Chapter 31

Inner Conflict

XxXxXx

3E 427 – Mournhold, Morrowind.

City of light, city of magic!

Those were one of the first words Nevano had heard when he had been unceremoniously dumped onto the floor of the palace where he had been standing in Ebonheart just moments before. Then a guard in a set of red plate armor greeted him with those words. Nevano had stared at him for a long moment, having a hard time processing those words. It had only been a week since Drelasa had allowed him to leave after months of difficult recovery, a mere three months since he had ventured into the heart of Red Mountain to face Dagoth Ur. The world seemed so incredibly different to him now. He simply couldn't see that any city could be as wondrous as the guard had said. Before anyone could say anything else to him, he quietly fled the palace and out into Mournhold.

Mournhold itself was something he had only ever read about. It was the site of many fabulous things and of many horrible things. It was rich with history; if he had brought Jorun with him, he was certain his friend would have been talking excitedly nonstop for days. As fond of his friend as he was, he probably would have tried to strangle him after a solid day of history lessons. Especially right now in his current mindset.

Drelasa hadn't wanted to let him go chase down the Dark Brotherhood. She had done everything she could to keep him in Balmora. She had argued that he wasn't fully healed from his encounter with Dagoth Ur yet but Nevano knew that that wasn't her main concern. His body was fine; it was his mind that was struggling to heal. She had been fairly alarmed at his sudden change in mood, had even written to Jorun who was still at Ghost Gate about her concerns. Nevano would never tell her that he knew about that letter. He also would never tell her that he had seen the reply. Fortunately for him though, Jorun, while also concerned, had seen what the Red Mountain region could do someone's mind. He had also seen Nevano stagger in from Red Mountain, had seen his horrible injuries, and could surmise what had happened within the bowels of the mountain. Nevano refused to tell him all that had happened in Citadel Dagoth. He simply couldn't bring himself to tell him of the horrors within that cursed place. Not now and maybe not ever. No, his mind would heal. It would simply be a matter of time.

Mournhold was hot and humid, even more so than the swamps in southern Cyrodiil. Instantly Nevano felt his skin prickle as sweat broke out on his skin but he didn't take off his hood. He was a marked man. Marked by…everyone. He suddenly felt tired and heavy as he made his way into a plaza south of the palace. Briefly he wished he had listened to Drelasa and stayed in Balmora for a little while longer but he knew that it wouldn't have made this journey any easier. No, he was where he needed to be.

The plaza was a grand place, surrounded by greenery with a well-paved walk surrounding a massive statue. A rather opulent plaque pronounced it to be Brindisi Dorum. Named for the duke who ruled Mournhold during the Four Score War and died when Mehrunes Dagon destroyed the city. Nevano knew nothing about the Four Score War. Jorun would, but Jorun wasn't here to enlighten him.

The statue caught his attention though. Sweeping walkways surrounded by a pool with spouting fountains led up to the massive marble structure. Nevano stepped up close and looked up. He instantly recognized Mehrunes Dagon. He knew the daedra well enough, as any good Dunmer should, to recognize them by sight. He didn't recognize the woman but Nerevar certainly did. Almalexia. That was the name that drifted through his mind like a leaf on the wind. He took a closer look at the marble woman. So this was the female aspect of the Tribunal, the wife of Nerevar and the consort of Vivec. A myriad of emotions flickered through him but none of them were his own. He himself felt nothing looking at this strange woman. She was a stranger to him. He felt nothing other than the strange feeling that he would probably get to know her before all this was said and done. Such was the fate of a marked man though.

He turned away from the statue and made his way to one of the walls that surrounded the plaza. This whole city was blocked off by thick high walls, making him feel a little closed in. He needed to get above the walls, above everyone else so he could get his bearings and even himself out. His right arm and leg ached as he crawled up the wall. They had been badly broken in his flight from Red Mountain. They had healed well but there was still an ache deep in the bone that reminded him that he had only just healed up from rather devastating injuries.

Up on the wall, above the rest of the city, there was a breeze, a breath of fresh air that was blocked off down below. With a sigh of relief Nevano sat down, resting his aching limbs. He was more out of shape than he thought. It would be a bit before his old strength returned. He would need to be careful until then.

He looked down at the city below and memorized the layout. Despite the over abundance of walls, the city wasn't overly complicated in its layout like Vivec City was. Rather, it was set in a circular pattern, sectioned off, much like the Imperial City. Unlike the Imperial City, though, Mournhold was very obvious in its neighborhoods; dwellings and shops were sharply divided and did not mingle with each other.

Thinking about the Imperial City invariably led his thoughts towards home, making his heart clench in his chest with a mixture of longing and trepidation. He missed home, missed the simple life of contracts and having fun in between those contracts. His life had revolved around training, pulling pranks with his guild mates, pushing Modryn's temper to the very edge, getting into trouble and, when he was out of money or bored, picking up another contract and setting off on the road again. At the time it had seemed a full life but now so simple. There was a comfort in the simplicity, something that the citizens walking below him took for granted. He envied them that. For him, it was gone forever. He was the Nerevarine now, Nerevar reborn, the ageless hero of Morrowind. He was supposed to feel some sort of pride, wasn't he? That was what the stories said he was supposed to feel. This was supposed to be a grand thing. Instead he felt like he had been cast out of the normal society he had worked so hard to become a part of and was now some sort of animal everyone wanted to gawk at or pet. So, yes, he was jealous of the normal lives of the people below.

Nevano stayed up on the wall for a few more hours until the sun rose high in the sky and the heat became a bit much even for him. He stood up, brushed himself off and started mapping his path down. As much as he wanted to remain up on his perch, away from the drudgery down below, he knew that he couldn't. It was time to go to work.

XxXxXx

4E 201, 22nd Hearthfire – Adrusa, Morrowind

He was never drinking again. Ever. Especially if Nevano was around. The headache he was now nursing was just not worth it. He wasn't a big drinker to begin with since it usually made it impossible to control the paranoia from his gut. Why he thought downing that entire bottle of sujamma was a good idea he didn't know. He blamed it on Nevano; it was the only thing that made sense. Veleth wouldn't say it out loud though. Nevano would laugh and would be irritatingly smug the rest of the day unless he could find a way to knock the obnoxious mer down a peg or two.

The soldiers were all up and scrambling in last minute preparations to march out. Veleth watched them with a critical eye, noting the nervousness and tension making their movements just a touch faster and twitchier than they intended. They didn't talk much, anxiety gluing their tongues to the roofs of their mouths. Veleth didn't like seeing that. They were getting too nervous, too wound up, and they hadn't even set out yet. He sighed mentally. He knew how to get them to relax. It would be at his expense…but it needed to be done. Fear like this would only build up and lead to mistakes. They couldn't afford to make any mistakes at this point.

He found Nevano sitting in a tree, watching the activity with a mixture of curiosity, bewilderment and a little bit of disdain. It occurred to Veleth right then that Nevano had no experience with this sort of thing. The smaller mer had spent a good deal of time with the Fighters Guild in Cyrodiil but even all the members of the guild put together wouldn't equal half of the numbers that were in Adrusa. Even then, Nevano preferred to work alone, had even admitted that he had actively avoided all military bodies during both the Argonian Invasion and the Great War. This was all brand new to him It made sense why he would look a little lost in the midst of this chaos.

"They make a lot of noise." The smaller mer said by way of greeting.

Veleth sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, his head giving a hard throb as if to remind him his headache was still there. "Tell me about it…"

One of Nevano's eyebrows shot up and Veleth knew that he had fully caught his attention. "Are you hung over, oh mighty Bull?"

"I blame you, you know." Veleth spoke the damning words, regretting them the instant they left his tongue.

A grin slowly stretched across Nevano's face. "My fault, hmm? You know what? I'll accept that."

That wasn't exactly the response Veleth had been expecting. It made him regret his decision even more. "You will?"

"Yup." Nevano dropped out of the tree and landed lightly next to him. "I'll play along."

"Excuse me?"

Nevano patted him on the shoulder. "You're a good commander, offering your dignity to raise moral. I've never had an opportunity just handed to me like this before. You aren't just dangling a carrot; you are practically force-feeding it to me. Of course I'm not going to pass it up, no matter how pathetically obvious it is, but I will keep with the rules."

Veleth stared at him, dumbfounded. How had the little fetcher figured it out? He had positive that Nevano would have simply taken the bait for what it was, not taken it and tied him up with the line and walked away eating the damn bait!

"So, in keeping with the game…" Nevano slapped something into his hand before turning and running off into the crowd. "The mighty Bull of Stros has the alcohol tolerance of a little girl!"

Veleth stared after the outrageous mer. He was going to give Nevano a free pass but…no. No, no, no. That was the last time he offered himself up like that. He should have known better. He looked down at the object Nevano had handed him.

It was a fork. The same gods damned fork Nevano had been playing around with yesterday. Veleth felt his left eye twitch as he stared at the fork. That did it. He was shoving Nevano into that fetid pool at the bottom of the sewer caverns.


Nevano mercifully left him alone as they marched towards Mournhold, which suited him just fine. He was still mildly irritated about earlier and he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't leave the smug little mer tied to a tree somewhere. He had to grudgingly admit that it did have the intended consequences though. Moral was boosted up and the soldiers went forward more willingly. For that he was happy. However he had other things on his mind, like the heavy warning he was receiving from his gut.

Unlike when the they had first entered the sewer caverns, this warning was telling him that whatever threat they were about to face was serious, potentially too much even for the force now marching with them. It wasn't the Ordinators – that part of the plan would go off without a hitch. No, there was something else that was making his nose twitch. Something was lurking within that city that would make even the most hardened warriors run with their tails tucked between their legs. Except Nevano. Nevano was the wild card that would give any strategist a nervous tic. He very simply didn't run, didn't follow the rules and, most maddeningly of all, didn't follow any sort of plan, not even his own. Veleth knew that before all was said and done Nevano was going to run off and do something extraordinarily brave and extraordinarily stupid. Then the mer was going to justify it by saying he knew everything would work out because Veleth's "magic danger predicting gut" had told him so. Veleth had never met a more infuriating mer. It was like Nevano knew more about his "gift", as it was often called, than Veleth himself did. Then again, Nevano had known that gut long before Veleth was even born.

He remembered the first time he had ever felt an inkling of danger from his gut. He had been young, very young. He had disobeyed his parents' rule of staying within the city walls and had gone out to play among the rocky hills to the west of the city. Usually a pack of children his age would have been sneaking out with him but that particular time he had been alone. He had been pouncing from rock to rock, lost in the imaginative world that only a child could come up with, when a feeling he had never felt before bloomed in his stomach, effectively halting him on the spot. He had clung to the rock, eyes wide, trying to make sense of the strange feeling. It wasn't fear, though it certainly inspired a degree of anxiety. It made his ears and nose work better, picking up sounds and smells he had never noticed before. His eyes had picked up the slightest movements in the rough mountain grasses. He had slowly released his iron grip on the rock and sat up. He couldn't tell just what had caused all this until he looked to the rock that he had been about to jump to and saw a snake coiled up, partly hidden by a patch of grass. One bite from that snake and there was a good chance he would have never made it home. He had never told his parents about that particular incident but it was a lesson he had never forgotten.

As the years had gone by he had learned to read his gut better though he had resented the paranoia when he was younger. Recently he noticed his resentment was fading, more so now that he was traveling with Nevano and realizing that not only was all the stories he had ever heard were true, but he could now see why his father had done some of the things that had branded him as a bit strange. Jorun had simply been protecting his friend and his son. How could he be mad at his father for that? He sighed as they approached the nondescript cave entrance. When they were finished here there was a long over-due conversation waiting for him in Blacklight.

True to Garil's prediction, it did take a long while to get all the Redoran soldiers through the sewers and into the ruins of the city. True to his word though, he did shove Nevano into the disgusting pool, resulting in a hilarious sputtering fit from the smaller mer and Veleth learning a few new elaborate curses in Velothi. When they finally made it through to the city above, Nerus and his small crew watched with wide eyes as soldier after soldier climbed up from the sewers. Veleth resisted the urge to sneer at him. The Ordinator was, as he had coined it years ago, "prone to acts of stupid". However, Veleth kept his thoughts to himself. Before he and Nevano had set out, his father had pulled him aside. "Whatever happens out there, do not think too badly of them, Modyn." Jorun had advised him. "The years have not been kind to anyone and the Ordinators have always been prone to act brashly in their zeal to do right." Veleth sighed. The stupid fetcher might have made a bad situation worse but…he had done his best and had at least thought to try to protect the rest of Morrowind. Veleth would do Nerus that one favor of staying silent.

Veleth pulled a few mages aside as they came through the sewer grate. "Go take over for those Ordinators. I don't think they can hold that barrier for much longer. Best to not alert the whole city to our presence just yet."

They nodded and Veleth watched as the relieved Ordinators simply sunk to the ground, nearly unconscious, as the Redoran mages took over. The barrier crackled with a renewed strength as fresh energy was poured into it, making the mages hair stand up on end from the sheer power.

"Easy." He advised. "You're holding it just for little while. You aren't powering the Ghost Fence." They gave him a bit of a sheepish look as they reined in their power a bit. Veleth shook his head. They had been showing off, trying to prove that they were just as good, if not better, than the Ordinators. Possessed or not, the Ordinators were still an elite force and there was some envy shimmering under the surface. When all was said and done, there would be a lot of bragging going on, a lot of bruised egos on the Ordinators' behalf and a lot of puffed up pride in the Redoran ranks. Veleth didn't envy Garil's job of keeping the peace later.

"Nerus!" One of the Ordinators called out, pointing across the district.

"Don't yell, you idiot!" Nerus hissed. "What is it?"

"They're coming."

Veleth looked down the lane in alarm. The gate leading to Brindisi Dorum had opened and Ordinators were coming in. Only half of the Redoran soldiers had made it through the sewer grate and the small group of unpossessed Ordinators were too exhausted to be much use. Not to mention the sound of fighting would undoubtedly attract the attention of every being in Brindisi Dorum and they couldn't afford that right now.

Veleth looked around and found Nevano intently watching the incoming line of trouble from on top a half crumbled wall. "Nevano, do you think you can sneak over there and close the gate without being seen?" He asked.

"How did you know my secret hobby of sneaking around unseen?"

"Nevano…you either sneak over there or I will throw you over there. Take your pick." Veleth growled through clenched teeth, really not in the mood to deal with Nevano's strange sense of humor.

"On my way." Nevano said quickly. "As soon as I close the gate, use that scroll. Time to see if the damn things work or not."

While Nevano snuck over to the gate, Veleth made his way into the remains of the buildings, using the rubble to hide until the gate could be closed. He had to protect Nerus and his men as well as the sewer grate where the Redoran soldiers were still climbing through. Nevano he knew would be fine. The resourceful mer had already stood up to gods and won. He could get the gate closed without a problem. Veleth's job was to keep this from becoming a bloodbath until he could free the Ordinators, if he could. A small part of him was greatly disappointed with this plan though. It would much rather fight the Ordinators. They were formidable opponents; a great way to showcase his skills as a fighter. Veleth pressed the gloved heel of his palm to his forehead, willing away the feeling. They were not here to kill. They were here to rescue. He was a little disturbed that this dark force in him was hoping that the small chance that the scrolls wouldn't work would come to pass and they would have to resort to killing the Ordinators.

A loud clang shook him out of his dark thoughts. He looked up to see the gate slam shut and Nevano slide several polearms through the handles to keep those in the plaza from opening the gate again. The few dozen possessed Ordinators barely seemed to notice. They were hunting, rooting through the ruins looking for…well, Veleth wasn't entirely certain just what they were looking for but he was willing to bet that the small army of free willed mer behind him were high on the list. He stepped out from the ruins and let out a shrill whistle, instantly capturing every Ordinator's attention.

"C'mon, you sorry fetchers." He said. "Come get me."

He figured he could safely assume he had their full, undivided attention when a small forest of weapons were brandished, all pointed at him. That was exactly what he had hoped for. He pulled the scroll from his belt and unrolled it. Unlike most scrolls where he would have to read strange arcane words, if he could, and hope he didn't accidentally curse himself, the scroll immediately started to glow on its own and a blue light shot outwards in a ring that enveloped much of the bazaar. The possessed Ordinators froze in place, their eyes going from a cold empty stare to having a spark of life in them. They slowly lowered their weapons. The one closest to Veleth looked over at him.

"What…how did you…?" He stammered. "The voice…it's gone. It's gone!"

"What voice?" Veleth asked.

"The voice!" The Ordinator said excitedly. "The voice that…it echoed in my head. I remember that. But I can't remember…I can't remember who it was."

"Damn." Veleth muttered. He had been hoping to get some more solid answers about what was going on. Something had happened to Andas. By all accounts the man was an excellent warrior but he did not have the magical prowess to suddenly turn into an evil magister and put every Ordinator under his command under a rather powerful mind possession spell. There was something else out there, the same thing that his gut was warning him about. His brief flash of hope to have any sort of idea of what that might have been was dashed as he watched the group of newly freed Ordinators hold their heads in their hands and try to make sense of their new reality. He would get nothing he didn't already know out of them.

"Well, I guess we stick to our original plan then." Nevano appeared at his elbow. He was not at all surprised that Nevano had overheard. "Maybe something will pop up a little further along the way that will give us some answers."

"Maybe." Veleth said.

"I hate to leave you with the boring post but you're stronger than me and Nevusa." Nevano said. "If something goes sideways you are the only one with the strength to drop the barrier, meet up with Garil and finish the plan."

"Strategically, it's sound logic." Veleth said. "Personally, I hate it. But that doesn't matter. Just don't get killed. We got a lot more to do after this, remember?"

"Your mother will bring me back from the dead just to kill me again herself if I did something stupid like that." Nevano snorted. "I'm more afraid of her than I am of anything here so, no, I won't get killed."

Veleth finally smiled. Nevano wasn't exaggerating. His mother would do something like that. She was a force to be reckoned with. He never really had to wonder just who was in charge in his parents' household. The answer was obvious and his father was a wise enough man to fully acknowledge that. "Well, good luck."

"You too." Nevano slapped him on the shoulder and took off, rounding up the soldiers who had finally finished coming through the sewers.

Veleth rounded up his own men and watched as the group moved out, going through the gates at the other end of the bazaar, towards Almalexia's Temple. The gates slammed shut behind the last Redoran soldier, leaving Veleth alone with his group of soldiers and Ordinators. It was quiet, very quiet. Far too quiet. This should be the easy post, the boring post. Veleth's gut was in a near frenzy.

He started to walk around, to take a quick patrol to convince his paranoia that all was truly quiet within the bazaar but he hadn't made it four steps when he heard a scrabbling noise coming from the sewer. He stopped and stared at it, his ears twitched as the grate that led to the sewer jumped a little.

"Sir…everyone made it through, right?" A soldier asked nervously.

Yes, yes they had all come through. Then, with horrible clarity, Veleth remembered Nevano talking about how all the sewers beneath the city were connected to each other. He also remembered Nevano talking about how the west sewers were probably all one massive goblin den by now, seeing as how no one was there to control the population anymore. When he, Nevano and Nevusa had gone through the sewers, they hadn't disturbed much, hadn't made that much noise, but the absence of the durzogs couldn't have gone unnoticed. When hundreds of soldiers had gone marching through, creating a massive racket, the goblins had put the two and two together. Goblins weren't the smartest creatures around but they weren't completely stupid.

"Set up defensive positions! Archers set up on whatever high position you can find and be prepared to shoot whatever comes through that grate!" Veleth snapped out, slipping into his old commander role with ease. "These Ordinators are too exhausted to help, get them in the back."

"Sir?"

"Move NOW!" Veleth ordered. "We drew the attention of a goblin den. They think we are in their territory. We came to take back this city and clearing out goblins is going to be a part of that it seems. The good news is you don't have to hold back. Kill whatever crawls through that hole."

By now he could hear them, scrabbling against the grate and bickering at each other in the screeches and growls that made up the goblin languages. It sounded as if there were a hundred of the vicious pests trying to bubble up from underground. Veleth felt a bolt of eagerness surge through him. This was a decent enough challenge. Goblins were rabidly territorial beasts and no easy task to kill in large numbers, especially when riled up like this. Even with the sizeable group at his back, Veleth knew it was going to be a fight but this time he could paint the streets red with blood. Killing them would please…

He stopped himself. Please who? What the hell was wrong with him? He had been increasingly bloodthirsty ever since he had had that dream a few days ago. He had been eager to fight, even looking for the opportunity, even more so than when he had been a hotheaded young soldier eager to kill Argonians. When he had fought those durzogs he had felt a rush he had never felt before in a fight. It was exhilarating, intoxicating, and he had wanted more. When he had seen the Ordinators, the feeling had returned, this time the feral aggression was stronger. It hadn't been happy he had shoved it aside. He wouldn't be able to do so now.

Goblins burst out of the sewer entrance, crawling out like ants from a disturbed mound. Veleth felt rage bubble up along with the goblins, making his heart pound in his chest and his hands clench on the hilt of his axe. It was time to finally satisfy his bloodlust.

XxXxXx

The gates clanged heavily behind them as they stepped into the once lush park that surrounded Almalexia's temple. It was all just as burned and dead and grey as the rest of the city now. The birds that once chirped merrily were long since gone. Any animal with sense would have long since left. The only alternative was to be as dead as the rest of the city.

Nevano sighed as he looked around. He had fully expected to find it this way but actually seeing it didn't lessen the blow. He and Almalexia had had a…complicated interaction but there were other people here that had made Mournhold a memorable place for him. He stopped and stared up at the temple. It was oddly intact, worn and dirty perhaps with no one around to care for it anymore but intact. Then he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He felt like he was being watched. He nearly jumped when he saw two High Ordinators standing guard at the doors. They were standing so still they might as well have been statues, their pale armor blending in with the white walls of the temple. No wonder he hadn't noticed them at first. They made no move towards the host below them, indeed they hadn't even drawn their weapons, but they were looking right at Nevano. He watched them for a moment before nodded to himself. He got the message. He knew what he needed to do.

"Nevusa." He said, his voice sounded odd in the vast empty silence. "Be a dear and take the men that were supposed to be with me and go on ahead."

"What?" She followed his gaze and instantly caught on to his train of thought. "Are you MAD?!"

"Probably." Nevano said. "But I'm expected. Extras are not welcomed to this particular party."

"Expected by who? What party? What are you talking about?" Nevusa exclaimed in exasperation.

"Just go on ahead. I'll meet up with you in Godsreach once I'm finished here." Nevano never once took his eyes off the temple. "Don't worry about me. Just keep with the plan."

"Nevano…"

"GO!"

He didn't mean to yell at her but he needed her to understand that this was something she just couldn't help him with. This was his fight and his alone. Fortunately, she argued no further and signaled the soldiers to follow her. Most of them seemed rather relieved to avoid going near the temple. Nevano supposed some superstitions just refused to die though, in this case, they just might be right. He waited until they had all gone through the gate and the heavy echo of it closing had faded before starting up the steps to the temple. The guards, both very obviously possessed, clanged a clenched fist against their armored chests as he passed by. A rather warm greeting for beings that had been almost indiscriminately attacking and killing everything around them, but it confirmed his suspicions that he was expected here. Whatever was controlling them wanted him here. He could feel Nerevar stir in him, as coiled and tense as a cornered cat. He understood his tension; his own emotions were an exact mirror of Nerevar's.

"These aren't controlled by the same being as the others." Nerevar's tense voice seemed to whisper in his ear.

Nevano felt his ear twitch. He simply couldn't get used to the feeling that Nerevar was physically right there. "I can tell." He murmured. "They aren't acting the same. The entire district feels different from the bazaar. Can you tell what it is?"

"I don't think I need to tell you." Nerevar said. "You already have an idea."

Nevano bit his tongue as several testy replies flitted through his mind. He didn't need to say them really – Nerevar could feel his flash of irritation – but he held his tongue because Nerevar was right; he did have an idea who was controlling this area. The answer was obvious.

He walked through the reception area of the temple, unsurprised to find more High Ordinators standing at the doors. Two blocked the doors leading to the other areas of the temple while two more flanked the double doors leading to Almalexia's chambers. They all greeted him as silently and respectfully as the first two and made no move to bar his way to the inner sanctum.

"What? No challenging the heretic?" Nevano asked. The Ordinators stared blankly at him. "Never thought I'd find myself missing the rabid barking…"

"Be careful what you wish for." Nerevar admonished. Nevano rolled his eyes and went through the doors.

The inner sanctum was absolutely packed with both Ordinators and High Ordinators, all bowed down with their foreheads touching the floor. Nevano carefully stepped around them, his eyes focused on the bright golden light in the center of the room. A sense of longing entered his heart, increasing with intensity with every step he took. It was urging him to seek out the warmth from the center of the room. It offered acceptance, peace and love. It wanted him to love it back. It needed him to love it back. It was tugging at him, pestering him. Far from inspiring the adoration it wanted, Nevano merely felt annoyed. It reminded him of needy, clingy girls who held onto him in the morning despite him making it clear that he was a one-night mer only. It rankled him to no end, allowing him to reject the compellation. He gave a grim smile as he broke free of the tightly packed Ordinators and stepped up to the dais. He had caught the source off guard by refusing. It hadn't been rejected before, had expected him to run to it. It was both saddened and angered but not enough to punish him for his transgression. Not yet at least.

He looked up at it, completely unsurprised to see the "host" of this little get-together. Both he and Nerevar had been correct. He wasn't exactly happy at being proven correct in this particular instance. Nerevar especially wasn't happy. Nevano didn't blame him one bit.

Golden eyes met golden eyes. Two halves stood together again, though on two different planes of existence. The light and the dark, the king and the queen, the betrayer and the betrayed.

"Hello Almalexia." Nevano said. "It's been a long, long time and I can't say I'm glad to see you again."

XxXxXx

A/N: Holy crap I just passed the 200,000-word mark. Woohoo milestones!

I promise I didn't abandon you or give up on this story. It still is very much active. I have just been without internet for over two weeks. It's been almost three actually. It's been a living hell. Something apparently went kaput at my provider's servers and every single customer was without internet so instead of the super fast service I usually get, it took them weeks to get out here. Then when THAT was fixed, something else failed and I had to battle to get them back out again. Moral of the story, always call the technician directly. To top it all off, it has been raining near nonstop. It's so wet the trees are having a hard time staying vertical. Already my neighbor lost a gorgeous pecan tree and I lost a hackberry tree (I wasn't nearly as upset about that…) and now there's another tree that I've been keeping watch on that is threatening to fall. It's wet outside and internet-less on the inside. It's been a rough summer in Texas so far y'all! Anyway, the next chapter is going to be a nice long one and it's already well underway thanks to this internet delay. Thanks for bearing with me!