Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bastet had just gotten out of the shower. Though the rain yesterday was refreshing, she still went through her normal routine. She dried off and dressed as the lilac scent filled her room and seemed powerful enough to perfume her skin. The flowers sat in a crystal vase that shot light off at odd angle around the room, which along with the flowers created a nice spectacle. After securing her sai she was going to leave her room, when a glint of gold caught her eye. It was a medallion laying neatly on her bed. Curious she examined it a moment and slipped it into her pocket to research later, most medallions held magic secrets. Fingering the saphire pendant around her neck, she seemed ready for anything as she left her room and wandered the Manor only finding Aurahkah up and about. She approached her friend and smiled at her, "Hello Aura, how are you today?"

Her curious eyes watched Aurahkah as she seemed distracted or upset maybe. "I am doing fine. Nelphean holds my heart gently and sings wonderful tunes to keep it with him. Not like I fight it though..."

Her eyes followed behind Aura to see what she was hiding, "What do you have there my friend, I did not know we kept secrets now." Even some are kept from you... she was quite the hypocrite so far, "You do not sound so well, what shadow haunts your mind that makes you lie about your state, fumble over words, and lose sleep?"

She perked her ears up and twitched her tail, crossing her arms. "He did not tame me... well maybe he did some. Wait no he did not!" She knew well that he had, but would not admit it easily to a teasing friend.

At the news her eyes went wide and she watched Aurahkah carefully, "He left? But you guys were... what about..." She trailed off, knowing that Aurahkah did not need to repeat it, because it would probably hurt. "I am sorry Aurahkah," She had a twitch to hurt him suddenly, but Aurahkah was still hiding something from her. "That would upset me too, but why lie about it? Do not be a slave to your secrets Aura, bending your words and actions around them to lie to everyone, making you yourslef false." Oh the hypocrisy. The light from love could not banish the shadow in her mind, only delay its overtaking.

Bastet threw her arm around her friend's shoulder, "I do not think you could bring me down." Though she knew very well that she should let Aurahkah keep to her own business, she did not feel like it. "I think I can get your mind off of a certain watcher." And idea had struck her and she needed to train anyway. She walked Aurahkah down a random hallway, one that she had been curious about all week. There was a strange smell of blood about the manor that had her walking to this hall, but she had been distracted and unable to investigate it. But she did not want anyone to interfere, and she did not want to be too disturbing, so she entered a random unoccupied room with her friend and walked ot the opposite wall, facing it for a moment. "We could battle, train with the sai."

She still had her back turned but her ears swiveled to listen to Aurahkah as she spoke, paying close attention to her. Then she turned with a questioning look on her face, "I something wrong Aura my friend? We always joked about this little training session, however, I think now would be a good time. This way you would not have to think about Vincent so much, or anything else that is troubling your mind." Oh how wrong she was, she picked her sai from their holders and fiddled with them. "What are you scared of? What do you doubt? You know we can fight almost anywhere, or would you be destructive with magic as well? Lotus can always fix it."

She sighed at her friend, "Why do you hesitate so much when you speak? Why do you need to reroute your words over an unspoken evil? This is harder for you to say than the supposed love of your life leaving you." Her voice was soft, yet her words spit vemon. She looked at Aurahkah and it was as if she was seeing herself. Secrets ate away at her soul and lies spewed out to everyone. Her words were served to Aura as well as herself.

"You know as well as I do that you can go days without sleep and be fine caffeine junkie. What causes you to deny me something we had planned long ago? If you are hiding something important enough, then you are robbing your family from the truth, the truth family should always know. It is something important? Something that everyone should know that you fear letting out? Or is it something you did that you think no one should know? You have been quite scarce around the manor lately. Slinking around accompanied by these secrets. You slowly kill everyone around you as you do not trust them, and keep them in the dark!" The woman was speaking to herself and yet letting her words drift to Aura as well. She would save Nelphean but she could no longer protect Eclispe. He was denying his sins when everyone else had faced theirs. He hid his beast, when Cymarron let his loose so we would know what we were against. And she kept the secret, against her better judgement. What was Aurahkah hiding? Maybe she could tell her the secret.

She brought around her sai into a defensive position and pointed them towards Aura, coming slowly towards her.

The clatter as the broken Soulforge hit the floor was not very loud, but seemed like a ship's horn in her ears, sounding an alarm. Dead? how could Saradin be dead? bastet had not seen him in a while, but he always came back. How was it Aura's fault? It did not add up, Aura would not kill Saradin...

These thoughts lay in the back of her mind and when she looked back up, she saw Aurahkah and not herself. She realized how harsh her words had been, when they had been directed more to herself than Aurahkah, yet at the same time fit for them both. That was a hell of a secret to slink around the manor with, it was a wonder that they weight of it did not tell of her coming around corners. Tears crowded her eyes but did not fall, "I do not understand. Aura my friend, how can it be your fault? You would not kill him... I do not doubt that you know whether he is dead or not, but tell me what happened." Her double edged sword cut at her as well, but she kept it inside until she knew exactly what was being said. The yelling bit at her, as she deserved, and she dropped her sai to the ground, not threatened at all. Nothing added up anymore, people were leaving and dying, threatend and hurt, lost and confused. She could not comfort anyone until she knew the whole story. Aura would not... but then it was thought that Eclispe would not either... Denile was friend and foe.

Harsh eyes turned on Cymarron in her anger. "You know not what you speak of!" Her voice dropped a considerable degree as she leaned back against the wall, wiping violently at her eyes at tears that wouldn't stop. "Remember Khai...SAradin came to me, not like himself and spoke of my cruelty towards the man...of how i needed to be punished for the dead, how I had outlived my time here..." She had to pause for a few sobs. "We fought...he intended to kill me...then Eclipse came...then Ecara..." Another pause. "Ecara took over...she fought him...he fell..." She shook her head in denial again. "I told him I was sorry...but he still left...then I found SOulforge...broken at my door." Another pause as she slid down the wall to the floor, dropping her face into her hands. "Johnavon, or rather a power within Johnavon showed me what happened, conducted the history through Soulforge. And it showed me his death! If I had never touched Khai, never fought Saradin, he would of never left and he would be alive! It is my fault he is dead!" Mumblings melted into sobs as the seemingly strong Aurahkah broke down right there in the floor. "Saradin is dead and never coming back and his blood is on my hands...why do you think I lied...you all love him so much." Then her tone turned bitter again. "Perhaps I couldn't see that...for what do I know of love...I know nothing...if I did...I never would of let him leave..." In her burst of anger she grabbed the broken Soulforge, throwing it, the flawed blade slamming into the wall with a loud clang before clattering to the floor once more. It was all true, she had to admit it. They loved Saradin, obviously she did not. If she knew what love was she never would of been involved with Vincent, for there was no love there either, yet she had believed there was. Aura's anger melted back into broken sobs again.