Dúnmharfóir na Croise ag Luí na Gréine

A/N: Must practice writing. But because I couldn't piece together a coherent idea, a friend gave me a prompt and a character to work with. The story's rather bland, but this is as much as I can give given I'm not in the best mind to think at the moment.

[Prompt] Sunset Walk
[Character] Claiomh Solais

*****

She felt out of place with the world around her. But it wasn't because of the stares her presence as an assassin cross walking in the streets gathered. Of course not! Claiomh Solais -Or Sola- took pride in her profession and the way she chose to use it for her own goals. When it came to running her own life, the opinions of others mattered little to none.

But back to the present matter.

Where to go now? One would ask in her situation. Her mind offered no direction in response. But she required none. All that she asked of herself was that she had to keep moving, anywhere to simply get away for a while. The faces of her companions briefly came to mind, their curious and concerned expressions fleeted through her vision.

“Tch.” She ran a hand through her golden hair, mussing it as she pushed aside the images. Pulling up her scarf higher to mask her face, she continued walking.

It was in this time of day that all the bustle of the civilized life began to cease and prepare for the coming of the night. Though Ayothaya was far more serene and its people were not as workaholic as those from other cities, it was still a place that survived and thrived from its people and their activities.

Sola walked pass the merchants closing for the day, giving a few a sideways glance before dodging several enthusiastic children who ran past her. One girl lagged behind them, clutching her doll fiercely to her chest as she tried to keep up with the others but stumbled a short distance from where the woman stood.

As the young girl gingerly picked herself up, the doll which had flown from her hands when she fell was suddenly in front of her, clutched delicately in a clawed gauntlet. Curiously, her eyes looked up to meet with blue eyes that looked down at her in placid observation.

“You should watch yourself.” Sola said, her mouth muffled by the scarf worn loose around her neck. In her mind, she mentally kicked herself. The girl surely didn’t understand her. The assassin cross spoke nothing close to the Ayothayan language and yet with the way the younger girl was staring at her as if she understood made Sola blink in mild wonder. Wordlessly, she watched as the girl reached out to take her doll from her own hands.

“Sunee!”

The shout made both of the girls turn their heads. A boy was quickly approaching them, genuine concern for his friend and unadulterated wariness for the stranger showed on his face. Though there was a visual lack of any weapons on Sola’s person since she had left her weapons at the inn with the sniper and his pets, an assassin cross still posed a dangerous presence. Quietly but quickly spoken to by the boy, the girl Sunee allowed herself to be half-dragged away to join the other kids at the end of the road. Not once did the boy turn to take a second look, but the girl, Sunee looked back one last time and smiled.

The blonde assassin watched the two go with a new emotion in her eyes, though the look could have been misunderstood by the few people around her.

After all, an assassin cross’ stare surely meant something unhealthy.

But as quickly as she had picked up the doll, Sola was back on her feet and continued in the direction she had been going.

She turned corners randomly, all the while her light blue scarf trailed behind her like a bride’s veil. She garnered suspicious looks from the guards, and fearful ones from a few who she had passed. She paid none of them any heed, neither did anyone seemed intent on confronting her. It wasn’t until she found herself on the small stretch of sandy shoreline did she finally realize that she was on the outskirts of the city.

So what now? Sola asked herself.

Painted apricot by the orange sunset, the sandy beach stretched on towards the thick foliage of trees. While she was confident she could handle her own in the forest, going into unsafe territory without her weapons was simply reckless.

So she looked about her area. There was no one about, save for a young couple on the boardwalk, who were jovially talking with one another. Upon seeing them smiling and holding hands made her turn away, heading in the direction of the secluded beach.

The sea breeze tugged at her golden yellow hair, tossing it about in its playful fervor. The woman did not mind it so much but there was the matter of the length becoming a liability in the future. The assassin cross tugged at a long lock, twirling it in her fingers. She had to be honest with herself, growing it any longer and she would have something always brushing against her bottom and that was annoying. Besides, she can’t fight well if her hair decided to get in the way during her fighting.

How in the world did anyone fight as well as they did with hair that could be used as a carpet? She didn't know and she wasn't curious to find out.

She regarded the lock of hair carefully “... Maybe I should get it cut soon.” Which meant taking some blades to her hair tonight and hoping that it doesn’t look as bad as her previous attempts at trimming. With a loud exhale, she tossed the lock away and crossed her hands behind her head.

With a frustrated growl, Sola exclaimed. “I’m bored! Bored, bored, bored!” Startled by her sudden yell, a couple of nearby seagulls took flight, squawking in surprise. Walks on the beach should have been fun. But being by herself and with no one to talk to was not fun.

“There’s nothing exciting in this place at all!”

No offense meant to Sidhe, the youngest member in her traveling party. While Ayothaya was a good place to relax, staying in the city for more than a week was starting to make the restless assassin cross go stir crazy. Sola sincerely hoped that the young mage had spent enough time at home and ready to travel by tomorrow night or someone is definitely going to be left behind.

Then again, their third member would be against leaving one of their own. Sola suddenly had to fight back the urge to punch something.

Hah, one of their own? Sola wasn’t sure if he understood that they were only together because of the mutual benefits they would gain from being with one another, not because they were becoming some semblance of a family he was unfortunate of losing two times. Rio, ever so gentle and caring Rio. Sola grunted at the thought of him. It wasn't below him to stoop to begging and crying if it meant his good conscience would be sated.

Pathetic, she thought. He really was a creature to be pitied.

But that was the very reason. She took pity on those who were moralistic and weak. Well damn him for making her go soft on both him and the mage.

She could leave them, many times that chance came up. Heck, she could leave now. Nothing was stopping her from accepting it yet she chose to remain with them. Once, the sniper had been curious enough to ask. But a well-thought comment and a good smack to his head immediately silenced any further questioning. The day she admits her reasons for staying around is the day she finally decides to turn suicidal and throw herself into Hel.

In other words, never.

Sola let out a sigh of frustration and continued walking down the beach. Tiny crabs scuttled across the sand, quickly hiding in small holes scattered across the landscape as she passed. At some point she stopped walking and regarded the sea with wonder. With the water at low tide, the sea had lifted away its foamy hem, offering a good view of some of the corals that normally hid under the water’s surface.

The blonde haphazardly threw her boots and dark, knee-high stockings on the sand, not too close to the water and not too far to have them stolen by the occasional Wild Rose. The wet sand felt cool against the soles of her feet and she let herself walk close to the corals, silently admiring the hidden treasures of the sea.

She spotted a beautiful spiked seashell half-buried in the sand. She bent and pulled it out, holding it up to the sunset whilst smiling at how the light hit it. The shell was glassy, almost translucent with streaks of white and purple that curled into a spiral. She noted the shells in Ayothaya were different from the ones in Brasilis, but they were all beautiful in their own way.

Out of impulse, she decided to step further out and began to dig for shells and other little sea trinkets that caught her eye. Removing the scarf around her neck, she used it as a makeshift basket.

As she gathered, a smile filled with nostalgia graced her face. Picking up shells on the beach was a child's hobby, yet one that she never grew out of. After all, she was still a woman at heart. Cute and pretty things still caught her fancy.

She remembered a time when a younger Lugh and her would sometimes chase each other to the beach. On occasion, the other two Scions would join them, and they would idle the time away even after the moon had already risen above the horizon’s line. The memories left a bittersweet taste in her mouth.

As everything began to quiet down around her, so too did the annoyances began to ebb. What was left in her was a the feeling of longing and melancholy that she rarely displayed.

Sunsets tended to give her that kind of sentimentality. In some ways, she hated it, because it constantly reminded her of the things she had lost. Precious things that are memories and nothing more.

Her features softened more than what she was deigned to show others. Her blue eyes gleamed sadly in the fading light as she stared out into the sea.

Yes. So many things lost. Simply because she chose to chase her dreams. Because of her decision, many within the Jewel Clans turned against her. No matter how much she had tried, no one listened to her. What hurt her the most was that the person she considered her closest friend, her brother-of-sorts and her first and only love, was one of those people.

That day she had last confronted him was the day a wound in her heart appeared. And until now, that wound remained open and bleeding.

With her small collection wrapped in her scarf, she trudged back to her boots. Without a spoken word, she dropped the scarf beside her boots and sat on the sand with a plop.

Her fingers reached up to grasp the silver ring suspended on her necklace. “I wonder...” She trailed off. Feeling the familiar coldness against her fingers, she slipped the chain from her neck and held the ring to her face, twisting it around in between her thumb and index finger. “Did you ever regret anything between us?”

Of course, she knew no answer was forthcoming.

All those moments of intimacy, reduced to mere memories to cherish. His stern yet kind baritone, no longer would it sound the same if she should hear it again. Those lips that would give her fleeting kisses that made her heart beat rapidly, she could only imagine them turning down into frowns that resembled the last ones he showed. And those eyes, those eyes that sparkled like the shallow spring waters... They would never shine with the love they used to share.

Her own blue eyes closed, recalling the words that he had parted with before her coming-of-age ceremony. Throughout the lonely nights of her one and a half year away from home, those same words held such comfort and love that helped her see the end of her trials and secured her position as the Findias Scion.

“Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.” She whispered. She fought to keep a sad smile from her face but failed. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.” She repeated.

My heart is within you.

Sola suddenly let out a bitter chuckle, tossing the ring and necklace in the air before catching them as they descended. “As if that holds true anymore.” The blonde regarded the ring in her palm again, alternating her gaze between it and the ocean. In the end, she shook her head and wore the necklace once again.

She didn’t trust in love anymore, even as she yet clung to it in some way, she no longer wanted to give her heart to anyone else. Not after her betrayal of love. Not after the events that led to her self-imposed exile and her burning drive to crush the Gorias’ Scion once and for all.

There was nothing left in her for that world but hate that needed to be sated, and her despair that needed to be released.

With a groan, she buried her face in her arms. “Spirits of the Tuatha Danann damn this feeling.” She really disliked melancholic sunsets.

But it would never stop. Just as she knew that she was broken inside somewhere and yet denied that she was broken. For as long as she lived, she would always be haunted by those days of clear skies and golden sunlight.

She is a sun, if not to others then at least for herself. Her resolve would continue to burn brightly for the plans that needed her, and all else didn’t matter.

“There you are!” A male voice suddenly cut through her reverie.

She turned her head in the direction of the voice, seeing a familiar brunet approaching her from the piers. Her face easily melded back to her usual cockiness as the distance between them quickly shortened. The sun dipped below the horizon, and soon stars began to appear overheard, the orange skies slowly being devoured by the dark blue of the evening.

Ah, time for broodiness is over. She stood up and grinned as the sniper was close enough to speak to.

“Missed me already?”

The feeling of being terribly out of place pulsated beneath her skin.

End Entry.