Aktarin(mentioned)

I walked at their sides today, from our burning and broken forests of Ashenvale to the place they will stay and fight from. Navires told me it was good to see me, she smiled and acted as if it was true, but I did not forget her last words to me. Child, gifted and only allowed to stay because of my gifts. She is not pleased to see me, not the me that is anything other than these robes I wear.

I walked beside Aquanus who said not one word to me. Beside Soto who called me friend but did not come see me the long days I was at the Temple. I walked beside these people that call me sister but do not see beyond the gifts that Elune gave me.

 The Golden Hall is silent save for the popping and crackling of the fire in the hearth. Aurry sits, staring at the fire, her eyes puffy from lack of sleep and likely crying. She sits perfectly still, the only movement coming from her breathing and the occasional blink of her weary eyes but her mind is a torrent of thoughts. She sighs, finally lowering her eyes from the dancing flames to look down at her hands. The glow there is evidently in the firelight and Aurry plays with it. Drawing in more power to brighten it, then releasing the magic into the air to soften it. It's as easy, as second nature as breathing is to her.

 The area is secluded, quiet and peaceful with only the trees and nature to keep her company. Aurry is fine with this right now, she's looking for the peace, looking for the silence to try and calm nerves that seem to be constantly on edge. This place is special, a spot she had found and never shared with anyone save her mounts. It was her special place.

Here, for a little bit, she could stand in her own skin and be okay with it. She had come here so many times and had found that she never got disturbed by a soul. Sometimes it seemed as if Elune had carved this little lake out just for her and Aurry was thankful for it.

Tamlin told me I shouldn't be around him anymore but he didn't really explain why. He went on about honor and him being less than me. Doesn't he know by now I don't look at things the way the others do? I didn't understand at all why he thought my honor would be sullied by staying around him until Glaneon explained it.

Does it really matter what people might think? They are wrong about it, so why worry? I guess I can understand why he's worried about the Warden thinking we are more then friends since he loves her so and wouldn't want her to think it. It's everyone else that shouldn't matter. I don't care what they think because he's my friend and that is more important to me. I sent the Warden a letter to tell her it's nothing more then friends.

“Why are you being punished Aurry?”

“Because I did it wrong.”

“You are a child, albeit one with powers beyond her years. I would see you leave the Order.”

“Why are you being punished Aurry?”

“I'm a child.”

The candle light flickers against the walls. How are they not burned out yet? She doesn't recall anyone walking in, but they must have to replace the candles and remove her waste. When was the last time she had eaten?

The first day wasn't so bad. Aurry had a hard time sitting though at first, something in her was wound up and demanded to be released. Pacing didn't get rid of that, so she tried the form the Warden had taught her. Although there wasn't a lot of room, she managed to do most of it and it seemed to help her calm down at least enough to sit still.

Her mind though refused to focus at first. It was too full of things that had happened recently to settle enough to let Aurry start on what had directly lead her to be in isolation. The conversations with various people about she had done wrong and their recommendations, hearing Navires say out loud the thing Aurry always feared was true, and more confusing, the gentleness she thinks she had seen for a brief moment in the Warden and then more so in Soto.

It was a simple glance and a newly remembered memory that lead Aurry to be sitting with an older Sentinel, her eyes lowered after having told her story.

“You have always lead with your heart, child. Even the time you tried to run away and I found you.” The woman sighs. “I would say the first thing you need to learn is how to listen.”

At Aurry's frown, the Sentinel raises a hand to stop the much younger woman from talking. “No, Aurorana, honestly listen. I have watched you long enough in your life to know you hear the bad first and then block out the good. Take your conversation with the Shan Navires. All you heard was the negative. You did not hear how she is impressed with your abilities at all.”

“He sent a letter two weeks before he did anything.”

Soto sits back again in her chair, pulling herself up more straightly and taking on a sterner expression. “I know he did but the problem is that before he even sent that letter.. he had his orders.”

“No.. I mean two months... he sent it two months before.” Aurry clarifies, not wanting to get Tamlin into any more trouble then he already is.

“Aurry, when you have a moment, I would like to speak with you.”

Aurry had known this would happen. It didn't take a genius to know that the tanking Priestess of the Nightsabres would want to lecture her as well. She had been dreading it, but she didn't want that to show.

Aurry nods and looks at Tamlin, whom she had been talking to when the dreaded pronouncement had been made. “I'll be back,” she promises and turns to go with Soto, even though the older women offers to let Aurry finish her business with Tamlin. Better to get the lecture over with. She follows Soto to the war room, noticing that the Priestess keeps herself slightly in front of Aurry. She gets what that means and doesn't mind it, she's always known her place.

Aurry pulls the cloak tighter about her shoulders and raises the hood to shield her ears and face from the wind. She wouldn't mind the cold so much if the breeze didn't make it so much worse. She turns so it hits the side of her, hoping to stop the stinging in her eyes and trying to deny even to herself that the tears in them are from anything emotional.

She's tired of crying. Even more than that, she's tired of the constant bombardment of emotions she seems to go through. She's beyond ready to stop being a silly girl but try as she might, she can't seem to push back all the nagging doubts and fears she has.