Fragments, #5

86 Colossus, 1317
(~10 years, 6 months before HoT)

She’s lost track of the days in the perpetual night, the sun unable to pierce the heavy curtains. She slept the days away, but could never shake off the perpetual tiredness that enveloped her.

She forces herself up, idly reaches for an apple sitting atop a miniature tower of fresh fruit, left on her nightstand. They mostly leave her alone now, or maybe they’ve given up on her.

Aerie feels a twinge of sadness at this, but she’s already given up on herself, a long time ago.

Fragments, #2

77 Colossus, 1317
(~10 years, 6 months before HoT)

The vacant seat at the table tore at her.

It’d been an increasingly common sight over the last couple months.  At first Aerie had seemed to be coping well enough with the revelation she would never be an elementalist; she’d absorbed that blow with grace and dignity, so it appeared.

And then the night terrors started.  Then she’d stopped eating.  Fatigue overtook her easily, and she’d stopped going outside.  The healthy blush in her cheeks faded away.  The light in her eyes dulled.  The warmth in her being cooled.

Doctors were sent for, and treatments prescribed, but it seemed no healer could truly pinpoint the cause of Aerie’s malaise.  But Aquila knew, and understood: the heavy disappointment had simply extinguished her daughter’s flame.