TORTURE OF WATCHING HER SLOWLY DIE..

     Stepping out of the bathroom, Navi's current residence obviously isn't the guest house quarters anymore as it is a wooden house structure thats is a more spacious with a set of stairs attached to the walls leading to a cosy roof pocket.

     With less bright colours than his previous residence this new apartment holds a big bed, a remote fire place, a set of L shape couch with a centre table. Neat big cabinets for sorting clothes and a division for the kitchen. It's quite the full upgrade compared from his former quarters but Navi doesn't feel any sort of happiness concerning this so called 'upgrade'.

     The first place his eyes darts to is the big wooden bed with white covers but.. she wasn't there. His brows tightens in slight panic as he quickly scans around the apartment.

     "Mom!..", He calls out with a deep tone that's more than he should have at his age. Maybe it's because of his sleepless nights and days that his voice and bearing has undergone a new shift or maybe it's something else but his maturity doesn't hinder his concerns.

     Scuffing around, he soon gets to the closed glass window to looks outside for his mom's familiar figure which isn't indoors.

     A breath of relief soon escapes his lips as he sees her sitting on the vine swing attached to a tree branch while giving a dazed stare to the distance with her blonde hair scattering in the wind.

     Navi closes his eyes for a second before taking a step to dash out and bring her back inside because of her condition but remembering how much she hated that kind of patient treatment, he stops himself midway.

     Turning around, he hurriedly dry's himself before hanging the towel on a clothes hook as he opens up his set of cabinets from which he pulls out the first set of neatly folded simple robes he could lay his hand on.

     Within two minute, he's all dressed up. He hurriedly finds a small square jewellery case where he pulls out a very familiar teardrop pendant that serves as a token to his mother's love. After lacing the pendant on his neck with practiced ease, his legs seemed to move on their own as he soon finds himself with his hand on the door handle.

     He stays there for a while to practice a couple of warm smiles and relaxed expression and then,..

     *Creak*,.. The door opens up as he goes outside with a small smile on his face.

     Eleanora turns her gaze to him obviously made aware of his arrival by the sound of the door as she gives a small smile that causes a small crack in Navi's own.

     Eleanora, his mother looks nothing like she used to. Her normally glassy skin has turned dry, her blonde hair has lost its beautiful lustre, her eyes had barely noticeable blue veins in them and she looks like she's lost kilos' in weight.

     Her neck has a hint of blue in them and her lips were cracked and pale. Her fingers has been skimmed down to bones and skin and although her eyes weren't the same, her gaze remained unchanged. Filled with unconditional motherly love, adoration and warmth.

     Navi struggles with himself and his mind for a bit but he finally managed to pull himself together as he keeps walking to her side.

     "I really don't know why you like this vine swing so much..", Navi says something a little random to get his mother attention off him as he's afraid she might catch the anguish in his 'calm' eyes.

     "..I don't like the swing, I like the view", Eleanora replies with her voice hoarse as she shifts her attention towards the horizon.

     Although not too luxurious, Eleanora made sure they got their house on the side of a hill so she can enjoy the view of the sun rising above the forest ocean in the morning and the view of it setting over the great border walls at dusk.

     Geisha's or rather ex-Geisha's like her come in contact with a very impressive severance pay at the end of their lifetime long careers. Geisha's don't get paid monthly or annually unlike other professions but instead they receive low allowances monthly. This method is implemented to prevent them from running away or losing interest in working but at the end of their career(however long it gets), they receive enough to earn them peaceful and average life without worry for money in decades as they pass over.

     This reason is the inspiration for every Geisha to work no matter how hard it gets as they know that after retirement, they can live their lives in the most relaxing and peaceful ways.

     Eleanora being a top ranked Geisha that worked in the Guesthouse for over twenty-one years relieved quite the heavy severance. Enough to buy a moderate house and live for the next decades without worry of going hungry.

     Her status and value is very high in the business that if not for her sickness that forced her to retire three years ago, she would have raked in a much higher severance.

     Watching the sun rise and set is something Eleanora has suddenly picked up during the past few months. They say that when someone is closer to death, their attitude changes and this change in Eleanora's attitude terrifies Navi internally.

     As a smart kid, he has long found out about what had happened to lead his mother to such a state but the story he learnt isn't something he can do much about despite how badly he craves to.

     The culprits were dead so there's no-one to direct his anger to, There's no alchemy pill in the Outskirts that can cure her as the alchemists in here only deal with cultivators so they don't know how to make a pill that wouldn't directly kill a mortal like his Mom and last but not least, Eleanora.

     His mother seems to have come to peace with.. death. As her son no matter how bad it sounds he sometimes cannot help but consider her a little selfish for giving up on herself and on the future.

     Five years,.. they say she would be gone before this time limit and for this period he has been forced to participate in the torture of slowly watching her die with each rise and setting of the sun.

     Navi wants to cling on stubbornly to hope but his mind seems too mature and rigid for that. He so wants to believe that she would make it and live out her days and recover but his mind keeps reminding him that however fragile, she's already living out her days.

     "Navïælét -Vęr- Firųs..", His mother calls out in her elven tongue while still looking at the horizon. Navi hesitates a bit to respond.

His mother only calls him his full name when she's worried about something or when she's about to tell him something important.

     Navi doesn't know why but this time, it felt different. It felt more than a little off and his heart is sinking for some reason. Steeling his nerves, Navi finds his throat irregularly dry as he answers without daring to check the expression she is making..

     "Yes Mom..".