[Flashback] Morals of the sinful compass

[Voreasos Alisier]

He just gave her a smile, it was more of a sad type like how a child hurt there self after being told not to do something. He might had been a child but he did not act like one.

"I can't let you have that knife so lets not try for that. I can walk away now and just wait for you to die but I am not going to hurt you nor let you hurt me. But do not think I can't kill you, My kind can kill the second we are born and I do not wish to stain my hands with your blood."

His voice did not hold the same tone as before, he did mean every word of what he said and would kill her if he had to. He did not move as she moved her hand outward. He was ready for her to attack, his fangs pressing out of his lips ready to bite her flesh. Even with the dagger behind him he could fight her.

"Now what will you do now?"

[Colombina]

The girl huffed a humorless laugh as Voreasos's fangs extended.
"All the same I see," she observed bitterly.

Jenelle retreated to the stalagmite that tethered her, as if it would defend her in a pinch. She morosely sat down, leaning her tired body against it.
Her face broke into a grim smile, "So you're worried about staining your hands. Guilt is not as noble as compassion, but it's something."
She didn't expect a seven-year-old to see the difference. Most children that age still operated on a rewards system instead of an internalized moral compass.

"Now, I wait and wonder if things get worse. The same thing I have done every awful day in this gloomy place."

She breathed deeply and imagined warm days on her family's land. Where the ground was soft and the light changed in the sky. Sky, she fed her longing for it with memorized images. She never knew she would regret not looking at it more. Everyday had seemed owed to her. They were comfortable, spoiled even, unlike those people on the brittle edge of the world.

[Voreasos Alisier]

Vor just took to the ground watching her. He did not really say anything and just stayed content. He knew he was still young and still learning things and knew that he did not know a lot of things but he was not stupid by any means.

He wanted to help her yet he could not in the end, she would not take the help from him and really he could not blame her for his race did steal her away and most likly raped her to try to get her to give birth but really did it matter in the end of things?

Would she feel differently he had to wonder if he was older? He knew there was a high chance her sister was here as they found things like that. Some Webs enjoyed making the whole family be here for it killed some form of hope amoung them even if she was young.

"What was her name....your sister..." He said at last, not really sure how long passed nor really cared.

[Colombina]

"Julia," came a breath from the gloom.
"Elder than her is Jameth, then Jaden, then Jerem then me."
The names were like prayers, softly and longingly spoken.
"My parents found something amusing about the letter 'J' I suppose."

She began to plait her hair, a nervous habit from childhood that had never left her.
"In the nest, at first we talked about our families back home, but the longer we stayed, the sadder it made us, describing something lost."
Her hands stopped weaving her hair into braids, "Towards the end, girls just stop talking. They sit and stare, like they're watching their own pyre."

The only thing Jenelle had anymore was time. She closed her eyes against the gloom and stretched her legs. One heel barely glanced the water.
"Some girls came willingly. They thought the Symenestra was mysterious and reformed. Like an actual affection could exist. Their lives must have been so dry to look for love in such a black race."
She had a target for her conversation, but the content would have been the same no matter who sat in the cavern with her.
Arcing her neck back she observed, "Even if you weren't lying. I don't see how a little Symenestra could get me out of here."

[Voreasos Alisier]

He just let her talk, let her words fill the empty quietness that laid before them. He learn of her family, even made note of them. It was kinda sad to hear it on how she talked. He really did not stay in that area for any reason yet maybe he would try to be a healer there.

"I am not sure yet....Symenestra's can carry more then what we look like if done right, I could get another from my Web who can also do the task but...I fear you will never be happy in theses walls..."

His voice was sad, for he was sad as the thought slowly warped around him that she might die here and he would be powerless to do anything to save her.

Split blood cries out to Viratas. It speaks of life and death. It sings of sins and blessings. Every drop is precious, but not all cries are holy. He thought after a bit, the message ringing loud in his mind before closed his eyes to stop an tear from rolling down his face.

"Lord Viratas...Please give me a sign...Please don't let her blood drip and let the cry be unholy..." He said in symenos almost pleading for Viratas to offer some form of help in his time of need. His hands in formed in balls of fist, his small black nails not strong enough for combat but sharp enough cutting into his flesh letting blood drip down to the ground.

[Colombina]

"I am not sure..."

Jenelle's head lifted towards his voice and she believed she heard true things in it. Foolish as the other girls, she was allowing hope to creep in with a Symenestran shell. She gripped her fingers, twisting them until she felt physical discomfort that equaled her mental pain.

"If I will not be happy in these walls, then get me out of these walls. Bring me help." She answered slowly.
As Voreasos began to pray she murmured sympathetically, "So young and already learning the great disappointment of life: having all the will but lacking the power."
Had the distance between them been shorter she would have stroked his head, soothing him the way she would her little brothers.

Voreasos petitioned his god, asking for signs and wonders. After his prayer rose to the god, there was silence. A drop of the Symenestra's blood fell on the stone, an unwitting offering. Beside Voreasos, the calm water began to stir, as if brushed by a hand unseen.

When the Symenestra scrambled to see what moved in the water, he could make out the shape of a face. It seemed to be rising from the deep but was blurred by the churned water. If he waited, the water would turn smooth and glassy again.

Then the pool became mirror flat, a bright visage painted on its surface.

It was his face. Voreasos had come looking for a miracle and found only his reflection. But perhaps that was the miracle. Was Viratas listening more closely than Voreasos expected?

[Voreasos Alisier]

Voreasos did not say a word to her as he stared into the water. It was to flat even here and it was to bright of his face. A reflection should never be like this and he knew this fact as it was not like this when he looked at the water before this chaos came here.

He should had been fearful of calling forth Lord Viratas for help, not even the more holy types called out his name often but he never heard of Him coming to anyones aid. Was this a sign of something that he would regret or was it just that Viratas was watching him more closely then others and if so why was that? He had more questions then answers it seemed but only one way to find out if it was Him or just his mind playing ticks on him.

"Lord Viratas...?" He asked rather unsure and it showed in his voice but he still bowed his head towards the reflection out of respect. Maybe the answers he was looking for was in him or this was a test of some sorts but he was still lost and more and more questions just came up from the depth of his mind and heart as sands of time passed along.

He never felt so unsure in his life as he stayed there, thinking of things he never thought of before. He was tired of being small and weak. He was tired of being pushed around or over looked when he voiced his views. Maybe it was fruitless but he would not give in to what he felt was wrong.

Was this the feeling of being hopeless? What could he do to save her? He could not just let her walk free as she would bring others and that would form a war even if she did not bring anyone it would still be a large risk. Maybe this is what it meant to be in a rock and hard place meant.

[Colombina]

Voreasos's sudden interest in the water captured Jenelle's attention. She stirred from where she sat, and tried to creep near the water's edge. The leather cord holding her whimpered as she strained against it.

She could not reach him, but she could see the water. Her long hair was falling forward, its ends making design in the water. She blinked and stared, trying to will more light into the cavern.

"It just looks like your reflection," she laughed high and nervous, "I thought you had seen something there. Like an answer."

She raked her hand across the water, blurring the visage.
"Perhaps, it is answer enough, though." The girl was crawling back in retreat, "You."

Half blind, she stared through the murk, straight at Voreasos. As an adult, memory of her expression would still make his spine straighten. It was a challenge for something beyond belief, it was a challenge to faith, to action.

"Voreasos," her voice had a subtle layer of a timbre not fully her own, like another mimicked in a whisper while she talked "Now, what are you ready to do?"

[Voreasos Alisier]

He knew what he had to do. He knew what it would mean and risk. Yet it was the right thing in the end and he prayed that the gods would keep him safe from what he was about to do.

He stood slowly making his way to her, the knife in his hand. "I hope the gods will keep me safe but I am going to let you go. We will leave together and I will take you to the watch tower myself. I can only pray you will not send work to attack my home but if you do then I am sorry that it came to it. I will deal with my race and deal with the fact I am breaking more then one rule and vow here."

His voice was firm, stronger with each word as he used the knife cutting into the cord until it broke free and he used it like a leash and putting the slim knife back on the ground. "I can carry your weight but it will be slow movements but I know of a exit that my Web uses." He said as he moved to the wall waiting for her to get on his back.

She did not weigh much but it would still hurt and be painful to get her out of here. He could not risk him leaving and another coming before he got back and her getting raped or killed on his hands. It would be worse then killing her himself.

[Colombina]

It was impossible. She had come to believe her cards dealt and pressed firmly on the table. There pain, there nothingness and there death, implacable and dreadful has a staring skull.

Jenelle began to shudder and cry, finding new tears.
"My god, my god," she repeated in a feverish happiness as the little Symenestra began to cut her loose. When free, her weak and dizzy gait looked like dancing as she followed after the Symenestra.

Warm arms clasped around Voreasos when bid. She was so thin, her limbs weighing less than he would have guessed. In some mother tongue he couldn't understand, she began to pray. She gasped in surprise as the downward press of gravity gave way and she was clinging to the wiry Symenestra.

Sprawled so, Voreasos could carry more than standing, but the burden was still hovering between discomfort and pain. A steady pull against his shoulder was growing with each second and there was a burning between his ribs.
The ground was nearing, stinging sweat was pouring into his eyes and the girl's breathing was frantic as she sensed the flux of his strength.

"Please, a little further. I will let go when I think I can land."