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Star took a breath. "Oh great!" She was upon Kent in a flash. Her sword and dagger were positioned at his throat. "Turn around slowly, with your hands up."

Arianna absentmindedly petted Soren, flinching as she heard Avatre scream. "Isn't there anything you can do?" She asked Archaedus.

"I'm afraid not. She's having a nightmare, she's just going to have to sleep through it. I'll go check in on her, though, if it will make you feel better." At Ari's nod he headed off to the room where he had left Avatre. Her screams grew clearer and he could make out what she was saying, although little of it made sense. The room was ice cold as he entered.

He walked briskly to the empty fireplace and lit a blazing fire, though he didn't expect it to do much good. Instead, he looked sadly at the girl now thrashing against the monsters in her head.

"It's okay." He whispered. "You'll get through this." He said as he ran a hand over Avatre's ice-cold forehead. He slipped quietly out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him, and headed back to the kitchen, where he sat down wordlessly, giving only a short nod to Ari to indicate Avatre was fine...even though she wasn't.

((IS there anything he can do?))

Again, Demetrius found himself lost in his thoughts, in his memories, drawing more and more into himself and becoming less aware of the world around him. To other it looked as though he were deep in thought, eyes somewhat guarded. Inside his mind however, those good memories were beginning to fade and the bad ones were taking over. Screams echoed in his mind...screams...

...Those were not just in his mind. Seeming to wake from a sort of stupor, Demetrius sat up straight and his body went rigid as he listened to the screams coming from the other room. It chilled his blood and it was too much like the screams of another woman...He half rose to go see, though Archaedus beat him to it. He sat back down slowly, stiff, the food quite forgotten now until Archaedus returned. A nightmare...that was a terrible nightmare. And those screams...he couldn't abide them.

He'd risen from his chair and was striding for the door before he'd really even realised it. He hesitated, however, once he was aware of the fact, and looked back at the others. "Excuse me, please." He said, the neutral voice edged with a sort of strained quality. No more words after that, merely quick steps that carried him to the room. Opening the door, he stepped inside and the moment he did his hackles rose. It was ice cold, despite the fire blazing in the hearth and there was a definite feeling of wrongness about this room that made the animal in him hiss and want to back away snarling. But he stayed...he stayed, and he wasn't sure why. Slowly, cautiously, he approached the bed where she lay. The screams...and muttering about someone she loved...that was too close for comfort.

He did not know what he intended to do and his entire body remained stiff but he walked to the bed and stood by it, looking down at the woman, his face unreadable. So he stood there, chilled to the bone by the cold, wanting to fight this wrongness in the room...but inexplicably drawn back here. So he stood and stared...seemingly frozen to the spot.

"You threaten me with death whoever you are." Kent laughed out loud, an empty, hollow laugh that held no mirth. "Death would be a preferable state than what I am in. In fact, I would do it myself if there wasn't hope. So please take that knife from my throat before you make me harm you." Kent's fingers, which had been hovering an inch away abruptly touched the building. 'Yes, there is stone here,' he thought.

"Who I am isn't really important since you probably wouldn't know me and I'll probably be gone before noon tomorrow. I don't really have a reason for being here than somewhere else. I would probably still be on the path if I hadn't noticed the footprints. I wanted shelter so I followed them. Now that I have answered your questions, why don't you answer mine. Since I answered two I'll ask the same. What is this place and why is it shielded so much? I can't see it either. An invisible building doesn't do much good."

((Warfare: I never did answer this question, but it's only opposite elements, like fire vs water. Fire vs earth wouldn't stop time.))

Archaedus sat down as Demetrius left. Arianna looked worried, but he stopped her doing anything with a soft "Let him go."

((Ack, sorry.))

The woman fell silent after a few more moments and to say it was a relief would be an understatement. Demetrius still didn't know what he was doing there but he remained anyway...and then her eyes opened. He thought she might speak to him...but no, she stared at the ceiling, still caught in her illusions or memories or whatever they were...and still calling out for this Adrian. Asking forgiveness...forgiveness...

For the first time, emotion showed through to his normally neutral features. This was all too similar and the despair and guilt quickly scrawled across his features. She obviously had had to leave this Adrian or else he was dead...and neither the dead nor separated could offer forgiveness.

Turning away from her a moment, unable to watch, his hand dug furiously in his belt pouch and produced the ring. It was small and would not have fit any of his fingers, somewhat simple with a gold band and only one jewel. A woman's ring. Her ring. Lifting it up slowly, his eyes were agonized and he closed it in his fist after a moment, tightly shutting his eyes against the pain.

"The daed do not forgive...no matter how much we want them to." He spoke in a strained voice, edged with pain and closed the ring so tightly in his fist that the edges dug into his skin. He would never escape the fact, never be able to forgive himself for what he'd done...

Archaedus quietly breathed a sigh of relief as the screams stopped. "She has woken. As I said, she just needed to rest."

Arianna looked sideways at Archaedus, continuing to nibble on a peice of bread. It couldn't really be that simple. Nobody screamed like that without reason, not even in nightmares. And besides, if it had just been a nightmare, she would have woken herself up long before now.