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Chapter Thirty-One: Less Than One Full Moon Cycle
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2021-09-10 20:15:12The light in the courtyard was a pale mauve and the air was cool. The Between Realm had distorted time but it seemed that an entire day had passed. The day of Madame Skia’s execution. Here stood Madame Skia now though, in front of Ilyria. Ilyria knew it was her and yet she did not look the same. She had been a large woman with double chins and heavy make-up. But this woman was voluptuous, ageless, and entirely free of make-up. Her silver hair lay in curls close to her head. Ilyria remembered the day when Dirk had struck her, how her form had seemed to shift before Ilyria's eyes, the wound Dirk had dealt her healing as she watched.
Madame Skia allowed Ilyria to stare, smiling with something like patience.
“This is who you really are?” asked Ilyria.
“It is who I was,” said Madame Skia, “The other version is who I need to be here, in Idixat, working.”
“But why?”
Madame Skia linked her arm in Ilyria’s and began walking her toward the dining hall.
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