#efrain 006

[thalrahylune]

Time: August 9th, Mid-afternoon Location: Khaggon, Crayhorn Estate  Status: @efraincrayhorn

The illusion of the girl draped over Thalra moved through the Crayhorn gardens carefully, hefting a small package up in her arms as she went. Anyone could have mistaken her for a courier, young and innocent eyed with dull, forgettable features. She was the twin sister to the illusion Nil had worn when he’d first shown up at the Crayhorn estate, a disguise Thalra had taken to wearing regularly as they’d traveled. Now it would serve the dual purpose of hiding her from any prying eyes and of allowing Efrain to recognize her immediately when he opened the door. 

Hours earlier, she’d pulled out the round, smooth, fist-sized stone Efrain had given her when she’d last been here, and used it for the first time. ‘Hi,’ she’d said. ‘Are you there? I was wondering if you were busy at the moment. I wanted to stop by.’ It had all felt too formal, too rehearsed, so she added, ‘If you’re unconscious in your foyer again I’m not healing you.’ 

And now she was here, standing in front of the kitchen door, her hand half raised, a bottle of wine she’d bought tucked under her arm. Her last encounter kept playing out in her mind, reminding her of the tumultuous storm of emotions she’d displayed and how pathetically vulnerable she’d allowed herself to be. It was terrifying, being here after all that, and yet she couldn’t allow herself to turn around and never return. Efrain liked her. He liked her in a way most people never tried to like her. He did not want her underfoot and he did not place her atop a pedestal to admire. Thalra wasn’t sure why Efrain liked her company, but she did know she desperately wanted to prove herself worthy of that kind of admiration. 

She knocked sharply three times, then glanced around at her surroundings, as she often did now that the Order had become such a prominent figure in her life. Blissfully though, she appeared to be alone, and when she heard the door start to open, she dropped the magical disguise she was wearing and smiled. “Hello, honeybee,” she said and lifted the bottle of deep red wine up for him to see. “I brought you a present.”

[thalrahylune]

Time: Early afternoon, October 17th Location: Dasratsel, right on the border of town Status: @efraincrayhorn

There was no clear distinction between what was Dasratsel and what was freedom, only a distant treeline Thalra could never seem to reach and the backdrop of the town behind her, which seemed to call to a deeper part of her, urging her to turn back and look at it like a jealous lover. She shuddered-- for probably the third time in this hour alone-- and kept her eyes on Efrain, who was standing with her as they slowly approached the treeline. In the days she’d been here, she’d tried this nearly two dozen times, and she knew it wouldn’t work now either. The means of escape wouldn’t be so simple. Magic never was. But when Efrain suggested they experiment, test the limits of the town, Thalra hadn’t declined. Maybe it was masochistic to do this, or maybe she was desperately clawing for an answer that didn’t exist. It was more likely though, she thought, as her vision began to blur around the edges, that she would have done just about anything Efrain asked if it meant they were able to spend a few more hours together. 

She should have known that the moment she held something sweet and pure in her hands, the world would snatch it away again. 

Her vision was now so distorted that the treeline before her seemed to bend in the middle and surround her like a cage. Everything was so blurry and her skin was vibrating with energy, the hairs on her arms standing up on end. She held up her hand and saw that the tips of her fingers were blurred, though she couldn’t be sure if that was just her perspective or if Efrain could see it too. “I can’t go any further,” she said, breathless and blinking as she stopped walking. “I can barely see the treeline and that usually means I’m about to find myself suddenly back in the town square.  Sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn’t. Other times I get all the way to the trees and find myself walking back out of them again. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.”

She laughed, because what else was there to do, and smiled up at Efrain sympathetically. This was going to be awful for him. Already she could imagine him obsessing over this town for years after it was gone, pouring over any information he could get his hands on and pushing himself further and further to exhaustion. She hoped he forgot. She hoped he found someone else that made him smile like she sometimes did. “I’m sorry, honeybee. I don’t think I’m getting out so easily.”