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About a week after their brief encounter in Ahrothen, Dona Karissa was
visiting the gardens that surround the temple of Saint Michael in Windsor.
She had always enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the gardens. Not
only were they filled with exotic and beautiful plants from all over the
Eleven Lands, there was a kind of spiritual harmony there which helped
to calm her nerves and focus her mind. With the death of her sister,
she found herself more and more in need of such inner harmony, and so she
had begun spending more and more time in the gardens.
Sitting on a stone bench in the middle of the gardens, letting the colors and aromas surrounding her permeate her being, she happened to spy movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw Sir Aeric casually exiting the temple. I didn't see him enter, she thought to herself, so he must have been there since before I arrived. Karissa called out to him. "Sir Aeric? Did you find what you were looking for?" Sir Aeric looked over, noticing her for the first time, and acknowledged her with a slight bow. "Excuse me?" he said in return. She rose and approached the knight. "Please excuse my actions the other evening. It's not like me to intrude like that." Karissa paused, lost in thought, briefly. "I'm sorry," she said, "am I keeping you from something?" "Not at all," Aeric answered. "And there's no need to apologize. If anyone was intruding that day, it was me. Besides...it's nice to have someone to talk to like that, once in a while. So!" he exclaimed, eager to change the subject, "how is it you come to the temple of Saint Michael today? You've never struck me as the warrior-monk type...." Karissa giggled a little at his comment. "So true, so true. I'm not the 'warrior type.' I just find these gardens a good place for meditation, writing, and other pursuits. There is always so much positive energy floating around. Speaking of which," she queried, "I didn't see you come in, so you must have been inside quite a long time. What, if may I ask, were you researching?" Aeric cocked an eyebrow at Karissa's question. "Researching? Nay, dear lady, I wasn't researching anything. I was praying." "Praying?" Karissa asked, somewhat dubiously. Sir Aeric didn't exactly seem the pious type to her. "Yes," he said. "I come here about once or twice a month, to discuss philosophy with the monks or simply to meditate and reflect on things. To pray." He looked at her directly, the corner of his mouth turning up a bit. "Does that seem so strange? It IS, after all, a TEMPLE." Karissa blushed a bit, embarrassed at her own foolish question. "Oh no, Good Sir, it isn't strange. I just...I just assumed you were inside for other reasons." She composed herself, saying, "I hope you found serenity inside." Aeric looked off into the distance for a moment. "It would take a lot more than that for me to find serenity," he said, almost to himself, "but it helps." There was an awkward silence, when neither of them spoke or even looked at each other. There is so much more to him than he lets show, Karissa thought to herself. What is he hiding? Sir Aeric cleared his throat slightly and turned to her. "Dona Karissa," he said, slowly, deliberately, "I am sorry about your sister. I know what it is like to lose someone you love." He paused for a moment, thinking, then asked, almost imperceptibly, "how did she die?" "She was betrayed by someone close to her. Just as many were before her." Karissa reached into her basket and pulled out a small wooden box. She opened it, and inside were three vials resting on some straw. She took the vial on the far right and clenched it to her bosom. "This is all that's left of her," she said, holding it up to the sun. "This is all that's left of her light." Aeric suddenly grew intense. "Then hold on to it, Karissa," he said fiercely, "with all of your might...." He seemed to lose a bit of his passion. "...and be glad you have that much." He paused for a moment. "What of the other two vials, then?" With a heavy heart, Karissa replied, "they are the remains of my birth parents." Sir Aeric dropped his eyes down to the ground. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He turned away from Karissa and walked a few paces away from her, looking up at the sky. After a moment's hesitation, he spoke. "I, too, lost my family. My parents, my three brothers, my twin sister. Dead, all of them." Putting her hand gently on Aeric’s shoulder, Karissa said, almost whispering, "that explains why you seem to understand me and what I am going through. Is their death the reason you came and settled in Warwick? Since you arrived, you seem to be driven by a different purpose than most newcomers to the lands. You take everything so seriously, even things designed to lighten the mood a bit." "My purpose here is the same as anyone else’s. I seek to be better than I am. As to why I came to Warwick, my family's death was a large part of it, but mainly I wanted to start my life over." Sir Aeric looked up at the sun. "I'm afraid I must go. There is another search-and- destroy party heading into the moors of Ahrothen tonight, in search of the remaining orks. I should be there. Good day to you, Lady." He bowed, turned, and left. “Happy hunting!” Karissa called after Sir Aeric. |
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