Anala awoke from a deep sleep to Celeste's voice and candlelight. She blinked wearily and shifted. Iris and Kaessra were already awake and dressing. She looked up at Celeste once again. "What—er, what is it?"

"Are you going to sleep all day?"

Anala looked to the open arches that led to a veranda, separated by thin blue curtains that fluttered in the slight breeze. The sky was still dark. "The sun has to rise for it to be day Les."

She sat up on the bed and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. She climbed off and stood, stretching and yawning. Anala was no longer accustomed to being up at dawn but it would change with her staying here. She dressed, wearing a lilac dress that brushed her bare feet. She back was exposed, made to not hinder the mobility of her wings and the thin material was soft and unrestricting, enfolding her body gently. She splashed cool water on her face from a basin set on a stand along the wall and brushed her hair, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Kaessra approached her, her unseeing gaze meeting her own, worry in them as she passed her a lightly steaming cup. "What's wrong?"

Anala ran a hand through her untangled hair and took a sip of the tea. It was warm and lightly sweetened with a brisk minty hint. The delicious liquid settled comfortably in her belly, warming her and helping her become more awake. The only thing wrong was her. In another life Anala would awaken in this sacred place and attend the prayers. It had been a simple task, one she had actually greatly enjoyed and appreciated. Now Anala went with a heavy heart and burdened mind. She was meant to pray to her Goddess, Mother of All, as her Oracle. Anala was given a set of guidelines, reinforced by a lifetime of teachings, and she had broken them. Linked as a direct vessel and Anala had done everything she wasn't supposed to. She had taken life. She had succumbed to the darkness, both around and inside of her. What sort of Oracle was she?

"If my brother can be Ahrahn and fight, why can't I?"

Iliana shifted under the massive willow, the reedy branches swaying. "Do you wish to fight, child?"

"No."

"Then why are you asking?"

She pouted, laying back on the grass. She just wanted an answer. "Shouldn't I have to fight? You said the Goddess picked me. Zain has taught me how to hide. He said once I master it he will show me to defend, and to fight like the warriors of the Guard."

"She did pick you. But as her vessel you must not interfere. All life holds value Anala. It is not our place to decide who lives and who does not. We are not meant to dictate such a thing. You feel the energy do you not? The life and warmth and purity in this tree?"

"Yes teacher, I do."

"Would you burn it to the ground, knowing you would never again feel its vitality?"

"no." she was rather fond of this tree, liking to lose herself high in its branches with her Mages.

"What about the birds that would nest here, the animals that find their way into the garden, your sisters, would you kill them?"

"No of cour—!"

"Would you kill a demon? A Gorgon? A Titan?"

"Well . . . yes."

"Why?"

Because they are evil."

Iliana's eyes flashed angrily. "The world is not as black and white as you see it! You are still very young and do not know, even if you believe you do. If you were standing above such a creature, could you truly bring yourself to kill it knowing that your interference would disrupt the balance? Would you still do it? Taking a life, no matter who's, darkens the soul. You were given a gift Anala. With it you have to learn that you feel the balance of nature much more sensitively than others. We serve Nature. We serve the Goddess. Harnessing the power that Mark allows you cannot serve its purpose if you corrupt your innermost harmony by committing such an act needlessly."

She stood, determination pumping through her. "I will be a good Oracle."

Anala sighed and Kaessra reached out and Anala met her touch. The Mage squeezed her hand. Anala smiled at her gratefully and kissed her cheek before she turned for the entrance where iris and Celeste stood.

They moved through the brightly lit passageways and down smooth stairs. Despite the material they were made of, the stone floors were warm beneath her bare feet. Pure energy filtered through these walls, pulsing through the temple from the earth and the allotted essence of the Oracles of the past. The entirety of the structure was created meticulously. The magic of the Mages and divinity of the Angels were infused here, the sole focus of its construction was to aide her, and all those before her bearing the same mark. It created an environment where she could be able to develop and learn and connect with the Goddess. There was once a time where Anala had accepted her duty completely and vowed to the deity she served she would adhere to her teachings. She walked the halls of the Naiyaila now, having broken it. They reached a set of doors. The pale wood was intricately carved with beautiful etchings and bordered with life-like flowers, blooming on a web of twisting vines.

Anala stopped outside the doors, wringing her hands then stopping once she realized she was doing so. She gestured for her sisters to enter, telling them she wanted to wait for Emmett. In reality Anala needed time to convince herself to walk into the room. She greeted others as she did so, those who worked and lived in the temple. The persons she knew greeted her with warm embraces and those she didn't, Anala greeted them with warm smiles as they talked and welcomed her return before entering the chamber. Anala's heart melted as she spotted Emmett coming around a corner. The olive green shirt went nicely with his dark hair and pale skin. It hugged his muscular arms and torso nicely and the loose-fitting black pants shifted fluidly as he walked, cinched at his ankles. She smiled, seeing that he was also appraising her, golden orbs rising to meet her own. A wide grin brightened his face, making her heart pitter-patter and cause an almost nervous flutter in her stomach.

Emmett leaned against the stone, folding his arms across his chest. He was watching Anala. He had been watching her for a while now. Of course, she didn't know it. He stood in the shadow of a pillar around the corner from where she was standing. The night before Anala had bathed him gently with the soft-smelling liquid she had spread on a cloth, and Emmett got the feeling she had enjoyed doing it. In her own way, Emmett concluded she was taking care of him. He didn't eat, so she didn't feed him, he never got sick or tired and as a vampire there were not many physical threats to his person it was so unexpectedly cute he was sure he'd actually blush if he were capable. The hot springs were a surprise. When Iliana had led him down stone steps he hadn't expected to be met with the sight of the four women sitting in the steaming water of a circular pool. Further inwards were more, some larger, connecting pools formed naturally in the rock that rose higher, carved and smoothed above into the entirety of the Temple. Anala had stepped out of the water, rivulets sliding down her body and dripping off her hair as the warm firelight made her eyes and skin glow. Emmett wished he had a camera.

She and the beautiful mages had taken him to one of the upper levels, into a large room with a curtained balcony and large low circular bed that was covered in multiple cushions and surrounded by a thin red curtain. his mate and these women she was clearly close to had spent hours talking, teaching him and Emmett was proud to say he could now understand greetings, directions, some generic conversation, and a few sweet nothings he had whispered in Anala's ear as he held her in his lap. He hadn't understood their conversations, but Emmett didn't mind he couldn't contribute. He was too preoccupied watching his mate smile and laugh, feeling her warm body in his arms and her heart beat against his chest. They had fallen asleep, and Emmett settled his mate among them before strolling through the temple, exploring every corner of the beautiful structure. Except two places. The first, the upper level he was not allowed to enter. The second was a single room with a pale white door.

Anala smiled as a woman embraced her, exchanging a few words before disappearing behind a pale door, a soft blue light filtering through it. Emmett had not gone into the room during his night exploration, hesitating as his hand touched the handle. That blue light was driving him up the wall. What the hell was it? The possibilities were suddenly so endless now. That could've been anything. It could've been the fucking door to Narnia for all he knew. Anala now stood alone, fingers gathering her hair over her shoulder. She lowered her hand and clasped her fingers as she stood quietly, a thoughtful look in her downcast eyes. He stepped out of the shadow and made his way towards her. A spellbinding smile spread on her full lips and Emmett ran his eyes over her body. The pale lavender dress clung to the curves of her breasts and hips, the material thin enough for him to make out the frame of her body beneath the light fabric. He felt a familiar stir in his loins and suggestive images flashed in his head. Emmett was expected to behave with her walking around like this? That was cruel. He reached her and pulled her close, pressing a hand to her bare back.

"Good morning love."

Her smile widened and she reached up to guide his lips to hers and Emmett followed willingly. She tasted hot and sinful and sweet and . . . a bit minty. She pulled back slowly, making him groan. "Good morning, Em."

Emmett stared into her verdant eyes surrounded by smoky lashes. "What's wrong?"

She blinked, looking surprised. They stared at each other. Emmett watched the shifting emotions in her eyes. Anala was stressing about something and Emmett couldn't possibly guess what it was. How could she be stressed out? They hadn't even been here twenty-four hours yet. Her lips parted slightly and her brows drew together a bit. Iliana was approaching, her heartbeat nearing closer, getting louder.

"Oh good, you're both here."

Anala turned and smiled at the sight of her smoking hot teacher and Emmett mentally swore. She was about to tell him what was going on with her. The beautiful woman stopped as she reached them. Her brown eyes looked to the door. She began speaking but Emmett could no longer understand the majority of what they said. Anala seemed to become slightly nervous and Iliana touched her face, sounding reassuring. He watched as the uncertainty and worry he had just been inquiring about ease. Her brow smoothed out and she seemed better. He didn't know what Iliana had said to her, but he was grateful for it. Anala looked up at him with one last smile before she turned and disappeared behind that pale door with the mysterious blue light.

"Tell me Emmett," Iliana began. "Are you a religious man?"

"I guess so." he shrugged. "I was raised to believe in God and I've learned of different religions and beliefs since then. I can believe there is more out there, and God is the name I have always acknowledged it as."

She nodded in understanding. "If those are your beliefs then no one will attempt to change it, but I ask you try and open yourself to the beliefs and practices here. Not only is it you bloodline, but your . . . Mate is at its very center. I think you'll find your stay here," she paused thoughtfully. "Enlightening. Grey eyes looked to the door. "Has Anala told you of her mark, what it symbolizes?"

"Some. She was born with the Mark only the Oracle receives. She has visions?"

The woman nodded, raising a brow at him and grey lightened to yellow. "That mark represents more than you, or anyone, will ever know. She is a vessel to the Goddess, and the purpose she serves is to guide the race, to connect each life and be the link between us and her."

"Do you have visions?"

"Some, not to the degree Anala does though on occasion, yes. But I am no longer Oracle. Anala was a surprise. There is always long periods between the births of succeeding oracles. Before me, my own mentor, had been born nearly three centuries before me and before her, four. Anala however was born only eight decades after I first arrived to the temple. The Goddess chose her for a reason."

"May I ask, who is the Goddess?"

"The Goddess is the earth. She is the energy coursing through the cosmos. She is the first breath of life and the last. The Mother." the woman tilted her head. "If God is the father of all Creation, then surely a mother had to have given life to it, no?"

The question made Emmett pause. He had never thought of that. Iliana pulled opened the ornate door. "We can continue this later if you'd like."

She stepped inside and Emmett followed, the door shutting softly. A short arched passage opened to a large room and the source of the strange light. The walls were high and covered completely in foreign writings, all glowing a pale blue that illuminated everything in a sapphire hue. Even the hemispherical ceiling glowed with the mysterious encryptions. The dark stone floors lined in large cushions, occupied by people facing towards a raised dais. Celeste, Iris, and Kaessra sat before the dais and Anala was stepping onto it slowly, moving towards the place on the wall where the symbol at the base of her skull was carved into the stone, glowing. It was surrounded in a ring of light and encircled by more symbols. The air hummed and the walls pulsed with . . . with something. Emmett's own energy reacted to the sensation in the air, to the hum of power and light. It resonated through him, filling with an emotion he wouldn't be able to ever fully explain in a verbal form. Iliana touched his arm and gestured to an unoccupied cushion. He sat, watching Anala. Iliana made her way to one of the two only cushions on the dais. Anala knelt, the black calligraphy along her spine shifting as she moved. She looked hesitant, unsure, and Emmett wasn't sure if he wanted to simply sit there, listening to the hum in the air or watch his mate continue to shock him in unimaginable ways. Anala reached up a hand and lay her hand reverently on the lit scripts, on the identical mark. The energy shifted and the soft blue light paled into white and Anala's heart slowed.

Soft words spilled from her mouth and a low purr of synchronized voices repeated them. It was fluid and smooth and lulling, almost like a song. his understanding was chopped and fractured, his mind only putting meaning to a few words here and there that didn't explain what was being said but it was beautiful and Emmett relaxed as his eyes followed the walls, taking in the sounds of his mate's voice, and the others. The worry he saw in her, the fear and insecurity seemed forgotten. Anala looked completely peaceful, at least for the moment and Emmett reflected on how they had begun in a small town high school that didn't seem to be especially significant and now he sat in this chamber, in this temple, located in this strange new world with the woman who had irreversibly changed him. It was hard to sit in this room and feel the effect it was having on him and not believe that a higher power was responsible for the presence of the woman sitting on the dais. Anala had entered his world, died, and returned to him two entire years later, still as beautiful and captivating and loving as she'd always been. If that wasn't divine intervention then Emmett didn't know what was.

Though it also made him think of the little things. To the fact she and Nolan had ended up in Forks, that Edward had seen them in the forest. He first saw her in the school parking lot but what were the chances that Nolan had parked where his family saw them? That she had looked over at him when she did and those emerald depths met his for the very first time? What were the infinitesimal chances she would fall in love with him, and not Jasper or Edward or any other resident of the continental U.S? Emmett had questions, naturally, but he didn't need the answers. He could easily accept it and if it wasn't his place to question such a power then fine. He had everything he wanted.

Emmett closed his eyes, letting his power rise and reach out to the serene pulsation in the air.