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Nailah rocked back on her heels a swarm of images finding their way into her mind. She saw all sorts of evils and she closed her eyes. Her hands clenched each other and she felt the fear build. She heard cruel laughter within the recesses of her mind and her hands clutched each other tighter. She took a deep breath and laid her hands on the stone floor trying to focus but her eyes glazed over. She had to get control and she had to do it now. She blinked her eyes once and sighed with relief when the kitchen came back into focus. She looked down at Cymarron pain clear on her face. "Cymarron....the horrors..."

Ke'Nel walked over to Nailah, and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. He whispered an old elvish song into her ears, a calming tone...

He calmed under the song and gentle petting, looking at Nailah. how did she know? better not to question. he simply clung to Aura, unbtil his noticed that Ecara and Eclipse were there and that Ecara had obviously not simply been handed over to someone.

"Cymarron..apologizes if he hurt anyone.."

He was still shaking, but not nearly as bad as before, and seemed to at least be more aware of his surroundings.

Eclipse looked from the child that he was sitting next to and hand a wing draped around. Then to Cymarron. "Everyone's alright, seems you're the only one who got the short end of the stick." He was half temped to ask what it was, but knew better than to drag out unwanted information.

Aura merely continued with her comforting, adding to scratching behind his ears a little. "Calm down Cymarron. You're safe." Whether or not he understood she didn't know, but the dead Egyptian spoken language always seemed to have a calming effect on others with its sound.

Ecara watched Cymarron from her blanket of feathers courtesy Eclipse. And rather intently her eyes reflecting something between fascination and fear.

The elf watched the girl walk off, and noted the pained step. She's a psion...

The earth felt somewhat warm, and the air had a tint of lure.. The scent of ancient evils was very strong, the elf closed his eyes, and fell into his vision...

The manor was peaceful, the room was warm and comfortable. The wolf lay by the fire, and the manorites minus Nelphean were gathered by the fire... The walls collapsed, and the image of Nelphean battling four fiends captured the background, but the people in the manor could not see or hear it. Ke'Nel watched the battle unfold, ending with the death of the brave elf...

Another image appeared to Ke'Nel, with Bastet fighting beside the aloof elf. This time, he fared far better...

"There is hope as long as love remains strong." Ke'Nel said calmly, and walked out of the kitchen and into the yard.

Standing, she pulled Cymarron up with her, brushing at the fur around his eyes so that she could see them. "Believe me Cymarron. You're family here...your pack as you put it. You know we'll always be here to protect and help you. Whoever threatens one, threatens us all. And we can't have that now can we?" A smile of comfort to the feline kin man. Pulling his arm over her shoulders, and letting him lean on her for support she led him from the kitchen, and thus out into the courtyard. She figured he'd be most comfortable in his den. Stopping before the entrance to the Cymarron dug room she steadied him. "Remember that Cymarron. Now get some sleep, rest. If you need anything...we're all just a breath away." Another smile of reassurance and she laid a hand to his cheek in comforting fashion. Then she turned away from him and back into the manor she walked. For a moment she stopped in the kitchen. "Eclipse...take Ecara to the room you two have been staying in. Keep her there. You stay there too...and I'm closing the link between us for a while...don't ask, just please." Then out of the kitchen she went as well and down the hall, till she reached her room and almost hesitantly entered it.

((Mwhaha, one finale puzzle piece...but tomorrow. Night guys!))

Silence reigned in the hall outside of Aurahkah's room. Then the sound of slightly raised voices. Then, a dull yelling could barely be heard from behind the wood of her door, two voices. She couldn't of been in there more than a half hour before she emerged from that room, looking almost more broken than before...and yet not. Her steps lead her back to the kitchen where she sunk down in a chair at the table, eyes closing.

"How dare you...How dare you force me to choose between you and Ecara."

"It's not like she's your child, she's nothing but soul energy. The choice should be easy."

"In my mind and heart she is my child Vincent! What is it about her that you can't stand? That she's not yours? That half of her is Eclipse?"

"Maybe it's all of the above. And you had no right to create a half breed and call it your "child" when it is nothing more than a manifestation of power, a weapon, or without consulting me first!"

"Without consulting you first?! I don't have to discuss anything with you. Maybe you're jealous tof Eclipse. You feel you can't match up to him in my eyes?"

"Always Eclipse! It's always him with you. Sometimes I think you care more about him than you do me. He's just a pet!"

Hands clasped together on the table. Eyes opened slightly as she stared at the table...as if it would say something to her right now that she needed to hear. Aura thought that she should be crying...but the tears wouldn't come, and she knew they would never come. Because there was nothing to cry about. "Stupid woman..."

"Just maybe I do! You think that you replace everything in my life. Even him. Well you know what? The duo was Aurahkah and Eclipse before it was Aurahkah and Vincent!"

"You humans and your tender sensibilities."

"Sensibilities? Do you now reject those too? Does that mean that you don't love me since it's a sensibility expressed by silly humans? Perhaps you should just reject all of me then, if so much about me is distasteful. Eclipse and Ecara are parts of me, they're bonded to my soul, they share it with me."

"You're the one who wanted them, not me. You gave yourself the burden of them!"

"You know what...if you can't accept them, let alone love them...you can't love me. In fact perhaps you never loved me. It was just lust and infatuation. Left over from when you couldn't have me over five thousand years ago!"

"Maybe I don't! And I could say the same about you Aurahkah. You accuse me but many of the things you say, you yourself are guilty of. Hypocrite. I though I loved you...but obviously I was wrong. There's no love here...only false feelings of it."

It didn't hurt like it should of. It should of hurt. She should be heartbroken...but she wasn't. What was it she was feeling...relief? Regret from the action of falling for him? It was called falling for a reason, but sometimes there was no one to really catch you from that fall, sometimes you slammed into the ground. And Aura had hit hard.

"Then why did you follow your false pretenses? Were you afraid to be alone forever? Did you want me to follow you around like a puppy so you would have a companion to talk to?!"

"You're absolutely right. What was I thinking? Fine. I want no more of this. This place or of you. Just remember Aurahkah, you are the cause of your own pain. All of your faults and flaws...that's why I'm leaving. That's why this is over, that's why I don't love you."

"I don't care." Glaring at him she slipped off the two rings on her finger and walked up to him, placing the two rings of metal in his hand. "We were a mistake. I let myself believe in something in something that wasn't there, because its what I always wanted. But I won't have it like this. Just leave Vincent."

And leave he did. No sooner had she said it had he left. All in the style of a Watcher, like he had never been there at all. Her hands unclasped and she dropped her head into her hands. Not over the feeling of loss but over the feeling of ridiculousness of it all. How she let herself fall into it, let herself see something that wasn't there. She built love from something simple that existed in a time of sun and sand. Sand. Reminded her of something she had heard once. Relationships, of all kinds, are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold on to some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, its is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost. Aura held too tightly and to something not even there. But...phoenix. A mark of the manor, a mark of all there, a mark for herself. Phoenix. Rise from the ashes. "Phoenix...I'll be alright..."

Eclipse whimpered from behind her. He felt what she was feeling...and what she was feeling was oddly confusing. Seeing her look back at him slightly he approached her, nuzzling her arm."You know...when it gets dark enough...you can see the stars."

"Yes...yes you can."

"Come...take a walk with me. Don't think on it." He knew full well what had happened. He spared her on any talk of it. Pulling her from the chair by her wrist he walked in stride with her as he lead her out of the manor."Let's go see your parents."

((I'll explain later, school beckons me))