Disclaimer: I do not own most of the Characters or most of the Settings. Nelyra and Kay belong to me.

Author's Note: I apologize for not updating in a very long time. I hope I can get a bit more reviews. Please review my other works.

She needed to breath, to run, to get away. People fled out of her way as if she was a cyclone, and, in a way, she looked like one as she shot down the streets, her bright hair in her face.

Nelyra's mind searched for a destination. The apartment would be the first plac that Robert would search for her. No, not Robert, Thom, she thought bitterly and gained speed. She would go to the Dancing Dove and drown in a mug of ale. No, she didn't wish to see Kay, she couldn't face him with tears in her eyed. Those tears ran down her cheeks, drying, and leaving trails of salt on her face. A warm, maple door stopped her, She traced the silver sign on the wood with her fingers. Two out-facing crescents joined by a bull moon, the sign of the Mother Goddess.

She went inside the building. The smell of incense and burning wax filled her nostrils. She glanced at the altar draped in autumn gold, red and orange. Remnants of the Fall Equinox still lay on the fabric. An image of the Mother Goddess hung above the altar. Nelyra collapsed on the floor, tears flooding her eyes. She felt as if all of a sudden the world had jerked from underneath her feet, leaving her falling through nothing. Nelyra punched at the cold, stonewall by her. The sudden pain awakened a new feeling, raw fury. She stood up and slammed her fist against the gray wall, and then she did it again. Soon the shrine was filled with the sound of flesh against stone. Nelyra's hands were a scarlet color from the blood that had broken through her torn skin and dripped slowly to the floor.

An idea sprung into her mind. It was roughly formed but shone with an alluring light, alight hard to resist. She would flee. She would leave this unpleasing place behind. Leave Corus. Leave the Rogue. Leave Robert; no, Thom. Leave the family that would never be family. Leave Kay. Leave Kay?! Why not? Yes, she would flee.

She walked up to the altar and, lifting her eyes to the Mother Goddess image, she uttered a few words.

"Mother Goddess, hear me please," she whispered. "Lend me strength and wisdom. Guide me in my decisions. Guard men and shelter me from harm. So mote it be."