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Description
#01 - Air
Her friend approached, brushing away the dirt and debris accumulated from his hiding place, and the elf’s delicate nose wrinkled, her eyes rolling incredulously skyward as he took his seat across from her with no more than an indignant "What?"

#02 - Apples
Kyra’s stare was skeptical as he tried to explain away her missing dagger with his personal philosophy: "Stealing and borrowing without permission are two entirely different things--apples and oranges, my friend, apples and oranges."

#03 - Beginning
"So, the prime element was Void, and she was all and nothing, until from her the Elemental spirits fragmented, or perhaps coalesced…Dev…Dev…Devion…" but she had already lost her pupil to the approaching barmaid.

#04 - Bugs
As he found himself crouching lower into the underbrush just below Tessian’s window, Dev felt certain there had to be an easier way for Kyra to get her information.

#05 - Coffee
The moons had long since begun to slope toward the horizon and still he continued to fidget, disturbing her own light slumber, and she vowed to him in a low growl that he would never be ordering that strange concoction again.

#06 - Dark
Here, sitting before the forgotten shrine, he was unsure which was more unsettling: the somber gaze of cold stone or of living flesh.

#07 - Despair
It isn’t until the late watches of the night, eyes settled upon the sleeping forms of his companions, so deliberately separated yet always facing one another, that his greatest fear creeps up on him (Will I die alone?).

#08 - Doors
The walls she built around herself were just that--walls--so the fact that Dev had never been much with a lock pick was irrelevant; he’d had to slowly chisel his way straight through, a chip at a time.

#09 - Drink
It had been ages (literally) since her soft laughter had caressed his ears, sending tingles of electricity down his spine, and as he followed her gaze to the drunken boy staggering through the crowded hall to refill his empty wineglass, Ruan knew who he had to thank for the pleasure.

#10 - Duty
Sparing his life left her under no obligation to preserve it, but everyday she makes the choice to do just that.

#11 - Earth
She is the mountain, he is the sand; he is the desert in her shadow.

#12 - End
At the sound of startled shouts she glances up from her purchases long enough to catch sight of Dev (once again) on the run, and wonders briefly if stealing isn’t an end in itself.

#13 - Fall
She had fallen from grace; he had fallen through the cracks; both landed on their feet.

#14 - Fire
Her home was burning, but Dev was more concerned with the inferno consuming her from within (smoldering ash had already risen to light her eyes), lest it spread to raze not only the catalyst, but all in her path.

#15 - Flexible
Dev had always thought he was good with a knife; but now, watching her demonstrate the proper way to wield the twin elven blades, he wasn’t so sure he could live up to the gift.

#16 - Flying
He had always been a thief, but she had made him a spy, a saboteur, a rebel; he heard what they were saying about him ("Could he sink any lower?"), but she had given him wings and he was soaring too high to care.

#17 - Food
He ordered two of everything, devouring the majority and stuffing the less messy bits into deep pockets; he would make sure her generosity would last him for as long as possible.

#18 - Foot
"Dance with me?" he asked and she eyed him warily (his last partner was still limping to her seat), but bravely dismissed her concern and accepted his proffered hand.

#19 - Grave
That was the problem with humans: despite his animated antics and lively laughter, all she saw was creeping decay.

#20 - Green
Mirth shines in his eyes, pale sunlight through spring leaves, and she wonders if he can recognize the autumn sunset in her own.

#21 - Head
As he sleeps, her fingertip lightly traces the pale, ragged arc of a distant memory, the crack in the mask of innocence.

#22 - Hollow
His eyes spoke of defiance, staying her hand, stirring faint echoes in the vacant chambers of her heart.

#23 - Honor
"All I took were a few strips of dried meat, and besides (he’s the one that stole you from me), there’s no honor among thieves."

#24 - Hope
Water dripped steadily into the puddle beside him, the sound, coupled with the dank atmosphere of his tiny cell, slowly beginning to wear down the cocky attitude that had been his only defense (She’ll come for me, she’ll come for me, she’ll…).

#25 - Light
Still wary after their narrow escape, their eyes lock over the fading campfire, both struggling to keep heavy lids from drifting shut; he blinks and she smiles triumphantly.

#26 - Lost
Returning home is impossible for a young boy (missing? forgotten? Abandoned.) when home has packed up and moved on; years later, lurking in all the wrong alleyways, he hadn’t been expecting a new home to find him.

#27 - Metal
She had left her sword in his care while she went to the stream, and his fingers traced the script engraved upon the blade, recalling from her translation words otherwise unintelligible to him—"Ri’ar Ruarc (I am Vengeance), i enien ta sel aelo yanto (the strength that shall not fail)"—wondering when it had become her life.

#28 - New
She’d had a brother once, and she’d killed him—pierced her own flesh, shed her own blood; but she’ll take better care of this one (the ties that bind her to him are not as easily severed).

#29 - Old
He hesitates upon reaching the crest of the hill, turning to look back on the town (he had thought he would live and die there, in quick succession), but readily puts it behind him as she calls for him to keep up.

#30 - Peace
Sinking into piles of pillows, silk sheets, and silence, she thought back to the weeks spent tuning out the incessant drone of his one-sided conversations; when she found herself perched on the edge of his bed, shaking him awake, she wasn’t entirely sure how she came to be there.

#31 - Poison
Tessian’s warning ("Don’t expect to outlive her use for you.") failed to swell any doubts within him, impotent against sheer loyalty.

#32 - Pretty
He rolls out of bed, glancing out the window as he pads past, but stops (the rosy glow of dawn washes over her still form; a moment passes before her eyes flash open, meditation broken, demanding to know what he’s looking at) and rubs the sleep from his eyes before moving on.

#33 - Rain
She has propped his head upon her lap, but still the sun is too glaring and the effort to turn his face from its warm rays too great, so he slowly slips into darkness; it’s then he feels it: one drop, two, a chill running through him (But, the sun…).

#34 - Regret
She finds herself thinking that the sacrifice taints the victory he bought (too dearly), and the thought, the feeling behind it, is foreign, but it is no less potent for being so.

#35 - Roses
Every year, a single blossom is laid upon cold, white marble, and one set of footprints leads back to a life that must go on.

#36 - Secret
She whispered her confession (seven centuries of sin) in the dead of night to a boy, bandaged and bruised, who had already learned the truth.

#37 - Snakes
It is the first time he has actually seen her kill and, witnessing the utter detachment with which she strikes, he wishes his curiosity hadn’t gotten the better of him.

#38 - Snow
His denial was betrayed by a thin wisp of frost escaping his lips, prompting a sharp snap of heavy fabric—warmth enveloped him as the fur-lined cloak settled over his huddled form and the hood was pulled roughly over his head; peering up past the thick fringe of gray trim he whispered his thanks to a slim, dark form fading into the thick veils of white.

#39 - Solid
She is a fortress of chain mail, thick leather, and steel plate, all of which yield to a far greater strength as he finds comfort in the sanctuary of her embrace.

#40 - Spring
When he makes her abandon her habitual scowl for a smile, it is snow melting away; when he makes her laugh, it is the quickening of the world; but always when she is with him, there is the warm glow within that reminds her what it means to be alive.

#41 - Stable
It doesn’t matter to him that she has remained unchanged for time beyond his imagining; it only matters that she remains.

#42 - Strange
Though he stood resolutely at her side against the enemy advance, he could not begin to comprehend the reason for her smile as the first volley of arrows hurtled toward them.

#43 - Summer
The glowing bug hovering above his nose suddenly finds itself tumbling, but her hand flashes up, scooping it out of the air ("Fireflies are messengers to the stars; they carry our wishes."), and as she whispers into her carefully cupped hands he begins to believe she may have been a child, once upon a time.

#44 - Taboo
Golden wheat skin and down feather hair give him away (drow blood mingled in human veins), but she doesn’t ask because she knows an orphan can’t answer.

#45 - Ugly
Over the years he had become accustomed to her frigid apathy, but as Kyra watched his features contort she realized too late that she had pushed him to his breaking point ("She’s better off dead than as a hostage.") and braced herself against the coming storm.

#46 - War
A cold, wet smack on the back of her head is first blood, his laughter a war cry, and suddenly a snow-covered field has become both battlefield and ammunition—for the first time in what feels an eternity, she finds herself entering a battle she is not entirely confident she can win.

#47 - Water
The blood of her victims stained her indelibly, each splatter worn as a badge upon her soul, and he couldn’t wash them away even if it was possible (each had been earned and she would have none of it); but today it was her own blood, diluting as he rinsed it away (he would not allow her to become someone else’s badge).

#48 - Welcome
Often there are no words between them; her soft smile as she opens the door is enough.

#49 - Winter
As she circles the plotting table, the commanders see a woman attempting to strategize in unfamiliar territory; he sees a winter-starved wolf picking out the weakness of each unsuspecting herd member.

#50 - Wood
A quiet smile lit Dev’s face as the conclusion to his and Ruan’s musings dawned upon him: "Loving Kyra is like seeing the forest from the meadow; but when Kyra decides to love you, it is knowing what lies behind that first stand of trees."

Description
#01 - Air
Her friend approached, brushing away the dirt and debris accumulated from his hiding place, and the elf’s delicate nose wrinkled, her eyes rolling incredulously skyward as he took his seat across from her with no more than an indignant "What?"

#02 - Apples
Kyra’s stare was skeptical as he tried to explain away her missing dagger with his personal philosophy: "Stealing and borrowing without permission are two entirely different things--apples and oranges, my friend, apples and oranges."

#03 - Beginning
"So, the prime element was Void, and she was all and nothing, until from her the Elemental spirits fragmented, or perhaps coalesced…Dev…Dev…Devion…" but she had already lost her pupil to the approaching barmaid.

#04 - Bugs
As he found himself crouching lower into the underbrush just below Tessian’s window, Dev felt certain there had to be an easier way for Kyra to get her information.

#05 - Coffee
The moons had long since begun to slope toward the horizon and still he continued to fidget, disturbing her own light slumber, and she vowed to him in a low growl that he would never be ordering that strange concoction again.

#06 - Dark
Here, sitting before the forgotten shrine, he was unsure which was more unsettling: the somber gaze of cold stone or of living flesh.

#07 - Despair
It isn’t until the late watches of the night, eyes settled upon the sleeping forms of his companions, so deliberately separated yet always facing one another, that his greatest fear creeps up on him (Will I die alone?).

#08 - Doors
The walls she built around herself were just that--walls--so the fact that Dev had never been much with a lock pick was irrelevant; he’d had to slowly chisel his way straight through, a chip at a time.

#09 - Drink
It had been ages (literally) since her soft laughter had caressed his ears, sending tingles of electricity down his spine, and as he followed her gaze to the drunken boy staggering through the crowded hall to refill his empty wineglass, Ruan knew who he had to thank for the pleasure.

#10 - Duty
Sparing his life left her under no obligation to preserve it, but everyday she makes the choice to do just that.

#11 - Earth
She is the mountain, he is the sand; he is the desert in her shadow.

#12 - End
At the sound of startled shouts she glances up from her purchases long enough to catch sight of Dev (once again) on the run, and wonders briefly if stealing isn’t an end in itself.

#13 - Fall
She had fallen from grace; he had fallen through the cracks; both landed on their feet.

#14 - Fire
Her home was burning, but Dev was more concerned with the inferno consuming her from within (smoldering ash had already risen to light her eyes), lest it spread to raze not only the catalyst, but all in her path.

#15 - Flexible
Dev had always thought he was good with a knife; but now, watching her demonstrate the proper way to wield the twin elven blades, he wasn’t so sure he could live up to the gift.

#16 - Flying
He had always been a thief, but she had made him a spy, a saboteur, a rebel; he heard what they were saying about him ("Could he sink any lower?"), but she had given him wings and he was soaring too high to care.

#17 - Food
He ordered two of everything, devouring the majority and stuffing the less messy bits into deep pockets; he would make sure her generosity would last him for as long as possible.

#18 - Foot
"Dance with me?" he asked and she eyed him warily (his last partner was still limping to her seat), but bravely dismissed her concern and accepted his proffered hand.

#19 - Grave
That was the problem with humans: despite his animated antics and lively laughter, all she saw was creeping decay.

#20 - Green
Mirth shines in his eyes, pale sunlight through spring leaves, and she wonders if he can recognize the autumn sunset in her own.

#21 - Head
As he sleeps, her fingertip lightly traces the pale, ragged arc of a distant memory, the crack in the mask of innocence.

#22 - Hollow
His eyes spoke of defiance, staying her hand, stirring faint echoes in the vacant chambers of her heart.

#23 - Honor
"All I took were a few strips of dried meat, and besides (he’s the one that stole you from me), there’s no honor among thieves."

#24 - Hope
Water dripped steadily into the puddle beside him, the sound, coupled with the dank atmosphere of his tiny cell, slowly beginning to wear down the cocky attitude that had been his only defense (She’ll come for me, she’ll come for me, she’ll…).

#25 - Light
Still wary after their narrow escape, their eyes lock over the fading campfire, both struggling to keep heavy lids from drifting shut; he blinks and she smiles triumphantly.

#26 - Lost
Returning home is impossible for a young boy (missing? forgotten? Abandoned.) when home has packed up and moved on; years later, lurking in all the wrong alleyways, he hadn’t been expecting a new home to find him.

#27 - Metal
She had left her sword in his care while she went to the stream, and his fingers traced the script engraved upon the blade, recalling from her translation words otherwise unintelligible to him—"Ri’ar Ruarc (I am Vengeance), i enien ta sel aelo yanto (the strength that shall not fail)"—wondering when it had become her life.

#28 - New
She’d had a brother once, and she’d killed him—pierced her own flesh, shed her own blood; but she’ll take better care of this one (the ties that bind her to him are not as easily severed).

#29 - Old
He hesitates upon reaching the crest of the hill, turning to look back on the town (he had thought he would live and die there, in quick succession), but readily puts it behind him as she calls for him to keep up.

#30 - Peace
Sinking into piles of pillows, silk sheets, and silence, she thought back to the weeks spent tuning out the incessant drone of his one-sided conversations; when she found herself perched on the edge of his bed, shaking him awake, she wasn’t entirely sure how she came to be there.

#31 - Poison
Tessian’s warning ("Don’t expect to outlive her use for you.") failed to swell any doubts within him, impotent against sheer loyalty.

#32 - Pretty
He rolls out of bed, glancing out the window as he pads past, but stops (the rosy glow of dawn washes over her still form; a moment passes before her eyes flash open, meditation broken, demanding to know what he’s looking at) and rubs the sleep from his eyes before moving on.

#33 - Rain
She has propped his head upon her lap, but still the sun is too glaring and the effort to turn his face from its warm rays too great, so he slowly slips into darkness; it’s then he feels it: one drop, two, a chill running through him (But, the sun…).

#34 - Regret
She finds herself thinking that the sacrifice taints the victory he bought (too dearly), and the thought, the feeling behind it, is foreign, but it is no less potent for being so.

#35 - Roses
Every year, a single blossom is laid upon cold, white marble, and one set of footprints leads back to a life that must go on.

#36 - Secret
She whispered her confession (seven centuries of sin) in the dead of night to a boy, bandaged and bruised, who had already learned the truth.

#37 - Snakes
It is the first time he has actually seen her kill and, witnessing the utter detachment with which she strikes, he wishes his curiosity hadn’t gotten the better of him.

#38 - Snow
His denial was betrayed by a thin wisp of frost escaping his lips, prompting a sharp snap of heavy fabric—warmth enveloped him as the fur-lined cloak settled over his huddled form and the hood was pulled roughly over his head; peering up past the thick fringe of gray trim he whispered his thanks to a slim, dark form fading into the thick veils of white.

#39 - Solid
She is a fortress of chain mail, thick leather, and steel plate, all of which yield to a far greater strength as he finds comfort in the sanctuary of her embrace.

#40 - Spring
When he makes her abandon her habitual scowl for a smile, it is snow melting away; when he makes her laugh, it is the quickening of the world; but always when she is with him, there is the warm glow within that reminds her what it means to be alive.

#41 - Stable
It doesn’t matter to him that she has remained unchanged for time beyond his imagining; it only matters that she remains.

#42 - Strange
Though he stood resolutely at her side against the enemy advance, he could not begin to comprehend the reason for her smile as the first volley of arrows hurtled toward them.

#43 - Summer
The glowing bug hovering above his nose suddenly finds itself tumbling, but her hand flashes up, scooping it out of the air ("Fireflies are messengers to the stars; they carry our wishes."), and as she whispers into her carefully cupped hands he begins to believe she may have been a child, once upon a time.

#44 - Taboo
Golden wheat skin and down feather hair give him away (drow blood mingled in human veins), but she doesn’t ask because she knows an orphan can’t answer.

#45 - Ugly
Over the years he had become accustomed to her frigid apathy, but as Kyra watched his features contort she realized too late that she had pushed him to his breaking point ("She’s better off dead than as a hostage.") and braced herself against the coming storm.

#46 - War
A cold, wet smack on the back of her head is first blood, his laughter a war cry, and suddenly a snow-covered field has become both battlefield and ammunition—for the first time in what feels an eternity, she finds herself entering a battle she is not entirely confident she can win.

#47 - Water
The blood of her victims stained her indelibly, each splatter worn as a badge upon her soul, and he couldn’t wash them away even if it was possible (each had been earned and she would have none of it); but today it was her own blood, diluting as he rinsed it away (he would not allow her to become someone else’s badge).

#48 - Welcome
Often there are no words between them; her soft smile as she opens the door is enough.

#49 - Winter
As she circles the plotting table, the commanders see a woman attempting to strategize in unfamiliar territory; he sees a winter-starved wolf picking out the weakness of each unsuspecting herd member.

#50 - Wood
A quiet smile lit Dev’s face as the conclusion to his and Ruan’s musings dawned upon him: "Loving Kyra is like seeing the forest from the meadow; but when Kyra decides to love you, it is knowing what lies behind that first stand of trees."