"That would probably be the spices then," Aeramina explained with a bright smile. "They were sent in from Hammerfell on trade ships and caravans. When they come this far they can strike a high price, but it's all worth it for just how delicious it can make things. You know, just last month we were at a dinner party where-"

Janius loudly cleared his throat. "I'm sorry mother, I really am..." He raised a hand and then gestured to Aurana. "It has been wonderful talking, and this was a delicious meal as always, but we really should get to speaking about Aurana's future."

Aeramina stared at Janius like a startled deer.

"He's right." Remus' wine goblet struck the table after he had sipped it to the last. He curled a frown and turned his eyes to his daughter. "Aurana, Janius, your mother is a successful businesswoman and socialite, I have been an experienced warrior and organiser. We are veterans in our fields." It was all suddenly blunt. "And we have been [i]poor[/i] parents."

"Oh, Remus, no, there is no need to-"

"Aeramina, just this once, honesty." He cut a flat hand onto his chair arm. "Janius was right. We have been lying to ourselves. It is time that we let our unhealthy worries behind and do what is really best for Aurana."

"I thought we were," Aeramina whimpered.

Remus looked Aeramina straight in the eyes. "We are not. Janius was capable in the end. More than capable. Our daughter? The one we thought was the opportunity to do things right? Look at her. She wouldn't last a day on her own."

Aurana was beginning to look hopeful. Now her face flashed with anger.

"...And it is our fault," Remus continued. "Aurana, if you were to have complete freedom from this house, what would you want to do the most?"

The question was sudden. Aurana darted her eyes around, caught between anger and surprise. "Uh...I...um..."

"Go on." Remus weaved his fingers together and leaned his elbows on the table. He nodded to continue. "Say anything."

Aurana glanced at Kaleeth and Julan. "Well...anything...I..." Her eyes lit up. "I want to travel the world!"

Remus closed his eyes and sighed.

[hr]
Lunise threw up her elbows and scrunched her face shut upon the water's impact. She wiped her eyes and opened her mouth in disgust, peering at her soaked purple uniform. Her crazed blue eyes lifted to Meesei.

"Right!" Lunise dropped her shoes, yanked off her gloves, and pointed to Meesei. "I could arrest you for no less than three Dominion offences for that!" She frantically undid the belts securing her lowered hood to her shoulders. "You...have started...what you...shall...regret!" Her distracted words were punctuated by her throwing her hood and gloves atop her shoes. Her shoulders were much less imposing without the hood accentuating them. "You challenge my pride..." Her fingers went to furiously untying her clothing. "...You challenge my decorum...You challenge my fashion sense...And now you challenged my patience!"

Lunise's words were hard to take seriously while she was so angrily undressing out of her over-detailed uniform. She stopped at her plain undergarments which, if Meesei thought about it, might have been the real reason for her self-conscious requirement for a proper bathing suit. When she threw down the last article of her uniform, baring her pale bronze skin to the sun, Meesei noticed a feature of her body that had been hidden until now. Besides her strong -- if narrow -- physique and her now displaced shock of braided blonde hair, what drew the eye was four parallel red lines slashed across her upper-front left leg. They were healed-over scars, though what inflicted them could only be speculated.

"It's time you learned your place," she said severely. Knees slightly bent, Lunise took a few steps away from her uniform, walking along the water's edge. She stared Meesei down. Her palm was open to the water. Meesei could see a helix of transparent liquid curling up to her hand. Lunise suddenly lowered her body and shot out her arms. A jet of white water flew over the ocean surface from her palms. It had enough force to strike the centre of Meesei's chest just hard enough to sting against her scales.