And I Weep...

... not because I am lonely, but because I have been betrayed by my dearest husband... He who once sheltered me, and loved me. He who warmed my frigid heart and cast aside the iron fetters from my soul. My King, who freed me from what I believed to be ignorant damnation.

I am here in this icy tomb now, alone but for a pathetic cave mouse that darts to the shadows at the every stroke of my pen. He is playing a dangerous game, for I don't know how much longer I will be able to stand the annoying pitter-patter of his footfalls and the tiny whirring of his frantic heart. I wish the great predators of the mountain would return to keep me company, but when I killed the omega of the lion pride, they seemed to regard me with great hostility. It was his fault for insisting to empty his bowls in my lichen garden!

So while I am alone, I am not lonely.

My dearest Dalton told me that keeping a diary would help whittle away the time while I wait for his visits, which are so very few and far between. I cannot help but think that perhaps he has caught wind of the things I have in store for his next visit, for you see... I simply can't let him leave again. For some time, my feelings have gone unsaid, and it does not do to allow such things to fester. No, before my King so much as dreams of setting foot outside of my domain again, he will endure my full agony of his betrayal. I never meant to hurt him, but I fear my raging heart simply cannot be frosted over, not this time.

Near-lazily, the hauntingly azure woman leaned away from her makeshift desk of smooth, polished stone. A mountain of previous entries were neatly hidden away in a small alcove a little farther into the cave system, and it gave her a secret joy to have her thoughts recorded so that maybe some bumbling fool would discover her thoughts and realize just the extent of her ferocity. Evexi hoped to one day be fondly remembered as the savagely elegant wife of one of the greatest rulers this nation had ever seen, the exiled Queen that Dalton begged to return to his side... And with nothing around her for miles and miles, she had all the time in the world to plan exactly how it would go.

Earlier that week, she had set a storm of freezing rain so violent upon Baldwin that it had begun to rain discarded metal shards upon the inhabitants of the nation, be it the spears of forest branches to skewer any player unfortunate enough to wander the woods, or to send the roofs of the poor crashing down upon their sleeping heads. The strong, as always, had weathered the storm so far, but the severity of such an unnatural storm was only just beginning to brew. With pulse-pounding satisfaction, she marveled over her work, opting now to stand watch over her lands from a jagged rock that jutted from the face of the mountain. The wind whipped at her meager clothing and frosted hair, carrying away the bubbling laughter that echoed from her core; it gave her such joy, knowing that her beloved would soon be on his way, his delightful rage reserved just for the sorceress threatening to knock down his front door.

"Oh, Dalton... I'm waiting!"

XTruly he was becoming tired of this, the continued assaults upon his capital, storms conjured by that witch he left in the mountains. Clearly her sense of entitlement had grown, misguided in her exile, his dearest Evexi. Surly a kings audience was not so easily summoned, as his knights so constantly reminded him. They would have him march his armies upon the mountain and be rid of the menace. A swift judgement was given, as Dalton had never heard of such blasphemy in his courts before. The young knight was luckily to of only had his titles taken from him and not his life, perhaps it was this good mood that stilled his hand for further punishment, after all, Evexi had done so much as to call for him.

The patch was no challenge to him, as he walked up the frozen mountain side, climbing to its peek and the home of that witch. A devious smile came upon the King's face, as thoughts of the last time he made this trip came into his mind, perhaps this time he would spar his citizens of having to suffer through another "earthquake" brought about from their reunion. His smile quickly faded as the memory of how their last meeting ended, he hoped she wasn't still to upset at him tricking her.

As he came upon her din, the creatures that populated the mountains nowhere in sight and waited, he knew that his prescience would be noted...This would be the last time he would indulge her childish tantrums, but then....he said that every time he climbed this frozen waste.X

A high and haunting melody beckoned him deeper into Exivi's lair. While she had abandoned her favorite perch, she was rather confident that her King's memory of her home would serve him well enough to act as a guide through the twisting tunnels of ice-laden stone... She had established sort of a palace for herself within the tonnes of rock, though near-perpetual darkness hid the extent of her courtyards and ballrooms, shaped with glimmering blue-tinted ice. Her quarters, however, lay above his head. A lady was to have her privacy, wasn't she?

So, where would he begin to search for his enchanting lover, when her voice played around him like the rippling current? What paths were safe for him? Which would she allow him to take?

Tread carefully, O, King... The Queen of this icy realm did not easily forgive.

XWicked siren, seeking to lure him into her lair. Her echos felt like small hands, tugging at him, beckoning him inside. With a smile and hardy chuckle the fearless King walked with in siren's den never one to keep a women waiting.

Her lair was dark, and cold, but darkest was too his ally and his walked through the shadows of her home, he would do so in a calm mind, yet still he waited, in anticipation of when she would make her first move. Evexi was always favored foreplay, and the King would be more than obliged to help her threw the motions.X

"Thoughtless woman, do you not remember that I am a King? I can not be called up here to the mountains away from my duties as to keep a simple lonely witch company, especially one who would be so foolish as to attack my capital city."

XHis words, bold and enticing, their echos acted similar to her own, tugging her toward him, pulling her from dark, into his presence.X

"Such acts, could make one assume you to be desperate....Had I left you....so wanting...?"

"As mighty as you are, my dearest King, you have heeded the call of an estranged siren... Clearly, might is not everything..."

A soft laugh echoed from the hallway just upwards and to the right along the passage. The soft clack of her heels seemed to echo for miles throughout her dwelling. The sound stopped for a moment...

"Come, my King... I have much to show you."

... before growing slowly quieter, indicative of receding steps. Well, at least he knew where to start. The East wing was never all that expansive in terms of variety, primarily home to her ice gardens with a plethora of twisting steps that lead to her own personal and guest quarters. Natural splits in the rock above allowed for the faint glow of sun or moonlight to glint off the soaring sculptures and plants, loaning an eerie quality to the faintly blue or green-tinted ice.