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Issildia stiffly crossed her arms, her eyes becoming downcast. The icy wind twisting past them as a light flurry of snow began to fall.

"It is not that I am withholding information...it is that...I know nothing of what we not ride out to face, I wonder if we really want to know what is truly transpiring." she admitted softly.

"Our paths have diverged...being within Anier...has reminded me of what I first intended to accomplish, and the futility of it. You were right Sin...even death, the most absolute of punishments can not change the past...nor grant remembrance within the approaching future."

Sin was taken aback for a moment, trying to comprehend what Issildia had said. Shaking his head he looked up at her and sighed.

"wow... I don't know if I should be grateful that you said I was right.... or be worried that you said I was right..."

Sighing he sat down in the snow and leaned against the tree and ran a hand though his hair. He was thrilled that Issildia had actually acknowledged something about him other then his lack of finesse and his foolishness. But he also felt a cold fear at the idea that Issildia, a person who he always viewed as someone who knew what they were doing no matter what, was feeling doubt.

"Issildia... I'm taken off guard here right now... I never actually saw you as someone who could have self doubt, or worry about what could be.... but once... I was like that too... kind of... Back in the temple, I never was able to accomplish anything. Every thing, even the most simple tasks, were impossible. I can't remember how many nights I spent alone, wrapped up in my own self-misery and doubt, and I hated my life so much..."

Sighing Sin opened his mouth and tried to catch a snow flake on his tongue, pausing his narration, and after a moment caught a few and looked back as Issildia smiling.

"Then I realized something... I didn't care... I knew that even if I failed all my classes, training, and meditation the only time I would truly fail is if I lived my entire life being a self-doubting, fool. I know there are truly important things coming towards us... but all I can do is rise up to the occasion and do my best, and if I fail I get up, brush myself off, and keep going... I think that I can say with, whole hearted confidence, that I have no regrets in life... not one... epically when I don't think about them..."

Smiling he stuck out his tongue again and started to move about in front of Issildia catching snowflakes. Looking at her he shrugged and fell backwards onto the snow, looking up at the sky.

"I don't know if any of that actually helps you... but at least I tried to make you feel better about the choices you made..."

Issildia did not immediatly immediatly, her icy gaze drifting over the snowbound horizon then turning towards the swiftly moving flow of the river and to the forest that lay beyond it.

"No one is completly free of fear and doubt...the only variable is if we choose to show it or not." she replied, her statment telling more than she guessed.

"Our memories and our sins are both punishment and reward for our actions, after all that has been lost I can not be as you are, in so idly casting aside my fears and doubts to move on. When you are all that remains...you can not let it go...no matter how you wish you could. Because letting go of the memory and of the fear...abandons what you once were to a final death. For the sake of those now lost, I can not do that."

At first Issildia seemed as if she would remain behind as the darkness closed in around them, the night reaching its darkest hour. But then she silently turned to return back to the camp.

After sitting down beside the fire Issildia looked at Sin.

"I have always asked you what you believe to be your purpose in following us, but there is something that I have yet to realize...Tell me Sin, why do you fight? What drives you to live the life that you do? Is it merely the primitive instincts of survival, some code of honor, or perhaps a memory..."

Niobe frowned and snatched her whip when the girl was thrown back, luckily, her weapon was able to untangle itself because she wouldn't have let go of it and she didn't fancy the idea of being dragged along with the crude woman. Niobe only got to steal a quick glance at Azrielle before Malkaia came charging out. She was shocked that this man, who was so similar in appearence to Azrielle, was fast on his feet. Concerned, she eyed the pair and signaled to Sylph to move closer to her. Sylph obliged.

The large silver wolf slowed his run into a slow trot before stopping completely, his tongue hanging loosely from his mouth as he panted quickly. The wolf had been traveling for hours, stopping only to rest and to choose his next direction. He current position was near the spine of the Heriden Mountains, north of the border between Keirdon and Larovia. He raised his nose sniffing the cold air trying to locate a scent that would point him in his next direction. He was after a particular scent, though he was not following it exactly, merely the remnants of it carried in the wind and air. Because of his higher elevation and the cold thin air, the scent had vanished completely.

He ceased his sniffing after several moments, gazing at the landscape around him. It was truly a beautiful sight around him of the land that could be seen beyond either side of the mountain, but at the current time, he didnt have the time to acknowledge its beauty. The wolf let out a small grunt as it's shape and form began changing, rising back unusually onto its hind legs as it's thick black stipped silver coat disappeared into the skin that replaced it. A man now stood in its place, his hair matted and in various places dreaded, falling over his face hiding half of it. His flesh was filled iwth unusual symbols and signs, blackened from being seered into his skin.

Kegawa of the Flesh swept the hair from his vision and off to the side, revealing his face, it too baring the same tribal signs that covered the length of his body. He gazed upward at the clouded sky, letting out a soft sigh. His bones ached from being overused having travled such a great distance in so little time, so far. He lowered himself into a kneel, lettign his knees sink slightly into the soft soil, untouched from the rest of the world, seeming almost sacred. He placed a palm on the ground before him, closing his eyes as if he had used this ability hundreds of times before, yet it would be his first, used only out of instinct.

The central sphere, and the rune inside it, upon his chest began to glow softly, the color a dim green. Of the many strings of runes that originated around it, it chose only one path as it headed for the arm he had just placed forward. As The slight reached the shoulder it entered another sphered symbol, lighting it as well as it then split and ventured the many paths down his arms. As it spiraled and zig-zaged down his arm lighting smaller strings of runes, the green glow became brighter, powered by each rune. Finally, after only several moments, it reached the tails of the runes at his finger tips. After a second or two, small, thin saplings and roots latched to his fingers spiraling around each digit and softly pulled it into the earth to his wrist. He concentrated on the earth, feeling though he had become apart of it. Kegawa felt a mind sample of the pains it was burdened with, as well as the suffering it had endured from the yeasr of the past. He opened his eyes, having found what he was looking for, gazing in its direction as if it was only feet in front of him, As if he could see Khastur, Issildia, and Sin. He withdrew his hand from the soil, as the thin saplings released his fingers. Rising to his feet, the light upon the symbols of his arm simmed and died out.

In an instant the man was replaced by the large silver wolf once more and bolted forward into a run once more continuing north again, making his way down the slopes of the large mountain.

~~~

Seishin of the Mind stood standing on a thin limb nearly at the top of the tree, one that lined the western border of The Forest of 1,000 Souls. He gazed outward over the empty land, though his white pupilless eyes. In his mind Kojin relayed the scene before him, giving him some form of sight.
His hair and clothing flapped lightly in the wind, his hair being both black and white; the white being, along with his blindness, a birthmark, having no pigment of color in it what so ever. He brushed the strands from his face as thee wind caused them to tickle his cheek. The vision in his head faultered momentarily casuing him to quirk a brow as he spoke voicelessly in his mind. Kojin? What happened?

Im sorry... Its just.. I feel something... Its coming. Kojin's voiceless reply came softly into his mind, though voiceless, always leaving him at ease.

What it is it?

I'm not sure.. But I think it may be...

"Something we were looking for." Whispered Seishin aloud, finishing Kojin's sentence, their minds linked in nearly everyway sometimes allowing them to share eachothers thoughts without realizing it.

"umm... I don't really know... I mean the Monkoto are importent to me... so much so that I would rather die then see them harmed...."

Sin sighed and looked into the fire. It snapped and crackled on the logs it burned. He reached fowards with his hand and put it into the fire. Holding it there for a moment he pulled it out and watched as the fire burned on his hands, yet left no marks.

"I guess it could be seen like this fire... it burns and crackles yet always rises... there are so many things about it that I don't understand... yet when it comes down to it all I need to know is that it creates light, burns... and makes heat...."

He bured his hand in the gound and pulled it out. The Runes and sigils on his arm clearly glowed for a moment then faded into black then faded from sight.