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For a second, Castor looked at her his lips a thin line and his eyes half open, wound in his own thoughts. "I see."

Slowly, he reached down to pick up her weapon holding it in his hands and running his fingers off the surface. "You are correct. General Avalon is dead. However the Knight Avalon lives. Your Vanya is dead. Yet another lives on. Our lives are not our own, and the names we take are just names. Faces we hold for one brief life before we step into the next in the eternal cycle that is rebirth. I was once Apollon. I was once The Lone Twin. Once I was a woman. Each life is just a vessel for what is inside of us and our potential." He tossed her weapon back at her feet.

"You must have more than want. More than desire for freedom. Than regret. Courage is not to walk away but face what you fear and conquer it. You fear death, yet it is only a death I can offer Astrophyllite. A death you ask for. A death that will leave all the ones you love behind, and leave you alone with no one unless you wish to be slain without blood ever being drawn. The heart is weak and so you must have the courage and conviction to steel yourself from your fears of death and what lies beyond."

He reached out, picking up her hands and gently urging her to open her palm, rubbing fingers over the indents left by her nails. "Do not be afraid of death. Do not cry over your fears- mourn. Mourn the ones who love you and that will remain. Mourn Astrophyllite. You are not stone, a stone at it's core is still a stone. It is cold and hard and is worth nothing. A life, no matter how corrupt is still a life, and someone will always hold that life as something precious. I asked a name and you gave me one of your dead. You remember her name, and you offered it in place of one who might be alive. I asked a name to test if you would hold the lives of those you would leave behind as something you would consider worth sacrificing in place of your own. Death is not a thing to fear, it is not hopeless and an end." His tone had softened, his hands caressing her own as his wings fanned outward, bending to try and sooth.

He lifted her hands to kiss the backs of her knuckles, letting them go to reach out, one hand on the small of her back, the other over her heart. "Do not be afraid of death, do not fear what follows. Only mourn those you leave behind, and weep to share in their sorrows. Scream from the pain, cry out for mercy, cling to your hope of a brighter future and wish for a dream to become reality. But do not be afraid. It is fear that will taint you, and destroy all you have worked for."

There was sadness in his smile as his hand took a white blue glow and then-

Power.

It tore through him and into her, cold and unrelenting. He held her up, and focused on what he could see in his mind's eye, what he could feel. He saw and he felt- and he fought to find who it was that he was so trying to revive from the darkness.

"No!" The cry ripped its way out of Aludra’s throat before Astrophyllite’s words even had a chance to settle. No, she would not be sent away! She’d have to be dragged away kicking and screaming instead. "I would never abandon my friend," she said urgently. "And I won’t have to because everything is going to be fine."

Then Castor was speaking again and she went silent, chest rising and falling rapidly with anxiety. As his wings curled around Astrophyllite, she hugged herself, fingers digging into the meat of her arms and turning her fingers white. This was it.

Power immeasurable slammed into her friend and Aludra watched, seeing that path in her mind, that white line through the darkness for Astrophyllite to follow. "You’re so strong and I’m here for you." And that was all she could offer as the purification began.

Astrophyllite's eyes blew wide at Castor's mention of Avalon. She's alive? she thought. Why wasn't I told?! Except - it made sense, didn't it?! If a general purified, then of course Order wouldn't want anyone to know where to find her, right? Her heart fluttered - if Castor decided to let her be good, then she could be with Hver and Aludra and Avalon. Oh, she could only hope - but he was holding her club, and she had already nearly died by it once tonight.

Instead, though - instead he took her hand and eased the tension out of it. But if I'm not a stone, thought Astrophyllite, and then stopped, words failing her. His hand had begun to glow, and he had told her-- he had told her not to be afraid.

She clenched her teeth against the cold, and she tried to shut her eyes but the light forced them open, and she felt like she might go blind, but- but-

You can't look away. Not now. Not now. You're so close.

Teide Squire of Cosmos stumbled against his embrace, a crystal sphere tumbling clumsily from her fingers. Her knees shook. "Did it work?" she asked, scared to raise her voice above a whisper.

Castor smiled, only staying still to help her should she need his aid to stand. Her weapon had changed and she had changed. Not entirely. His hand was numb and vaguely, he was aware that his own power had just sent a massive burst through the area. He was slightly disoriented but not so much that he couldn't walk or defend himself but- beads of sweat were on his forehead cooling just slow, and he knew his skin would be slightly paler, clammy maybe? He didn't know. He'd do as he'd done in the past. Shake it off.

"Hver-" He licked his lips, his mouth feeling dry tasting like the air of earth and it was just not comforting. He wanted to just go rest, but not yet, his business wasn't finished.
"I trust you'll get her situated for the night? If needed I can see that we get some paperwork started for.. legal requirements. Just as well if she needs financial aid that shouldn't be an issue. Reach out as necessary. She'll be at her most vulnerable state for the next few days and I'd rather not have the balance trying to rebound upon her." His wings shivered and tightened around him and he took a gulp of air, grimacing to the taste of it on his tongue.

His gaze was now pointed upon Camlann. "My work here is done and I am no longer required. However I have other matters needing my attention." A step back he waited. He'd not chase Camlann down. Not unless the man chose to flee. "When you are ready Knight of Saturn, we will take our leave." Not Camlann, just a title.

It filled a little, special gap in Hvergelmir's heart to see Astrophyllite transformed -- not just into any knight, but a knight of the Cosmos -- her own order. The young girl that stood before them was as bright and beautiful as a newborn star, glimmering into ever greater brightness. Maybe Hvergelmir was just being selfish, but -- it felt right. A shield-sister, like Hyperborea had described.

"Camlann of Saturn," she said, studying him hard. "You are not the only knight who looks after their own. And you're not the only one who's lived through being purified." She kept one arm on Aludra's shoulder, but reached the other out for the squire that Astrophyllite had become, inviting her over. "Oenone has. Avalon has. There's already a place for her, if she wants it. She's not yours -- she's her own. Free to choose."

Teide took the orb back from Camlann, looking uncertainly down at it. It looked like the top of her club, but it glittered with internal starlight. Her heart soared: she had magic now. Real magic that belonged to her and no one else and couldn't ever be taken away. "Teide," she answered, the word light and soft on her tongue but oh so right. "My name is Teide."

She turned to Castor. "Thank you," she said softly. "It sounds like you and Camlann have something important to talk about. I'll - I'll go with Hvergelmir."

At last, she turned to Hvergelmir and Aludra. She dashed the short distance to the senshi and took hold of her hand, clutching it tight and pulling it to her chest. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, and looked down at herself. Her pastel dress flared delicately out from her waist, the gold embroidery glittering in the light. "I - I am, aren't I?"

She grinned ebulliently at Hvergelmir. "Everything's going to be okay now, right?" she asked. "And it's okay if I go with you?"

Avalon has been through an unbearably trying experience, she wanted to say. It takes great strength to start over from nothing. And Oenone -- She remembered him not as he was now, but as he might be in the future -- a quiet man who'd patched her up through hell. -- is more than you think he is. Hvergelmir didn't know, though, how Camlann knew either of them, or what else he did or didn't know them -- so she left it at that. There were right times and wrong times to get into arguments.

Now was the wrong time, she felt sure.

Now was a time for hugging. She wrapped both arms around Teide's shoulders and held on tight. "She's right, you know. You are beautiful."

Hvergelmir stepped back, holding out her arm like a proper gentleman to chaperone Teide around the city. "We'll walk Aludra back to where she's going," she suggested. "Then I'll take you home. I've got lots of friends for you to meet."