?It?s late? I should be sleeping now, but I can?t. I just can?t? It?s been a few hours since Jewell told us what happened to her children? Our children? I say ours because they were our family and so much more. They were many things? Our hope, a light that end of a bad tunnel, a bright smile that made everything just that much less harsh in this world we?ve bled, sweated and---?

?They were her world? They were Jewell?s world. I have to believe that, even if she didn?t act like it. I have to believe that. I know she never ?meant? for them to be taken from us in the first place. I know she never meant for them to have their lives torn from them?murdered. I know none of it was meant to happen. But it did, and here we are. Dealing with the fact that we?ve not lost all seven of our own once?but twice now.?

?And unlike their mother--- there seems to be no coming back for them.?

?I?m standing here--- in a room, that I?d hope to not be in for a very long time. A mantle stands before me, names?pictures--- documents of those who?d been taken from us, over the course of our---journey.?

?Midara? Erik? Merille? Jitter? Thyme? Emma? Devon? To name a few, truth be told there are more?more than even I would care to admit to. More than even my own wife knows of. And now I add seven more names, that I?d once removed.?

?Amanda Ravenlock, Brian Moradin Ravenlock, Eva Jade Colista Ravenlock, Oz Colista Ravenlock, Raven Colista Ravenlock, Kerrick Alexander Ravenlock, Devyn Jewell Ravenlock.?

?An entire generation, taken??

?I still can?t fathom it? Jenai can?t as well, and believe me we?ve tried. Really we did.?

?I had questions? I still have so many questions. Why didn?t she ask for any help? Why didn?t she at least send word? Why didn?t drop any hints what so ever to ANY of us!? We?re her family, we?re supposed to be there?why couldn?t she say anything to anyone??

?Her answers to some of those question, only serve to piss me off that much more??

?They were killed when they were brought to Faerie, years ago? When you have the court of Faerie standing between you and your children you tell me how you manage to keep tabs on them? I?ve known (they were dead) since February??

"The fact that she had the nerve to laugh in some form of defense, made things just that much worse?"

"Calling everything we?d been through for the last few years ?antics?? Again, another defense mechanism and a poor one at that."

?Asking where we were when the children were taken and the house burned down? I know where the ^&%$ we were, we were here in Rhy?Din, ready to do whatever it would take to help her, if she?d only reached out to us.?

?No? That?s not true? I wasn?t here. I wasn?t? I?d been taken myself, to Darkwood. Courtesy of Raven? Just another antic, according to Jewell.?

?But the rest of us were in fact here. Jenai was here, Lain, Tara, friends, Allies?her own husband! She had resources.?

?So she decided to do everything herself, leaving everyone out of the loop and she has the nerve to ask where the ^&%$ we were??

?I don?t believe the children being taken was any kind of a sneak attack what so ever. This had been brewing. She knew something was amiss and who knows what would have happened, had anyone else been able to have actually had a chance to know what the hell was going in. Perhaps when they made their play here, something could have been done to protect the kids. Then again, maybe not? What I do know, is that Jewell hasn?t been the same since her return. There?s a lot more she?s not shared, than she did share when it comes to any of that. I?ve seen her party? Host events? Life the life? Hardly reach out to anyone save her own circle of friends. I?ve seen her laugh and play it all up and it was bull&*^%, absolute bull&*^%.?

?It was as false as her glamour??

?And here we all are, dealing with the fact that we lost seven of our own and had no hand in at the very least trying to lend a hand of any kind??

?And her? Jewell? She has to live with that more than anyone and I get that, I really do.?

?Because it was on her watch, their lives ended.?

?She acts as if Jenai and I hadn?t gone after our own?after our children. She acts as if no one could relate to what she went through in her attempts to regain her children. She?s full of ^&%$ , too??

?Jenai was forced to sacrifice herself, in order to finally see me brought back from Darkenwood. She did so again, when Raven took me and laid siege to the city?she gave up her own being? She fought tooth and claw, blood and bone? She made deals with the likes of things that I even think Renna herself would have had difficulty with. I?I had to do much of the same, quite the testament since I lost my hand and part of my leg when the twins were taken by Bhaalites, two years ago.?

?Those were hardly the only times we were forced to do such things? And I know this isn?t the first time Jewell?s been backed into such a wall.?

"This isn't keeping score, however... It's fact."

?Odds stacked against us? Yes. Told we?ll never succeed? Yes. Told everything was impossible? Yes. Felt like giving in and just dying, thinking that just might be easier? As much as I?d hate to admit it? Yes, at times.?

?We?ve all been there? We?ve fought and one, we?ve fought and lost. We---?

Another sigh could be heard?

?We reached out to anyone--- anything that could help us, no matter how little that help might have been? we called out. We begged, borrowed, stole? We did whatever it took, it didn?t matter what was ahead of us.?

?She didn?t do that? I know for a fact she didn?t do that.?

?That?s what makes all of this?on her.?

?It breaks my heart? As a brother?a friend?a father?an uncle? It kills me inside to know she was suffering that way, that they were suffering that way? and we didn?t even know.?

?What I did know, is that on her return Jewell and I did talk of the children and getting them back. She told me she?d let us know, that was it. Now I realize they were already dead? She didn?t know then, but since that talk, no one knew hide or hair of what was going on in regards to her getting them back. Each time we?d seen her, as briefly as that was mind you?it was at events, or parties? Seeing her in the Inn on occasion. Time and again she was invited to visit, talk?whatever. Time and again, nothing. Until tonight when she broke the news, which was four months after the fact. I can?t imagine what that felt like??

?But I also won?t coddle her for it, either.?

?She chose to delay? Chose to not share? Chose to not seek help? A pattern, that?s been no different for years, when it came to many other things? save this time--- it cost them all.?

?She said I deserved to know? That?s why she came. I half believe that? This was a hurdle for her, one she needed to clear. One that only she could clear on her own. Same as the rest of her life from here on out??

?So I cut her loose.?

?I told her?never to come back. Told her, I was done with her? Told her if I ever saw her again I?d--- I got carried away.?

?Jenai agrees, I did get carried away? Emotions were high? But the sentiment, that remains. I had to cut her loose. She has to do whatever she has to on her own, same as how she did before. Same as Alex did before her, same as myself. We can?t hold her--- not now, not anytime soon. Because it isn?t about what happened.?

?It?s about what she does here on out??

?And what she?s been doing was a lie? She was trying to cope in the most blatant of facades. It was bull^&%$.?

?She?s lost everything--- now it?s time for her to dust herself off? Stand back up? And strike back with everything she has in this world and the next, even if I?m one of those things she decides to strike back against.?

?I love Jewell? I love her so much that it killed me inside to send her away like that? But it had to be done, even if it makes me look like a horrid-uncaring soul of a bastard, it had to be done.?

?She?d agree with me, even if Jewell thinks she?d hate me for it.?

?Because Ravenlocks aren?t cowards??