Outrunner Elandriah Cindersong

An Unplanned Split

The first couple days at the Jade Temple had been difficult on Elandriah, the first night having only laid the foundation for the upcoming week of work ahead of her. 

She’d had two fits over the evening- one easily calmed, but the second likely unseen. There was no movement that accompanied the second waking. No cry out that alerted the room, no sound that fell from her lips as she silently screamed into the darkness. They’d talked about the options the day before. She’d already shown signs of sleep awareness, night terrors, conversational skills unconsciously utilized… the woman was on the edge of a dangerous territory. 

As young as she was when she started her work, it wasn’t uncommon to see those in the political seats begin to fall apart at her age now. Sleep paralysis was added to her list of symptoms the next day.

She’d been brought here to soothe the sharp pains of her past reaching out. Her beautifully designed clothing was exchanged for plain cotton pants and a shirt.The mornings were meditations. Guided for the first day, and in a group. The second, the woman was given a bit more freedom on who was around- as long as she meditated. 

Noon till dusk, working with the Masters to design a plan and implement it. Evenings were your own time to do with whatever you had wished, within reason. 

The third one was the day when things felt to come unraveled. She’d made strides, breakthroughs with her questions, and a solid foundation to build from. She had broken herself down from an Ambassador and an Outrunner to a completely different pairing of women. The woman that knew deep down that what she was doing was wrong, and chose not to speak up- to the woman that had consumed another creature’s heart in a troll ceremony because her career was so necessary to advance, she’d weighed it more than a life.

You can imagine the quiet that came to the evening following that reveal, the silence as the woman walked to the dormitory. Her steps brushing the ground with the skilled shadow dancer’s toes. She pulled her water bottle to her chest as she walked into the bedroom. The shag of dark brown hair seen from the doorway, the woman looking anxiously towards the man. “Azzai- we need to talk…” 

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