The painful war upon HER flesh by three against one ended 

with HER blood spilled.

SHE walks barefoot behind Him 

through the frost that will not fade until spring.

He tells HER to commit violence,

shows HER with swift movement and a gentle caress the blows to be dealt. 

Laying on the ground, spine straight,

HER head cradled in His hand, 

His heartbeat pulls away.

HER heart keens as She asked, "Do you miss her?"

Silence...

The painful war upon Her soul by His beloved ghost continues 

with HER love spilled.

 V v v v v v v V 

/\ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^/\

Hewn wood holds Her enemy's head.

He can't go out the front door anymore.

He doesn't want to see the eyes, He once looked into adoringly, pecked out by ravens.

He doesn't want to see the lips, He never kissed, chewed by scavengers.

 She once mocked her, "Tell your mate, no one will love his brother more than you."  

He fell in love with his brother's mate 

and she went to the Moon tainted with her mate's brother's seed.

she carried both their transgressions into judgement 

because

He never touched her 

and yet He blames Himself for her death.

He regrets loving her as HER heartbeat walks away,

refusing to share anything they shared with HIM...

They grind against each other like tectonic plates.

  V v v v v v v V

/\ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^/\

A simple dinner with His brother brings questions about Her dress

She tells the story woven into the cloth, beauty passed down for generations.

Every stitch, every bead, holds meaning, made with love, 

for the eldest daughter, Her Lineage.

His brother draws more from Her before dinner is eaten 

than He has in all Their anguished hours.

He realizes too late the reverence belonging to Her single chest of possessions,

those dresses were not meant to be daily worn and the loss of them is His fault 

because He snatched Her away too quickly.

She declares She can't forgive Him and silence returns between Them,

As His brother admires the story of Her mother's birth and the tree Her grandmother planted.

V v v v v v v V

/\ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^/\

Autumn fades and winter brings snow that Bessa from across the sea has never seen.

She plays in the white coldness like a child, He laughs within at Her innocence.

She fights like warrior and He always says, "You fought well," 

As They leave the community table behind 

To return home to Their meager rations.

He burned what she prepared so They won't be tempted.

Daylight fades and darkness brings a night like Bessa from across the sea has never seen.

His hunts fail, even with rationing They starve. 

She repairs His boots with strands from Her ruined Lineage, 

The only possessions of Bessa from across the sea.

Silk tightly binding leather to keep the snow out, 

Repairing them as She has everything He made her.

One last hunt brings bounty that will be gone too soon, like the light.

As the long night stretches, She asks, "Will we die?"

He answers, "We will starve, but we will not die."

"I have never starved before," She admits, 

But doesn't add that She is starving for more than food.

Trapped by darkness, Her interrogations begin again,

To keep Her from giving Him the kiss He asked for,

to remind Him that she still takes up space in His heart.

A space that Bessa from across the sea wishes She had never seen.

V v v v v v v V

/\ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^/\

her ghost distracts Her from Her starvation as Their bodies wither.

She reminds Him that she still dwells in His heart

she still shares HER space even though she is gone.

The darkness isn't only outside with The Night.

The fury isn't only brought by Nature.

Her taunts draw out His Wild.

Teeth finding purchase in the mark It made on Her neck before

His Skin returns and the green of His eyes is lost 

to jealousy and desire,

Flesh wanting flesh but silk slides between Them.

Her moaning words stop His needfulness, 

Digging in sharper than Her silver,

Reminding she is still there,

living in Him.

V v v v v v v V

/\ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^/\

Darkness...

winter...

They are not as desolate as Her heart

so carefully preserved for HIM.

Rationed hunger... 

Gnawing them both to the marrow

As they chew bones, 

He gives Her more...

Starvation...

Her body following Her spirit into the sensation of dying. 

 Flesh melting away for lack of substance,

Their Future melted away for His lack of patience.

She waited, He did not.

Trapped by the Night,

They wait together in misery, 

For light,

for life,

For the long dark to be over within Her heart and beyond His home...

He waits for His springtime, 

For love and hope,

For forgiveness,

From Her...

Light...

It is there on the horizon. 

She can see the season ending, 

but winter remains in Her soul.

They lived through the long dark, 

but Her withered heart dies slowly,

since He carelessly gave Their light away.

He gave His Love to another first

and she is still with Them.

Ghosts know no seasons.

they live in spaces not meant for them,

and even in the embrace of mates who survived the long dark night.