The Beginning

"Yes, but your aura tells me otherwise," Hawthorne countered. "And, as a Monk of the Seelie court I most likely would have seen you around before. And toning yourself down, so as not to seem suspicious, hmm... Vythica seems not to have been charmed, but perhaps you have persuaded her by other dishonest means. Anyone who knows here knows she would rather die than work with a Seelie. Wait! Make that two. No, I doubt Vythica is here entirely of her own free will. And how about if we battle, I'll show you what I am?" He also took Vythica's statement into account. She did seem like her old self, yet that doesn't mean she couldn't have some minor enchantment on her. "Then do tell why she's making a potion of, oh, those don't look to be entirely holy herbs. I'll be most fascinated to know how this will find the Unseelies you seek."
((Is the legend well known?))

((And looking up baby names is fine. Thanks!))

((Among some...it's up to you. But not that other "secret"....well, obviously))

"Don't you know it's rude to look into others' personal powers, Monk? Especially upon first meeting!" Calantha said in surprised outrage, trying to keep her voice from descending into a hiss.
"Learn some humility and don't be so eager to shed blood!"
Despite her words, she nevertheless picked up her scimitar, testing its weight with a practiced hand. She was almost out of knives though, which frustrated her. And what was this Monk? He looked almost...mortal. But there was an eerie set to his countenance that reminded her of something, though she couldn't recall what.

"Please don't fight," Vythica pleaded with them. She turned to Hawthorne, "It's a really long story. How about we all calm down and try to talk this through, hmm?"
She didn't want a battle since she knew Drex was her only hope of tracking down the murderers. Her death would mean she failed the man that she loved, and Vythica wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happened.

((Zephyr could be a good nickname. It means "breeze." And it's also my all-time favorite name in the entire universe.))

"Although Vythica seems to prefer the term 'partners,' I am her bodyguard, and I didn't 'look into your personal powers.' I merely am trained to sense things others can't and there's no off switch for it. Although you may think I wish to shed you blood due to your being an Unseelie, I hold no grudge against you for the way you were born. However, I do have a slight grudge sprouting from the fact that you have kidnapped my charge," Hawthorne stated simply. He began to take in his surroundings, observing anything that may trip him up in a sword fight, until his eyes rested on a diagram of a specific enchanted dagger. He continued to sweep his eyes on, as if he hadn't seen it, for no one, mortal or Fae, should ever see the real thing. Anyone attempting to attain this could only have a truly evil purpose for it, as it was a weapon embedded with pure vengeance and anger. "And I suppose diplomacy may work, as long as I may give Vythica an antidote to anything you may have drugged her with.
((Zephyr sounds good.))

With some effort, Calantha bit back the many terrible retorts she wanted to launch at the Monk. She no longer cared about her 'sinful ways' but felt it would not be progressive.
"This potion is not for her." Calantha dared to pick up the stone bowl again. "It is for him." She nodded at the Blur in the watery cage.

"Listen," Vythica said to her bodyguard, "I'm in no danger. Drex and I have agreed to work together for the time being. She'll help me find the murderers, and I'll help her find the Akribis."
She gave Hawthorne a reassuring smile to show him that she was fine. "Then everything will go back to normal, all right?"

"Seems believable enough," Hawthorne said, and turned to Vythica, pulling a small white pill he took from a small pouch procured from somewhere in his robe. "Place this under your tongue, don't swallow. When it dissolves we'll talk." She should recognize the pill as an antidote made from the venom of his own fangs. He didn't want to risk her safety on possible hypnosis, so he was doing this just as a precaution. He turned back to the Unseelie. "You neither have or do not have my trust at the moment. This is only a precaution. I do not like that you are seeking the Akribis. It was originally make as weapon for revenge, and cursed to even further darkness. Death is a terrible thing for anyone, yes I know you're listening Vythica, and destruction beyond death is truly more horrible than you can imagine. I do not pretend to even imagine it myself, nor do I wish to."

Calantha abruptly stepped directly in front of the newcomer. "You preach to the choir," she monotoned without emotion. "See, I don't have to imagine."
Just for a minute, she lowered her Glamour, and exposed the vicious scar left by Akribis that marred the left side of her face. Then, it was up again.
"I have tasted death, and the darkness beyond. I know what I will be wielding against my enemies. And trust me, they deserve it."

Vythica sighed. It seemed they were both too stubborn to listen to her. Just to make Hawthorne happy she placed the pill under her tongue as he told her.
"There, happy now?" she said once the pill had dissolved, "Now can we please talk like civilized people?"

"Clearly there's more to you that meets the eye. However, you have also shown me you are literally in your element with deception," Hawthorne flatly stated. "Now, lets get down to business, since clearly Vythica is still her stubborn old self" he said with a wry smile. He sheathed his sword, sat cross legged and motioned for her to join him. "We can at least start with names. Hawthorne, or Zephyr, whichever seems more fitting. Zephyr is my Monk name, therefore making Hawthorne my birth name."

Calantha eyed him with wry disbelief. "You go from hot to cold quickly, Monk," she said tartly. "And call me Drex."
Sheathing her scimitar, she went to stand on the other side of the fire, but did not sit as he did.

"Once I know my and my charges lives are not in danger, I tend to warm up just a little bit. Any reason for you to remain standing?"

"How about I don't know if I can trust you?" Shifting her weight in agitation. Calantha feigned indifference as she asked, "How much do you know of the legend of Akribis?"

"Here we go again..." Vythica said under her breath. She decided now would be a good time to finish the potion while they spoke to one another.
She will the water from the stream to form a thin rope that wrapped around the bowl in her hands. She then dropped the temperature of the water so that it cooled the contents. "There you go." she held out the bowl to Drex.

"Hmm. I chose light over darkness? You're working with my charge? Honestly, I don't really know. If you could read auras, that would work, but you haven't given any signs that you can. And just the classic legend. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure of its existence until you showed me your scar, and how well it matched the descriptions of the mythical scars left by the dagger. Not that I can entirely figure if those scars were real, but I can't see why you would make up scars like that. Also, your aura seemed pained, or perhaps sad, when you showed them to me. You probably know more of the sword than I do, and not to pry into a woman's age, but wasn't the sword hidden away many many thousands of years ago?" he said, with more curiosity than doubt. Hawthorne tried to lighten his countenance some, hoping she may find some reason to be a little less uptight, since it seemed like he may be spending a lot of time around her.

Fang grunted, beginning to wake and be forced into the pain of having another invade his mind.

Calantha took the bowl Vythica extended to her. Casting an accusing glance at Zephyr, she went over to the Blur, unconscious in his liquid prison.
Studying the sleeping creature, she answered the monk coolly, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice.
"Sorrow. I wish I could feel it. I have only anger." She paused to stir the potion with a dry reed. "And yes, I do know some things of the dagger. It was indeed hidden away many thousands of years ago, long before my birth. My family is descended from the line of Nass however, the Fae that originally hid its evil. After Akribis was sealed away, many bounty hunters tried to find it--unsuccessfully--and so its story past into myth and rumor." Finally, Calantha allowed herself a small smile. "But time breeds fools that are hopeful enough to believe in the whispers of stale decades."
Suddenly, her smile widened, filled with such pure amusement she felt hysterical bubbles fill her gut. She swallowed them down. She saw the Blur was beginning to wake, but figured she'd help him along, and so with much relish, she slapped the creature across his blurry face.

The damage that went to the poor girls soul was beginning to show more clearly now. But perhaps there would be a way to fix it, or at least there may be, if Hawthorne could find who damaged her, or at least a person as evil as that person. For below the cloudy red and gray aura she had at the moment, there was another, far, far beneath.

---

Fang felt a tingling on his face as he was waking up, everything in slow motion. The voice was still there, but speaking much too fast for him to understand. But it quickly adjusted to his hearing level, and the commands and histories it was giving him now forced him to let out a bloodcurdling scream and thrash about.

"What's wrong with him?" Vythica said, eyes wide and staring at the screaming, wriggling creature. "Is that what's supposed to happen?"
The Nixie climbed to her feet and looked at Drex, unsure as what she should do, "So I try putting him back out...?"
Vythica felt disturbed down to her very core, as she had never seen a creature in such agony before.

"No, wait," Calantha said. Forcing the creatures mouth open, she poured the concoction in and stayed crouched by his side.

Seth was again wrenched from the physical world, but not delivered again to the land of sleep as he expected. He was floating in whiteness, with a column of fire in front of him. He attempted to turn and run at first, but his feet were planted firmly. He realized there was only one choice left, since nothing good could come of waiting here. He stuck his hand, slowly into the fire, but quickly withdrew. He rushed it too much and it singed him. He began more slowly, and eventually had enough will to move his feet into the fire as well. It was warm, but not burning him as he would have expected. The voice was in the fire, but it was calmer, and emitting feelings more than commands and facts, as it was before. Protect. That was all it said before he was again whisked away, but to a land of shadow. He was comfortable here, and it seemed as if it may even be a part of his own mind. A door of black with a white lock appeared in front of him, and in his hand appeared the key. Again, there was no running from the door. He carefully inserted the key, and blackness and shadow flowed out from the door. And knowledge. Fountains of knowledge. It was no longer as oppressive, and he could now sort through it. And find how to open his eyes.
When he did open his eyes, he was still in his cage, but the voice was now gone. Or at least dormant. The light hurt his eyes, so he left them shut for a little bit longer.

"Much better," Vythica breathed a sigh of relief, "at least he isn't screaming anymore..."
She took a step away from the rest of the group, "So, it seems that for the most part that we're all together. Now what? We head off to the Temple? I've never even heard of it before."
She looked down at her feet, "How are we even going to get there with the entire Seelie Court demanding the execution of you Unseelie? They'd try to kill you on sight and I refuse to go against my own kind."

Calantha wrinkled her brow, pained. Vythica had good points. She pondered them as she ripped some fabric from her skirt, dipped it in the stream, and let the droplets splatter on the Blur's forehead.
"We'll have to disguise our identities. This pointless slaughter is killing innocents on both sides and we have to stay out of it." Calantha cast Vythica and her bodyguard a blame-full glance. "But I believe the Temple to be in mortal realms. Seelie and Unseelie boundaries will be less...prominent there."