The Shadow's Song.....

[Sarena]

Sarena stared into the night sky, the moon reflecting off her beautiful sapphire blue orbs, she got out a very elegant, specially designed flute. She actually threw off her cloak, for she was alone, and for all she knew no one was about to see her face. Her skin was beautiful and fare, perfectly reflecting the moon's elegant light, off her face, her lips where a rosy red, delicate, her eyes, where that of sapphire blue, that twinkled and illuminated as the moon's eloquent beams of light that reflected from it, hit them. She put the mouth piece to her mouth, and began to blow softly, but swiftly iit was a wanderful high tune, they would hear it, in the Palace, and the city of Emain Macha. This was the Shadow's Song, via flute, it was to sooth, for the form she created was to sooth, it's original purpose was to destroy if you will. She kept playing it's tune warming and soothimng her heart, soul and mind, nothing was wrong with the world so it seemed, it took her from the reality of it all, and she liked it....

[Kahlan Lothair]

Reality, such a futile thing, made up of time and space that one can never quite understand. With a quill in hand Kahlan pours over some parchment that is obviously in need of tending to. Eyes as brilliantly green as the Irish hills behind her, though the hills are muted by nights expansive blanket of stars, pick thoroughly through the document before she lays quill to parchment and signs the agreement (or whatever else it might be).

The song of her newest addition to the Council drifts to her through the stone, mortar, and glass that makes up the Castle. A decent melody to be played upon the ears of those asleep or those almost there. She sets aside the parchment and rises slowly. Most of her time was spent in her Study, for that was where everything got done except for those few things that were publicly done. Her feet carry her to the huge window a few feet behind the desk. Clasping her hands behind her back she watches with an intent gaze as the blanket and darkness becomes more definitive. Another day drawn to its closing point. The flames in the fireplace seem to try to soothe her and console her from across the room.

Reaching back she pulls her hair free of the tie that binds it. Rich fiery gold curls fall about her face and down her back. Glistening and dancing in the kiss of the fire's light. Even from afar one could look up to the castle and see the figure in the window and know that it was she. The song seems to be haunting and elusive, but something she has truely encountered before. One day she would ask the Lady Sarena what her song meant, though she believed that where she heard it might differ from where the woman had learned it.

[Theoren Roullier]

He sat on the sill of the open window with arms folded and one leg bent and propped, the other dangling out, toes pointed towards the long drop to the ground at the bottom of the castle's high wall. Who knows how long he had been sitting there. As a master thief, he had this uncanny habit of popping up in the most unlikely places and at the most unlikely times. When it came to Kahlan, however? It was never for any malintent. For now he was just listening to the music drift through the night air and enjoy the slightly chilled breeze's contrast to the fire in the room.

Finally after many minutes and she did not notice him, he chuckled. "Ya really shouldn't leave your window open, chere." He scolded her playfully. He and Kahlan were of a very similar ilk. They were far more the same at heart than anyone would ever know. They had an unspoken kind of bond these days, a mutual understanding of one another that had been forged by recent and secret events that no one would ever be privvy to if they had their way. "It's a pretty night out, though. Quite pretty." He mused, looking out over the Kingdom. His ship was swaying lazily in the harbor. The sea, ever fickle yet compelling, called to him even now.

But he had refocused his attentions of Saraena. He had heard of her a few times. A dark sorceress that hailed from the mainland. And now Kahlan had made her a chair of the council. Not that he was one to judge other unsavory figures, after all, he was probably chief on the list of bad apples grown on the social trees of Ayenee these days, but Kahlan knew well enough that she, of all people, could hold at least a modicom of trust in him where others could not. But this sorceress was an entirely different matter.

Since Zander had hired him as a spy, he had of course been watching Ulster more closely. (not that THAT fact was any big secret. And to think he almost killed the man. It was far more profitable to work freelance than it was to murder such a person of rank, he had found.) Though it was out of no real mistrust of Kahlan's kingdom that his attentions became more focused. Perhaps the opposite. After all, he had been geased with the protection of the princess, a job that he did very well though it was doubtful that anyone, even Kahlan herself knew exactly how much time he had spent by or near Willow's side since their return to Ulster. More to the point, he heard things. Many things. Kahlan was filling the ranks. Saraena had merited a position. He remained suspicious.

"Ya sure it's a good idea, ma belle? Lettin' one of her reputation in on your highest ranks? People... dey will talk when dey find out. Man's whispers, God's word." He said with a nod out the window towards the direction of the music. She knew what he meant. In effect- why would God want one of the devil's lieutenants sitting on His right hand?

[Kahlan Lothair]

At length she chewed on his voiced opinion and leans out of the window and stares into the darkness. Back lit, she appears to simply glow with a fiery light, and she looks in hid direction and nailing him with her raptors gaze even if she cant see him for the firelight. A light chuckle ripples forth from her throat and she motions with her head towards the general area the music is filtering up from. "Why you ask? Where better to watch the devil than the right hand? I can keep an eye on her constantly if I have to. Personally at that, in this situation. She is in a position to prove to me that she can do this job."

Leaning forward she rests her upper body weight on her elbows and glances out with a light chuckle. "I give at least one chance. Beyond that..." A shake of the head and a mild sounding chuckle follows. "Beyond that I cannot say. I dont get fooled twice." She exchanges a glance with him that he would understand. With that she leans back and stretches. "Will you get in here. If you fall I have to explain to people what you were doing up here." A light smirk and wink follow before she looks out to the source of the music once more. She pulls herself inside and wanders toward the fire, crouching in front of it she watches the flames twist and curl while the smoke lazily finds its way to the sky. A light smile comes to her lips. "I have something very interesting to show you, Theo." She says quietly, so quietly in fact that he would have to strain to hear her over the music and the crackle of the fire. A slender hand slips into her pocket and she withdraws the palm sized stone, warm from being in her pocket and next to her skin. Holding it up before the fire she makes sure he can she the myriad of rainbow like colors that come spiraling out of the gem.

"What do you think?" Her words were simple but they carried more meaning. This gem was rare. Extremely rare in fact. The true make up of it was unknown, some thought of elemental tears, while others thought the gem's namesake was its true maker. The Phoenix Tear glistens in all its resplendent glory as she holds it. What would he make of it?

The haunting music gives her a moment of pause. The young soul of Sarena, though possibly not as young as Kahlan thought, would be astonished to know that she knew the melody from another time altogether. Her gaze dances idly over the gem for a moment before the fire catches her gaze. Reaching into it she lets the flames run over her hand. There is nothing wrong with this action, in fact it seems almost normal, as if she had put her hand into cold water. The fire does not singe, burn, or create any smell when she places her hand in it. A tell tale sign of her communion with the element of fire.

[Sarena]

The flutes tune was picked up by her amulet, and it was even more elegant and beautiful, than before...A gust came suddenly came and blew her cloak off...And her hair cascaded down, it was safe to let this happen they where asleep, and she THOUGHT she woudl not be seen. And a black violet tinted dancing gown, and sheburst into song and only this time, it was the original song....theone her mother sang to her before she was killed, long ago...

She then began to dance tho this elegant tune, as her dark hair flowed in theind and her sapphire blue orbs sparkled in it's the moons elegant light...and she smiled, her fare skin...for the first time exposed in a fiel and not in an darkened room....

[Theoren Roullier]

He laughed and tossed the tied back ponytail of red hair behind his shoulder while casually issuing her a trademark sweet-as-sugar and devestatingly handsome smile (well practiced and well worn, if he did say so himself). "If anyone asks I'll tell 'em I was consorting wit' de most beautiful monarch ever t'grace de lands, eh?" He bit his tongue thinking on Aerillia then. Best not say anything, though from their interaction in Avalon Kahlan would have probably as much guessed where that relationship had steered toward irregardless of it being so ill defined. "I bet dat would piss off your suitors, eh?" He chided. "Ya know if you an' de pup need a vacation I got a few rooms..." He teased, but she knew the offer was genuine.

He would do as much for Kahlan as he felt he could. There were very few people in all of Ayenee that could get so close to him as to know his secrets. Kahlan, Lillith, and that was it. His true friends. So he listened to Kahlan and obediently climbed inside the window, the firelight accenting his already colorful scheme of tan skin, red hair, and gold trim in the form of buttons, jewlery, etc.

She offered him a gem, and at once he knew what it was. He had seen such a thing, only an image, not one in the flesh, as it were. For moments he was trnasfixed by the lights that danced from within it. It was the most perfect of prisms, refracting the flame light in all directions, and as she turned it in her hands creating also tiny rainbows across the walls. He could not move nor could he take his gaze from it. But it was not just sheer awe that glued his eyes to the shimmering crystal. It was also fear.

All at once, as if there was an explosion inside him he ripped his gaze from the gem and barreled backwards across the room, knocking over a chair and flattened himself against the bookcase. A hand, shaking, reached to clutch his tunic over his heart. It was calling. It was saying things to him. Couldn't she hear it? Of course not, of course not he told himself. How could she possibly? He could feel his other half stirring noisily just below the surface of his conscious mind.

[glow=black,2,300]Get it away! [/glow]he heard it scream inside his mind in that voice he so loathed. He could feel the black creature, powerful as it was twisting and writhing in the gem's presence around the very fabric of his soul, clinging to it preciously. He looked down to find that he himself was clutching the bookcase so tightly that his knuckles were white.

"Put it away!" He heard himself hiss with displeasure. It almost did not sound like his voice. Such a powerful relic... he could not possibly stand to tell her how it could affect him, friend or not. It would risk too much... too much...

"Put it away..."

[Kahlan Lothair]

The hiss she hears is not one she is unaccustomed to. Rising slowly with the last bit of flame extinguishing upon her skin from the fire her hand was in, she slides the gem into her pocket. She turns to him and looks worried for a moment before walking to a nearby case and running her fingers over it in a sycronized manner. A lock is undone followed by several other clinks and clatters before it opens itself for her. Reaching into her pocket she pulls out the stone and covers it with a black silk lined velvet cloth. Sliding the gem into the safe she shuts it and immediately the facade of a normal wall is resumed.

With her right hand she pushes her slightly unruly fiery gold hair back and smiles as if none of it had happened. She walks over to him and sits on the edge of her desk. "So tell me, how is Miss Khisu doing?" Her change of subjects could not have been smoother or better timed as a servant walks in with a ceramic pitcher full of some liquid for her and the apparant guest she was speaking with. It was not unheard of for the High Queen to take complaints from far away visitors at night. For the young man serving this night, he would have never seen Theo before and so he had no reason to ponder otherwise.

"I hope she is well." Is her only statement before turning and shuffling parchments around and stacking them in appropriate stacks. When the servant leaves she eyes Theo. "Forgive me Theo. I had no idea what the gem would do to you." She watches the door for a moment before looking into the fire for a brief moment. "I found it in the fire about a week ago." Her words are laced with a breath of an Irish accent while her features dance with the ever changing patterns of firelight and shadow. "Im sure you have heard of the gem. The 'Phoenix Tear' as it is most widely known as in myth. There is no mistaking this gem. None at all." She looks over to Theo to make sure he is alright. Making a mental note not to bring the gem out in his presence. "I do not know how it came to get into my fireplace, but it did."

A breath of wind dances over her as she turns toward the window once more. The music that Sarena plays so hauntingly familiar that she can almost remember that time so long ago. The time when Sarena's mother was alive. One meeting between the two had given her such memory of the song. Eyeing the darkness for a brief interlude she turns once more to Theo and gives him a small smile, hoping to comfort him after such a shock.