[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3hbl8fH.png[/img][hr][hr][/center] [center][color=lightgray][h3]* * *[/h3][/color][/center] [center][sub]Mentions: Daphne [@PrinceAlexus][/sub][/center] [color=lightgray]Katherine spotted the running guards before anything else. The ringing of their armor through the otherwise relative silence of Dawnhaven had drawn her attention almost immediately, but unlike the last time, no alarm bell followed suit. No one rushed inside their homes, barred their doors or avoided eye contact. Not an attack then, nor a danger to the rest of the population. Something that the powers-that-were wanted to keep under wraps, perhaps. Her mind wandered back to the various conversations she’d picked up in the tavern, landing on one in particular. A rumour of a prisoner that had been arrested recently for voicing a desire to commit treason against the Aurelian king. A smirk wandered to her face. [color=19CACA][i]Go for the Lunarian one while you’re at it.[/i][/color] she mused, before letting her usual passive look fall back over her features, [color=19CACA][i]They [b]are[/b] headed in the right direction for the jail though…[/i][/color] Without another moment of hesitation, Katherine followed in their stead. Her steps were prompt and with purpose, but not rushed so as to not draw any unwanted attention to herself. Beneath her cloak, her dominant hand toyed with the hilt of a shortsword as she moved. The priestess wanted nothing less than a fight right now, especially considering she’d already managed to attract the wrong kind of attention from the prince. But she also wouldn’t sit idle if a threat presented itself. Movement caught her eye, her focus briefly pulled to a departing entourage in the distance that she could only assume guarded the royals. [color=19CACA][i]Of course you two were involved.[/i][/color] Little else would have otherwise explained the prompt and large response from the guards. Katherine paused just behind an empty home, watching the guard presence at the jail with an analytical gaze. The guards were methodical, if a bit disorganized, as they arranged sentries to guard whoever was still in the jail. She made a mental note of who was giving orders to who, picking out the officers from the soldiers. All it would take would be a bit of patience until the higher ranking members inevitably wandered off, before she could swoop in and persuade some information from the ones who remained. Another grin spread across her lips. [color=19CACA][i]Oh how I’ve missed this.[/i][/color] Opposite to her prediction, however, the jail only seemed to get busier. Reinforcements trickled in until the trickle became a tide—Lunarian sentries, Aurelian patrols, robed sages talking between themselves, and then, to Katherine’s utter annoyance, the commanders of both guard forces descended onto the scene like circling hawks. Katherine let out a low exhale through her nose, the fog of her breath lingering before her as if trying to irritate her further. So much for slipping in unnoticed. Wherever she looked now, there were only walls standing in her way. But as she lingered in the shadows, a different realization settled over her mind, obvious and embarrassingly simple. No one here would be looking for a shadow from within the crowd. A smile crept across her face. As she approached, they were looking at her, most definitely, but more at her presence. The robes, the crescent sigil of Seluna emblazoned on her cloak and gleaming in her jewelry, and the serene face of a priestess that was absent of any guilt. The sages greeted her with nods. The guards barely spared her an ounce of their attention once they realized who she was. To them, she wasn’t a threat, but a part of the scenery. An expected presence among the common rabble of Dawnhaven. None of them saw through it. None of them saw the weapon her father had forged her into. As long as she kept her distance from Commander Volkov—he knew her face, knew her family, and had crossed paths with her in the capitol on more than one occasion—no one else would think to question why a priestess might want a closer look at the aftermath of yesterday’s horrors. Katherine adjusted her hood down as an icy gust tossed a few locks of her hair into her face, and chilled her cheeks right to the bone. She let her posture sink into the calm and regal pace of the high priestess, tending to the needs of her people. She let them see what they expected, what they wanted to see. She made a show of clutching her pendant and muttering a prayer as she made it within a few paces of the jail’s door before someone finally got up the courage to stop her. Her calm, brown eyes rose to meet the guard’s even as her heart raced for a singular moment within. The young guard standing before the door looked as though he had only just grown into his armor. His beard—thick but uneven—betrayed him, as if trying too hard to define a jaw still soft with youth. Snowflakes clung to his short, black hair, melting onto his bronze skin. [color=19CACA][i]Aurelian, even better.[/i][/color] She let her lips lift at the corners slightly to help ease the rigid stance of the young guard. Her eyes dropped to his sword, watching for a moment at how closely his hand was held to its hilt, as if confidence and self reassurance could be drawn from the steel. [color=fdc68a]”Pardon me, Lady—Priestess, but I wasn’t told that anyone from the temple was coming. Do you have business with the deceased?”[/color] Katherine could barely contain herself at the ease of retrieving information. All of her instincts had braced for resistance and suspicion, the familiar game of slipping through cracks in authority. And instead, she’d walked right up to the front door and been met with nothing but nerves and courtesy. [color=19CACA]“Nothing you need to worry yourself over,”[/color] she said gently, aiming to settle his nerves, [color=19CACA]“A prayer to offer, and nothing more. The dead deserve their rites, with no regard to be held for how they lived their life.”[/color] She let her gaze drift past him towards the door. She feigned a mild disinterest, as if this was nothing more than a formal routine. [color=19CACA]“I won’t be long.”[/color] She watched as the guard’s eyes looked past her to the others, looking for answers that weren’t there. [color=19CACA]“If you’re concerned, I don’t mind having an audience.”[/color] The guard met her eyes once again, then swallowed and nodded, [color=fdc68a]“R-right… I’ll come with you. Orders say that no one goes in alone, and I don’t need a reprimand from the commander.”[/color] He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter first. The warmth vanished from her the moment she crossed the threshold. A wave of vertigo hit her first, sharp, sudden and nauseating. She stopped immediately at the feeling, bracing a hand on the doorway for balance. Her eyes lifted to meet a warding rune carved in the wall, and in a singular heartbeat, she felt every ounce of magic in her body be ripped from its place and smothered. Even the familiar glow of Seluna’s powers faded from her chest, leaving her completely disconnected. Only her years of training kept her outward appearance mostly intact, stepping forward once more despite every thread of her being screaming against it. The air within was stagnant, only moved by the tiniest of currents that made their way through the unfinished walls. It was heavy with the familiar—almost [i]welcome[/i]—scent of death, and her eyes lifted to meet the source. A corpse laid slumped against the back wall, surrounded in a pool of what appeared to be relatively fresh blood. [color=19CACA][i]Blightborn.[/i][/color] she quickly realized, analyzing what she could in the dark while still keeping the guise of a priestess in mind. His flesh looked decayed, but not in the way she expected. Pieces of it had fallen away in large sections, as if it had barely been attached to begin with. And there was more of it present than Katherine would have ever expected. She stilled at the sight momentarily as her mind ran over every detail. [color=fdc68a]“Is…is everything alright, Priestess?”[/color] The guard’s voice carried hesitation, as if he was afraid to interrupt. [color=19CACA]“Was this man tortured?”[/color] She replied, feigning concern in every word. [color=fdc68a]“Not… not as far as I’m aware.”[/color] He replied, shifting his weight between his feet before lowering his head for a moment. Katherine noticed it immediately. The pause, it was too long to be simple uncertainty; it was the kind born of someone deciding which version of the truth they were allowed to share. [color=fdc68a]“They said he looked different when they found him. Not like the man that entered.[/color] Katherine nodded, knowing that she was reaching the limits of what she could get away with. Curiosity only got her so far as an excuse. [color=19CACA]“Very well.”[/color] She replied simply, before lowering to her knees before the body. As she bent, her hand brushed the hidden shortsword beneath her cloak, angling it away so the scabbard wouldn’t hit the floor. No one expected a priestess to carry steel, and she intended to keep it that way. [center][color=19CACA]“Seluna, my lady in silver, who watches all in darkness. Accept this wandering soul. Strip away the weight they carried in life. Let them rest in the calm of your endless night, Where no blade, no oath and no fear can reach. Let your light be the final thing they see before we commend their soul to the stars.”[/color][/center] It almost felt meaningless as she spoke, her voice softly echoing off of the stone walls. The words rang true and landed as intended, but the warding rune blocked any attempt at channelling Seluna’s power into the blessing. No silver light escaped from her hand, and no mark was laid upon the body. Katherine let out a sigh, lifting her head and rising back to her feet. She stood for a moment, taking in the remaining details of the room that she’d looked past before. Her eyes moved to the open jail cell next to the body, its door wide open. She made a mental note of it, but otherwise remained silent. Without another sound, she turned and nodded to her escort, who led her back outside and shut the door behind them. The instant that she crossed the threshold again, Katherine staggered as she felt her power surge from within. Her breath hitched—too sharp and too sudden—as her magic forced its way back within like a fist driving into her ribs. An electric heat pulsed through from her fingertips and down her spine, flooding the hollow void that the ward had carved out. Her vision flickered in white at the edges. She forced her body to obey. Even as the blood magic that coursed through her veins threatened to burn her alive, even as lunar magic clawed its way back under her skin, Katherine kept her composure. Her heart hammered against her chest, but she raised her head and presented the expected image. Serene, uninterrupted poise. Katherine turned her head towards the young guard, then looked around the icy scene before the jail, [color=19CACA]“So what happened out here then? Surely it must have been something big to warrant such a response from the guards.”[/color] With a gentle wave of her hand, she darkened the silhouette of her face momentarily before turning back towards the jail, and towards the guard. But away from Volkov’s prying eyes, who’d just directed his attention towards them. [color=fdc68a]“An escaped convict, I can say nothing more. Apologies, Priestess.”[/color] Katherine nodded in understanding, [color=19CACA]“Anyone hurt in the conflict?”[/color] [color=fdc68a]“Some Lunarian squire, don’t remember her name. They carted her off to the infirmary.”[/color] He replied, in a more nonchalant tone than Katherine would’ve liked, but she forgave him in an instant as the realization hit her. [color=19CACA][i]Her. Daphne.[/i][/color] [color=19CACA]“That will be all, soldier.”[/color] Katherine spoke, her feet already in motion towards the guard barracks and infirmary. She didn’t wait for a reply, departing as quickly as her feet would carry her without running. [center][h3]* * *[/h3][/center] The quiet of the infirmary was unlike the rest of the town. It felt like the wrong kind of silence, the kind that was stolen and forced into place, and not earned. It set Katherine on edge, especially as she felt the periodic waves of healing magic being used. She shuddered at the feeling, gritting her teeth. Somewhere in this hall, Daphne was here. Katherine had left the jail before she’d even asked about the extent of the squire’s injuries, and so now she wandered down the hall, eyes scanning the few individuals that were being tended to here. She felt her composure straining as she moved, the perfect image of the high priestess faltering with every step. Her gaze swept the room once again, sharp and analytical, before she caught on a familiar head of hair and striking violet eyes. A healer stepped before the priestess in quiet protest of her intrusion, but Katherine didn’t falter for an instant before she disappeared into pure shadow before reappearing behind him, much to his shock. [color=19CACA]“Don’t.”[/color] Katherine’s eyes never left Daphne as she approached, stopping at the edge of her bed. Her chest loosened as she realized Daphne was awake, and appeared to be largely unharmed. She opened her mouth to speak but the squire’s name caught in her throat, and Katherine felt a smile start to rise on her face. Her carefully controlled mask was cracking in a way she’d want no one else to see. Only Daphne. [color=19CACA]“Hey…”[/color][/color]