Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yeah I get it pal, now shut up..." Falling into a deep sleep.

"Well now that I know your name," Melethia said with a smile, "I won't call you that anymore. I also can use staves. I'm a sage."

". . . Victoria's right there," Renault said, gesturing to the other doorway as he strode into the room. The child in his arms seemed calm; in fact, she hadn't done much through all of this. Of course, her parents being Tibarn and Ayra, Vah must have grown accustomed to noise and conflict around her. Renault almost shuddered to think of where Ayra had just come from for so long with Vah the whole time. "And along with Victoria. . . Rhys is around here somewhere, and it seems the Lady Saint has seen fit to promote me to Saint. We have staff users, believe me." He paused for a moment. "Though in the way of Rescue staves, I've no idea. I don't remember the last time anyone's used one, so we should have a few, but. . ."

His arms brought Vah instinctively closer to his chest; it was a good time to have another life close. He didn't think he'd held a child this age in decades, or longer. It was a pleasant experience, and he diverted from his line of speech to Arashe to look down and smile at the child, brushing back a downy lock of hair. She was adorable. In her eyes he could see a bit of both Tibarn and Ayra as well. This child was the tangible symbol of their love; this struck a chord inside him, and his eyes welled up silently. It felt as if. . . he could begin to understand them now, and he saw why Ayra had such anger. ". . .Ayra," he said gently, voice quiet but firm. "We will save Tibarn. I promise you on the name of my Goddess, if anything happens I will personally take the blame. You may remove my head from my shoulders if you so desire."

Holy...Artemis.

Ed honestly couldn't think of any other mental exclamation or expression of pure horror. Even all the way from the library, she could hear Ayra, and she thought she could feel the swordswoman resonating with intense, pure wrath and blood-rage. Just being there made her feel awkward and also strangely inadequate. Ed recalled her own past tantrums and how silly they seemed in contrast to Ayra's fury. She shuddered somewhat as she hid among the books, clutching a text close to her heart.

I'm glad I wasn't there, she thought as she glanced back down to the cover of the book. Ed heaved a sigh at its title. She traced her finger over "Anatomy of the Avian", trying to coerce her spirit into a calm state.

Ed leaned against the bookshelves and rested the text in her lap. She flipped the book open, soothed by the welcome sight of ink on paper, whether as words or an illustration. It reminded her of an old friend. With everything that had occurred, she could no longer possess the heart to be angry with him. She just wanted him to come back.

Ed looked through the pictures and the diagrams, tracing her finger over the ink as well. The images were familiar. She felt it return to her bones and muscles like a resurfacing memory, a different sort of vigor flooding through her form, driving away her fear now that the danger had passed. Ed realized the irony of this. If someone caught her, they might have thought she was studying how to take Tibarn down.

That's not it at all, she reassured herself, ducking her head behind the bookshelves, hiding her eyes in the pages. I'm just trying to get my wings back. She flexed her fingers as though to ascertain whether or not she could grow them back after not practicing for so long. The last time she'd dabbled in the form was when her hair was long and brown, not a nest of black...

Ed sucked in a sharp gasp. Who could have possibly considered coming into the library!? She put her book down and glanced about, alarmed, failing to register for a while that it was a child who had spoken.

But when the fact sunk in, confusion veiled over Ed's face. She set the book down, carefully closed so the spine would not suffer damage (though she dog-eared the page she was on) and stood up and investigate who had entered.

A girl? Ed wondered, taking note of the newcomer. She didn't recognize Alihi's daughter. Ed nudged her way out of the bookshelves, fixing her blue eyes on the girl. "Do you need something?" she inquired as kindly as possible.

Amara shook her head. "No, miss. I was just wandering 'cause my mommy told me to go explore..." She smiled sweetly, wandering closer to a bookshelf and running her fingertips on the spines of the books, wondering about the different textures.

"D...dict...ion...ary... Dictionary..." She murmured, her hand lingering on one of the books, her pointer finger right under the letters printed clearly on the spine. She then turned back to Ed with a confused look, pointing at the book she just read. "Dictionary?"

Rhys threw his arms around Amelia, feeling glad that she approved. He also felt slightly... amorous in this situation--there they were, alone, wrapped in a tight hug, in a private space...

No. Not now. Bad libido. Bad.

Despite the distracting thought, he still managed to catch most of Amelia's words and strongly agree. He'd wondered if intervening in the situation would help, but had opted against it--if Renault didn't do so, then neither would he.

He just leaned back, letting her body incline against his. It was rather soothing, just standing there, letting one's cares pass by.

The libido was still there, noting to Rhys that snuggling was all well and good, but one of these days he should really try it without as many layers of clothes on. But for now, he enjoyed the quiet and the warmth. At least until she thought it was safe, at which point he followed her downstairs, pausing a moment to watch Amara go past before they reappeared in the kitchen, staying out of the center of attention.