The fire crackled between the two adventurers. Hours had passed since the notification of the Horde quest, and both were still exhausted from the fight with the Hob Goblin Ul'Thrak. The two sat in solemn silence staring at the fire as it burned, each trapped with their own thoughts.
After Elizabeth returned with the tent, the two had spoken, and throughout the day it wasn't like neither were speaking. Its just that now, at night, with the weight of the knowledge bearing down on them. Neither could muster the courage to speak, choosing instead to embrace the silent stillness of their camp.
Elizabeth reached out with a stick and prodded the fire, causing small embers to rise into the air like fairies dancing into the night sky. Elizabeth mumbled something under breath and chuckled slightly. This snapped Stephen from his own thoughts and he looked up at the woman who sat across form him, giving her a look of questioning apprehension.
"Oh its nothing, its just on nights like this, my father would stoke the fire. And he would call those embers fire fairies." She smiled to herself thinking about the memory. I would get up and try to catch them, only to feel the sting, and he would laugh and say. "They don't like being caught, that sting is their magic. Its to protect them." She made her voice deeper, attempting to imitate her father.
Her eyes lowered, and her smile faded slightly. "He would then wrap me in his arms and call me his little pixie." Her gaze went back to the fire as it crackled, those small embers raising into the air slowly. "And he would say, I don't need magic for protection, because he would always be there for me." Elizabeth wiped a tear from her cheek, slowly pulling her knees up to her chest, and hugging them tightly. The flames danced in her blue eyes as she stared.
Stephen didn't know what to say, he watched her trying to find some words he could say to alleviate her sadness. "Luke loved to camp, just the guys. When he knew about a planned trip, he would be so excited to go he would tell everyone who would listen. He said so proudly that he was having a guys camping trip. We would go, and treat him like one of the guys, letting him stay up, we would include him in our conversations, and he would be smiling the whole time." Stephens heart sank, those thoughts creeping into his mind. Would this memory soon fade, would he be the only one to have this memory when he was reunited with his family? He looked back at the fire, a knot forming in his throat. His chest was tight, he wanted to cry, but instead he pushed it down.
"You shouldn't do that," Elizabeth spoke up, breaking the silence. Her voice was soft and full of care. "Yvlis teaches us that holding back our emotions only creates more turmoil." Stephen looked up, meeting her gaze. Her brows were furrowed, not with anger, but with genuine concern. "You will be with them again, Stephen. You have to believe that." Her voice was delicate, almost a whisper, as a small, comforting smile spread across her face. "I refuse to believe anything else."
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The way she spoke hit something deep inside Stephen, unraveling the walls he'd built up. He began to sob, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face. All of his fears about Abigail and Luke's memories spilled from his lips in between ragged breaths. The more he shared, the more the tears flowed—steady and unstoppable, like a summer rain.
He felt a comforting embrace wrap around him as he cried. Elizabeth knelt beside him, holding him gently, her hand patting his back as his emotions spilled unchecked. Days of struggle, of constantly pushing forward and bottling everything up, all came crashing down. And through it all, this woman, whom he had only just met, sat silently beside him, offering comfort to a total stranger. Stephen was at a loss for words, his mind a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, fear, sadness—all clashing and swirling together.
"You must think I'm pathetic," he whispered in a ragged tone between sobs. But instead of judgment, he felt the reassuring touch of her hand on his back, steady and kind.
"No, I don't," Elizabeth replied softly. "I think you've never had the space to let yourself feel. So please, never think I would look down on you for this." Her voice was soothing, delicate. Her presence alone seemed to calm the rapid thudding of his heart.
Elizabeth began to hum a soft tune, an enchanting melody that felt like a spell woven from the gentlest threads of comfort. As the melody filled the night air, Stephen's sobs slowly subsided, the tears fading as calmness washed over him. He lifted his head slightly from his knees and glanced at Elizabeth. She smiled softly at him, her humming continuing as if it carried a magic that soothed not only his mind but his very soul.
When the song ended, Stephen cleared his throat, breaking the peaceful silence. "What... was that?" he asked, his voice still fragile from his earlier outburst.
Elizabeth smiled again and gracefully rose to her feet, walking back to her spot across from him by the fire. "It was a song my mother used to sing to me when I was sad," she said with a gentle warmth. "She always told me that no matter how broken the heart, there was nothing that couldn’t be healed with the right song." A soft laugh escaped her lips as she added, "It also helped that she was a Bard."
Stephen couldn’t help but smile at that last part, a genuine feeling of warmth spreading through him. For the first time in days, the weight in the air seemed to lift, like the first rays of sunlight after a long, dark storm. The silence that followed was no longer heavy with grief but filled with quiet companionship.
Hours passed, and as the fire died down, the two lay down to sleep—Stephen on his bedroll under the stars and Elizabeth in her tent. The crisp night air carried the soft chirping of crickets, and fireflies danced above the slow-moving stream that bordered their camp.
"Thank you," Stephen murmured, rolling onto his side and facing away from Elizabeth's tent, his voice low but full of gratitude. Little did he know that, inside her tent, Elizabeth lay quietly, facing in his direction. Her eyes were closed, but as his words reached her, a small smile touched her lips. With that, she too drifted into sleep, the night now serene and peaceful.