Stunned, utter silence.
What? was Stare's profound thought.
Aura, now.
Ah yes. She had not done it until now, and had meant to but politeness and the development of the conversation had distracted her. With Pride before her honestly looking like she might break into a thousand pieces at any moment, Stare barged her way into the aura sight with all the strength she could. In the quiet white stone corridor she saw a bright and glorious light before her. It was a light of a deep silver colour, but one that pulsated and thrummed with life. It was not grey, which meant no power, and it was not bound by a thin string of white energy - Vitruvion's eternal enchantment that kept the magic in this place on lockdown. That meant it was living, and was beyond what could be controlled by his spell. Which meant that it was of otherworldly origin, from beyond a place of Althanas.
Stare also saw that the main light of her energy was flowing fairly regularly, but hardly touched her root chakra. The lowest chakra, located in the very base of the spine. Without light there it showed the kenku that Pride was suffering from almost complete fear, and by the way it was so deep seated and the other chakras moving so fluidly, it seemed that she had been living with it for some time.
Fear of herself. Fear of her power that she had to constantly hide. Fear of the fear that she had to hide.
And her aura itself was a bright consistent pumpkin. So she had good heart and intentions and a neutral attitude to the morals and laws of the land. It would be fine to work with.
“Well?” Pride whispered, her lips quivering. “Can you help me? I have no idea what is going on and it's been about four months now …”
Stare looked at her sharply and drew a finger to her beak. She shook her head as she felt Vitruvion's own silence continue on. He was … distant. Perhaps contemplative. Uncertain it seemed and -
He was rising, calling the meeting to a finish, saying, “We seem to be speaking in simple words now, gentleman. Nothing more than idle chatter. I have things to do. If you excuse me.”
Stare looked at Pride, saying quickly. “Vitruvion is just coming.”
Pride swallowed thickly, and her fear that she had hidden away so much was now leaking out of her badly. Her face was a mess of emotion, her posture self-preserving, shaking. Her eyes were pits of complete terror as she clearly had no idea what was going on … no idea.
Her eyes darted up as the door quickly and quietly opened. Vitruvion came out, sweeping towards them with intent in his eyes. He gave a warning look to Stare week stepped forwards and grabbed Pride by the shoulder.
“Pride,” she whispered fast and brutal. “Look at me,” the shivering woman swallowed and glanced at her beer uneasily. Stare bore deep into her eyes. “You can't do this now. Don't break now.”
“We will talk tonight,” came the rich voice appearing at both of their sides. Pride took in a breath and gazed up at the villain in her life she likely thought she would never talk to. His ice blue eyes looked at her with complete seriousness. “That is all. Stare, we must go before raising suspicion, Pride get back to Tanish now, pull yourself together if you want to live. I will send for you.”
And his hand drew around Stare's shoulder. Grabbing it he pulled her away, dragging her a couple of steps without looking back. Stare threw Pride an apologetic look, and already the door was opening again. Pride gulped breaths, clearly trying to control herself before the inevitable onslaught of voices and eyes. The last thing Stare saw as Vitruvion directed her up the corridor was Pride's wide eyes turning to the door.
