Deep emerald green eyes stared out over the water, not really seeing the waves... or the gulls... or even the overcast skies. No, those eyes were locked on something from an entirely different time.

Her face. It had been so frightened, so much in pain. He almost hadn't been able to look at her. But he did. He'd stayed by her side, held her hand, until it was over. He had stayed with her until the very end... the very end.

He shut his eyes, closing them against another wave of pain. A shard of ice was piercing his heart, he was sure of it. And with every thought of that day, oh so long ago, he drove that shard in even deeper.

It had hurt her to see him, to know just how much he had loved her. When he first appeared at her bedside, the look in her eyes told him everything. It told him of the agony she knew, having loved him just as deeply as he loved her and yet being forced to marry another man. That pain alone would have killed her eventually.

But he had been there when it mattered most. She wasn't alone when she... when she...

A hand touched his shoulder gently. Kel opened his eyes and turned to see Raz standing there.

"It was today, wasn't it? It... still hurts?"

"Yes," Kel murmured, turning back to the sea. "And it always will, my brother. It always will."