The moon shines as thought illumined by a kingdom’s firelight……

……..as the Dark One stands within the wooden enclave gazing downward at the starlit water in the harbor far below and her thoughts drift as the clouds pass by the shining moon above……she hears a faint sound from the edge of the dark mists………as she grasps her dagger, she moves toward the sound knowing that it is not of evil…..and there he lies with glittering silver wings…..wounded by evil…….she kneels on the damp ground next to him and a tear falls gently upon his wound……she brushes her hand upon his face and his eyes open…..and he sees her, the Dark One……the fairy nymph who seeks peace upon her kingdom………he breathes easier and his wound begins to heal…….her tears have saved him from certain death……and he will live………he vows within his heart to watch and wait and see what this all shall bring……and knows that only good will come…..in time…….with hope……..and she takes her velvet cloak from her shoulders and lays it upon him for warmth…..and stands watch, protecting him from the evil that lurks nearby as he heals……with her dagger held out and her heart beating steadily within…….

She walks in the darkness with only the stars for direction……

……...but the Dark One senses that true evil is near and rests her hand upon the hilt of her gilded sword……waiting……knowing…….that this night she must destroy one that was disguised in another form…….that of a sauntering bear in human form, one whom she would never have thought to hold evil within his heart……..but, in truth, she has found him to be the most evil of all……a foe, not a friend …….and there he sits before her in the mists on his black beast waiting…… The Dark One pulls her sword from her star studded belt with chains hanging upon her leather clad thigh and holds it high…….a star flames forth from the sky and touches the tip and light blasts upon the ground……..she stands within its circle, protected from his evil and hurls her sword…….it plunges through his heart and he turns to ashes………all that is left is his steel beast……. The circle blazes a path for her and she returns her sword to its hilt…… The Dark One turns and looks upward at the blazing light as it enfolds her in a warmth she has not ever felt…...one that envelopes her in belief……..belief that all will be right as it should be.....and that her true love is on his way……..and that in time she will no longer rid her place of peace of the evil ones alone, but with the Light One by her side………