Hands trembled in the cold winds of the North as they gently gripped a parchment. A letter arriving from Ildon always heralded the news and kindness of her most beloved liege, her dearest friend. Yet when the knight of roses opened the letter and read what she had received...bloody tears dripped onto the letter.
Every breath burned with regret and loathing, with grief and hate as memories of their friendship ran through her mind. When they had bonded of sharing the burden of a curse, when they had fought the trolls and man-eating frogs as squire and lady, when she had been knighted and they drank the night away. Both fought and bled together upon the mountain and dreamed of a better world..of a better Ildon. They had always been there for one another since they met...but now it felt as though when she needed her most...Hildegarde had failed her dearest friend...had abandoned her in her time of greatest need. Could she have saved her from whatever had ailed her...Could she have saved what both had dreamed since they had first met?
These questions raced in the Knights mind before she gently looked up, closed her eyes, and let out a ragged sigh as tears of crimson ran upon her near porcelain cheeks.
"Then the dream of Ildon is ended with you...perhaps it was only meant to be so..."
The blood-stained parchment was folded away and tucked into the knight's cuirass. Blood dripped upon her armour, another final reminder of the woman she had loved so...and the woman she had lost so very suddenly. Without a word to any who passed her by...Ser Hildegarde disappeared into the woods of Norland, where none would find her until she wished to be found. The only signs of her presence were the cries of anguish upon the wind and a trail of bloody tears.