Return to Thalas Manse - Jy 31st ET Last Mark

[Ashari]

Coming from the streets the first thing that impressed the senses was the long lane, covered in the shade of old oak trees, allowing a coach to ride right up to the main building while feeling dwarved by the scale of the mansion.

The mansion itself was huge for the expensive ground of the Citadel where most buildings tended to expand upwards instead of horizontally. Two wings were attached to the main building, the house a shining white that looked bright in the morningtide light. The right wing had a lovely view of the Palace Garden as well as the Patrician's House of the Master of Protocol. Large green shrubbery provided a measure of privacy nonetheless. In the middle of the front garden, which was planted with a variety of roses, stood a large fountain, a dragon spewing forth water into the air. It gave the garden a nice moist touch during hot summers.

Inside the house was sumptuously furnished. The hallway was tiled with marble and stretched upwards not just to the ceiling of the first floor, but up to the second. Exposed butresses and supports gave the austere feeling of a church, while the large chandelier hung low and gave off a warm light when the candles were lit. The entire mansion held cream theme, interspersed with other colors in other rooms. Window drapings, seen from the outside, were thin and lacy on the first floor, but the second floor seemed more private with heavier fabrics. A large sitting room opened up with expansive windows into the rear lawn and palace garden, allowing the scent of the flowers to drift into the house.

Ash left the Temple of the Mother and walked back to her house. She'd been rather active this day, and thus could enjoy the cool fresh evening air, but more enjoyed the thought of getting back and putting her feet up. Pushing open the door she gave a call upstairs. "Girls?" She stood at the bottom of the stairs awaiting an answer. They both had some explaining to do, and it would be done before classes the next morning. Hopefully Paige would be among them. Shame if I have to chase you down, little lady, she thought to herself. Won't be good for either one of us.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin had been home for a bit, her initial courage of telling Ashari the heartbreaking news deflated at the absence of her mentor. Left alone with her own thoughts and grief, Aerin had done very little but sit on the foot of her bed, Cicero in her lap, her tiny companion merrily getting a bald spot rubbed into his fur by his owner’s fretful fingers.

When the call finally came, Cicero damn near found himself launched into the air from the rapidity of the girl standing. Aerin swallowed hard, a fist of pain around her throat knotted almost as tightly as the magick chokehold that she had held over Langredoc. Half in a daze, she moved toward the door, stepping through just as a few more tears trickled down her normally joyful features.

Each step down the stairs was agony for her. It was one more step closer to Ashari.

It was one step closer to telling Ashari the news.

It was one step closer to admitting the truth with her own lips as denial had been her closest companion since her encounter with Ashleigh even though the redhead had seen the body with her own eyes…

…felt the cold, stilled skin…

…pressed her face against a still soft and welcoming breast to listen to a heartbeat which never sounded.

How she wished that it were Paige calling up to them and not Ashari…

…or that Ashari’s voice was merely her calling to Aerin through another accidental run-in with White Mist, signaling that the encounter at Pan’s temple had been nothing but a fevered dream…

…but no.

Paige was dead. As much as she hated to accept it, the young Rose that Aerin had hand picked for gifting to her Mistress had wilted, her petals to bloom no more in the soft glow of ---

“Mistress…” Aerin spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “Paige… Paige is…”

She couldn’t do it. Aerin could not look into those loving eyes of Ashari and complete the thought. She remembered all too well had Ashari had reacted to Aeris’ loss.

Her hands opened and lifted toward Ashari. She was not going for a hug, although every fiber of her being screamed out for one, but rather to hold onto the hands of the one person in all of Tazlure that she saw as a pillar of support with one hand, the other pointing toward the old Red Rose Guild.

“Temple of Pan, Mistress.” Aerin squeezed out after a flicker or two of silent sobbing, citing the last place the young lady had been seen, not knowing if they would allow her body to continue to rest there or be moved elsewhere. "He was there..." she finished, hoping that Ashari would know that she was meaning Langredoc.

[Ashari]

Ashari was prepared for Aerin's slow, steady pace. It seemed her student had the good sense to fear the punishment of her mistress. This gave the mage a small sense of satisfaction, for hopefully it meant her student wouldn't disobey her further. Classes were important, and they needed to be attended. The Guild leader was fully prepared to impart this to her pupil when she noticed the darkness that hung about her - the slope of her generally high shoulders and the downcast eyes that wouldn't meet her gaze. This wasn't shame.

If there was one thing that Ashari was well trained in, it was bracing for bad news. She'd seen this face before, the anticipation of her pitying response and the discomfort of being the messenger. It was heartbreaking when Aerin's eyes finally met hers, she reached the bottom stair and grasped her mentor's hands within her own. The pit of her stomach ached.

Aerin began the difficult work of expressing the unthinkable. No! She's off on her daliance with that stupid rough neck! She screamed inside her head as her apprentice stuttered out nonsense, and finally, clarity, in the form of a single word. He. Though, she entirely misinterpreted it. "Michael Crane? He was there? He killed her? No... not Michael," she realized. "But his agent - the man with the wolf." He would die like his master. "Did he harm you? Are you ok?"

Ash pulled Aerin close to her, enveloping the redhed in a hug that she needed as much as she knew her student needed. "Shh... it's ok, it will be ok. I'm so sorry, but she goes to a better place - a place with no sorrows from her past," she whispered soothingly into the ear of the girl who she knew had grown closer to Paige than she did. Deep within Ashari's heart the hatred for Michael brewed stronger. He'd sent his man to seduce and kill her student, and she'd not done anything! "We will avenge her," she promised.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"Michael Crane? He was there? He killed her? No... not Michael, but his agent - the man with the wolf."

Aerin was still working on clearing her throat of the vice grip in which it was clenched, her soft red tresses dancing back and forth as she shook her head in response to Crane’s presence. The shaking became a nod as Ashari guessed the correct ‘he’.

"Did he harm you? Are you ok?"

Memories of the event helped to push the block aside, albeit only briefly. “Yes, Mistress…” she responded with a nod. “When I found them, she was dead…” there it was, the words finally spoken, a weight lifting slightly from her breast as the terms hit her ears. “…and he was looming over her body with his blades still bared. I demanded an explanation and he hit me, calling me a bitch and accusing me of killing her in order to draw attention from his role in the crime.” Eyes filled with sadness and loss developed a hint of anger and other emotions. “I only use daggers, which were no match for his blades, but Mistress…” she continued, a half-hearted smile tugging at her lips.

“Your lessons from last night saved me. One flicker, I was wanting to choke the life out of him and the next…” she said, flexing her right hand open and closed in remembrance. “…the next, I was doing so – without laying a hand on him.” She took a deep breath, the side-effects of her recent sobbing slowly vanishing. “I could have killed him, Mistress…” she said, the smile becoming both more apparent and more genuine. “But I had a feeling that you would want that opportunity for yourself, and so I let him live.” Aerin brushed her hands together as if wiping Langredoc’s stench off of them.

“It did feel good to watch him suffer, Mistress. No sword in his pocket could cut my vines. There were others there as well – a Pan priestess among them…not mistress Fialessa, but another…they helped subdue him, so I do not think that they played a hand in her death.”

Aerin locked her gaze with Ashari’s, if it was not already there.

“No shields, Mistress, if you want to see for yourself…”, Aerin offered, not knowing if Ashari would even want to traipse through such recent and painful memories.

[Ashari]

"Come on, let's get out of the hallway," she said and lead the young woman into the relative comfort of the sitting room that joined with the main foyer. Ashari sat Aerin down on the couch and then sat on the low table across from her. The Guildmistress wiped away Aerin's tears and offered a thin smile.

"You make me very proud - both for using your magick in such a way as well as showing restraint," she said rubbing the back of her student's hand. It was no easy task to end a man's life and Ash wouldn't have wanted her carrying the burden without need, or without purpose. "The power is vast, isn't it? Knowing that their steel cannot harm you. I wish I could've taught Paige - but, she didn't show promise for it, sadly," she commented. Of her students, Paige was the least gifted in that regard.

When Aerin offered to show her what she'd seen in her mind Ash shook her head no. "That's alright, I don't question what you saw. The priestess, did you recognize her? It wasn't Fialessa, was it Eilish? She's blonde.. and has, well.. horns. And the Wolf-Man, what came of him? Was he taken to the Gaols or freed?"

[Yelena Kintessia]

Yelena heard Aerin exit to Ashari's call, but the adhiel felt that she was not ready to face the Mistress at all. She was still crumbled on the floor clutching her knees leaning against the door. She would have to leave the room eventually so she mustered as much of her strength as she could and descended the stairs to find the other two, taking deep breaths and wiping her face along the way. The girl was just in time to catch a question as she emerged from the hallway. “Y-Yes, the blonde woman.”

[Ashari]

Ashari looked up to see Yelena wiping at her eyes and her meek voice piping in with more information and the answer to her question. By the love of the Mother, they were both there? She stood, brushing back Aerin's hair from her face like a mother would for her daughter before moving over to Yelena. "Come here, come on then," she brought the small adhiel into a gentle hug and then lead her further into the sitting room, guiding her to the spot next to Aerin. Once more, she sat on the table, a hand on one of each of the girl's knees.

With a sigh she looked between her two students. "I.. I really thought that Paige would be here when I got home - I didn't even think for a flicker that something would've happened to her, and even less did I think that you girls would get caught up in all this mess, so it's time for me to tell you a few things."

"First, and foremost, do not worry about Trevyn. I spoke to him after classes today - after you girls left, and we talked about a number of things, the most important being that this isn't the life for him. He's moved onto a different path, so don't worry. He's ok." Ash swallowed and got her game face on. It was time to talk business, and she couldn't treat these two with kid gloves any longer. It could cost them their lives. "I have some friends, one friend in particular, who is a powerful man in the Underworld in this city. He helped me when I first got here, much like I'm helping you now, but.. as is the way with powerful men, they often make powerful and dangerous enemies. These... dangerous men seek to strike us down, to hurt you girls to hurt me and in turn hurt my friend. I apologize for not telling you this sooner, but this honesty is important for us three - for us to make it through what is to come."

She gave a quick squeeze to the girls' knees, bringing them to further focus. "Paige, I'm afraid, was a casualty in this war, but I've met with my friend today and we discussed several things, including taking down the man who is responsible - the men who are responsible, for Paige's death. Will you help me to end these lives, and to ensure our safety?"

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin followed Ashari werever she led, the storm of conflicting emotions within her breast still too much to allow the redhead a taste of 'normal'. The fingers in her hair allowed some stillness of thought to trickle throughand the following touch on the knee helped even more. In other circumstances, Aerin would have been turned on by the touches, especially considering the fact that her erogenous zones tended to reach out a good distance from her physical body*, but the acts now allowed Aerin to relinquish the feeling of 'mother' from herself to Ashari, the younger woman once more seeming older as she spoke as a result.

"I.. I really thought that Paige would be here when I got home - I didn't even think for a flicker that something would've happened to her, and even less did I think that you girls would get caught up in all this mess, so it's time for me to tell you a few things."

Aerin said nothing, but studied Ashari's face as if expecting to hear the phrase "This is too dangerous and so I release you both from your studies and contracts with my apologies and best wishes." to come flying out.

"First, and foremost, do not worry about Trevyn. I spoke to him after classes today - after you girls left, and we talked about a number of things, the most important being that this isn't the life for him. He's moved onto a different path, so don't worry. He's ok."

Trevyn too? Aerin blinked, remembering his smile and always sweet words - the loss was building even more than she had imagined it able to do.

"I have some friends, one friend in particular, who is a powerful man in the Underworld in this city. He helped me when I first got here, much like I'm helping you now, but.. as is the way with powerful men, they often make powerful and dangerous enemies. These... dangerous men seek to strike us down, to hurt you girls to hurt me and in turn hurt my friend. I apologize for not telling you this sooner, but this honesty is important for us three - for us to make it through what is to come."

And here it fcomes... the order to flee... Aerin fretted

"Paige, I'm afraid, was a casualty in this war, but I've met with my friend today and we discussed several things, including taking down the man who is responsible - the men who are responsible, for Paige's death. Will you help me to end these lives, and to ensure our safety?"

Wide, tear-lined green eyes blinked twice in silence as Aerin's mind ingested, chewed, and swallowed the request, a damn-near feral smile rising to her lips in response. She would get to finish what she had started with Langredoc? There was no way in Nether that she would pass that opportunity down.

Her hand reached down and cupped Ashari's tightly. "I would be honored, Mistress, to send these two to the Nether and - for both Aeris and Paige - fucking follow them there to make sure that neither of them screwed up and got lost along the way!"

It was a promise that damn near bordered on begging.

[Ashari]

"It may be more than two, Aerin," Ash said when the woman referenced sending two from the nether. "I have to cripple their leadership and ensure that they have no means, nor mental capasity for returning the favor. This needs to be ended, and that means none will live." Ashari had been a killer before, but always out of self-defence. This was no different than that. The best defence was a good offence, and she planned to off Michael and any of his goons who were at Pier 17. She just hoped the little prick was actually there.

"Yelena, I would not force you to do anything you are uncomfortable with. This is not what you signed up for in your classes, but it is necessary for your safety, so know that whether or not you participate it will happen. You assistance would be welcome." Ash didn't worry for her own safety, but of that of her unborn child. Even that was a mild concern. She believed she could handle the junior Crane.

"We will hunt him tomorrow afternoon - after I have a meeting. I will return to the Manse and we will go from there." She would wait for Yelena to voice her involvement or not before going into further detail.

[Yelena Kintessia]

For a while now, Yelena believed that she was becoming more and more indecisive. She knew why of course. Meeting new people with different backgrounds, living in the Citadel and becoming a companion let her know that there were a lot of things that she did not have the answer to. Paige's death was dealt a hefty blow to her psyche. She had to put it in the past and move on.

As Yelena listened to Ashari her eyes widened at different points of the conversation, but the biggest was at Ashari's request to help end their lives. At first she saw it as a chance. A chance to get back at Paige's murderers. However Yelena did not know what it was like to take revenge or kill someone. Could I do something like this? I would be helping, and I do want to get back as those men...

A few burns later Yelena looked up at Ashari to give her answer. “I.. I will help.”

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"It may be more than two, Aerin,"

The redhead nodded and smiled. And this is a problem…how? Her brush with Langredoc and the power that she had wielded had served as dark bon-bons as far as easing some of the pain of Paige’s loss, Ashari’s offer a matching tub of ice cream.

"Yelena, I would not force you to do anything you are uncomfortable with. This is not what you signed up for in your classes, but it is necessary for your safety, so know that whether or not you participate it will happen. You assistance would be welcome."

Their mentor was speaking to Yelena, but Aerin listened as well, watching her fellow student’s face for signs of weakness or uncertainty. She had yet to make vocal the suspicions that she had become privy to during the fight at the temple – and certainly meant to hold her tongue in mixed company – but Aerin wondered how much of Yelena’s apprehension stemmed from being a part of a plot against Ashari and her guild and how much was just plain old fear.

"I have to cripple their leadership and ensure that they have no means, nor mental capacity for returning the favor. This needs to be ended, and that means none will live."

That made perfect sense to the redhead as she silently nodded. Just point them out, Mistress… and I will do whatever need be done… Her desire to kill had now been officially sanctioned, brightening Aerin’s spirits immediately. It was a shame that Paige had to die for such fortune but………there was that old cliché about omelets and eggs to consider, after all.

"We will hunt him tomorrow afternoon - after I have a meeting. I will return to the Manse and we will go from there."

Aerin nodded once more and looked to Yelena for her still forthcoming reaction – morbidly curious as to which ‘basket’ the shy young blond was putting her ‘eggs’. If it was Ashari’s and Aerin had just been confused, great – although she wondered how ‘hands on’ the mousy little thing could get. If the basket was secretly Crane’s, well then…accidents happen.

“I.. I will help.”

“Good…” Aerin cooed with dark anticipation in her voice. “And I do apologize, Mistress…” Aerin added, giving Yelena’s arm a little squeeze. “…for skipping class this morningtide. We both do, right? We were both worried and will not let it happen again.” She looked to Yelena and gave a smile which was still only about as sincere as she could fake.

“Thank you for your help, by the way. Had I searched alone, I probably would not have been there in time to catch him in the act.” A little more sincerity crept into her smile. If Yelena really was a counter-agent, perhaps she would be just as accidentally useful later.

[Ashari]

"Thank you both for agreeing," she said with a smile. It would go easier with their assistance.

"As to skipping class, I can forgive it this once, though as a punishment I'd like you each to write a proper letter of apology for Motley. I will send them to him. We want to stay in our teacher's good graces, don't we?" It would be a duel assignment as it would practice their writing skills as well as their etiquette in how well they were able to phrase their humility at treating him so rudely. "You should write it tomorrow after classes, while I'm out at my meeting. It will be a good relaxation for what we'll be do after," she suggested. It also meant they would be done with it sooner rather than later. "But if your mind cannot concentrate on it, then just be sure to get it done before the end of classes the day after tomorrow," she said.

Something was different between Yelena and Aerin. They'd gone through a difficult ordeal this day, and it had driven a wedge between them rather than drawn them closer. It made for Ash to wonder why. Perhaps they were both in shock of losing their fellow classmate? Questions would have to wait. The mark had grown late. "For now, though.. I believe we should all get some rest before tomorrow's classes and for what will come after them."

The guild mistress stood from her spot on the table and put one hand on the side of Yelena's face, the other on the opposing side of Aerin's. "We will be okay, I've even got a pair of fresh faces for the house stopping by tomorrow. I know it does nothing to staunch the pain of losing Paige, but we must be strong. The world will move on with or without us. This pain is temporary. It may last a flicker, a burn, a mark or a yahren, but eventually it will subside. If you quit it will last forever." Ashari looked down at them and softened the reality with a smile and then encouraged the girls to follow her upstairs and go to their rooms for a good night's rest.

"Sleep well, darlings," she called over her shoulder and then shut her bedroom door behind her. Ash hoped that the thought of new people in the house might brighten their otherwise dismal day - that and the vengeance that awaited them shortly after would put Paige's death to rest.

OOC: Fin for me! Well played, look forward to the next chapter...

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"Thank you both for agreeing. As to skipping class, I can forgive it this once, though as a punishment I'd like you each to write a proper letter of apology for Motley. I will send them to him. We want to stay in our teacher's good graces, don't we? You should write it tomorrow after classes, while I'm out at my meeting. It will be a good relaxation for what we'll be do after. But if your mind cannot concentrate on it, then just be sure to get it done before the end of classes the day after tomorrow,"

Aerin nodded at the punishment as it was true that they had been inadvertently rude to Master Motley in skipping. A letter was the least that the girls owed him, especially since their promise to Ashari to attend classes had also been a promise to him that they would be in attendance. A promise – not a half-hearted ‘if I have nothing better to do’ penciled-in arrangement. “Yes, Mistress.” she answered.

"For now, though.. I believe we should all get some rest before tomorrow's classes and for what will come after them. We will be okay, I've even got a pair of fresh faces for the house stopping by tomorrow. I know it does nothing to staunch the pain of losing Paige, but we must be strong. The world will move on with or without us. This pain is temporary. It may last a flicker, a burn, a mark or a yahren, but eventually it will subside. If you quit it will last forever."

Aerin once again nodded, ever the more surprised at her teacher’s resilience in the matter. Just like the burn marks and hole in the wall, the passing of Ashari’s love, Aeris, Paige, and Trevyn had given the younger girl more than her fair share of pain but the fact that she could put on a smile after the fact and reassure her wards let Aerin know that this, too, would pass. She took the facial caress as nothing more than a physical comfort and did brighten up a bit more when mention was made of two new students, her mind going to the rose bush in the garden which seemed to bloom even brighter and fuller than the others (at least to her) due to the dead cat buried underneath.

Death renews life… she thought in an epiphany. The new students would probably be more nurtured by herself and Yelena considering the fact that the girls had both faced their own mortality in the eyes of Langredoc. Aerin’s arm ached in remembrance, but she stayed silent about the wound. There was no need in getting Ashari worked up over more bad news. Besides, the priests at the Temple had done a pretty good job of dressing it so perhaps it would heal with Ashari being none the wiser.

"Sleep well, darlings."

Aerin had followed Ashari to the top of the stairs – the ascent being far easier then the decent – and bode her well as well, turning to Yelena once the door was closed. Ashari’s feeling was right and there was a wedge there, but Aerin was unsure how much was real and how much was imagined. Only time and actions would tell but, for the flicker, the young blond appeared to Aerin as weak and harmless as a flea on an orc’s back, and so the redhead decided to put forth a small sign of trust even if the feeling was not fully there.

With a soft smile, she raised her arms to Yelena in the offer of a hug and stated “It has been a long day and we need to talk about it on the morrow sometime. Thank you for being there with me.” Suspicions aside, Yelena’s presence had been some comfort to be true. “And Yelena…” she continued with a nod toward her door, feeling a bit motherly in the reminder of their loss and in listening to Yelena’s weak reply of assisting in the vengeance plans. “If it would help you to sleep better, my bed is open to you.”

It was not a sexual offer, although she would not refuse if it took that added step to help them both sleep, but more of the offer that a parent would give a small child during a thunderstorm. She left it to Yelena to decide before retiring for the evening to compose her letter and get some much-needed rest.

OOC: Fin for me as well.

[Yelena Kintessia]

The girl nodded in acknowledgment. Yelena was relieved to hear that they were not going to be punished severely for deserting classes. As for the apology letter, even though she had apologized to Motley during the class she felt that writing one was needed. She nodded again before Ashari left for bed. Yelena took a deep breath, not knowing if she would get any rest this night even though she was very exhausted.

With a soft smile, she raised her arms to Yelena in the offer of a hug and stated “It has been a long day and we need to talk about it on the morrow sometime. Thank you for being there with me.” Suspicions aside, Yelena’s presence had been some comfort to be true. “And Yelena…” she continued with a nod toward her door, feeling a bit motherly in the reminder of their loss and in listening to Yelena’s weak reply of assisting in the vengeance plans. “If it would help you to sleep better, my bed is open to you.”

Yelena accepted the hug, rising up from her seat,letting herself sink into Aerin's arms and placing her head on Aerin's shoulder. “It's okay Aerin... I will be fine by myself...” And she returned to her room, closing the door behind her.

ooc: fin!