Lady Strify Leiyt

'You are troubled.'

Restlessness held him captive as he paced to and fro, his fingers tapping against his thigh with each pause.

'I've a great deal on my mind.'

His steps brought him to the fountain's edge as he grasped hold of the stone rim.

'Why do you torment yourself in this needless way? You've a choice. Your path shall be of your own making, it is not predestined Marlunden. Fate does not bind you.'

Though familiar with her empathetic nature, he once more felt himself rattled as she read into the heart of his turmoil. Her words set ablaze to his fears, destroying the carefully erected distance he'd constructed within his mind.

'My faith would seek to mock me openly!' he challenged, looking up towards her. 'How much suffering shall I know before I am granted peace, or is such my fate, to live in ceaseless misery?'

'Brother-...' she began, as her hand reached out towards his own.

His stomach lurched as he felt bile rise in his throat. If she looked upon him in pity... No. He would not see her look upon him so, he could not bear to see it. Tension stole across his brow as he lowered his head that his unruly tangles would shield him from the tenderness in her gaze.

Near three turns of the glass had passed and yet the hall remained suspended in a chorus of disagreement, each voice ushered onward as ardent belief clashed heatedly against unwavering will.

She had foreseen the likelihood of such an outcome, of barely healed scars torn open to bleed afresh once more. No matter his intended reaction, he would be hard pressed to assuage the riotous emotions that now ran rampant throughout those gathered.

'They are uneasy, distrustful...I am not ignorant to the struggles written upon each of their faces, Sister.' Strify glanced towards him, her eyes tinged with remorse, 'Perhaps you are not, Brother, but you are ignorant to the rift you've created. Even now I feel you believe to draw the conclusion you crave through force of will...even as lines are drawn and sides chosen right before your eyes.'

'Come now, Sister K'ieshiera. You exaggerate, surely.'

His words had wounded her. Though he claimed to hold her in the highest regard, Strify often felt as though he viewed her as an impotent child.

His determination to see her accept his view of Ahsahm became tiring...

With a disparaging glance to Mirilla she began wading out deeper and deeper into the water. How had she gotten herself into this mess? 'Eaaaaasy. Steaaaaady. No need for haste,' she encouraged herself in a quiet murmur.

'Just one step at a timeeeeee-...' Her voice raised a few octaves as she pitched forward, slipping upon the muddied footing.

In a humiliating spectacle of frantic arm waving and shocked expression, gravity won out as she disappeared momentarily underwater. Holding back a sigh at the roar of laughter that erupted from Mirilla, Strify stepped onto the shore - each step yielding a horrible 'squishing' sound.

'Well...I do not believe it would be appropriate to say you take to water child,' Mirilla offered with an amused grin.

'I find treading the waters rather...cumbersome when attempting to hold a spear longer than the span of my figure,' she retorted with a deflated expression.

'Much as in your daily choices, you place too much concern upon the irrelevant and lose focus on what is vital,' Mirilla chided with a bemused smile.