Sereniel Scribe of Truth II

(Continued from Part I)

Finally, the patron goddess of these people returned Sereniel to her true home, but Sereniel, by her own admission, was a changed creature. She was cold, dignified, and took out her angers upon those around her. She found unlikely friends in Chancellor Cuson of Rheydin and then Regent Galvatar Xebonn of Miruvhor. She also found an impending savior in Aerandal Llandaran, a young man from the lands of Haden, across the Western Seas.

Aerandal was possessed of the gift of sight as well as, as is often found among the Crusaders, the ability to take away pain and impose it upon himself. Finding it impossible to restore warmth to Sereniels spirit, he chose to use his gifts to tear away the memories that brought her such bitterness - in short, he absorbed all of Sereniels memories that transpired from the day she met Kylthioras Ardent, an event which occurred when she was but nineteen years old and was the root of all of her tragedies, until the present day.

The procedure succeeded, and what followed was a period of

reinstruction for the woman who had to learn the ways of a Master Bard, once more, as well as forgive Aerandal for what he had done to her. More and more, Sereniel began to refer to those stolen memories as another person, a woman just as real as her current self. This dualism caused her great internal conflicts, and perhaps critically for Aerandal, rooted fears that if she did not prove suitable, he would take away her memories again and again until she did.

Having ostensibly forgiven Aerandal - who, in the nature of

Kylthioras, also became a willing Outlaw - Sereniel was again confronted with the battle between Order and love. For a second time, she chose to engage herself to an Outlaw, and this time under the watchful gaze of Bregyn, the unrelenting patron of Order. Before the wedding, however, Aerandal was called away on Crusade - one that would make him absent for nearly forty years.

In the interim, Bregyn continued to test his self-professed

Lady of Order. Finally, after an exhaustive period of fast and meditation before the Shrine of Order, Sereniel gave up her rights to follow the ways of Order and asked to be made an outcast of it. After enacting his punishment, Bregyn declared her to be known evermore as the Defector of Order.

(Continued in Part III)