Sanria found Kaliadra in the small bed, fast asleep, her diary open. She walked to the small table and read the entry, "Good. Bitch," she spat. Then went to the bed and woke Kaliadra with a stinging slap to the face. The elf flew away with a start and readied her hands for casting... then lowered them.
"What?"
"End it. Make this stop," Sanria said.
"End what?"
"End us, you silly tramp. You said you wanted the pain to stop, well I do too. So do something about it. End it. Let's stop this while we still can."
Kaliadra slid to the edge of the bed, her hands on her knees, staring at the floor. Sanria wanted to grab her by the hair and pull it out handful by handful. She stayed her hands. "I can't," Kaliadra said.
"What lies!"
"The spell still stands, Sanria. It has not worn off. Not only that," the elf looked up, "you have affairs to manage and a family to tend."
"I'm NOT a slave! Not to YOU, not to ANYONE!"
Sanria watched the elf get up and turn to her. Kaliadra took Sanria's shoulders in her hands and stared at her, blue eyes piercing into her own brown ones. "I do not love him, Sanria. I did what I thought was right. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I took advantage of him... and you."
"Damage is done," Sanria said nearly snarling.
"You are right. And I can feel it as though the hell is my own twice over. Not only do I feel my own disgust in myself, but I feel it rolling from you in waves. Please... don't do what you are trying to do. This is my fault alone, and I shall live with it and feel the pain."
"I hate you."
"I know. And I would rather deal with the self-sacrifice of feeling it, the punishment I willingly will bear for what I've done. I won't try to escape it. I will bear it... as an elf, because I did both you and Colin wrong."
Sanria took a couple of steps back, staring at the face which now bore a red outline of her fingers and palm. There was nothing more she could say... she had to go home... to Gilean. How she would explain the rage in her heart without crushing him under it all, she didn't know. She would have to think of something fast, for at the end of her spell, she found herself in the cottage, looking into his concerned face.
