It took a lifetime for her to close the distance between the two of them. It was a lifetime made of seconds that ticked by so slow that each tick itself was an eternity. They were timeless, the two of them, staying young as the world around them collapsed. Even rocks and mountains, even magic and the gods, change when faced with eternity- but not she; not Mauja. And though she had an eternal life to sort out her emotions as she approached him, she found that as she stood before him she knew nothing more of her heart’s desires than she had known when she had first seen him.

The problem with placing friends on pedestals is that one does not expect them to fall. They are perfect, timeless, infallible; so, when they finally do fall, they come crashing down off that pedestal and shatter every expectation that was ever had of them. Kahlua had placed the Frostheart on a pedestal. He was… he was amazing to her. He was her idea of redemption and reform, her ideal of redemption and renewal. He had raised himself from a life of blackness and hatred to a life worthy of forgiveness. He had stumbled in his life, but he had grown. He had scraped himself and learned from his scars. She knew so little of him, she should not have dared to place his porcelain body on such a high shelf, but she had and he sat precariously on the edge.

As he yelled back at her, that little porcelain figurine toppled from its unsteady position so high in the air. It tumbled down… down… down… And, on an unforgiving floor, it cracked and splintered.

Her tremulous tears finally fell as well, dampening the black hairs on her face, as her blue eyes narrowed.

To explain what it felt like to be yelled at by him was beyond words for the queen, who refused to let her soul be shattered this time. She had broken so many other times- fallen to her knees and let the world rip her soul from her body. She wanted to let it do so this time. She wanted to curl up on the ground and hide her head in the sand while she felt her heart twist itself into knots no sailor had ever heard of before. She wanted to lament and feel bad that she had let herself be taken by this con, lured into a false sense of security, and stood by while he terrorized the citizens of Helovia. Still, Ophelia’s words rang in the Sunshower’s head- her demon as well as Mauja’s. She had to stand up for herself. She had to overcome this fear, this fright, this willingness to let the world shred her soul as she died of heartbreak.

There were too many scars in that fragile membrane already. How many more assaults could it withstand? She had to try and save what was left of herself, because there was only so much she could take.

Perhaps what killed her the most, as she stood there and he looked down at her, was the disgust that she could hear in those words. His face was as emotionless as ever, but he could not hide everything. The darkness in his voice, the haughty lift of his head… It tore at the weak defenses she had built around her heart. She had only what Ophelia had given her to defend herself. She hoped it would hold. For a moment her resolve wavered. She felt her knees twinge as she considered falling to the ground and begging forgiveness from the man she had called friend. But no- she could not be his friend what he wantonly reigned destruction on Helovia. She had to stand up for what was right, and what was good… even when it killed her.

In the moment of silence that he offered after he pushed away her long-standing offer of forgiveness, the queen felt her tongue twitch. She longed to answer him, to hiss that he couldn’t it, but it would be childish of her. This was not a game of her youth. This was reality, and she had to see this through. She was doing the gods’ work. She was saving her sanity- the terror that had roamed the lands lately was enough to prevent anyone from a restful night. She would take him back to the Edge where he would be guarded day and night until the Moon Goddess could be summoned. This was out of the Edge’s hands. His fate lay with the gods now.

After his final words, she hesitated again- too long. He turned. “No!” she barked out, cantering a few steps to try and block his way- always cautious of his crystalline horn. “You’re not going to walk away. Not this time.” She did not yell any longer. Her voice was just exhausted. Already, the effort it was taking to uphold her defenses was draining her. Still, if her body was weak, her resolve was strong. She was no warrior- she could not force him to come with her- but she could follow him forever, if that was what it took. She had vowed to protect her herd. She would do it somehow.

“What of them, then?” she asked, trying to dig from him an admission. It would be unlikely that she would be able to force him back to her shattered glass wall, but if she could not hold his trial in her draconian forest then she would hold it here, judge and jury herself. “What don’t I know, Mauja?” Periodically, tears still struggled down her cheek as her whirlwind of emotions tore at her from within. “Tell me, so I can figure out why the hell you ran away from me last year, and why I haven’t seen you in so long, and why all these bodies have been showing up, and why I found you standing over hers.” Psyche, a fallen queen in her own right.

“Tell me, so I can figure out who the hell you really are!” It was a lot of her to demand, but she did not feel that it was outside of her right to ask. So she stood, a child next to this behemoth of a knight, daring to defy him, with only Khan to protect her when he decided to murder her as well. If this was to be the end of her life, at least it would be a worthy one.

Khan & Kahlua