[i]“Hmm… your divinity has been damaged -- a shame. Why ask if I wanted a drink? Do you work here? How far have you fallen, far from home, forsaking your honor? Ah… I have no need to drink, but I believe I wish to rescue you, Daughter of Darkness.”[/i]

Gabriela felt anger pour over her like ice-cold water. A frost gathered at the corner of her eyes, and little crystals of ice formed behind her ears where the cold of her blood flowed slowly and labored around the back of her neck. Whether it was the audacity to assume so much or the ugly negativity with which Anath painted the very ordinary offering Gabriela had made -- she could hardly contain her sudden displeasure. It was one thing to have a stranger, powerful or not, know so many secrets about her and blurt them out to the world as if they were nothing at all, but Anath spoke with so little regard toward her own existence that if she did not turn and walk away there would be problems. 

“Rescue me?” Gabriela replied, her voice barely above a whisper as she regarded the woman, “Perhaps you should see to [i]your own[/i] shortcomings before offering aid to someone else.”

And she intended for that to be the end, for she was in such a foul mood now that she could barely contain her vexation but Corbin remained -- steadfast it seemed. His expression was caught between amusement and disappointment as he watched her interaction with the strange rose-faced woman and her rejection of his offered drink. 

[i]“No?”[/i] he asked, but he was already pouring the blood back into its container. 

She watched it go.

[i]“What brings you to a place like this?”[/i]

“Escape,” she answered honestly and her eyes nearly drifted toward the door again but she stopped herself -- he wasn’t coming. So then she smiled in that disarming way of hers, “...just looking for a change of scenery, adventure, discovery. I don’t know.” 

[i]“Have somewhere to be?”[/i] he asked when she failed to mask the fact that her attention continued to shift toward the door. “Need a lift?”

Gabriela was disappointed in herself and it showed. She bit her bottom lip and crossed her arms over her chest, and with her muddy boot, she toe'd what was left of the shattered glass on the floor. 

“No, well, sort of…” 

[i]Did she have somewhere to be? [/i]

[i]“Alright, well…Where did you come from?”[/i]

At that, Gabriela became quiet, much like earlier when Salvator had asked her the same question outside. She didn’t know how to answer. She knew where she came from, but she didn’t know how that related to this place or if it would mean anything at all. And there was a deep and painful fear in her that speaking the name of her home -- of her land, now dead -- would awaken the very ghosts that would drag her back into the grave. So anxiety prickled at her scalp and she lost her social graces completely, “I am sorry, you’ll have to excuse me, I should really be on my way.”

But where?

She didn’t know. 

Panic was prickling every inch of her body and spurring her forward into foolish and impulsive decisions. So she pushed past him, leaving Corbin and the very rude woman behind, uncertain of where exactly she was heading.