Mature: Desert Moon

[Emora Deen]

Tenara stood up. The boys cowered back, but had no where to go. "You're a witch!" they yelled.

The girl blinked at him. A witch? What did that mean?

Since the boy couldn't push back and run away, he pushed forward. He shoved Tenara down again and took off running, leaving his friend behind. Tenara rolled on her side, her eyes slinging in his direction. The child lifted off his feet and slammed into the tree.

Philip screamed and ran away.

The boy yelped and pressed back into Vlad , dragging Tenara's attention to him. She huffed, shaking. Mommy didn't want her to do this. But, she couldn't help it. She couldn't stop. Tenara rolled the opposite direction and curled into a tight ball, covering her head.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sighed and cast a blood shield over both children. There was no need to conserve energy here, and it was the easiest way to ensure Tenara's episode didn't cause permanent damage. "Stay put," he told the boy coolly before walking to his daughter's side. "Look at me, Tenara," he said, touching her shoulder. "Take a breath."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara glanced to her father, cowering tighter. The light in her eyes grew brighter, causing the tears on her cheeks to glisten like pink diamonds.

"Monster," the boy still standing yelled. "Mommy! There's a monster!" Tenara turned her eyes on him, looking at him through his red shield.

"Monster! Mommy!"

Tenara sat up slowly, tilting her head at the boy. She turned her eyes to her father, confusion creasing her brow. Witch. Was a witch a monster? She was a monster? The fire in her eyes flickered and died like someone poured cold water over her. She glanced down at Izzy and gathered his little body in her hands. Tenara stood up, cast her father a sad look, and ran towards the far end of the palace gardens.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad shrugged, a nonverbal sigh, and walked to the boy who was lying beside the tree. He dropped the child's blood shield and knelt next to him, pulling him up into his arms. He could hear the child's pulse beating just fine. "Awake?" he asked the boy.

[Emora Deen]

The boy roused, blinked his eyes, and stared up at Vlad. He gasped, and tried to wiggle out of the vampire's arms. He was doing just fine from the looks of it. "I'm going to tell my mom," he barked. "I'm going to tell her about that witch. She's in trouble."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad gave him no reply as he felt the back of his head for bruises. God, he was getting way too accustomed to having a three year old. When he was fairly certain the kid wasn't concussed, he lifted him up and carried him to his friend. The other shield dropped, and he knelt to set the kid next to the other boy. "You can say what you like, but I want to talk to you for a second," he said to them candidly. "About monsters."

[Emora Deen]

The two boys looked at each other warily. One of them piped up, "What about monsters?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sighed, and clapped them both on the shoulder. "They're real. And they're ruthless. They don't try to befriend lizards, or run away crying when they realize they've hurt someone.

"Witches, on the other hand," he met each of their eyes. "Witches are powerful, and how they use their power depends on how others react to it." He leaned in close to them, his gaze both mentoring and warning. "Be careful how you play with my daughter. She has not decided what she is yet."

With that, he released their shoulders and sized them up with ruby red eyes.

[Emora Deen]

They nodded numbly, not to sure what to make of Vlad's words. It was hard to decide if it was a threat, or a warning. But, as soon as it seemed Vlad was done talking to them they turned and ran back towards the palace.

Tenara found a cleared spot in the corner of the garden, near the way, tucked behind a pile of thorny rose bushes. She was small enough that she crawled underneath them to get there.

She decided it was her new favorite place, because no one could bother her there. They couldn't get passed the thrones. She knelt on the soft mossy ground and dug a hole with her hands before placing Izzy inside. She covered the small lizard up, as her mother and father had done with another pet that had met an unfortunate end.

Then, Tenara crawled into the corner, smearing mud on her dress. She wiped her eyes with her dirty hands, streaking brown dirt across her nose, cheeks, and brow.

[Soran Nightblade]

The dead king turned his attention to finding his renegade daughter. It wasn't a new scenario, but he didn't mind. He'd had experience training Talon through the pain of being New, and this was not much different. Except, of course, that she was only three.

Okay, so maybe he had no idea what he was doing, with Talon and especially not with her. He wasn't designed for fatherhood. So he tended to treat his daughter as if she were a grown up, because he didn't have much talent with children. If the other kids took what he said as a threat and feared her, well, fear wasn't the worst thing in the world. Fear often led to respect, and they would be less likely to provoke her if they were afraid.

Her heartbeat was a rhythm memorized in his soul. He could pick it out among a thousand others. He walked to her hideout and knocked on the stone wall next to the rose bush. "Have a minute?" he asked.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara looked up from her corner, over the tops of the bushes, to where her father stood. Her blue eyes, Atul's eyes, appraised him thoughtfully for a moment with a sort of wisdom hard to find in a three year old's gaze.

After a minute she crawled back under the thorny bush and clammored to her feet in front of him. Her father was tall, and she was small... She'd have her mother's frame.

Tenara picked the leaves off the bush while she waited for him to speak.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sat down and lay back in the grass. "I'm sorry about Izzy," he said, squinting up at the bright, clear sky. He looked over at her. "You seem to be feeling calmer."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara went to her father and sat down on his chest, propping her head in her hands. She stared down at him with a misty crystal blue gaze. She didn't respond to him. Instead she quietly appraised him, then her brow scrunched up and her nose wrinkled. "I'm different..." Tenara muttered. "What's a witch? Am I a bad thing? Am I in trouble?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"Witch is one word for it," Vlad said. "It means you can do things other children can't. Like just now. It's not a bad thing... but it's not easy either. Some witches are good, like Queen Sinead and your mother. Others, sometimes, turn bad."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara frowned. "What if I am bad?" she asked him softly, fiddling with the hem of her dress. She knew what she did to the boy was bad. What if she did more bad things? "Will you hate me?"