When Silence is Golden
7th of January 2007 A.D.
Looking over Lily, a terrible thought lingers in the back of your mind:
Wouldn't it just be perfect for the enemy if I cleared Summer of influence and handed a charm to the Summer Lady making her immune to possession and therefore beyond suspicion? Deep within something bristled at the idea, an iron wind howling in protest as it grinds across frozen bones. As she opened her crowned eye liminal fire burned within a name carved above a brazen throne, flaring as she strained to see.
"Who bears the mark and the touch of He Who Walks Beside?"
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 14/15 (Crown Question)
Null, not a sound, not even a word in the mind, more the feeling of grabbing at a banister in the dark and finding it not there at all, but rather than displeasure at the feeling you realize then, under the eyes of Queen, Lady and Seer that you had found a trick to play with the crown of eyes you bear, a game of might-have-beens. When bent upon improper focus it will be silent, but silence itself can be an answer and one that does not cast a thread into the ether for other eyes to see.
"Thank you for seeing me away from the strictures of the court Majesty..." you begin the customary genuflections in the direction of formality as you consider this most recent discovery. You have to know what you are looking for in order for its absence to be meaningful. Still anything that allows a subtler use of power when secrecy is key is most helpful.
"It gladdens my heart to see you back hale in body and spirit." As you turn to Lily at last you turn up the wattage on the smile. "The foe you faced is one that too often leaves one a choice a cup of blood and one of tears. Verily this makes the gift I had mean to give you all the more befitting of the occasion."
The little owl at the end of its twined chain bounces, almost as though it means to take flight. "This is a ward from intrusion and compulsion and as much as my arts could manage it, from the touch of iron."
Lost 2 Essence (ATB and Etiquette Excelency) -> Now at 12/15
At these words the Archive raises a pale, almost invisible eyebrow, having perhaps sensed that you'd meant to say 'poor' before arts before deciding that was a bit
too much of a humble-brag even for this occasion, but most of your attention isn't on her, it's on Lilly already reaching for the chain, on Titania whose expression twists as though she'd just bitten into a crabapple."Such generosity truly places you among the company of thine kin," she offers, a compliment that one can take as backhanded as one wishes.
The four of you abide in awkward silence for a few seconds, Lily with hand outstretched, fingers slack as her thoughts catch up with the unadulterated want, no need, burning bright behind the windows of her eyes.
"I can attest to the effectiveness of that talisman and to its need," the Archive continues gravely, not quite saying that it had been her idea, but implying it enough as to make it awkward to ask outright. "Such a foe will not be long deterred by the loss of its pawns, no more than a hungry wolf would be at waving a burning branch in its face."
The moment stretches like the long shadows of a summer afternoon then the Queen of Summer sighs, a wearier sound you have never heard from one of the ever-young Children of Danu. "The gift is meant for you Lily, to take or to refuse. There is honor in either."
"I shall treasure thine words of wisdom Majesty," comes the reply, near-breathless in its speaking, then her words slow, almost seeming to stumble. "Though I am young yet and not so arrogant as to think I have learned wandering from the fields of Mu to the forests of California, truly the Iron Duke spoke: Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."
As a battle in truth is the mien of Titania in that moment, as grim and painful as any fought with pike and shot, she knows the need, she sees the sense, for hers is the wisdom of the heart and yet she in this she sees the loss of Aurora all over again. In her place now and forever shall stand a familiar stranger. She does not hate you or the Archive for bringing this to her door, but oh how a part of her wishes it could.
All the while Lilly herself had been pondering what she can offer in exchange for such a gift. When at last she speaks it leaves you quite conflicted about what to choose.
Choose One
[] A Helping Hand: Either Lilly herself or Fix will come to your aid in a battle of your choosing, a healer without peer or the sword of Midsummer in the mortal realms
[] Tomes of Ancient Wisdom: Many are the magicians, wise and foolish both who have tarried on the green hills of ever summer, some to leave behind tomes and scrolls, riddles and and recitations. Books comprising a total of Ten (10) dots in any of the following Numia
-[] Conjuration
-[] Conveyance
-[] Enchantment
-[] Fascination
-[] Healing
-[] Mana Manipulation
-[] Oneiromancy
-[] Scrying
-[] Shapeshifting
-[] Summoning, Binding, and Warding
-[] Weather Control
[] A Glimpse of Silver: Many centuries ago Talhaearn Father of the Muse came to Avalon, grown weary of his travels and of the light of mortal realms as all men come to be in the twilight of their years. Then at the last he sang of the Moon-egg hidden under the sea, swallowed whole by a great serpent that slumbers deed, an old song, a pure song and the Children of Danu wept for the music was Truer than True and it reminded them of much that had they had wished themselves to forget. In the passing of years many did forget but the Lady-Who-Was wrote the song down on leaf of imperishable gold before her tears could wash it away. These pages Lilly would share with you.
OOC: Nemesis did try to infect Lilly, through a combination of its host bleeding all over her and poisonous words spoken for only her to hear, but she made her willpower rolls, both of them so she was not infected and obviously not a valid target for a question about Nemesis. Since it was a null answer there was nothing for either Titania or the Archive to see. 
