#in terms of personality riven's actually nicer than junia

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

wip: paradise lost [secrets for the good of the star]

Amaurot -- Two weeks after P8 Words of Lahabrea

The air in the room...shifted. That was the only way Lahabrea could describe it. Every instinct he possessed screamed 'danger!'--he'd hit a nerve with Azem but this...

This felt different. It felt as if he'd crossed a line, somewhere. And while the fights he and Azem would have were almost always verbal, Lahabrea felt the urge to call upon the flames in his blood. Azem had gone quiet--too quiet--in his chair, blue eyes narrowed into slits behind the ebon of her mask. Despite her youth she was easily the most powerful fighter on the star, her capacity for physical violence equal to that of her predecessor.

"If we're discussing secrets then, why don't we talk about you sundering your soul in half?" Years of experience stood Lahabrea in good stead for not revealing his shock--but something must have shown on his face, as Azem continued.

"I'm fairly certain you walking around at half of your power and being half a person was for the 'good of the star'. And while it seems you have rectified that situation, the fact remains that you had your own secret." Azem's voice was glacial, her body language deceptively casual.

"You cannot think to compare the two." Lahabrea stated.

"I'm not." Azem replied. "But there is a similarity in that we both have secrets. Your self-sundering, and my claiming of Riven. Both have been done for the good of the star, and I'm certain we're both confident in saying that neither is a threat. And I'm also certain that we're both perfectly happy in never speaking of such things ever again." Lahabrea narrowed his eyes.

"You would leave such a creature to roam the star?"

"What disturbs you, Lahabrea? The fact that there is a creation roaming free that was not created under your control, or the fact that there's a creature roaming free that follows their heart, and not cold logic?" Azem gracefully rose from the chair, the folds of her robes softly rustling as she headed for the office door.

"The idea of another version of you, running around and infecting others with their selfish choices, does not inspire much faith." Lahabrea watched as Azem paused at his words.

"By that train of logic then, I would say the same about Erichthonios." She replied, then put her hand on the doorknob. Her eyes flicked to the glass--and she could see faint sparks dancing around one of Lahabrea's clenched fists before she pushed the door open.