Welcome to Gaia! ::

She sips at her tea and gives him a strange look. "I just woke up..." she complains with a yawn, but her argument isn't a strong one and she is soon curled up beside the fire with her stomach full and warm. Somewhere along the line Kero had managed to coax her into eating a piece of toast... then two... and finally a few more.

So when he finds the remains of a tattered black rose carefully tucked into a small box, he secrets it in the back of one of the cupboards. He was fairly certain Bez wasn't going to be showing his face any time soon and doubted they'd be receiving anymore such trinkets. Therefore it was a precious treasure. He didn't want to throw it away, but neither did he want it lying about in the open where Ai would see it and slip back into the morose state she was finally climbing out of.

A familiar rapping on the door soon reminds him that Corby was due for a lesson. He is halfway to the door when it opens quietly and the neko peeks inside.

"Anyone home... man, this place is a quiet as a morgue. Oh..." he stammers seeing Ai curled up before the fire. "Sorry, didn't mean to be so noisy." He lets himself in and hands Kero a basket sent down by Shar.

"Lady Shar says that she heard you and Lady Ai tied one on last night, so she sent down some of her restorative."

Kero wrinkles his nose and carries it into the kitchen. "Like we'd touch that stuff. Have you ever tasted it... it's awful."

Corby chuckles softly, giving the sleeping Ai a curious glance as he follows him through to the kitchen. "I've had it a time or two and have to agree with that assessment. So, where are we going to practice if she's in there?"

Kero thinks for a bit then nods to the garden door. "Outside, I guess. How cold is it? Am I going to need Thyrion?"

The neko shrugs. "I needed a sweater under my robes, so maybe... but if we sit in the sun, we should warm up a bit. Winter is coming... just taking it's sweet time. Thank heavens."

"Not much... actually. I haven't been in any shape to do so." sighs the feline acolyte with feeling. Kero, ever the teacher, gives him a stern look so he explains.

"We've been swamped with catastrophies... one right after the other up on the hill. Kind of keeps a cat on his toes, if ye know what I mean." says the neko softly finding a comfortable perch and curling up. He eyes Kero with a twisted troubled smile. "That last one came damn close to frying me tail off.... That damn book... actually the book overlooked me because I ducked under the altar for safety and it kept probing beyond where it was for it's prey... so I honestly can't say it was the book's fault... well, I can, but the book didn't hurt me... can't say the same thing for Lathander's minion though.

"Scary in a beautiful way.. if you catch my drift. I saw and heard everything from where I was hiding... well, saw it all until my eyes rebelled and everything went dark. But I don't blame the minion, I know it wasn't out to hurt me in particular... It had something else in it's sight. A creature that pure and that holy wouldn't harm anyone intentionally... I knew this and that's why I couldn't look away... Someone had to bear witness to it's actions. Master Mica was in no condition to do so. He was pouring all his efforts into containing that foul tome... and most of the other brothers had either fled or were already down. I had to watch even when I realized that I'd probably not look at another thing in my life. I thought I saw your brother there with it... but it might have been a trick of light. I mean there was just so much light. It was like sitting in the middle of a sun... and it kept getting hotter and brighter, until something snapped and the lights went out and I suddenly felt as cold as ice. Couldn't see a thing and half me tail was singed raw. Someone found me and brought me to the clinic. Shar was afraid at first that I was going to be permanently blinded but by nightfall I seeing shadows. But it really was kind of touch and go and I only got my sight back last night sometime... Went to bed with vision so blurred it made me sick to look at anything and woke up this morning fine as rain... so I haven't been doing much of anything but a lot of thinking over the last few days."

Corby sighs and shakes his head. "It was downright scary, I mean think about it... being blind for the next fifty to sixty years... My kind is decidedly long lived. I might be ancient in terms of the humans in this village, but I'm barely pass middle age for my race."

He shudders dramatically then give Kero a calculated look. "And I suspect iffin I was, someone around here would be feeling downright miserable as well. There was something awfully familiar about the music that creature sang... it spoke to me, just like the music Talesian used to play when he didn't know we were listening. So tell me the truth now... I haven't been here all that long, only a few months... but people keep telling me that Tam and Ai are never seen in the same place together... I was a student of his for ages. He picked Chrys and I up out of the gutter in our teens and I'd say I'd know him pretty well by now... no matter what the shape he walked in. He's a shifter... that I know, but she's a female and he's..." Corby sighs again heavily and shakes his head.

"There is something odd about that lady cat... something I can't quite put me finger on... She has an air of familiarity and knows me a bit too well fer someone who's supposedly only known me for such a short period of time. He and she, they're one and the same... aren't they... and that creature was either his teacher or someone he knew... someone he's learned with... How? Why?"

(yeah, I know it's long... but we've not been working too well with this of late so I wanted to move the story on a bit... wink )

The neko shrugs and pulls up his pipe from it's pouch. "You know... I half expected you to say something of the kind... You are very loyal, Kero, and I'm grateful he has you around to look after him. Chrys and I always did worry about him, even when we had no idea who or what this creature was that bought us so many meals, just to make certain we got something to eat. He needs a keeper, he does... as he rarely looks after himself. He's usually too busy looking after someone else. But do me a favor if you will... put a bug in his ear. Even if my observations are not true. He's walking a rather thin line these days. If he is trying to keep certain things a secret, he's got too many loose ends out there floating about. I'd talk to him, myself, but he's never around to speak to... and I'd be a fool to call him out, iffin he is walking around in the guise of the lioness. I mean... what if it isn't him?" Corby shudders dramatically and grins from ear to ear.

"She's beautiful and deadly... I've seen her teeth. I may be a cat and insatiably curious, but I"m no fool. Besides a smart male never insults a lady. Anyway... shall we begin. I warn ye though... I'm truly rusty. I kept telling Shar I could play with my eyes closed so why shouldn't I be able to play iffin I was blind, but she hid my pipe, telling me I needed to rest."

Suddenly Corby grins at him like a maniac. "Gotcha... admit it... I asked ye to talk to Tam and ye said ye'd talk to her... Kero, Ye just been outfoxed by a master... Man, Tam's lessons on interrogation surely do come in handy from time to time... yep they do." He chuckles softly and reaching over pats the lion on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but let him/her know that I know... okay?"

The neko nervously gathers up his things and heads for the garden gate. "Didn't mean to upset you, but I had to know... Too much has happened of late and well... I care about him. I've known him far longer than you have, Kerobian, and my relationship to him was much the same... only I was far older when I came into his life. I won't belittle what you have by saying it was the same between us... It wasn't by a long shot. He cared for us, but he loves you... he raised you. It's different. But I do care and I don't like being left in the dark. Let him know this, please. And calm down for heaven's sake! By the light of Lathander, yer throwing off sparks."

He ducks out the gate and heads back up the hill, softly whistling a familiar ditty, one Talesian often hummed when he acomplished something he set out to do was feeling pretty smug with himself.