Head Above Water

[Criala 728]

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Within the walls of the tavern in Elvenesse, in the far back corner away from the noise of the square outside, was a mali’fenn woman. Silence filled the air as Estellise was seated at a table, parchment laid in front of her as she wrote. A lesson plan of sorts for her healing classes in the clinic. A few words added here and there, adding a section to the next set of lessons she had planned. Amputation wasn’t something she normally would have added to General Healing and Triage, but after recent events, she deemed the knowledge useful.

 

The back corner was quiet. A corner of solitude, just the way she liked it. A welcomed change from the chaos that used to be her life for so many years. Her attention drifted away from the plan in front of her, mind not fully focused on the task at hand. As much as the silence was nice, there were times that the silence was almost too much. Being left alone with one's thoughts is not always a good thing.

 

At times she’d find herself back in there. Once again, trapped in obedience and guilt, as well as a need back then to prove she could be trusted, lest any other actions be taken as an act of betrayal. Betrayal resulted in death, and that was not an option. A promise made to her daughter that she would be the one to stay, one that would not leave. She did what she had to to keep herself alive, but even then, it almost didn’t seem like enough. Even as she tried her hardest to prove that she could be trusted, said life was often dangled in front of her daughter. 

 

 

Stuck in the same cycle without any end in sight. Until one day, she realized it wasn’t a way for her to live anymore. She had to get out. A slow sigh escaped her, a hand lifting to her face where it then ran down it. It felt like there was an invisible weight on her shoulders, but she tried to ignore it, now trying to pull herself out of her time in that place. It was a place and time better to be left in the past. Better left in the darkness and shadows where it belonged. A darkness she had been confined in for far too long. She’d fought so hard to get herself out, to be out of the cage she’d been locked in. Free to spread her wings and fly. 

 

 Just a look only showed a woman by herself, turquoise eyes on the parchment in front of her. Merely reading something. If they could see past the neutral façade, they’d see a woman who was struggling to keep her head above water and not to suffocate.

 

Art by Wlop