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((This is a private RP between myself and Karma_K. Please do not interfere. Thank yew.))

Nighttime again... hardly the time when the Moon Court bard preferred to be out and about. After all, no one would be awake to listen to her songs. Granted, the Moon Court were usually awake in the dark hours... but then again, it was nearly always dark at the Castellum Umbra. Pausing in front of a large window, she glanced across the forest to the slivers of sunshine she could see glinting off the brightly coloured Sun Court castle.

A snort of derision marred the tune she was humming, and Astra continued on her way, picking up the tune just as easily as she'd dropped it. It was the WORDS she was having trouble with, as usual. Songwriting was not her forte... that was much more easily attributed to her brother. She was content to sing the songs, not actually come up with them out of thin air.

Continuing along the halls, Astra lost herself in the tune, tiny hands grabbing hold of the sides of her skirt and swaying back and forth with her arms as she did an impromptu dance down the hall. This was likely the only time anyone would CATCH her acting like a child. After all, she had an image to maintain.

It wasn't until she had gone down several more twists and turns that she stopped dead, her song halting just as abruptly, as she stared up at two portraits on the wall.

They looked so familiar...

Only taking her eyes from them for a moment, she darted over to a cobweb-covered chair that sat on the other side of the corridor. Pulling it with all the strength she could muster, she slid it noisily across the floor, the wooden legs grating harshly against the stone. Instinctively, she winced, wondering just HOW such an awful sound could even exist. But before she could dwell on it much longer, she had the chair where she wanted it, and climbed up to stand on the cushion.

"Vates..." she whispered to herself, reading the inscription beneath the one frame. The other was a bit harder, but it didn't take long for her to realise just who it was. The familiar eyes staring down at her finally clicked at something in her memory and she let out an audible gasp. "Mother!"

The 'beast' was standing on her tiptoes, hands splayed against the wall as she tried to get a closer glimpse of the portraits on the wall. Astra was just too small yet to really get a good look at them, and she let out a frustrated huff as one foot stomped against the chair. A cloud of dust motes rose up from the abused upholstry, leaving a hint of grey against the skin of the girl's bare feet. "No FAIR," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring up at the pictures as if it were THEIR fault. "And who would put them all the way down here instead of by MY room where they belong??"

"Because they're MY parents!" she exclaimed in reply, turning to face whoever this upstart was and give them a piece of her mind.

At least that was the idea, before she caught sight of the feathered form and the girl's blue eyes went nearly wide enough to take up her face. "Meli?"

"MELI!!"

Well, THAT settled things. Astra nearly flew off the chair, darting towards her elder brother and tackling him with what could have likely been a hug if it hadn't been accompanied by the sudden force of a small girl impacting at the same time. The move sent the both of them tumbling to land in a heap on the hallway runner carpet, Astra grinning from ear to ear as she pushed herself up to sit.

"Where have you BEEN? I heard you were here, but I couldn't find you, and then I couldn't find anyone else for the longest time, and then I found some of father's music, and I got wrapped up in that, and then I was trying to write songs, and why can't I write songs as well as you can, you were always better than I was..."

The girl's tirade continued, shifting onto the subject of (of course) music, until she was forced to pause long enough to take a breath.

It was enough to stop her cold, at least for the moment. Quieting, the girl just let her gaze lower and nodded, picking at an imagined loose thread at the hem of her skirt. "That's what I was told," she said, frowning faintly. "My kithain's gone too. I'm glad I found you, or I wouldn't have anybody anymore." Looking to him, she smiled a bit then, or tried to anyway. "But at least their pictures are back now. Did you put them there?"

Smiling, Astra moved to get to her feet again and offered him a hand up. Now she felt kinda bad for knocking him down to begin with. "I missed you too. No more hiding?" she asked, tilting her head in question. To her, at least, it seemed like he'd been hiding. She honestly had no clue how many times she'd looked for him after finding out he was really here.

Looking back up to the portraits, she nodded, and then moved towards the chair. It couldn't stay in the middle of the hallway after all. "I'm glad they're back where they belong. Even if they ARE far away from my room."

Stepping into the room, Astra looked around as if taking in eveyr detail and memorising it. "It's lovely," she said, her gaze immediately drawn by the flash of light against steel from the blades. Bare feet moved silently against the carpet as she peered around here and there, then finally moved to sit next to the lute and papers on the floor. "You still write," she declared happily, picking up one of hte papers and looking over it.