Lass's Tear

"Some would say living here is damnation enough." I murmur. I lay a hand on her shoulder. "Lily. Please."

"She doesn't need me," Lily shrugged off the hand. "She never did."

"Now that's where you're wrong." I say quietly. Lily shrugs my hand off. I frown. "Come off it Lily. If it's something I did, I'm sorry. I am what I am, I can't fix that. If it's something someone else did, come home and work it out. Don't run away. Running away doesn't work. Take it from one who knows."

"Get out!" Lily all but screamed it, her eyes hot as she rounded on Liv, the hard pillow flying from the bed into a lamp on the opposite side of the room. She came to her feet, prepared to push Liv away; grabbing her by the shoulder...

She fell in...

I blink as color swirls and churns and burns.
I'm in Lily's mind.
Shit.
I calm myself. Okay. Like Kaija taught me, focus....
The place comes into focus. Doors, hundreds of doors, all standing about. No walls hold them. They stand alone, doors of all shapes and sizes, in a field of white as bright as snow in summer. The scent of Lily of the Valley, sweet and light and somehow delicate, fills the air.
I stand quiet for a moment. First off, should I open them?
Better question...what are they? Memories, perhaps? Or parts of her mind?
I try a door. Locked.
Well. That was unhelpful.
I try another, and this time, I imagine it opening.
The knob turns beneath my fingers.

Lily gasped, her eyes flying to Liam's as her hand locked on Liv's upper arm and the elder girl fell heavily into her arms and knocked her to the bed.

***

"It's a key."

The gentleman walked up to Liv with the scrap of parchment in hand, intricate whorls and sidgual woven in golden threads on the scraped leather.

"I have others, but this is my favorite."

The walls are lined with the weavings of every configuration; some have obvious intent, but others, like the one he holds up to her now are far more intricate and involved, as if there would never be an end to the evolving patterns swirling across the parchment.

I blink. Is this a memory? Or something else?
"What does it open?" I ask, "And how do I use it?"

I glance between Liv and Lily the smell of magic in the air, similar to what lingered when Kaija and Liv went into my head "So this is what it looks like from the outside, Nine Realms it is far less impressive from this side of things." then helping Lily to gently lay Liv down "Well Lily, since it is now the two of us. why don't we just talk" I say resting on my haunches where I crouch my arms resting on my knees.

"That would be telling." The man winks broadly and takes Liv by the hand, carefully cradling his treasure with the other. "The question is, is it what you want, dearest?"

Settling her in a chair, he retreats to an over sized work bench and settles on a high stool behind it, taking on a judicial appearance as the light from a skylight allow golden moonlight to gild his silvering hair. He stares down at her appraisingly.

***

Lily cradles Liv's head with her free hand. "Nothing to talk about unless you got a good topic." She feels movement in her head and rubs distractedly at her temple. Feeling drained, she feels the fight flow from her; let Liv dig around. Not like she'd find anything Lily didn't want found.

"I'd have to know what it is if I am to know that it is what I want..." I say quietly. "Though it is lovely. What I seek is a path, or a door. A way out."

"Can't help you," the man turned and began carefully rolling the parchment. "I sell the means, not the way."

"Do you have what I need to find my way?" I ask, stepping forward. The man smiles, a cheshire smirk in the moonlight.

"Only you can figure out how to use anything I have for you. They all work perfectly though." his hand swept the shop before coming to rest splayed on the counter, twine tattoos of gold running from his wrist up past where his arm disappeared into his shirt. "Pick something or be on your way. I've too much to do to wait for you to make up your mind."

He seemed to fade into shadow as he spoke, only the tattoos and the weaving in the shop remaining solid to Liv's eye.

I walk softly about the room. How do I find what I need? And why does this scene feel so familiar?
Then it hits me. A sweet, silly movie full of . The Dark Crystal, that was it. Jem, choosing a crystal....this whole thing is a dead ringer for it... I smile slightly. Well, better play to the script. I raise my head, and sing, sing of my need, my confusion and my longing.
Opening my eyes, I peer through the gloom. One scrap is gleaming like a star. Gently, I lift it.

He smiles. "You want that one..." He taps the threads. "I wove this one long ago, when I was learning the trade, and I haven't been able to do it again." He shakes his head and runs his hands over the wires as if to remember their pattern, their form. "I should have worn it myself, but I didn't know what I had made. The Calf, The Goose, and The Bee... Opens all doors, seals all things." He sighs wistfully and redirects Liv to the chair. "Sit, please."

I cock my head, studying him warily. "Why?"

"Cause I don't need you collapsing from the pain," He takes her shoulder and pushes her down. "Last one though he was man enough cracked his head on my bench and ruined the pattern."

"Pain?" For a moment, I freeze. Why pain? Then my eyes widen. "You're the tattoo artist...."

He takes a step back, pulling the parchment back. "You didn't know? She didn't send you?" he began rolling the pattern, preparing to put it away, his eyes studying her with suspicion.

"She sent me. But she did not tell me where I was going. Only that I had to go here." I say quietly. Well, it's true enough, if not exactly accurate.

"You're not supposed to be here." He says, lily's own voice layering with his in disturbing effect as he set the roll on the bench and flexed his hands, sparks sizzling between his fingers as a metallic groan crossed the air to Liv's ears; those fingers she'd watched delicately handle his treasures now took on a different light, as if they could pull apart the very air she breathed.

"there are lots of things to talk about lily, things that have no need to touch on secrets or history" I smile doing my best not to sound patronizing. "What are your odds on the favorite in the next pit game?" I tilt my head "Or what new mishap is John Taylor going to bring into the nightside next?" My tone is light. "sounds like we have time to kill"

"Listen to me." I state, and pour power into the words. "I know I frighten you, I unnerve you and make you angry. You feel threatened by me. But I am meant to be here. I was led here, and if fate chooses that this is where I ought be I'll not deny her. I could never have reached this place of my own accord. I was led here, and for good reason. So this is where I ought to be."
Slowly, the terrible tension in the air eases.

The man, the room, and the scroll begin to fade as he continues to glare at her, despite the stilling effect of her voice. His tattoos continue to glow with a soft golden light as did the scrolls. "You should leave," his voice still overlapped with Lily's though hers seemed to be coming from a greater distance, and he turned his translucent back to her.

***

"I don't do small talk," Lily says, glaring at Liam, "And everyone knows that John Taylor is the end of the Nightside, worse then an eternity of broken mirrors and black cats."

If I don't do anything, I'm gong to lose this opportunity. Leaping forward, I snatch the scroll.
Pain. Pain like I've never felt, searing up my arm. White lances of fire burn the skin of my arm.