Shtahl-ing the Inevitable -M- [GoblinFae]

[Zane]

Alucard removed his cloak, hanging it on a hook by the door to his room. "Why should I defend against the truth? After events like those we had most recently, the normal day to day is very non-stimulating." He togged off his own shirt then cast his eyes at Rowan, "However, there is an excellent answer for such a problem."

The Master Shadow, stepped up to her, so they were only about a foot apart, "By filling the nights with vigorous activity." He gazed into her eyes, they reminded him of the chocolate that he had once bought while on a mission in Essyrn, and he had an addiction to the stuff ever since.

[GoblinFae]

She stared at him, her head cocked to the side for several moments. Then wordlessly, Rowan struck. Her hand latched around his wrist before using it to half-drag, half-fling onto the bed before she was likewise leaping up to follow, her legs straddling his torso on either side.

Rowan leaned down over him, the fingers of one hand tangling tightly in his dark silken locks as the other helped her balance over him. Her lips crashed down upon his fighting for dominance until she was forced to draw away for breath. She rested her forehead against his as her chest heaved with the need for more air.

"Sure you can keep up? Hate to wear you out before I've even begun."

[Zane]

Alucard looked up at Rowan, keeping to himself just how marvelous the sight was, "I think you have forgotten who I am" he grinned. Leaning up, he picked up the kiss where she left off.

And so hours came and went until mornings call, alas, not much sleep was had that night. He just lay there, enjoying the closeness, Rowan having dozed off about an hour ago. The Shtahl listened to the soft chime of the grandfather clock in his sitting room. They had another hour before they had to be anywhere, so he laid there and continued to enjoy himself. It wasn't too long before he was whispering in Rowan's ear in an attempt to rouse her.

[GoblinFae]

As the first rays of sunlight began to warm the earth Rowan drifted off into light slumber, not truly asleep but not awake either. When Alucard called her to wake, her head flinched away to the side, as she grumbled in protest. One dark eye slid open to look up at him in disgruntlement. Yet, upon seeing how content he looked, Rowan could not help but settle back and blink tiredly up at him.

"You know you never asked..." she quietly began, letting her voice fade as she watched his face. It had eaten away at her too long and in the dim twilight hours she found she had to know. She could not live with herself without knowing whether or not he blamed her with or without reason. Rowan had to know and she was determined to at last get her answer even if the moment was not ideal.

[Zane]

Alucard scrunched his eyebrows together and gave Rowan a perplexed smirk, "I never asked what?"

[GoblinFae]

"If I saw it coming," she replied quietly, eyes focused firmly on the ceiling. "If I saw the end before the beginning. You know my gift, my curse and you have yet to ask. Are you so afraid to hear the truth that you daren't ask? Is the possibility of my betrayal too much for you? You have a responsibility Alucard and still you have not asked. You know betrayal means The Grasp. You need to ask."

[Zane]

The smile faded from his face as Rowan spoke, he looked over her face with indifferent eyes. Rowan was extremely worried. He recounted his own worry from late yesterday, he was so sure that people blamed him that he never thought to ask Rowan about a vision, but then again. He was sure that if she did, she would seek him out. He very carefully chose his words, "The way I see it, the fact that you are asking me if I dared ask. It could mean one or two things. One, that you are innocent and you fear that you may have judgement passed on you without a chance to defend yourself, or two, that you are so infallible in your cocky and narcissistic attitude that nothing could possibly break the defense that you have fabricated.

"Now, I have trust in you that if you were to have a vision that had given you such reason to worry, you would have tracked me down or gone to the king. So tell me, have I misplaced my trust?" He looked here directly in the eyes when he spoke the last part.

[GoblinFae]

She watched him closely, ready for any sudden motions that would hint at an oncoming attack. It was not that Rowan did not trust Alucard, she did. But, past abuse even centuries old still managed to leave her wary around others during times of high stress and vulnerability. She did not know what to expect from him even has she mentally depreciated herself.

"There is still a third, a guilty conscience." She raised her chin up slightly, tightening her jaw as she spoke. "I fear no punishment if it is to be my fate. But I cannot bear the unknown. Only you can say if your trust is misplaced. I only know what I know." The eyes that looked up at him were clear, the brow creased. Outwardly, the rest of her appeared still and calm but Rowan's expression said it all. She was being torn apart by a war inside her and only a resolution would save her.

[Zane]

Alucard matched her gaze, in a low clear tone he asked, "Did you, Shadow Ranger Rowan Alvar, have a vision of an attack on The Vigilant Shadows, or any other premonition of some sort of catastrophe, that led you to believe that the lifes of your fellow Rangers were going to ensure en masse?"

[GoblinFae]

Rowan's eyes closed quickly as she inhaled sharply. When she did open them again the look she offered him was that of a tortured soul. The voice she spoke in was dead and emotionless. She believed her she had done wrong and desired at last to be free of the weight of her failure.

"I foresaw the battle."

[Zane]

To say Alucard was shocked, was a gross understatement. He felt numb. He felt like the world lost all light, Rowan was his most trusted friend within the Vigilant. If ever forced to chose between saving her life, and the life of King Kinder, one of the single best kings that the Clockwork City has ever known, he didn,t know what he would chose. But he never let it show on his face. "How many hours prior to the battle did this vision come to you?"

[GoblinFae]

She sat up, uncaring that the covers pooled around her waist, revealing her nakedness as she stared at her hands in her lap. "Every night for a week," she answered quietly feeling equally numb. "Maybe longer, I don't know."

[Zane]

Again, the word hit him like a blow across the face. He got up from the bed and walked over to a closed window. He was uncaring that his naked form was infront of the window. He purposely kept his window oily and uncleen. So that the harder one tried to look inside through the window, the more impossible it became to actually make any clear sense of things that lie beyond the window. "Describe, in as much detail possible, what you saw."

[GoblinFae]

"It always started the same," she recited, refusing to look over at him for fear of getting distracted. "Clear as day I stood upon the smoking field. I was tired and my sword arm was as heavy as my heart. As I moved I picked my way through rocks that turned into faceless bodies of shadow and enemy. From there the image always shifted."

Rowan shook her head in frustration, her hands clenching and unclenching as she tried to keep her voice steady. "The images always bled from one to the next with no sense of rhyme or reason. Red, blood, lots of blood and black moving shadows. Figures dancing and fighting. You," she paused gulping heavily while casting a fleeting glance his way. "You and the troll giant with the axe. Tershal's eye bandaged. Atlas alone. Other things..."

Tears began to burn her eyes as she spoke and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Alucard every night I tried, I tried to see more and I couldn't! It was like trying to stare out of your window. The more I looked the less I could see. Grotesque shapes and shadows, nothing more. All this gift, wasted!" She slammed a fist down against her thigh. "Useless! And it was all for naught. I could not tell you because...I couldn't. If I could just have seen! I failed," she cried brokenly. "Just like the last time. It happened all over again, just like last time."

[Zane]

The Master Shadow closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the window, and just listened. For a moment after she finished talking Alucard did nothing. Then, very slowly, he moved across the room to a hope chest. He popped the lid open and removed a small white bolt of cloth. He laid it in front of the sobbing half elf.

"Dry your eyes, then get dressed. The king will need to be informed of what you have told me." His voice was quiet, without harsh cutting blame, or sympathy, or much of anything.

[GoblinFae]

Rowan immediately reigned in her feelings, chocking back further tears as she uncurled to sit up straight. Once more she looked like a composed soldier even if she felt like she had been slapped in the face. She moved quickly and quietly to gather up her clothes even as she without realizing clutched the soft white fabric tightly in her fist.

Internally she repeatedly berated herself for being so foolish and selfish wanting to see more rather than bringing it to anyone's attention. Then she turned to blaming herself for getting involved with the Shadow Master or forgetting that it was nothing more than a passing fling that sated both their needs. Her duty to The Vigilant Shadows and their king came first.

She would be prepared for whatever fate the pair decided for her. As she pulled her boots on she called out softly to Alucard. "Are you going first or am I under watch?"

[Zane]

Alucard was just about to put on his cloak when Rowan spoke up. "No. You are not under watch. But, if it is all the same to you, I would request that you leave with me."

He left out the fact he was quite certain that if he were to be out of people's sight that he would break down. He tended not to show pain when in the prescense of others, it was a quirk of his that he never could quite understand. Perhaps it were because he led a city full of potentionally dangerous people. He didn't know what to think about about this most recent news come to light. But what he did know, is that the idea of having to banish her to the Grasp, and untimately having to face day to day without her. It was a painful and bleak notion. She brought alot of color and spontinuety into his life.

[GoblinFae]

She nodded her head without a word and moved to stand beside him, intent on following him silently wherever he would lead her. Rowan found it ridiculous that she had been more afraid of telling Alucard than she was now about having to tell the king of all their people. She could not say though if it was because he would be by her side or if because the Shadow Master was actually the one whom she respected more than any other member of The Vigilant Shadows. Behind them Vesna padded along, head hung low and tail dragging across the floor. Even the exuberant Shadow Spirit was subdued in the face of Rowan's fate.

[Zane]

It didn't them very long to walk from Alucard's home to the Clockwork Spire, or as many referred to it, The King's Own Shadow. The Spire had many levels, admittance to which was based entirely on personal standing within the Vigilant. Fledgelings were allowed on the lowest levels, which is where various classes were taught on a variety of subjects, from stealth to armed and unarmed combat. The next two levels held the hospital, where Dark Mother's were taken when they went into labor. The next level up was the Shadow Barracks, only accessible to Shadow Rangers, the Master Shadow, and the Shadow King. On the final level, sat the Void Throne and the two offices that belonged to Alucard and the King.

Standing before the Void Throne, which was currently unoccupied, Alucard turned to Rowan. "Please wait here, I will return shortly with the King." His eyes strayed over her for a second longer before he left out one of the side rooms, supposedly where the king slept.

[GoblinFae]

Rowan felt that every step forward she took, her heart dropped another millimeter into her boots. She did not fear King Kinder or her judgement but she did have regrets and those combined with her sense of guilt and disloyalty weighed upon her thing shoulders heavily. She felt like a failure to her people and almost wished to be sent to Zenith's Grasp to carry out the severest of all punishments for her extreme lack of judgement.

Once again she offered Alucard a sharp yet silent nod in response to his command. Her face remained impassive as she stood, eyes focused straight ahead and hands clasped behind her back. She stood as a soldier at ease awaiting further orders and not as a fool awaiting a fate worse than death.