My heart did sing a similar tune and it intermingled with Brisa’s own worries just as I imagined it would, especially after so much contemplation and remembrance. But the weakness that wafted up from the recesses of my mind was a monster I’d rather have forgotten the day I chose to bury it. Yet here was this slight, little mare that lived in her pain daily, shifting across the land like a wraith of sorts with no cause or purpose in which to continue living. I knew where that path was leading her and it certainly wasn’t anywhere good. That loneliness would only swallow her whole if she’d let it… and then where would she be? My time in the Wilds flitted through my mind as if on an endless reel; there were so many empty days followed by even emptier nights. Yes, the pain had coursed deep and yes I’d imagined easier routes to my own final chapter… but I had survived even if Tamira hadn’t and she would have wanted me to live on to lead a most regular life full of love and happiness.

Her own dark ending left little to the imagination for those who loved her, but sometimes I liked to pretend that my image had been there to comfort her upon passing through the ethereal gates of heaven. Perhaps she would look down upon me now and smile because I had so recently remembered a great part of myself that she had taken away in death. Overcoming that sadness had been my release or what I considered to be my new beginning. “I disagree Brisa. There will still be something left when it’s gone and that’s you. Whatever life you lead now is little other than the bare bones of who you are and I can’t say that it qualifies as truly living… you’re already dead Brisa. Don’t give up on yourself because that’s a cruel way to go.” I didn’t feel the need to look at her up delivering the words because my anger had flared up in the wake of my own revelation.

Tamira had stopped living as well and when she did I was the one who had to carry her burdens. I knew there was someone out there who cared for Brisa like I did for my beloved Tamira, and Brisa’s grief was being lifted upon someone else’s shoulders even if she didn’t know it. “Tell me, what is it that you’ve lost? What is it that keeps you from yourself?” Still, I could not find it within myself to look her in the eye for I feared that I would find Tamira looking back… I didn’t want to see her face anymore, no matter how much the idea still pained me. After all, a life taken was a life given and I no longer wanted to take mine for granted. However, I also didn’t believe that the great Gods above had anything to do with my unhappiness in life as Brisa so clearly did. I had chosen my battles and I was left to fight them when the sun went down. Whether or not I won was up to me and the same could be said for Brisa. “Believe what you like dear… but only you possess the power to mend yourself. I speak from my own experience and there is nothing quite as brilliant as freeing yourself from the fog.”