The sensation of light broke Emalia's sleep, and her eyes fluttered open to the breaking of the dawn. Again, she would neglect sending a prayer to the Morning Lord, though such duties were far from her mind. She rolled over, nudging Colin awake. The idea of getting underway sent jolts of electricity through her, and she practically leapt from the bed. "You sure you don't want just a couple more hours to sleep?" Colin asked, returning to the sanctity of the quilts.
"I'm positive. As soon as I gather some clothes, I'm leaving. As are you, I assume. Once upon a time you didn't even sleep."
"I know, I almost forgot what I was missing."
Emalia paused in her packing. "You know... I've never stopped to ask you about that. Who were you before... well, before you died."
"Just me," Colin shrugged.
"You didn't have a name? Things you liked to do?"
"Well, I spent all my time in a quest for knowledge, power. In the end it wasn't a very happy existence."
"So how did it happen... you dying that is." Emalia moved to the bed, sitting near Colin as she looked over to him.
"It was so long ago, sometimes I feel like I can barely remember it," Colin answered with a sigh. "A dragon killed me."
"That must have been terrifying."
"Anyway, it was long ago, and I had nothing of what I have now." Colin looked at Emalia with a small smile. "With you I have everything I was missing."
Emalia smiled in return. To be everything that was missing was an honor. She still didn't know how it was that she could be such a thing to anyone, but she wouldn't admit to such an insecurity. The statement turned her thoughts toward her own family. She wouldn't be seeing them again after this, and while she cared for little now, the idea of at least saying goodbye to the Uncle she hadn't seen in ages crossed her mind. "I don't think you've ever met my Uncle Sandorin, have you?"Colin looked on with a blank expression. "You have only introduced me to your father. You were so eager to set off yesterday."
"You'll like him. He's a good man too, though we rarely saw him with his desires to conduct his studies. I suppose he just came into my thoughts... I wouldn't mind saying goodbye to him. I doubt with the way he was he's going to be around after the RoK falls." Emalia looked to Colin, noticing that he had completely turned away from her.
"You either," she added quietly.
"I don't know if this it the time to go about meeting family. Considering the context of this journey."
"Well, this is the only time we're going to have... We're... well... not coming back. And besides it wouldn't be that long."
"You think he will be alright with you going?"
"It doesn't matter. I doubt he would try to stop me."
It seemed odd to Emalia that Colin was attempting to turn her from seeing her family - moreover turning her from something she wanted. "I just think it's best to get things underway, not take the chance of things getting and harder or more complicated then they are already," Colin said. In a way he was right, but the nagging darkness began again. Emalia wasn't about to give up on her right to family - regardless of whether it was a member that she'd not seen since the time she'd just met Colin.
"I don't understand," Emalia said. "Who is to say he won't offer to help... My uncle has never done anything underhanded like those others in any case."
"Does he have the same beliefs as you?"
"No. But neither do you. I guess I just don't understand why you seem so against my talking to my uncle for the last time. I'm never going to see him again, Colin. Everyone else I've at least spoken to in the past, recent. Him... last I spoke to him was when we first met."
Emalia watched as Colin moved from the packing he had begun to sit beside her on the edge of the bed. He bowed his head, staring at his hands. "Emalia, you have never introduced me but I do know of Sandorin, from my previous life. I had no idea he was your uncle, though."
The clenching of Emalia's insides forced her to hunch in the tiniest bit to keep herself in order. "Then there should be no trouble at all."
"We had some differing views though," Colin sighed. "It's complicated and not really something that I would like to rehash."
"What happened with the two of you?"
"I'm not necessarily proud of the person I was. I was quite consumed with the aquisition of power. So was your uncle, to some extent. That is why he came to me, to study under me."
Emalia felt the tremors rising up inside of her. The darkness returned, gripping at her and taunting with the idea that she was about to hear something new. Something different. Something withheld from her. The idea that this was happening, coming from Colin... "Study... but... Uncle Sandorin is a Wizard... not... not a fighter..."
"You forget, I was not always like this. I was once very skilled in magic. Over time, his views changed though and he disagreed with some of the methods and avenues of my studies."
Emalia stared at her lap. For this to be true, something had to be terribly wrong. "What... methods and avenues did you travel? For Uncle Sandorin to refuse study... it..." 'would have to be truly terrible,' her thoughts concluded."I was much different then Emalia. I was consumed with gaining power and knowledge. I didn't shun the ways of death. I was so misguided. My life was so meaningless yet I didn't even know it."
Still, Emalia sat with her innards clenched as if frozen tightly in place. She spoke with her voice barely above a whisper. "Is that how you... came into this body? I... I mean... how... why?"
"That's the irony. It was my mastery of death that allowed me to continue on after my physical demise. And ultimately allowed me to be here."
"Then why can't you do what you used to be able to do?"
"I can't truly explain that. Somewhere in the transition from my previous life I lost my connection to the arcane. But in a way I don't mind. It helps me to focus more on the things that are truly important." Emalia took this moment to continue staring at her hands. Colin continued, "Your Uncle actually helped to make me who I am. Literally. He helped me to make my body."
Could anyone have seen the normally pale woman at that moment doing anything but laying down, they may have wondered how the dead were able to rise. Every ounce of color seemed to have left her, leaving her very light grey. Flashes of heat rose through her and vanished with the presence of the opposite chill that drove in after. She could think of nothing to say, her thoughts were choked in the bottleneck of news. Her Uncle Sandorin had never told her anything of his studies. She knew only that her mother felt they were dangerous. She didn't know who he studied under, she didn't know why, she didn't know how long... but apparently, the being her mother felt was dangerous was the very one sitting beside her in a body constructed by his pupil who happened to be her Uncle-
Emalia rose from the bed amidst Colin's apologies. No, she would think nothing on this. Colin was Colin and - yes - he was Colin. Nothing had changed. No, her world wasn't falling down... only the RoK would once she reached it. Nothing had changed. She walked from the room, carrying her bag with her in order to load their horses, leaving a somewhat subdued Colin to finish his packing.
