Inside the depths of the Temple, in a section of corridors where the artificial lighting has died entirely, and is now only provided by wall-mounted torches, a lone cheetah servant heads toward the office of her master to tend to her morning chores. It's the best time to find the office untended so that she won't be a nuisance underfoot. He quite often is sleeping at this hour, often with a hangover, or some other distraction from the previous night.

Leeta runs, her feet quietly padding along the stones with her mandolin case bouncing against her back. She follows the route she is familiar with, trying to be as early as possible. It is never good to be absent when Moffat needs her.

As Leeta heads down the corridor, she notices something different. Namely, one of the offices which has been long abandoned has now been refurbished, and a light can be seen from within. According to the rumors from the slaves, that office was left unoccupied since the previous occupant committed suicide … and the one before that was disgraced and sent away from the Temple.

Leeta shivers, her curiosity at the macabre room slowing her feet. Walking now, she glances in, looking at the changes and wondering how long it will be before the room is empty again.

A wooden desk has been moved into the office, a very plain one without much in the way of ornamental carving on it, save for a stylized Star and Anchor on the side panels, represented in relief. Unlike much furniture in the offices of the Inquisition, this one does not sport claw or weapon marks or any sorts of stains. There are some "in" and "out" trays, but they are currently empty. Lighting is provided by wall-mounted torches, but some fresh incense candles (which must have been placed this morning) fill the room with a pleasant aroma. There are also a couple of hanging plants.

"*KAW!*"

The red-maned Savanite jumps at the exclamation, ready to sprint again.

The sound's source becomes evident … a large black crow in the corner, who is apparently tidying up the place. He wears some drab robes that identify him as an acolyte of the Priesthood.

"Ah. You are Moffat's slave, yes?" the crow says, looking at the Savanite's collar. "Well, you can tell him that he can forget sending you in here to poke around just because the door's open. Oh, I know all about him! Just because I'm an acolyte doesn't mean I was born yesterday! KAW!"

Leeta nods respectfully, keeping her head bowed and signing, "I am sorry, my master did not send me. I heard a noise in here " Then she turns to leave, fully expecting the crow to be as unable to understand her as most of the other people in the temple.

The crow caws, "Bah. I have to learn that finger-sign you slaves use. Where I was born, we don't have any finger-wiggling. No slaves, either. Hmph. But they don't worship the First Ones, either, and they don't have machines like these. Hmph. Anyway, just remember, this is Inquisitrix Turtle's office. And she's at least three hundred years older than Moffat, so he can learn to respect his elders, and their property!"

The crow looks as if he's trying to act curmudgeonly, perhaps like some of his superiors, though he shows no signs of being anything but a young bird, by any means. (That is, if you happened to be familiar with the crow-like Korvs to really be able to tell… )

The fire-haired Savanite bows several times, backing up from the door and trying to get out of the crow's sight, her tail twitching nervously.

The Korv seems more interested in getting back to his work, so he doesn't detain the Savanite any longer.

Once she's back in the hallway, Leeta turns and sprints for the Arch Inquisitor Moffat's office. She runs faster than she should through the eerily lit temple corridors, trying to put her mistake behind her as quickly as possible.

The door to Moffat's office is left closed, as per normal, but not quite so normal is that there are some points of light filtered through a hinged grilled plate just to one side of the door, where one can stoop down to talk to someone on the other side.

As the light blinks out, then blinks on again, it would seem someone is moving in the room beyond, momentarily causing a shadow to move across this grill.

Leeta stops outside the door, and supports herself against the wall, bent over and panting. She had run too fast, and Moffat never likes to see her exhausted. She breathes slowly, trying to get her wind back.

A voice can be heard from the room beyond. "… and what do you think of this fine painting I recently acquired? It was on auction from the Titus haut Mikide estate… "

The fire-haired Savanite pants more quietly now, her breath coming back. Her ears flicker at Moffat's voice. Her master is awake! She can't have been late. Nervously she tries to decide if it would be better to slip in, or wait till his meeting is over.

The voice is familiar, but has a bit of a slur to it. The slur, unfortunately, is familiar as well. Master has been drinking again. "… too bad about Kame Ikata. Went nuts, you know. But now he's missing. Oh, yes, I know, he keeps escaping, but this time they didn't catch him. Think he's gone for good. Of course, that means the market value of this will soar… "

*bump* *crash* *tinkle* A few muttered curses come from the room. Cleaning up broken glasses and a spill will no doubt be added to Leeta's morning duties.

Leeta shifts her weight from foot to foot. Alcohol and her mistakes do not go well together. She tries to see through the grill, if she knows who her master's guest is, she'll know if she should be inside, or outside the office.

Through the grill, Leeta can see Moffat's form stooping near a table, but closer to the door, Leeta can see an armored form in a magenta cape. Mostly, the cape is all she can see. The warrior is fairly short, as they go, surely no taller than Leeta, and maybe even a bit shorter.

{Even walking, I would be almost here by now. Master would expect me} Leeta thinks to herself, letting the mandolin case slide slowly off her shoulder, and putting one hand on the latch of the door. {If it is open, I can slip in quietly.}

Moffat stands up again. "Bah. Forget the small talk. Again, I sent the guards away. Can't trust them when Knights Templar are involved. Those bloody wolves. 'Loyal to the end,' they say. Sure, sure. Even though you're a meow-meow, somehow you're one of them." He meanders into a series of curses and crude statements about Jupanis and Khattas. As Leeta checks the door, she finds that it should slide open.

The Savanite waits for her master too look away from the door again, should her entrance add Savanites to the list of things he is insulting. She waits, ready for her chance to slip in as quietly as possible, planning to stand in her usual spot just inside the door.

Leeta quietly opens the door as her master meanders about the room, and slips in. She avoids getting close to the magenta-caped Khatta, and closes the door behind her. Moving to the side against the wall, she rests her mandolin against the wall, then stands beside it, her head bowed.

Moffat continues his tirade, wandering around the room as he does so, sputtering at the walls as often as anything else, and evidencing no notice whatsoever of Leeta's entrance. The warrior – nay, make that warrioress – remains facing the other direction, showing no notice, either. More can be discerned now … The warrioress is a feline – a Kattha, given the digitigrade stance, as opposed to a Kattha – with long, spilling tresses of dark hair that are roughly hacked in a few places that suggest she doesn't care much for tending to it properly. A pair of swords are sheathed, crossing her back, and a bit of her armor can be seen, shining glossy white, with intricate designs of roses and stylized thorns.

On the floor, near the door, a puddle of spilled liquor amidst broken shards of glass is slowly spreading, and Moffat might step in it if he's not careful. He doesn't look careful.

"So," Moffat says, "you're leaving Rephidim, hmm? Well, that is just so convenient. Brave knight, running away! Well, as you should have learned as a diaper-wearing Temple Scout, your duty is to obey the Temple. And, I am the Temple. So, I don't CARE what vows you made, YOU do as I say. You aren't going anywhere."

Leeta crouches down and starts picking up the pieces of glass, piling them carefully in her hand. She tries to remember where she left a cloth she could use to wipe up the liquid. As her hand fills with the shards, she looks for the wastebasket.

A wastebasket is nearby, and there's a cloth on that table … but her further actions, despite her attempts at stealth, betray her presence … not to Moffat, who is still intent upon his tirade, but to the knight … who in a flash snaps her blades out of their sheaths, and arcs them both toward the Savanite slave.

The red-maned Savanite freezes in her crouch as the blades slice towards her. Only her tightening hands showing any of her fear. {STAR! Don't let me die!}

*SHINK* Moffat lets out a high-pitched scream, dropping another glass to shatter against the floor. He breathes heavily, regaining his composure only when he realizes at last that the weapons were not borne on him. Rather, the blades are crossed in an X, based at Leeta's neck, like scissors ready to snip, frozen perfectly in place, like the knight who holds them.

Leeta does not move, the glass shards cutting into her hand, but she does not move. She doesn't breathe.

The blades pull away … and disappear with a single movement back over the knight's shoulders, just a split second before Moffat burbles, "Put AWAY your weapons!" He makes a rude noise, covering his mouth, then says, "Thank you." Pounding footsteps can be heard in the corridor outside.

The Savanite starts to shake as the scissor like blades leave her throat. Her hands tremble and the broken glass slips out of them onto the floor again.

The door slides open. "Inquisitor!" A Jupani guard pokes his head into the room, and by the sounds, there must be more still arriving in the hallway.

Moffat growls, then yaps at the Jupani, "Look how long it took you! This is unacceptable! I figured it was time to test your reaction time, and you are SORELY lacking! I will have to talk to the Lieutenant about this. DISMISSED!" He makes a sweeping motion with his hand, knocking a vase off a table. More to clean up.

Leeta sinks back against the wall, shivering. Pulling the few glass slivers out of her palm with her fingers. She has trouble grabbing the pieces, her hands are shaking too much, but she does get them all, after a few tries. Then she puts her wounded hand in her muzzle, to hold back her moans, and let her lick the cuts.

As the guards leave, Moffat growls at Leeta. "What are you DOING? BLEEDING all over my carpet! Just LOOK at the MESS you're making!" He gives Leeta a clumsy kick. "And get up! Stop crawling around like a wild animal."

The Savanite gives a hurt bark as the poodle kicks her, and stands, trying to move away from him. She looks for something to wrap her hand up in, and also remembers to watch her master's feet, to keep him away from the glass.

"GET OUT!" the poodle shouts. "You too! I've totally lost my train of thought. I'll finish my business with you later." He doesn't seem to be aiming at anyone in particular right now. The knight turns to stare at Leeta, with what appear to be empty eyesockets, since they peer through the dark confines of an armored mask.

Leeta quickly looks away from the knight's gaze, and grabs her mandolin, waiting for the door to be clear so she can leave. She holds her other hand up, trying to stop the blood from dripping off it, and instead down her arm.

Instead of stepping through or aside, the knight reaches out, grabbing Leeta's upraised arm, then tugs her along through the doorway, not bothering to close the door behind.

Just on the way out, though, there's a flash and a ring of steel, though Leeta can't see just what happened, from her perspective.

The fire-haired Savanite barks again in surprise as she is dragged out of the room. She stumbles after the shorter Kattha.

Out in the corridor, the knight shoves Leeta over to one wall, and finally lets go. In her other hand, she has a ragged strip of cloth that looks suspiciously like the fringe of the tablecloth on Moffat's vase-stand just inside the door to his office. She begins to wrap this around Leeta's wound.

Leeta stays shoved against the wall, not moving as her hand is bandaged. She clutches the mandolin case tightly with her other one. She watches the knight work, but avoids looking directly at her face, concentrating on what she is doing instead.

It's not masterful work, but it's enough pressure to do the job until more serious attention can be given to the wound. The knight backs away, focusing on Leeta with that severe gaze, then removing her gauntlets and attaching them to her belt, revealing golden-furred hands with hazy mottled patches.

The fire-haired Savanite bows her head, focusing on the knight's hands and signing clumsily with her own. "I am sorry, it was my fault" The bandage is tight, and makes the gestures with that hand awkward.

The knight signs, "Who are you?" By the look of it, it's easier to move her fingers without the gauntlets. It probably would have helped to remove the gauntlets BEFORE trying to apply a bandage, too.

Leeta squeezes out the signs, "I am Leeta, one of Arch Inquisitor Moffat's slaves, sir." Her left hand starting to cramp with the effort.

The knight signs the question again, this time just using one hand, in the old Formal sign, not used much in the city, "Who are you?"

The red-maned Savanite looks up at the knight's eyes, overcome with surprise at seeing the Formal sign used, here of all places, by this person. Letting her wounded hand drop, the other one hand gestures slowly, "I am Fire-Mane."

The knight's hands drop at this for a moment … and then both raise again, going back to the faster, more expressive "city-sign". "Come with me. I have your father."

Leeta barks!

The knight puts her gauntlets back on, and starts striding down the corridor, away from Moffat's office. As she does, there is a loud yowl and yelp from Moffat's office, followed by pounding noises, perhaps like a poodle hopping on one foot, accompanied by a stream of epithets.

She grabs up her mandolin, "Dadee?" Her free hand flashes, then "Running-river?" Leeta keeps signing as the knight turns away.

The knight does not respond to Leeta's signs, but merely continues down the hallway. Some guards rush up, responding to Moffat's yelps, and part way for the knight and her spotted companion. A loud crashing noise can be heard from Moffat's office, followed by more painful yelps.

Leeta has only one through on her mind as she sprints after the knight. Even the pain in her hand is fading. {Dadee!}

The Champion of Roses strides through the twisting corridors of the Temple, her magenta cape sweeping outward behind her, priests, acolytes and pilgrims stepping out of her way, and closing in again behind Leeta. At last, this route leads the two to the main entrance and its crumbling (though still elegant) stonework, to the front steps, past the Elite Guard with their chitin blades and flintlock rifles.

Outside, it is still early morning, the sky just warming with the light of the rising sun. At the bottom of the steps can be seen a bespectacled cheetah. Minus the spectacles and the air of age about him, he looks very familiar to Leeta … He looks even more familiar as he raises his gaze to meet the approaching Champion, and then the slave following down the steps behind her. He lets out a bark of surprise, and almost trips over his own feet as he starts up the steps.

Leeta barks and drops her mandolin and just rushes towards the other Savanite. Hands flashing "Dadee, Dadee, dadee", and she barks with each sign like she used to when she was a child trying for his attention. She reaches him, and clings.

At first, Ibis – also known as Running-River so long ago – had a look of uncertainty, but as the red-maned cheetah abandons her instrument and rushes up to him, he meets her with open arms, then embraces her as tears well up in his eyes and the spectacles are knocked crooked on his muzzle … and he doesn't really care about that in the slightest.

Her hands clutch across his back as all her emotions well up and stream from her eyes. Daddy is here, Daddy will take care of everything. She holds, and holds.

For a moment, he is no longer a scholar slave serving a Templar Elite in Rephidim. He is that strong chieftain again, the one who married the tribe's shamaness, Creen-Song, the one who raised Fire-Mane and her six sisters and did his best to prepare them for the hazards the world offered … even though he never saw just what hazards the world would truly bring.

Leeta pants, coughing and crying. All the times she wished, it has finally come true. All the times she sat as a slave, crying because she would never see her father again, were wrong. He's back, he's holding her, he is her strong daddy who will take care of her and let nothing happen.

And then … the knight starts prying them apart. "Stop!" she pulls back to sign, her signs clumsy on account of her gauntlets. "If the poodle hears of this, he will harm you both to spite me."

In the early morning, at least, there are not many entering the Temple. The only likely witnesses would be the members of the Elite Guard, the Jupani who constantly keep their vigil over the main entrance to the Temple. It's almost time for the changing of the Guard.

The fire haired Savanite holds tighter as the knight tries to pull her from her father. If she lets go, she might never see him again. If she never sees Running-River again, she doesn't care what happens. She holds, tighter than she ever could when the slavers pulled her from her father the first time.

Ibis sighs, and takes one his hands free to push his spectacles back up onto the bridge of his muzzle. He pats Leeta's hands, trying gently to coax them free, under the stern, masked gaze of the knight.

Leeta lets go, for her father. Slowly releasing her hold and letting her hands slide free, stepping back and looking at him through the spectacles. Her tears stream down her markings into the smile on her muzzle, and all she can think to sign is, "Don't go," and "I love you dadee."

The Champion growls through her mask, then reaches into a pouch, whipping out a strip of parchment and a charcoal pencil. She scrawls something onto it, then waits as a lone acolyte pads up the steps, and thrusts the note to the hapless young Jupani. The Jupani takes a moment to look at the note, then barks, "Yes, Champion, at once," and dashes on up the steps.

In the street below, four horse-like Drokars gallop up to the base of the steps. Only three of them have riders, but all four have magenta caparisons. The riders are armored and attired much like the Champion, only without the intricate ornamentation, the only symbols they bear being the Bounded Star and Anchor of the Knights Templar.

Ibis has tears running down the sides of his muzzle as well. He kisses his daughter on the forehead, then signs, "Do not worry. The Champion is often on business to the Temple. I will see you again, before I leave for the cold north."

Panting hard to hold down her feelings, the red-maned Savanite signs, " I missed you, I thought I'd never see you again. Anyone again. I met Long-Lope! She said you were locked away in a champion's dungeon."

Ibis' ears wiggle. "Far from it, child – " He stops, looking toward the knight.

The Champion signs, "Let us go. I am borrowing the poodle's slave."

"Wait! My Mandolin" Leeta rushes back up the steps and grabs it, returning to Ibis' side.

The Champion is already heading toward the waiting Drokars, and swings up into her saddle. Ibis looks to the knight for a nod of confirmation, then takes Leeta to one of the other beasts, helping her up to ride with one of the other warrioresses. It makes a curious sight, since Leeta is taller than any of them, and Ibis is certainly taller than she. Ibis at last rides with another knight, and the Drokars set out, through the streets.

The fire-haired Savanite holds onto the smaller knight in front of her. Feeling the beast Drokars move under her. She's never ridden before, and the feeling is unusual. Leeta's eyes never leave her father as they move through the streets.

The Magenta Lance rides out of the Temple Quarter, then out of Rephidim City entirely, toward the mountain which is set in the middle of the sky island which is known also as Rephidim. They journey along a broken road that winds around the base of the mountain, eventually coming to the other side … and up to a fortification that looks like a human skull carved into the stone of the mountain itself, overlooking a number of smaller structures, many of which sport stained glass windows with emblems of the various Aspects of the Order of the Bounded Star and Anchor.

Leeta stares, she's never been this far outside of the city before, not in years. The macabre sight of the skull is diminished by the sheer wonderment of being beyond the temple, beyond the city, with her father, almost in the country, almost free.

A gate that looks as if it were carved from two great bones of some alien beast parts way for the Lance, and the lupine guards on either side bark greetings and pound their armored chests in salutes to the warrioresses. The Lance continues onto the grounds, passing some of the stone Sanctuaries, until they at last reach one which has a stylized rose represented in the circular stained glass window above its peaked-arch entrance. Around and to the side, the knights dismount, along with their passengers, and stable the Drokars, before heading back to the entrance to this structure again.

She stares at all the stained glass and archways on the sanctuaries. Taking in it all. Leeta has never seen the Templar's fortress before. Her curiosity unrestrained, she still holds back her questions, and waits beside her father after she dismounts.

Leeta slips her unwounded hand into her fathers, and squeezes tightly, holding onto him.

Ibis pats Leeta's hand comfortingly, then signs with his free hand, "See? No dungeon," as he leads her to what looks like a cross between a border outpost keep, a cathedral and a greenhouse.

She smiles up at him, unable to sign with her hurt hand, and unwilling to let go with the other. Her eyes say all she really has to, and better than she could ever gesture.

Inside the entrance of the Sanctuary of Roses, filtered light plays across a tiled path leading amongst bushes filled with what must be all the varieties of roses that Sinai has to offer … and maybe even of worlds beyond that. The path parts ways to circle around a recessed pool in which golden flashes of light dart about under the surface, and then the path rejoins to reach a circular dais that bears, in mosaic, an emblem which combines the symbol of the Order with a stylized rose.

Five doors lead off from this far circular platform, and the knights save for the Champion head into separate ones. The Champion stays behind as Ibis and Leeta reach one of the marble benches, where a book has been left open. Some sort of travelogue, with a picture of some barren, frozen-looking land.

Leeta walks through the garden with her father, finally letting go enough to sign "You live in such a nice place, I have a small room, and it feels like the whole temple sits on top of me." She looks around, at the roses, at the garden pool. Then at the books down on the seat.

Her lips tremble as she signs, "When you go away… you will come back?". Looking at the icy picture, and remembering what she tried not to see at the Temple.

Ibis nods, even as the knight reaches up to her mask, and unclasps it. Ibis starts a bit at this, but then looks back to Leeta.

Leeta looks at Ibis, following his gaze at the champion, and feeling his confusion, and she just looks between the two as well.

Behind the mask of the Champion is a golden-furred face, marked with many scars … but also with some mottled markings which look like faint rosettes, or perhaps, with some imagination, spots.

Leeta stares at the champion, looking at the rosettes, and her eyes. Dark brown eyes, and knowledge of the old sign. Her mind reels, one hand slowly forming, "Cloud-Mark?"

The knight frowns, but then reluctantly nods.

Leeta just stares in confusion, "How… ?" Then the terror in Moffat's office flashes back, and despite the pain both hands angrily sign, "You nearly KILLED me!"

"You startled me," the knight signs, trying to look nonchalant, but an ear-twitch betrays her shame.

Her anger holds a second more, then dissipates as a smile breaks across her muzzle. "Of course! I'm older than you, I've had more practice being quiet. Oh Cloud Mark!" Leeta steps towards her sister, hesitating, the uniform of a templar pushing her back.

The knight takes a step back. Not exactly a way to welcome an embrace. There's something uncomfortable about her expression. "I'm not your sister," she signs.

Leeta steps back, close to Ibis, looking at Cloud Mark, and not signing anything.

Ibis stands up from the bench, putting a reassuring hand on Leeta's shoulder, then moves to where she can see him better, his eyes slightly downcast. He pulls his hand away, then signs, "She is, yet she is not. She is not one of us."

Leeta signs, "But she was there, she was with us. How can she not be? Her spots are strange, but so is my hair. I don't understand, dadee. Everything is turning upside down for me."

Ibis holds Leeta closely, hugging her, then frees a hand to sign in Formal, "Third-Eye was not my first daughter. There was another, but who left us at a young age, before you were born. We found Cloud-Mark, abandoned by the Sky – by an airship, and raised her as our own, in a way to replace the one we lost."

Leeta holds onto her father, putting her face against his shoulder as she signs, "So that is why you were always distant from her than the rest of us, and why she owns you now. Oh, Star, it is a strange circle." She looks down to see his sign, adding "Can she buy me from the Temple as well, so I can stay here with you?"

Cloud-Mark, also known as the Champion of Roses, growls. She signs, by now having removed her gauntlets, "Moffat is as much as my owner now. So long as he is my master, it cannot be."

Leeta looks back at the champion, "Then you are not much better off than I am, though I am sure I will feel his frustration more than you do." She rubs her side with the Inquisitor kicked her, "I have found it best to avoid him in the mornings… " She wiggles her ears.

"You ARE my sister, Cloud Mark." Leeta adds, "I wished to see you again as hard as I wished for all the others."

Cloud-Mark nods, barely looking at Leeta's sign, by the look of it. "Moffat has become the new Temple Liaison over the Knights Templar, since he displaced Melchizedek, the Aeonian. He is bringing disgrace to our Order. He is also asking the unthinkable of me. I may be forced to die to maintain my honor." She looks back to Leeta. "Do not be so pleased to see me."

"Don't! Please." Fire-Mane signs to her sister, "I do not know what Moffat does, I have been ignoring it, but I still see things. I know where things are… " Leeta contemplates the unthinkable, "I can help you, I'm sure of it."

Cloud-Mark frowns. "What Moffat asks for is unthinkable. He is a small-minded fool. He has no grand schemes, only his pathetic fantasies to fulfill. He and his kind will pay dearly for what they have done to our Order."

The distance between Leeta and her sister presses on her, and she feels her back tightening in response to her younger sister's signs as much as it would to any of her master's words. What the two of them once were in the jungle they aren't now, and Fire-Mane feels the gulf between her world and Cloud-Mark's pushing her back into the roll of a slave.

Leeta signs, "I'll help you, if I could, but there is not much I can do."

Cloud-Mark paces across the tiled circle, while Ibis looks down. Then, she stops, turning around, and signs, "Be ready and alert. I may require your assistance, when the time comes. For the sake of your father… "

Leeta nods, bowing her head with her father.

Cloud-Mark paces some more, then stops and puts her mask back on, fastening it.

The Champion of Roses signs, "You may remain here for the day. For the night, you may stay in the quarters that once belonged to Blossom." She points to one of the five doors. "In the morning, I will have you sent back to the Temple, along with a token of my gratitude to the Inquisitor for allowing me the use of his slave." Then, she looks to Ibis. "By all means, will you let your own daughter's hand fester? Take her to have her wound examined at the infirmary! They know I own you."

Ibis starts at this, then begins to lead Leeta back away, down the tiled path to the entrance, away from the Champion of Roses.

Leeta follows her father, and the feeling that was clinging tightly to her fades. Somehow, its as if what the Champion signed was true. She is not Leeta's sister, she is not a slave that somehow became a templar, she is something else. The order of things is restored, and her confusion gone.

The fire-haired Savanite walks beside her father as they go to the infirmary. After a moment of stillness, she starts to sign with her good hand, "There's so much to tell Dadee, I don't know where to start. Did you know Long-Lope is one of the most important slaves in the temple? I can play the Mandolin, and dance! You have to tell me where you're going, when you'll be back. Once a year ago… " Her gestures continue, as she tries to fit all the years in the one day they have together.