#sunrii

    Marti tensed her face, trying to hold back a bemused smile as she listened to her husband grumbling over his pack.

    “I don’t know how I let Faren talk me into these things. I’m just as bad as the rest of the fools he’s gotten to come along on this imbecilic ‘adventure’”. Sunrii sloppily rolled another shirt and stuffed it in with his other items.

    “”Not quite as bad. You can at least keep them from actually getting involved in any fighting, or so you said when you first mentioned this trip to me.” Marti strode across the floorboards to the vanity in their room, sitting herself while giving him a look.

    “You don’t need to say it. I know how foolish this is. But I can’t just let him go off alone. We’ve known each other for years.” Sunrii shrugged his shoulders helplessly at her and gave a weak smile, something between pleading and self-depreciating.

    Marti sighed. “I know. Though I can’t imagine the Pact are at all excited about a ship of nobles tagging along to watch them at war.”

    “I don’t know what Feran thinks we’re going to see.” Sunrii gave a tired sigh. “Anyway, I’m not worried about the ship. The Pact will see to it being kept out of the way. I am worried about Feran trying something stupid to get involved. He doesn’t seem to understand how serious fighting a dragon is. At least I can keep him on a leash.” Sunrii tried closing his bag.

    “A short one. Just see to it you keep him out of trouble and that he doesn’t end up dragging you along into any.” Marti said, eying Sunrii’s hair. He had only recently, at long last, gotten out from under any bets with Feran and managed to cut it into a more respectable hairstyle than a mohawk with a lightning bolt shaved in it. Marti had actually found the style daring and attractive when they’d met, but that was several years ago now and it was not so fitting on a nobleman coming close to 40. Sunrii grinned.

    “A directive I am very happy to follow, my dear.”

    Marti sat with her elbow resting on her vanity, chin cupped in her hand. Her other arm sat limp in her lap--a copy, of parts, of the official report that that the Queen had received held loosely in her fingers. A friend in the court had given it to her. Marti would later be grateful to have received this news in an official manner, rather than hearing it on the street as the word spread in the city, but not now. Now she sat and without even realizing it stared towards the bed where just a few weeks ago her husband had stood and jokingly remarked on the foolishness of going with the Pact. She closed her eyes against the tears that were suddenly welling up in them and inhaled sharply. If only they’d known. If only she’d stopped him.

    The Pact had, according to the few reports from camps outside the Maguuma, been utterly decimated. Not a single ship had survived flying over that place. Not one…. Marti stood suddenly and let the letter land on the vanity. She pushed her hands into her hair and started removing the decorative baubles that she’d had on to go out to a friend’s luncheon. That was before--she was not going now. It wasn’t something she even specifically thought about, she just started getting changed. She only managed to get her hair undone and her gloves off before she collapsed into a sit on the edge of the bed and wept.

    Her stomach was twisted in a horrible knot as she gasped through the tears. Something in her wanted to hold onto some form of hope. It grasped at anything. Just because the ships had crashed didn’t mean everyone was dead. There would have been survivors. Those camped outside the jungle would be searching for them as soon as they saw the ships falling. There was a chance--and at the same moment her mind also tried to crush that hope. Hope sometimes hurts more than anything else. Surely fate would not be so kind to her. Better to accept it and grieve, than to mire herself in denial. Marti let her hands leave her face, trying to brush away the tears that were still falling. She looked around dumbly, a painful cry welling in her throat that she wanted to release, but she also didn’t want to call the attention of anyone in the house. She couldn’t face telling anyone why she was upset just yet. She turned and caught sight of Sunrii’s pillow. She grasped it and pulled it to her chest, hugging it and then burying her face in it as she cried.