The Temple of Divine Light

[Dimitri]

He walked towards the Temple looking for Alia anor. He walked inside but as soon as he walked inside he felt different. Almost a bit happier just being there. He waited just inside the front doors she had to come by through here.

[Alia Anor Graham]

The hospice was progressing, although finding a wood wright was proving more difficult than expected. The building was falling behind schedule, and Alia Anor was out of sorts for other reasons as well.

She walked through the streets of RhyDin the day after Dimitri had changed his mind about joining the Temple, pondering how to convince him back. The Temple could use his talents. He was a very gifted artist, let alone his military experience.

With a sigh, she headed back to the Temple. It was late, and she'd failed at the dueling rings to convince him that joining the Temple was the right thing to do. It didn't help that Rhaine and Artemus had continued to make their demeaning remarks about the Temple.

She stepped into the main front doors of the Temple, her hood pulled up over her hair and casting her features in shadow. There were still a few people milling around in the reception hall, and abruptly, Dimitri stood before her.

"Dimitri? It's late, what brings you here?"

[Dimitri]

"I was wonderin' if you would like to come to Azilla with me."

He looked at her a sad expression on his face.

[Alia Anor Graham]

She cants her head slightly:: We just came back. You are going home for this war, aren't you?

How long did you have in mind?

[Dimitri]

He says softly "I have to go back, I am a soldier." Looks at her. "It depends if we do go to war. If we do a few months or a year. If not a week at most."

"I just was hoping that you would come. I would enjoy the company."

[Alia Anor Graham]

We need to talk Dimitri.

::linking her arm around his, she slipped into the night::

[Dimitri]

He only nodded as they walked into the night arms linked.

"What do you wish to talk about?"

[Elrohir]

The elven soldier wearing Azillian armor walked into the Temple of Divine Light. He asked a passing priest,

"Do you know where an Alia anor Graham?"

The priest nodded and replied

"Yes she is at the hospice sight I believe."

Elrohir bowed as the priest gave him directions. He followed them, after a few minutes he was at the construction sight.

"Is there an Alia anor Graham present!?" He asked loudly. He waited for a response.

[Alia Anor Graham]

I'd walked late into the night with Dimitri. He wanted me to go with him to Azilla, and there is a part of me that wanted to join him, but the bigger part of me says I must stay here at the Temple. There is too much that needs to be done, and the needs here are so much stronger. I cannot walk away and go to Azilla for such an extended period of time. And, I have been unable to convince Dimitri that joining the Temple is a good thing for him.

He was very unhappy when I declined his invitation. He seems so certain he's not coming back, that his luck has run out.

I watched him leave in silence, and part of me wept.

I returned to my room at the Temple. Dimitri was gone, and if the war went badly, I would never see him again.

The next days I spent working feverishly on the Hospice. Working to get back on schedule. This afternoon, a soldier wearing the colors of Azilla came seeking me. "I am Alia Anor Graham, what can I do for you?"

[Elrohir]

"I have some terrible news..." He pauses and pulls a nodachi blade from his back and holds it out to her. "Dimitri is dead. This was all that was found after a battle. I am sorry."

[Alia Anor Graham]

I lowered the hood of my robes and stared at the blade in his hands. There was no doubt. It was Dimitri's nodachi blade, one he'd made himself.

I reached out and ran my fingers lightly over the blade, and then the elf turned it hilt toward me in a formal hand over of Dimitri's posession.

I took the blade and held it point up, slowly following the line of the well worn steel with my eyes, and then I brought the blade down, slashing it across my hand, laying open the skin as a line of brilliant crimson welled into the palm of my hand.

Closing my eyes, I whispered a thank you to Elrohir and turned away.

I left the site, walking toward Badside.

[Alia Anor Graham]

I covered the distance to Badside quickly. Inside I was furiously angry over Elrohir's news. Dimitri was dead. Slain in a war that he never wanted.

The sun was setting, and the darkness that had settled over my heart found outlet as I walked the mean streets in Badside. The blood from the wound in my hand throbbed as I held the hilt of Dimitri's blade. My blood seeping into the intricate wirework of the hilt.

Several hours later I happened to look down at my robes. They were spattered with crimson, that in the darkness almost looked black. Surprise flitted through my thoughts. The nodachi blade was similarly stained black.

The hours had been a blur, and I turned and fled Badside, making for the Temple in stealth to avoid being seen, and to remove the robes.

[Dimitri]

The golem ran through the city looking for Alia anor. It ran to the Temple looked around but did not find her. It ran to the Hospice sight but still did not find her. It returned to the Temple to find her with it's message.

[Alia Anor Graham]

The Temple was nearly silent when I returned, and I went directly to the pool. I sat for quite some time as the moonlight reflected off the ever shifting water.

My thoughts are troubled, the Elrohir had told me Dimitri was dead, he'd handed me his nodachi blade - and anger, hot and violent had sent me into Badside. From there, I do not recall events.

As I sat there, I heard light footsteps. Lily stepped into the moonlight. I rose, not wanting to intrude while she sought the silence of the pool.

My room was silent when the golem found me. He'd brought me news. News that heightens the turmoil of my world right now. First Elrohir said Dimitri is dead, and now I hear he is alive. I am uncertain what to believe!

[Alais d Nitesong]

I walked slowly past the Temple. There is no good reason why, maybe a part of me was hoping to see Alia Anor, I cannot say.

The place is busier now than it was all those weeks, no, months ago. It's growing. Attracting the unwary, those who need to feel a sense of belonging.

White robed figures come and go in mass groups.

Preying on the weak.

In frustration, I left the Temple area, and went on to the harbor to replenish some spell components.