The Beginning

((Sure--I guess I can add a little travel away from the battle scene, and some other things too. But I'll let Sarah post first, so we can see how Vythica handles all this. Sarah will probably rise from her coffin around one or two...))

((Haha, that's when I'd be up most days too. And sounds good, no rush.))

((Psh, I never sleep until 2...sarcasm....))

Vythica's eyes widened as she saw the head roll off of the Seelie's shoulders. The hatred and fury towards the Unseelie multiplied ten-fold at the sight of it.
"Murderers!" She shouted, not caring if they noticed her, "And you call us Seelie awful and filthy! Look at the deeds you have done! And for what? A few drawings?"
She placed her hands over her mouth as she felt sick. The whole area smelled of death and blood and it nauseated her to the point that it was difficult to stand.
Vythica wanted nothing more than to attack them, but for some reason the Sidhe was binding the male...and Vythica wanted to know what exactly was going on.

"Dirty deeds weren't meant for such innocent eyes," Calantha said to the Seelie. She attempted to send a calmness out to her: the girl was making a scene.

It seemed like she was going to ask the Sidhe flat out: "Why are those drawings so important to you?" She was surprised by the calmness in her own voice, but ignored it.
Vythica took a couple steps back, just in case the Sidhe decided to attack, "And...what is the Akribis?"

Measuring the creature, Calantha felt safe in assuming she was a Nixie. She had seen a few in her many days.
"Is there something you've ever wanted so badly you would kill or die for it?"
A plan was slowly coalescing in Calantha's mind. It was as unstable as a house of cards, but she had always walked the line.

"Yes," Vythica replied to the Sidhe. She took a step forward, assuming she was safe for now. "My betrothed, my sister, and many of my friends were murdered by the Unseelie on what would've been my wedding day. I want nothing more than to kill them for what they have done to me."
She held back her tears, not wanting to cry in front of her enemy.

Calantha smiled wryly at the emotion on the Nixie's face. If only she could feel such passion for those she loved, or those she thought had loved her.
"If you help me attain this..." Calantha showed her the drawing of the intricate dagger, "I will not rest until the Unseelies responsible for your grief have drawn their last breath. I know how to find them."

Vythica wanted so badly to say 'yes' and finally track down those murderers...but to work with an Unseelie was wrong, at least in her mind. They were dark, evil creatures who only wanted to kill. At least, that is what she had come to believe.
"Answer this, Sidhe: why would you ask for my help? I'm a Seelie. You're an Unseelie. I have a feeling you aren't telling me something."

"Of course! I can't show you all my cards, can I? But this isn't the place to discuss. If you're interested, come with me. If not..." Calantha shrugged. "Have fun grappling with your nightmares."
Wresting the Blur to a transportable position, she made off in the direction of a small mortal town to the east, where there would be an illusion of peace. The chaotic happenings of the realm of Fae surely hadn't tinged their oblivious world just yet.

Vythica sighed. It looked like she didn't have much of a choice. She wouldn't be able to find the Unseelie responsible for the murders on her own, and it seemed as if the Sidhe needed a Seelie...even if Vythica didn't know why.
She followed after the Sidhe while mentally berating herself for not killing them while she had the chance.

Calantha traveled for a few hours, taking no notice whether the Seelie followed. She stopped some miles away from the battle sight in a glade, smothered with eerie quiet. Thick witching trees towered up to a graying sky.
Setting the Blur down by a small stream, she began plucking herbs from the moist bank.
Who knows when the creature would wake? When he did, she would be ready.
"Are you still there?" she asked the Nixie.

"Yes, I'm still here," she said and then added under her breath, "Unfortunately." Vythica did not want to be there and the night was closing in. Her mood brightened when she saw the stream. She would be able to heal her poor violin with the water.
"But where are we going?" she asked, trying to seem casual, "I've never been in these parts before."
She took a seat beside the stream and took out her violin. She gestured towards the male, "What happened to him?"

Calantha gazed at her new--sort of--ally.
"He absorbed the legend." She did not elaborate. "We must wait for him to wake." Sitting on the bank, she gazed at her reflection in the shimmering water of the stream and shrieked in horror.
In the explosion, the tip of Calantha's left eyebrow had been burned right off. Vanity had been a trait groomed and bred in her family, and she felt her pride, more than her eyebrow, was singed.
With a Glamour, she hid the flaw, as well as her ghastly scar, but otherwise returned to normal appearance. Quickly, she looked away from her horrid eyes--A bloody sunset her sister had once called them.

Vythica jumped at the sound of her scream. She then shrugged and looked back down at her violin. The poor, severed string had curled up like a dead bug. She swallowed back the anger that she felt just by looking at it.
Carefully she placed the violin in the stream, allowing the water to run over it. The string seemed to uncurl by itself and reattach to the violin. After pulling it out of the water, she began to tune it.
"So," Vythica began, trying to start some small talk, "I'm Vythica; what's your name?"

"Names don't mean much," Calantha said. "But you can call me Drex." It was an old nickname, but she couldn't risk Vythica recognizing her actual name.
"I'll go find dry wood for a fire," Calantha told her.
Standing, she pointed to the Blur.
"It might be a good idea to watch him, just in case. But the bindings should work well. When I get back, we can talk of our...business transaction."

"Okay," Vythica said to Drex, never looking up from her violin. She needed it to distract herself from giving into the urge to kill the male Unseelie when Drex was away. And if she did kill him, she was sure Drex wouldn't tell her the location of those Unseelie.
Every once in a while she'd glance up to make sure the male was still there and unconscious. As a security measure, Vythica made sure her dagger was ready to go, just in case he decided to be hostile when he awoke.

Trouncing through tangles of shrubbery, Calantha found plenty parched deadwood. For good measure, two plump hares found daggers in their fluffy tails. Irritatingly enough, Calantha had merely two of her throwing-knives left.
Carting her loot back to the make-shift site, she set to work with fire and flint until the wood roared with orange flame. While she skinned the rabbits, she fed it tinder and watched Vythica heal her instrument.
"Isn't it painful to be away from your element for so long?" she asked her.

"Yes," she answered her as she put away her violin, "but being near this stream helps a bit." She half-smiled, "I've gotten used to being away from my lake for longer periods of time."
Vythica placed her hands in the water, "Now, I know you won't tell me everything about the Akribis but I think I have the right to know something. I am going against everything I believe in."

Calantha smiled to herself. "This is the Akribis." She handed Vythica the drawing of the dagger, an elaborate weapon: its blade a basilisk tooth and cursed by many spells of dark sorcery. "It has legendary power. A while ago, it was removed from its place of hiding and used to commit a most foul murder. But it has been returned, and I need you to gain access to it."
In turning away from the Seelie Court, Calantha had denounced her bearing. She might as well have been born Unseelie.
She showed Vythica one of the writings--a letter--and pointed out the name of "Lilith's Temple."
"It is kept here. Sacred ground calls for sacred blood," she told her. "Only a Seelie can enter."
Calantha gave her a meaningful look.

"I see," Vythica said, digesting the information. "But what do you wish to do with this weapon? You must be planning something..." Vythica didn't like this at all. Just by looking at the picture of the Akribis sent chills down her spine. Something bad was going to happen; she could just feel it.
"So I'm guessing this is a situation of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', no?" She looked up from the drawing, "I get you the Akribis and you help me find the murderers?"

"Precisely," Calantha, or Drex, agreed. "What I do with it is none of your concern, however. But rest assured that you are not helping commit an evil deed, unless you consider the death of a liar, betrayer and murderer an evil thing."
For a moment, Calantha simply warmed her hands by the fire, gazing into its spiteful depths. She observed the writing on the three leaflets of paper that had come with Akribis' drawing. They were letters from a man simply called "Vale" to a woman he endeared as "my Dove." She tucked them into a pocket on her skirt.
"These Unseelie that attacked you, do you remember their number?"

"There were at least ten, maybe fifteen of them. I'm not quite sure since I didn't stay long," Vythica stared into the flowing water, "I escaped during the attack. I'm sure you know by now that I'm not the best fighter." She laughed slightly at this, "That's the only reason why I'm still alive today."
She let out a soft yawn, exhausted by the day's events. "It all happened so quickly..."
Vythica stretched out her arms and legs that ached from travelling and fighting. She glanced at the male Unseelie, "Just what is he?" She mused, mostly to herself.

"Trouble," Calantha replied tersely. She noticed the Seelie's exhaustion.
"If you want to sleep, be my guest. We could take shifts, and I swear on my immortal soul to do you no harm...or I swear on what's left of it."
Calantha grinned manically.

Vythica laughed nervously at Drex's grin, "Thank you," she said. Vythica curled up on her side beside the stream. She kept her eyes open for a few moments, wondering if the Sidhe would really stick to her word.
After she figured that Drex needed her alive in order to get the Akribis she allowed herself to drift off into a light sleep.


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