[center][h2]Perfect Division, Pure Intentions[/h2] [i]Toun and Niciel, Cornerstone[/i][/center] Toun's hunched form stood staring at the shattered tile before him. He did not know for how long that Vestec's revelation had kept him there, but its sheer contradiction had him transfixed. Niciel was one of the few that wished to protect creation. She allowed shelter for Toun in her valley while he treated the visions in his mind. Her valley spoke only of peace and compassion, rough though it was. [b][i][color=PaleGoldenrod]Would she not wish for paradise as well?[/color][/i][/b] Toun clutched his head in his distended hands for a moment and tried to process the treachery further. It did not matter that a weakling army was on its way to wash against his white walls. This slight had quickly festered in his mind like a splinter. If she was so blithely ignorant of Toun's intentions, then she did not deserve to be anything more than an obstacle. Toun stood up straight again upon the now shattered central tile of his empty fortress court. The engines of his vengeance would require an improved method of control. Something more sophisticated than the static imperatives of Cornerstone. He set the refinement of initial concepts in motion, fueled by the energy of his anger. Some ideas coalesced, delving into his own fundamental marks upon the codex of creation itself. He needed nuance. [b][i][color=PaleGoldenrod]Something...[/color][/i][/b] A white light suddenly flashed nearby Toun. It shined very brightly, then quickly faded, and Niciel was in its place. Niciel was smiling, and she currently had a look of compassion and understanding, although this was offset by the slight aura of distrust she was giving off. She did not mean to feel this way, but with Vestec's actions and the fact that she really knew very little, if not anything, about Toun, well... it certainly didn't help matters. Right now, Niciel had one goal in mind: to find the reason why her children were killed. Vestec had explained the reason, but she didn't trust Vestec's on the matter in the slightest, mainly because it was Vestec. So, she would have to ask the one responsible for the deaths herself. "[color=fff79a]It's been a long time, Toun. How have you been?[/color]" Niciel asked Toun. She did want answers, but there was no reason she couldn't start off with pleasantries first. [b][i][color=PaleGoldenrod]Why is she here now?[/color][/i][/b] Toun thought to himself as he slowly turned his head towards the mother goddess. His blue eye twitched with impatience. [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"You have nerve to appear before me with such oblivious talk, sister,"[/color][/b] Toun said lowly with a shudder to his voice. [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"Have you come to declare your adversity openly--"[/color][/b] Toun's voice began to hiss, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"--or do you simply wish to twist the wound you left with your duplicity?"[/color][/b] Niciel's smile soon turned into one of disdain as the insults from Toun piled up. "[color=fff79a]Oh, Toun,[/color]" Niciel began. "[color=fff79a]I had thought better of you than to use such foul words to describe my intentions. Then again, I suppose I should have known better, seeing how your children had reacted to the mention of your name. Hain, I believe they were called. What you have done to them, and in my own sanctuary as well.[/color]" With each word, Niciel slowly lost her smile until there was nothing but a look of contempt. "[color=fff79a]But I digress. That is unrelated to the matter at hand,[/color]" Niciel said, dismissing the topic with wave of the hand. "[color=fff79a]What I have come here for is to get an apology for the death of my children, and I intend to get one one way to another.[/color]" Toun could listen to Niciel's complaints about how he had seen fit to use his own tools for his own means, but her last statement caused him to slowly clentch his fists. [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"An...apology?"[/color][/b] he repeated, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"You demand an apology for the death of those attackers?"[/color][/b] Toun's voice raised into a bluster, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"What right do you have when it was you who sent them to their deaths by ordering them to start killing my own servants!?"[/color][/b] Niciel was both confused and outraged to find Toun accusing her of being the one to have attacked first. "[color=fff79a]I sent them!?[/color]" Niciel asked in surprise. "[color=fff79a]What are you talking about?[/color]" Toun positioned himself straight on to Niciel and held his head stretched forward further than physically usual. Toun continued matter-of-factly, barely hiding his previous hate, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"I saw their minds myself, sister. Images of their mistress ordering them to crusade against this fortress."[/color][/b] Toun's words sped up in his rant, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"Destroying my hain in spite of their pitiful numbers for the sake of expressing your personal distaste for what is necessary. Their deaths are on your hands! Take their bodies and reflect! I owe you nothing but that!"[/color][/b] A scraping of glossed clay sung out as Toun willed the tiles beside Niciel to lift and move aside, revealing the mangled and exsanguinated corpses of Niciel's re-purified angels unceremoniously laying together in macabre stillness. Niciel stared at the mangled bodies, horrified by their treatment. She continued to do so for a short while as she tried to make sense of these new pieces of information that had come to light. She was supposedly the attacker, yet Vestec had told her.... wait a moment... [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"You have sent your message, sister,"[/color][/b] Toun continued in a mutter, [b][color=PaleGoldenrod]"I will not be your font of respect any more than I was before you set foot here. I have a fortress to defend, I trust you do as well."[/color][/b] It was then that Niciel realized that both she and Toun had been played for fools. She had been suspicious of Vestec from the start, but the heat of the moment made her say things she now regretted. Taking a quick look herself at what still remained, Niciel found their memories of her ordering her children to do just as Toun had described, though she could help but notice that there were a few creative liberties taken with then. Niciel thought about telling Toun about her revelation, but she could tell that Toun was no longer in a listening mood. One day, she would get Toun to see the truth, but not today. With a flash of light, Niciel and the Angel bodies vanished from the fortress. As for Toun himself, Niciel's sudden retreat after her apparently surprised denial did not leave the matter resolved. It was still possible that she could have been genuinely fooled. Toun might have even believed her on such a matter before. Though now she was to be trusted no longer. When Vestec shall be struck as an example, perhaps then Niciel will be the one apologising. [hider=Symmaru] Niciel comes to visit Toun at Cornerstone. Toun, being in a pissy mood at Niciel, insults her. Niciel asks for Toun to apologise for killing her angels. Toun, being fooled by Vestec, calls bullshit and shows Niciel the brains that Vestec tampered with. Niciel denies Toun's accusations, puts two and two together, and leaves without another word, taking the dead angels with her. This leaves a still bitter Toun in the dark about the ruse. Toun is not certain whether Niciel was telling the truth, opts to be paranoid. He plots taking revenge on her once Vestec's oncoming warband is dealt with. No might spent. [/hider]