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[Korin d'Rue]

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Korin sat at his desk, in his office. Staring blanky at the icicles hanging from the interior walls. Even the cold inside his tower was not cold enough to freeze his heart and block out the pain.

Korin had not been in a festive mood since his return to Stonegate. The dissapointment of not finding his father, had pale in comparrison to the pain he felt over the loss of his sister. Korin needed to talk more with his mother, He knew that the death of his sister along with all that had happened over the past weeks were wieghing heavy on her. Sticking to true d'Rue form she was bottling it inside. Korin was affraid that if she didnt let it out soon. That if her emotions were kept bottled up inside she would lose control completely and that would not be a good thing for those around her if it happened.

Korin had tried to get her to release some of her frustration and pain on him. Even going as far as trying to encourage her rage when she threw the chair at his head when she found out where he had been. He had hoped that she would lash out at him and release her pent up emotions. But it had failed and she closed down once again. Korin had tried to talk with her and reason with her that it was not her fault that people around her where dying.

Korins mind wandered to his father, He had wanted so badly to be the one to tell him of his mothers marriage. He had wanted so badly to watch the pain of his words in his fathers eyes. But he was glad that he had not found him. He knew that if he had found him that he would have came back to Stonegate.
Korin had trained and worked hard while away, always a hatred for his father and what he had allowed to happen to him, driving him. Now He knew that the news of his favorite childs death would kill him.

Deep inside of his mind Korin made peace with his father hoping that he never returned to find out his world was shattered. No man should find out in one blow that the woman he loved, And the child he loved most of anything in the world where lost to him.

Korin placed his face into the palms of his hands, He knew what he had to do but he had no idea of how to do it. The curse of the d'Rue family had to be broken, before the cold and bitterness destroyed what family he had left.

[Emily d'Rue]

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Emily drifted from room to room. Myrddin had said she was welcome anytime and she was making use of that permission. Honestly, she wasn't roaming the guildhall because she wanted to see the sights. She was roaming because she was restless. For every hole she punched in her her daughter's walls another brick of ice got added to the top of the pile. With the death of her granddaughter, it was another 30 bricks.

Hear heart twisted and sank with the weight of the news. It wan't that she worried for Kelei. There would be peace there, Emily was certain. No, she worried for those left behind. For the little boy who would have to struggle in a grown up world he wasnt ready for, for Merci who was already so damned hard to reach, and for Korin who was trying his best to be the rock for his Mother to lean on. Korin.... a sensation akin to recognition drifted through Emily and she quickly changed direction heading for where she felt his presence.

3 rooms and a few houses later, Emily found him with his head in his hands and his heart as laden with sorrow and confusion as her own was. She didn't have to guess his thoughts. They were written all over his face. Kneeling down to the same level she sat only inches from his face with her eyes gazing at her boy. She didn't have the strength to materialize at that moment. She might have enough strength to be heard though. "I'm trying my darling boy. Somehow or someway I will destroy this constant distance and the endless walls that get put up as a gut reaction." Searching his gaze for some form of recognition that he heard her, "I promise, I will find a way."

[Korin d'Rue]

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As korin sat his face still buried in his hands. He felt it, it was like the gentle breeze of eyelashes fluttering on the back of his hands. Korin knew with out looking what or who it was. The words though not heard through his ears rang out in his mind.

"I know grandmother, I know but what can we do?" He lowered his hands and looked around. Hoping to see the figure of his grandmother there in front of him, but her figure was not there. Korin knew even though she could not be seen she was with him.
Looking up at the ceiling he spoke in a calm voice. "I know what must be done, but how to do it?" He waited for her words to comfort him, But none came.

For what seemed like hours Korin sat thinking how do we save the d'Rue family from themselves. Korins mind wandered back just a few weeks ago where he had decieded that he was going to end up like his mother and aunt. Cold, bitter, and emotionless. His grandmother had shown him that, that was not the case. Her love for the family had made him see that the d'Rue curse was self imposed.

Korin sat bolt up right in his chair. "I got it grandmother I got it." Korin spent the better part of an hour talking to his grandmother telling her his plan and waiting for her to guide him on it.

[Merci d'Rue]

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Merci stood looking into her chest of beating hearts.. ice covering them they still beat. She stared at the symbols of enemies long dead as they pounded in unison.

She raised her chin. She had been thru enormous change in just a few weeks. Many women at this point would of gone stark raving mad. Her emotionless demeanor kept her safe.

The icy chill was what she was. She rebelled... against it all... fate had dealt its hand and she would see it thru. As she buried her daughter this eve she would not give in to it.

She would be firm and resolute. She would be the warrior and woman she had always been.

She was Merci, daughter of Marus d'Rue, she was her fathers daughter. She turned away from the chest and conviction lead her now.

Father, I will make you proud, I will not falter.
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May destiny guide you...

[Marus d'Rue]

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It happened in that moment. In the nothingness of the void, all that was not, turned toward a single tower in Stonegate. The fibers that stretched to the edges of existence gathered again unto themselves, coiling tendril upon tendril, pulling together in the spirit of cell-memory. In that single moment, the universe bore witness to the power of a father's name upon the lips of his child.

[Marus d'Rue]

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Who has called forth this memory?

Filament upon filament, the being was winding itself, twisting ether like yarn from a spinning wheel, until it could be loomed to fill the spaces in between memory and breath. What had he been, and when? Who had called the dead to walk this hallowed hall?

Step by slow and deliberate step, his feet remembered themselves, and his sluggish form tightened and took its remembered shape. And he could see it all as he ambled the corridor. The flux did not stop with fingers and fingernails, but extensions of himself in the form of mace, and shield. The ether did his bidding – he would become as he remembered himself in his mind.

The progression changed, but did not pause. The time had come to stop becoming and simply see. To look upon this vision whose soul was rent, even as she resolved to stay strong. To realize that this woman – this warrior – was an extension of himself as well. No, not flux and ether, but flesh and broken heart. This child, borne to him, who invoked him with one word: Father.

And that spark ignited his world and lit the darkness, and gave voice to his many names: Father, Husband, Protector. Marus d’Rue.

The veil lifted, darkness swept from his eyes and shaken from his hair, Marus saw his reason for being.

Merci. Oh Merci, my Heart…He could only kneel and look into this face, so familiar, yet so changed. And so very warming to he who had no warmth of his own. The time has come to be strong, my Child. I am here for you. I will not falter.

[Korin d'Rue]

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Korin walked the long dark hallway, His footsteps silent as he made his way towards the last door. The gold ribbions of light coming from around each door he passed faded as he passed them by. He stopped once again at the end of the hallway. Three doors remained. Korin knew what was behind each for he had been here many times before. Each door held something he feared. To his right if he choose to open it again he would find his mothers broken, dead body. To his Left he would find Ciara with children and a husband, happy in her own little perfect world that did not include Korin. These two fears Korin had conquored, For he knew that one day his mother would die. He had also come to terms that only time would tell what it held in store for Ciara and him.

Korin stepped forward and grabbed the door handle to the door of the room he feared the most. Pulling it open, a cold blast of air hit him in the face. With all his strength Korin stepped inside. The room was just as he remembered it from his last visit. He move around the room until he was standing in front of the old man who sat napping in his chair made of ice. Korin pulled up a wooden bench and sat down facing the old man. He sat for what felt like hours just staring at the old man as he slept. He fought the urge twice to reach out and touch the mans to make sure he was still breathing.

Korin watched as the old man started to stir. His eyes fluttered open, he jumped back when he saw Korin. "Who goes there, what are you doing in my house." The old man looked around his chair then he started looking around the room. "What have you done with my axe?" He looked into Korins face "You stole it didn't you boy?" The old mans eyes widended. "Yes you stole it I see it on your back there." The old man drew a rusty dagger from beside the arm of the chair. "Do you know who you are stealing from boy?" The old man held the dagger out pointing it at Korin. "I am Korin d'Rue, Cold blooded Bastard." The old man spit the last words out. Korin just looked at him and smiled "Yes sir, I know who you are, And you should know me." The old man froze in his chair his eyes locked onto Korins. A wryly smile crossed his lips, he sat the dagger down in his lap. "I know you now." The old man said turning away from Korins gaze.

The room grew silent. The old Korin seemed lost in thought, going back over his past. The old man turned back to Korin, and after a long pause began to speak. "Yes I remember you, it was along time ago." he paused again staring at Korin. "Yes young arrogant, thought we were a man did we not. We thought we could change the world." He looked around the room as if looking for something or someone. "Our dead grandmother put all these thoughts of happiness into our heads of breaking the d'Rue family curse." He leaned forward in the chair. "Guess what, There is no d'Rue family curse." The old man waited to watch the young Korins reaction. "Our mother was cold and emotionless cause she didnt know love. our cousin was cold and bitter cause of men trampling her heart and it was her way of protecting herself." He frowned, "We ended up cold and bitter cause we tried to fix other people and did not focus on Us."

Korin woke up He was sweating badly even though he was encased in snow. He lay there thinking about what he had seen in his dream. It all made sence to him now. The d'Rue family was not broken, They were the way they are out of choice. Or out of nessesity. Korin sat up and spoke out loud to himself, "I am trying to fix what is not broken."

[Merci d'Rue]

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She rose this morning prepared.

She hungered this morning.

She wanted no more.

It was sealed.

Yes mother, I love this shadow.

As she walked thru the white snow, softly drifting. She felt him, like a cold wind bringing warmth to her icy nature.

I understand now..Father..I want to see it clearly now, bring me vision and sight eternal..

Our flesh means nothing....
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May destiny guide you...