As summer changed to autumn and then to winter, the girl met a turmoil that no one could have predicted her to face. It is something she will remember the rest of her days, the pain and regret will be her close companions as long as she breaths. It was a hard lesson for the girl, harder than losing her lover. The girl learnt that she can also lose her friends, no matter how close they were to her. And the man who taught that lesson was called Vandalan.
The girl has always been a master of getting herself into a trouble. On the very first autumn days she got in a row with a woman called Dernwynn. Dear Miss Celnessyn was attacked by a robber, and the girl was certain that Miss Dernwynn knew who they were; she after all was known to be dealing with the wrong side of the common laws. However, there was no information shared between the women, but threats and foul words. Thus the girl turned to a man she knew through Miss Celnessyn: Vandalan. And that is how she came to know the man much better.
The girl could not but be fascinated by this odd man. She had always liked challenges, after all. One with her beauty and charm could get almost any man under her spell. However she always found the men drooling over her to be rather boring and searched for those who did not fall on their knees when they saw her. And this particular man didn’t seem be not even slightest charmed by her beauty. No, this man did find her to be pretty, but dimwitted. And she accepted the challenge of changing his mind..
It turned out that the man wished to speak to the dead, to a former friend of his, and approached the girl in his request, as the girl was the best friend of Skarly at the time. The girl spoke to her friend about it and they made a plan. Skarly suggested that the man would be the girl’s slave for a week and the girl foolishly agreed to it. She found the thought of the man being a slave to be amusing. She didn’t give it a further thought and how the man would take it. Little did she know: it would cause a mess that would change her and Skarly’s life for eternity, and broke their friendship.
Before setting up the joke she and Skarly had create, the girl fell ill and thus she couldn’t take part in their plan. In the morning, as she was on her way to her work, she passed out on her doorsteps. The girl had a high fever and for a week she laid in her bed, not understanding much that was happening around herself. Miss Celnessyn did her best to keep her dear friend alive. After a week had passed, the fever went down and the girl came back to her senses. But what tragedy her sickness had caused: the other side of the girl’s face was swollen and red. She was certain this was caused by Dernwynn, that the woman had poisoned her drink or food. The girl had no other choice but to stay at home, shamed at her ugly face and refused to see anyone during that time.
After a month had passed, the girl finally left her home and returned to the busy life of Bree-town. At first everything seemed to be just like before: people laughed, gossiped and enjoyed their lives. Strange outsiders strut around in the Pony, demanding to be in charge. Master Butterbur was as grumpy as he was gentle at heart, and her dear friend Ellae was there to greet the girl first. Then she began to hear what had happened while she was gone. Vandalan had gone upset over the thought of being a slave for a week and had done something unforgivable: he had used a dark witch to take away Skarly’s abilities. The girl could not believe it at first. Then she was shocked that something so silly would have had such grave consequences. But to the girl’s horror, it was all true.
The girl reunited with Skarly and they set up a dangerous plan. The girl was to seduce Vandalan and this way find his weak spots in order to bring him down, to hurt him, and to return the abilities of Skarly. They agreed that they would pretend not to be friends anymore, to make it all seem more believable. They both were certain this was the best way to fix situation, despite Miss Ellae’s advice not to do it. And then began the weeks of scheming, lying and betraying that lead to a sour result: the girl lost her heart to this cruel man, Skarly got herself beaten almost to death and through that she broke her ties with the girl. In the end, the girl was left alone.
There was an incident with Terry as well. In the summer the girl had spent a lot of time with her dear friend Terry, with whom she had once shared a house with. However the girl was completely blind to the feelings Terry had developed towards her. Naturally Terry didn’t like the fact that the girl was charmed by Vandalan and not him. In fact, he was greatly hurt that the girl didn’t answer to his feelings or more likely couldn’t even seem to consider him as a man at all. As a result of his frustration Terry challenged Vandalan into a duel, even though the girl greatly objected it. Vandalan however didn’t play with fair rules and threatened the poor boy with his sword. Before the duel had a sad outcome, the girl pleaded the man to stop and submitted to do whatever he wanted. The duel was over, but so was the friendship between the girl and Terry.
All the drama led to a certain event that took place in the middle of night, no other than the girl and her loyal hound taking part in it. It was a rather cold winter midnight in a small village near Bree. The girl stood by a small lake, barefoot in her nightgown and a woven shawl wrapped tightly around her lean body. Based on how she shivered, that her lips had turned slightly blue and how her red hair had gotten frost in it, she had been outside for a while. The sky was clear and stars shone bright, but the girl did not seem to notice them. She just stared at the lake. Then at times, she took a step closer to the lake and then a step backwards. And she repeated this over and over again.
A further distance the loyal hound dog Scrap stared worriedly at the girl. He had been woken from his sleep as his mistress had leaned down to pet his head and told him that "You are my best and only friend, Scrappy, you would not ever abandon me, would you?" Scrap could not quite understand what was happening as they did not leave for a stroll nor did he receive any treats. Instead, his mistress walked in circles and cursed a man's name over and over again until suddenly she stopped by the bank of that small lake. And then she whispered.
“Don’t die if you don’t have to.”
Then she just kept staring at the lake. It was hard to say what was going on inside the girl's mind. Her almost maniacal gaze was directed towards the mid lake. She could clearly see it, as there was a clear night sky after all. After enough time had passed, the girl sighed and turned on her heels. With slow steps, she returned back inside her house and back into her bed.
After this incident, the girl no longer wished to die. Instead, she wished to mend things or at least try to. However, things did not go as the girl planned. Due to her promise to protect Terry from Vandalan, the girl had to do deeds for the man. The more the girl spent time alone with him, the less she liked him. When she slowly got to know the man behind the cold, iron mask, she realized that she had feelings for a man who did not exist. She had fallen into her own false belief of Vandalan. As she looked back her actions, she realized that perhaps it was a way for her to protect herself from her sorrow and broken heart. Now her heart was strong again and the spell was broken.
Even though she had reached the goal Skarly and she had pursued for, and managed to swim underneath the cruel man’s skin, she did not cheer for her victory. For her dear friend Skarly was no longer her friend. Her friend spoke bad words about her behind her back, did not greet her and was acting cold when spoken to. The girl tried to fix their bond, tried to reach out for her friend, but her efforts met a wall that couldn’t be crumbled. And the girl slowly gave up. At the same time she wondered, was it all really worth it? She had lost two of her best friends just to get close to that awful man and try to get Skarly’s abilities back. All for vain and in the end she was the one who was hurt the most. But she never admitted that to anyone, not even to Miss Ellae.
