[i]No, no Azura blood here, not unless my great great great grandparents had a secret they never told anyone.[/i]

Funny. All this time she'd been hunting for her past, and now that it's finally found her, the joke lies crouched behind her lips. Ready to spring forth and deflect away. But will it save her any hurt, in the end? Avoid a sting today, and suffer the knife tomorrow. If she even gets a tomorrow.

"It...is a rather long story, sir Knight. Perhaps we ought to move to someplace more-"

The floor rushes in. Her arms flail to catch her. Her arms stay still. Her arms are gone. Impact, in sight only. Stars burst in silence. Through the burning aftertrails, she sees herself lying flat on a floor that feels like nothing. In the distance, somewhere in the realm of ankles, a wisping tendril of smoke and flashes of sparks vanish into a fast-encroaching darkness.

[i]Ah. I was wondering how I got out of that unscathed...[/i]

She remembers rising off the floor, limbs swaying weightless, before sight itself goes numb.

[Suffering damage from Bella’s Keep Them Busy. Damaging Courage. Paying a Price for Working Alone: Vasilia loses consciousness. When she awakes, she will not know where she is, and will be unable to return without the Furnace Knight’s help.]

****************************************

His time limit enters, wrapped in delicate ribbons. 

Does she see him? Does she care? Ask someone else. He has a mouse, and a small kitchen to attend to. “I see.” And he does. He hopes he does. “Before now, all I had to go off of was the Princess’ word, a scrap from Mynx, perhaps a hunch or two of my own. It wasn’t nearly enough. All this…” Fills in the gaps. Gives him the precious perspective of another pair of eyes. So much to consider. So much to weigh. And yet. “It was not kindness when she forced herself on my wife. Even now, I still don't know why she did it. I don't see any mercy in my death, the death of those I love, and the fate that awaits the Princess. For Bella...I don't know. I still don't know what I ought to make of her.”

“But. Thank you for your answer, all the same.”

The food is ready. Soups and pastas and more ready to be taken upstairs. One by one, he turns down the flames to a low simmer. No burning or boil-over for someone to clean up later. "I wish I had known you before tonight. There's...ah, there's no time. Everything's going wrong, and neither of us can fail. I know what happens when you don't do your job, but this time it's going to be so much worse, isn't it? For you, and for the one you follow. I wish, how I wish there was a way that we could both win. That my job and your job didn't have to be mutually exclusive. I know you don't love yours. You love her. As I love my wife, and all my friends too.”

"I wish you the best, miss. Whatever happens...I don't think this is enough for me to hate you."

There he folds his hands. There he waits. No sword in his hand, no clever scheme behind his back. He has given his answer. It is time for yours, Lantern.

You know where the ring is. You have all the power to seize it. All you will have to do is condemn your enemy to death. On the scales of life, you must judge that his is worth less than another's, for no reason other than you are standing on opposite sides of a fight neither of you started. He is not even giving you the excuse of a drawn sword. No resistance. The choice is yours, and the Lord Captain defers to you freely.

To take the ring, you must hate him enough to wish him dead.

What is your answer? What does Apollo teach of your enemies?

[Rolling to Finish Her with Wisdom: 1 + 2 + 1 = [b]4[/b]]