[ WP ] An aging hero visits an old friend for the last time .

The old woman stared out of the glass window. The stars shone like encrusted diamonds in the night sky; The blood-red moon seemed to pulse with her every heart beat. Even through the window she could here the song of the night. 
 
 The door creaked slightly opened. No one seemed to have entered. But she knew-he was here. 
 
 `` Its a good night, to die.'' she said to the night. 
 
 `` You look beautiful.'' the night replied back. 
 
 Payal focused on the chair beside her. On it sat a strange man.The white shirt had fist sized holes, and his trousers were speckled with mud and dirt. A wild grey beard covered most of the face, except the eyes. Those reminded her of ashes left after a wild fire - Burned out but still a window to the strength they had possessed. 
 
 Her laughter turned into an dry cough. `` You are here. Finally. That can mean only one thing.'' 
 
 The fire of the eyes dimmed a bit. `` Yes.'' 
 
 She turned back to the night sky. `` So. Today is the day I die.'' 
 
 He did n't answer. Always so unsocial. 
 
 `` You're not going to refute me.'' 
 
 He moved to hold her hand, but stopped shy of touching her. `` You forbade me to come. Until the day you died. I have listened to your wishes.'' 
 
 `` Do you think that forgives you?'' 
 
 The fire came back. `` You still bear that grudge? After 50 year! `` The words drip with rage. `` Your people celebrate me. They call me a savior. Your own hands commissioned odes to my saga.And yet.... you deny my presence. As if I was the villain.'' 
 
 Payal slowly sits up. Tremors run through her body as the muscle atrophied form stiffly moves. `` You think I did those things willingly?'' 
 
 A thunder strike reverberates in the air. Odd, since no clouds flow outside. 
 
 `` I lied. To my people, to my friends, to my *husband*!'' she spits out. 
 `` I could not tell them the truth. Take away their new god from them. They needed something to believe in, dammit!'' 
 
 He just stands there, offended. What a self-righteous fool. Even at the end. 
 
 `` I could n't tell them that the great unitor Arya, slayer of the Moon, Father of the Blade Nation was, in fact, the tormentor that slaughtered the people he swore to protect.'' 
 
 His arms fold together as he tries to block her out. The retort is silent. `` I did.... what needed to be done. `` He looks directly at her. The eyes, they are completely dead now. 
 
 She can see now. He has spent the 50 years in penance. He had made himself see every life he ruined, every family that was broken; All the pain that coursed through the world because of him. 
 
 It is still not enough. He wo n't be forgiven. Not by her. 
 
 The moon pulses even faster. Her heart follows through. Her final beats begin. 
 
 A cold hand grabs her. He's close now. Tears run down his face. 
 
 `` Please,'' he cries ``, tell me you forgive me, Payal.'' Even to her dying body, his hands are like ice. 
 
 `` No.'' 
 
 The word is like a slap. His eyes shut as he weep even louder. The crying old man falls into her lap. 
 
 And so the dying comforts the living. `` You are not forgiven, Arya KanaK. But you are forgotten. With me gone, there are none to know of the old hatreds. Find a reason to live, a new life...'' 
 
 Her eyes are closing. Sleep comes. ``....guide them well, this time.'' 
 
 
 
 
 

