Unraveling where we went wrong

<sub>Night lift up the shades
Let in the brilliant light of morning
But steady there now
For I am weak and starving for mercy
Sleep has left me alone
To carry the weight of unraveling where we went wrong
It's all I can do to hang on
To keep me from falling
Into old familiar shoes

How stupid could I be
A simpleton could see
That you're no good for me
But you're the only one I see...
~Sarah McLachlan, "Stupid"</sub>

Another Urban-Arcana-era picture, from the aftermath of Trean and Zarael's whirlwind relationship. After they fought each other and Trean emerged victorious, she couldn't bear to kill him, so she arranged for Orethiel (whom you might remember from the Astral Arcana prologue as the UEE's elected queen), a skilled mage, to put him into a magical stasis. Because of his importance as a figurehead in the Shadowkind community and to foster the budding relationship between Shadow and humanity, Trean and Orethiel decided not to reveal the truth of Zarael's betrayal, telling everyone he'd been martyred in battle. As he was presumed "dead", Trean ended up inheriting most of his estate, including ownership of his home in downtown Boston, this building (which actually does exist, I was just there today!): [link]

So this is Trean moving all of her stuff into her new place (which should explain the bare shelves and boxes), angsting and beating herself up about the whole sordid affair, and Orethiel granting some much-needed solace. It occurred to me that even though Orethiel was a major character in Urban Arcana, I've never actually FINISHED a picture of her. So here you go. (If you're curious about the bindi-thing on her forehead, it's a cultural thing; her elven subrace on the other side of Shadow often wore such things, and after she crossed over she adopted the tradition.)

Pen and PS. It's ABSURD how long this took. Backgrounds, man.