Sunrise, Sunset (Fyr)

 Prompt: The world is changed

I have lived a very long life, its timeline only shared by a few of my colleagues within House Telvanni, the most ancient of vampires, and The Tribunal. As a result I have seen many things, some good, some bad, others neither good nor bad that simply existed at whatever time they happened to do so. One would think it would get boring after millenia, but I find there is always something to do while the days pass by- one upside of immortality I suppose. Lab work keeps one busy, particularly with a disease as nasty and difficult to treat, much less cure, as Corpus. Between treating patients in the sanitorium as best I can, researching the disease, my own lab work done out of interest in a topic, and ensuring Beyte doesn’t fill the heads of strangers with disgusting false information that result from her delusions, I'm almost always busy. One night in between watching over Valan as he recovers from yet another hard blow taken while fighting some of the Ashlander witch women found near Tel Vos and discussing the state of politics with Ayron who had brought him to me I find myself thinking about the past, the long, long life I have already lived, and the changes the world has undergone in that time. Alfe passes by the study where I sit deep in thought and I think to myself “is this the little girl I carried?” Ayron follows her, pestering her about something, as so often happens “is this the little boy at play?” I still remember when I first came across him as a young child playing out in the yard with simple magic. While still very young, relatively speaking, they look so grown up…I don't remember growing older, when did they? When did she get to be a beauty, when did he grow to be so tall? Wasn’t it just yesterday when they were small? I look at a picture sitting propped up on the desk of the girls and Ayron when they were children and think of the time that has passed since that day, sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset, swiftly flow the days. The two pass the doorway again, having not stopped their discussion, or argument, casually using words that perhaps even the most educated of human scholars would not know. Seedlings turn overnight into sunflowers, a Breton alchemist I knew once said, blossoming even while we gaze.

Each day passes slowly, sunrise sunset one after another, sunrise sunset giving way to a new day each time and after that swiftly flow the years, each day piling on top of another in an endless cycle of time and change. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears. This season seems to be one of the tearful ones, the world is changed and Dagoth Ur’s rise does not help, nor does the blight he sends upon his country to spite The Tribunal. I for one, am all for the god-kings to be removed from their high pedestal, though I would do it in a different way…perhaps hire the Morag-Tong, or The Dark Brotherhood who are more relaxed about their contracts, anything that would lessen the death toll of the innocent like the ones I care for. Having taken too much time to myself, and getting ever so slightly agitated by the two still wandering up and down the hallway talking when they should be asleep I get up and interrupt them, ending the conversation-argument and sending them off in different directions, telling Ayron to come with me while Alfe goes to see what Delte is doing when it comes to the accounting before one of them or Uupse if she has time to spare goes to fetch supplies next week. Ayron follows me quietly as I return to where I had set Valan down so I could tend to the wound he’d sustained. He seems to be asleep, resting reasonably easily save for a twitch or two here and there, as usual. Ayron watches silently from the doorway, perhaps feeling guilty for letting his friend get injured while so close to his tower. Quickly I check the wound to see how it’s healing and ensure there’s no fever and look over my shoulder briefly to see Ayron fidgeting with the sleeves of his robes as he’d often do as a child. Some things never change in a constantly changing world, even after thousands of years of sunrise and sunset day after day. For some reason I find that fact comforting, maybe I won’t in three or four millenia, or even three or four days, but for now routine in a changed and changing world is something I won’t complain about.