> Slowly J'layah stopped, and as she looked at Heeram Thule, the man who had
> taken her sister and haunted her thoughts, she realized that he was dead.
-------------------
J'layah's initial reaction was one of disbelief, followed closely by
rage.  Using her dagger she slashed the ropes binding Thule, grabbed his
corpse by the shoulders and shook him like a rag doll.  "No!  Curse
you!  I did not come all the way to this sodding boneyard only to have
you die on me, you pox-ridden, maggot-eaten, stinking son-of-a-whore!" 
Of course, Thule had nothing to say on the matter, and his head lolled
limply from side to side with every shake, lending an almost comical air
to the situation.  The barrage of insults continued; some coarse enough
to make a hardened sailor blush.  Standing nearby, Twilight regarded the
tirade with raised eyebrows.  In all her travels she'd seen many a woman
become hysterical over the recently departed, but this was by far the
worst case of Post Mortem Stress (PMS) she'd ever witnessed.

Presently J'layah calmed down sufficiently to gather her wits, and she
let Thule's body fall - none too gently, to the ground. It landed with a
"crump" next to his bejewelled leather eye-patch; now cracked and
dusty.  She couldn't resist a final curse: "May the worms devour your
foul flesh and the ravens peck out your eyes......er, eye!"  So saying,
she leaned over to spit on him when she glimpsed something; a spark
perhaps, in the depths of his death-glazed eye.  Heart in mouth and
gripping her dagger she felt for a pulse: nothing.  Thule was most
definitely dead.  Certain she had imagined the whole thing (this was a
*very* strange place after all), J'layah leaned closer and looked
again.  The spark was still there, flickering like a distant star.  Why
it had an almost hypnotic quality to it. So....pretty......

Meanwhile, Twilight had noticed the mirage-like shimmer heralding the
others' arrival nearby, and she moved swiftly to meet them.  Balefire;
sword drawn, appeared ready for anything, but he was looking around in
alarm.  "Mea!  Mea is not with us!  What has transpired here...?" 
Indeed, the lovely elf was nowhere to be seen.  They conducted a quick
but futile search of the surrounding area, before Twilight led the party
to Thule's corpse, describing his final, cryptic words as they walked. 
J'layah had lain him on his back with arms crossed over his chest,
replaced his dusty eye patch and was still kneeling over the body,
apparently deep in thought.  She jumped at Twilight's gentle shoulder
tap. "Wha...?  Oh, I was just...preparing him for burial.  He has
certainly suffered aplenty, and is no longer of any threat to us."  She
looked up at her companions and frowned. "Where is Mea?"