Light From Darkness

Temple District

The shadows of the temples grow long as the day winds down and the sun slips low on the horizon. A possible concern to some given previous instructions. And then the center of the square, not far from the fountain, suddenly grows darker. Yet it is not from the near-setting sun, nor cast by any object. It is a temporary darkness, yet even as it instantly begins to dissipate, there is a call. A wail. A scream.

"SEYYYARDUUUU!"

A drawn out word filled with pain, yet relief, fear, yet hope.

Amidst the fading wisps, Aya kneels on the plaza stones; panting from the call and sheen from extended exertion. Though she called, she does not search, she does not scan. In fact, her head is lowered and her eyes all but closed.

Instead, she focus on what she can: the sleeping carnation kobold craddled in her arms and upon her lap. One that even now rouses from the distrubance of their arrival and the call for aid.

A brisk, icy breeze that heralds the coming of winter on the horizon whisks through the temple square, and cloaks and other trappings of winter make their first appearances of the season over the shoulders of no few. This late, though, most have gone to bed, and Seldan is only just stepping out of Eluna's temple, taking the back doors of the temple on his own path towards dinner and his own bed, when the cry goes up. A voice he knows, and alone, enough to turn his steps in its direction. Without hesitation, he breaks into a run towards the source of the call, but slows as he approaches its source, close enough for the light of the mana lamps to spill across a kneeling Aya and a carnation kobold.

Seyardu was, as she had promised, waiting outside the temple of Daeus. The sun was growing low however, and this was concerning to the silverscale, in scent and demeanor. She would honor the request of Aya, but if she needed to, she would go back to help as soon as able. Her attention never wavered however, and a sudden darkness in the middle of the square caught her attention. She had her polearm strung on her back, and immediately was sprinting over to where she was.

"Aya! This one was waiting. Has the box. And you have-"

She stops.

Squints. A sniff at the air.

"Lily?" She asks, barely audible, yet quick. "What do you need, you two?"

As a child might slit eyes against a horror that it might not find them, yet cannot bear such creeping upon them unnoticed, so Aya does. For she is afraid. Not of monsters nor certainly the dark, but of a moment of weakness: a glimpse of her sister's smile; the warmth of Daechir's eyes; Cryosanthia's shimmering scales; even a suspicious glare from Seldan... Any of these and she might hesitate... and she cannot. She will not.

Through slits, Aya watches keenly for any sight of the same sliver of shifted eyelid from Little Fang.

"Rest easy, little one. You are safe..." she croons, sliding her gently from her thighs to the stones. "Please, please..." she all but whispers, though to whom or for what? Still, she doesn't look. Seyardu said to be here, and she must trust in that.

... and then she is!

"Take her! Return her to them both! Keep her safe!" Words rush out as she watches Lily's face; a quiver, a snort, a ripple of movement.

"Tell the Silverguards to strike me d-"

One carnation lid rises, reflecting manalamp light in a hint of sclera.

Just as she arrived, Aya vanishes, leaving wisps of fading shadow to dissipate across the stones.

The message, the words, were not meant for him, and so Seldan remains where he is - and yet the meaning was clear enough, along with its implications. Silently, his eyes lower, understanding what Aya had done, and the price she paid for it. _Strike her down._

The words ring in his ears, but something bids him wait. Hold. Watch. This could be a trap. And so he does, watching in silence, ready to intervene if it should prove so....

Seyardu was moving quickly. "Strike you?" She asks, looking shocked, but immediately scooping up the small child. The silverscale rumbles reassurance as she holds them close. But suddenly-

Aya was gone. Seyardu was left with more questions, and confusion. And a job. She sniffs at the air.

The polearm is pointed at Seldan. "Stay back." She growls, but she did not linger. Already sprinting back for the temple of Daeus, and the relative safety she hoped it would provide. As well as a reunion long overdue.

Seldan, who hadn't moved, is left only to stare in confusion after Seyardu as the sith springs back with the child. The confusion is short-lived, though, and he straightens, steeling.

"What was _that_ all about?" A querulous old man's voice drifts up from the sword at his hip.

"The demon may be using my likeness," Seldan answers back. "As for the mul -" He has already moved to turn away, in his own direction that is very different, back towards the place he calls home.