Keela pulled her hood up and dashed in an alley. The path she was travelling she knew by heart and could probably navigate with her eyes closed seeing as she had travelled it so many times. She didn’t know exactly what had pushed her to come here; maybe it was the nostalgia or the day she had had been tremendously awful, or maybe it was both. Yet she stood in front of the old dive she used to frequent so often, the faint chatter coming from inside one of the only solid buildings of the slums of Wul. She pulled a scarf over her face and entered, heading straight to the bar with her head held low. The same old musician drunkenly fiddled with his off-key violin, his hat less weighed than usual. Grinning to herself, Keela tossed a silver in and grabbed her usual stool, asking for a strong ale. This place was as awful as she had remembered, probably the best possible thing for her to have right now. The tankard slid her way and she thanked the bartender with a nod, lowering her scarf to take a swig.

“I thought you were dead”, said the bartender casually, wiping off a smudge on the inside of a glass.

“Yeah, I thought so too for a while”, replied Keela, smiling and drinking from her tankard.

The taste was as foul as it used to be.

“Really?” asked the bartender, looking genuinely curious.

“No, I think that’s just a thing people say”, she replied smiling coyly.

With a smirk, the bartender turned back to his duties of serving customers, the quick turnaround extinguishing the candle on the bar. Smiling at the resemblance of the last time she had been here, she lit it back up, cracking an arc of lightning between her thumb and index. Just like last time, the crack interrupted the going abouts of the bar and she could swear that the same ruffian that had roughandled her called out again.

“Oi, you at the bar? You wanna explain that?” he asked, walking forward towards her.

“I’m getting a sense of deja vu”, replied Keela to the air, not even turning around towards him.

“You gonna answer?”

“Oh, you were talking to me?”

“Yeah, fuckin look at the person talkin’ to you!”

On that note he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around, making her hood fall back. The ruffian backed up for a second, eyeing the horns, the hair and the ears all at once, trying to understand what he was looking at.

“My, isn’t this a familiar sight? How’s your drug addiction? Judging by your teeth, not so well?” she said, smiling widely.

“What the fuck are you?”, replied the man, backing away slowly.

“What’s wrong? Are you not going to ask me to leave? This isn’t how the situation went down last time. Remember your lines kiddo.”

The man turned around and ran out the door, justifiably terrified. Keela sighed and turned around, grabbing her tankard again and taking a swig, smelling it before to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. The chatter slowly picked back up, some patrons nervously eyeing Keela while going about their business. Finishing her drink, she slid a gold on the counter towards the bartender.

“Ain’t that way over the rate?” asked the bartender, looking at the gold piece.

“Consider it… a thank you gift for the years of good service”, she replied, pulling her hood back up.

“You say that like you’re not gonna come back eventually.”

“It’s unfit for a queen to frequent these kinds of establishments I’m afraid. Goodbye Clayton. It’s been a pleasure.”

“Same to you... uh...”

“Kalianore Norra Aekian. Keela works fine.”

“Fine then, ciao Keela.”

When the bartender realized he had never told her his name, he chased after her right as she got out the door, but when he looked outside, she was gone.

Keela stood in front of Murph’s grave. Looking at her shoddy work, she sighed and sat in front of it, looking at the weeds that grew out of certain spots on the fertile ground.

“Hey there bud. It’s been a minute”, she said aloud, looking at the tree.

Taking a sharp breath in, she looked straight at the marker for the grave, wondering why she sat here, talking to a dead body.

“I know I wasn’t… the best housemate. I know I often messed with you because that’s how I was but…”, she continued, taking pauses to think.

Arranging her legs, she sat cross legged, rocking slightly back and forth.

“But man I fucking miss you… My life has been hell and honestly, when I think back on it, it was my goddamn fault you died and I really don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself”, she said, choking back tears.

The wind grazed the treetops, the moon coming up when the sun vanished.

“I… I think I would’ve rather had you on board with this whole thing. You would’ve made an amazing advisor, you and your stupid rational thinking”, she added, failing to hold back one singular tear that made its way down her cheek.

Taking a breath in again, she exhaled through clenched teeth, her breath stuttering with her shoulders.

“Did you know the kids are okay? It’s real nice, that’s good to know that they’re safe. It makes me think I did at least that right”, she said, composing herself, letting out some nervous laughter as she wiped the dampness of her eyes on her sleeve.

Grabbing a bouquet of flowers she had picked earlier, she put half of it softly at the base of the marker and got up, looking at it one last time.

“It was good seeing you Murph. I’ll come back with Velka next time”, she said, turning around and entering a portal.

She left the portal, arriving on the second floor of Bertaut’s house, on the mezzanine where she had seen him die. Grabbing a broom from the side, she swept off the fallen leaves and dust that had accumulated on the floor from the garden, doing surface level tidying. Finishing up in half an hour, she went into the garden, pushing aside the tall grass and unkempt hedges, passing the derelict fountain and arriving under the large oak. This grave had no stone. A name was carved into the wood, slowly getting reclaimed by nature. She sat on the edge of the fountain, a few paces off of the tree. The water was muddy and hadn’t run in a long time, the leaves falling into it dirtying the bottom of the basin. She smiled awkwardly, thinking of the right words as she stared at the clumsy engraving in the trunk.

“It would be rude of me not to visit after all this time. Feel like I’ve neglected this place when I passed through so I figured I’d do it right this time”, she said, looking up at the moon that rose in the sky, casting the soft blue light, making the fountain water shimmer through the leaves.

Playing around with the silver ring between her fingers nervously, she looked at it for a second.

“I cleaned a bit on my way in. But I figure that’s not super important since no one lives here anymore. I should’ve dressed a bit better, sorry about that”, she added, still staring at the ring, as though she could feel his cold gaze on her.

Looking up at the swaying leaves, she paused again, finding it difficult to put the feelings into words.

“I guess I wanted to thank you. For… giving me everything I have now. I guess they would’ve gotten to me eventually and given me a crown but… I figure it was probably better that you did”, she sheepishly said, looking off to the side.

Resting her hands on the cold stone of the fountain, she looked at the small mound, flowers growing all over it.

“You really did a lot for me. Hell, even in the end, you thought about me before yourself. Maybe I took it a bit for granted”, she continued, her eyes watering up again.

Sliding down from the fountain, she sat on the ground, her back against it.

“It’s crazy how we only notice how much things matter to us when they’re gone. How long has it been now? Roughly four months? Sure didn’t feel like four months. Felt more like years”, she whined, resting her chin on her bunched up knees.

Sighing, she got up, going over to the grave and pulling out the flowers.

“I guess what I’m trying to say here is that… you taught me well. And now I’ll just keep doing my best to make you proud. Good night Bertaut. May the stars watch over you”, she finished, putting down the flowers.

Wiping the water out of her eyes again, she went back home to head to bed after a day too eventful to be good.