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Was it acceptance? Could one call it as much? Kaja had long since ceased her count on the passage of time. What was the point? This was her forever now. A hellish, terrifying forever, but nonetheless it was starting to become...home. They didn't bother her. Not anymore, at least. After a while it was almost as if she had always been there, and the gentle ghost had come to accept it. She had learned the routine. She had learned how to survive. Even if she had railed against her new home, she would come after her for certain. She was so obsessed with balance. She was one of the only things in the mansion that Kaja feared anymore.

Other than Engravers.

The mare shuddered and her wings stretched involuntarily at the thought of them. They had chased her once she had first arrived. Now they did not even seem to notice her. Maybe she had just gotten better at hiding.

Almost as if on cue, her red eyes watched as two Engravers floated by her, not so much as turning their eyeless skulls in her direction. Did they think she was one of them now? Was she one of them now?

Kaja had not seen herself in so long. What did she look like? What if she was not seeing through her own eyes, but through the priestess' dreams? What if...

"Silence, Kaja," she reprimanded herself before catching her breath, desperately afraid that one of the passing ghosts would come her way all over again. She would need to find a new hiding spot...

The mare ducked down low behind the furniture she had taken refuge behind tonight just in time as the Engravers returned. For a moment, she held her breath, not that she was truly breathing, and hoped to whatever was out there that they had not come back for her.

The ghosts came and went but something was different. This was no passive wandering. Kaja had seen the same thing chase her through the mansion. No. They were hunting.

Hunting what? Nothing dared cross her. Or maybe Kaja was just never around to see it.

"Oh no, oh dear, oh," she whispered, shutting her eyes tight. Someone had wandered in. They had no idea what they were in for. They had no idea the danger they were in.

She had to help.

The ghost mare swallowed the lump in her throat and rose to her hooves. Once she was sure the coast was clear she dashed after the Engravers. Hopefully she would find whatever it was before they did...

Hoof beats. The sound drew Kaja towards her target and she picked up her speed, her hooves silent as they pounded along the floor boards. At least death meant one good thing...Silence. She only seemed to make noise when she truly wanted to these days...Which...considering her residence, was very, very rarely. If she could live in the shadow of this horrid place then she would for as long as it would allow her to do so.

...Hopefully whoever was here wouldn't have to live the same way...

The mare came barreling around a corner only to come to a skidding halt and retreat back. They were still looking...Though they seemed to have lost track of their target. There was less fervor in the way they glided away from her. Perhaps with time they would forget whoever they had seen. Did they ever truly forget? What did they feel? Were they always in pain?

Right. This was not the time to ponder these things.

Once they were gone, the mare ventured down the hallway once again, quietly sticking her head in each doorway as she passed. If they lost track of their target in this hallway, they couldn't be far...

Finally, her bright red eyes spotted a slumped over form quivering in a corner. The mare blinked for a moment, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. He was kind of...cute. The way he hid, the obvious fear. He looked...gentle even. It made Kaja wonder just what had pulled him into this cursed place. Why had it welcomed him into it's nightmarish depths?

Taking one final look down the hallway, the ghost entered into the room, phasing through the door as she went, her entrance completely silent. She took a few steps in before finally speaking.

My, he had a pretty coloration...

"Sir...This is a dangerous place. You should not be here," she called out in a gentle, quiet, and yet urgent tone. She did not want to scare him any further but she was sure her...appearance would only make him more ill at ease. Perhaps her only saving grace was that she certainly looked as if she presented no threat...Especially in comparison to anything else he would see.

If the situation were not life or death, Kaja would not have been able to repress her giggle at the poor things reaction. His transformation into a wolf, while unexpected, was nothing new to her. She had seen Nyomi do the same thing on a handful of occasions. Whether or not she knew she saw her...Kaja just kept it to herself. However, what did elicit a shocked reaction was just how much he cowered for a predator.

The poor, gentle thing was terrified.

Kaja had always assumed that all wolves were strong, angry, and fierce like the ones she had encountered. Seeing him now shrinking as small as he could made her feel bad for him. He was afraid and rightfully so. This was not a place most living, and even the dead, wanted to venture into.

"I...My name is Kaja. I don't want to kill you...I'm not like the rest of them," her voice took on a wistful tone and she grew quiet for a time before shaking herself out of it, "I want to save you, to get you out of here before you become stuck like I am...But we need to move quickly and most importantly, quietly. Worse than the ghosts lurk in these halls..."

Despite the urgency in her voice, Kaja seemed rather calm. And she was. She had gone through this more than once with a wandering star.

"I..."

Kaja was caught off guard by his question. No one had ever paused to think about her when they were stuck in this hellish mansion...All they were ever concerned with was saving their own skin and getting away. None of them had ever paused to ask about her. Not even her name...She just always volunteered it for simplicity's sake.

Her mouth hung open as she contemplated what this meant. What a sweet, dear little wolf he was. More like a puppy, really. She was touched. It had been so, so long since somebody had been concerned about her. She wasn't even sure how long she'd been trapped in this mansion and until now, she had never questioned her situation or even really given it much thought.

"Yes. I cannot leave...She won't let me," but that did not mean that he had to suffer for her misfortune.

"But we can still get you out...None of them want you to leave, Altair," she paused on his name, savoring for a moment this blessedly normal social interaction called introduction, "We just have to be smarter."

The mare's eyes roamed the room looking desperately for anything that could be of use. The mares who lived here sometimes stored or lost useful items in the mansion.

Bright eyes landed upon the stub of a candle and she smiled. It would burn for just long enough...if they hurried.

"Look, in the corner, that candle. You have to get it lit and fast. We don't have much time," she ordered.

"I...I can't, I would only be putting you in danger" Kaja blurted out, quite caught off guard by the stallion's offer. She had not thought much of escape since she first became trapped in the manor...However long ago that had been. The thought that perhaps she could get out was thrilling but also upsetting and disappointing. She did not think it could happen. Kaja would never have a normal life again. She couldn't...

"Once that candle is lit," she changed the subject, whispering now, "it will keep the bad ghosts at bay. I can guide you out of here with out them bothering us but we must be quiet. If she hears us, we will both suffer, and unfortunately, she is very much alive and well," the ghost sighed, closing her eyes.

"You're going to have to trust me to guide you though. No matter what you hear, you have to listen only to my voice, okay?"

Altair asked a valid question. Just how did they get it lit? Hrm. If only she were more solid...Then she could be of more use.

...Well, wait a minute. The other ghosts could touch solid things. It had never occurred to her before that perhaps she could as well. She had never needed to. Most just made a blind run through the mansion but something told Kaja that Altair wouldn't be able to do that. He did not seem the type to..brave it out, as it were.

"Stay here," she ordered before slipping out through the wall. Somewhere around here there was a lit candle. There had to be. Nyomi sometimes left them around for whatever reason struck her fancy.

As she shifted through the halls, an invisible wisp of nothing, she tried to push his offer out of her mind. Haunt him? How could she? She didn't WANT to haunt...in a negative way...that was what hauntings were, right? Besides, it was crazy of him to offer. Didn't he know the trouble that would bring him? What mare would want a stallion who had a pathetic ghost tethered to him? She would only be a detriment to him.

Finally, she lit upon one of Nyomi's candles. She just had to focus, right? She just had to REALLY want it. She had to feel as much as these angry ghosts felt...Then she could do it. She could pick it up. The ghost mare scoped out the room, making sure she could not see anyone before she picked one up with her teeth and carefully made her way back into the room Altair was in.

"She would chase me," she announced as she set the candle down next to his unlit one. "Light it," she whispered more quietly this time. "We'll take the two of them just in case," pausing for a moment she shot a lingering glance at the stallion and bit her lip before looking away.

She simply couldn't.

Chewing on her lip once more, Kaja glanced over at Altair, eyes softening as she did. She wanted to leave...

The horrors of this place weighed heavy on her mind. She was beginning to forget what it was like outside away from the blood, the screaming, the crying...The darkness that was blacker than black. Her wings sank at the thought of remaining her for the rest of her eternity and her head lowered...It was her fate. She was resigned to it.

"I...I don't really know," she admitted, defeat taking over her tone,"Balance, I think...I heard her talking about the balance of...something...Once someone is here, they are here to stay...It is unheard of for stars to leave, especially," her voice wavered and she choked back her pain, "ghosts."

When he picked up the candle, the fear in his eyes reflected and this gave her the courage she had formerly found. Kaja stood up straight once more and neatly tucked in her wings. Her head held high, she thought about the best way to get him out of the mansion.

"Just follow me and do not drop your candle...If the lights go out the other...spirits will be able to find you. I will carry one too just in case. We can relight...But we need to move slowly enough so as not to kill the flames...We have to stay calm. Do you understand me, Altair?"

Without waiting for a response, she dug deep down into herself for the raw emotion it would take to carry the candle long enough to save him. She tried to think of the loss of her family but that had happened so long ago it only left a dull ache that was scabbing over. She thought about her fear of the Mansion but it did not help.

After a moment, she thought about her new found anger. Anger at being trapped in a hell she did not deserve. Anger at living under the thumb of a deranged so called priestess, the daughter of Kyouka Kuze, one of the crazy mares she blamed for the existence of this hell in the first place.

The anger burned inside of her belly and she picked up the candle and lead the way out the door. Kaja was determined to save a life this day.