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[Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 2:14 am
by Charity Valentin
6th Vortas, 2709
EAST GARDENS | FIRST BREAK
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T​​​​Two weeks.
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​​Two weeks since her father had shown her just how seriously he took her disobedience.
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​​Two weeks since she’d told Rhys Valentin she could no longer see him anymore. Could no longer study with him. Could no longer even speak to him.
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​​Two long clocking weeks since Damen D’Arthe had broken two hearts.
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​​Charity sat in the over run gnarled mess of the East Garden, a far cry from its glamorous twin, vines crawling up twisted trees, huge stone statues cracked with age and covered in moss, and wild bushes and brambles everywhere. The broken stone seat the teenager leaned back against was cold, and snow dusted thickly over the wretched place, echoing the frozen expanse of her heart. The blonde hid in the garden, clearing a spot to sit on the icy ground, because she knew sitting here alone in the cold she ran little risk of running into the tall boy that had been her best friend for so many fleeting seasons and her crush for a whole lot longer.
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​​Plus, hidden in the East Garden, she could cry without being harassed by Diaxio. The hoxian was unashamedly pleased as punch that Rhys was finally out of the picture, more than sour that the blonde youth had stolen away her best friend. But things had changed, and Charity needed time. She didn’t want to clocking sneak into the tenth form dorm room to flutter her lashes at Benjamin Torres, she didn’t want to find a ‘new crush’ as the green eyed girl constantly said.
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​​She wanted her Rhys back.
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​​Hugging her knees, the Captains daughter cried quietly into her forest green skirt, ignoring the chill that burned her cheeks. She dug her fingers into her flesh through the material, as though the mild pain in her legs would help to drag the severe one from her chest. She felt hollow inside, and it was almost unbearable. Lifting her face, the youngster looked over at the snow dressed labrynth that dominated the garden. There were rumours that the curious rose maze was haunted by the ghost of a young student that had drowned in the pond at the centre, but frankly no one had actually seen the spirit. There were even more rumours that students who entered the maze didn’t come out.
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​​Maybe that was better than feeling like this.
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​​Wiping her eyes, Charity stood up, drawing her cloak tightly around her as she approached the arched entrance of the labyrinth. A sense of strange anxiety swept over the blonde, and her field flexed to test the waters. The teenager stepped closer, trying to lean to see around the first bend of the maze just inside the entrance. She swore there was a soft voice, just on the Vortas wind.
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​​ “Hello?” She called out softly, resting a hand on the frost trapped leaves beside her. An overwhelming urge to enter the maze all but pulled against her, and Charity took a hesitant step, breath pluming in a thick cloud against the cold weather.
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​​She could just get lost inside, and everything could just go away. The voice on the wind seemed to be calling her, comforting her. All it took is just stepping inside and following the leafy halls and turns.

It would be so much nicer, she just needed to come in.

Shivering against the feeling brushing at her field, the heartbroken youngster prepared to enter the rose bush maze.
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Re: [Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:54 pm
by Drezda Ecks
Vortas 6, 2709
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Perhaps for those who knew her, it would be odd to discover that Drezda Ecks was homesick. Then again, no one knew her well enough to know that it actually made perfect sense.

It was actually quite a painful thing for her to experience. She felt simultaneous longing and repugnance for her homeland. She missed the snow, the chill, the culture. She disliked the Anaxi and their way of life, the intermingling of humans and wicks and passives and galdori. The reasons why she wanted to return to Hox were clear, especially when there was snow dusting the ground. Not real snow but that bare, light fluttering that suggested the onset of winter. At home, it would be oh so different and she wanted to be back. It wouldn't even be that long. Soon, it would be Winter Break and she could return to her home Kingdom.

Except that she also didn't want to do so. She didn't want to go back to her family. She didn't want to be aware of the fact that despite her return home, there was a definite hole in the household, a sense that she could not fill it because she was not important enough, precious enough and never had been; that had been reserved for Tsia. There would be the awkwardness, the disapproval and the discomfort in her presence. A Perceptive for a daughter, really? What a shame when she had talent. Could she not have done something better like Static and perhaps have Perceptive as a sideline if she really felt it necessary? Was she planning on teaching like Freja Lux? No, of course not, because she didn't have anything particularly valuable to pass on, did she? Drezda thought that she actually made her parents nervous and Rozr... well, he was due for greater things as the heir and son, wasn't he?

No, she didn't want to go back to that. She didn't want them to frown at how much she'd allowed her hair to grow; it had now crept past her chin and was well on its way to her shoulders. It could be tied back, it was perfectly manageable but it made things that little bit easier here. At least, she could fit in somewhere, even if it was only a little.

So she was left with an uncomfortable tug-of-war within herself, elated at the season and the impending winter, miserable at the prospect at going home, longing for the familiar icy spaces. Needless to say, she wasn't in the mood for company, especially when so many of the Anaxi creatures around her were gratingly chipper. She didn't know if it was because she was Hox or because she was set apart in other ways, but she wondered if girls her age were meant to be giggly and bright all the time, flirting with boys, being coy when they chose. Was she older than she ought to be? Too mature? Perhaps but it couldn't be helped; she couldn't stoop to that behaviour, even if there was something alluring about it, something that always drew her attention.

So to avoid the other students, she had come to the East Garden. The Hoxian young woman had come to like the lonely places of Brunnhold: the forgotten, the lost, and the lachrymal spots. The East Garden was one such place. It was wild, unkempt and allowed to forge its own path, largely deserted by the students and faculty given that there were more pleasant places to traverse. It was a place with its superstitions, an area that crossed one that was supposedly haunted and apparently connected with disappearances. Drezda had never actually walked the labyrinth but she had been drawn to its entrance, whispering to voices on the breeze and having certain ideas of the place based on things in her own culture.

She wasn't sure that she was right or that the Anaxi made the same sort of connections but there was something about those wandering into it never walking out again that made her associate it with those places in Hox where individuals met with tragic 'accidents'. Sometimes keeping a particular outward face was too much strain, especially if inside you were collapsing. It was strangely overlooked, a shared secret that was never talked about but often those found dead in such places had died at their own hand. It was frequent for it to be skipped over or for some wildly implausible explanation to be given for the source of wounds that everyone would agree with rather than admit the glaring obvious.

She had a peculiar respect for such places, an odd kinship as she could understand the pressures of her society and the things that one could be pushed to if you weren't inwardly strong and dependable as your outward face suggested.

It was a place of enough superstition that she hadn't expected anyone to be there and yet as Drezda reached the entrance to the space, she heard the sound before she saw the source of it.

Sobs. Guttural, despairing, the tears of someone who didn't expect to be heard by anyone or didn't care. Drezda crept in cautiously, curious to see who was making the sound, careful not to make sounds of her own as she picked her way over the snowy ground, avoiding the crunchy powder.

The green of Brunnhold's uniform stood out starkly, similar to foliage and yet clearly out of place in that nature-ridden space. The blonde head resting against skirt-clad knees on the ground was also a clear indication that she'd found the source of the crying. The body was shaking, the sobs quite evident and Drezda hesitated. If she hung around then there was always the chance that the girl in question would discover her. Such a discovery might result in the expectation of comfort and that wasn't Drezda's strong suit, especially with strangers. It was probably one of those vapid creatures that giggled incessantly but was also oh so ready to sob over nothing. Such girls typically had a gaggle of sympathetically cooing sycophants ranged around them but this girl was curiously alone. If she left then she might not be seen and it wasn't as if she could enjoy the peace of the garden in any case; it was far from peaceful right now. She began to pick her way back the way she'd come, doing so backwards so she could keep an eye on the girl and bolt if needs be before she was spotted.

Progress was quite slow but it gave her ample opportunity to watch the figure, see her attention fix on the labyrinth and then rise. Expecting to be caught at any moment, Drezda tensed and then realised that the girl had other things on her mind. However, her approach towards the labyrinth made the Hoxian remain in place rather than bolting, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. Perhaps the girl was like her, just curious but given the previous sobbing, she wondered if she was witnessing something else. Was she going to go exploring in the labyrinth with the intention of-

The questioning greeting was soft but it carried, tear-laden yet familiar. The Hoxian didn't know why the voice was familiar or why she had such a horrible, horrible feeling about the way she was standing on the threshold of the labyrinth but she found herself striding forward, all pretence of stealth gone.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hardly the most sympathetic question and too close to a snap in any case to be comforting. If she'd been cut out for this, she might have asked if the girl was all right. However, she knew that such a question was stupid and pointless; she clearly wasn't all right or she wouldn't have been sitting in the snow bawling her eyes out.

Despite her small stature, she closed the distance between them quickly, moving to intercept the young woman's trajectory, even if that meant stepping into the first yard or so of the labyrinth so she could block her entrance. Drezda had the chance to view her properly for the first time, taking in the familiar pretty features even if they were blotched and tear-streaked. Yes, the voice had been known to her, of course it had: this was a classmate. She wasn't just in the same form as her but also shared classes with her. She was another Perceptive although perhaps she didn't have her heart in it as much as the Hoxian did; she seemed to recall that the young woman was involved in music.

"It's Charity, isn't it? Charity D'Arthe? What are you doing, mho?" she asked softly, unexpected tenderness creeping into her tone. With a sigh, she shifted her bag from her shoulder, rooting in a small pocket for the desired item. She plucked out a silken handkerchief, clean and simply designed, and offered it to her teary compatriot.

"Surely you know the rumours about this place. In your current state, it might not be wise to wander in there. Anything could happen to you," the ivory-skinned woman warned, a definite note of disapproval in her voice.

Re: [Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:27 am
by Charity Valentin
6th Vortas, 2709
EAST GARDENS | FIRST BREAK
"What do you think you're doing?"

The snap of a female voice just about caused Charity to jump out of her skin, turning her head sharply, hand still on the leafy entrance to catch the quickly approaching form of a Hoxian student. She stepped back slightly as the girl moved to block her entrance, standing inside the archway to do so. From the long overgrown corridor that led to the first turn in the maze, a soft breeze picked up, swirling around the green clad skirts of the brunette’s legs. For just a moment, the young Hoxian would feel the cool of winter on her skin, cooler than the light dusting of the Vortas snow should have provided.

“What…I…y-yes. Charity D’Arthe.” The teen stammered in a slight state of bewilderment, as though she had stepped out of some curious dream. The brunette before her was familiar, but Charity couldn’t place her face just yet, looking at the hedge wall over the girls shoulder before focusing on her face again with red rimmed violet eyes and a shake of her head.

“Sorry, I um…I wasn’t…I just…” The sudden tenderness from the Hoxian threw the young woman off guard, and she took the kerchief with a tearful huff.

“I thought I could hear someone in the labyrinth. A voice, just on the wind. It..it doesn’t matter.” Dabbing at her eyes, the student laughed a soft bitter laugh and shrugged.

“The rumours? Maybe? Maybe I wanted something to clocking well happen. Maybe it would feel better than how I feel now.” Swearing at herself, Charity turned away, moving to the broken stone seat again and dumping herself down with a thickly emotional sigh. Sniffing slightly, her violet and gold gaze looked down at the silk cloth, toying with a corner before looking at the other student. Her brow furrowed and she hiccuped a little as she tried to calm herself. The face now came with a name, tickling the back of her mind.

“Are—aren’t you Drezda? I think you’re in my Perceptive class? I have a…a friend I guess? She’s Hoxian too and said you’re here from Frecks..stat? Is that how you say it?” She recalled that Drezda wasn't nasty, but she wasn't exactly nice. She was....blunt. And she didn't waste her time on the 'rah-rah' girls as she would call them to Rhys.

Rhys.

Sucking her lip between her teeth, the teenager bit it and made a frustrated sound as tears burned again.

“Ahh, I am really sorry. I don’t usually see many people here in the East Garden, so I came here so I could hide because I really can’t deal with seeing hi—seeing someone. I just sat down, and then—!” She waved a hand at her face before dissolving a little into a fresh wave of tears, breath hitching and face blotch as she laughed again.

“See? Clocking pathetic.” Pressing the kerchief to her eyes, the tear stained Anaxi fought back the sob that wanted to drag itself free from her chest, taking a deep breath and focusing on her hands as she lowered them to her lap.

“I didn’t mean to go to the maze, it just felt…right. Do you feel it? Probably just my mind, and like you said, the rumours don’t help.” Her eyes wandered to the snow dusted rose maze, its archway almost ominous as it stood open and waiting, a hungry maw calling to the weak of heart and mind. Looking back at Dreza, Charity tilted her head slightly.

"What does mho mean? You called me that before. I've heard Xi say it before too, but, I honestly have never thought to ask." The blonde idly wished she knew another language, but her knowledge was limited to Estuan and a very tiny handful of Gioran. Mostly the words for love, mother, brother. Her tear swollen eyes drifted over the other teenager briefly, admiring the Hoxian's proud and beautiful frame in a rather analytical way. Xi had the same no nonsense type of personality, and held herself with the same sort of self-awareness that Drezda seemed to have.

It must have been a Hoxian thing.
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Re: [Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 9:32 am
by Drezda Ecks
Vortas 6, 2709
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She blocked Charity's path and the air around her stirred. There was the chillest breeze curling around her legs, more like her native winter than anything Anaxi, especially for this time of year. The lower limbs trembled with a shiver. She found herself pressing her legs closer together, tugging at her skirt to pull it closer around her.

The blonde before her was utterly bewildered to find a Hoxian in her path, the notion that there could be anyone else around obviously not having occurred to her. Perhaps it was even more surprising that the person before her knew her name, which in her current state was probably very unexpected. Maybe she'd felt utterly alone, without anyone to care for her, to understand her pain. She could have come to this type of place for the same reason that some in Hox did. That was a horrifying thought. What did she have to drive her to such things? No, it couldn't be that. Couldn't.

She gazed into the bloodshot gaze, wondering how long the girl had been crying and wondering what had made her do so with such obvious violence. She gazed into violet eyes, idly noting that the colour was pretty as Charity did her best to mop up her tears.

"A voice? I- Yes, I know what you mean. It's this place, I think," Drezda murmured, her lips pressing together in a disapproving line at the girl's next words. What was her problem? You didn't wish for that sort of thing if you were all right and even then you had to be seriously unwell in the head. There was a temptation to gather her field and use Perceptive Conversation to assess the girl more closely but that wasn't the sort of thing you could do without permission. Well, you could but it was very obvious and people didn't tend to like having their minds fiddled with.

Still, she was glad when the other turned away and headed back to the bench as it gave Drezda the excuse to follow her, something uncomfortable about standing in the entrance to the labyrinth although she couldn't pinpoint why. The Hoxian seated herself with care, tucking her cloak well under her because the ice-cold stone was hardly comfortable.

"Drezda, yes. Drezda Ecks. And we do have Perceptive classes together," she explained, hiding a wince as the girl tried and failed to pronounce her home university correctly. She sighed softly. "It's Frecksat," she corrected, head cocked to the side as she considered who would have told her about where she'd been before. Who would know? Which Hoxian? There were a number of them here after all; Brunnhold attracted everyone.

"When you say a Hoxian... friend, do you mean Diaxio Shiuni?" she questioned, eyes narrowing slightly. Yes, she'd seen Charity with her and she knew her fellow Hoxian in passing. She really, really hadn't liked her and she'd thought that the feeling was mutual. The girl was a Perceptive as well and with that artistic spirit that Drezda's parents had so disdained and been convinced she'd be tainted with if she went to Bastia instead of Anaxas to study. However, in spite of taking similar paths, Diaxio appeared more together than Drezda, the pair better able to assess each other's external masks than the Anaxi that surrounded them. Diaxio probably saw her weakness, the same weakness that had driven her here today.

The raven-haired girl tried to bury it although it was there briefly in her field, a sense of despair and frustration and self-hatred as she mentally compared herself to Charity's friend. Well, she doubted that friend was the right term at all. In much the same way that Drezda had little more than acquaintances, she doubted that friendship came readily to Diaxio either. However, while the girl was starting to cry again, she was hardly going to say that the other Hoxian was probably too much of a self-centred bitch to actually be her friend behind the mask.

"You're avoiding someone?" she questioned. Had the girl almost said "him"? Yes, it had sounded like that all right. She rarely paid attention to the men around her, especially those in her form because she had entered Brunnhold at a time when they were still immature idiots. Well, to be fair, they'd probably always be immature idiots although they might get a little better at hiding it. Who had she seen Charity with aside from Diaxio? If she was frank, she'd paid more attention to Charity than any men because she was in her Perceptive classes and was pretty but men...

"Wait... the tow- blond one? Tall boy? Um... what's his name? Valentine or... something? You were going to say that you were avoiding him so... is he the 'him'?" the young woman questioned, slight incredulity in her tone. Had he driven her to this rather ridiculous degree of despair? What on Vita could he have done to make her-

A crush? Something unrequited? They had spent a fair bit of time together, she supposed, she'd never paid much attention but... surely he wasn't worth this. It wasn't something she could understand. Infatuation, love... hell, friendship was beyond her purview so this was alien territory, incomprehensible.

"Mho is 'child'. It's Deftung but... maybe it sounds a little... condescending now that I've translated it. That wasn't what I meant by it, it was meant to be... comforting. I'm... not good at comforting," the young woman admitted a little awkwardly, gazing at the snow at her feet. She bit her lip lightly.

"But I understand why you came here. Well, no, I don't understand what drove you here but I understand why here,"' she clarified.

Re: [Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:12 pm
by Charity Valentin
6th Vortas, 2709
EAST GARDENS | FIRST BREAK
"That’s the one. Frecksat. Yes, do you know her? We’ve been hanging around since about third form and she is very…stand offish. More so lately, but I know her moods. She doesn’t do well with crying, so she’ll avoid me until I’m better.” The petite blonde looked over at the other student with a slight frown, feeling the strangeness in her field at the mention of Xi. Perhaps they didn’t get along, though to be fair, no one really got along with Drezda Ecks apparently. And Xi was pretty difficult herself.

It didn’t matter.

Trying to reign in the tears, Charity nodded at the acknowledgement she was avoiding someone. Her violet gaze turned back to the snow frosted ground with a wavering lip and a hitched breath, ignoring the tone in the other girls voice.

“Rhys Valentin, yes. Diaxio practically says it the same way. Yes him. The pale blonde said with another sob, burying her face in her hands and fighting to get control over herself. Saying his name out loud hurt, oh it ached so badly, and she could fix it by just ignoring her father but…

Flashes of the man caused the girl to shake her head and take a deep breath, fear and panic laced in the sorrow of her field. She pushed her hands through her hair, glancing again at Drezda, this time with a genuine short laugh.

“Child? Well, to be fair maybe it’s not wrong. I feel like a child at the moment, sobbing and wishing my life away because I can’t be with whom I choose. But…I just…why is it so hard to just stop caring? Why does it feel like I’ve lost a whole limb by loosing him” Toying with the kerchief, the blonde teenager glanced back at the maze, before sighing and looking down at her lap again.

“It feels like there’s no light on the other side, you know? Like, what is the point in this existence if I’m to be nothing more than my fathers property?” Shaking her head, Charity looked at Drezda with hesitation.

“I love Rhys, I know it. I’ve loved him for so long, that when we finally spoke it was like the world opened up. I thought I had found my…Gods my soulmate? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous out loud. Only my father doesn’t see him like that. He see’s a…he see’s a farmboy. Someone who isn’t good for the D’Arthe name. I thought that father was just being silly. You know, give him time to come around and all but then he—” Clipping her words short, the blonde glanced away again, wrapping her arms around herself and laughing softly, even though tears streaked her cheeks again.

She should tell everything, right now, save herself from her father. But, then, he was her father. Her mother had tried to save Mathias, and herself, and look where they both had ended up.

No, best to leave that particular piece of information out.

“It appears, I am not my own person. I will marry who he chooses, for the good of the family name and wealth. I am to be pleased about this whilst I continue to be a model student and galdor. I mustn’t complain and I certainly mustn’t ever, ever associate with Mister Rhys Valentin again. Lest I wish to shame father, and the family.” It was robotic, almost scripted, and the budding pianist stared into nothingness as she spoke quietly, the weight of helplessness heavy in her aura.
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Re: [Memory] The Secrets In The Garden

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 12:12 pm
by Drezda Ecks
Vortas 6, 2709
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Standoffish. That was definitely an accurate term to describe Diaxio although Drezda suspected that it was the kindest one that the blonde could think of that wasn't actually a lie. She wondered if others saw her the same way but then realised that they probably wouldn't use that word; there was no one to speak so kindly about her. But no, she imagined that the other Hoxian wouldn't do well with tears. Drezda certainly didn't do well with them but then the teen would have had a similar upbringing. Crying was... definitely not part of what their people classed as good emotional control although the young woman had had her fair share of it. She couldn't deal with it when she was the one experiencing it. It was worse when it was someone else although she wondered if similar methods could be used-

No, you couldn't do that to another person, couldn't inflict the sort of damage that she'd done to herself. She didn't think that anyone would find that sort of treatment comforting. She certainly didn't harm herself for the sake of comfort and it was that that Charity needed. Warmth and care and attention, not pain and blood and scars. The raven-haired teen certainly wasn't the best person to provide what the girl needed but she was the only one around, the only option.

By Bash, she was a shit option.

Still, feeling the disorder and agony in the other's field as she sobbed out Rhys' name, her feelings about the boy uncomfortably clear although she couldn't exactly understand it. She could understand attraction - that was something that she'd experienced directly - but he was a boy and so... she couldn't really grasp what might be appealing about him. Maybe Diaxio had other reasons to dislike him or show distaste towards him, something more personal but in Drezda's case, she just... couldn't see the reason for wanting to associate with the boy, with any men actually. The teenager just hated to deal with them honestly. Perhaps it was an age thing, a lack of maturity, but her male classmates seemed more concerned with trying to flirt rather than treating her like a person with thoughts and feelings. Although she suspected that most of those around her didn't think she had any of the latter.

Voicing her thoughts on the matter wouldn't help matters and the young blonde she was with certainly didn't need to know of her predilections; they weren't relevant in this situation, not at all. Of course, if she understood this very heterosexual thing then maybe she'd be able to sympathise more readily, to empathise properly. But she couldn't and she didn't have the answers that Charity sought.

"I didn't mean to suggest that you were a child, Charity. It's... meant to be an endearment although..." she trailed off, shaking her head. It didn't matter. "I... don't know why you feel that way, I'm not the best person to ask, I don't- it's not that I don't feel things obviously, I just... don't know how to deal with them. We aren't really meant to..." she trailed off with a shrug.

The truth was that the young woman didn't have any idea how to manage and cope with her own emotions, never mind anyone else's. She wasn't equipped to handle it or to help Charity to overcome what was obviously a very frightening medley of emotions. Based on what she could feel through the other's field, the girl was in a dark place but she'd guessed as much when she'd hovered at the entrance to the labyrinth, a certain intent in her form that the Hoxian hadn't wanted to witness.

Perhaps the girl was being dramatic - there would be other young men, surely? - but she still seemed to feel everything quite keenly. She was drowning in emotions; it was something that the foreigner could relate to quite easily. However, the rest of it was a bit... much. In truth, the raven-haired girl didn't know where to put herself, wondering why she had to be the one to deal with this? Why hadn't someone else happened along at the right moment? Why did she have to put up with all this love stuff?

Soulmates... it was a notion that made the Hoxian want to retreat, to shut her ears so that she wouldn't have to listen to any of it. Love was an odd thing for Drezda to consider. Technically, parents were meant to love their children although she had always felt that her own had failed to get the memorandum regarding it. Tsia... they'd shown more feeling towards her, enough in fact that it had bled through the stoicism that her people were famous for. Everyone must have known that the youngest girl-child was adored in a way that her older sister, the middle child, hadn't been. And Rhozdr was the heir, the only son so of course they oozed pride, which wasn't the same as love. Although her mother had done some truly magnificent artwork in his honour, largely inspired by him. That was probably love, yes. But her parents hadn't married for this so called love, the pair capable of a lukewarm civility but hardly displaying the attitudes that she'd encountered in songs and stories outside of her homeland. What did she have to base anything on? From what she could see, love appeared to be messy and impractical and... not something that she was ever likely to experience so... why even think about it?

But Charity was making her think, her discomfort evident in her field, as was the sharp edge of panic. Her posture stiffened, the teenager so rigid that a push might snap her in two, every cell to unyielding to bend. The only thing that would give her away - aside from her field of course - was the dart of onyx eyes, those of an animal seeking an escape route. She didn't want to hear about Rhys and him being Charity's soulmate but her gaze did slowly swivel to focus on the blonde when she talked about what was expected.

There was a cracking sound, like ice splitting and the Hoxian looked down in surprise as she realised that it had come from her knuckles, her hands clenched into such tight fists that the joints had popped. She made a conscious effort to unfurl them, resting one hand atop the other as she placed them in front of her skirt instead. There had been a brief flicker of pure rage in her field before she smothered it - the shock certainly helping there - but now it was quite placid, calm as if there had never been a ripple.

"You're not your own person... because you're a woman?" she asked, only a slight rise in intonation in the end showing that it was actually a question rather than a statement. "Why do they think they own us? Why do they think we're meant to be good and docile and obedient? We aren't animals, Charity. There's duty to your family and those around you and then there's... there's chroveshit!" she snapped out, a muscle twitching at the side of her mouth revealing her irritation.