Cheline lies with her head in Vanna's lap, her body half-feathered and half-decayed, showing exposed white bones through holes in her skin. Her tail feathers remain, fanned out behind her on the stone floor. Feathers and bandages lie scattered around. Vanna sits with her hands raised, unsure of what to do, as Cheline speaks.
Cheline: I had it all figured out: Cheth would be quarantined until he regained his senses. I could manage on my own for a short while. Surely I could.
Vanna looks down with her hands held up, sweating, looking terrified.
Cheline (offscreen): The half-breed's punishment would be to aid me. A small fee for luring Cheth away from his duties.
Vanna clasps her hands together and looks to the side, trying to figure out what to do.
Cheline (offscreen): But then she had the gall to DIE, and leave me here with her MESS. And so my burdens became too much to bear.
Vanna looks down, less pained and more pensive. She raises a hand, very unconfidently.
Cheline (offscreen): The half-breed's presence haunted me. No one would let me forget her face. And so I tried to smother her memory. Make it as if she had never existed. I tried everything. Nothing worked. Her name, echoed on the wind... her symbols, scrawled in sea caves... her body, carved into statues I promptly defaced.
Vanna lowers her hand toward Cheline's head in her lap, shaking and sweating.
Cheline: Humanity had their messiah... and they loved her into immortality.
