The bell tolled the midnight hour as Emalia slipped from her room in the Spire of Morning Temple. She looked up and down the hall, hoping that outside the very, very, very early risers, Colin would not see her or follow her. She was hoping to be able to slip out beneath the stars and into Ardeep to have but a moment alone, but as she slid down the stairs, she caught sight of a familiar figure.
The man stood there, much as he did earlier, looking as though he was ready to do more damage. Emalia hesitated, unsure of whether she should turn around, when the man noticed her. Too late to run. Emalia descended the rest of the stairs - oddly struck by just how many people were still awake within the temple. She approached the figure, her hands clasped in front of her, as the man shouted out his desire to find "faithful." "I heard you earlier," Emalia began, hoping to determine what this man might be doing here, moreover, hoping to determine whether or not she had even heard his earlier display correctly, "how can you hope to persuade by being so violent?" "Who are you.""I believe I might be one of which you spoke earlier, but I wouldn't dare act the way you did to prove it." Emalia watched the figure with a calm reserve that would have, perhaps, made her father proud.
They spoke a bit, all the while Emalia continued to look over her shoulder. That she should be worried so deeply on whether Colin would come down the stairs actually irritated her. He wasn't her keeper, he shouldn't be so concerned. Her attention went to the now revealed face of the man calling himself Xarkuss. Eyes like a snake, though they gave her no fear. If one could look upon Grobnak and be kind, a bescarred man would be an easy task. It wasn't until she perceived his hands moving to where he might have weapons, that she backed away.
Emalia had barely mentioned Nephesh, and the fact that the boy was also a faithful, when Colin's voice came floating down the stairs, "Emalia... what are you doing?"
Colin's wary gaze set Emalia off inside. He was not her keeper! "I'm speaking with a person I've recently met."
As they all stood there, Colin wrapped in a warped sense of cuckoldry, Xarkuss being subjected to this show of brute jealousy, Emalia's eyes grew darker. Xarkuss soon excused himself, and when Colin finally decided it was time to eat, Emalia left him standing with a view of her door in his face.
Emalia had not time to read the note she had slipped into her robe from Xarkuss' hand, before a gentle knock cut across the silence of her room. "Who is it and what do you want." She said, knowing full well all aspects and answers to her question.
"You're upset with me, aren't you?" Colin asked when he had been given permission to enter. It was a foolish question and it sent Emalia reeling.
"Colin, I think you should leave. I don't mean this room, I mean this temple."
It took little time for Colin to admit just how jealous he was. And not much longer after that for him to plead his case for staying. Before she could truly go into her reasons for irritation, yet another knock came into the room. The small halfling boy, Nephesh, walked in and immediately, Colin knelt down, offering apologies to him.
It was irritating, yet Emalia couldn't help but admire the desire for this man to win back her good graces. Both Nephesh and Colin reconciled some of their differences, when both Colin and Emalia heard the voice. Emalia knew nothing else but that she had to go to the mountains. Where, why, she didn't know. But they had to go. They had to go - now.
Nephesh could barely slow her for the ritual of greeting the newly risen day, and Colin could barely have it sensical for her to gather provisions.
The sun rose, and Emalia's thanks were given to Lathander. Without knowing where Tamilyn had disappeared to, knowing that they would need to leave very soon, it was decided to leave a note for Tamilyn within the temple. The note... Emalia went to her room, making certain to use packing as an excuse, and pulled the note from her robe that she had been given earlier. "Midnight..." Emalia read.
It couldn't be done. The voice of The Apprentice himself had urged her to the mountains, they had to leave today. She glanced at the note again, the parchment suddenly blank and devoid of any form of ink. Something here was not what it should be.
