Esperanza sighed softly as she closed the huge double doors of the large stone tavern, her fingers methodically setting the locks in place, an action long familiar to them, but her mind, her thoughts, were elsewhere.

She turned around and leaned back against the door, alone in the large, warm building she had begun to call home those years ago. She walked slowly from table to table, gathering up the stray glasses and tankards left out after closing onto a tray, carrying them back to the long bar at one end of the tavern. She sighed absently once more as she looked at the mess, a small frown on her lips as she considered how much more work was ahead of her this night. Esperanza shook her head, shooing away the distracting thoughts that seemed to be occupying her mind this night. Her employer and friend, Cianna, would be back from her vacation this weekend, it would not be good to let her find the Sun and Moon a mess, but she was so tired.

"It can wait until morning," she muttered, her voice low, an unusual rumbling sound in it, almost as if she were purring the words, "I need to rest." She traced her fingers over the large sun and moon image embossed in gold and silver on the wooden counter top of the bar before turning around. She wound her way slowly through the sea of tables that littered the span of the main room, heading towards an ornate staircase at the opposite end of the tavern from the bar. Her movements were silent, every step, every movement of her lithe body displaying the eloquence of feline grace. Esperanza was not your average woman.

She was tall and slender, an air of sensuality exuding from her, even in her tired state. Long ebony black hair fell in thick waves to her waist, loose and free to float around her form. A pair of hip-hugging black leather pants that flared toward the cuff and a simple white tank-top that seemed miraculously clean for having survived a busy day of tending bar fitted snugly to her body. There was a certain feeling of strength in her lean and tone frame that suggested she could hold her own in a fight. As she began her ascent up the stairs, a glint of light flashed to the right of her leg, a jeweled dagger fitted into its sheath upon her upper thigh giving one last wink before leaving the cheer of the tavern behind.

Esperanza made her way slowly along the blackness of the long hallway stretching away from the top of the stairs, moving with the practiced ease of familiarity, with the hall or the darkness, many questioned, even less knew. She paused before a door on the left side of the hallway, her slim hand reaching for the brass knob and turning it as she pushed on the door, it wielding to her pressure to swing open. The young woman slipped inside, pushing the door closed behind her before making her way through the dark room to the small end table next to the full-sized bed. Her room was larger and more comfortable than the average one of the Sun and Moon, but she had long since earned it, and to Cianna, it was worthwhile for her to have it.

She leaned over and lit a candle that sat on the end table, a spark flashing to life to cast a gentle glow onto her softened features. Esperanza turned around and headed over to the large full-length mirror that stood across from her bed next to the second door in her room, stopping before it, she lifted her gaze to look into the intense hazel green eyes that stared back at her. She looked at her reflection, her eyes studying the woman who continued to gaze silently back at her, the candle flickering in its holder, causing unusual shadows to dance. Esperanza bowed her head for a moment as a voice sounded in the room.

"Do you even remember who you are anymore?" the voice seemed to echo before slowly fading away. Esperanza closed her eyes, squeezing them shut for an instant as a shudder wracked through her body. She lifted her head, staring back into the mirror, her reflection having been joined by another that wasn't there before, one that was very familiar to her. A man, a kindly seeming old man, sat on the edge of her bed, the candle light seeming to cast no shadows on his form as he looked at her.

"Serin..." was the only thing she could say. The old man smiled the gentle smile that was always reserved for her, and her alone. He seemed older, his blue eyes, wiser, than she remembered as they looked at each other through the mirror.

"Aye Esperanza, it seems you have not forgotten this old man. It has been a long time."

"Yes, a long time..." she murmured quietly. She kept her gaze leveled on the mirror, looking back at him as he looked back at her, his blue eyes shining with the tenderness she remembered of her mentor and guardian.

"You are forgetting, aren't you child? You are afraid you are going to lose yourself in this world, that you are already lost…" His voice was soft, a fatherly concern in his tone as he spoke.

Esperanza nodded lightly as she stared into the mirror, the amber flecks in her eyes whirling a little as she spoke again, "Yes, Serin, I am forgetting. Some things, I don't care if I forget…" her voice trailed off as she shut her eyes once more before continuing, "But the rest…I want to remember." She opened her eyes and looked back into the mirror at him.

He shook his head, "You can't remember the good without the bad. I would have hoped, child, that you would have at least not forgotten what I taught you, the need for balance in all things, but most importantly, yourself. You still harbor all that anger and hate inside of you. When are you going to forgive it? Accept it as part of who you are. After so many years, why haven't you?"

Esperanza sighed quietly as she lifted her slender hands to rest on either side of the mirror, looking from Serin's reflection to her own and staring at the familiar eyes that were not always hers. She murmured in a hushed whisper, more for herself than him, "I've tried, but I can't. I can't change anything."

"No Esperanza, you can't. So let your hate and anger go. You've been away from that source of your pain for so long. It's time you remembered, and forgave."