What goes around...

[JKatkina]

Talitha's face under Mystic's scrutiny was ashen behind the natural tan of her skin, even in the warm glow cast by the mage. Her eyes were clear -- she hadn't been crying -- but her eyes slid away from Mystic's avoidantly and there seemed to be new lines around them. She didn't look terrified, exactly -- but it was more like part of her was far away and the rest of her was at a loss. She held her hands together, as if she had been wringing them and then stopped.

Before Oni could respond to Mystic, Suna's creamy tones cut in. ~Then take her home,~ the pale Hathian suggested, her fluting mind-voice firm. Talitha looked startled, moving from Mystic's grasp to gaze behind her at her gentler bond. ~I don't need to be attended to all the time, dear heart, and I do have an abundance of protectors,~ the dragoness told her bond more softly, stretching her neck out to nudge Tally. ~This place is bad for you. You should go home.~

Oni was agitated. She shifted her winged forelegs and lashed her tail, looking from Mystic to Sunaka to Tally. Both her bond and her sister needed watching; they were both her charges, her responsibilities, and if Talitha went home, that meant Oni would have to leave one or the other of them alone. The fact that Talitha would have the entire Warren looking out for her didn't factor into the black Hathian's decision one bit -- they were her bond, her sister, and no one else's. She swung a head to look at Navidad, hackles threatening to ripple up again though Mystic's firm admonition had forced her to calm herself somewhat. In the end, Oni knew where she would stay, but the idea of sending Talitha home alone, where Hedoro could theoretically find a way to follow her, made her want to go find the man and off him now. She glanced towards the candidate barracks, where the great bulk of Cheran sat as an indicator of that hated presence, more out of habit than anything else -- and then she really did hackle, seeing even from afar that the bloody red eyes of two of those four abominable heads were open, and trained in their direction.

[Mystic Dragon]

Mystic felt an instinctive itch of unease crawl down her spine. Sunaka was little more able to protect herself than Tally in her mind, though that might have been due to her own overprotectiveness of the Hathians. Had it been Onithris in Suna's place, she likely would have felt the same.

~She has a point, rider-mine.~ The cool silver river of Myrah'Care's voice trickled through her thoughts. The pattern merged with her own red and gold threads, twisting and twining together until the two seemed hopelessly tangled. The mage could feel her bond's calm logic and assertion of Sunaka's position. The Hathian had her sister as well as Navidad. Mystic could always send others if she felt that wasn't enough. Talitha was not as safe though. So long as she remained Hedoro had access to her, and should he make another attempt to approach her they might have bigger problems than just a little hissing fit. The Warren was safer, an impregnable fortress that the full force of the Hydra Legion hadn't been able to topple. And it had the twins.

"The choice is Talitha's," Mystic spoke into the eerie silence after what seemed like an eternity. Her golden gaze slid away from Oni, where it had rested while her mind joined with her bonds, and focused back on the small, fragile girl who had become the center of this emotional storm.

[JKatkina]

She would see the girl with her face buried against Suna's hide. Talitha Ferrin would happily have gone through her life never once being the center of attention, but here she was. She hadn't looked for any of this -- and if the good things that had come her way unexpectedly hadn't been so very good, she would have been fervently wishing that she had never left home.

She knew what she would choose. She'd known it since the moment Sunaka had suggested going home to the Warren. From there on, it was a matter of struggling with the shame that the decision to leave her delicate bond alone had evoked, and while Sunaka stood by, a monolith of love and forgiveness in her mind, she wrestled with that shame. Finally, she looked up, palming tears from her eyes.

The weeks she had been here had worn on her, and the visit from Hedoro (her memory was already trying to reroute around Teliree's presence, trying to edit out the trauma) had been the straw to break the camel's back. "I'd like to come home," she told Mystic very quietly.

[Mystic Dragon]

A knot of unease unwound itself in the mage's chest upon hearing Talitha's words. The poor girl had been through too much, but at least now she could keep her safe. Though that left her with the problem of how to protect Sunaka.

~Navidad will remain here,~ Myrah'Care offered soothingly. She could sense her bond's anxiety like a discordant note humming in her ear. ~Onithris as well. We cannot risk staying ourselves or else I would make the offer.~

~I know, my heart,~ Mystic's voice cut through the gentle river of her bond's musings. ~Too many and she will be as much at risk as before. Too few and we may not be able to respond fast enough should trouble arise. I believe I will send Hope after Talitha is returned safely.~

~She will not like that,~ the silver chortled. She felt rather than heard her bond's wry agreement. The little, short-tempered draca never liked to be far from Mystic, or from home for that matter. She would rage and spit and warn them all of the trouble they were getting her into, and then do exactly as she was told.

"Come then," Mystic spoke out loud after the exchange with her bond. She beckoned Talitha closer and turned her attention up to the two Hathians; so very different and yet so much alike. "I will return once Talitha has been seen safely home. This incident cannot go unreported." The mage paused for a moment, her eyes lingering on Suna. Though the girl cringed and shivered in the shadows of the powerful beings around her, Suna appeared to be a statue of pure calm. That was where Tally's strength lay, but even that was not enough. With Talitha gone, who would be Suna's strength? "Be safe."

[JKatkina]

Onithris had moved across the sands to stand beside Suna, lending her large self as comfort to her sister, and truthfully not having quite the stoicism to see her bond off from across the small sands. She leaned down to butt her head against Talitha once, a loving murmur trapped in her throat and echoed by Talitha as she hugged the dark snout. Then she stepped back as Mystic summoned Tally onwards, looming and fading in the darkness like a protective spirit, a gargoyle.

But even as Talitha had been beginning to calm in the face of going home, Mystic's words caused a sudden spike of alarm from the woman, and she stopped some distance off from Myrah'care and began to wring her hands again. "Report?" she whispered, and then tried again, her voice strained but still under control. "Report to who? Why?"

[Mystic Dragon]

"The leaders of this place," Mystic responded after a minute, thinking the answer was obvious. Someone must have noticed that Sunaka didn't belong here by now. Though this world was among the newer recruits to the Nexus (as in not from the original handful of worlds that had first stumbled across each other in blind wanderlust), Mystic was confident that the designated leaders would want to keep peace on their own sands. One incident of near violence was one too many in her own books.

Mystic stepped forward to place a comforting hand on Talitha's shoulder, sensing the anxiety that thrummed through the small woman like a live wire. She didn't need to be telepathic to know that this entire situation had placed more strain on Talitha than she could handle.

"It will be alright," she assured her in a calm tone. "This isn't my first hatching, and it's certainly not the worst I've seen. Sunaka will be fine. Come now, child, M'lor and T'lor will be eager to see you home safe." It was Mystic's hope that mention of the twins would get Tally moving again. The sooner she could clear this mess up, the better.

[JKatkina]

Talitha looked at Mystic sidelong, and then finally nodded. She was beginning to wonder just how much her friend knew about the details of what had happened on the sands earlier... how much Navidad had passed along. Oni, catching the thought, glanced at the Warren-assigned guard, though Talitha carefully did not.

If Mystic didn't know or for some reason didn't think it important, Talitha could only hope, carefully, that it didn't come up elsewise.

"Alright," she said, holding her voice steady and her hands still, "I'm ready to go."

[Mystic Dragon]

Mystic was fully aware of what Navidad had witnessed. What the brooding dragoness had left out, the mage had filled in on her own. Too much time had passed between Talitha's disappearance all those years ago and her reappearance. Though the twins had always been tight-lipped about her return, their minds were not so protected as they might like to believe. Mystic normally tried her best to keep her meddling to a minimum, but there were times where the bleed was too strong and the circumstances too strange. She was their leader after all. She needed to know if her people were at risk. Glancing across the sands at the glowing red eyes of Cheran, she could not shake the feeling that this was very much a situation she should concern herself with.

"Myrah is waiting beyond the sands," Mystic offered soothingly. She extended an arm towards Tally, partially to invite her in for a comforting touch and partially to let all those bearing witness to the drama unfolding in the Clan that this woman was under the Red Mage's protection.

The questions still nagging at the back of Mystic's mind would have to wait until they were safely away from this place.

[JKatkina]

As Talitha began to relax a little, unwitting of the knowledge Mystic did indeed have, she accepted the comfort and followed alongside Mystic to Myrah'Care's waiting place beyond the protected circle of sand that housed Suna's clutch. She looked at the mage, so radiant even in the overcast darkness of this place, and sighed a little. "Thank you for coming, Mystic," she said softly, and then dared a tiny smile. "I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you."

By then they had approached Myrah'care, and Talitha slowed for a moment, her feet heavy. She turned and regarded the pair of Hathians watching her, her own eyes conflicted as she began to realize that the idea of leaving them pained her deeply, and she almost ran from Mystic's side back to the safety of her draconic partners.

~Don't you dare,~ Oni told her, and Tally got a glimpse of the black hathian's own conflict -- and her pain, too. But her determination was unmistakable, and Suna's too as the gentler creature sent her own feelings vibrating along the connection between them, and Talitha loved them even more for their strength. ~I'll take care of her,~ Onithris told her bond firmly, and then amended, intimate between the three of them when her sister gently chided her, ~we'll take care of each other. Go home, your mates are waiting for you.~

The reminder of the twins this time did encourage the small woman into motion, and she glanced anxiously at Myrah. Home was so close... "I'll come back and visit all the time," she said barely louder than she had spoken to Mystic, the vocalization only serving to emphasize her sending to her bonds. Then, with one more lingering look at the great shapes of her bonds -- they were merging into one blurred-edge mass in the low light as Suna leaned against her sister for comfort -- she turned and hurried to the great silver Geperna's side.

((Feel free to railroad us on forward to Tris'hath! :3))

[Mystic Dragon]

~Friend?~ The word hit Mystic like a stab to the gut. She smiled at Talitha and offered her a reassuring pat, hiding any hint of the turmoil roiling through her mind. What had she ever done to deserve such loyalty? No doubt it would dry up as soon as they reached home.

~You should not be so hard on yourself, rider mine.~ Myrah dipped a shoulder to the ground, extending one silvery wing like a blanket across the cooling ground. Her star-spattered eyes whirled and fixed on the little Ferrin woman while she waited patiently for her to mount. Both rider and bond had a penchant for appearing to be the center of calm no matter the storm that raged around them. The difference lay in the truth of Myrah's calm. Without her, Mystic would have lost herself years ago.

~We'll see,~ the mage replied fatalistically as she mounted behind Talitha. Once more she turned her eyes on the shifting shadows of the sands, picking out the faint bright spot that was Suna and her sister. She was leaving them here alone; her Hathians, her children, her triumph. She was leaving them and taking their bond away to be questioned thoroughly about a topic she obviously wished to avoid. Yes, she was a wonderful /friend/ indeed.

The silver dragoness lifted into the sky with a few sweeps of her great wings, stirring up small sandstorms in her wake. The deepening shadows of night wrapped around her silken hide, turning bright silver to deep, cold gray. Mystic felt the shadows seep into her pores and wrap around her twisting thoughts the higher they climbed. By the time that Myrah disappeared into the void between worlds, Mystic had let go of any guilt that lingered over Talitha's situation.

***

Tris'Hath was a warm world by nature. The far Southron kingdoms saw short winters and long, boiling summers. Lanutha, tucked into the shadow of the Dragon Tooth Mountains far to the north, had never known the kiss of snow. The air that blasted Myrah and her passengers the moment they appeared in the sky above the Warren was only slightly less offensive than the steamy rush escaping a freshly opened oven. Heat sunk into the dragoness' hide within seconds, erasing any lingering memory of the chill Between. She let out a contented rumble, tilted her wings to the side, and began a slow, banking descent to the grassy fields far below.

[JKatkina]

The little sigh Talitha gave was almost as contented as the dragon's. Raised in the cold, moody mountains though she was, in her bones she was a hot-weather creature. More than that, though, she felt a sense of safety wrap around her that she hadn't realized had been so very absent. At some point over the years, the Warren had rooted itself in her heart as home. All was not well, certainly, but she was home and that helped.

Tally peered over Myrah's side as they descended, fearless of the height. Once they touched ground, she slid off of her back with care and said, "thank you," to the geperna.

[Mystic Dragon]

"You are most welcome, little one," the silver intoned with a deep bow of her tear-drop shaped head. Her breath came hot and fast from her nostrils as she straightened up again, resettling slender wing tines and flexing steely muscles. Myrah had always been an impressive specimen of dragon kind, built tall and sleek with the ability to cut through the air like a fish through the sea. Age had taken little from her structure, but had added a cobweb of scarring that traced faint, ghostly fingers along her limbs and underside. Mystic had scars to match her bond, but where Myrah was a pillar of stability, the mage had been sorely beaten down by the war.

"Come, Talitha," Mystic called in a voice that belied her fatigue. She held out a hand towards the Avengaean woman and looked uneasily over Tally's face. Flight had given her a respite from her thoughts, but now they whirled fierce as a maelstrom. Confront her now or wait for the twins? Offer her the choice? Yes, a fine friend she was. No matter how she felt towards the shy woman, the safety of her people always came first. "I am afraid we have much to talk about."

[JKatkina]

And just like that, the comfort of home threatened to crumble into dust.

Talitha was not such a bad judge of intent that she didn't connect Mystic's words with what had happened on the other world's sands, and with sudden, loathsome certainty she comprehended that Mystic must know more than she had been letting on. The look that she gave the mage was suddenly, starkly frightened -- she couldn't help it, friend or no.

For a moment, Talitha Ferrin considered running. For far longer than a moment, it was all she wanted to do... but where would she go? Run home to the twins, and they would need to know why she was running from Mystic, of all people. If there was something she wanted even less than to talk about Teliree, it was to talk about Teliree to her husbands. Running to her bonds -- was no longer an option, and she felt a sense of panic, of isolation that had to have been intentionally orchestrated. For a wild moment she entertained the idea of running into the wilderness, though the thought was obviously ludicrous.

She swallowed, and knowing that she was as trapped as a rabbit in a snare, she followed with leaden feet and a leaden tongue where Mystic led.

[Mystic Dragon]

The look on Talitha's face nearly broke Mystic's resolve. The poor girl had been through so much already. It was all one giant, horrible mistake, but there was no ignoring it now. The ugly truth Talitha had unearthed had to be dealt with. Mystic couldn't risk a repeat of her vanishing act. Not when the safety of her riders was at risk.

"I will give you a choice," she offered in muted tones. It was hardly a choice at all, but perhaps the offer would do something for Talitha's fears. "You may talk to me alone, in my office, or we may summon the twins and speak all together. Either way, I must know what happened between you and this..."

~Hedoro,~ Myrah supplied. Mystic had forgotten the name in all the confusion, but the silven dragoness forgot nothing. Such was the curse of her kind.

"Hedoro," Mystic finished.

[JKatkina]

Talitha covered her face with her hands at the mention of the twins. It was no choice at all. "Alone," she responded to Mystic miserably. They wouldn't understand. There'd be no way they could ever understand, she could never expect them to. 'It wasn't me' was a damned weak response when the physical evidence was so condemning. "You can't tell them," she whispered from behind her palms, and the words were more a plea than a demand.

[Mystic Dragon]

((Arg, sorry! Mass Effect has been eating my life.))

"I won't," Mystic promised. It was for Tally to tell the twins anything, though the mage didn't approve of keeping secrets. She and Aaron had once kept secrets from each other. It hadn't ended well.

As Mystic began to escort Tally back to her den, she was filled with a sudden sense of relief. She and Aaron had been through so much together, had come so close to losing everything, but they had prevailed. He was more than a husband to her. Without him, she would be lost. She hoped someday Talitha and her twins could share the same bond.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry that it's come to this, Talitha," Mystic spoke after a few minutes of silence. "I wish I could leave it to you to work out on your own, however you pleased, but if this Hedoro poses a threat, then I must know."

[JKatkina]

((That's okay, brother's wedding is taking up most of my time these days. XD I'm sneaking on on his iPad, actually. This thing is cool. :o I may not be on for a long while after this, though (or I may be on again soon) -- the internet situation is still precarious here. Can't connect our laptops to the web, must use host's computers.))

Talitha followed Mystic dociley, unhappily, feeling mentally paralyzed. As she went, she kept trying to think of how she was going to explain all of this to Mystic, and every time she came up short, feeling any words she could use were inadequate. For that matter, she wasn't entirely sure where the story was supposed to begin -- or, for most of it, why it even happened. None of her history with Hedoro was rational, and some of it, she wasn't even really privy to. Particularly, there was a big gap where Demon took over. She was certain there were secrets there.

Mystic spoke, and Tally looked at her before turning her eyes back down to her feet. Was that why Mystic was worried? "I don't think he's a threat," she told Mystic, in misery. Maybe she could lay the mage's mind to rest quickly and avoid the rest of this interrogation. Maybe. "Not anymore. He has what it is that he wants." She thought. She wrung her hands and again, tried not to think of Teliree.

[Mystic Dragon]

"Does he?" the mage inquired in a tone that said she didn't believe Talitha's reassurances. The confrontation on the sands had been enough to convince her that there was still a problem between them. One that could adversely effect her relations with the Clan.

Mystic looked towards the looming cavern that they made their way towards. It had been her home for more than half her life now. Vaguely she could recall a time when it was barren and quiet. Those memories were tinged with a chill, though the Warren had never really known winter. Now the cavern and the towering mountains behind it buzzed with life at all times of the day or night. It was a welcome sound, even if it meant the mage never got a moment's peace anymore.

"I believe if that were the case, he would not have confronted you earlier." Mystic stepped into the shadows of her den, instantly feeling comforted by the solid stone walls and muggy, spice-tinged air she knew so well. She could have easily claimed one of the better ventilated, prestine dens up in the mountain range, but the mage had been remiss to leave /her/ den. So much had happened here, both good and bad.