helantri deru
outside deru archive

---

Meanwhile, Orrin's ansy, though he isn't positive why...he can sense energy and magic to a limited extent, but not enough to be helpful right now. He stops walking to quiet his own steps, and looks around, watching, listening, and feeling quietly.

"Orrin..." Yoru's hopeful little voice wafts across the gardens, not far, but not near to the walking Dumen. "Orrin, can you hear me?"

He blinks. Steels himself just a touch, after all that's gone down, but smiles. "Over here, Miss Yoru. Hi."

Yoru appears a ways in front of him, unarmed, and looking terribly meek. Her ears are down, her eyes are sparkling, and she looks to be on the verge of breaking down.

"Orrin... I did some bad things today."

"Yeah, you did. But everyone screws up. I have too, in big ways." He heads towards her, tone not lacking sympathy. "Just because you messed up doesn't mean that you can't learn from it and not make the same mistake again."

"Orrin, stay back," she warns, shaking her head. "I'm about to do something else bad."

Ohhh...kay. Now he's worried. Stops...actually takes a defensive step back. "Yoru? Come on, you want to be good and liked, right?"

"I do, I do!" She shakes her head. "But I can't have you unless I do something bad. Don't you see?"

Orrin's eyes widen a touch, even as his brow furrows equally. "'Have me'...? Yoru, you aren't going to try to hurt my wife, are you? I can't let you do that."

"No, no no!" She shakes her head again. "I don't... I wouldn't! Her stupid sorcerer friend tried to kill me, but I didn't fight back. I like Felina! i just like you too. And I learned some things at the library, Orrin. I learned how to make a man mine." She smiles at him. "Lots of ways."

Orrin's still not sure what she's driving at, but, though relieved momentarily at the "I like Felina" part, is getting tenser by the moment. "Yoru, I love my wife, with all my heart. We've been through hell and high water together and...well, I owe her my life on more levels than you'd think." He honestly believes that it's become his duty to spend his whole life making up for betraying her. "I like you too, but...I'd never leave her for anyone."

"I thought as much." She smiles. "So I learned how to hypnotize. Now. Watch the watch." Her eyes flash, and an illusionary pocket watch shimmers into sight just in front of Orrin. Its has four hands that spine in opposing directions, swirling and whirling. Far from a parlor trick, though, there is dedicated mind control magic in the air.

Orrin recoils, though something in him doesn't let him do it far...he knows he's in trouble. A hand's in front of his eyes almost instantly. "Yoru...what are you doing? Knock it off!" This is no doubt the first time she's heard him truly angry. Most people never do. His hand actually starts for a throwing needle...somehow can't bring himself to, though his fingers trembles for wanting. He just...thinks, teeth gritted. About Felina, her face. The kids, their life. Felina, Felina, Felina.

Yoru can hear his thoughts, and her expression reflects how this is tearing her up inside. The magic, though, only grows stronger, calling Orrin to her, to come and be hers.

Until, that is, the crack of a holy water sprinkler against Serinian skull breaks the spell into dust.

Orrin catches his breath, and drops to a knee, shaking his head...his mind is really, really muddled right now, he can't so much as think straight. "Dad!" Ting slides to a stop by his side, hand on his shoulder. Dewei pauses beside him, momentarily, but then is near Yue, sword drawn and ready for reciprocation.

Yoru pulls herself shakily to her feet. The wound she's sustained is... horrible, to look at. Her eyes are glazed over, her jaw slack, and her neck covered in blood. She just stares at Dewei, questions in her eyes, before simply tumbling over and thumping against the earth.

"Restrain her, Dewei, if you can," Yue requests of him. "Your mother might be able to deal with her better if she cannot move."

Dewei nods, and quickly scribes a strong binding spell into the dust.

"I'm here," Felina notes, face far removed from the motherly one Yue had seen earlier. Looks over things briefly...sets a hand on Orrin's head a moment, to slightly cleared thoughts--she hadn't done anything psychic, just the touch--and then looks to Yoru. "Dewei...please eliminate her pain, but don't heal the injury." Meanwhile, she weaves a power bind spell. When that's done a few moments later, she stabilizes Yoru's injury a bit to preserve her life.

Yue watches this all grimly, feeling a typical sinking in his gut at the harm he'd just inflicted. He turns away, at least, leaning on Dewei for support since he is the closest person to him.

Yoru looks up, groggily, to see Felina standing over her. "I'm sorry," she whimpers genuinely, "I couldn't stop myself..."

"I know, Yoru. This is gotta stop...for both our safety. I'm going to put you to sleep. And then I'm going to do everything I can to figure out the way your mind works and deprogram the dangerous codes in your mind."

She looks back down. "Do what you have to do. But do it fast. I... my survival instinct won't let me wait on you..." the earth around her is already quivering, her power straining against Felina's shackles.

"I have no inention of killing you. Know that." Felina kneels beside Yoru, puts a hand on her forehead, and the most potent quickly available stasis spell she knows wraps around Yoru's mind.

The new Serinian struggles gamely against it, against her own will, but in her current state there is no putting Felina's efforts aside. She actually smiles a little bit before her head drops, eyes as empty as hollow crab shells.

Felina lets out her breath...shakes her head a little, at nothing in particular. She seals the stasis, sets Yoru's injury to knitting, and picks up the Serinian carefully, then looks around. "Is everyone okay?"

"She didn't have a chance to hurt anyone else, Felina," Yue assures her, holding up the bloody sprinkler. "She never saw it coming." His voice wavers regretfully at the end.

Felina frees one of her hands, supporting Yoru telekinetically, squeezes his arm gently. "Thank you for protecting us, Yue. It may turn out for the better. If this 'deprogram' works...I may know how to end this whole mess." He no doubt needs a moment to collect himself, and she walks over to Orrin, kneeling in front of him. "Love? Are you okay?"

Orrin smiles weakly after a moment, and nods. "Yeah. Might've been a different story if Yue and the kids hadn't shown up when they did. She wasn't going to hurt me, I mean, just...yeah." Something compells him to add that last part. He can't stand the thought of Yoru being thought too badly of, for some reason.

Yue smiles at her. She's exactly right. "Dewei," he calls to the elder twin, "I apologize for leaning on you just now. It's been a long time since I did something..." he looks away. "... like that."

Dewe smiles a bit, and shakes his head. His sword hasn't been sheathed since it's easier to do that with two hands, and one's supporting Yue. "No...it's fine. Believe me, I understand." He nods.

Felina smiles a little at Dewei, brushes Orrin's cheek affectionately for a moment, then takes Yoru completely in her arms again and stands up. "Ting, would you check your father's mind for any ill effects, please."

"Okeedokee!"

Yoru's spell had been hypnosis at its most fundamental. She really hadn't intended to hurt him in any way, shape, or form.

"This is for the best." Yue nods a little bit, and separates himself from Dewei. "She needed help, truly. Felina, do you need any help deprogramming her?"

"To be honest, I don't know yet. I wouldn't mind you being around for backup, if you're feeling up to it."

"Of course." He smiles prettily at Dewei. "Raincheck on our talk, dear?"

Dewei smiles, and nods as he sheaths his sword. "Of course."

"Hmph."

"Gah!" This as Ting somehow pounces Dewei to the ground from behind, even though she'd previously been in front of him.


"Hmph. He means, he'd be thrilled! Right Ding?"

Dewei laughs, propping his head on an elbow. "Yes. That."

Felina smiles softly at them, and turns to head back towards the house.

Yue shakes his head, and follows along. "Strange children," he admits, "but likeable. So do you have a plan to help this poor... girl?"

Felina nods slowly. "I think so. There's a chance I can tweak her mind to be perfectly normal, but it's slim...there's a larger chance that I can pretty much disable her capacity for malice...including the extent that a normal person has. That would leave her more vulnerable than I like, would make it really hard to strike back in defense if someone ever harmed her."

She looks down to Yoru as they walk. "There is an order of monks that can guide and take care of very powerful sorts quite well, they've earned a lot of trust from me over the years. I'd certainly keep an eye on her remotely, of course, and help her a lot like my father helped me before I knew he was my father...but I think that wiping this whole series of events, of being Ahmin Rei-ono's true daughter, from her conscious mind and taking her there--in essence, letting her grow up there--may be the best way to go. Being around me and especially Mara...may not be a good way to go." She looks back up to Yue. "Your thoughts?"

Yue listens to all that, biting his lip at points, nodding in agreement at others.

"Felina, I have a thought I'd like to explore first." He falls into closer step with her. "Before you wipe her memory or take away who she is, both very valid, I wonder if there isn't still some external stimulus making her act this way? Surely, after thousands of years, anything inside of Mara would already have come to the surface. With all the probing and searching we've done in her mind over the years, we would have found it." He bites his lip harder. "I think that parasol might have something to do with it."

Felina frowns a bit. "It's possible. The damned thing should be locked away in such a way that it can't reach her in any way...but she did say, more than once, that she heard it 'talking to her.' I still worry that destroying it could harm her in some way...of course, we're running out of options, too.

"I say it's worth a shot. She doesn't need to live a life knowing that she will end up at odds with people she likes."

By now, Yoru's wound has knitted. Yue looks at her, strangely, when the last traces of it vanish.

"Felina. Her energy is rising again." His expression sours. "Fast."

Felina frowns, and nods. Damnit...will she get another shot at diarming Yoru's mind if she doesn't take it now? Maybe not, but... "Alright." She and Yue's next step puts them well inside the house, just outside the area that disables teleportation, where her younger parallel had been kept a year ago. "I'm afraid that containing her may trigger a severe, instinctive backlash. Messing with the parasol may create that anyway, though. Thoughts?" Considering the energy, thoughts in a hurry.

"Put her in a pocket dimension, let her loose, then destroy the parasol while she is away from harming anyone?" Yue's hair is actually starting to lift. The strain of Yoru's budding power against Felina's shackles is practically palpable.

"Plan. Be ready to get out of here, okay? After what just happened, you may be the prime target if she has the same 'berserk' trait that Mara does." And then a shift later, Felina's gone. Two more shifts, into an empty, sealed dimension. She lays Yoru here, along with a psychic "don't be scared of this, we haven't left you and I promise I'll be back soon" hanging in the air. Then she steps out and seals the dimension as best she can, severing its ties to other dimensions as completely as readily possible, and then, cloaking herself heavily to prevent leaving energy traces on her trail, shifts quickly towards the dimension with the parasol, totally and completely sealing each step she takes to leave no trace.

Yoru's eyes snap open almost as soon as that thought registers. Everything she had built up shudders outwards in a slow arc, drawing into thin wisps of wavering white energy. There is a pause.

And then every piece of it scatters. Thin lines fire in every direction, even punching through Yoru herself a dozen times before the release is finished. She groans, but has the presence of mind to divert her remaining energy to the new wounds... she isn't sure what just happened. Or where she is.

"Felina?" She looks around, nothingness meeting her eyes. "Where..."

Felina's nowhere to be found. With the dimension as sealed as it is, telepathic communication would be hard. That same don't worry, I'll be back, everything will be fine feeling continues to hang, echoing faintly as necessary.

Meanwhile, the holding dimension's walls thoroughly sealed behind her, Felina's ears are back as she approaches that damnable parasol.

A far cry from before, now the staff with umbrella is obviously broadcast potent messages of violence, greed, and killer instinct. The complexity and pure energy within its bindings resonates against itself, producing a force that almost literally seems to bend space around itself.

Uh-huh. Felina lets out a slow breath, face very serious...raises both hands after a few moments. Pinpoints of energy of the most brutal destruction spell in her arsenal form at four points around the parasol.

Yoru's head snaps up suddenly. She can feel something, some danger rising around her. She looks around, eyes wide, shaking from a fear that she cannot figure out.

The parasol remains unresponsive. It is, after all, but a beacon.

The spell builds and works fast, but is holding to itself right now. Felina understands the need for speed, but also knows that hurrying this spell too much will harm its effectiveness. She lets out a slow breath, eyes taking on an unnatural amber sheen. The engergies begin an angry swirl probably only Moorn could properly appreciate.

Some forty seconds and a deafening crack later, the spell snaps inward, intended to rend the parasol and all its energies into their barest constituents...and incinerate what it can.

The staff holds up remarkably well. The space anomaly in front of it warps the spell to a point, but after a moment it simply cannot stand any longer. Splinters shoot out, but do not make it very far before simply vaporizing, leaving nothing to be spoken of as evidence.

Yoru has never felt such a paralyzing agony before. She feels as though her spinal cord is burning, her brain boiling, but she knows that no one can hear her screaming. Lifetimes pass for her in the span of only a few seconds, when the strange feeling abates as quickly as it had come. She lies still, just breathing, just trying to concentrate on her heartbeat.

Felina sucks in her breath after a few held moments, and narrows her eyes, examining where the parasol had been, seeking any remaining energy traces. She'd sensed Yoru react, too, somewhere distant...god she hopes she's okay.

"Felina..." Yoru calls again, weakly. "I can't move. Help me..."
She knows her voice won't carry, that no one can hear her. That she's beyond help.

She has such a sick feeling in her gut...Felina dearly hopes that the parasol's completely gone, because every sense is screaming at her about having no time to finish her checks. Yoru...

She literally sprints across the dimensions. As literally as possible, anyway...tears a hole in the one she'd sealed Yoru in, though it's hard despite being the seals' creator...hurries to the other construct's side, wastes no time in putting a hand on her shoulder and one on her head. "God, Yoru, you're hurt..."

She's drained from the destruction spell. But that doesn't stop her from pouring all the strength she can muster into healing and restorative ones.

"Felina...? No, no..." she tries to shake her head. Can't. "You can't. I feel it, you are too weak." Her eyes sparkle a little. "Did I do something to... deserve this?" Her energy is replenishing, bit by bit, on its own. Felina's efforts hasten the process, though, enough that Yoru can move her arms a little by the time she has finished asking the question.

"No...no, you didn't, that's the worse part." Felina's eyes are actually glittering in return, her heart positively breaking for Yoru. She does scale back her energy a little...but doen't cease the spells. She pets Yoru's hair back gently. "You didn't do anything, Yoru. I am the one who hurt you, but I swear I didn't mean to...." Really, Yue's not the only one she's been mothering.

"Did you..." her hand comes up, reaching for Felina's. Her eyes are clearing a little bit, as well. "Did you destroy the parasol...? I can't hear it anymore, Felina."

"Yeah. I did." Felina takes the hand. "This is why I didn't destroy it when you first found it, and just locked it away. I thought it might hurt you if I hurt it. When I feel so sure that the parasol's been making you do things you didn't rally want to, when it looked more and more like it was going to force a really dangerous conflict between us, I knew it had to be destroyed...I shut you in here, hoped that would protect you. But...it didn't. And I'm so sorry."

"Felina, no." Yoru tugs on the hand. "I'm... free. I'm free, even though it hurts. You did that for me."

Felina finally smiles at that, just a little. "Well...yeah. I think you may get to be you now." She offers her other hand too. "Can you stand?"

"I can try..." Yoru takes the other one and rises, leaning only a little against Felina in he effort. "I have to make this up to your family, somehow..."

"They may be iffy on you for awhile," Felina admits as she helps support Yoru and get her steady. "But, even the twins, as relatively young as they are, have seen a little bit of everything in their lives. I think they'll understand."

"Good. Good." She breathes in, and out. "Alright. I can go, if you can." Each syllable seems more hesitant the one before. She dreads facing them, in a way.

"Alright. I'll take us back, then." And, a shift later, they're back in the halls of Helantri Deru.

---

"So...would you like me to conjour a brush, Miss Ai?" Dewei inquires.

"Later." Ai leads him away from the house, into the nearby woods. She doesn't go far. It'd be pointless, and Felina would probably worry anyway.

Once she's gone as far as she thinks they need to, Ai turns on Dewei and pushes him none-too-gently against a nearby tree. Her eyes burn, but it is 'you're going to like this idea' kind of burn.

Dewei eeps a little, eyes widening a touch. He doesn't comment yet, though.

"I brought you something," she tells him, fishing into her deep pockets. "I've wanted to do this with you since the day we met, Dewei." She reaches out with her other hand, touches his cheek.

And holds up a five-point, star shaped leaf.

Dewei's...hm. Simultaneously let down and relieved. He glances at the leaf. "Well...I have to admit I haven't tried it before." He smiles at Ai. "But it certainly promises to be interesting."

Ai grins. "Good. Go behind that tree, and when you come out, you had best only be wearing this." And she hands him the leaf.

Dewei blinks. And turns very red. "Ahhh....?"

Ai chuckles, lets the leaf fall. She leans in, gently settling her lips to his cheek. "I couldn't help myself," she mirthfully admits. "Do you want to, though? I mean... you don't smoke the leaf. Or smoke at all, if you would prefer to take it another way. And you certainly don't have to, if you don't want to." She nods, punctuating her statement.

Dewei laughs softly...this time, definitely from relief, but also amusement. His blush remains through the kiss, but his eyes are bright and affectionate. "If it's with you, Miss Ai...of course I want to."

"Then let's make a comfortable spot and sail away together." Ai reaches for his hand again. "Now... there are different ways to take it. I doubt you would smoke, so... in food, or tea, though the tea is sort of unpleasant."

"Which way would you recommend?" Dewei inquires, taking her hand gladly. "I'm certainly willing to try any of them."

Ai smiles more brightly. "I brought these," she laughs, holding up a paper packet full of brownies in her other hand, "just in case. Would you set us up a nice place right here? I need to change clothes before I go on any trips."

Dewei grins, and nods. "Certainly, Ai. It will be waiting for you."

Her eyes cloud. She moves toward him a little, bites her lip gently, and turns, heading over to another tree. She doesn't need to conceal herself to change. But she wants to, this time.

Dewei notices this...of course he does, he's ver aware of her moods. If...bad at interpreting them. He ponders making this a nice space. Finally smiles, and sets his hand to the soft clover covering the ground. In a few moments' time, bold little foret-me-nots bloom up from between the tightly-situated clover plants, blooming after another few seconds and stretching through a good deal of the orchard. Dewei smiles. Yeah, that'll do.

Ai returns a moment later, dressed in clean, pleasant smelling attire. A simple cobalt, knee-length skirt with a snow-white button-down blouse covers her, a modest number that still screams 'accessible'. She smiles at Dewei, but when she notices the changes, her heart simply breaks and melts into puddly bits.

"I was thinking of seats or pillows, but..." she hides her eyes by turning away. "You showman. Are you ready?"

Dewei grins, and takes a little bow. "You look very nice, Miss Ai. And...certainly."

"Here you go then." She hands him the packet, quickly summons up a few tall glasses of milk, and draws up a couple of flower chairs across from each other. "Ready to go." She looks at him again, like she had before. "They, ah... low calorie, too."

"Ah, you're so kind to watch my girlish figure, Ai." He grins at her, accepting the things with a bowed head. "Yours doesn't need any such help, though." He colors a little at his own forwardness on that.

So does she. A second bloom opens on each flower chair, and Ai sets her glass down in hers. "Thank you... you are sweet." She holds up one of the brownies, which she had actually baked instead of manifesting. "To you, Dewei." And she takes a very ladylike nibble. She figures she ought to be ladylike now, before the munchies set in.

"And to you, Miss Ai." Dewei smiles, and munches on his. Of course, he's unaware of the munchies that will follows. He's...um. Thankfully less ladylike. "These are very good. You made them by hand, didn't you?" His mother conjours. His dad cooks. He knows the difference.

Ai nods, pleased that he can tell. "I grew the plant naturally, as well. So." She sits in the unnaturally comfortable flower. "How have you been Dewei? I know it has not been long, but the last few days have felt eternal."

Dewei smiles a bit at that, and nods. "I can agree to that. Not being able to talk to you is...well, unpleasant." He laughs. "Mostly I've been trying to make things easier for your father...and then getting well out of the way before he actually gets there. It's a sound plan." He grins. Though "really freaking worried about his aunt" should have been in there as well. "And you, Miss Ai?"

Ai's smiles remains steady, despite temptation to fade. "I am here with you now, Dewei. That surpasses anything else." She munches another brownie, more quickly this time. "You are right to avoid Father right now. He misses Mara more than he would ever tell you."

"We all do, I think, but...she'll be okay. She's really quite tough in a paint-threats-green kinda way." Dewei grins, and takes another brownie.

---

It doesn't take long. About ten minutes, to be exact, before Ai's eyes begin to redden. Her posture slouches a little, a crooked smile set on her lips, but she's mostly alert.

"Dewei... how are you feeling?"

"Relaxed!" he laughs. "This stuff works. And it's always nice to be around you, anyway, so happy." He smiles at her. "How about you, Ai?"

"Unburdened for sure. Uninhibited as well, but a bit too relaxed to act on it, I think." She rubs her chin thoughtfully, gazing in his general direction. 

Dewei smiles at her. His cheeks don't redden quite as much as they normally would...and he's not as inclined to play dumb as he normally is. "Well...it's probably a good thing that I can match you on both counts, for my own intact skin." He laughs, leans back in the chair. "I still don't know what your dad would do."

"He has no say in who I do or do not allow to bone me!"

Ai blinks, slowly. "Ooh... that's right, Dewei. He might be upset."

Dewei grins at her. "Just a touch. I honestly don't fail to notice any time you flirt, Ai...it's just, well...my mom doesn't have any stupid sons. Almost! But not quite." He laughs. Of course, this is all going to come back to bite him later now that he's blown his "oblivious" cover.

"Oh, Dewei..." Ai coos a little bit, a more "whee it's cute!" coo than Yue's "how far is it to your cave?" coo. "I noticed. It flatters me that you try, but I do sneak a look down sometimes. Stupid doesn't hide everything when I flirt with you."

"Eh-heh..." Dewei grins a broad, if sheepish, grin, cheeks finally working on coloring. "It can try, though!"

"It should not have to. That is flattering too." Ai sits up in her flower chair, quite suddenly. "I think we should tell everyone how great we are together, Dewei. We should write it in the sky... like this." She waves her hand, and in the air before them something that looks rather like a deformed stick-couple wavers in blue light.

Dewei grins, and points to one. "She's not pretty enough for people to know it's you, though." He blinks. Points to the other. "Or is that the girl...?"

"No," Ai snickers, "that is a butterfly. I think?" She scrutinizes her air art. "Huh. I think they're both broken."

A soft flash of light that leaves translucent angel feathers flitting to the ground heralds Yue's appearance. He is about to speak, but notes the two already there.

"You two seem to be enjoying yourselves."

Dewei grins at Yue. "You would be too, with Ai's particular brand of seasoning." He looks to the brownies.

"Certainly," Yue nods, not noticing the brownies. "Are you two lucid?"

"Yes," Ai nods, "just relaxed. Would you like to relax with us?"

"No, no thank you. I believe I have fallen in love enough times today. I have come to ask you two to return home. We have a slight development, dears."

Dewei tilts his head, although concern fails him. "What happened?"

"A gentleman showed up looking for Mara. We think he may be trouble, so you need to go home and watch your family and Yoru. I am going to take care of this." Yue smiles sweetly, to put aside any concern. "Your mother needs rest."

Dewei nods after a moment. "Right..." He looks over at Ai and grins. Stands most grudingly after a moment, and offers her a hand.

Ai takes it, of course. "Someone ought to go with her," Ai notes of Yue. "I would, but... ooh. Dewei, your hand feels so smooth. Like cream."

Dewei smiles at Ai, even as he ponders this. "Well, I think Spot's probably too tired too. That leaves me, dad, Yoru, and Makyon." Ponders. "Actually, sobering people up is one of the magics my dad does know. He said Ting made it a survival necessity." He laughs.

"Your mother would not be pleased if I let you come, Dewei." Yue has to put his foot down sometimes, cute or not. "Please, just take care of Ai. Okay?"

Dewei nods. "Okay!" He sounds more like Ting than usual.

Yue smiles prettily for them. "Okay. Go home." And he vanishes, headed for the Cavern Moon.

Dewei grins at Ai. "We'll have to do this again sometime," he notes as they head back towards the house.

Felina's arm's been lying over her eyes, in a state of "mostly asleep." She narrows her eyes, though, then opens them, at a sense of danger. Her brow creases. Not to herself, to someone else.

"Yes," Ai agrees, "next time, though, we will have to try playing cards or something. It makes the experience so much more interesting when the diamonds dance." She bites her lip, a little bit. "Dewei. Did that woman seem like she was lying to you? Maybe? Or covering something? Or am I just cloudy?"

"Covering something." Dewei nods. Shakes his head slowly after a moment. It's slowly working into his brain that alertness would be good. "Let's go find my dad, huh?"

"Good plan." Ai nods. Blinks. "Actually... I ought to head home. If father knows someone was looking for Mara, who knows what sort of things he's kicked..."

"Good point." Dewei's torn a minute. "Are you sure that you'll be all right alone, Ai...just in case?" Some worries can even get through ja'herb.

Ai steps in front of him, faces him down with those unearthly black-border-blue-inner eyes of hers.

"Kiss me for luck...?" Some other feelings can get through the ganja, too.

Dewei smiles softly, and nods. He pauses, just a moment, leans forward, and kisses her, less tentatively than last time.

Ai wonders if now is a good time to tell him how high her tolerance to marijuana has grown. 

Decides not to.

The world swirls around her, anyway, as she returns the kiss in generous fashion.

"Mm... yes," Ai smiles when they separate, "I will be fine, Dewei."

Dewei smiles at her, and squeezes her hands before releasing them. "I couldn't live any other way, Ai. See you later."

She had already started to transport. Her expression bears perhaps the most joyful sorrow it has borne at least since her father was returned to her. She blows a kiss to him just as she vanishes, her heart filled with light.

Dewei smiles softly, and heads off in search of his father.

Meanwhile, Felina sits up quickly. Yue? What the hell are you doing up there?

No answer, save for the faintest of affirmations.

Felina's fangs bare a little bit, just from worry for a very dear friend, and climbs out of bed, senses peeled. Damnit...couldn't just hang around and keep watch...leave the idiotic hero-type stuff to me... this isn't being broadcast, just ranted inwardly.

Orrin, meanwhile, is working at clearing up Dewei's mind. "You know, I thought you were going to have some fun in a non-narcotic kind of way."

Dewei turns a touch red at that. He's still unusually smiley, but it's...his dad. "Um..."

Yoru, in the other room, quite suddenly snaps to attention again. "Where did he go?" she demands of whoever can hear her. "Oh. Hello."

"Hi," Dewei responds, looking over to her. Ting's asleep, so he and Orrin are hanging out around Yoru. Not that the full dumen is totally comfortable with that. "Mom sent Dorian," he'd gotten the name just now from his dad's mind, "back to the cavern moon. Something about how he's not welcome here until she's sure of what just happened."

"No, no. Not him, your angel friend. The one who hit me earlier." The former Mara shakes her head, though it is plain that it is tough to do so while under shackles.

"I think he went to talk to Dorian."

"Doesn't that worry you...?"

"Yeah. I assumed he knows what he's doing, though."

Orrin's not pleased to hear that Yue had headed that way.

Yoru doesn't have time to explain herself. A slight peak of psychic interference crackles across the spectrum, incredibly slight, but noticeable.

Dorian's image shimmers into view, just off to the side.

"Hello again, everyone. I told your mother I wasn't leaving, that I wasn't going to hurt anyone. So someone came anyway. If you want your angel back, you can come and get him. He's not going anywhere on his own."

Felina's there immadiately. "What are you talking about?" There's a deeply worried undertone to the challenging statement.

"You'll have to see for yourself. Don't worry, though. I didn't hurt him any more than he needed hurt." Dorian isn't really looking at them. He cannot see them, of course... it is swiftly apparent that this is only an image, nothing more. "The reason I hurt Yoru was that my psyche emits waves that dissolve the tethers binding her soul to her body. I didn't do it on purpose, but at least now I know."

Felina frowns, glances to Yoru. She nods after a moment. Actually, it had been the original reason she'd asked whether Dorian thought he could fight her. Were he incapable of fighting Mara, there must have been another way. "Right...I'll be right there." That said, she's back on the Cavern Moon, worry for Yue almost choking her.

---

Dewei's ears are a bit back as he walks out into the gardens with Ai in search of Ting, heading straight for where he senses her.

Ting, for her part, is in the cherry grove that Makyon sometimes naps in. She's huddled back against a tree, on the ground instead of a branch...just leaning over her knees, making herself generally small, and crying.

She sniffs hard when she senses Ai and her twin approaching and tries to dry her eyes before hiding them again and turning her face the opposite way, that it can't be seen. She's having trouble witholding all sobs, but is making a good effort at it.

Ai moves ahead of Dewei, jogging with some little difficulty in her rare choice of shoes. 

"Ting? What's wrong, child?" Yeah, Ai is old enough to talk that way, even if she refrains more often.

Ting sniffles quietly. She doesn't look at Ai...only turns her head when Dewei kneels on the other side of her, so she's looking straight out between them. "Nothing...I'm fine..." she tries, quietly.

Ai doesn't say anything. She shifts her position a bit, and moves to put her arms around the disheveled Serinian mutt.

Ting sniffles, and leans up against Ai. She's grateful. Doesn't much much to indicate it, but...she's grateful, and just stays put.

Dewei, for his part, couldn't look much more stricken or worried.

"You can tell us whatever is bothering you, Ting. I am a Goddess, after all. People pray to me all the time. And your delectable brother has a heart of gold, and he loves you. Let us help you." Ai pets Ting's hair throughout this brief speech to soothe her.

Ting sniffles, and smiles at Dewei just a little bit for a squeezed foot. She shrugs a little. "I dunno...it was stupid. I knew part of Aunt's personality got taken out, I just...I don't know. I guess I didn't realize that she'd be totally different when she woke up. She's not even the same person and..." she loses her voice to a whimpering sob again, and buries her face on Ai's shoulder.

Ai holds her gently, mothering her out of an instinct that she still refuses to admit she possesses. "I see... we have not spoken with her yet, Ting. But try to stay positive, sweetheart... it could be temporary. And if not, then what family could be better to try and restore her than yours and mine?"

"Yeah...we'll figure it out, Spot. Promise." Dewei nods...although he's worried, too. This is the first he's heard about Mara not being right.

"We have to." Ting just nods to this, sniffles, and stays. She's done trying to be perky when things are wrong. She's emotionally worn out.

"I promise we will find a way to fix it, Ting. So why don't you get some rest? Or find Makyon and make him hold you?" Ai gazes at Dewei, thinking aloud that this is a horrible time for more things to go wrong.

"I'm not tired...I dunno...finding Makyon might be good."

Dewei nods slowly. He's a little torn...to be honest, he'd really like to stay with Ting, himself.

The goddess pats Ting's hair gently, one more time. "I think I should talk to my father. Dewei, why don't you just stay here with her?" Eyes sparkle. Of course she's let down. Things always seem to get in the way. 

Dewei smiles at her gently...nods. Reaches out and squeezes her arm lightly. "We'll talk about plants and such later, Ai. Promise."

Meanwhile, Ting takes a hint and sits up a bit, grudgingly taking her weight off of Ai.

The goddess smiles at them both and vanishes, headed home. How she feels right now is hard to describe, but nowhere in that list does 'good' appear.

Dewei sighs quietly...he's really sorry that the yggdrasil talk had been delayed. But right now, he's more worried about Ting. "Spot..." hugs her, against her will, and in a couple more moments, she wraps her arms around his neck, and cries.

---

A bit later, Mara-kuru is bouncing about the garden area, looking for Felina.

It's quite easy to find her, of course...as soon as Felina's aware that Mara's looking for her, she makes sure of it. "Good morning, sunshine. You look better." She smiles, and stands up.

"I feel better," Mara agrees. She's dressed in a white clerical outfit, very... monastery. "It was odd earlier. How are you this lovely morning?"

"I'm just fine, thank you," Felina affirms, nodding. "Just thinking about things in general." She smiles.

"Oh?" Mara hops onto a tree branch just above her head. "Want to tell me about them? A good set of ears, you know." And she wiggles them amusedly.

Felina grins a little, looking up to Mara. Yeah...she's still part Mara, for sure. "Well, for one...have you sensed Yue around? If not...Yue's back."

"I did! But he seemed a little out of sorts the entire time, so I thought I would let him have breathing room." Mara nods, wiggling her toes in Felina's general direction. "Besides, I remember flirtation between us, and that is wrong."

"He's had a bit of a rough time of it since he got back," Felina admits. "But I'm confident he'll pull through. He just needs some TLC, I think, in a way I can no longer really provide. He's a great guy, or girl...I'm sure it will happen."

"Yeah. Girl, though, because otherwise is immoral." Mara looks at Felina critically. "So I think you wanted me to find you. Did you find something out?"

"Several things." Felina nods a little, consider her words. "First...there's no easy 'magic you like you were before' fix that I can see. You and your other half are irreparably separate, since your minds have both already developed to an extent away from wht they originally were."