Heirot

Rai looked at her grandmother and smiled brightly, nodding with vigor. "So! What is it you must tell me about being a grown woman? Is it very secretive?!"

Gwendolyn laughed. "In a way, yes..." Gwendolyn took a moment to gather her thoughts and sat next to Rai. She talked at length the changes she will soon experience and how to deal with them. She even delved farther, talking of pregnancy and how babies were made. She was now a young adult. She was going to attract older men and find that her body would more than likely respond on it's own. She needed to know as much as she could before she was taken advantage of. Gwendolyn found herself, and Rai, blushing on certain topics.

Rai covered her mouth, blushing a little bit. "Oh... So that's how it works..." She glanced down the hall that Blade had gone. "But, Blade was made differently wasn't he? That's why everyone is so quite about it." She frowned.

" Yes, boys work a bit differently than we woman. Blade is a prince, there are mannerisms he must learn in order to be at court. It sounds like Siren may have traumatized him a bit though." Gwendolyn chuckled and winked. "Maybe we should ask Soran and Mizuki when they get back tomorrow how they work it out."

Nothing like mortifying your children.

"Will they really tell me?" Rai asked in confusion. Hadn't they just covered that things like that were private. She could see her father's face now... beet red and exasperated.

"I think I'll turn in now," Rai said as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head. She leaned over and kissed her grandmother on the cheek before wondering down the hall to her bedroom.

When she was there she drew back the covers to her bed and climbed under them. She turned grabbed her pillow and hugged it under her as she lay partially on her stomach and partially on her side, her knees drawn up close to her chest. She fell asleep immediately.

Sometime in the night she woke with a start. Her eyes snapping open without the slightest idea of why she was awake. She sighed heavily, rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. It was then that she realized a dark shape was standing just off to the side at the foot of her bed. Her eyes trailed the ceiling down towards that shape. She saw a man, and he was mostly hidden in shadow due to the darkness of the room and the pale moon light was so bright it that it caused the shadowed silhouette of his form to be just as dense.

Her breath caught in her throat and she scrambled out of bed, the figure moving quickly to follow her. She fell onto the wood flooring, hitting her knees. She scrambled to her feet, still unable to utter a single word of scream of distress. She tripped over her own frantic movements when she reached the door, half turning to see if he was about to grab her.

But there was no one there.

Rai took several deep breaths, her heart thudding so hard that she could hear it in her ears. She swallowed, looking around the room slowly to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Still no one was there. She had been seeing things hadn’t she. Maybe she was just that tired.

At any rate she didn’t want to sleep in the room alone, just in case.

Rai pulled the door open without turning her back to the room and she wandered out into the hall towards Blade’s room. She pushed the door open, seeing him sprawled out on the bed. She tip-toed up to him, going around to the side of the bed that his wings weren’t covering and she poked his cheek with her finger. Then, she nudged his arm gently.

“Blade,” she whispered in a hiss. “Blade…”

Blade groaned in his sleep and turned his head around away from the poking finger. But, it was too late. He was roused awake so he groggily lifted himself by his arms and turned his head back around to find Rai.

"Oh, uh, um... Morning?" HE was so sleepy he barely registered the time. He thought it was a bit dark out though, judging from the small amount of moon light peering from the window, to be morning.

"Can I sleep in here? There was a man in my room, but he's not there anymore... But I still want to sleep in here because I don't know if I was dreaming him or not. I promise I don't kick... I don't think..." Rai thought for a moment as she leaned with her hands across the bed. "Please?"

"Wait, what?" Blade asked, coming awake and aware. "What do you mean there was a man in your room?"

Rai crawled onto the bed and laid on her side facing Blade. "Its alright, he's not there anymore. He's gone." Rai yawned, covering her mouth. "I must have been dreaming."

Blade frowned. He knew full well that the barrier couldn't be penetrated from the outside unless someone inside let them in. But, there was always some chance. He learned to never disregarde anything possible, even if it looked unlikely.

"Look, you stay here okay?" He said calmly. "Dream or not, we just ran from Arken, remember? In case they managed to pierce the barrier and track us here... I just want to be sure." He got up from the bed, once again telling Rai to stay where she was, and sneaked out the door quietly. He peered down the hallway after closing the door behinde him. His ears listening and eyes scanning the darkness. The black blob of animated dark magic came alive on his shoulder after a long sleep.

"Hey buddy," Blade communicated with it. "Can you tell me if anyone is here who shouldn't be?" The blob squeaked and started to ripple. It wasn't long before Blade said, "So, no one out here." When he was a baby, they had made some kind of connection that was hard to understand by other magic users. Somehow, they just understood each other. "Well, there is still Rai's room to look into. I imagine though, Grandmother would have alerted us if there was danger but... I just need to be sure."

He walked down the hall towards the room Rai had been using. Tentatively, he opened the door and thrust the aptly named Blobby into the room with his hand. It quivered, then eventually squeaked.

Nothing and no one there. He sighed with relief. "Well, that's some good news." He shuffled back to his room.

He immediately went to the bed, glancing at Rai and looking at the beds size. It *was* big enough to fit two people. But he was a Dark Angel, he made two people with his wings. Dark Angel beds had a habit for being twice the size of a normal king bed. But he looked at Rai again. She was really scared, he didn't want her scared.

"Okay Rai, everything's fine. You can sleep with me." He sat down on the bed and lay on his stomach. He wondered how he could sleep without somehow smothering Rai in black feathers.

Rai had fallen a sleep in the course of him going to investigate. She was curled up on her side, taking up as little room as possible because she didn't want to make Blade uncomfortable. She didn't make a sound in her sleep, and looked so very peaceful. She felt safe now, and would surely sleep through the night.

Blade sighed, finding her alseep. Both of them, kids in adult bodies really. He lay down next to her as quietly as he could and stared at his sister. Technically, she was older than him, but now he was acting like the older brother. She was trapped in a body she didn't understand. He could, at least, understand his. It was how his people aged. He had to protect her, now more than ever. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, then closed his eyes to fall asleep next to her.

The next morning Rai got up early and slipped out of the room to go take a bath. She dug out an old dress of her mothers that was fitting for travel, at least she thought it was. It was a knee length dress, and under it she wore a pair of close fitting pants and knee high boots. The dress was a purple-pink with long sleeves. It had a cloth hood attatched to it and it dangled down her back. She had her hair pulled back in the same clip that she'd worn the day before, and it cascaded in ringlets all shinny and clean from the bath.

She went back into the room and jumped on the bed with her knes. Shoving Blade lovingly. "Wake up! We need to get going so we can get back to see mom and dad!"

Blade promptly fell off the bed. He yelped when he hit the floor then sprang up, his wings making him hover just an inch off the ground. "Oh god Rai..." He said , coming back down the the floor, "Never spook a Dark Angel when they sleep." He looked at her, then laughed. "Ahh, alright, get out so I can get ready alright?"

Rai smiled and left the room. She went to the living area and sat patiently by the fire, staring out the window at the snow falling. She worried just for a breif moment that it was a bad idea to go. What if someone there did recognise her?

Blade would protect her... She believed that.