The cream-like walls that continued to plaster the terra appeared broken and withered, the tinted glass now only hanging shards waiting to fall upon the fallen rock. Moss and weed alike clung to the gaping orifices in the broken room that may have stood high above the person looking upon it all, giving the hole a shaded, forest-like green ring around it. To anyone else this would be the scene of ruin.

To Thomas it was a scene he felt he had to be familiar with. Thoughts of his homeland still closed his mind to all else that was around him. Lost in his thoughts, he began to wonder of the azure walls of his home - his palace - would once turn out like this. It seemed to him now that the only things that lived here were the passing birds as they migrated through the seasons. Was this the fate of his kingdom? Was all that he strived to create for nothing?

The thoughts continued to plague him, even as he lowered himself onto the shattered path, leaning against one of the broken pillars that remained. Groping about in his pocket he grasped the jewel and brought it out, his gaze falling upon the now dimmed object. What was once to him a brilliant, glimmering sapphire appeared now as nothing more than a simple shard that no longer had the flowing power that once belonged to him.

And there he wept. His hands had fallen to the ground, the shard now dangling gently in his palms as his gaze was shelled by the layer of skin, protecting the pupils from meeting the azure clothing that covered his knees as tears filtered through without remorse. He knew he was now weak and whatever power he once had would have to be regained. He just did not know the way...

In a shadowed corner of the cathedral, a lone figure slumped against the cracked and broken walls, half hidden in shadow. Long, dark hair seemed to merge with a dull, worn cloak, shrouding the figure in darkness. Rianna sighed and pulled off her eye patch, focusing on the ground, not wanting to look up. Distant memories flickered in the back of her mind, but none dared to surface, none dared to allow her to know more about herself. Another, drawn-out sigh, as she struggled to bring at least one memory up, at least one piece of the puzzle, but to no avail. She was unable to remember, unable to bring up even the tiniest sliver of knowledge.

A noise caught her attention, and she looked up, focusing her mismatched eyes on a figure that had obviously entered some time ago. She watched in silence, following the movements, and then shivered, her hands clutching the edges of her cloak, pulling it about herself. It seemed she had missed this person's entrance. He, too, appeared slumped on the ground, and she felt a glimmer of pity for him. She doubted anyone who came into this desolate place felt anything but sadness, for that was what she felt, had felt the second she had crossed the threshold into the cathedral.

Rianna rose slowly, shakily, and inhaled, steadying herself, her eyes closing slightly. She willed herself to move, to break free of the struggle to regain her memories, things that had been lost for so long. The need, the desire to remember was strong and her efforts were nearly futile, but in the end, she won back her body and mind and moved forward toward the figure, a spark of curiosity flickering in her eyes, helping to remove the web of grief and anger that had clouded her thoughts just moments before. She moved silently at first, a natural habit, but thought it might be a bad idea, and so she purposefully grated her travel-worn boots on the cold, harsh ground, the sound of crumbled stone sliding across the floor echoing in the decrepit building. Her footing faltered, and she stumbled into one of the ancient pews, her knees knocking against it. Tears sprang to her eyes at the pain, though she bit them back and continued onward, her inborn curiosity growing stronger, wiping out her earlier need for memories. Now all that mattered was finding out who this new person was, and what they were doing in this lonely cathedral.

The tears continued to caress his cheeks as his eyes became sore from the pressure placed upon them. Even the garment became soiled in the moisture as time had passed. His ears had not forsaken him, however, and at the sudden spark of sound - a knock against something close by - and immediately Thomas' gaze rose to meet it, hand grasping the sapphire with an iron-like grip. Looking upon the feminine figure he gasped.

"Are you alright?" The first words to have parted his lips since his arrival into this unknown realm, yet her combat within herself made him think about why she was curious in the first place as well as looking into her eyes, almost feeling her resistance to the tears. "That was a pretty bad knock you had there."

It was then, looking closer, he found that she wanted to see him. Why anyone would he wondered for a moment, but he assumed that he is an unlikely sort around these parts and placed her curiosity down to simply wondering who - and what - he is. As far as he knew he was the only battle mage in existence anyway, let alone the only one with an indent in his forehead.

"It has been said that curiosity kills the cat, you know." He said to her in an indifferent tone - almost as if he knew her. "But still, I don't mean to offend, miss. As you can probably see I have suffered also. Yet my pains go deep. Whether yours do I cannot tell but I will not give you my burdens to ponder." He openly sighs, looking to the sapphire jewel nestle in his now opened palm. "And if you wish to kill me, you need not bother. It's not like I have anything to harm you with. I am no longer the person I used to be. All that I used to have is gone. All I have left is this jewel that reminds me of what I used to be."

Clasping the jewel between his two palms, he gazes into the sapphire. He suddenly feels something move inside him - some strange force - and he blinks blankly at it for a few seconds. -Did the jewel do that?- His mind pondered for a moment before his eyesight returned. Feeling nothing afterwards, he rises to his feet - still thinking it rude to address anyone by their toes - and rests his back against the broken pillar behind him, sighing openly, a second glance to the feminine figure before he turns his gaze to the battered terra by his leather shoes.

Rianna’s emerald eye widened with surprise, and she took a step backward, not used to being approached compassionately by another. “I’m fine,” she managed to grate out, her teeth grinding together as she slowly straightened her leg, testing the knee. No lasting damage, but there would likely be a nasty bruise. “It’s no problem.”

One corner of her lips quirked in a wry smile at his quip. “This is true, but we have nine lives, they say. I have spent but one of them.” A pause, and she shook her head, her hair streaming down her back, revealing slightly pointed ears, almost elfin, but not quite so. The cat-daemon hid her secrets well, however, and the most obvious parts of her feline nature were well-concealed in loose trousers and thick, too-large boots. “I do not wish to kill you. As you said, curiosity brings me here. Not many come to the cathedral these days.” She shrugged, knowing he had grief deep in his heart. The tears that streaked his face were proof enough of that, but his words spoke more than tears could tell.

“At least you have something left of your former life,” she replied softly, leaning against the pew. “I have nothing. No memory, no trinket, no glimmer of anything save my name.” A pause, and then a dry grin that did not reveal her teeth. “Which, by the way, is Rianna. And yours?” she asked pointedly, her visible eyebrow raising in query. Beneath the eye patch, her pale blue eye focused on this man, the daemon orb taking note of every detail while her emerald eye appeared relaxed. She had long ago learned this trick, and her daemon side had helped her to perfect it.

“Has wanderlust brought you to this place?” It had brought her, that was certain. She had felt drawn to the cathedral the moment she’d approached the ancient ruins. She took a few steps forward, studiously avoiding the pews, and allowed more light to hit her frame. Shadows could hide her, yes, but it was rude to do so on first introductions, though… sometimes it could not be helped.

Nodding at her response to her knee, he turned his gaze upon her, the tears partially subsiding to allow him a better look at the creature that now accompanied him. As she spoke likewise of her pain, Thomas sighed, knowing much more than what she did of his own life. Looking closely as the tears now parted from his pupils, he noticed that she seemed unfocused yet fixated upon him. -A false sense of security...- Thomas thought. -Perhaps wanting me to fall into a trap of attacking her. Shame she does not truly understand that what strength I had is gone.-

Rising to his feet fully, he gave a withered bow to her and spoke. "Thomas, Lady Rianna." He rose back up to a standing posture and continued on. "As for what I have of my former life, it is meaningless now. What use is a memory if it fades with you? What use is everything you have done when in the end all your work does nothing to change the lives of all? You should consider your lack of memory a gift, Rianna, for a memory is a torment once it turns against you." He then turned to his side and sighed. "But, then again, I guess you would know that if you have been trying to look into your past."

Walking back to the pillar, he coughed to clear his throat before speaking once more. "I know a friend like you. He knows nothing of his past, all his memories blocked by shadow. A planeswalker, he was, and the only one I have ever met in my time. He, too, is searching out for his past. Yet that also has its fair share of dark secrets. I know know this because I travelled with him once before." The memory of his past silenced him for a time before he turned his gaze back to Rianna. "What brought me here I do not know, for all that the voice said was to 'regain my power', giving me no way of knowing how I can regain it.

"All that does remain of my past now, the only thing that reminds me of it, is this." At that point he showed her the sapphire he held in his hand, holding it out to show her. "That was once here," he pointed to the gap in his forehead, "and it granted me some powers that I could only dream of before. Yet my years of solitude from the world had drained my powers and now I am only a worthless being struggling to survive. What was once a grand warrior - a Battle Mage of Light - has now become simply a ghost of his former self."

He sighed softly as he looked around him for a moment, gazing upon the broken grounds and wondering if it was trying to reflect the way he felt inside: Broken and worn, time casting its effects onto him and making him wither away slowly like some ancient bark that refuses to let go of its tree. Another sigh escaped as he slipped the sapphire into his pocket, leaving his hands free to flail towards the ground, gravity taking its place and making them look like wind chimes unaffected by the wind.

At the mention of a planeswalker, Rianna shuddered, a flash of darkness flickering in her mind. A memory surfaced, dim, but there, of a cold, dark place with little comfort. It slipped away before she could grasp it, however, and she sighed, slumping against the pew. “At least you have some knowledge of your past, of how you became what you are. I do not know if I was born the way I am, or if I became it through some unknown means. I do not even know if Rianna is my true name. Any memories I may have once had of my parents, if I had any, are gone. All knowledge of my youth, disappeared. I would give everything to know these things. But I do not. So I sit here, or in a forest somewhere, or by a lake, anywhere that I can feel a moment of peace, and I try to find those lost memories, unlock them from wherever in my mind they have been hidden.”

The feline daemon shrugged one shoulder, a corner of her lips turning up into a dry, mirthless smile. She turned her gaze away from Thomas and focused instead on a shattered window, watching the ripples of a faint light on the weathered glass. After a long moment, she growled softly and slammed her fist down on the pew, and then again, and finally a third time, the pain bringing the hot tears back to her eyes. She blinked, and two small, perfect crystalline drops slid down her cheeks, fell from her chin onto her tunic, and were absorbed.

“Fate brings us here, Thomas. Do you believe in fate? I do. It guides us to where it believes we must be. I have met many people in my journeys, all with some story to tell. Fate guided them to me, or me to them, for some purpose. We helped each other, in a fashion.” Some story that almost always brought a flicker of a memory into her mind, but she still had not managed to grasp them, or realize what they were. Fate was helping her, just as it must be helping this man. Her ears flicked back a little, twitching slightly, and she sighed, shaking her head. “Fate is a cruel mistress, I think.” Her eyes turned upward, toward the sky outside of the broken windows. Some insect scuttled across the floor, disturbing the dust and leaving a small, nearly invisible trail in its wake.

A small, almost companionable smile touched her lips. “Have you eaten yet? I feel the desire to hunt, and it would be shameful of me if I did not offer you the courtesy of sharing my campfire.” Campfire. That would mean she would have to build one. She laughed softly, amused at herself. When was the last time she’d had a campfire? She couldn’t remember, and it didn’t matter, anyway. It would offer warmth in the cold, and that was all that mattered. It could be built here, in the cathedral, where the stones would reflect the heat. It was getting too late to travel, at least safely, and she had no inclination of leaving just yet.

The sudden shudder made Thomas flick his gaze to her in interest for a moment, but he soon returned to his neutral, unfeeling appearance. In the back of his mind, however, he wondered. -Why shudder at the mention of a planeswalker? Could it be that...? No...she could not know Zackar...surely not...but what right do I have to say what she does and does not know?- Listening closely to the feminine figure close by, he could see that her pains run as deep as his own, finally seeing that some pains you can never know the source of and it is those that hurt the most.

Her anger came as a surprise and Thomas immediately snapped from his daze and ran to the enraged daemon, hoping to calm her down with his calls of "What is it? What's the matter?" and trying to hold the raging fist in place. But he was still weak, still powerless even to stop a fellow human. What chance could he have of stopping a raging daemon? Her tears made him pity her, wishing that he could help. He did not know how, but he felt that there had to be some way.

He blinked in surprise as suddenly she turned course and asked about Fate and if he believed in it. Her comment and her sudden change of gaze towards the sky not only made him wonder more as to what she will do next but also as to what she was thinking. Her curteous smile was a drastic change to the angry woman that appeared only a few moments ago, but it was a welcome change. At looking upon this he relaxed and stelled a little back, listening to her. He could sense that she wanted to obtain food then make a campfire despite the fact she knew nothing of how to make one.

Smiling, he responded. "I have yet to eat, yes, though I feel as if I should be making the campfire for us. My years of solitude have shown me how to survive, so campfires come as standard. If you wish, I can gather the requirements for the campfire and you can get the food for us." -I don't have the strength to get food myself, by any means...- Thomas thought to himself, as if finishing what he was saying.

His mind then decided to speak of the other matters that arose. "Fate...it was fate that cursed me to this place, what separated me from all I knew, all I loved...it was fate that made me leave my people in the search for my answers, forever knowing that it would weaken me to the point that some never return from. A cruel mistress? It is a demonic angel sent from the pits of shadow and flame to destroy us through the passage of time." At that point he looked to her face and nodded. "Nonetheless, Fate has also given me experiences I would never want to forget. That shudder you showed is a familiar sight, for I have seen it upon him, too. Perhaps I will speak to you of him once we get our meal and heat."

"Shall we go?" Thomas asked her, his arms extended to allow Rianna to lead the way. -She knows about this land more than myself, anyway.- Thomas thought, explaining the reason to himself. While she caught the food, then, he could gather the wood and dry grasses so that he could start on a fire. There was enough stone at the cathedral, so he didn't think twice about getting some stone on his travels.

Rianna’s features relaxed still more when he offered to make the campfire. Relief and gratitude were obvious in her emerald eye, and she nodded slightly as she listened to him, silent for a long while before she considered a response. “I have never considered fate to be a daemonic angel. For me, it is my mistress. The shadows and flames of which you speak are my lifeblood. They are all that I know of my rebirth. Shadows and flames.” She laughed dryly, shrugging one shoulder in a parody of nonchalance. Her curiosity sparked at the mention of a “him” in relation to her shudder. Perhaps this Thomas could unwittingly help her unlock some of her memories, be they good or bad. Was that why fate had sent him to her? If so, why had she been sent to him, for fate worked both ways at all times.

“I do not discriminate when hunting, so I hope you don’t mind whatever I bring back,” she said, a touch roughly. How could she discriminate when hunting? Food was food, and once she’d drawn blood, she had little control over what she did. She only hoped she managed to make the kill clean this time, since she was sharing with another being.

They left the cathedral, Rianna tossing her cloak to the side, shivering in the sudden chill as she prepared for the hunt. Her katana she placed carefully to one side, the plain hilt and scabbard ragged and worn, a testament to her trials. Almost absently, she cracked her knuckles and crouched low on the ground, nostrils flaring as she scented the air, searching for the unmistakable odor of prey. There. A fair-sized grazer, male by the scent. She growled low in her throat and sprang forward, running on all fours and disappearing into the darkness around the cathedral. In a small copse of trees, the cat-daemon found her prey. She slowed her pace and began to stalk it, circling around, treading so silently that she disturbed not a leaf nor twig nor insect. The muscles in her legs bunched up as she prepared to pounce, but a movement caught her eye. A small, young grazer emerged and went up to the doe. Rianna cursed softly, not wanting to risk disturbing the balance of the forest by killing either. Instead, she crouched low and waited for the buck to appear.

Her legs were beginning to cramp, as she’d expected after sitting in the same position for nearly twenty minutes, when the buck finally arrived. He was a magnificent beast, fully antlered and a good ten hands high, maybe a little more. She waited until he was close enough, and then she sprang forward, startling the group into an impromptu run. The buck dashed after his mate and offspring, but Rianna kept pace, one clawed hand swiping as his flank. She missed several times before finally one blow connected, ripping flesh from his side. The buck stumbled, fell, and then tried to get back up, succeeding for a moment before he fell again. This was what she had been waiting for, and now she sprung forward again, latching her teeth to his neck, biting hard on the buck’s throat. He thrashed about, and that was his undoing as her six sharp teeth tore through his flesh. In a way, she thought, he killed himself.

He was a heavy creature, and she struggled under his weight as she dragged the bleeding, dying beast back to the cathedral, wondering if Thomas had returned yet. She could and often did eat her food raw, but she had the strange feeling he would want his cooked. Perhaps he had a campfire going already. She shrugged slightly and heaved on the buck again, collapsing at the door to the cathedral, utterly exhausted from the hunt, but immensely satisfied. It had been a good run. It was only when she had stopped that she realized she still had blood on her hands and mouth, and she quickly began to lick her fingers to remove the still-warm liquid, cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, taking care to make certain each hand was spotless.

Thomas was soon intrigued. Even by the slightest movement of her eye he could almost feel that they were connecting on a reasonable level, as if friends, and her open-mindedness seemed to confirm his suspicions. He knew he was pleased that there were still some good kinds in other realms yet he knew that where there was light there was shadow. It was this that he concerned himself with for a moment while Rianna dashed off for the food.

Returning to the waking world, Thomas blinked. -She's gone, then.- He thought as he walked around the woods near the cathedral, hoping to gain some twigs and other fuel needed for the fire. He did not take long to find enough material, so he gathered it all and proceeded to pick up two stones from nearby and start trying to light a fire. It did not take him long and soon enough the wood was alight and warmth entered the area.

Not wanting the fire to go, Thomas gathered some more twigs and other forms of wood for the fire. During this search he stumbled upon a twig-like staff. In his mind, it seemed as if it was shaped for a wizard to manage. Smirking at this comparison, he picked it up and carried it with him along with several other fragments of oak, chestnut and other species of twigs.

Sighing openly, he noticed that Rianna had not returned. Looking around, he spotted a feather. Smiling, he thought that it would be useful and so, using some of the residue from the leaves and twigs he had gathered, he proceeded to write into an empty book he acquired since entering the realm. -Dear Journal...- he thought as he wrote the words down.

He had finished writing in his journal after a while, by which time he could see Rianna cleaning herself up. The fire was still burning strong, but Thomas decided to throw on some more wood to make sure it stays a pyre and not embers. Satisfied that the fire will remain, he rushed off to Rianna's side and grasped their food, pulling it along before dropping it near the fire and sighing, drawing out his dagger. It was only then he recalled her scimitar.

"So," Thomas called over to Rianna, "who wants to cut this thing?" Thing was all he could call it, for he did not know many of the creatures that existed here, including this one. "And I see that you wanted to look better than normal for me. You need not have bothered." He began to laugh. "I used to know someone like you, too. She was part elf, though, instead of part human, like you are. Besides, I've seen enough blood in my short life."

Rianna paused and looked up, wide-eyed, hand poised just below her mouth, prepared for the final cleansing lick. A flush the color of the tips of her hair crept up the back of her neck, and she finished cleaning off her hands, wiping off any remaining blood from her mouth. “It’s not that. I just don’t like being dirty. Personal thing.” The feline in her demanded frequent baths, and extra ones whenever she did something that soiled her skin. The smallest speck of dust on her skin had her flesh crawling, the precursor to her innate desire to be and stay clean. She eyed the dead buck, appraising it for a moment. She could not use her katana to cut it – it would not slice the meat cleanly. Rianna was so used to using her claws and teeth that she hadn’t though about how to slice it for another person. “Have you a knife?” she asked, frowning down at her hands. “I could cut it, but I’d need a good dagger or knife.”

She reached a hand up and slipped her forefinger under the eye patch, scratching at a spot where sweat had gathered and soaked into the cloth patch. She considered removing it for a moment, then tossed that idea aside. Her appearance was a sensitive subject, and she would rather continue wearing the patch than have her mismatched eyes open for all to see. It would help avoid the strange looks people gave her. Granted, she still received the odd glance or two because of the eye patch, but generally people ignored it and said nothing.

Absently, she stretched and yawned, her tongue stretching out, the tip curling up like a cat’s. Her hand moved away from her eye and scratched at a troublesome itch on the back of her neck, her claw-like nails flicking across the skin at a pace faster than normal, the tips barely scraping against her flesh. Her eyes closed slightly in contentment as the itch disappeared, and after a moment, she shook herself and glanced toward Thomas, a bit embarrassed, but not so much as she might once have been. Her catlike qualities had begun to sink in, and she was not as vain about them as she used to be. It was pointless to try and completely hide what she was – there would always be someone who could figure it out, and there would always be someone who ended up seeing her feline characteristics.

Smirking at her response, Thomas chuckled suddenly, silencing himself as he grasped his dagger with an iron-like grip and proceeded to cut off the limbs first, doing his best to drain the blood from the creature in the process, before removing the strands that made the neck and carrying the head off to one side. Then he cut sections from the body, removing the organs before tenderly stacking the sections he cut off earlier onto the bones. Sighing, he ran towards the forest again, picking a few long and wide leaves. Layering them upon the floor, he places the meat onto the leaves and carries the unwanted objects to behind one of the walls of the cathedral.

Looking to her as she stretched, he smiled, somewhat satisfied that she can still feel comfortable around him. A quick glance to her as he was placing a few more twigs on the pyre and he caught her slight embarrasment, causing him to smirk a little with laughter behind its appearance. Grabbing one of the legs, he begins to skin the flesh.

"Once you've cleaned yourself, then, you can come and join me." Thomas called over to her. "I can tell you about some things and perhaps you have a few tales to tell, things I may wish to know about this land and such." He glanced over to her for a moment before slashing the dagger over the fire, the blood setting ablaze on the object before Thomas stabbed the dagger into a piece of earth that bared itself to the open air where the blood then slid upon the terra. "Besides, this does look like good meat."

-And probably the only meat you may see in a while.- Thomas thought suddenly as he placed the leg over the fire to cook it.

Rianna glanced sidelong at the man, biting back a small smile and a sarcastic retort. She stretched once again for good measure and then bounded over to the carcass and Thomas. As he skinned the flesh, her eyes followed his movements, though occasionally she glanced up at him, considering him for a long time. “I don’t know much about this part of the land, myself, but I do know some of the basics,” she said, rocking back slightly on the heels of her boots. “I spend most of my time in Gloomwood Forest.”

She clenched her hands into fists, placing her thumbs over the knuckles, cracking the joints. Her nostrils flared slightly as she smelled the smoke from the fire, and her lips twisted into a small grimace. Smoke always smelled funny, so she preferred not to have campfires, even though fire was one of the few things she enjoyed. She rested her right hand on her knee, her left hand reaching out to grab a piece of meat still attached to the buck’s carcass. Her nails dug in and pulled the flesh away as she tore it from the body, rapidly cooling blood dripping from the slice to the cold floor.

“Yes, it does look like good meat. A fine buck, he was,” she said, mentally saying a quick prayer to the god of nature for creating such a fine creature. That done, she just as silently gave thanks to the buck himself for the meat he not-quite-willingly shared with her and her companion. She tore a bite from the raw meat and chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment, ignoring the drop of blood that slid down from the corner of her lips. “What do you want to know?” came her query in a voice that was oddly softer than before.

She felt it might be best if she gave information first, because if he had knowledge that triggered a memory of her own, it would be better for them both if she heard it after they had eaten. At least, that’s what she thought. Besides, it was only courteous that she offer a newcomer to the land of Imythess some time to learn more about his new home, and while she wasn’t the most suitable for the job, she would do her best to fill the position as best as she could.

-Gloomwood Forest...sounds like the Shadowwood Forest back at home...- Thomas thought for a moment as the words passed into his ears. Nodding, Thomas left Rianna to get the meat that was left on the bone. Forgetting that she may have liked raw meat, he felt a little apologetic inside and, turning to her, he called out an apology towards her.

Smirking as Rianna spoke of the meat, Thomas looked to his own, turning it now to get an even covering of crispy skin-like layer over the top of the leg. The soft voice that spoke to him had come, for a moment, as a surprise. This moment caused him to turn his gaze and temproarily loosen his grip on the leg. He regained his stability, though, and the leg avoided burning along with the fire.

"What do I want to know...?" Thomas asked rhetorically. "Well seeing as how you don't know much about this land, perhaps you can tell me what you do know. Any information is useful, at the moment, as I have not long arrived here." Looking to the sky and pulling the cooked meat away from the pyre, he tried to recall. "I would guess about a day or two since my arrival. I know nothing of this land, seeing as how only tears accompanied me through those days."

Looking to the meat, he sighed. -What if I cannot regain my strength? What if all that I struggled for for so long is suddenly meaningless to me?- Deciding to think of it no more, he drove his teeth into the tender meat and stopped short of penetrating the layer of flesh that encircled it. It had felt too soft to be cooked well. Placing it back over the flame, he sighed.

"Sorry again about moving the meat, but would you like to bring the meat over here?" Thomas called back to her. "Perhaps we can then look to each other's face a bit better."

Rianna smiled slightly and shrugged, not quite sure of what she could say. “As much as I can, hm? Yes, that shouldn’t be hard at all,” she said, a touch sarcastically. She used her tattered cloak as a carrier for some choice tidbits of raw meat from the buck, and when she was done picking out how much she felt she could eat, she returned to the fire and sat opposite Thomas, her legs folded oddly beneath her. For a moment, she plucked at her loose trousers, pulling them away from her legs and draping them in folds, concealing the odd column that spiraled down her right thigh. With her wrist, she rubbed at her cheek, just below the patch covering her right eye, and took a bite of meat, chewing slowly, savoring the flavor for a time.

“Well, let’s see. What do I know…? Hmm….” Another bite, and a longer period of thoughtful chewing, before she came up with something. “Ah! Yes, well, how about I start with Balefire and Gloomwood, yes?” She smiled broadly, forgetting, for a moment, that she was revealing all six of her sharp canines. “Gloomwood is the forest that lies outside of the city of Balefire, also known as the city of lanterns. For most people who live there, it is so dark that lanterns are required at all times so that you can see. From what I heard, Balefire disappeared one day, and reappeared some time ago, along with Gloomwood. Some say it went into the shadow plane.” A pause, and one shoulder lifted into a slight shrug. “I woke up in Gloomwood, oh…. years ago. I lost count. A wild umbra feles, a creature from the shadow plane, had nuzzled my shoulder. I think it may have been curious. There are other creatures there. There’s the lian, a rodent that the umbra feed on. It’s quite tasty, actually, but it moves quickly, and is extraordinarily large.”

After that rather long spiel, she took a healthy bite of meat and chewed on it, watching Thomas for a long moment to see how he took in what she’d just said. While she let it sink in, she considered where else she’d been in Imythess, and came up with little information. She’d stayed in Gloomwood for most of the time, but there were a few places she could discuss, she was sure. Norwood Forest, perhaps. She knew some about it, though only enough to know what to eat and what not to eat.

The sarcasm in her voice informed Thomas that she really didn't know much and that she hardly knows where to start. Smiling lightly with this knowledge, he waited for her to settle down before looking to her, watching her speak as she spoke of Balefire and Gloomwood. -Balefire, huh...? And Gloomwood...- Thomas thought for a mere moment while she paused. The mention of food reminded him of the leg he was still cooking and, blinking, he retreived the meat from the pyre, looking at it carefully.

"Done..." Thomas spoke absently as his teeth, while not like Rianna's, drove through the layer of skin, tearing off the section of meat with ease, almost too quickly eating the tender meat. "Well cooked...just how I like it." He blinked at his absent-mindedness and he laughed a little. "Sorry, Rianna. I have not ate in a while, so forgive me if I speak needlessly." Concluding his apology, he tore off another section of meat and chewed on it for a few minutes to savour the taste.

That strip finished, Thomas gazed to Rianna. "The Lian and Umbra...these are strange names for the animals if I know of them. As for Gloomwood and Balefire, I am intrigued. You say that Gloomwood returned with Balefire? That seems like an act of the forces of Shadow. Yet Gloomwood sounds a little like a place back in my home realm, a place I called Shadowwood Forest. Yet we're not on my homeland, so perhaps it is best not spoken of." Taking another slice of meat from the leg, he nodded absently and then turned his gaze back to Rianna.

"Unless you know any more, I figure it is my turn to speak?"

“It likely was an act of the shadow dwellers,” she agreed calmly, almost as if she knew it to be true. For all she knew, she did know it, and just could not remember. As for the names of the creatures, she knew only what she knew – that was they were called, and that was all there was to it. She picked up a small pebble from the rubble on the floor of the cathedral and turned it about in her hands, thinking for a moment. How long ago had it been since Balefire returned? How long ago had she woken up? She couldn’t remember. It seemed so distant, now. For the longest time, she’d merely wandered around Gloomwood, losing all track of time. Her first venture out of the forest had been only recently, truthfully, and into what she called the Land of the Light. Rianna had known daylight for the first time since her reawakening, and it had been painful. She’d retreated into the forest and cowered until nightfall, and it was only then that she had set forth into the lands of Imythess.

“I know only enough of this land to survive. I know what to hunt and where to drink by watching the creatures of the land. That is no secret to survival. Do what you must.” She smiled softly and shrugged, apologetic. She was not much help, it seemed, and she wanted to be. If only she had her memories back. “I may have known more at one point in time, but I no longer remember. Ever since my reawakening, I have no knowledge of my former ‘life’.” Her smile was sad this time, and she nibbled on a piece of raw meat, staring into the fire. She looked up when he offered to tell his own tale, and smiled again, agreeably.

“It would seem it is your turn to speak. I’ve run out of things to say.” She continued to pluck at her trousers, arranging and rearranging the folds, not quite satisfied with how they draped over her leg. Against her right thigh, her long tail twitched, the tip flicking back and forth, almost as if it had a mind of its own. She was tempted to remove her boots and pull out her tail, to really stretch, but decided against it. For the moment, she thought it best if Thomas did not know what she truly was. Daemons, especially animalistic daemons, seemed to be frowned up by the general populous. Not that it was Rianna’s fault that she was a cat-daemon. She had merely woken up as one.

-Shadow dwellers. Perhaps so, but something probably driven them to that...- Thomas thought for a moment or so. He had known about shadow dwellers as he encountered a few before. A damning lot, he thought of them as. Her limited knowledge shoudl have come as a surprise to Thomas but, seeing as how he knew nothing of the land either, he could understand. Perhaps they were all brought here at about the same time. He did not think this true, but it eased his thoughts as he was told that it was his turn to speak.

"So..." Thomas speaks out. "I guess I should start talking about this planeswalker friend of mine. I think it best that I tell you now, though, that he has a companion that looks something like you, but she's part-elf." Thomas blinked for a moment. "I mentioned her before, yes?" Shrugging, he goes back to his 'tale'. "The name of the planeswalker is Zackar Ezterban. I know as much of his past as he does, so I can speak of what I know, if you wish to hear it. Perhaps, if luck is with us, it will be of some help to you.

"I met him when he came to my home, a palace where many resided in. The Age of Chaos in the realm had passed and many were settling down for peace. But still some factions, mainly those of Shadow, decided to toy with the other kinds. It is how Zackar arrived with a few companions I knew of. There I showed him to my Pastseeker Orb, an aquamarine blue orb that glimmers when the past of someone is found. It showed him recieving orders from the Lady of Light to strike down the leader of a dark force; a Lich. But he found himself manipulated to remain under his control and, as a result, he lost his memory.

"It was after showing this that the orb stopped showing anything. What had happened between then and the time he came to my home I do not know to this day. After advising him on where to go, some of the group returned and called me to go to his aid. being knowledgeable in magic, of course, I knew what to do. We then joined with Zackar and fought off the threat that came to the Halls of Light and banished the Lich deeper into the darkness. Since then we have been friends and strong, reliable companions to each other.

"Last I remember seeing him, he wore a black cloak and some dark armour that I could not distinguish. I did not ask him about it but he certainly seemed different, as if darkness was on the outside but the light was within, that sort of thing. His 'partner' was a elven catdemon I know as Shadow. She says that to her enemies she is Shadowcat. I find it easier to say Shadow, anyway." He grins at this. "I am curious as to why he chose a being that is obviously the opposite of what he was; a Guardian of Light. Can't seem to figure that out..."

He then started to wander off in his thoughts, his mind once more stirring with the questions he still had about his old companion. While he was thinking of how old Zackar was, he wondered how old he himself would have been were it not for the slowing of his aging thanks to whatever power manipulated his life. lost in a whirlwind of thought he completely forgot that he was talking and tore off another slice of meat while still deep in thought.

Rianna listened to Thomas’s tale, intrigued, though her lips twitched into a wry smile when he mentioned that the elfin woman had been something like her. “It is not always our fault, you know. Some are born like this, some are made. Some choose to be.” She shrugged one shoulder and reached down to pull off her over-sized boots, revealing black-furred feline paws. She wiggled the toes, the claws clicking on stone, and sighed somewhat in relief. “I myself do not know which of the three I am. As I said before, I have no memory of my time in darkness, only the knowledge that I was there, and even that knowledge is shaky at best, based on assumptions.” If she had woken up in Gloomwood, with no memory of her past, would it not make sense that something had happened in Gloomwood before then? Or perhaps even on another plane altogether? She felt it was safe to assume one or the other.

“This Shadowcat could have been a good person, deep down. Your friend might have seen this. And besides… we are useful, you know,” she said, gesturing toward the cooked grazer that Thomas was now devouring. “Would you have been able to hunt that buck on your own? Bring it down with the ease of long practice and innate skill that I have?” Her eyebrow quirked upward in query, amusement glittering in the depths of her emerald eye. “She might have made a good scout, too. Did these thoughts ever occur to you? That she was helping your friend, this Zackar, because she was a good person inside, and because she had useful qualities that he wanted?” Another shrug as she reached for a strip of meat. It had grown cold, the blood having soaked into her tattered cloak.

She sighed and chewed on the morsel for a moment, considering the matter of the cloak. She would need a new one soon, she was sure of it. The tatty remains of her own were not going to last her through the winter. Her shirt, also tattered and worn, would not do to keep her warm. Perhaps it was good she had stumbled across Thomas, who could make fire. She stared into the flames, the dancing orange and red and yellow tongues of fire reflecting in her brilliant emerald eye. She closed her blue one, under the patch, and sighed. “I wish I could say that your story helped me,” she said softly, focusing on the burning embers at the bottom of the campfire. “But… I don’t think I heard what I needed to.” She could not say that the names struck a chord in her memory. She could not say she had ever met this Zackar. All she knew was that she somehow had felt… something – she didn’t know what – when he had mentioned the planes. Perhaps she was connected to them, somehow.

By all the gods, she didn’t even know how old she really was! Rianna stood suddenly and stalked away from the fire and Thomas, ripping off her eye patch and throwing it violently to the ground. She flopped to the floor with a heavy thump and placed her head in her hands, her long, sharp nails sliding easily through her raven-black hair. After a few minutes of silence, in which the only thing she did was rock slowly back and forth on the heels of her rear paws, she began to laugh, a harsh, hysterical sound that, if she had been listening, would have grated on even her nerves. Beautiful, she thought to herself. Absolutely marvelous. I’m a cat-daemon with no memory of who or what I might once have been, and I don’t even know how old I am or where I came from. Damnit! Damn it all!

Brought back by Rianna's voice, he looks to her and listens intentively, nodding at the mention of it not being her fault. -Of course it's not her fault. How could it be? We are who we are meant to be, it's the fundamental stone of life that cannot be altered, withered or broken down. No matter what the race.- His knowledge of the different races started flowing through his mind as he was thinking of all this, looking to her revealed paws.

Her continuation on as to why Zackar may be attracted to Shadow did make him feel odd about the matter. He agreed that Zackar would have seen Shadow's inner kindness and softer core, making him end up loving her for it, but as for them needing each other's abilities... It did not click in his mind that it would ever be possible and even now, while she had spoken of it, he could never imagine them being so close because they needed each other's skills.

Her mention of not hearing what she needed to hear made him wonder for a moment, a thought that strayed into his mind, making him think that perhaps it was not the planeswaler that got her attention but what the planeswalker may do. "If you wish me to, Rianna, I can..."

It was as soon as he started speaking that he noticed her walking off, her eye patch - which she never removed before - was violently thrown to one side, her formation falling to the ground and rocking backwards and forwards. Concerned, Thomas watched closely with pity and a will to help her. He had suddenly felt the old energy he long lost - the will to live for others - and he stepped closer to her, moving faster as he was hearing her laugh.

"Rianna! What is it?" Thomas spoke to her, trying to pierce the bone-crunching laugh that seemed to pierce his ears. "Rianna, please, I'm sorry that I did not help you remember a face but I think I know what it was that made you stir at the mention of a planeswalker. Please, Rianna...let me try to help you..."

-This would be so much easier with your Pastseeker Orb, damn it...- Thomas cursed in his thoughts as he kneeled to her side, his palms gently placing themselves around Rianna's arms, just below the shoulders, hoping to comfort her. Such was his urgency to see to Rianna he had forgotten about the meat that he dropped onto the floor as he ran to her, its half-eaten structure now gathering a blending of moss and dirt from the grassy terra it was tossed upon.

The laughter stopped as soon as he touched her, and she jerked back, her head snapping up, eyes wide, the emerald one glittering with anger, while the blue remained calm, an icy calm that looked as if it could see straight through Thomas and into his soul. She pulled away from him, scrambling to the side on all fours, leaping over one of the pews, studiously avoiding coming any closer to the flames. Rianna stopped moving after a moment, seeming to calm down, her breath ragged. Furiously she began to wash herself, using it as a cover while she calmed herself down. Never had she done such things in front of another being before! Never! Why now? Why couldn’t she keep her chaos and her anger to herself?

When her breathing had finally slowed to normal, she looked up, eyes watering slightly, and mewled softly, a strange sound coming from the mouth of a humanoid. Now that Thomas had seen enough to know what she was, though, she doubted it would be so strange to him. She curled up into a fetal position on the floor, raven-black hair spread out behind her, the vivid red tips seeming to vanish into shadow. One hand cupped over her right eye, covering the icy blue orb from sight. She didn’t know where her eye patch had gone, and she almost regretted throwing it to the floor. She could find it easily, of course – either by smell or with her good eyesight.

After a minute or two had passed, she looked toward Thomas, a flush of embarrassment creeping up the back of her neck and lightly coloring her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, looking away, toward the fire, now, focusing on the dancing flames. “I… haven’t learned how to control myself well enough, I think.” She thought she had, since she’d spent so long in Gloomwood, learning to do so, but obviously it hadn’t been enough. It was then that she remembered, vaguely, that he’d said something about the planeswalker and perhaps being able to help her. Why would he want to help something like her? She was tainted, branded for life with an inner daemon that occasionally rose to the surface, controlling what she did, and while this daemon was not truly evil – Rianna had done something right, at least – it was still ultimately chaotic, and in its chaos, it could cause damage that could last lifetimes.

Then again… if he could help her, there was a chance that it could trigger more than one memory, and she desperately wanted to know more about her past. She especially wanted to know how she’d become what she was and whether or not she’d been placed on the shadow plane, or if she’d ever even been there. She had the odd, churning feeling that she had been to that dark place at least once.

The sudden reaction had made Thomas leap back in caution, immediate fear racing through him. He did not want to harm her nor could he do so but still he felt that something had caused her to react in such a way and it was not in a way Thomas either anticipated or thought could occur. Even with Shadow this had not happened. Nonetheless she had apologized for her actions and he could see that she wept in the shame of the event. Pity immediately cleansed whatever anger he had towards her and, picking up the eye patch she tossed angrily to one side, walked to her, kneeling to her side and gently stroking her carefully.

"It's alright, Rianna." Thomas whispered to her in a calm, soothing voice, offering back her eye patch. "I understand. You wanted to hide what you were from me because you were afraid of being criticised. You were afraid of showing your inner being in case of being intimidating or frightening." Nodding, he looks to the eye that was not covered. "You need not worry about any of that towards me. In my time I have faced enough peril to not be so afraid of the actions of others and have met enough kinds to know which you are. I am one of the few that will know you for who you are, not what you are."

Smiling to her, he rose his gaze up, lifting himself to a kneeling position as he gazed idly into the fire. "I have a theory, though." Nodding to the fire, he continues. "A planeswalker is one that travels the different planes of existence freely - the elemental planes and the planes of Shadow and Light - and can forge and break portals to and from the realms for others to pass through. What I believe is that, though the planeswalker could not have been Zackar, one of these planeswalkers had placed you into this world and left you, perhaps returning back to his home realm. It is a possibility, I feel..."

Looking back to Rianna, Thomas smiled openly. -But let us not assume with haste, for the weary can make a mistake.- Thomas thought to himself as he rose to his feet and placed a few more twigs on the fire, looking upon the meat he dropped. Sighing, he picked it up and placed it among the bones that were cleaned of their flesh a while ago, leaving it there to wither. -Looks like I may need another one...- Thomas thought with a grunt and a sigh.

Rianna cringed away from his touch, keeping her right eye covered, though she watched him warily with her glittering emerald orb. The pupil flickered, slitting to an almost invisible sliver, before it expanded again to a normal size. She couldn’t understand why he was being so nice to her, but she had to admit that it was a fairly welcome change from the glares she usually got by those who could sense the daemon. Sometimes, however, the looks were more of curiosity at a half-beast. After a while, however, her feline side took over, and she relaxed under the cautious petting, slowly putting her hand down. An ice blue eye, almost white it was so pale, stared out at him, partnered with her vivid emerald green iris. She wasn’t sure what to make of Thomas. Had he not said mere moments before that he couldn’t understand why this Zackar had traveled with someone like herself? In fact, he hadn’t seemed too sure when she’d said that Zackar may have traveled with Shadow because she was not only a good person inside, but useful, as well.

“You don’t believe me to be some sort of monster?” she asked quietly. As he spoke, however, she closed her eyes, letting what he said seem to wash over her. She twitched slightly, her ears flicking back, flattening against her skull. A memory stirred in the back of her mind, a flash of darkness, the feel of absolute cold against her flesh. A shudder of remembered terror ran down her spine. She shook herself violently, bringing her back to the here and now, remembering what Thomas had said. “You feel…what?” she asked, hesitant, still unsure of herself and her place in this man’s mind. Did he really accept her for who she was? Or did he think, somewhere inside of himself, that she still must be some vile creature of the dark, merely because she held a daemon inside herself?

She watched him, her eyes narrowed, a wary expression flickering in the depths of her mismatched eyes. Could she really trust him? She had trusted no one since her awakening, except Chiron. There! That name again! What was it about that name? She sighed, unable to figure it out, confusion creeping into her. Chiron was important, somehow. It – or maybe it was a he? – had a very important place in her mind, though she still could not quite touch those memories. It was as if they were on the border between being locked away and being free for her to reach out and touch.

Thomas almost broke out in laughter as she asked if he thought she was a monster. "What reason would I have to do that? If you were a monster, would you have not taken me apart while I was weeping and lost? Would you hold yourself back from me if you were such a being? No..." Walking up to her side once more, he sat beside her, not touching her this time. "Those are not the qualities of a monster. A monster knows no mercy, no fear, no sentiment. A true monster would not think twice about killing, even if one of their own. If you were such I would not be alive. I had told you I have no strength and in that I cannot lie."

Her referral back to the comment on the plaeswalker attributes made him perk a brow for a moment, unsure of what she meant. "I feel...mhm..." He offered for a moment before sighing, clearing his mind. "I feel that someone brought you here. Perhaps with this Gloomwood you speak of and yet perhaps not but nonetheless brought here for a reason. For what reason I do not know but since you do not know either you have to remember to take caution when walking into your past.

"Move slowly, for if you seek to remember it all in one go, you will face too many emotions. Not even the daemonic side of you would be able to cope with such human unstability. That which you could easily lose control of may forever control you, making you into what you fear the most." At this moment he sighed, bringing out the sapphire shard once more. "I should know...for I too once had a power that tried to take over me. Yet it was not a demon, more a spirit. I know what you are going through there, Rianna."

Looking to her eyes, he gazed upon them with a friendly glance, his brown optics appearing and being veiled under the sheet of flesh now and again. He could understand why she did not trust him. After all, so many before him have treated her for what she is. Why should he be different? This got Thomas thinking again. -It seems only I know why I am different. I have experienced more in my lifetime than the others that this Rianna have encountered. I know that not all guises of evil are evil and that some beings of Light can turn to Shadow. Not all is as black and white as many others presume, which is why I am different to them.-

She had to admit that Thomas had a very good point. If she were a monster, he likely would not be alive right now, or at least would be extremely wounded. She nodded slightly as she listened to him, slowly sitting up, though she kept her face hidden, her black hair hanging around her features, shading her eyes. “It is not my intention to remember everything all at once. I would hate it if that happened, but there’s nothing I can do but search for the answers I know I have somewhere in my head.” She sighed and leaned back against the ancient pew, closing her eyes for a moment. “Always there is something lingering just out of reach. This one name always comes back to haunt me, and I don’t know why. I don’t know who or what it is or means or anything, I just know that I have to find the one who carries this name.” A pause, and she smiled slightly, a dry, mirthless smile. “The name is Chiron. I do not know what it means. I know this… Chiron is someone important to me, a companion, perhaps.”

A lengthier pause in which she shifted uncomfortably, absently moving, reaching behind her to pull out her tail, which she draped across her lap when it was free. He knew what she was, now, so there was no point in hiding it from him. “I almost always think of this Chiron in dangerous situations, battles and the like. I think he helped me to fight, or taught me, or something.” A sigh. “I don’t know, though. I wish I did. I wish I knew how to find him. I don’t even know if he is human or animal.” I’m not even sure I want to know, she added silently.

After a while, Rianna stood slowly, moving closer to the fire, ignoring her tattered cloak, the raw meat still sitting atop it, blood soaking into the fabric. She desperately needed a new cloak. In fact, she needed a lot of new things, but there was no way to get them right now. She would get them eventually. She snorted softly, her nostrils flaring, as she watched the flames flickering, their gentle glow a comfort. “Do you ever get the feeling that something isn’t right? That there is something going on, somewhere, that you should know about?” she asked quietly, staring into the fire. “I feel that all the time. I feel like I should be elsewhere, be helping someone with something, but I can never figure out what…” She felt lonely all the time, too, even when she was in the company of others. It was like there was a half of her that was missing, and that feeling wasn’t due to her memory loss.

Her cautious response did not come as much of a surprise to Thomas. After all, she had not long become what she hated to be. The reason for her caution was understandable as her words replied to Thomas' own. Thomas decided to take note of the name 'Chiron' and, should luck be with him, perhaps he would find this person somewhere along his travels. Her willingness to show her tail was still uneasy, in his eyes, but she felt like she could not hide it from him. This filled Thomas both with pity, as she did not seem to want him to know about her true self, and with uneasiness, since he knew that she was not happy in doing so, making him want to apologize and yet not letting him speak the words out.

As she walked to the fire Thomas followed carefully, being careful to not stir that side of hers again. He was not too sure how he caused her to act that way, either, so he had to be cautious. Walking to her side as she watched the pyre, he gazed upon it also, listening to her words carefully. He started to think about the question for a while before walking behind Rianna, heading to the firewood and stacking some more upon the fire, making sure it kept alight. Continuing to think about the query placed before him, he sat down with his legs crossed, crossing his arms as he watches the flare rising up, flipping its fiery tail happily to the air.

"A lot of things are not right, Rianna." Thomas responds. "I know that I do not belong here and yet I am. I should be back home, at my realm, but instead I am in this land, lost and powerless. I should be protecting my kingdom from the dark forces that rest in the land still but instead it is left to my guardians and mages, fighting in my stead. I do not even know if, when I do get the chance to return home, if I will have a home to go to. I suspect you may feel the same because you know somewhere that you do not belong here, which would explain why you was interested in the capabilities of the planeswalker." Looking towards her, he cast a gentle gaze towards her form. "Maybe this Chiron you speak of brought you here, wishing to protect you. It would seem reasonable if he had taught you how to do everything and yet he had not yet tested you in combat." He turned back to the blaze at this point. "Yet I only suggest. It is best not to take my word for truth, for I only assume."

-I wish I could help her more.- Thomas found himself thinking. -She is a troubled one, unable to control her three elements together. It seems this Chiron protected her for that reason - to have her learn to control herself - but how can I say that to her without angering her?- This thought fluttered in his mind continuously as he grasped another piece of meat and set it atop the fire, cooking the meat as he did the last that he ended up losing to the earth.

“No,” she said slowly as he spoke of Chiron. “It was not Chiron who brought me here. He protected me, yes, but it was another who made me what I am.” A pause, and she focused on the flames, hearing the crackle of wood and a brief roar as it flared up. Startled, she fell backward, landing on her elbows, giving a brief yelp of pain. She scrambled away from the flames and stared at the campfire, eyes wide, visibly shaking. Her tail stood out behind her, the fur raised in fright, and her nostrils flared slightly. “Chiron… is not human,” she said carefully, considering what she had just seen in her mind’s eye, what she had just felt. “He is a tiger. An overlarge one, but a tiger nevertheless.”

Her eyes glazed over for a moment, and a slow chuckle rose in her throat. The voice that came next was nothing that Rianna’s human side had ever sounded like. “Very good, very good. She learns! You help her greatly, Thomas. Keep it up and perhaps she will remember all in time.” A soft, hissing growl came from her lips, and then it was gone, and Rianna blinked, herself once more. She stared at her hands, wondering, and frowned. The daemon had come out once again… but it had spoken this time. That had never happened before. She glared accusingly at the fire, as if it and it alone had caused that to happen. In the back of her mind, she heard a laugh, mischievous and gleeful.

Why do you do this to me? she asked the laughter helplessly. Why do you feel the need to torture me like this. I know that you know my memories. I know that you can see them. The response was simple, and entirely what she had expected from the mischievous thing that dwelled in her mind: Because I can. I chose you. We are more alike than you know. Rianna sighed and shook her head violently, mentally shoving the daemon back into the spot she’d left it in her mind. It cackled again, distantly, and whispered to her. One day, Rianna, we will get along better. One day, when you have relearned all that you have lost.

When she was sure the daemon had retreated, she glanced up toward Thomas, eyes wide, pleading. “I’m… so sorry about that. That has never happened before. I don’t know what happened,” she said, explaining as best she could, hoping he would know the truth in her words and eyes. “At least it did not try to harm you. That happened before, with another, long ago when I first awoke. Before I won the battle of dominance, but I see that it was only a battle that I won, and not the war. We will have to share, one day, I suppose. But not now. Not until I know what I am missing.”

As the conversation on Chiron continued, Thomas gazed upon the cooking meat, wondering if this will taste like the previous one. Her sudden motion seemed to flare up suddenly had caused Thomas to lean to one side, ready to rise to his feet to help the figure. Yet she continued speaking, the fire seeming to recall something else in her memory. But then it was that the daemonic side of her rose to the surface and as it spoke the tones no human could speak, Thomas listened, glaring into the pupils. -Say what you will, demon, but your time is not now.- Thomas thought as he glared more into the pupils, watching as Rianna seemed to regain control of herself. Thomas watched her eagerly, waiting for something to occur again. Yet all that happened was her apology and explanation. Thomas nodded, and returned to cooking the meat.

"There is no need to apologize." Thomas replied. "It is not you who have done anything wrong. Though I would sure like to meet this...daemonic side of yours should I regain my powers someday." Glaring to Rianna - not to warn her but to warn the daemon inside her - he spoke in a tone low with anger. "I don't have a good side for control freaks, be they daemonic or otherwise. I help not for the purpose of torment, so leave things be." Turning back to the pyre, he continued. "Your other sides have to become stronger, Rianna, if you wish to achieve balance. Not just physically but mentally as well. You cannot forever be in two parts. One day you have to be whole else you will be destroyed by your inner conflict. The daemon inside you knows that as much as I."

"So...this is what a daemonic hybrid is like before achieving balance..." Thomas commented to himself, whispering it towards himself and unaware that as he was thinking it he was speaking it also. "I know I said that I met someone like her before, yet that was before knowing about the lack of balance within." He sighs openly. "If only I could help more..."

It was only when he said those last words did he realise he was speaking them out loud. From this realisation his eyes widened, afraid of what may occur, the meat in his hand looking evermore unstable as he became concerned for his safety for several moments, waiting to see what Rianna would do after hearing his whispers if, indeed, she had been listening in on him and not staring blankly into the pyre and thinking as he had done.