The girl paused her writing as the anger had taken over her heart again. A tear had dropped on the page and spread the ink. She quickly placed away her quill, for she feared that she would snap it in half, and got up from the chair. She looked around in her tiny room for a moment before she walked to a window and looked outside.
It was a warm summer day outside, but she felt cold inside. She wasn’t sure if it was because her heart was turning cold or that she was sick. Might have been both, she thought to herself. “On days like these I used to walk to flower fields, wearing a pretty dress, and enjoy the warmth.” She chuckled bitterly. After what had happened, pretty dresses and flowers meant nothing to her.
Upon realizing that people outside had noticed her, she backed away from the window and decided to sit on her bed. Her room was small indeed, for it was sized for much smaller person that she was. If she lied on the bed, her feet were over the edge of the bed. But she didn’t mind. She did not care for such matters.
As she sat there, on the bed, Welten’s words started to echo in her head.
"There's somethin' I should tell ye, Viljawyn. 'Bout Osyth.”
“'E didn't go t' Trestlebridge t' work on th' bridge.”
“'E wanted t' get away from ye. Tha's why 'e left.”
"I kno' 'e did care fer ye, Lass. Cel is certain o' it. Bu' I doubt ever truly loved ye, 'e wanted t' get away as ye startin' gettin' too close. As I 'ear it, 'e was th' sort o' fellow t' go 'round wit' many women."
“I doubt ever truly loved ye”
The girl lifted a hand to her mouth as tears started to roll down her cheeks.
“He did not love me”, she thought to herself.
“He did not love me. He did not love me. He did not love me… Oh by the gods, he did not love me…”
“I loved him so much, but he did not love me… Never did.”
The girl broke into a sorrowful cry and curled on the bed. A tavern keep knocked on the door and asked if she is well, but she didn't answer. She cried and cried until she fell asleep. And then, she saw a dream.
In the dream she was back in her homeland, in the Mark. She looked at a cabin that belonged to an old woman she often referred as Granny. The old woman wasn’t related to her and didn’t have a grandmother kind of spirit, but the girl called her Granny anyway. For she never had a grandmother, as a matter in fact, only blood relatives she had were her mother and father.
The girl was wearing the same dress as she used to wear when she still lived at home. Brown and dull one, the one she always hated. But apart from the dress, she looked just the same as she did now, after eight years of leaving her home village. Granny too looked much older than she did when they met last time.
Granny sat on a bench in front of her house as she always did in the girl’s memories. The old woman looked at the girl and smiled gently to her, lifting her winkled hand in greeting. The girl bowed her head to the old woman and smiled slightly. This wasn’t the first time the girl saw a dream like this. She had seen them many times since she left her hometown and during the last six months she had seen them more often than she did before. Thus she was quite comfortable in this strange dream and approached the old woman.
“Granny, oh Granny, something horrible has happened”, the girl said.
“I know my dear, I know… It is tragic indeed, but as you know, we all have a limited time and he met his-.”
“No, not that! He lied to me, Granny! He lied to me!” the girl raised her voice.
The old woman sighed and suddenly seemed much older and more tired than she did before. She couldn’t look at the girl and see the anger that burned in her eyes. She remained silent for quite some time before she spoke again.
“You know that is not entirely true, my dear-“
“No! He lied to me! I loved him, but he lied to me!”
“Please, Vilja, calm yourself down. I understand that you feel betrayed at the mo-“
“He lied to me! And I hate him! Hate!”
The old woman fell silent. She wearily shook her head.
“Please, Vilja… Remember what Celnessyn said. It should mean more to you than that man’s careless choice of words.”
“No… He lied to me and I… I hate him. I will curse him and tell the Shadows to take his soul!”
“Vilja, I will warn you. If you take that path, you can never return. Remember the good you have, the friends you have made… Do they not mean anything to you?”
“I will not return there. He…. He is dead. There is no hope for me left.”
The old woman lifted her weary hand and pleaded for the girl to change her mind.
“Remember the good in the world. There is always hope, even in our darkest hours.”
The girl shook her head. Then she turned on her heels and before she left, she simply said:
“No. There never was any hope for me.”
And so the dream ended and she woke up in the dim lighted room. And so the small flickering light of hope died in her heart.
