[center][color=red]The Ruins of Iddin-Mar, Old Omestris[/color][/center][hr]

As the inquisitor spoke, Rose could feel the familiar stinging in her hands. Every word that came out of the woman's mouth held some truth to it, the girl conceded, but still, the inquisitor could not know the severity of it all. The years, torment, the raping, the goodbyes, the punishments. The inquisitor had experienced no small measure of suffering as well, Rose understood. 

But there was an off-handedness to the woman's words that picked away at Rose's calm facade. The woman smiled as she spoke, as if Rose's experiences, the House, the escape, the journey-- had all been some entry in a ledger she had read somewhere. This was unacceptable. All her suffering, her truth, to be reduced to a few words in a trifling lesson. No, this couldn't stand. Rose had been taught of the Seminary, of Warbands and warsiblings. Surely the woman understood in some deeper way that there was no plateauing in becoming stronger. No rest. No giving up. Not when it came to protecting family.

"Choose death?" Rose asked, an incredulous look flaring in her golden eyes.

"You say that as if I have a choice. As if [i]you[/i] have a choice. This world doesn't offer us the luxury to choose. I have no path set in front of me but the one that leads to my brother and sister's safety. And [i]you[/i], you can't stray from your path either. You must kill for your Lord, do his bidding, follow the creed of his rapist clerics. But you must also fight for your warsiblings."

Rose dropped the steel box unceremoniously at her feet and kicked it under the bed with her heel. She got up and without fear or reservation, marched to where Rose stood.

"What would happen if your strength failed you in battle? If you made a mistake and your warsiblings had to pay the price? Could you bare to think of what your death would mean to those closest to you? The consequences it would have? I wouldn't even entertain the thought, because such a thing coming to pass is unacceptable. When the lives of the ones I care about are on the line, nothing else matters."

Rose's eyes focused on the inquisitor's hair, vibrant even in the half-darkness. She then turned away, a mixture of sorrow and anger gleaming in her eyes.

"I heard you speaking to your companion earlier. You claimed that your Omestrian heritage was a curse.  That you weren't one of us."

Rose was quiet for a moment.

"Why?" she asked the inquisitor in a low voice.