In the silence she could feel something pulling her even closer towards the light, her pools open but she did not feel anything. It was as if she had died and the shell was the only thing left. Her bodice was beautiful, but her heart had sunk deep into the ground. What had she done to deserve something that felt so empty and cold, when all she had wanted was the happiness that was encased in finding love, children and a sense of achievement? She had none of that, not anymore. Viserra was gone, she obviously meant nothing to Misael and yet the splashed fae felt like this was just a tiny piece of the puzzle to why she was just not content. Her heart ached even further for two more things she could not have, to name but a few.

The capsule crawled closer to the noise...

"Anzanie? My beautiful Glazier, are you alright?"

It was a warmth that pulled her back, the warmth in the voice that she craved. With an uncontrollable sense of calm, she gazed deep into the azure pools that looked back with such concern that the intensity could have eaten her up. She strayed from the gaze, her cranium dropping as her own pale jaded pools filled with pain. A small mumble eminated from her velveteens, but nothing coherent. With a few moments pause, Anzanie then spoke, softly and quietly with all of the emotion in her high pitched voice,
"My king, I just don't know. I don't know if I am alright," with a sigh she felt like the tears would come streaming down her long beautiful skull, but in the presence of the baby elephant companion, Mbwene, it felt like that would be just too inappropriate. No young creature should see such sadness, particularly when it was not necessarily justified, "I'm sorry I haven't been the Glazier you deserve, my love..." Nothing had prepared her for the shock of saying what she had, but her friend was him. Tembovu was like her knight in shining armour, her friend, the one she needed in her life. But would he be so sure when he really knew what else he meant to her? "No, not my love, I mean..."

The words were flooding, so this was when the only sense of sensibility in her silenced the rest of her words. Time would tell now what consequences would come of what she needed to say, how much she needed to crawl back in terms of seasons to be at the point she could return to normality.
" . "

The gigantic physique of her King smothered her in shadow as he leaned closer, and her own narrow bodice felt so weak and fragile. Her mind and body was broken to a point that she felt there was no return, but the way Anzanie felt as Tembovu looked at her gave her the sense that she could have died at that moment and done so peacefully. The contrasting feelings within her wanted to spring out onto him and repeatedly scream everything that she had felt for too long.

The abandoned princess had fallen for the King, but even for royalty there was no future.

After she had spurted out her words of embarrassment at him, her horrified expression gave away everything to him. But perhaps the splashed had not yet realised that her words were to have a lasting effect, and it seemed incredible to her that his own reaction to being called her love was as soft. But this was Tembovu, and he was the gentlest of all giants. She shivered slightly as his cranium came close to hers, and the touch of his own soft skin under the base of her horn sent lightning sparks down her bodice. She recalled the glass crown that he had suggested she craft for herself, the same place where he was focussing his attention on, and it was like a rememberance of when a life was simpler for her - when she didn't have such desires for him...

But her sorrowful pools, now closed as she took in his scent, were disturbed with his soft tones from her King, prompting her to explain why she was so downtrodden. It was going to take so much more than a sentence to explain to the dark brute, but her soul was torn anyway, so why not break it completely,
"As are you, Temb, never have I ever had a friend like you, but if I was to tell you, ohh..." the pain in her pools screamed at him, "We would be a broken friendship." she hesitated once more before she carried on, wincing as she spoke again, "We would be a broken friendship because there's one of us who longs for more than that..."

And in the tension of it all, even through the sadness that pierced her skull, Anzanie felt a wave of love as Mbwene, Tembovu's little elephant bonded, entwined herself in her long ivory tassles. Anzanie smiled through the tears she fought back and leaned her leg into the little creature, feeling comfort in the touch of her. Her King's small smile touched her hewart too, as he spoke of winning over his otherwise cautious little one, "One day I will have a Mbwene of my own." Her attempt at humour was tainted with a truthful statement, the lonliness that she felt eased by just one small little bonded that she assumed had given Tembovu so much love and purpose.

" . "

Within her moment of true madness she had let her guard down - he knew. And the way that he reciprocated truly broke her, his touch slowly withdrawing from her skull and stepping back, the distance almost frightening as she felt the weight of rejection crushing her bodice. And somehow she was able to still stay standing. Yet it was not okay, for Anzanie was physically shaking at the pillars, her gaze unable to look at her beloved Tembovu as she felt she understood what was coming...

And what had she expected? Her King had several children of his own - he didn't need that from her. Her King had a lover of his own - he didn't that from her. So what the fuck was she going to give to him now? With one glance the thought of the lover's pendant that she had helped craft the glass chain for, that hung around his massive neck. The fae was unable to replace even her, as much as she longed for it. She didn't know much of Rexanna, but the sorrow and hatred within her made her seeth at the thought of the one that had won him, perhaps long before Anzanie had even been on the scene.

But to drag her from those thoughts and into something even less comfortable, Tembovu's sigh struck her with a fear of the words. She felt Mbwene's touch in her tassles, it was still like Tembovu was the one touching her but she wanted to be away from all feelings. In spite of this, she let the little elephant continue to do what she did, Anzanie's tears starting to form as it was as if she was reliving her nightmare of finding herself in Helovia to begin with...

"Anzanie, you are one of my closest friends. And I hold you close to my heart. But..."

The "but" was all she needed and for the moment that she had stared at Tembovu's chest, she ripped her gaze away and stared at the hardening ground. The rest he spoke of were words that he knew. The man of honour remained honourable - and Anzanie hated it,
"You should not have known of this, I can't do this Tembovu. You have your Rexanna, your children, but I wanted you!" The tears streamed down her face now as her high pitched voice grew even higher as the words struggled to come out, "I, I..." She turned her cranium far away before she stepped backwards from her King to create a bigger distance. The wound needed to be cauterised, and the splashed fae knew of no other way than to do this, "I need to leave, I just can't Tembovu. I am no longer your Glazier, I will no longer bother you, I'm sorry..."

I will never stop loving you.

" . "