"You hide things, Lief."

A genteel peacock crowned with a crest of bright scarlet drooping to one side carefully preens his lustrous plumage, drawing the feathers slowly through his beak.

Absently, Rootweir Faythe says, "Lief, do you think you will ever get married?"

Faythe watches a genteel peacock preening himself, toying with a bead.

Staring, you ask Faythe, "Why do you ask...?"

Absently, Rootweir Faythe says, "Oh, I was just thinking about last month. Lochlan was communing with me earlier, and it just reminded me of the weddings and the jokes about you marrying Esei."

Rootweir Faythe says, "I'm being nosy because of it."

Faythe shrugs helplessly.

You have emoted: Lief stares at Faythe, then slowly hugs her elbows, giving herself a reassuring squeeze. "I'm not certain where the jokes come from," she confesses. "Esei - when she was younger, I thought perhaps she could be redeemed. Brought around to seeing why her part in murdering Shashi was terrible."

Faythe's fingers freeze, ceasing their motions with the bead at those words. Slowly, she turns and stares at you in complete disbelief. "Esei...helped to kill Shashi?" She asks flatly.

In disbelief, Rootweir Faythe says, "Your brother - now my brother - she helped to kill him?"

You have emoted: Lief nods to Faythe, her eyes lowered to her hands which lower to clasp again before her lap. "She was young. And she was apologetic for it - she felt no joy at having helped murder an expectant father. But she felt it had to be done, and in that regret, I thought I saw hope."

Faythe stares implacably at you.

Softly, you say to Faythe, "*Many* people helped to kill him."

Rootweir Faythe says, "And you just let me sit with her - no, they" She corrects herself," You just let me sit with them and pal around and drink and joke?"

Rootweir Faythe says, "They killed our brother, Lief! One of the Lady's children!"

Rootweir Faythe says, "Who else helped to plan his murder?"

You have emoted: Lief gazes steadily at Faythe. "Many, many people," she repeats softly, "but I don't know how much planning went into it. One person told me they hadn't the faintest notion that Shashi was to be torn from us forever - he thought that Shashi would return to us, being special to us."

Faythe stares implacably at you.

You have emoted: "Nocht does not lie only to His enemies," Lief states.

Rootweir Faythe says, "I don't care what Nocht does."

Rootweir Faythe says, "I care what I do, and what my closest friends do."

Rootweir Faythe says, "Especially once I have fully committed myself to someone and something."

Faythe gestures emphatically, apparently indicating the Lady's Realm.

Rootweir Faythe says, "Had I known, I would not have been so friendly. Polite, certainly, and I would not cause trouble, but to drink and jest comfortably with them? No."

You have emoted: "Did you think me comfortable?" Lief asks, tilting her antlered head as she regards Faythe.

Rootweir Faythe says, "If Esei truly regretted what they did, did they repent with our Lady?"

Flatly, you say to Faythe, "No."

Rootweir Faythe says, "You hide things, Lief, your thoughts and emotions. You always have. It's hard to tell with you sometimes, when you're around people that I haven't seen you around before."

You have emoted: Lief opens her mouth, then closes it again, blinking slowly as she listens to Faythe.

Faythe frowns in thought, as though trying to remember the events more clearly. "I don't remember exactly how you treated them, but you still should have told me, as a member of the Order."

Rootweir Faythe says, "I had a right to know."

Faythe gives a pained sigh.

Faythe rubs her temples in frustration.

You have emoted: Lief hovers before Faythe, a pained expression flickering across her features. She is quiet.

The sweet voice of Kavindra rises through the Temple of Maylea, singing of peace and hope, joy and forgiveness.

Faythe sighs again, and then holds her hands out to you. "You know I love you Lief, yes?" She smiles wanly. "We've had this conversation before. You're one of my best friends - my only friends. You need to share more, sometimes."

Rootweir Faythe says, "Don't take so much into yourself, and don't forget to warn others when they are about to break bread with potential assassins."

Continuing the hunt for his dark mate, Father Sun presses forward in his journey, lowering himself in the sky yet still casting even, full light upon the land.

Faythe half-jokes, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Wryly, Rootweir Faythe says, "Although, I suppose I should have deduced that much myself, since they were from Glomdoring, most of them, I think."

You have emoted: Despite Faythe's half-joking, Lief's expression is still one of pain, and she is still quiet. Her mouth opens again, only for her to fumble over her words, and she looks to one side, contemplating a radiant muku flower.

Faythe sighs, and then clasps your hands in her own. "Lief, look at me," she says gently.

You have emoted: "I am sorry for having hurt you," Lief says softly, still studying the beautiful play of colors upon a radiant muku flower, her expression softening. "I do my best, but...this isn't a good excuse."

Faythe uses one hand to gently nudge your face so that you will look at her more directly. "You didn't hurt me," she says with a sigh. "I love you, I trust you. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me on purpose." She smiles at you slightly. "I was just... a little caught off guard. I'm sorry for my reaction."

Quietly, Rootweir Faythe says, "*I'm* sorry if I hurt *you* with that."

You have emoted: Lief breathes out softly, and allows her eyes to fall upon Faythe's face. "You did," she says quietly, "but because I allowed you to. Because I care about you, and you are a dear friend to me as well."

As the sun passes below the horizon's edge, Mother Night unveils her terrible, shadowy beauty, spreading darkness across the land.

Faythe smiles wanly at you. "Only those closest to us can catch us so off-guard and potentially hurt us so much," she says quietly.

You have emoted: Lief nods toward Faythe, rubbing the back of her neck a bit ruefully. "I've just..." She pauses, then shakes her antlered head. "Everything I think to say sounds only like excuses."

You think to yourself: 'You hide things, Lief.'

Faythe shakes her head, clasping her hands in front of herself. "Tell me," she urges.

Rootweir Faythe says, "This is the first time we've truly had to speak alone together ever since our last parting, before we both slept for so long. We've grown since then. Tell me what you need to."

Across the heavens, the stars and moon challenge night's dark reign, revealing familiar constellations that tell the tales of myth and legend.

You have emoted: Lief opens her mouth, then hesitates. She shakes her antlered head and averts her gaze again for a moment, deep in thought.

Faythe ducks her head, peeking up at you through her hair. "Please?" she asks again.

You have emoted: Lief draws in a deep breath through parted lips, like she's gulping air, not breathing it, then resolutely brings her gaze to Faythe. "I'm *not* good at speaking my heart," she says, her gray eyes flickering with glimpses of prismatic colour - fierce, sorrowful, hurt, afraid. "But I try to write it, and to sing it."

Faythe's own eyes flicker with hints of rainbow hues, very faint and indeterminate as it echoes the emotion in your gaze. "I know, but I have faith in you - pun not intended - faith that you can open it to me. You have before, although I know how hard it is for you," she says softly. Her lips quirk slightly, and she asks, "Do you... want to sing me what you're thinking?" Her voice is gently coaxing, without a hint of mockery.

Midnight shadows coalesce around a new day, and Mother Night embraces the land in utter darkness.
It is now the 2nd of Shanthin, 564 years after the Coming of Estarra.

You have emoted: Lief continues to watch Faythe, still forcing herself to breathe - and it's certainly an act of will, not quiet, natural breath - and she slowly shakes her head. "That's not how it works," she says, the colors in her gaze softening - less defensive, less stark, more an effort to reach with the gentler but no less vivid hues. "I'm really sorry, Faythe, but this is a failing of mine, and you've found it and struck me right in it." She touches her heart, over her kimono. "I can...I will try to do better, but my songs, my poetry...they are the result of me pouring hours, days, weeks, months, years of thought and effort and emotion into showing myself."

You think to yourself: ... Is even this an excuse I'm giving?

Faythe nods slowly, her gaze flickering and dropping away for a moment as she listens. "I... understand," she says quietly. "I have... trouble too, you know. Maybe not in the same way that you do, but I understand. I don't like exposing myself like that, I have trouble figuring out what I really want to... want to say." She bites her lower lip. "I'd rather just... go unnoticed, than risk bringing attention to myself and having to try and explain something and... being vulnerable... like that. I was like that before, and ever since I just... can't..." She runs a hand through her hair, laughing at herself without humour. "I realize me explaining this is similar to me exposing my heart, but it's different with you and Elexia, and it's a tune I've sung before." She looks up at you again, carefully.

Softly, Rootweir Faythe says, "At least you can express yourself in *some* fashion, even if it takes time. I don't have that gift, like you do. Most I can do is... " She trails off. "Well, I don't really have a special talent like that, that I know of yet."

You have emoted: Lief blinks, then shakes her antlered head vehemently. "Sometimes," she says,"expression comes in many different ways. I am...trying to reconcile what you have told me with what I've believed of myself. But my singing, my playing, my poetry is *one* form of expression." She laughs a bit, a surprising, but short sound, as she further says, "Talking things out like a normal person is just another form of expression. You express yourself, too, though. You wouldn't draw people to you how you do if you didn't. You wouldn't wish you could hide if you didn't."

You have emoted: Lief blinks at Faythe, then outright stares at Faythe, gesturing with a wordless, disbelieving hand toward the tent still propped open here in this garden.

Finding her words, you say to Faythe, "*I* certainly didn't set up this tent to help you take care of yourself."

Faythe glances at the tent. "What? It's a tent. Tyrus is a new acquaintance, who I met because of *you* and Elexia, might I add. He nods politely to me when we pass by each other. Now we chat and joke together, but it's all superficial. Again - brought together by something you did - your play." She shakes her head. "A tent is not proof that I draw people to me, and not an explanation on how I express myself in that type of manner."

Faythe peers at you unscrupulously.

Her tone flat as she gazes at the tent, Rootweir Faythe says, "I'm sure that if I were to rest again, I would not be missed by anyone other than you and Elexia. I have no other friendships like what we have together... and even my relationship with Elexia started because of you."

Sighing at herself, Rootweir Faythe says, "And now I sound like a self pity-party."

You have emoted: Lief's disbelief softens as she listens to Faythe, her gray eyes searching Faythe's entire mean. "It's remarkable how different our two Perspectives are on the matter," she murmurs, then shakes her antlered head and settles her hands on her hips. "I keep going back and forth," she admits. "I want to yell at you as your friend, and I want to guide you as one of our Lady's Phrases."

Faythe makes a face at you. "First of all, who says you can't do both? Second of all, I'm talking to Lief, my friend, not Lief the Unbroken, my order leader." She waves a hand at the tent. "By all means, yell at me and explain to me how I'm wrong, because I have been going over it for years and years and can't seem to think otherwise."

Off-handedly, Rootweir Faythe says, "Why do you think I sleep so much?"

Faythe shrugs helplessly.

You have emoted: Lief wings about Faythe slowly, her expression tinged with traces of sorrow. "You are an incredibly empathetic person, Faythe," she says, "and I think you do yourself little credit. But really...what I think matters little in the face of what *you* think. And so," she comes up front, hovering before Faythe again, "As an empathetic person, I think you should ask Kavindra what she is meditating about whenever you see her. And I really think you should read our Lady's book. Set aside a full day or two for it, and read it straight through."

You look thoughtful and say to Faythe, "Whether you do these things is your decision, of course."

Faythe frowns thoughtfully at you. "What, ask her thoughts on the - the truths that I'm supposed to learn about?"

You have emoted: Lief nods her antlered head. "She meditates upon these Truths. She meditates upon the Way of the Blossom as well, and upon those who are in her life, or who once were. She is also an incredibly empathetic person." She bites her bottom lip and adds, "She cried with me when I offered to take care of one of Shashi's eggs, since he no longer could."

Faythe looks away at this, fiddling with a bead. "What happened to their mother?" she asks, staring at the peacock beside them.

You have emoted: Lief smiles softly at that, and she sways in the air. "Living in the, ah..." She considers. "I believe Shashi called it the 'peacock homeland'?" She grins in spite of herself. "I want to meet her one day - Shashi said she might not understand us like he can - could - but I'd still like to meet her. She's raising half of the clutch herself, though."

A look of understanding crossing her features, Faythe nods her head slowly.

Faythe stuffs her hands into her pockets, falling silent as she stares at the peacock with an unfathomable expression. Her hands are fisted in the fabric, tucked deep within.

You have emoted: Lief follows Faythe's gaze to Savit, and smiles as he preens himself. "Would you like to raise one of his children, Faythe?"

Flatly, Rootweir Faythe says, "I don't know. Maybe some day. It would be nice to... give them a family to be with."

You have emoted: "I feel the same," Lief says with a nod, still watching her companion. She is quiet again.

Flatly, her voice even quieter than before, Rootweir Faythe says, "A place to belong."

You have emoted: Lief tucks her hands inside her billowing sleeves as she nods her antlered head again. After a few moments longer, she turns to Faythe, and wings closer to touch her shoulder with affection. "I am going to turn to my own meditations now," she says. "But consider trying what I've suggested."

Faythe's tone turns brisk. "At the very least, I wouldn't have to worry about one of them abandoning me or betraying me or something." She clears her throat and turns away, her expression settling into a more normal smile as you draws closer. "Rest well, Lief. I will think about it."

You have emoted: Lief smiles reassuringly at Faythe before flitting northward.