(11) Doors
With the echoes of 'Never again' in her ears, Nehain Moonweaver kneels down in front of a pub on Abel Lane in the Old Town of Stormwind. Her knees rest on the worn cobblestones while she feels around under the broken edge of the bottom step leading up to the pub's door. After a moment, she shifts around one of the cobblestones underneath. There's a faint clinking of stone on stone, and she removes a small latched box. The box is just about the size of a tinderbox, and locked with an unusual padlock little seen in this part of the world.
"What the hell is that, then?" A voice demands from behind her, though not very fiercely. Nehain frowns, the vivid paint on her face finally flaking some.
"'Tis a box, Sullivan, and the hell are you here for?" She asks as she rises, tossing her magenta-dyed, recently unmatted hair over her shoulder. Nehain Moonweaver disappears into the person of Ceil Nightfury with barely any transition. Her eyes don't leave those of James Sullivan's.
"You, of course, luv, and I should be asking just the same. But it's obvious enough...couldn't stay away, is it? What happened to 'couldn't possibly bear to see them and stay away?'" The young man grins sharply, showing white teeth. He's dressed in the black leathers of the servicemen of SI:7, while Ceil wears a pretty blouse, meant, perhaps, for a party.
"Isn't that just as obvious enough to you?" She frowns more deeply, wiping away the red paint that covers green markings delicate around her eyes. The sleeve of her pretty blouse is soon soiled with crimson.
"We're just going to have a brilliant time working together, aren't we?" James Sullivan turns down the lane, motioning Ceil with him.
She instead stands looking at the Pig and Whistle, while the usual regulars celebrate the anniversary of this place's defense, of the triumph of life, of the success of family. She doesn't follow Sullivan's lazy amble down the lane, taking the moment to produce a lockpick from her sleeve. She sets to work on the lock which has never had, nor needed, a key. After a short struggle, the latched box opens smoothly, revealing an overly gaudy wedding ring, crowned with an Azerothian diamond of truly tasteless size. Ceil smiles softly and touches the diamond with her fingertip.
~
Delion once told me there's no hole that can't be mended. Though he spoke of clothing, I think there's something to be said for the sentiment.
~
She closes the box, listening to the lock tighten with a satisfying clink. Ceil kneels down again in front of the Pig and Whistle and returns her wedding ring to its hiding place in the broken stair. Upon rising, she stares a final moment at her home, before she turns her back and begins to walk. Sullivan remains at the end of the lane, waiting on her with a look of impatience she can see from afar. The look is enough to make her smile widen impetuously and her step slow considerably.
~
Any rend can be repaired, once you've removed the blade.
~
Together, James Sullivan and Ceil Nightfury walk from Abel Lane and onto Willum Avenue. They pass the Royal Barracks without notice, and continue on, through the door of SI:7.
-
Death comes like a thief in the night
To steal while you sleep, the soul's flickering light
'Well maybe it's then,' she said, 'I'll see you again'
Because the sun never shines on closed doors
Survival
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