Alli sat alone and unhappy on the outskirts of the group. She wanted to sit by Sai... the only one that she felt she could trust in this whole group... but she was by Mardil. Fea was still gone... it was a good thing, truth be told. Alli wasn't sure if she could handle her emotions at this point.
Now
Illamatar arrived, clad in purple
spandex and baaing fiercly. Alli looked around and was passively miffed that nobody else could see him.
"You know, O Lord, that if people keep seeing me converse with empty space, they'll call me a loony and kill me?"
Illamatar looked at her with pity.
"Do you really think they care what you're doing?
"Way to crush a girl's confidence, O Lord. What have you to tell me now?"
"
Jennifer Lopez has been rendered harmless."
"What?" Alli was confused. Since when were a pair of buttocks considered dangerous? And what in the world did this have to do with anything?
"She is harmless. The girl with whom you travel has taken care of her unwittingly."
"You mean that Sai is innocent?"
"Of course."
"But... I don't understand...
J.Lo. isn't in the game... she just happened to..." Alli stopped, something dawning on her. Shortly after her epiphany, she looked at Illamatar.
"Do you understand?" he baaed.
"Sai is innocent of all crimes in Mordor. J.Lo. has been rendered innocent though she does not play in this game. Mario...?"
"A bloody great threat to the world. You must ally yourself with the Scotsman."
"I'll take care of it. But what does Sai have to do with my side-plot?"
"You'll figure it out."
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Rather far away, in another dimension, in another time, place, and thought process,
Fea had rather been enjoying herself. After she disappeared, she'd gone to a gathering of friends, expecting laughs, but not the
boys that arrived.
Her night had grown longer than she'd expected after this, infused with laughter, flirting, and stories by starlight until past midnight, when she decided that
homework was in order and socialization for the day was at an end. She'd meant to return to the village quickly, but she had to admit that this diversion had really been a lot of fun.
Now, after
classes were over and
the opposite sex was sufficiently out of her mind,
Fea returned to the little Mordorian village and wondered about her previous logic at releasing a bunch of werewolves on an already werewolf-infested village.
She looked around, catching a lethal glance from Sai. She had to give the girl credit... she certainly stood by her friend. Though at the moment she sat by the guy that her friend was upset over. Fea wondered what was going through Alli's head. She wondered what was going through Sai's head. She especially wondered what was going through Flein's head. What was going through Mardil and Aimè's heads was easy to figure out... if they were any more obvious, there would be a stream of drool involved.
She casually stood, twirling a heavy staff. While she didn't have as much strength as would be needed to defend herself against the entire village, she suspected that she wouldn't require it. She knew that she would soon die... she had accepted it as soon as
the phantom had requested permission to accuse her of
guilt. But she wasn't going to go easily. She was going to do something to make the Offenders gasp in shock. She didn't know what it was yet, but she hoped pretty hard it wouldn't end up being
anticlimactic.
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Tom was busy in his little bit of space moping over his recent encounter with a Scotsman. Aimè was the enemy in his book. He wondered if Aimè knew why Tom hated him so much and wished him so much ill will... it didn't matter. What did was that he could not speak with nor look at the Scotsman without feeling a certain growling menace unfold deep within him. He was pretty certain that it had something to do with the way Aimè was now eyeballing Sai.
Aimè couldn't have Sai... Tom wanted her.
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Alli saw
Fea as soon as Illamatar disappeared. She hated her with a passion.
Arrogant. She was
arrogant. And the worst part was, she was perfectly well allowed to have such a high opinion of herself because everything that she believed of herself was true. It was most annoying. She seemed to believe that she could get everything she wanted.
Well... maybe she could and maybe she couldn't, but apparently she was capable of getting exactly what Alli wanted, even though Alli couldn't manage it.
It didn't matter any more... she would soon die. Alli would soon die... Mardil would soon die...
Life is short and full of pain, she thought.
Fleeting... grief-stricken... nobody is meant to be happy, least of all me.
She fell into a bit of despair over the trust that Illamatar had placed in her as well as the basic
stress of having to keep yourself alive on your path along your only chance of ever finding your way back home while being somewhat in love with a guy with whom nothing seemed to be going right and who apparently had been undressed in a confined space with another girl very recently. Silent tears forced their way through her stubbornly focused eyes. Her whole body shook as she tried to repress her emotions. Finally, she gave way to the tears and curled up defensively as she cried, hoping that Illamatar was right when he said that nobody cared what she did.
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Tom strode over to Sai, offering his hand and when she made to shake it, brushing hers with his lips. She blushed slightly and Tom grinned deep inside.
"Will you work with me, pretty girl, to rid the world of werewolves?"
His charm seemed at first to be working. He was well pleased with himself. Sai's attention suddenly shifted. She pulled her hand from his and went to Alli. She put her arms around her friend and whispered soothingly as Alli sobbed into her shoulder.
"It's okay, Alli... it's okay... it'll all be okay..."
"No..." she sniffed. "I don't understand it. I mean... I understand it, but how can he expect me to... how can I possibly measure up? I can't take the pressure. I'm not good enough. I'm so afraid... I'm so afraid..."
Sai had no idea what was going through Alli's mind, but she suspected that she was comparing herself... possibly to Fea. Unsure of what to say, Sai fell silent. She held Alli as the girl released all of her bottled up emotion through flowing tears.
"Now then," said Sai quietly once Alli had finally stopped weeping. "Didn't that make you feel better?"
"I suppose..." she sniffed, her head on her friend's shoulder. "But even with the emotion gone... I still have to find a way... I still have to... I'll never be able to live unless I see this through. It's too important for me to ignore. I've never felt this way before. I've never felt like I had a purpose... a special role in life. I never thought that I would need Aimè like I do. Who would have ever thought?'
Sai was truly confused now. Surely she meant Mardil? Surely Alli was in love with him and had broken down over his seeming indiscretions with Fea?
"You... you mean Mardil, right dear?" she asked hesitantly.
Alli looked at her and another tear leaked out. She wiped it away impatiently.
"No... I meant Aimè. I must speak with him. And it must be privately... I have so much to tell him."