Storyboards: Adriala

Forsaken | Odyssey | Dream to Sleep

Forsaken
The note lays, forgotten, in a crumpled heap on the floor. It is indifferent to the angry slams, the quiet sobs. It pays no attention to the pacing footsteps. It shifts as a breeze floats through the open door, then settles as the door is closed. It rests where it has fallen. And waits.
To say that Adriala was furious would be an understatement. Her fury, however, covered a deeper, less acceptable emotion. Fear. She was afraid. Fialden had left, and she didn't know why. Sure he'd been under a lot of stress lately, but what could possibly make him just ... run off? She'd read and re-read his note. There was nothing in it that would even hint at where he'd gone, or even why he'd left.
Adria, I've gone. I can't tell you where. I had to leave. I don't know when I'm coming back.
The note contained a few more lines that she didn't really remember. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind as she'd packed her bags. Of course she was going after him. She didn't know where he'd gone, but the world wasn't so large a place that she would never find him. Adria chewed on a fingernail and stared blankly at a wall. Yes, she would follow him. She loved him, and she would willingly go where he wanted her to. And therein lie the irony. He hadn't told her where he was going, so it was obvious that he didn't want her to follow him. But she would anyway. He was her husband. And she loved him.
Her mind made up, she finishes packing her bags. Opening the door, she looks behind her one last time, making sure she'd not forgotten anything. She steps through the door, and closes it firmly behind her.

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Odyssey
She stands, contemplating, at the east gate of Sendar. Her bag is clutched tightly in her hand. Chewing on a strand of hair, she begins to pace again. The guards eye her, but keep their distance. Adria is facing a decision that will either reunite her with her husband, or get her lost forever in the vast unknown world. She frets some more, still pacing. Unsure of which way her husband has gone, her instincts tell her east. But then, her instincts had been wrong before. She takes a deep breath and finally, steps through the gate, and down the road.
Late afternoon, she stops. The day had been pleasant, and she for some reason isn't worried about spending the night outdoors. She sets up her camp and, feeling quite pleased with herself for doing so, sits next to the fire and loses herself to memories of happier times.

---
Adria scampered through the rain, kicking up water at Fi, then giggling as he winced, hunched over against the warm shower. She grins impishly at him, then skips ahead. They'd been walking home, and got caught in the rain. Adria thought Fi was being awfully stuffy about it, so she tormented him mercilessly. They reached the gate, and Adria turned, flinging her arms around
her husband. She kissed him soundly, then hugged him close. Her voice, soft as the spring rain, flittered to his ear.
“I love you.”
---

She looks up, tears streaming down her face. The moon is just beginning to rise above the treetops. Oh, my love. Where have you gone to? But the moon, as it always has, remains silent.

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Dream to Sleep
She needed her escape from the world. To take refuge in his arms was all that could save her from her self-destruction. How she was fortunate enough to be married to this man was light years beyond her own belief. She had to find him and soon. His absence only added to her misery. In her mind she formed ludicrous ideas of why he had taken off so unexpectedly. How unlike him, her knight. Everything was a blur through the tears that she now refused to let fall but rather held stubbornly in her eyes. It probably makes sense. She thought as she sank deeper into self-pity. I just don't have enough to offer. Resting her head on her hand and her elbow on her knee, she closed her eyes. She focused on her breathing and the steady pulse of her heart.

She suddenly looked up with eyes that shown from wetness, sighing outwardly out of frustration and annoyance with the lack of information she had to base her expedition on. She tried hard to remember what the rest of his note said, angry with herself for impulsively discarding it in rage. She just could not comprehend how he would do something so out of character. The note itself was shallow and abnormally brief for him.

They had had another fight, more of a banter, Adria had thought, but that was typical. She was sure he knew that no obscene thing she said could ever lessen the value of his worth to her. Could it be more obvious? She could never have him close enough.

She looked at her trembling hands, ashamed to see herself this way - weak. A sudden determination for strength surged inside her. Think Adria, could it be another woman... Her eyes narrowed... Siaden. She mouthed the name but would not allow herself to speak it. Everything seemed to make sense as she felt the jealousy pouring through her. Fialden appeared to be spending more time writing about this mystery woman than ever before. Adria had expressed concern for his sense of reality but it was, for some reason, a touchy subject. Something he could not, or rather would not, let her be involved in.

She laid her head on her makeshift pillow consisting of one of Fialden's shirts that still carried his faint sent. Lying on her side, gravity pulled a forbidden tear that ran steadily down her cheek. Her only contentment that night was the warmth on her face from the dancing flames before her.

Miraculously she slept. The proof was in the stiffness in her side and the troubling dream that she took for a bad omen, with its potential signs of foreshadowing.

She was casually walking with Fi and noticed his pace was increasing, thus she stepped faster. Her steps small and graceful were almost two to his one now. Fialden's speed was constantly increasing until he was literally running from her. Then he returned to the slow amble just as before, but when Adria caught up the process repeated. On the third time he disappeared into whatever was beyond the distance where there was no possibility of catching up.

Adriala's morning was anything but good. She regretted sleeping and wished she could send back the dream, or nightmare rather. This had put a damper on her hopes but she continued onwards. Her only direction was east and her only clue was a name, Siaden... And even that was an assumption.

To comfort herself on her travels she thought of better times, not necessarily easier (as adjusting to newlyweds never is) but times when life had direction and her fantasy had been fulfilled.

It was the middle of the day but it was tranquil in their room peacefully resting on their bed. Fialden lay on his back with one arm at his side and the other around Adria, his hand resting on her lower back. She was on his left with her head on his shoulder and her left arm extended across his chest. The silence was beautiful. Adria let out a sigh of appreciation and serenity. "Everything alright?" He asked. Her response was a slow kiss to his cheek and that was answer enough. He smiled and closed his eyes and there they lay without the thought of the passing time. It was moments like this, the simple ones, that meant the most to Adria and she knew she would always cherish.

Adirala had walked quite a distance while reminiscing and she could see that she was approaching a small town as she looked down the dusty road. She hoped that within its confines she could find someone to help her come closer to her unknown destination.

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