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Gefton turned and looked at the child who had spoken. Gefton rubbed his eyes and stroked his old grey beard as he spoke.

"Well, at least he was to be named." Said Gefton cooly. "That's more than any of the Emperor' children can ever say. The Emperor lived for a thousan years and has had hundreds of off spring. You are jsust the latest batch. No I must wonder, why did not a single child for all that time recieve the honor of being named the heir? Yets Algren, who was not even related to the Emperor, was given such a mighty honor. The Tonarch will tesitfy aabout that. Council, I implore you, use your senses. The Emperor choose Algren for a reason. If the Emperor was willing to make such a statment, must not Algren be worthy of the throne?"

The Forumn was silent and still, Gefton holding them all under his sway. Algren marvelled at the old man's power of speach and for a moment was in aw of this little old man. Gefton turned around and looked at the Tonarch.

"Lord Tonarch, is what I say true?" Declared Gefton coldly. The young Tonarch looked at the old man and for a moment there was only silence.

"No." Whisperd the young man, the edges of his mouth twisting into a smile. "No it is not." Both Algren and Gefton looked stunned and a sudden outcry from nearly everyone in the forumn echoed in Algren's ears.

Algren regained his composure and looked around the chamber, the blood on his face, glinting sickly in the light of the torches. Silence fell, but it was a confident silence. Algren stared at the Tonarch and flashed bloody teeth and slowly began to walk up to the young man, who's mile began to waver slightly. Algren leaned close and whispered into the Tonarch's ear.

"Lord Tonarch. listne carfully. I suppose you have been bribed by the Children of the Emperor. Understandable. But realize this, you wil be the last to ever advise an Emepero if you do this. Civil war is inevitable if no emperor is put upon the throne soon. You and I know this. If you decide to choose the children of the emperor, the bllod of many innocent people will be on your hands, not mine, nor anyone else."

"Please, save me your pathetic arguments." The Tonarch snorted. "The emperor is dead, it time i make my way in this world and it shall be paved with gold."

"And Blood." Hissed Algren as he turned around and looked at the crowd. He ran his hand through his hair and then, in a liud voice shouted. "It would seem that you all are more disgusting than any thing that has ever been. Look at you all, the moment the Emperor is dead, we lose sight of what is important. The peace of this land. Now i know most of you think I'm a fanatic and I am! You all once swore to help the Emperor rule this land and now you all seek to divide, not unite! Hypocrites! Well then, let us vote and we shall see who shall be emperor, but I promise you it shall be none!"

"Silence your tongue!" Laughed the Tonarch. "Listen Council, this man Algren and his followers have lied about the most holy Emperor and has made a false claim to the throne, all of which are punishable by death. However, Algren has done much for this land, so i say this, to atone for your sins, you shall be exiled from this land, forever." Cheers and curses greeted this.

"How dare you!" Spoke up the head of the Imperial church. "You have no right to say who has commited sins!"

"Silence! You are out of order here. Do I have a second for this motion?" Countless voices seconded and then the Tonarch smile. "Well then, shall we vote?"

Blaise looked back at Rosette and sighed. "I don't think any of us are, Rosette."

The cold rain continued to fall, stinging the cut on Blaise's forhead. She continued to gaze at the fortress impassively as Kaden shook her shoulder a bit.

"You sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll be fine." she replied distractedly, "Just go and . . ."

Blaise sort of trailed off and Kaden frowned, looking to Chrono. "I think we should get going."

Blaise turned around to look at Rosette and Loque kept a firm hand on her. Walking to Chrono she said, "You guys go ahead. Get Satella out of the rain and keep everyone warm. I'll get her. If I need you then I'll call."

The farther Blaise stepped away from teh building the better she felt. She didn't share this with anyone, thinking it was all in her head. Taking Rosette's shaking hand in hers she tried to calm her.

"Rosette, please." she urged her, "Just take a deep breath and calm down. Rosette, I'm sorry, but we need to go. We have more protection in there than we do out here, even if it's just a little bit. Please, come with us."

Blaise really hoped she would calm down and go willingly. If worst came to worst then she'd probably have to knock her out and carry her in. She really didn't want to do that.

Blaise looked to Loque and gave him a dismissing nod. He grimly accepted it and followed the others. Blaise knelt down, facing Rosette. She looked for something to say but couldn't find much. Rosette was right, she could hear them . . . and she could see them . . . it was haunting.

"Rosette, please." Blaise said softly, "I know you. It wasn't your fault . . . it was out of your hands . . . and I know very well that you would have died a thousand times in order to save them. But you must be able to forgive yourself before they can ever forgive you. You should not accept their hatred for they only hate because they do not understand. Life is pain, and life is fear, and our task is to face it. I am here with you to help you face it now. Please come inside . . ."

Blaise fell back but immediately pushed herself back up and chased after Rosette.

"Rosette stop!" she shouted after her but knew it was useless. Using her wind elementals she pushed herself forward so she could go faster and pushed back against Rosette to slow her down.

Blaise had caught up to her quickly and knew what she had to do, there was no negotiating with her. Leaping out she tackled Rosette full on, sending them both tumbling to the wet grass. Blaise pinned her down with her knee in between the gir'ls shoulderblades. She didn't want to hurt Rosette so rapped her knuckle on her temple to knock her out quickly.

Blaise took a deep breath and moved off of Rosette once she saw that she’d successfully knocked her unconscious. Chrono would not be happy with her . . . she didn’t even want to think about Rosette’s mood when she woke up. First she would be terrified and completely upset that she was in the very place she had just tried to run away from. Second, when she remembered who’d knocked her out and put her there, she’d be positively livid.

Giving Rosette a look of regret she lifted her from the ground. Rosette was taller than Blaise so this gave Blaise’s sore arms a bit of trouble at first but she was able to hoist the girl over her shoulder. She began to walk and was soon coming back up upon the building. Kaden turned and saw the figures through the rain. It was Loque who first realized Blaise was carrying Rosette instead of the two of them walking. Running to them Loque took Rosette and carried her back to the building, Blaise right behind.

“Blaise, what happened?” Kaden asked worriedly.

Blaise, now looking very pale, shook her head. They were all shouting at her, at Rosette, screaming terrible things and reliving their last moments. “No, please, leave her alone.” She begged them, but they continued shouting at her. Blaise attempted to push away the shouting to answer Kaden.

“I h-had to. She was going to r-run away.”

Kaden looked at her worriedly and put his hand on her shoulder. She seemed to sink a little under the weight. “Blaise, are you—?”

Just then Blaise turned, leaned against the wall, and vomited.