"[b]Twenty six. That makes you...two years older than her, as of today, anyway.[/b]" Justine replied quietly. "[b]I suppose that's alright. I know, I'm rambling.[/b]" She waved away Jaakuna's look, though she turned away from him. "[b]More importantly, since you and I are alone, we may as well address something. I know what Emelia did. She pushed her power to the absolute limit. It's one of the reasons I decided to reveal that I too, manipulated time once. However, you mustn't let her do anything like that ever again.[/b]" Her voice raised somewhat, though she caught herself. She didn't want to blame him as she had no idea what had happened. "[b]Her power in all its usefulness and seemingly unending potential has no limitations. That does not mean, however, that she can use it as she pleases. The way she is acting now is not of fatigue or even injury. It is the result of being halted--in other words, whether anyone noticed or not, Emelia was pulled out of our time. She may have managed to pull herself back into our time, but I can tell you that it is not something she can easily accomplish more than once. The Hume body simply cannot handle it, and once the body reaches its limit, she will die. I will reiterate myself: [i]It cannot happen again.[/i][/b]" ----------- "[b]You are the first person to say that without adding 'you would have been cuter if you smiled!', you know.[/b]" Grant replied, sweeping his hair off his face with his hands. When Savayna mentioned his mother, he frowned slightly, and while she looked at him, he would look away. "[b]She was something straight out of a fairy tale. Beautiful, kind hearted, fair...I think the day she died is the day this entire family crumbled apart.[/b]" He paused, staring at his mother's face in the painting. "[b]Not sure if you Archadians remember that plague that hit Rozarria pretty hard a couple of years back. One of our servants caught it, but no one noticed until it was too late. Mother was dead in a week.[/b]" He looked at his father's face. "[b]Somehow, my father managed to keep going. But he couldn't stand to see her pictures--this one used to be in his bedroom. And then he died, too. Murdered by my own brother. I wonder what he thought when he watched his own son kill him.[/b]" He looked at Roland for a moment. "[b]No, I know what he thought. He was sad. Gods know how hard he tried to keep us all together. But Reia, Roland...and myself...we all fell to our inner demons. Lorenzo managed to hang on, but he admitted that if it wasn't for Karolina, he probably would have fallen as well.[/b]" ----------- Wesley was as calm as ever, Surprised, but calm. She expected more of a reaction out of him, but it looked like that wouldn't happen. Nadeline looked at him as he took her hands. "[b]Of course it's what I want. How am I going to be with my future husband if he's in Dalmasca and I am all the way in Rozarria?[/b]" She asked him rhetorically, though she remembered something. "[b]Oh. Father also requests a ring so that...'other men won't even think to look at me' he said.[/b]" She looked rather exasperated at this, though she looked at Wesley with a small shrug.