The Foster's Home

[Mayah Playah]

"You never said goodbye!" she cried, spinning to face him, her eyes full of tears. "None of you did! Not you, not Dad, not even Quadrille. You promised me that you would always be there. That you would always come back for me. That you would take care of me after Dad was taken away. And then one day, you just left. You didn't even tell me goodbye...you just walked away. And I will never forgive you for that, regardless of whether or not you are Erik or Navarre."  

[Its Smiley]

Navarre stayed silent for a while, giving her a pitiful look. "Look Arwen, I can't justify myself, but there had to be some reason for what I did." he said soothingly and gently. After a moment of realizing that his words were falling of deaf ears, Navarre closed his eyes and turned around. "But allow me to fix that mistake." He turned his head over his shoulder with a sorrowful eye on her. "Goodbye. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've apparently caused you." He turned back and started walking away, a winter breeze following him.  

[Mayah Playah]

"You know," she whispered as the wounds on her arm and hand dropped an endless stream of blood, "when you left, I thought it a sign. My father had been killed, my stepfather had been taken away, and my own mother was slipping out of my fingers. I had to grow up faster than anyone else, so even at five, I was more advanced than the other kids. I felt normal around you, not like the freak I'd been my whole life. When you went away, I thought it meant I was a freak, a mass of unloved, wasteful matter. It killed me everyday to think that I wasn't good enough for yet another male. Eventually, I realized that it wasn't me that drove you away, it was you. Soon after, everything became right again. I fell in love, and we were already picking out wedding bands when he died. Suicide, apparently. One more man who walked away. Then suddenly, you came back. It felt so right to be near you again, to talk to you, to be that dorky five year old again. And then...you touched me. It was intoxicating, addicting, and I needed more. I needed to feel important. So I deceived you. I'm not sorry though. You opened my eyes to the sad truth: love is a privilege, not a necessity, and I don't need it, nor will I ever had it. I will never love again, not as long as I have breath in me. You were my first love, Navarre, and because if this, you are my last."  

[Its Smiley]

He stopped to listen to her tale. "Don't you dare give up on love." he said and spun around on his heel to give her a fierce look. "You are so young, even the knowledge in your mind can't tell you about your future. Love is not a privilege, it is not a necessity, not a cruel demeanor, it is simply what its viewer thinks of it as. Just because it seems hard or impossible doesn't mean it's a sign to give up, it just means to try harder." Navarre paused and looked to where the wind blew, north.
"Somehow meeting you felt like it was something important that I had to do. I can't explain it, but it felt somewhat right. Maybe it was to give you this advice, maybe it was just for the sake of seeing you." His gaze flickered to her. "But you are a beautiful and wise girl, it'd be such a shame to the world if you were to close your heart to it." With that he turned back around and walked off.
That cold wind blew again, and it swept up the leaves and flower petals on the ground, near the flowers. The assortment of flowers and leaves spun around Navarre like some kind of veil, and when the wind died down, the man was gone.  

[Mayah Playah]

"You don't understand," she said softly after he was gone. "It's hard to find love...when you're running out of time." Clenching her white fist, Arwen sat on the bench, bringing a narcissus flower to her hair. "I don't want love, Erik. I want you. I just can't have you."