The Dark Lady

chronicle of Leonardo, who continues to wander the galaxy shunned and alone, whose name may never again be uttered by any member of his House or Family, and whose sins are beyond number.
    Many times after I left Solitaire in the company of Valentine Heath I considered performing the ritual of suicide, but always I was ethically compelled to await the end of my suspension from Claiborne and the fulfillment of my contract. And when the day finally came that my employment was officially terminated, I realized that if I was no longer a Bjornn, I was no longer required to abide by Bjornn customs.
    Heath and I moved from planet to planet for three years, always one step ahead of the police, while I apprenticed myself to the only trade for which I was qualified. It was during this time— more from the boredom of travel on his small ship than for any other reason, or so I thought— that I began drawing a series of sketches of the Dark Lady, trying but never quite succeeding in capturing her elusive beauty.
    Then one day Heath was apprehended, and I found myself totally alone. It was then that I realized what my true mission in life was, why events had conspired to place me on Solitaire on that fatal day, why she had appeared to me in a vision, and what it was that she wanted of me.
    There have been many portraits of her, and always she has been portrayed with a hauntingly sad expression on her face. With Kobrynski and Venzia dead and Heath in prison, only I can paint her as she last appeared, and as she will appear for the rest of Time.
    It will take me many attempts and many years, for I am as clumsy in my painting as I am in all other things. But someday I shall succeed— for only then, with the completion of the last portrait of the Dark Lady and its juxtaposition to all the others, will both of our odysseys finally be complete.

    -The End-

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