Loneliness burned like fire cold as ice keen as steel. The Firelink Shrine was nigh empty, its silence broken by the distant peal of blacksmith's hammer, the rasping breath of an undead merchant, yet its solitude weighed heavily upon the Fire's Keeper. Now like so many times before she felt sorrow clawing at her heart, raking its talons of frost across her ribs. Anguish defined the life of many an undead, and she was no different, for hers was a life eternal yet robbed of purpose, its joy stripped away leaving something frail, hollow, barren behind.
She had surrendered her sight, the better to become a vessel for souls, yet in so doing she had only become all the more deeply steeped in despair; she knew the Ashen's voice, but could never look upon his face; knew well the weight of his stride, how heavily grief rested upon his shoulders. She longed to embrace him, to comfort that distant warrior, bring warmth back into his empty heart, yet she could delude herself little: hers was not a place to provide comfort, but strength, nourishment from the souls he brought.
The Keeper stood with blind, sorrowful eyes downcast, pale hands clasped before her; a normal posture yet one that this time hid a most shameful bulge. Her soft, ivory cheeks had turned one of red's more adorable shades, their colour deepening all the more as the serpent between her thighs writhed and pulsed, begging for release. She hadn't sight, and therefore knew not whether she was alone; the Ashen came and went at his will not hers, and often in silence. This was not the first time such urges had struck her yet it was the most insistent.