17 - Lacking faith

'What have you done?'

Alaryon's mouth pressed into a fine line as he recognised the despair in the female voice, but he didn't stand from his desk.

The silver haired woman crossed the distance between them and roughly grabbed his shoulder, turning him along with his swiveling chair to face her.

'What,' she repeated, 'have you done?'

Alaryon looked at the woman for a moment, then stood and walked past her to the window, and stared into the frozen wasteland.

'What I've done is none of your business.'

'How can you say that?' she shrieked. 'How can you... it's a human life... a life, Alaryon, you can't just...'

'Asarthé.' he said sternly, turning to her, chin raised, hands behind his back. 'It doesn't concern you.'

She showed intimidation for a moment, then shook it off and stomped to him and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, giving him a good shake.

'How can it not concern me, Alaryon? We're in this together!'

'We're not,' he replied simply, looking down at her. The smell of burning fabric reached his nostrils, and he grabbed both her wrists and removed her hands from his shirt. Two burnt patches of material remained, but he ignored them.

'Control your temper, please.' he said. 'You are not a child any more.'

He released her wrists, and she held her ground, glaring at him.

Alaryon pulled the burnt shirt over his head and tossed it on his chair, then turned to the young woman again.

'I did what I thought was best. But you knew that already. Why are you here?'

Asarthé looked at his bare torso for a moment, then concentrated on his face again.

'What will the Lady say if she finds out?' she said in a small voice.

'I will deal with her when the time comes.'

The young woman's lower lip trembled.

'But what if she decides to-'

'It will be her decision, and I will respect it. It won't be anything that hasn't been said or done before.'

'But I don't want her to-'

'Asarthé, I accept the consequences of my own actions. You should do that too.'

She opened her mouth, closed it again, then looked at the floor, eyes teary.

'It's not easy, Alaryon,' she whispered. 'And she's not worth it. We should have let this go when we still had the chance.'

'Little one,' he said, his tone softer, 'this isn't about you and me. We're just pawns in the game. She is worth it. And so is he. I wish you could just see it.'

'And I wish I could think like you.' she sighed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. 'I say we're fighting for a lost cause.'

'The Lady wouldn't be fighting for a lost cause, Asarthé. She knows what she's doing. You trust her this little?'

'Between you being in danger and the two spiraling out of control, I don't know what I believe in any more,' she said, then broke into sobs.

He pulled her into her arms and stroked her hair.

'Then have faith,' he said to her, kissing the top of her head.

As the Asarthé sniffled in his arms, Alaryon became aware of the Lady's gaze upon them.