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"Follow? Never!" cried Tasa with grin and a flash of her old spark. "We will travel side by side, my friend, like in the days of old. Or did you think that years of servitude had dulled my spirit? I do seem to remember a swift save of you on many occasions, or did the years fade the memories?" She stopped, eyes haunted, and was suddenly silent. Though teasing in nature, her words pierced deeply. She above all knew that no amount of time could fade emotions... no number of years could soften the pulling of old scars.
She looked down, her glimpse of the past overshadowed like a ray of sunlight hidden by a dark storm. She remembered fondly travelling with friends, fighting evil side by side with those she loved and trusted. But the sickness she felt deeply in her shame would not release her long. This was why she had come... this is why she would return to that place... the place that haunted her... the place where her demons lived.
"Friends... though I sense reluctance here... let us depart. Would we all have responded, were we not eager to heed Malris' words? Let us leave... perhaps soon we will be as free as we once were..." Her last words were whispers, directed more toward her clasped hands than to her companions, but nonetheless, each ear detected her message. Glancing around, she swiftly turned and boarded, skirts billowing in the breeze, hair pulling about her face, and she faced West, praying for strength to burn away the shadow that rested within her.
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