The confrontation with Azeron had left her physically drained. Almost as drained as the illness had left her. She had been angry. He had been confused, and apologetic. She had asked why he hadn't come home. He said he had. She had not and still did not believe he had been home. If he had, why had he not been there when she needed him? In the end, she had admitted to having feelings for another. Her marriage was over. But he had found a cure.

Then the last night she served as bartender at the Arrow, Azeron came, asking if she was ready. She followed him into the kitchen, sitting across from him at the table. "You will...always be...my mela...my love" He whispered placing his hands on the table, palms up. She did not answer him, fighting to control the tears that threatened to spill at any moment. "Take my hands and close your eyes" Azeron said, his voice cracking. Her hands shaking, she laid them over his, startled when he tightly closed his fingers over hers though she never closed her eyes. "I do not know if this will hurt" he whispered before chanting the first words of power Rel Ort Jux She began to feel a heat where their hands met, and her body became warmer. Panicked, she looked at her husband. "Azeron?!" His breathing became heavy just as he shouted the next words of power KAL JUX POR.

Melyanna screamed, more startled than hurt. But in that moment chaos reigned. The door burst open, admitting a worried Kirel. She felt a painful spark pass between herself and Azeron, before he cried out and slumped back in his chair. "If my notes are correct" Azeron started, Mely's voice interrupting his "What have you done?!?" He continued as if he had not been interrupted "what I should have done long ago, taken the illness from you." The shock of what he had just done and the confrontation of the previous night overwhelmed her as she collapsed in a heap, Kirel's concerned voice the last thing she heard "What did you do?"

Reviving a few minutes, or was it hours, later, confused emerald eyes looked from Kirel to Azeron, the latter struggling to make it to the door. "I told you, Sarianna, till death do us part," he managed to get out, using Mely's secret name. "Now the wait shall not be so long."

Now she sat overlooking the waterfall, guilt at having been cured at such a high cost eating at her tender heart. "Eru help us all."

Kirel walks quietly along the bay on the edge of town, stopping briefly now and again to glance up at the night sky. Finally finding a spot to his liking, he sits down on the cool sandy shore. Uncorking the bottle he bought, he sips gently from it as he looks out across the water.

Closing his eyes, his mind drifts back to that night at the Arrow. His thoughts began to spin quickly. Melyanna's scream was heart stopping, Kirel ran, slamming shoulder first through the door leading into the kitchen. Melyanna was there, slumped over slightly in the chair. He remembered wanting to rip the man away from her... rushing to her side... anything, yet his feet and legs would not let him move. In his stunned and dazed state all he could muster was "What have you done?" He watched, frozen, as Azeron stumbled his way past him leaving that tavern.

"I told you, Sarianna, till death do us part. Now the wait shall not be so long."

With a startled yell, Kirel is rocketed out of thoughts, back to the present and back to the sandy beach. Gasping desperately for air he runs both hands through his sweat soaked, platinum hair. Reaching his horribly shaking hand down he searches quickly for the ale. The bottle rattles audibly against his teeth as a small trickle runs down his neck, soaking the collar of his shirt. Wiping his mouth on his forearm, he tries to calm his breathing. Looking out across the bay he whispers quietly... "Help us... "