaking with anger. "You speak as if you do not intend to survive! How can you expect me to..." He was stopped by a quick hand in his face.
She stared at him contently for a moment, before turning away and opening the door to the small house they had built for themselves within Seaside. Two Redboots stepped in and positioned themselves in front of the door. "They will see you to the gate. Please don't make this any harder than it is."
Sighing, Lone gave in. She knew him well, he would not fight against the law. He fought to uphold the law, but he always obeyed it. "Promise me you'll follow soon after, then."
The silence was hard, as quiet as a waterfall falling around them.
"...goodbye, Lone." Her hair whipped behind her as she walked through the door.
Putting his hammer into his belt, he gave a final adjustment to his armor, and turned to face the two pairs of eyes looking at him.
Aidan, a young 30 for a half elf, looked up at his father with sad eyes. Lone did not like that look. He was told that Aidan had Lone's own eyes, but every time Lone looked into them, only the thoughts of his brief marriage washed over him.
The other belonged to a slim elf, the sole reason he was still able to stay in Rian. Her eyes laid great weight to his shoulders. From the beginning, she disagreed with his decision, but she also respected it, and, as such, refrained from convincing him otherwise. "Just be careful... you know what awaits you out there."
Lone nodded. Since the forced marriage of Dasaria's Queen, Lone had declared that such an agreement, made under such horrible duress, could not be upheld in any law, and as such, recognized Nelina, and only Nelina, as the rightful Queen of Dasaria, as it were. Since those horrid days thirty years ago, Lone focused only on being where the fighting was. Skirmishes and rebellions had happened as Varana tightened its fist on the Dasarian people, and Lone made sure he was present in every one. Once he had attempted to lead a group of men to "rescue" Her Highness from her marial prison, but it had gone horribly wrong, and he barely escaped with his life alone.
That only fueled Lone's anger and hatred for the Varanites, and he tried further. He was wanted throughout the former Dasarian lands.
That was the danger he now faced. "The man who was present, the Varanite Commander who oversaw the destruction of Daris, he's been seen heading towards the city ruins, and I intend to find out once and for all who killed Isis." His eyes burned with the anger that never left him since the Fall of Daris, except when he cried.
Ru nodded, and put her arm around young Aidan. Ru spoke to Lone through the mindlink they had forged all those years ago. He already has no mother. Don't leave him without his father.
Lone looked away. I need to do this. My duty...
Ru's eyes flashed with a quick flare of rage. Duty? As I recall, Isis was following her duty as well.
Gripping at his belt, Lone turned and stalked to the door. "Aidan, mind Ru until I return."
Aidan ran forward and hugged his father, eyes tearing up. "Promise me you'll come back, father."
Lone ran his hand through the hair of his boy. "I promise."
As Lone walked out the door, his mindlink with Ru sounded in his ears. Don't promise what you can't give.
He ignored her voice. He would avenge his wife. ((Entry from Varana records))