After several more days in the care of the Caroban life mages, the Kujaku attending on the Lady Elise de Bellefeuille grudgingly concedes that there is little more they can do for her; time must do the rest. The poodle's left leg has been removed from its cast and pronounced fully healed, but the mages still cluck nervously over her right, which remains sheathed in plaster to her thigh. Still, they have encouraged her to use crutches to move around and get some exercise, though she is strictly forbidden from placing any weight at all on the right leg.

Her muscles remain weak and shaky from the long confinement to bed, but under the watchful eye of Indigo Airsdaughter, the Gallee gradually recovers her strength. Hobbling on the crutches proves to be hard work, and she must resort to the wheelchair for any lengthy travel. The Aelfin woman has been a quiet shadow to the poodle since her injury was sustained. In Babel, Indigo had been a clerk, translating and copying documents from the Eeee and Rephidim tongues. (She writes Rephidim Standard beautifully, though she can barely speak the language.) However, she seems to fall quite naturally into a role of personal assistant for Elise, acting as nurse, secretary, gopher, nanny, or whatever else is needed. Her sense of indebtedness to the Gallee is readily apparent, and after some consideration, Elise offers the Aelfin permanent employment, which Indigo accepts.

Finally, arrangements are made for Elise's return to Rephidim. She boards an airship equipped with a life mage as ship's doctor – just in case there are any problems with the spells still active on her leg. During the holidays since her first visit to Caroban, the two sky islands have drifted closer, and the trip home is far quicker and safer than her trip there.

Amongst the low-born workers and merchant-folk who comprise most of those on the docks, a lady poodle stands out, at odds with them. She stands erect, not far from the carriage that brought her, wearing an elegant dress of pink linen and white lace, her gloved hands folded together over a matched handbag. Beside her, a scholarly Naga rests on his coils, waiting with her as sailors finish securing the boarding platform of a newly-arrived airship.

Shortly after the boarding platform is secured and several ground-bound ship hands depart the recently arrived vessel, a young poodle woman hobbles off the ship. She is dressed in the finery of a Rephidim Temple officer, though with a conspicuous lack of armor – only the robes of her station are worn. Instead of a sword she wields crutches, and she seems engaged in conversation with an Aelfin woman who follows shortly after, pushing a wheelchair.

A smile lights on the face of the poodle woman waiting on the dock, warring with trepidation in her and winning. She takes several quick but decorous steps forward, closing the distance between them, while the Naga uncoils to follow her. "Elise!"

Elise, the lame poodle walking down the ramp, turns her head from her assistant and shortly locates the owner of the voice that calls to her. She seems hesitant to respond, but after a moment urges a smile to her face, tucking acrutch under an arm so that she can raise a hand to greet her sister. "Katherine! Tremaine!" she calls out.

Katherine, ignoring the trickle of other passengers still departing, rushes across the platform to meet her sister half-way. "Elise!" she repeats, clasping the other poodle's shoulders with both hands. "Oh, sweet sister!" She seems momentarily at a loss for what to say, and instead just hugs the other woman.

"Katherine, I am s-" The older sister finds her sentence quickly ended as her younger counterpart embraces her in a hug. To Katherine's mind Elise seems to stiffen for a moment as she is embraced, and it seems to take some effort to relax, but she does indeed so, leaning herself into her younger sister for support as she returns the affection. She sighs softly too, and smiles more genuinely. "I have missed you, my sister."

"And I you!" the younger says, heartfelt. She leans back to regard her sister. "You look just terrible!" she exclaims, with the lack of decorum only a sibling might get away with. "I cannot believe all that you've endured, my dearest! You must promise me never to leave the island again. Come, come, you will lean on me until we reach the carriage." Ignoring her sister's discomfort and protestations, the white poodle takes a crutch away and slides beneath one arm, her other hand securely around Elise's waist, and helps her towards the waiting coach.

And surely Elise protests, but it is half-hearted and ultimately to no avail. She knows far better than to argue much with her sister on these counts, and though she might not readily admit it, she rather does appreciate her sister's help. "Terrible, well, yes I suppose that is the truth. I had been quite busy up until my accident you see, and this injury of mine has been nothing but an unforgivable hassle," she comments to her sibling.

"Terribly busy! You were supposed to be on vacation! One is supposed to relax on vacation! Not get beaten to a bloody pulp!" Katherine scolds, helping her sister into the carriage, with further assistance from the footman. "I imagine you are just so accustomed to being accosted, fought, and bloodied that you cannot even stop doing it in your free time. Precious little of that you have, anyway." She throws up her hands in exasperation, getting in after her sister and settling on the seat beside her.

Elise is quiet for a moment after the berating from her sister, her gaze having drifted off from Katherine and focused on a shadowy portion of the carriage as the younger sister spoke. To her words Elise offers nothing, instead breaking her silence with a change of subject. She shifts her gaze from the shadows to out beyond the carriage. "Indigo! Indigo, are you there?" she calls out, leaning forward as she does that she might get a better look as to where the Aelfin went.

"Yes, ma'am," the Aelfin says reassuringly, while Katherine starts.

"Oh! Your little assistant. I am sorry, Elise, I had quite forgotten. Will you be all right riding on top, dear?" the younger poodle queries of the other small woman, who nods her assurance.

Tremaine slides into the after the other two, his bulk taking up most of the side opposite the young women. "Welcome home, my lady," he says quietly to Elise, while Katherine is distracted. "You have, indeed, been missed."

"Oh thank the First Ones, I would not wish to lose you in the hustle and bustle." The elder sister gestures vaguely to the surrounding area. With everyone placed and apparently taken care of, Elise inhales, and exhales as she settles into her seat. "Well then. Tremaine," she turns to smile faintly at her once-tutor, "thank you. I had been gone so long I fear I had almost forgotten what it was to be home again. I am all too busy, I fear, though I must sound terribly repetitive when I say that."

"I am just glad you are back at last!" Lady Katherine throws an arm around her sister to hug her again, as the carriage rumbles forward after the Aelfin finds a secure perch by the driver. "I am so awful, dearest, that I am almost glad you are hurt, for I know that at least your injury will keep you around for a while, even if your mind would rather be ten thousand leagues away from me!" She gives a crooked half-smile and a giggle. "Oh, I sound dreadful! Like a wicked housewife nagging her husband! Do forgive me, sweet sister," she begs.

Elise watches Katherine with one eye, half-curling away as her sister hugs her as if in mock-fear from such a strong welcoming home. When her sister finishes speaking Elisecontinues to watch her, then lifts her right hand to cover her muzzle as she giggles herself. "You are right, you are indeed a terrible scold. Perhaps I should be more thankful that you have a suitor, lest your wicked ways find me with a greater, more fearsome vigor." Her hand slides from her muzzle and she smiles, turning to more fully regard the other poodle.

The younger poodle considers this, then shakes her head. "No, Grant never gives me the cause to scold that you do," she concludes, chin lifted defiantly. "He doesn't stay away for years on end, and when he isgone, he writes me," she continues, chiding, then claps a hand to her muzzle. "I am sorry! I must stop! No wonder you stayed away so long! All right, I promise, I will not mention one more word about your failings as a correspondent, or your penchant for long trips." The pink-clad Gallee makes the Star-and-Anchor sign solemnly over her chest to seal the vow.

"Is that so? Such a promise, can you maintain it? You know that I am an officer of the Temple and charged with maintaining law. May … " She casts her gaze skywards, as if calling upon divine help. "… They help you. For I should surely not wish to arrest you on charges of a false vow to a Temple official." Her head shakes, and tries to ease her now grinning countenance into something more proper and less teasing. She clears her throat, in the manner of one about to make an announcement, and removes a parchment from her robes which she offers to Tremaine. "Because I am unable to relax, as some continue to remind me, I have put to paper some matter that need be attended to. Tremaine, now is a fine time to discuss them. Will you announce them for my sister?"

The parchment contains detailed instructions regarding renovations for a portion of the stables, and for funds to be directed towards the construction of an orphanage. Each topic has a header that Tremaine may skim over to announce it, rather than requiring him to read deeply into each topic to understand the lady's will.

Katherine looks quite insulted by her sister's lack of faith, but she restrains herself to an un-ladylike snort and perks her ears to listen as Tremaine accepts the paper, then reads off the topics from it. The younger poodle seems to frown for a moment, then she smoothes her expression. "May I?" she asks the Naga, holding out her hand. Tremaine obediently hands it to her, and she skims over it. "Why the changes to the stable, sister? You sound as if you plan to keep … ah … Rahktors?" she guesses, turning it about.

"Would you regard me as fit for the asylum, if I told you that I intended to keep most fantastic creatures within our stables?" the officer asks. She looks between those riding within the carriage, as if to query them, but she begins again before any response can be made. "Indeed, fabulous creations, Drokars that soar the heavens on wings of feather. Shimmering gold, and silver. The very soul of secrets and mystery."

The younger sister glances askance at Elise, then shakes her head. "Oh, do stop teasing me! What are you planning?" she insists.

Elise's somber grin turns quite wide, and she shakes her head a little saying, "Why, the essence of dreams incarnate, my dear sister. As if fairy-tale born."

"Oh!" She slaps her sister's arm lightly with the back of her hand. "You do so love to torment me! Very well, keep your secrets. And mysteries! For now – do not think that I will not find out soon enough," Katherine adds warningly. "What of the orphanage? I think your notion here is most commendable, though I wonder where we shall find skilled staffers to maintain it." She taps her finger against the parchment thoughtfully.

"Indeed. I shall keep my Secrets and Mystery," she claps a hand against her heart, "close to my heart, and … in my stables." She lets her teasing grin fade, and inclines her head to the question. "I could inquire of Indigo if she wishes to maintain the orphanage, Tremaine you as well if you so wish. If not, I will begin interviews on the subject. I would like to see Temple Scout involvement on this project as well and I shall see to that. A roof over their head and food in their stomachs is a simple matter, but education will be more complicated."

"I am sure I can find others to contribute, sister. I have organized charitable events for causes no more worthy," Katherine says, folding the paper together in her hands, and looking across the coach at the Naga.

Tremaine inclines his head. "It would be a pleasure to work with children again, though I confess I yet hold hopes for tutoring more young Bellefeuilles, some day."

Elise clasps her hands together and folds them neatly in her lap, again inclining her head to her sister, this time in regards to her offer of help. She offers the same to Tremaine. "Then the charge is yours, until you are needed again in our homes tutoring our young ones. And sister, thank you for your help. Do not think that because I tease you I do not appreciate your efforts here, and before." She turns her attention more fully to her sister and nods a little. "Tremaine also brings up a matter I have, admittedly, been avoiding. One … that I should not avoid so much as I do, and I shall not, from this moment on."

"Oh?" Katherine and Tremaine exchange glances, then the poodle says, "Your condition must be more dire than I suspected, dearest sister, if you mean what it seems you do."

"I fear my mortality has scolded me harshly, Katherine," admits Elise quietly. Her grin fades and she turns to watch the city pass by. "It has reminded me I am not quite as immortal as I may wish to believe. And I fear I have been quite childish myself in this aspect of my responsibilities. Yes, I offer no promises or any great effort, but I will not avoid it as I had been."

"I am delighted to hear it, Elise," the younger sister replies, sincerely, reaching over to pat her hand. "I am sure there is a man or ten of my acquaintance who will be charmed to know it as well." She smiles mischievously.

The officer tilts her head and returns her gaze to her sister. "Now, do not think because I make myself available that I am inclined to meet with all the suitors you willsurely incline to make my acquaintance. I have said I will consider it. Mercy sister," Elise says. She turns to offer a comment to Tremaine as well. "I apologize most sincerely for my failings in this. Fear or mere rebellion, I have been most immature on the topic."

"I cannot deny it, sweet sister, but since you are repentant, I will endeavor to rebuke you no further," Katherine says, gently. "But do not expect me to swear to that, as well. I must keep some topics of conversation open."

The carriage clatters down the roadway through the High Crafters quarters as they converse, on its way to the countryside Bellefeuille estate.

"Oh, very well. It would not be quite the same if you did not chide me daily." With a renewed smile the elder sister resumes her mild and relaxed manner, and nods to an unspoken thought. After a moment she glances about, then offers, "What I intend for the stables is not the only dream I have found incarnate, Katherine. Do you recall what I spoke of during the wakening hours after the nightmares that so plagued me?"

The younger poodle frowns for a moment. "You mean all those years … oh." She stiffens for a moment, dropping her eyes from her sibling. "I recall … oh!" She starts. "And that reminds me of something else I must tell you! Here I had quite forgotten – Elise, dearest, we have guests at the estate." Katherine doesn't seem entirely at ease as she mentions this.

Elise looks rather lost herself as her sister seems to recall the answer to her question with increasing worry, but she quite breaks from it when Katherine changes the subject. "Guests? Whomever are they, Katherine?" she inquires curiously. "You seem … uneasy to mention it."

"Do I? Perhaps I wonder if I've done the right thing. You do recall a Mage Cyprian, do you not, sweet Elise?" Katherine asks, her voice a bit anxious. "You wrote of meeting him in Caroban, and listed him amongst your favorites from there. I hope I did not read too much into that, but as it was one of the few times you did tell me of what you do, I took it for gospel."

"Cyprian?" Elise repeats, hinting on disbelief. "Excuse me, Mage Cyprian has come to visit? Ah, well, that is … quite splendid actually. I just did not think that he … " She turns her gaze again to the window and taps her fingers against her hand. " … that he would come without mentioning it to me first."

"Oh! No, no, not himself," Katherine interrupts, waving a hand apologetically. "Oh, let me begin from the start. Mage Cyprian sent you a letter – which I opened, yes, opened, don't look at me like that, sister, it's not as if I could possibly hope to find you to forward it and I thought it might be important, which it was! He said that Babel has been in a terrible uproar since the death of their High Princess, and that he feared for the well-being of his widowed sister and nephew. He asked if you might take them in, since his work prevented him from taking them out of the city personally. Any road … I thought that you would want me to say 'yes', so I did." Having finished blurting out her story, in a rush to avoid interruptions, the younger poodle wrings her hands together, watching Elise.

The elder sisters seems to visibly calm with the explanation, though Katherine can catch a hint of unease in her manner, the way she fidgets so. She turns back and smiles faintly. "Though I do take offense to your reading my personal mail, I see that in the case it was quite useful. Yes, I would have asked them to come. And indeed I am glad that they are here away from the turmoil that awful ruler and her husband had caused." Not a moment after she speaks she adds, while lifting a finger to add to accentuate her point, "But do not think that this means you may continue to read my mail."

"Well, of course I shan't while you're here," the other poodle protests. "It's only that you were gone for so very long, and I had not even a forwarding address for you since you left Caroban to vacation – where, Gallis? Besides, you never get personal correspondence. It's always just business from the Temple or solicitations that ought to have been addressed to me in any event," she adds defensively.

Elise waves her sister to stop. "Oh, hush now, I understand your reasoning. Do not believe for a moment I think so very ill of you for it. I would have been quite distraught if the relatives of Mage Cyprian had been put to endure, because I could not be reached," says the elder sister approvingly. "And yes, Gallis. And speaking of the Temple, has there been any correspondence for me?"

"Nothing of import, dearest. Some paper work about their pensionage, a solicitation for money for the Academy – I sent them some, by the by – and a query from the Priesthood asking why you had not been at services. I explained the latter, though I do wish the Temple branches might talk to each other more often," she laments. "You are, after all, in their service. Why do they need me to try to keep track of you?"

With a smile the older sister explains, "The Temple is vast and intricate, my sister. Its will is that government be done, that much is provided, though there are many branches that engage in this vast endeavor. It is not always possible for one branch to know the doings of the other, for various reasons, and so seemingly strange oversights are in reality necessary miscommunications. Do not worry over it my sister." She refolds her hands and glances out the window for a moment. "At any rate, I am home. I shall have no excuse to miss Temple services. I shall send a servant to fetch me a list of the who and when of future services, that I may see this … Killian Threadar? … you mentioned. He sounded quite inspirational, and surely this is a time I could use inspiration."

Katherine beams. "Yes, he's quite the speaker. I have a list of services at home, 'lise, and all his already circled. He's to give one of the Unity Day sermons this year! I hope it does not rival the Bridge's o'ermuch." She giggles. "I am quite fond of him. We shall have to have him for dinner some time soon, now that you are returned. Oh, Elise! I am so glad you are back!" Impulsively, she hugs her sister again.

Elise does not take to hugs quite so readily as her sister does, but for the moment she at least seems inclined to attempt to be as such. So she lifts a arm and hugs her sister with it, resting her head upon her sibling's. "Then I shall attend. And yes, though I have not met him, from your esteem alone he surely sounds like a fine dinner guest. I am always pleased to entertain other members of the Temple, though it would quite be a first having a member of the speaking Priesthood present." She eyes her leg for a moment, and reaches to tap the cast with her free hand. "Perhaps I will be walking more by that time. May They be praised I walk at all."

The Bellefeuille household has gathered at the table for dinner. When Elise and Katherine lived here alone, they seldom took meals in this formal room – preferring the more intimate family parlor – but with their two guests, Katherine has chosen to set the table here, and invited Tremaine to join them in honor of Elise's return.

The guests arrive timely for dinner, and Katherine gracefully presents the pair. "Sweet sister, let me present Mage Cyprian's sister, Leisa of Krodos, and her son, Keyni."

Leisa, a dark-furred woman with hazel-green eyes, offers a quiet curtsey to Elise, while her small son stares at the poodle woman, as Katherine present Elise to them in return. "My lady … " She pauses as if looking for words, then says only, "Thank you."

Elise, who has been doing her best to remain standing near the chair at the head of the table, wobbles some when the guests come into view. She reaches for Indigo to help keep her balance, the Aelfin having been invited to aid her as well as to enjoy the meal. "Keyni," repeats Elise, the name pronounced with familiarity. "I … " She seems at a loss for words and with Indigo's help, returns the curtsey as best she can, offering uncertainly, "It was my … honor … ?"

Her sister glances, nonplussed, between the three of them, while Keyni only stares at Elise with those big green eyes that are so like Cyprian's. "Elise? Are you well?" she asks after a moment.

"Ah … Forgive me, I need to sit down. Indigo, please … " She reaches over and lets the Aelfin guide her to sit at the head of the table, and there the poodle rests herself and regards the two Eeee. "It would seem this is not the first time we have met. Come, sit at my table, and enjoy my hospitality. Stay as you will. I … cannot fathom the powers that have brought us together again, but, I can only think it a blessing from They that watch over us all," says the head of the household, Elise.

Lady Katherine blinks a few times, taking her own seat by reflex, while Leisa helps her son into one before seating herself. After a pause, the younger of the two poodles manages to say, in almost blandly polite tones, "Mrs. Krodos, you did not tell me you had met my sister before."

Elise looks between Mrs. Krodos and her sister, but says nothing in regards to the question. Instead she watches on quite curiously.

"My apologies, Lady Bellefeuille," the Eeee replies, smoothing a napkin into her son's lap with dark gray fingers. "In all truth, I was not entirely sure that I had met her. We were not properly introduced at the time, though I confess I had certain suspicions." She seems nervous as she speaks, fussing with he boy's hair. Keyni only watches everything, as quiet and observant as Elise. "Truly, I did not mean to mislead you, my lady."

Quite suddenly the lady poodle at the head of the table leans forward slightly, squeaking a question in Babelite, "Does Gorphat find you well?"

The elder Eeee looks startled by the question, and she responds in the same language, "It is my hope that She does not find me ever again, my lady."

Tremaine and the Aelfin both direct quizzical looks to the poodle, while Katherine looks annoyed. "What was that, dear sister? You know I do not speak that language well, and from the looks on everyone's faces I must be the only one."

Elise doesn't seem to hear her sister, or at least seems to ignore her for the moment in favor of speaking to the Eeee woman across from her. She continues in the same language, squeaking on. "She, if that was indeed She, shall not trouble you again," she assures the woman. In Rephidim Standard she then answers Katherine, "I was merely inquiring as to her well being. I recall that her son, dear boy that he is, was ill for a time. I believe that is when we first met."

"She speaks Standard quite well, don't you, Mrs. Krodos?" Lady Katherine says, glancing to the Eeee woman, while the Aelfin and Naga avoid her gaze uncomfortably.

"Yes, Lady Bellefeuille," Leisa of Krodos replies, meekly.

"See? So there's no need to leave me out to include her … right, Elise?" The other poodle looks to her sister meaningfully.

"Quite so," agrees Elise. The woman inclines her head to her sister's point, and then glances towards one of the waiting servants, whom she gives a nod to begin serving, before looking back to the assembled table. "Mrs. Krodos, may I inquire as to the condition of your son? Does he need for anything? Do not hesitate to ask. Mage Cyprian is an esteemed … acquaintance of mine, and we have met in the past. You must know I would offer what I can to help, if needed," asks the head of the de Bellefeuille household.

"My son is quite well, Lady Bellefeuille," the woman answers, and Keyni bobs his head energetically to second the point. "We lack for nothing, thanks to the graciousness of your sister in extending your family's hospitality to us. I cannot tell you how much all you have done for us means to me." The bat speaks quietly, but with grave sincerity.

"It is now as it was before, my pleasure. I thank your son for teaching me something important," says Elise, inclining her head to the boy as she finishes. "He reminds me a great deal of your brother, which were he not already a promising young man, would be quite a compliment in itself. Mage Cyprian has been my quiet aid in my months on Caroban, and I have had a great deal of time to come to respect him."

"The admiration is mutual, I assure you," the dark gray Eeee says, her voice still low. She seems about to add something else, but when she speaks, all she says is, "But I do not wish to monopolize your conversation. I am sure that Lady Katherine has much she wishes to speak with you regarding."

Elise lets her gaze linger on the Eeee woman for a moment, as if searching for the unspoken words she believes the woman to have. But she does not press the point, and shifts her eyes to her sister. "Katherine, is it true? Have I been unfair with my line of conversation? Then please, my sister, speak as you will and do not let your crippled sister talk so much. I am certain Mrs. Krodos and I can discuss the past at a later time," says the officer poodle.

The younger poodle pushes her food about on the plate with a fork, and says, "Oh, not at all, sweet sister," with the kind of perfect equanimity that Elise has come to associate with her sister's professional "company manners" – her mask to cover up whatever she might feel. "I would love to hear what these circumstances under which you met were – tell me, was it the dreams? Is that where you met Mage Cyprian first, too?"

"That … " Elise regards her sister with surprise, and then smiles uneasily, nodding her head once. "… is correct. It is true that I met Mrs. Krodos and her son in quite the same manner, though in a different – how can I describe it? – location within the dreams. Undoubtedly both my assistant and my mentor recognize the name I spoke, and to clarify the matter, I met our guests upon Mount Gorphat within the dreams."

"Oh. That's very … nice." Lady Katherine pokes at her food again, while the others at the table sit in the strained silence that descends upon them. "My apologies, Elise," the younger poodle says at last. "I find I am feeling suddenly unwell. If you will excuse me … ?" She pushes back her chair and rises, nodding her head gracefully to the other guests. The normally pink insides of her ears do indeed seem paler than usual.

Elise casts an uncertain, increasingly uneasy look to those gathered at the table and then places her own fork down. "Please excuse us. My sister is unwell, and it would be," she casts another glance at her sister, "unkind of me not to tend her. Please, enjoy your meals and feel free to converse amongst yourselves. I shall try and not remain away for long." She then rises, inclines her head to the table, and after gathering her crutches hobbles after her sister.

After first checking her sister's bedroom and finding her not there, Elise hobbles to the parlor, where she cracks open the door to see Katherine, clutching a large stuffed Drokar to her chest, seated in the window with her back to the door.

Elise edges as quietly as she can to the door and peers beyond it, and to her sister who sits at the window accompanied only by her stuffed Drokar. The sight causes Elise a manner of ache she is unprepared for, a painful feeling of sadness not her own but of someone more important than she, her sister. And it is such that she must swallow and bite her lip before she can continue on. As quietly as she is able she edges the door open and begins inside, closing it as she enters.

"Go away," Katherine says, without turning to look at her.

"I … " Elise sounds hurt, and even the officer finds her tone strange. For she does not often hear herself sound as such, struck, by a wound that is her sister's pain. " … I will not. I am not leaving." She continues all the way inside and shuts the door fully.

"Why not? You're so good at it. You've done it so very well for so very long so why can't you just do it now when I want you to?" The words tumble out of her as if they had a will and a force of their own, unconnected to her mind, or even the throat that sounds strangely raw as she speaks them. "Go away!"

The elder sister shifts the crutch of her right hand under her arm, and leans heavily on it as she stands there. She tries to speak, but the words don't pass from her. Her gaze falls from her sister at the window and to the floor a foot away, and her ears flatten back. "Why?" is all she is able to manage, very quietly, after a moment of recovery from her sister's onslaught.

"Why?" Katherine whirls away from the window, and hurls her toy to the floor. It bounces once, then lies still. "Because you love him! One of them! And you … and you … and like a fool I invited them here, and I do not know how I could be so blind except I did not want to see and you had to sit there squeaking like one of them and … and … " She shakes her head violently, balling her hands into fists and turning back to the window, chin held high.

Elise pales as her sister shouts her reasons, visibly pales, eyes held wide by mixed and terrible emotion. Her sister knows, she knows, and it was the one secret of all she would have hid from her. Stunned and mortified she slowly turns away her sister, Katherine, and gropes weakly for the handle of the door that it might support her better.

Painful moments slip past in silence, then the younger poodle's muzzle dips, and she leans her forehead against the glass. Her faint, half-strangled sobs seem as loud as her shouting in the otherwise quiet chamber.

The officers clutches the door with a bewildered and fearful expression on her face, unbelieving and wrought with a shame she has never felt before. She thinks, she tried to do everything right. All of it, and yet, her sister is right. She does love Cyprian and she cannot ignore or deny it. She cannot lie to her sister about this, maybe before but not here and now. The woman breathes quickly as she stands there as if struck by a mortal wound, and though it is not physical, it is as real and close to her heart as any arrow could be. "I am sorry … " she offers weakly, voice breaking as tears begin to form beneath her eyes. "I am so sorry … "

Katherine wraps her arms over her head as if to block out the words. "Oh, First Ones, please," she whispers, and does not finish it. Her fingers clench in her fur. "And you warned me against Grant." She spits out the words bitterly. "And all the while you … you … and you said nothing! Have you been planning this all the while, Elise?" She twists again, glaring at her sister. "Is this what you meant in the coach? That you would finally wed … to that? Will his precious College make monstrous children grow in you, Elise?" She shudders, unable to continue.

The solider poodle gives off a weak cry as her sister again finishes, and now shaking, turns her back to her sister and tries to open the door. But her lame leg and quaking form cannot manage the action and she slips in it, falling with her shoulder against the wood, then sliding down as she turns to drop to the floor. Her left leg is pulled up to her chest and she wraps her arms about it, eyes wide and staring even as tears begin to streak down her cheeks. She tries, she wants to protest, but she cannot. She can't find the words anywhere. They flee from her like leaves to the wind, leaving her alone there with nothing to defend herself with.

The other Gallee gathers herself to her feet and advances on her fallen sister, trembling with emotion. "How could you?" she cries, fists clenched tight against her sides. "A thousand years of tradition! And after all they did to us! After our father, our mother died because of them! I hate them!" she shrieks, towering over Elise. "And you, you – I hate you! I hate you!" She grabs the door and tries to jerk it open, heedless of the way her sister's seated form partially blocks it.

Elise shrinks against the door as her sister approaches, unable to gather the words that might ease Katherine, unable to draw upon her thoughts at all. For they lay decimated before her mortification, before that ache that cracks the officer's heart as the very person she has lived for declares that she, Elise, is hated. The door strikes her right leg and she barely notices, shortly pushed aside enough to allow Katherine to exit.

Oblivious, Katherine stumbles out the door and into the hallway beyond, pulling the door shut behind her with a slam. Her footsteps echo on the tile floor for a few minutes, then that sound, too, is gone.

She simply sits there alone in the empty room that once served to house the two girls as they played together. Her eyes trace over the room searching for meaning, something she now finds but a gaping space in her bosom, and she can find none in the toys and the furnishings of the old playroom. The soldier reaches up and grabs the handles, then straining draws herself to her feet and gathers a crutch. She stumbles over towards the window, stopping to pick up the Drokar toy, and there she puts the toy back down on the ledge to face her. And she finds she cannot meet its gaze, either. So she pushes it aside and reaches for the dagger at her belt and draws it quickly, letting it hover over her chest as she considers what meaning it may hold in the escape it silently offers her. And she cannot stand it, either, so she thrusts it next to the toy and into the seat before flinging the window open. "SECRETS!" she cries to the night sky, and there she waits for a response.