That's the title of the fantasy script I'm writing for Script Frenzy next month. Giving up on a synopsis, it was suggested to me that I write a treatment; which is like a complete summary of everything that happens in the script, without actual dialogue. This suited me, and so I thought I'd stick it here for feedback. I do have ulterior motives... I abruptly found myself without a satisfactory ending...

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Fire

A nobleman and his lady wife are on a diplomatic mission as the sun sets. They confer in low voices, clearly worried that there is nowhere to stop, and dark is already falling. Their fears are confirmed when bandits spring out of the bushes on either side of the road, attacking and killing them both. They take the papers out of the nobleman's pouch and feel. From a ditch where her mother hid her, a terrified little girl watches...

Maream wakes up from a nightmare, whimpering and kicking, but she's tangled in the sheets and can't get free. Someone on the bed next to her tells her to shut up, and she sits up, brushing her damp brown hair off her forehead. She's the little girl, all grown up. She unwraps the sheets from her legs, and grabs a practice sword that leans against the wall at the head of her bed, leaving the dormitory.

The practice yard outside is quiet and cool. Gray stone walls are lit by moonlight, and the dust of the yard has settled under the dew. Dressed only in her chemise and petticoat Maraem commences a simple practice drill, swinging her sword at a wooden post. There's a dull clang when metal hits the hardened wood, but it does not disturb the night.

Above, in a window overlooking the yard, a young man in a teacher's uniform watches.

The following day the students train. This is the Schaldon Battleschool, where only the best come to study. An indoor training room is filled with the best and brightest students of them all, lined up for examination. The battlemaster walks down the line, inspecting them. Drill is called, and they take position, facing each other for a fencing match. Their instructor calls the matches, and they commence. The battlemaster sits at a table with several well dressed evaluators and watches.

Maream is fighting with a determined expression on her face. She finishes off her first opponent and goes onto the the next. The evaluators watch. She defeats her second opponent but turns and finds herself facing the instructor. Despite her best efforts the instructor defeats her easily. She leaves the training room in defiant anger, but it quickly dissolves into despair and tears.

The battlemaster lectures Maream. She is impulsive and uncontrolled. He has tried to instruct her in the past, but she doesn't lisen. Her habit of leaping before she looks will get her killed on her first real assignment. She shows potential, real potential, but unless she can learn to control herself she can never achieve the rank she so ardently desires. Maream talks back, angry and defiant, and the battlemaster orders her to report to one of the lower classes. Once she has learned her lesson he will consider reinstating her among the elite, but there's nothing further he can do with her here. Chin high, she leaves his office.

She returns to the dormitory where she packs her few belongings.

Alone in the world again she leaves the school without looking back.

Lady Delya Tremont rides down a country road in the best of spirits. Ahead of her is a figure on foot. At first assuming it's a tramp Delya intends to ride past her, but upon coming abreast she realizes it's a young woman, no older than she is, carrying little else besides a battle sword.

Delya stops, and despite Maream's gruff behavior, extends her friendship and that of her father. Begrudgingly Maream agrees to come back to the castle, accepting Delya's promise to speak to her father about joining his personal guards. They ride back together, and gradually Maream warms up. She doesn't speak about herself or her past, but she finds some things she has in common with this noblewoman, and begins to hope she can stay.

Delya leaves her new friend in the great hall and goes to speak to her father in person. Standing before the fire is Dumond Se Lac, the captain of the lord's guards. He strikes up a conversation, waiting to reveal this fact until he's tested Maream's skill. They find they are a match for each other's wit, and he tells her he can continue her studies where she left off, guaranteeing her a place in the guard.

Dumond and Maream become inseperable as winter fades and spring comes. Maream still talks little about herself, lying about why she left the battleschool. Dumond has the same issue with her rash behavior that her previous instructors did, but she listens to him, the way she never did to the Battlemaster. She laughs and smiles when she's around him, and the rest of the lord's household smiles to themselves knowingly.

The nightmares don't stay away, though. One night Maream wakes up screaming. The sound cuts out abruptly, and she is torn between embarrassment at anyone knowing she has such frightening dreams and genuine fear at being alone in her dark bedroom. Gathering a cloak around her she goes down the courtyard. The scene is almost the same as the day before she left the battleschool. The stone courtyard is moonlit and empty, but instead of fighting she curls up on a bench by the wall and cries.

Dumond finds her, and his usual teasing dies away in genuine concern. He says nothing, but he sits beside her, holding her until her crying stops. He begs her to tell him what is wrong, vowing to do anything in his power to help her, admitting his love. Still shaken emotionally, and torn by her own feelings for him, Maream is at her most vulnerable. She tells him the entire story; the horrible murders she witnessed, and ends by admitting what she's told no one else since she started out on her own. She can remember nothing prior to the day her parents were murdered. She barely remembers them as her parents. She doesn't even know her own name. Maream is the name she was given by the village headmaster who found her parents bodies, and found her lying stunned in the bushes beside them.

She admits what she's never dared to speak before; that her only goal in life is to find the man who murdered her parents. That is why she trained so hard at battle school. She will find him, and tell him exactly what he did to her, and make him pay a price as high as the one she has. She tells Dumond she had sworn to tell no one the truth except the murderer, and admits that she's willing to give up her dream of revenge for his sake. She, too, is in love.

Dumond promises he will never desert her. He promises to speak to Lord Tremont in the morning about their marriage. He turns her fear into joy, and she smiles and falls asleep in his arms.

She wakes up in the morning, cold and alone. The courtyard is deserted, and the only trace of Dumond is the cloak he left covering her. Frightened, but still hopeful she goes into the castle, expecting to find him there, like the first time he met. He isn't there, and no one knows where he's gone. She is hysterical by the time she finds Delya, and it is a while before her friend can make out the story.

Time goes by and no one knows what became of Dumond.

Ice

Months pass. Summer fades into autumn, and Maream grows restless. She is quiet now. She doesn't laugh, or argue. She still trains diligently, but her skill is unmatched by anyone in Lord Tremont's guard. She sleeps peacefully at night, but her nightmares are not forgotten. She is polite when she has to be, but she never speaks unless spoken to.

One day Lord Tremont sends for her and offers her Dumond's position as the captain of the guard. She declines and asks permission to leave. He expresses his regret, but requests and explanation. Maream hesitates. Neither of her reasons she particularly wants to admit to. Understanding, Lord Tremont asks if it's because of Dumond. Breaking down Maream admits that she can't bear to stay here anymore, because every time she turns around she expects to see him standing in some familiar place, talking to her again. Tremont releases her from her allegiance to him, gives her several rich gifts, and allows her to leave.

Delya is heartbroken to hear that her friend is leaving. She asks; what will Maream do, alone again? Maream hesitates, staring out in the distant cold. Finally she admits that she's going to complete some unfinished business, and track down her parents assassin. Delya has no answer to that, and doesn't press for details.

Alone again, Maream drifts through the world without any real plans or destination. She doesn't know where to start her search, for she doesn't even know her parents name, or what they were doing. She stops a tavern brawl one night with only a few words. Marveling the tavern keeper asks her who she is and where she is going. She shakes her head. Nadia, she says. I am no one.

A knight on the road to citadel asks her to join him, promising her all the wealth she can imagine. She shakes her head. When he threatens her she defeats him, and leaves him stunned on the road behind her.

The threat of war spreads over the land. An underlord is suspected of sabotaging a peace attempt with the neighboring kingdom. Wild speculation begins all over about a treaty that was lost almost twenty years ago. The messengers simply disappeared, the treaty with them. No one every found out who was responsible.

A report is abroad of a daring assassination attempt that almost took the life of the king's oldest son, only ten years old. The assassin was wounded in the encounter, he'll have a nice identifying scar after this, the reporter chuckles. It sounds like the same kind of work Shadow used to do, someone comments. Who is Shadow, Maream wants to know. Everyone is surprised when she speaks. She does not repeat her question, but waits stoically for the answer. Suddenly uncomfortable, the informer stammers over his explanation. He was an infamous assassin who's services where much sought after, once. He disappeared many years ago, and everyone assumed he was dead or retired. Odd that he should resurface now.

Odd indeed, Maream thinks suspiciously. Very odd.

Everyone is afraid for the little prince. His guard has been doubled, but there is no doubt that the Shadow will strike again. Maream journey's to the Citadel to look for information, and to offer her services. The more inquiries she makes the more it begins to come together. She confirms to the king's own Council that the messengers with the peace treaty were murdered by the Shadow, and one mystery is solved. They agree to let her join the prince's guard, and set a trap for the assassin she has vowed to kill.

She is crisp, almost hostile to those she works with. As they wait for the assassin to strike again she begins to realize the curse that has been following her since she left Tremont; she's lonely. No one wants to be with her, or talk to her. She says she doesn't want to talk to them, but sometimes that's not always true. One of the counselors to the king takes her aside one day, and tells her she needs to let go of her hate, or this quest for revenge will destroy her. She does not become upset or angry as she did in the past, she simply dismisses him, and ignores his words.

Then the Shadow returns, and despite their trap, he escapes. Maream does not wait for orders, as the others do, she chases him back into the forest, unwilling to let him escape. It's the middle of the night, it's dark and she's alone, but this is what she's trained for all her life, and she catches him. He finds himself helpless, for she seems to understand all of his attack methods. Within minutes she's injured and disarmed him. He begs her to let him go, but is powerless to prevent her from unmasking him. She holds a light to his face and her world shatters around her.

It is Dumond.

<Commercial break! Just kidding... this is a movie, not a TV episode. Although this is the perfect moment for one of those dramatic music, black out scenes, the only way to duplicate that in a movie is to cut to another scene, which we're not doing.>

Dumond is as horrified as Maream. She tries to kill him on the spot, but her pent up emotions get the better of her, and she misses. Struggling out of her reach Dumond tries to explain, but she's hysterical and won't listen. He claims he has done nothing wrong. It's just a job, he says. She fights for one side, and he fights for the other. If the king commanded her to commit an assassination she would do it, wouldn't she? Begrudgingly she admits that, and then accuses him of killing her parents.

He is grief-stricken at her accusation. It's true, he tells her. Of course it's true, he can't deny it. He didn't know. He had no idea. He didn't want to hurt her... that's why he left. He couldn't bear the guilt of loving her with that on his conscience, he knew she would never forgive him if he confessed.

You got that right, she snarls.

But he asks her anyway. He begs. She refuses, and prepares to kill him. He asks her to wait, finally holding out the one thing she craves above any other; her name, and her parents name. Her entire lost history. He knows it all.

She drops her sword, and weeps. He kneels next to her, and whispers names in her ear, names that should be as familiar as her own, history and events. He studied his victims for months before he attacked, knowing their plans as precisely as the ones who sent them. As he speaks she remembers.

Flashing of home, of laughter. The love her father showed her mother. Her nurse, who tucked her in at night. A favorite teddy bear.

Dumond keeps talking. She remembers, the mission, the journey, the strange things she saw. She remembers the night they died. When she finally looks up, looking for comfort, Dumond is gone again.

This is a brilliant story idea, Vanya.

Is it supposed to be a tragedy, or will it have a happy ending? Or is that supposed to be the ending, where he disappears?