Bryony gave him a sad look but there a look of shock on her face too for a single moment. She closed her eyes to sort through her own thoughts. “You are not the only sinking ship. Maybe loneliness isn’t a void that can be filled.” That was fear in her voice.


She was shaken by something. “Sure. Sure, the library.” She took her leave from him without too much more thought. Taking that glaive in hand she walked down past the library and out of the temple. There she didn’t hesitate to leave him.

–

There was a purr on her lips as she watched the elder leave the temple. Nothing was hidden from her blue eyes. Nothing. There were things in this world that still scared the elder Rosenite and it amused her younger oracle apprentice.


Wandering through the temple made her giggle a bit as she neared where Bryony had exited. Oh, she had seen this outcome coming. Waiting she transformed her whole body to match that of the elder. She waited in the library for him. A mischievous smile crossed her face. “Do you not like what you see?”


Her accent was heavier than Bryony’s was. It was the lack of traveling on her part that did it. Not only that but her appearance did not mask the smell of dust that engulfed her around her. “Or… are you both stubborn?” She smirked as she was quick to come up to him and slide herself down him. She took his hands and put them on her hips. “Yes… You don’t understand.” Her appearance broke and she chuckled towards him. “Both are foolish. Both are scared.” Those same eyes stared at him.


Her black hair was much longer than Bryony’s but her body was covered by dust. Her clothing was much more noble looking than Bryony’s as well. Though they were coated in the same dust. “I move just for you two, yes? I see something interesting and I come to check it out.” She tapped his chin. “You are scared like mouse.”



Eldora smiled at him. “Your flower has wilted and run away. She doesn’t wait for you and runs. Why? It amuses me. Teacher has never been good with her feelings even when I was a girl. What did you do to make her shiver so? I bet her vision blurred. Oracle is no good if she can't see. That's why we don't have family nor friends. You are a liability. I don't know why she wants one." She grumbled a bit but that smile remained on her face. "Yet, she blurs over you. Maybe she knew I was here."

A clergy member came in and stared at Eldora who had tracked dust. "Lady Bryony wanted to let you know plans have changed. She had to leave for an emergency."

Eldora chuckled, "Sure she did. To think she even took the time to let you know… You must be special." She reached over to touch him again.

Moisture still clinging to his brow from training, Sebastian strode through the temple, coat over his shoulder. His steps matched his demeanor, boots thudding heavily through the halls. Exertion had done little to mitigate the weight of emotion clinging within. It wasn't guilt. At least he didn't think that it was. If it wasn't though, why did he feel the need to apologize to Bryony?

Sebastian found Bryony, or at least what looked like her, already waiting for him. Her posture seemed somewhat sunken…sultry. Almost predatory. Her voice had thickened. It was more husky, with a heavier accent. If he did not feel guilt before, he was certainly starting to now. It was as though she had lushed in their short time apart, and was now taking a more direct, booze-fueled strategy in approaching him. It took a moment to process it all, a time which this utter stranger that was even more strange than the woman he just met rubbed upon him lewdly. His eyebrow quirked. He was for more distracted and dumbfounded by the dust that kicked up in the air when his hands grazed her robe, and the other side where the flesh was exposed than the actual contact. He jumped away from her when she changed before his eyes.

"My flower?" Sebastian snapped incredulously. "Who are you, and what are you on about, lass? Surely you don't mean Bryony? We've known each other all of but an hour."
Sebastian looked up when the clergy member came in. He frowned at the news. Had she known he had planned to leave, and beaten him to it? Why would he leave him a message that she had gone, then? What emergency?

Yes…it was definitely guilt now.

When the strange woman went to touch him a second time, he bristled, autumn eyes venomous. The offense taken was visible and tangible, for the air about him distorted with the energy that repelled her back. There was a bit of a pyrokinetic spark that hung in the air about him, for the odd energy field singed when touched. Sebastian donned his jacket, which he had not even gotten around to mending yet. "You know where she's gone," he said to her knowingly as the energy gradually dissipated. His glare softened a bit. "You're going to tell me…no games. I know your sort, you bleeding dust mite."

He sighed immediately after. His mind had jumped ahead to all of her possible responses. "So you know shite. Then, to answer your inevitable question, I think you and I both know…that I damned well don't know what I'm going to do when I find her." The initial surge of confidence had filtered out of his voice.
"Just tell me she hasn't gone and done something reckless."

Eldora stared up at Sebastian and smirked. “My name is Eldora and I am one of Bryony’s students. I, who see time, have come to tell you about your flower.” She had a smile on her face as the clergy member came forward. She was silent after the clergy member came. She had much to show dear Sebastian.

“Bleeding dust mite?” She chuckled a bit. “You need to do better than that.” Tilting her head she smiled a bit more at him like a cheshire cat. “I know much more than shite.” She reached forward once more and smiled. “Let me show you.” She couldn’t stand sitting around and not causing some drama.

She put her finger to his forehead. It was more so less powerful than Bryony had. “Let your mind be open. Think of her and be clear.” Her blue eyes watched him. “Close your eyes. I am serious.”

When he did he would see his flower from his eyes. She was speaking but he wouldn’t be able to hear her. She was in bed and she looked so tired as she offered him a bundle. The bundle moved softly and the blanket moved to reveal the tiny face underneath it. The child was fussing.

The scene cuts out and goes to something new. He’s rushing now towards a group of orcs. It was of twenty or so. He seems more panicked in this vision. He is able to get through the twenty. They had already been weakened severely as if they had been fighting something tough. In the center though, he would find his flower. She was bloody and missing some parts of her body. Her eyes watched him as she reached up and tried to stroked his hair. She lost the final fight in front of him and Eldora pulled her hand back.

“I know a lot more then foolish man says.” Eldora paused as if keeping him there. “Apoy Island. If you hurry you might make it just as the fight starts.”

This had become more than guilt. The weight of responsibility had become crushing. Why had Bryony been so foolish as to set out with intent to engage in combat while emotionally compromised? Had the sleight he had given her in softly denying the one moment they had been enough to set her off? In all honesty, that was not a question that he wanted answered. One gaze at the bundle that was passed to him in the vision was all the answers he needed in ascertaining where her heart was at when it came to himself.

"Damnit!" Sebastian spat. "I didn't ask for any of this! I can't leave knowing that I let this happen…You…!"
He shook his hand at Eldora, only to drop it to his side in defeat after some pause. "Thank you," he sighed at last.
Sebastian embraced the odd woman in a quick, but heartfelt hug, kicking up dust from her as he pat her on the back. With that, he was gone from the library. Papers flew about wildly, and the younger Oracle's robes blew as if in a storm from the velocity of his departure.

Sebastian had blinked out into the hallway, and began a mad sprint towards the balcony from where he had just come from. Angela had not visited the grave yet during his training, so perhaps she would be there. He reached to his inner coat pockets and donned his gauntlets as he ran, then began shouting out the Goddess' name through the halls. "Angela!"

Thoroughly winded by the time he caught up with her, he stopped, nearly kneeling at the Earth Mother's feet for a second time in their brief acquaintance. He leaned forward, resting his metal-clad hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "Angela…! Need…to get to…Apoy. Bryony. She's found some trouble. What's the quickest way there?"