Awhile later, Felina's poking at Makyon again. "Okay. This next skill set is, in all liklihood, going to take a long time to see even slight success in, since the first step is by far the hardest." She'd been looking out over a training area full of tall trees that lack much in the way of large branches. "Your space shifting technique is a useful asset, but it's not being utilized for what it really is. It's not just a speed trick, and it's a waste to use it as such."

"You're absolutely right," a slightly-winded Makyon answers, scratching his bare chest, "imagine what I could do by space shifting my tongue."

"It's going to get tied in a knot before long," Felina notes. "One major issue is that you move so strictly horizontally. It doesn't need to be that way. Not everyone capable of full aerial combat has the power or power type to levitate." Actually, when she'd been new at it, she'd rested in the air using the technique she's about to show him rather than maintain the natural hover. "Show me the shields you know. All of them, one by one."

Makyon chuckles at that. "Shields? I know no such thing. I have always relied on my endurance and speed to protect me."

"That's what I thought. You get to spend the next few weeks learning the basics of impact energy. The ultimate goal--on top of being able to defend yourself more completely--will be this...

At that, she vanishes, and reappears about ten feet back. She's four feet in the air, but clearly standing on something unseen. She leaps, vanishes, lands. Vanishes, appears. Each time at a different point in the air, with quite a lot of speed. It can almost rival quick flight, and definitely has an advantage by its erratic nature. The last time, she appears a few feet behind Makyon, feet at about his chest level. "This is called wind dancing. I haven't employed any levitation. This is your next goal."

Makyon watches her move, blinking, not quite in awe, but definitely in 'whoa awesome!' mode. "Games of tag will never be the same," he observes, turning to grin at her. Felina has a lot of tricks, and is a demanding teacher, but he is certain that he can hack it just fine.

Felina smirks. "Oh, tag never stops getting quirkier your whole life. It happens if you're a caster." She drops down to the ground. "Now then. How familiar are you with impact energy? The sort used in physical-effect magical shields and attacks and their ilk, magical things that hit in non-magical ways."

Makyon just smiles the whole time. "I have no idea what you just said, madam."

Felina smiles sweetly. And then a wall of energy wallops him from behind. She walks over and leans over where he'd been laid out, bent at about a ninety-degree angle so they're somewhat face-to-face again. "Oh, good. Demonstration it is. So. That was impact energy. If you punch at someone and strike a sudden, invisible barrier that nearly breaks your hand, that's impact energy too. What do you know about it?"

Makyon grins, shaking the fuzz out of his brain. "It means that space manipulation can be used to create a physical force that lets me see your pretty face up close." Abruptly a smaller, and certainly different, wall smacks into the back of Felina, shoving her much closer to him. "Hi. Like that?"

The palm of her hand flashes in front of her mouth an instant before their lips would have met were the impact now slowed...which she doesn't save the separation. A nice little ice spell glows vividly her hand. "Yes. Like that." She vanishes. "Okay. We should be able to build on that."

Makyon lifts his legs back and springs to his feet, stretching his arms languidly. "Mmmfmmmf." He nods. 

"Felina! Feeellliiiiinaaaaaaa! I brought cookies, and they're purple, where are you?" A familiar energy signature appears just off to the side of their training area.

Felina just smiles and stands placidly where she is. "And three...two...one..."

"That sounds like Aunt Maraaa!" This exclamation comes as Ting pounces Mara-kuru most happily from behind.

"Eeep!" Mara-kuru goes tumbling soundly, rolling and rolling with Ting until she ends up on top of the much younger Serinian-mix, her hands firmly upon Ting's shoulders.

"Pinned ya," she grins, the box of cookies floating calmly above their heads.

Makyon blinks. Glances at Felina.

"Holy gods they make you in red?"

"Gah! No fair I'm tired you know I want a re-match!" Ting squirms and tries to throw Mara off, only to find that the pin is quite sound this time through, and she only succeeds in a whole lot of wiggling. "Well, damn. So. Cookie?" She grins her dark-lipped grin up at Mara.

"Someone did." Felina smirks. "This is my nether-double, Mara-kuru." She considers mentioning that Mara's long-ago lover was the double of Makyon's body, just for fun. But then, that would probably make his head explode. Let's save that for later.

Mara smiles a fangy smile. "Only after my little niece tells me why she feels so weak." She hops up and off Ting, holding out her little hands to help the Dumen-mix up. "Feliiiina! Who's the..." she blinks. Tilts her head. "Heeyyyy..."

"Heh...to make a long story short...remember when Kaies's body was stolen by Radivishe Moorn way back when, the same time you got Solomon to help? Well, apparently, after Moorn abandoned the body, a lich lord found it and reanimated it. Ting fought said lich lord a week ago, Makyon here bailed her out at a crucial moment, and now he's staying with us awhile as my apprentice. Never a dull moment." She grins as Ting clambers up to her feet. "How are you, Mara?"

Ting's looking over Mara's shoulder at the cookies. Mm...purple.

Mara grins at Ting, and hands her the cookies. "Not too many. If your butt starts jiggling, I'll see that you run laps until you're trim again, missie." She looks to Felina. "Same old, my love. I just got home from fighting maniac warlord number eighteen hundred thirty-four. And I wanted to see you!"

Makyon grins. "My love?" he asks.

"No, mine," Mara quickly answers. "Pretty people should strike a pose and shut the fuck up."

Felina's beyond amused at this point, and actually snickers. "You need to come around more often, Mara. Tea? I just got some that's naturally green. I mean, vividly green, not the off-brown stuff."

"I would love some tea! Ting, would you like some tea?" Mara smiles prettily, busy doing her 'I'm standing here, check me out' dance that pretty much just involves her wiggling her hips and shoulders in opposite horizontal directions.

"I'm still here, you know," Makyon teasingly says to Felina.

Mara pouts. "Aww... hush you. Men deserve no attention unless they're naked men. Get your hand off that belt! You just wait, when I get bored, I'm gonna smack you like..." she grins. "I'd like some tea."

"I'd like some tea! It goes with purple cookies. Great cookies, aunt." Ting smiles a purplish smile.

Felina laughs softly. "Makyon, let's see..." she thinks. "I've been working you eleven hours now, I guess that's enough. We'll let you off easy. Would you like some tea with us?" She grins, heads over to Mara's side, and then starts back towards the house.

Mara bounces, and walks with Felina, twitching her ears as she goes. "Felina, he's a stud. Can I borrow him? Big and dumb is a good combination, you know."

Makyon trots obediently along, wondering if the comments will kill him before the training.

"Oh, sure, why not. He flirts on a pretty constant basis, but he's no match for you on the matter." Felina's quite amused by the conversation.

"You know, I'm just curious. Most men who flirt constantly don't have much to back it up." Mara glances at Makyon. "I have ten silver pieces that says he's not big all over."

"Yes, but do those ten silver pieces speak the truth?" Felina looks back to Makyon, grinning. "What, no snappy counterpoints?"

Makyon just grins. "I hope you aren't attached to your silver."

Mara giggles. "Smooth, muscles, smooth. Hey, Ting! What do you think?"

Ting smiles with an innocent little kitten-face. "I think you and mother already know who wins the bet."

Mara snickers. "Blasted yes-no sense." She reaches into the pocket of her snug dress, not whorish, but comfortably fitted, and produces ten silver coins. She turns then, handing them to Makyon. "You cheated," she grumbles. "I dunno how. I want some tea."

The slip mage puts his hands in his pockets and just whistles.

Ting just munches her cookie and hums happily to herself. She really can do the "sweet and innocent" thing sickeningly well when she wants to.

"Tea it is," Felina laughs. It's waiting for them when they get inside, already steeped. She'd felt it pertinent to make it this morning, and passes cups around. "Here you folks are."

Mara sips happily, still dancing her little dance. "Thank you my love! So... how's every little thing?" She glances at Makyon. "Shut up! Don't even say it!"

"Overall, things are going well. Tanru no longer wants to kill me. That's...beyond good." This has been a plague for the better part of seven years.

Mara puts her tea down up the counter, ears perking happily. "No! How? Why? Put the tea down, my love, I smell a pouncing."

"It's a pretty long story, really." Felina pauses, then laughs softly, and shakes her head. "Really long."

Mara smiles. "I warned ya." And pounces at Felina, red eyes flashing wildly, fangs bared in a broad grin.

"Yeep!" Felina's taken down, tumbling over on the dining room floor. Her teacup just sits calmly in the air where she'd been holding it. Until Ting sips it, she'd been out.

Mara grins. "Pinned ya. So where's Dewei? I wanna see if he did what I suggested with his hair. I really think green is his color." She lets Felina up, smiling her idiot smile.

Felina laughs softly as she sits up, brushing the dust off her jacket...until the bit about Dewei comes up, when her smile fades somewhat. "Dewei's hair is still white. And...he's taking some level of apprenticeship right now." She's quiet as she stands up, trying to keep her voice neutral. "With Radivishe Moorn. Who, by the way, broke hell again."

"Pphhht! And I spit on his mother's knuckles." Mara takes up her tea and sips it again, hips wiggling still. "We just can't get rid of crazies fast enough to keep them from coming back! Ugh. Ting, did you agree to this? I'd sooner put my little foot between that shaved ape's thighs at supersonic speeds than speak with him."

Ting bites her lip. "It was kind of Dewei's choice...he's that bad?"

Felina sighs quietly, and sips her tea. "I've never given the twins the full account of what happened with Radivishe Moorn, Mara. They didn't know his name until yesterday. It was a long time ago."

Mara just wriggles. "OOoh... gah. I don't like it my love, I know you have good judgment, but it stinks." She looks at Ting. "I guess ignorance is a happy thing in this case." Back to Felina. "I can't tell you how worried this makes me. You know I don't have kids of my own, so the twins are as close as I've got and..." she looks down.

Makyon takes this opportunity to make himself noticed in the conversation. "Surely both of you could double team him if he stepped out of line."

"Maybe. It's hard to say." Felina looks back over to Mara, ears back somewhat. "I know, believe me...I'm on pins and needles. I think there's at least a chance he just wants the extra pair of hands to help build a world, and also to keep his daughter company--the daughter bit is news to me, too, by the way, but she has a much better temperment than her father--but...god. I can't even begin to describe how tense I am. I know all the ways to shift to that planet, could be there in an instant's notice."

"Daughter? Ugh! What poor prostitute opened her legs for that freak?"

"Heh...a literally divine one. Who, predictably, hates his guts with burning passion by now. What, with his locking her away in a ruined dimension for centuries and all." Felina sips her tea expression bemused. "Her name is Dun, I met her a long time ago. But I didn't know about the daughter. Her given name is Mi'ehna, but she's going by Ai now."

"Just weird. I think, if you wanted, I could watch Ting and Studly here while you watched Dewei. Or I could watch Dewei. What do you think, my love?"

"I just...don't know. I don't know that Dewei's really in danger at the moment..but that's just feeling, and I know for a fact Radivishe Moorn is bad news." Felina sighs, looks at the ceiling a few moments. "It gets better, too. I visited the Pantheon a little while ago and was warned against Dewei's learning that particular sort of rune magic. It's considered forbidden. Although the goddess-in-charge up there promised that the official decree would be to let Dewei be, she considers it likely that someone will try to harm him for it."

Felina's quiet several seconds before looking to Mara, eyes confused and pleading for an answer. She looks more vulnerable than she ever allows. "I just...don't know. Where do I let Dewei make his own choices, even his own mistakes, and where do I put my foot down and say 'do it my way'? God knows my father let me get into trouble up to my ears and then made me dig myself out again, but...he was also trying to force me to be older, so I could survive his death. Ting and Dewei...they don't have to do that. So what do I do? And not do?"

Mara-kuru smiles her precious little smile, the same one she's been wearing since the first day they met. "You are being a responsible mumsy, mumsy. You really want to see your kittens grow up to be independent and tough, but Felina... they already are independent and tough." She glances at Ting. "Ting here is strong as a supercute ox. Letting them make their own mistakes is a good idea." She looks again to Felina. "But this is way out of their league. When your father let you get into trouble, it was with the knowledge that you were tough enough to make the enemy your personal bitch in the end. If an enemy with that much of a power gap threatened you, you can't tell ears this cute that you doubt he would've showed up to slap that enemy around like I'm going to slap this jackass around in a minute." She jerks her thumb at Makyon. "See?"

The corners of Felina's lips twitch at this, though she's still deeply thoughtful. "Well, therein is one of the quirks...Moorn hasn't threatened Dewei yet. He offered tutelage that has yet to be proven insincere, and dewei chose to go along even knowing that there's something seriously wicked in his energy signature. Tel-tiono would have monkey-stomped anyone so much more powerful than me who threatened me, for sure...but this time, there isn't a threat. It's a risk, not a threat, and one Dewei walked himself into. Gah, I'm being such a nit. Do we have chamomile tea?" Rhetorical question, of course she knows, and goes to get some.

"I do feel a little better in knowing that both the twins are quite safeguarded against rune magic, and also guarded against enchantment by anything vaguely resembling Moorn's signature. I've always known he may come back again. The twins have been prepared since they were babies, to some extent. The trick comes in his power; whether he can overturn the wards. He actually gained power in hell this time. After all this time, he may still be stronger than me...but I can't be sure."

Mara leans upon the table, grinning prettily. "Sounds to me like you're just waiting for me to talk you into going, hon. Do I gotta, or can I use the breath to blow bubbles instead?"

"I really...truly, don't know, Mara. I'm keeping a very close eye on him from here. I just don't know."

"You're also worrying yourself to death, my love. If mister girlymouth has really turned over a new leaf, and it isn't the same leaf on the other side of the first leaf, or some kind of weird pine tree with needles, then it might be fun for you to help him do what he's doing! You know that if he wasn't a homicidal psychopath you two would've practically been drinking buddies."

"Heh...minor detail. But yes, you're right about the last bit..." she sighs quietly. "I'll wait until his work's through for the day, then I'll go bother our resident 'teacher.' I'm sure he expects me to be in his hair for awhile."

"That'll be fine. And I will stay with miss Ting and... him." Mara glances at Makyon, then back to Felina. The slip mage would be lying if he said this treatment wasn't irritating him just a little bit. "Gots tea, my love?"

"Yeah. Want some? And hey, abusing Makyon is my job, huh?" She smiles.

Mara snickers softly. "Nah, I'm fine with green tea. Chamomile makes me sleepy."

"I'll get you some then," Makyon snickers, making as if to get up.

"Felina, I think he's trying to be cute," Mara answers, sticking out her tongue. "While he's here, do you want to spar with me for fun? Show him a real catfight?"

"Yay!" Ting bounces. They're fun to watch fight.

Felina's lips twitch into a smile. "Alright...that should help get my mind off of things. What tricks do you want to include and exclude?"

"Nothing invisible. Psionics are out, they make a boring fight. Ooh! Lots of explosions and big booms and lightning and colors and rainbows!" Mara blinks sheepishly. "No rainbows. But afterward, rainbows!"

Felina laughs. "Alright. Fair enough. Let's take this outside, huh?"

"Uh-huh!" Mara winks, and vanishes, reappearing outside. She's already doing her little dance, excited that she gets to have some fun for the first time in a long while.

Felina smiles, stands up...and then stiffens, gaze far away. "Dewei is being attacked...Ai too. Not by Moorn."

Mara's eyes widen. "Let's go! Go go go I'll go with you!"

Felina's quiet a few moments more. Her motherly instinct wants to kill her, but her psychic sense holds her in place. "And...Moorn bailed them out. Now he's looking for the camera to threaten the attackers."

The other Serinian tilts her little head. "He whaa?" She looks at the others, then back to Felina. "Gah! I want to go...!"

Felina bites her lip. "I do, too. But they seem to be okay now...maybe we can head over there once they've cleaned up a bit?"

Mara shakes her head. "You can go. If it's not trouble, I should probably stay with Ting and Mr. Ass over there."

Felina nods. "Probably a good idea. I'm less likely to try to eat Moorn's arm, with heavy emphasis on forks and other such sharp object."

Mara twitters. "Such a charming wit you have my love! Can I have my half back?" Ah, some lines never fail. Most of the time.

"But then I'll be left with none at all," Felina protests, sitting again. She's suddenly not in the mood to spar. What is Dewei getting into? What's she letting him get into?

Mara trots over and squats down next to Felina, shaking her little head. "Felina, you're tense. Want some booze? Or a shoulder rub? Wanna obliterate an army of baddies, huh?" She smiles brightly. "That's it, you want to kick someone's ass don't you?"

Felina smiles weakly. "That would be nice, Mara. I wouldn't complain."

Mara waves her hand over her cup, and slides it to Felina, now filled with some pretty tasty malt liquor, and hops around her. Her hands are a lot more sensitive to Felina's particular shoulder structure than most would be, and she rubs a good rub. "Well... I'm sure we could find an evil regime, my love."

Makyon finally averts his eyes from that. Life is so unfair.

Felina's mouth twitches a bit at this. "Thanks, Mara. That feels good." She smiles, a little, and sips the alcohol. It's pretty unusual to be close to one's nether double. But, it's worked out okay in their case.

"You've got to relax some, my love. Your muscles are in more knots than me on a weekend." Mara steps back some, fussing a bit over her own hair with a free hand. "Nap nap nap is good for the soul, but for those of us without souls, it skips right to the face."

Felina smirks at that. "You stole my relaxation capacity and you know it. That or nailed it to your ceiling. Speaking of which, how goes the re-model?" She's trying to keep her mind off Dewei even as she watches him.

Mara grins, and returns to her seat. "Oh, it's exquisite! You remember that idea I had about having an open air shower? It works great!"

"Open air... shower? How does that work?" inquires a curious Makyon.

"Well," Mara smartly answers, "I have this faucet on my roof. It has a shower head, so I just strip down and sit on the couch that I have up there, which is coated in plastic, and wash up! Even better, since the spray goes off the roof, I can water my roses at the same time!"

"And her neighbors are always very friendly and attentive," Felina adds.

"My neighbors," Mara proudly says, "are cosmic squids. Or something like that. Gelatinous anyway... they feel all squishy. The guy across the street is a woolly mammoth. Literally."

"Her town is interesting," Felina notes with a nod. "Kaies lived a fair chunk of his life there, actually."

"Yeah! And he got to nail Felina!"

Makyon looks to the sky. "Can I just go outside and be beaten some more?"

Felina actually turns vividly red at that. "Mara!"

Mara looks right back. "Felina!"

Felina snickers. "Yes, yes...dear lord, I've had more awkward moments in the last week than I have in the last century."

"We forgive you, don't we Ting?" Mara grins the little one, who has been so unusually quiet. "I know that guy forgives you. He looks like a nice guy, behind all that churlish flirtation."

Ting had been dozing on the counter, and springs to attention at the voice, eyes "I wasn't sleeping!" wide. "Whathiyes?!"

Mara blinks. "Hon, Auntie Mara thinks you should be in bed. And so do I!"

"Aw, but I've been in bed all week," Ting half-mockingly whines.

"Yes, and you'll be in bed another two at this rate," Felina chides gently. "You need to rest, Ting, and not keep taking power-using side tracks. If you want to speed it up, just employ your trances." Ting hates trances.

"Well... I can help! Felina, requesting permission to knock your daughter the fuck out!" Mara dances and wiggles, grinning her moronic grin.

Felina smiles. "Permission granted. Goodnight, Ting."

Ting eeps.

Mara smiles brightly. She doesn't pounce though. Just gazes at Ting. Deeply, piercingly, her smile soft as a summer storm. Calming spells fill the air, deeper ones than she would normally employ, as she slinks out of her chair and creeps towards Ting.

"You desire slumber," Mara intones in a hypnotic voice, "and soon you will sleeep..."

Makyon's eyelids slide partway shut, though he snaps himself out of it.

"... for if you refuse... Mara will rock you to sleep with a brick."

"Can't we talk about this?" Ting murmurs, swaying with Mara a little only half-consciously. She's trying. Losing. But trying.

Mara comes closer, eyes glowing to life. This is a new trick she hasn't shown Felina yet... she spent a weekend with a siren, who was also a hypnotist, and picked it up then. She wraps her arms around Ting and kisses her forehead, very mama-like, and slowly rocks her, all the while gazing upon her with those swirling eyes.

"Well, damn you, then," Ting mutters, and dozes off.

Felina sips her liquor. "Impressive, Mara. You'll have to teach me that one. Is it new?"

Mara strokes Ting's hair softly, turning off the eye-trick. "Yeah," she whispers, "I learned it from a date. She tried it on me, and when it didn't work and I headbutted her, we became friends! And she taught it to me."

Felina's lips twitch towards a smile. "That works." She sips her drink again. Damnit. she should stop that. She finally does really smile, though. "Aww. You two darling."

Ting is sleeping soundly in Mara's arms. She's a clingy sort, and loves to be touched.

Mara-kuru beams at that. "I love my little niece. But most of the darling is the ears." She wiggles her own happily. "I love my little nephew too, though, no favoritism." She glances at Makyon. "You're okay. Too big to hold though. They should make you in bite-sized."

Makyon, though, is far beyond hearing her words. Sleeping in his chair.

"Aw, tsk. He'd have like that one," Felina observes, standing up.

Mara pets Ting's hair some more, still looking at Makyon. "He scares me, Felina. I'm glad you're braver than I am."

"Heh...he creeps the hell out of me. But he seems to be a basically good-hearted guy...I try very hard to not look at him or, more, hear his voice on any deeper a level than I have to. I'd feel better even if the tattoos were gone, I think...and the eyes changed."

Mara's eyes soften a little. "He loved you so much, Felina. Poor dumb bastard... but it was so long ago." She gazes upon Makyon, and shakes her head. "Something else about him, though. Something about his life force is wrong. I know he's a reanimate, but... it's something else. Like his whole being is balanced on the edge of a knife."

"What do you mean?" Felina's attention is turned quite strongly to Mara now.

"Well... have a looky at his energy signature. It's faint, the further from the center it gets." Mara looks at Fel, eyebrow up. "You must have been too worried about other things to see. Or you just didn't look, but then, it's kinda subtle. His whole life force is based on a very dense, very tiny little point. Whoever reanimated him fucked it up."

"Hmm..." Felina frowns a bit. Now that Mara mentions it... "Well. I guess I'll just have to put that on my list of things to fix, huh?"

Mara tilts her head some the other way, still idly petting Ting's hair. "Yeah... suppose it's supposed to be like that, though? Like... his physiology demanded it?" She sniffles. "Fuck... I'm sorry, Felina. He looks too much like my Emshei."

"No...I understand. Believe me I understand. Heh..." Felina looks down into her drink. "I was working in the forge earlier this week--Ting irreperably broke her weapon, can you believe that? That enchanted thing?--and was really wearing out...Makyon showed up to ask a question. Turns out he has some blacksmithing experience, so he took over for a few minutes. Heh..." she finishes the drink. "I was sitting where I always sat, in that corner. And with him working there, I could almost imagine..." she swallows hard, shakes her head slowly. "I almost thought it was my Orrin working in there. For a few seconds at a time...I think I thought it was. I mean, especially since it's Kaies's body, I just..." she trails off to shake her head stiffly. Her voice had been wavering too much, she didn't want to continue.

"You know..." she looks at Makyon again, and then back at Ting. "He's a different person. As different as you and me, and I would certainly not expect Orrin to call me wife. You know? So I take it he's still..." she doesn't need to finish that. She knows, from the way Felina answered that first statement, where Orrin is.

Felina nods a little. "Yeah...the curse is spreading again, though, faster, even though he's still in stasis...I'm getting worried. I may only have a year or two finish figuring it out, and I've already worked so long..." she closes her eyes, and shakes her head. "I'm just not that close. It's so, so complicated. It's too much to figure out from scratch, so fast. The twins don't know that there's a time limit, though."

"I'm so sorry, my love..." Mara hides her eyes against Ting's hair. She might cry, if she doesn't... she loves her Felina so much that it's killing her to know what is happening. "Have you considered asking girlymouth? He might know how to fix it, the stupid drag queen knows everything."

Felina's mouth tightens at that. "To be honest...I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. But...asking him is definitely a possibility. I'll keep working myself." She catches herself. Sighs. "But, I can't really let my pride cost my husband his life, either. On the other hand, I really can't just up and ask Moorn for help, he just got back from fifteen hundred years in hell, courtesy of me. I don't know if I could trust the aid. He's quite good enough to taint something in a way I couldn't sense until it was too late. Maybe give himself a foothold in Orrin's body in case he's killed again. Dewei may be with him for now, but...I don't trust him." Of course, it's just as much pride talking.

Mara's eyes sparkle. "Do you want me to ask him for you?" The question isn't a shot at Felina, really, as much as saying 'I know, love. Let me take the bullet for you.'

"I..." Felina's voice trails off just before her eyes do. She really doesn't know which it is...is her pride clouding her judgement? Or does she really trust him so little, when she knows him so well? "I...don't know, Mara. Do you think we can trust the help with so much?"

Mara kisses Ting's head, looks at Felina. "My love, I've made a lot of decisions in moments of passion. I'm not cautious like you, but my head is hard, and that gets me through decisions that go bad. If he does decide to be an ass, we can make him wish he didn't. Together."

"No more bugs please thank you mother," Ting mutters in her sleep.

Felina's eyes settle softly on her daughter. "Yeah. We're good at stuff, together. It's just...well...with Orrin and maybe the twins involved--though I'm not so sure he'll go after them if he doesn't have to, a lot like he wouldn't want me to go after Ai...the damage of being wrong would be irreperable. Even if he had to pay for it afterward." She's trying to talk herself out of logic, really.

"You know him. The thing to do is to make him think he's getting some kind of advantage out of it that would outweigh hurting Orrin." Mara resumes her petting of Ting, rocking slowly. Her manner with the girl is so natural, one would almost think that Mara *is* a mother as well. "Do you have anything he might want? Or want to neutralize?" She glances at the black sword. "Anything at all?"

Felina catches her breath. "Mara...that's brilliant." She blinks. The plan is perfect. Absolutely. But...she bites her lip. Still, giving him a weapon this hideously dangerous, a soul-rending device made from the same material she'd sampled from trawlers after an initial decade and a half of failure and many, many severe wounds to herself...does she really want to hand that to a proven genocidal psychopath?

Her hand settles uneasily on its pommel. "I must be going daft," she finally murmurs, "to even consider it...." In other words, she wants to.

"I think you should. Think about it." Mara raises her hand, ticking off points on her fingers. "One. Fuck him. Two. We have no souls, the weapon would be useless against us. We could stop him if he decided to be an ass with it. Three. Offer to destroy it instead of giving it to him. Four. I'm pretty. Five. If he has reformed, he may just say yes anyway. Six." Mara looks at her hand. "We'll just stick with five."

Felina bites her lip, and nods. "You make good points, Mara. Well...believe me, I've been wounded by the trawlers, they do do some sort of extreme damage to us too, so the sword could..." she's still not convinced they don't have souls, largely because of that. But, it's hard to say for sure, and a point she and Mara have long agreed to disagree on. I can't offer to destroy it, unless I ask for his help in doing so. I've destroyed the research leading to its creation, but unmaking it is proving hard. But...yes. You're right. It's the best thing to do. So. Offer, if a 'what's in it for me?' comes up, offer to destroy it if he just helps with the research to do so, give him the sword itself if he requires it?"

"And get your man back. And laid. For god's sake, girl. Laid." Mara smiles. "Therapeutic."

Felina laughs softly. "I'll keep that in mind, Mara." To be honest, she wouldn't complain. But only with Orrin, as long as he's alive. "Okay. I don't want to get Dewei's hopes up, and he and Moorn and Ai are all together right now. When I can get the sorcerer alone, I'll approach him on it. Besides, I need to settle my nerves...here, I'll take Ting to bed." She steps forward to take her daughter.

Mara purrs softly, and hugs Ting a little tighter. "Goodnight sweety." She hands the sleeping girl over to Felina, a bit of longing in her blazing red eyes, but nothing too tangible. "You could sleep, too, you know. You look like you when you're tired."

"Heh...yeah, it may be a good idea. Though I probably won't end up sleeping much, with Dewei still with Radivishe Moorn." Even so, Felina's face softens immeasurably as she gathers Ting up in her arms. "I will try to rest a bit, though...feel free to take a guest room, as always, Mara. Oh, I also created an inversion area in the one that you use most often so that you can sleep on the ceiling if you like."

Mara squeaks. "You remembered!" She smiles, but then tilts her head, and glances at Makyon. "Will it work on him, too?"

The slip mage stirs a bit, and looks at them with sleepy eyes. "Hey. Did I fall asleep?"

"Maybe."

"Certainly, yes. There's a mattress on the ceiling...for the whole area it covers, if you get a foot and a half off the ground or more, anything will fall up instead of down. Leave that area, and the floor will become a sudden acquaintence again." Actually, there's a buffer zone that will let you down slowly...but it's more fun to not tell that. Felina's petting her daughter's hair most gently as she speaks.

Mara wriggles pleasantly. She's always been impressed by how well Felina took to motherhood.

"Makyon was your name, right?" she asks of the mage, who nods sleepily. "Good. You follow me, and everyone else is going to sleep."

Makyon tilts his head a little. "But I..."

"Shut up, bitch. You don't get to talk until I say so." Mara looks back at Felina, purring and smiling that kitten smile of hers. "Goodnight then, my love. I'll change the sheets when we're done!"

Felina only laughs softly. "Yes, yes...goodnight. Have fun." And she heads off with a smooth step to keep from jostling Ting, headed for her daughter's bedroom.

Mara looks at Makyon. "Guess who belongs to Mara-Kuru now."

Makyon eeps.

---

Sometime in the mid-morning, Mara-Kuru can be found wandering about Felina's house, dressed in a long green nightgown, her hair all over the place, but her manner relaxed and fulfilled.

Felina's not well-rested, and is sipping her umpteennth cup of strong tea today. she smiles a bit at Mara, though. "You're looking chipper. And I'm sure you made Makyon's decade."

"Feh," Mara scoffs, "he wouldn't put out, the prick. For all his flirting, it turns out, he wasn't willing to jump in the sack without getting to know me better."

Felina grins. "Aww. That's sweet. I didn't expect that."

Mara leans against the counter and grumbles quietly. "It's not fair. Ah well, he won't last long. I can be very persuasive, my love. So how's Ting?"

"Asleep. I wanted her to pace herself and let her own energy restore, but with things getting so potentially tense around here, this may not be the best time for that lesson. So there are heavy 'sleep' influences around her room and there have also been some potent energy restoration fields, too. She should be at nearly her full power within the next few days." Felina sips her tea. "I keep having to shoo away nightmares, though. Poor thing's subconscious is just crawling with grisly things...she was separated from the other two, and got into a very serious fight with Shigoriath--the lich lord--alone. She won the scuffle, to some extent, but...she's going to be a very long time recovering mentally, I think. Horrific stuff."

"That's funny," Mara notes, drawing her legs up beneath her to sit on the countertop, "I knew a cleric named Shigoriath. Ugly guy, really, looked like the back end of a front end only reversed. But very devout." She looks to the hall. "She'll have to learn to handle things like that though, like we did."

Felina nods. "Sure." She looks up, smiling wryly. "But I'm her mom. It still makes me cringe."

"I'm sure." Mara hugs her knees, chin set between them for a moment. "You know... Ting's getting awfully old to be rocked by auntie and mommy. Do you think it might be time to give the twins a gentle push away from the nest, soon?" her tone is careful... she knows it's an awkward question.

Felina's quiet a moment. "To be honest, I'd never considered it. They show every sign of being truly ageless, so I figured they'd just get bored of being at home eventually, since they're both fairly independent and getting more so." She sits back thoughtfully, sipping her tea and pondering. "Dewei did just take a live-away apprenticeship he knows I wasn't comfortable with."

Mara wriggles a little. "I wish I had kids that loved me like your brats," she laughs, "I wouldn't make a good mom, though. I think my head is way too far into the clouds."

Felina smiles. "You make a great godmother, does that count for anything? Anyway..." sips her tea again. "Tel-tiono never pushed me away, so I guess it didn't occur to me. Of course, he died and knew he was going to die when I was only eighty-six, so...an entirely different situation, really. I guess it bears some thought."

She ponders a few more moments. "Of course, Ting's in the Derrias, not home all that much. Dewei's at least showing interest in apprenticing elsewhere. Think it'll just work itself out?" She tries to sip, and looks down to her cup. "Damn. I need more tea again. I wonder how much caffeine I have in my blood?"

"Only two hundred cups and you can see the world through my eyes!" Mara smiles over her knees. "Yeah, I guess it will work out my love. I just see you very stressed and it makes me sad."

Felina smiles at Mara a bit. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me. I just want to get my family safe again. It was such a nice few decades, wasn't it?" This is a bit nostalgic and dreamy. From when she and Orrin had first approached getting married, until he had fallen ill...with only a few major upsets. Especially when the twins had come into play...coporeal heaven. Really.

"Yeah, well, your life right now is still less screwy than it was before. What was it that guy called himself... was it 'Eric, lord of Dragons'? Something cheesy and stupid. The guy who burned two planets with dragon fire?" 

Felina has to snicker. "Oh, lord...dumbest powerful creature ever. You know, that guy would have been a serious threat had he had a single glimmer of common sense."

Mara giggles. "C'mon, Felina. When was the last time you were able to disarm a deadly threat by smacking him in the back of the head with a..." Mara colors. "Pocket rocket, I guess is the term nowadays?"

Felina groans. Mara's relaxing her a little, damn her. "I used to wonder how that happened to be stored there. By now I've decided that I don't want to know."

"He was an ugly fellow. I guess I don't blame his wife." 
Mara's eyes twinkle. She knows, of course. "Feel like some breakfast or something?"

"I had a little rice...I'm not really all that hungry. Feel free to help yourself to anything, of course."

Mara nods, and holds out her little hands. A bowl of meatballs in tomato sauce manifests in her hands, along with a fork. She vastly prefers forks to chopsticks or fingers. Eating quietly gives her some more time to think of ways to dance around the subject of Felina's husband.

"I like turnips," she notes, which is odd, as there are no turnips in the sauce. "Do you?"

"Not particularly. I don't dislike them, though, and Dewei likes them a lot."

Mara fidgets. That hadn't worked too well. She munches a meatball and 'hmm's to herself for a bit, wiggling her clawed toes. 

"I'm anxious, my love."

"Oh? For what?" Felina's ears are cocked crookedly. She hasn't failed to note Mara's fidgeting, and she's just waiting for it.

Mara figured as much. She's been Felina's double for long enough to know what will and won't go undetected.

"Asking him," she answers flatly, "about your ball and chain."

Felina sighs softly. "Yeah. I'm working up the nerve. But...I guess it won't get any easier, the longer I wait. He's still him, I'm still me, and Orrin's still dying." She takes a deep breath, and stands up. "Take care of your sentimental would-be lover and eternally restless niece, huh? I want her to stay unconscious."

Mara beams. "Yup! If she tries to get up, I'll bop her with him."

Felina smirks as she stands straightens up her appearance a bit, including getting a firm hold on her demeanor. "Right. I want the details if you do. See you later." She says this as she fades away to Istan Aiga.

Mara's bowl vanishes, and she stands up, running her hands along her nightgown. In a blink it is switched for her black gi, and her eyes and lips are properly made up. She stretches, says a little prayer for Felina, and trots of to try and charm Makyon some more.

---

When Radivishe Moorn and Felina Deyono reappear at the house, it is to the tune of a very female voice squealing somewhere down the hall.

Moorn just blinks. "I know that caterwauling. Only..." he looks down the hall. "It sounds like Mara-kuru is having a marvelous time."

"Nothing unusual, then. She takes her fun where she can get it. I'm not sure whether she'll come investigating your presence or not."

"If you aren't concerned, then, show me to your better half." Moorn glances down the hall again, just in time to hear Mara squeal again.

"Gah! Mercy, mercy, tickling is not fair I give up! Eeee!"

Felina blinks twice at the noise, wondering, but doesn't pry. "Right..." she heads downstairs, speaking as she goes. "I have quite a few notes and calculations and assorted scrap in the study, but I assume you want to see the actual curse first."

"You assume correctly." Moorn follows, his mind focused entirely upon the task at hand. Even now, he isn't sure why he failed to ask her to squirm a bit more. It seems odd to him, but he lets it alone.

Felina nods once, and just walks along silently. This is the strangest situation she's been in for years. And that's considering spending time with the parallel of herself, her long dead father, finding out that Moorn had a daughter, allying with said daughter, having a longtime threat vanish suddenly with no real conflict, and, oh yeah, taking Kaies's body as her apprentice.

Orrin is taking his extended rest in the center of an overall plain room, no decoration to distract from the runes or that could attract any part of her attention at an inopportune moment, lying in the air above a spell circle, at about a high bed level. The stasis is very much like the younger Felina's had been--after all, this is where she'd perfected the spell. He is, of course, fully dumen. Even, largely, in manner of dress. Felina isn't sure how that will be taken.

"I can certainly answer any questions as they come up."

Radivishe Moorn ignores her for the moment, walking all the way around the room to get a feel for the energies inside. Rune strings wound about a single controlling curse, thick and tangled like a thousand spiderwebs. Some one had meant business, it seems.

"Where did you find one of these alive?" he quietly asks, gazing upon Orrin's face. "I thought I had killed them all... ah. But then, that was in my old dimension. Dewei favors him."

"Yes...he inherited most of his face from his father. Orrin's grandmother's great grandmother, along with nine others, was able to weave a teleportation spell. Clumsily, it's amazing that it worked, but they escaped to a nearby world. Three died of the exertion...the ones remaining were found by a Guardian attracted by the nicely shredded Hole they'd left, who moved them to a more hospitable world."

"Fate again." Moorn looks down at the runes. "Leave. Return in six hours. If this room is still here, then you will have your husband back. If you smell ash when you return, consider dating again."

Felina blinks. "Is there anything you need?"

"In a sense." The sorcerer glances at her. "I must not be distracted. Take Mara-kuru and whoever else remains here as far from this chamber as possible, so that, should these rune traps activate, the blast will only consume him and me. When you do return in six hours, bring food. Good food, by the by, not that Asian slop you enjoy so much."

Felina nods once--she's never reacted to jabs like that, really, so that's not a surprise. Starts to leave, lingers a moment in the doorway. "So. How sure are you that you can fix this?" She isn't looking at him. She doesn't trust her eyes.

Radivishe Moorn glances back at Orrin. "Find a coin. Flip it, and you'll have some idea. I cannot have you worrying over it, Felina, you are going to disrupt me. Though, if I had lied and told you it was a sure thing, you would not have believed me anyway. So scat."

A pause. "Point." And then she leaves quietly, still pondering more than she can be consciously aware of.

Moorn lets her go before laying a hand over Orrin's chest. "You have no idea just how ironic my saving you will be. Had I been a bit quicker, I might have finished the lot of you." Taking a deep breath, the sorcerer begins the arduous work of unravelling the thick web of runes before him. He'd lied to Felina. Orrin's chances are much better than half and half. But he does so enjoy watching her squirm.

It's a good web...a very good one. It helps that more than a few elements are based on what's been salvaged of his own research and techniques. However, not all of it is.

Part of the spell's strength is that multiple power cells have to be dealt with simultaneously. If one weakens or changes and the others don't, it's designed to detonate. The central rune set is written on the underside of his breast bone, but equally destructive centers sit on the skull, the left knee, the right hand, the left shoulder, and the right foot. All are combined by the thick webs that he had first observed...though, they begin to part beneath his fingertips.

No smart words come to his tongue during his work; this is far too delicate business for that. His scarred eyes close just as his body shifts into duplicates, each working indepently to maintain the particular level of the spells beneath. It is difficult work, and even he finds himself challenged by it. However... it will be most interesting to speak with a surviving Dumen. Find out just how he came to be the wife of Moorn's rival. Wife for sure, as it is fairly obvious to him who wears the pants in that family.

The doppleganger technique couldn't possibly work better in this case. Eventually, hours into the process, a certain thread associated with the central runes begins to glow to life, literally darkening the room by nature of the spell. There are about two seconds left before an explosive energy burst disintigrates this chamber.

It is not beyond his attention.  One of the doppelgangers glows to life and vanishes, bound for his old hole of Moren Aiga, where there is nothing left to blast. With any luck that energy will go with it. Without luck, he'll have to break out of hell again.

It works. Quite well, actually...the duplicate had been positioned entirely too perfectly. And, as that fades, the end wanders into sight. It's the spell's last great defense, though it still hangs on stubbornly.

Moorn's hair hangs damp against his skin, and he has shed his coat by now. The doppelgangers together pour his entire focus into un-writing this rune, using far more basic, fundamental methods without flash or flair. It is the equivalent of dismantling a wall brick by brick instead of jush bashing the thing down.

And, eventually, so very slowly...the only thing left is Felina's own stasis spell.

The duplicates dissipate, leaving Moorn to lean heavily against the table. He figures he's earned this part. A counterspell writes against the palm of his hand.

"Wake up, idiot," he grumbles just as he slaps Orrin across the cheek with the counterspelled hand, "your wife is cheating on you with an ogre."

"Ugh...?" The dumen just got jerked out of a thirty-year slumber, solidly black eyes open just a slit. It takes him a few seconds to comprehend that something had been said, and then a moment or two more to understand the words. He just gets a glimpse of Moorn's face before laying his head back again, eyes falling shut against severe disorientation. "Did you at least enjoy it?" he manages.

"Oh, immensely. She was awake for part of it, even."

Orrin doesn't really take this seriously, and is just quiet, getting his bearings and opening his eyes again. "So. Why am I lying half-clothed over a spell circle beside a man who hasn't even bought me dinner, and a dumen one I don't know at that?"

Moorn wonders whether he should be amused at the wit. It reminds him of someone he knows.

"The explanations are not my department, thank you very much. Leave that to Felina. Gather your senses. She will be around shortly." Moorn gathers his coat, throwing it over his shoulders without any particular care. Were he not so drained, he might have enjoyed bantering with this lucky reject. "How did you go about getting cursed so, if I may ask? It took quite an effort to undo it."

Orrin's shaking his head a little, just trying to get his bearings. "It was a ploy to get at my wife."

"Glorious. Take my advice and learn to protect yourself." Moorn looks to the stairwell. "I'm leaving now. You owe her an apology."

Head hurts. A lot. Orrin finally manages to sit up, though. Isn't sure what to think of the apology comment yet. Doesn't try hard to figure it out yet. "I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it." The sorcerer smirks. "If you must have it, my name is Radivishe Moorn."

Orrin freezes at this just a moment. That name...he definitely knows. It's before his time, but he still knows it. Both from his little sub-species' history, and from his wife. "I've been out a long time..." he finally observes. "Thank you for your help."

Moorn cringes a bit. "Right. Ta now." And he heads for the door to find Felina. This really isn't his department.

Felina isn't far off. She hasn't paced this much since she'd been dealing with colicky babies, though she tries to fool herself into thinking she's on her way to this or that menial task. She isn't particularly slow to find Moorn, though. "You're intact. That's a good sign." She hasn't sat down in the last five and a half hours, either.

He eyes her thoroughly before answering, figuring this and that. "What in hell is the matter with you? Sit down now. Now." There is nothing questioning in his tone, only demanding. "Are you really going to meet your husband looking like you have worried yourself half to death?"

"That's what I said," Mara pipes up from the corner, "but she's being Stubborn Fel again."

Moorn glances at her, but spares any comments in particular. "Clean up. Bring him food, like I told you."

Felina lets out a slow breath...covers her mouth and closes her eyes, both to calm herself and, more, to hide her emotion. "Right." She opens her eyes again after several seconds. "Thank you. I know I didn't have any right to ask that of you...but thank you. I was prepared to make the concession of destroying my black sword. You didn't demand it, but I'll still hold to that. The research behind it has been destroyed for centuries."

The sorcerer glances at the sword. "I cannot believe you even kept that thing. Put it on your mantle, Felina." He glances at Mara, who is doing her bored dance. "You found the one thing that would efficiently defeat me. Don't you think I would've spent some time figuring out how to prevent it from happening again? Anyway, he is not all there yet. Save the courtesy stripping for later."

Mara blinks. "Why are you looking at me when you say that?"

Hmph. So much for that gesture. Oh well. Felina folds her arms to stop a nervous twitch, and shrugs. "It was one of the few things that was easier to create than destroy. And I keep forgetting that you seem to have actually improved your knowledge and power this trip through hell. A little unusual, you understand."

"Whatever doesn't make you stronger, kills you." The sorcerer glances again at Mara. "Relax. Look at your double over there, bouncing like a moron."

Mara calmly extends her middle finger and beams.

"When have I ever been good at relaxing?" Because when you get right down to it...there really aren't many people who know her better than Radivishe Moorn.

"When you found yourself in that infernal garden. Take a walk. Let Mara lead hubby about, that should be a trip. Meanwhile, I worry about my own daughter." Moorn's lip twitches. "She was into the spiced wine, so she is probably seeing pigs dancing in raincoats by now."

"At least said pigs are decent. I'll do that, and...thank you. I guess I owe you one."

The sorcerer winks. "Don't say that. You might give me an excuse to come up with something. Goodbye, Mara."

The other Serinian tilts her head. "Seeya, bitch."

Felina bows her head. "Enjoy your time with your daughter." And she heads off in Orrin's direction, keeping her emotions carefully in check. That probably won't last long.

When Felina's gone, Mara hops off the counter. Her eyes twinkle.

"Um..."

Radivishe Moorn shakes his head. "If you must."

A moment later, and Mara has pounced him, hugging tightly around his far more heavily muscled than before body.

"Thank you, thank you! She was so miserable... I'm sorry about everything, I really am..."

the sorcerer pats Mara-kuru's hair. "I needed an excuse to leave, anyway. You provided that."

The next few minutes are, well, intense to say the least. Felina stops dead in the door, a lump in her throat, when she sees Orrin sitting up. He looks up after a moment, having heard her footsteps, and smiles, then glances down and gestures to the dissipating curse mark on his chest. He looks up again after a moment. "So. What's the big idea in knocking me out?"

That had been for her benefit, and did it. She'd finally started walking slowly towards him, but...the quip gives her pause, brings a strained, sobbing laugh to her throat, and then she runs, leaps, and pounces him straight off the spell surface, hugging him tightly and laughing and crying and saying things only slightly comprehensible. She couldn't be acting less like herself, but...god. When is she ever this happy?

"Go see your daughter," Mara purrs, pulling herself away from a certain sorcerer, "Felina will be on dream street for a bit. I can feel her bouncing a purring already."

Moorn steps back, but Mara reaches out, puts a hand on his arm. "Don't be a stranger. Err... any stranger than you are."

He fades, and vanishes, bound for his new home and bed.

---

Mara-kuru appears in the courtyard, feeling for Felina quietly with her mind. She doesn't want to interrupt anything if she can help it.

Felina's actually alone...for the first time since Orrin had awakened. He'd been way, way past needing to draw from someone else's mental energy. So now he's asleep and she has a headache. It's a good kind of headache, though, just on knowing why she has it.

Still a headache. Oh well.

She's leaning on a tree, looking out over her estate, just quietly content, smiling slightly without reason.

Mara-kuru walks towards her, twisting her fingers and fretting.

"Fel, hi," she greets the other Serinian. "Can I borrow you a minute, my love?"

"Of course. Is everything okay?" Felina tilts her head, smile fading, though it's a concerned sort of look.

"Sort of. I need to tell you something, though." Mara looks at Felina's feet, and at her own. A few specks of dust aside, they are identical. "You know how Moorn volunteered to help Orrin without any payback?"

"Uh-uh." It had been beyond strange. Felina's kind of waiting to get the full story on that.

Mara huffs softly. Here goes nothing. "Let's say that, hypothetically, someone had made a deal with him by getting a medium to summon him from hell through a vision. Hypothetically a girl promised that she could help get him out provided he helped get Orrin free of his rune problem when he arrived. Would that bother you at all?"

Felina takes a slow breath. Ah...so that's what had happened. "I would have to think about it."

Mara's ears droop a little bit. "Um... so, let's say hypothetically, um..." And she proceeds to explain. Everything, with a respectable degree of brevity, up to Ting's thoughts on the subject. By the time she's finished her eyes are dull, ears laying nearly flat. Like an inmate sitting in the electric chair.

Felina is extremely quiet through this. Through all of it, and several seconds afterward. Finally... "Mara?"

The nether Serinian looks up at Felina, cringing a little. "Uh-huh...?"

"Come here. Give me a hug." Felina holds out her arms.

Mara's lip trembles. Though she doesn't pounce like she normally might, she does rush to fulfill Felina's command. Quietly, though, and with a heavy heart.

Felina hugs Mara gently, puts a hand on the back of her hair gently. "Mara...I'm sorry. I should have been able to figure that out sooner. You shouldn't have had to keep that to yourself when he died."

"Even if you knew, it was you or him, back then," Mara shakes her head. She's worked up and emotional right now, but still, she has good sense. "If I had told you then, it might have made you sad. And you know I'm too shallow to be sad much... but now that he's back, I'm even more worried. He's still him, you know? And he scared Ting earlier, without really meaning to."

Felina's brow creases at this, and she gets back just enough to look Mara in teh face. "When was this?'

"About..." Mara thinks. "Twenty-five minutes ago? We were talking, he and I, in our secret place, and Ting followed us there and saw him holding me. We were scared she would tell you, and didn't know how you would take it, so he put up a field to keep her from teleporting away so we could ask her to..." Mara looks down. "To keep it from you. Until we were ready to tell you."

Felina's face is still serious. "Mara...Ting doesn't scare easily. She had to have sensed danger."

"No, he told me he wouldn't do anything hasty. And I was right there." Mara's eyes plead with Felina, as she really doesn't know the right words to use.

Felina finally sighs...turns towards the training fields again. Just fixes her attention on them. "I...don't know, Mara. I'd be lying if I said I trusted him to be anywere near my children, even with what he did for Orrin. What do you think?" Now that everything's out in the open.

"I trust him implicitly," Mara smiles a little, "but we both know I'm a fool."

"Come on, Mara. You can play that card with almost anyone and wiggle around a bit and they'll believe you." Felina smiles a very slight smile. "But you can't talk me into thinking you lack intelligence." Emotionally driven, yes. Often. But not dumb.

"It isn't like I can't live without him," Mara affirms, convincing herself first, "especially if he might still be a threat to the kids. But I do love the creepy bastard, I do, and I don't know why. And I love Ai, Felina, I adore her. But I love Ting and Ding even more." She looks down. "And I love you most of all. So you tell me."

"Mara...I'm married, remember? I know what it feels like. I won't ever get along with Radivishe Moorn. He'll probably never be fully comfortable around me either. But I would never ask you to walk away from love. My biggest worry and first priority is my kids' safety. But if you can look out for them, you and I together...then...well, if you're looking for my approval, you don't need it. But you have it anyway."

"... one more thing, Felina..." Mara looks to the black sword, her expression the absolute bubbling mire at the bottom of sorrow's pit. "He lied about your sword. In case I'm wrong about him, you can still... you know."

Felina lets out a slow breath...just nods to that. "Mara...thanks for telling me. Not about the sword, I mean...all of it." A truly awkward pause follows, rare for she and Mara. Felina isn't sure how she feels about all of this...part of her wants to be angry and betrayed that her best friend had somehow been able to love the creature trying to kill her, at the height of their personal war. It seems like the face should trump any feeling for Moorn. But a much bigger part of her keeps reflecting on the face that Mara had ad to suffer in silence when he'd died. And that she'd kept quiet about it for so, so long. She finally sighs. "I don't...know what I think. But thank you. Need another hug?"

Mara shakes her head, sanguine curls dancing with the motion. "No. But you should talk to Ting. Meanwhile, I should talk to him. He's training Dewei right now." A note of hope is all but disguised in the chord of her emotional gamut, but Mara manages to smile a sincere smile anyway. "Although, I have to tell you. You were always right about one thing about him, Felina." She holds her hand up, thumb and first finger spaced a few inches apart. "It kinda explains the ego problem."

Felina has to snicker at that. "...actually, I can't decide if I'm amused, or didn't want to hear that and now need to scrub out my ears with steel wool."

"But where are we going to find steel sheep?" Mara straightens up, and proceeds dance her little hip-and-shoulder-swaying-feet-no-move dance. Her ears perk up, though, and she looks to her right. "Company."

"... ina... Feliiinaaa!" Lisaria's voice precedes the appearance of the goddess. She looks at Mara-kuru. "Did you... dye your hair?"

Mara just dances.

"Nope. Hello again." Felina doesn't offer further explanation. It may be obvious. Maybe not, but...oh well.

The goddess glances at Felina. And then at Mara. "Right. Nether double... the adorable one is Mara-kuru, and the serious one is Felina. Um... Felina, did you kill Sheran Tenru? I ask because he's dead."

Mara stops dancing.

Felina...isn't sure how to react to that, either. The loop she was thrown for just keeps getting longer and longer. "No...certainly not, I don't have the power. The last I knew of him, one of my father's parallels destroyed the assassination command line in his mind, and then Tanru was headed back towards the Derrias for some answers."

"Definitely not you, then." Lisaria looks down a bit, glances at Mara. "Someone did. If you didn't have the power, the it must have been someone stronger... but then again..." she's thinking aloud at this point, "... we would have been able to detect that. Ugh. Nasty business. Apparently Tenru was not the first victim of whoever did it. Bad-guy types, if you pardon the summation, are going down all over the place. Sixteen in the last four weeks, apparently all by the same person based on the energy signature that remained. I thought you might know about it."

Felina shakes her head, brow creased. Holy hell...that is one busy vigilante. "No...who else has been killed? Anyone I've encountered?"

"Mm... Ikrion 3B, the cyborg dictator a few planets over, you might have met him. I doubt that you know any of the others. Most were underground bosses, smugglers, slave traders, that sort of thing. Pretender ordered us to stay out of it until Tenru was defeated, as most of the rest were small by divine standards." Lisaria glances at Mara, who is singing softly as she dances now. "Does she always do that?"

"No. When she's drunk or very hyper, she strips instead to play with males' heads."

Lisaria blushes a bit. "Oh."

"Felina's too self-conscious to shake her junk. She also doesn't have much junk." Mara observes this in a manner that sounds like an observant scientist instead of a hyper kitten-lady.

"Ehm... about the vigilante..." Lisaria shakes her head. "I have a feeling that Gabriel might be on this person's list. I just thought I would warn you, so you would not interfere."

Again, Mara stops dancing.

Felina frowns a little at this. "That's getting...complicated. Also, my son is near him right now."

"Is your son evil in any way shape or form?" Lisaria asks this question as though a checklist sits in front of her.

"No. He's much nicer than I am."

"He's a sweety," Mara concurs, "and huggable!"

"So far, collateral damage has been zero. Our vigilante is very precise." Lisaria smiles a little. "Your son and his daughter will probably be safe."

Felina closes her eyes for a few moments. Why does everything always have to be so complicated?

Lisaria understands perfectly. "Like I said, they will be safe. And this man - we think it's a man - may not even bother with him. And if he does, so what, right? One less maniac to deal with."

Mara-kuru stiffens, and vanishes, headed home to think.

Felina sighs when Mara leaves, her claws resting on the bridge of her nose. This is too complicated...she has no idea what to do. "Thank you...for the information, Miss Lisaria." Actually...yes. She does have some idea what to do.

Lisaria smiles softly when Mara leaves. "More good news, Felina. I found out a little more about how he got out. This is not your business, not really, and the easiest thing to do would be stay out of it. Probably the best thing too." She sighs. "But if someone could catch this vigilante, it would be wonderful. Really."

Felina's lips twitch just a bit. "Taken as 'off the record', right."

"Well. Evil is a very personal definition. Who knows." Lisaria grins. "If you need anything, just call my name. I'll be listening."

"I'll remember that, and appreciate it. You should come by without hell at your heels sometime, though, we'd be happy to have you." She likes Lisaria. She'd make a good friend. "For now, though, I have a couple of things I'd like to do. Take care, huh?"

"Oh, my heels and hell mix too well, Felina." The goddess smiles a much more open, friendly smile. "I will, I promise. Good fortune!" And she vanishes as well, bound for whatever errand calls her next.

Felina's smile fades as she heads for a certain point in the garden. Great. Just...great. At least Mara had told her what she had a couple of minutes ago...she's less conflicted about her current decision because of it.

The elder psychic slows her breathing as she approaches a small clearing with faint spell circles etched in the perimeter's dust, and sits cross-legged in the middle. She closes her eyes. It's actually a few minutes before she does anything, really...she's just fully clearing her mind and emotion of an emotionally trying last ten minutes, and preparing herself in all the necessary ways.

It's with little ceremony that she finally sinks from te waking plane. She's going to scry the past events, those last murders, and find out what's going on for herself.

Just as Lisaria had indicated, the process is extremely cut an dry. Each and every incident plays out the same. The victim is engaged in whatever tasks he or she is about, usually something unsavory, when a smallish sphere of pale blue light forms above hir head. A soundless beam shoots straight down from the sphere, piercing the skull, brain, and all the way down the spinal column (save for the one who lacks a spine, in which case the beam only pierces the brain). In each case an average sized-man with markings similar to Felina's but an apparently human structure can be seen somewhere nearby, and the energy is plainly connected to him.

As for Tenru... unlike with the others, whose energy signatures were not tremendous, it is plain that the sphere somehow neutralized his power upon forming. An attempt at a shield simply dissipated. And again, the same man stood not too far away.

Now Felina's got a read on his signature, and sets to trying to locate him and trace his movements after the latest incident.

The movements are subtle, and terribly erratic. Oddly enough, it seems as if the signature had been here on Helantri Deru for about a millisecond before leaving for Moorn's new planet. It is strongest there, right now.

Felina would normally groan, except that she really can't have anything to do with any strong emotion and maintain this kind of state. It takes her some precious seconds to safely return to the waking world. Then she wastes no time in appearing on Istan Aiga, looking for the man she'd sensed. Damnit, she has to talk to him....