Disclaimed

Website With The Pic of Aravian: www.angelfire.com/art2/rachel_hunt/

A/N: Wow, can you believe it's been over a year since I started this??? Wow. Sorry this chapter is so freakin short… it's really the first half of one chapter that you'll be getting the rest of I think by January 20… at least, that's my goal.

I feel a great need to update you all on my life :)

You know what January 16 is? My birthday! And guess what my step-grandparents gave me early…. A car! It's an 85 Honda Civic, but hey, it runs! I transport myself now!!!! WOO!

I just downloaded the Type O Negative version of Hit Me Baby One More Time… if anything is odd in the story, I blame that, lol. I love Type O…come on, any Type O fans out there??? I'm vaguely addicted to Love You to Death…

While we're on things I'm addicted to, guess how many times I saw the new Lord of the Rings in the first week? Four times!!! How many times have I seen it total? Six times!!! I love it… lol, especially dwarf tossing and **drool** LEGOLAS!!!! AAHHH!!! Anyone seen the ads for Pirates of the Carribean?? Arg, it's Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the same movie… Think about it, those two running around in tights and poet shirts… with SWORDs… if they're buddies, we get to seem them palling around etc, or if they're enemies we might get to see them rolling around on the floor together!!! EEEEEAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!! I can't lose!!!!!!!!

**cough** I'm sorry, my hormones are obviously very out of control right now…hehe… Still, just think about them…

Last Time: Aravian, Lucivia, Surreal and Jaenelle got the final fittings for their Winsol dresses, and Surreal creeped Aravian out at the idea that she has sexual interests (that's right, everybody, Aravian has no idea her mother was a whore. Think about it: how many parents are honest with their kids about the darker parts of their pasts??) Nickolaes, Daemonar, Calida, Arianna, and Bran decided to investigate Terreile, by way of the Gate at Cassandra's Altar. Nickolaes arranged to talk to Aravian later. Lucivia got Aravian to admit something was up, then convinced her to let her make her over for Winsol.

Aravian: 17; Luthar: 18; Nickolaes: 215 (appears to be in his early twenties); Lucivia: 28 (appears early twenties/late teens) Nickolaes' friends near his age (not in the mood to total it up right now)

*~~~Chapter Fourteen (part 1)~~~*

*~~~Exploring Begets Simple Revelations ~~~*

Cassandra's Altar; shortly after end of last chapter

Cassandra's Altar looked just as it always did: abandoned, decrepit, and utterly mysterious. Cobwebs clung high to doorways, where exploring Blood children didn't reach to knock them away. Layers of dust filled the cracks in the walls like mortar. Dapples of light that barely illuminated filtered through holes in the ceiling, and bands of shadows fled from the doorways and few windows, which were so dirty that they were merely a paler kind of darkness.

Creeping though such a murky place, with such an intense, well-known history, filled a person with an almost morbid awe and an innate jumpiness. This was even more so for those who knew the intimate details behind that history—not just what was in the ballads and books—because they knew the people who had lived it.

Nickolaes furiously combed his fingers through his dark hair, determined to remove every last trace of the bug filled web he had just walked through. His stomach turned and he had to swallow a screech when he felt something move, and flung his hand away from his body at an impressive speed. It was with a satisfied air that he heard a wet flump as whatever it was hit a wall.

"You are such a child," Daemonar said fondly as he plucked something from the back of his cousin's head. He showed Nickolaes a rather fat and sinister looking spider with glee—

"ARG!!!"

--and earned an unnecessarily hard punch in the arm for his troubles.

Feminine laughter twittered behind them. Arianna leaned over Nickolaes' shoulder and said in a sweetly amused voice, "It's so nice to see a warlord prince unafraid to show his softer side."

"I hate you all," he grumbled morosely, and avoided checking his hair for creatures one last time. He started walking again.

"Aaaaawwwww, but, Nickeeey! You know we love yooou!" Arianna hung onto his arm determinedly.

'Nicky' gave her a mock-fierce glare. "Get off."

She sighed. "Oh fine, you obviously don't love us anymore. I'll just go…" She wandered into the darkness ahead of them, not even using a bit of witchlight to guide her. The girl had uncanny night-sight.

After a few more moments wandering through the dark, they'd fairly well split up. It was how they'd always explored Cassandra's Altar; half race to find the Altar first, half opportunity to scare each other.

And then he felt a familiar, long nailed hand glide up his back to riffle through his hair. Warm breath at his neck as a quietly husky voice purred, "Want to get distracted for a little while, Nickolaes?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Keep

"Avaesel?" Aravian called curiously as she slipped into her room. She'd started looking for him in the gardens on the roof of the Keep, where he enjoyed laying in the sun and no one scolded him for shedding so profusely. He hadn't been there, so she'd checked his other hangouts. Nowhere. She was starting to feel frustrated—she could feel that he was in the Keep—when she finally came to her room.

And yet again, he wasn't there.

Her stomach rumbled at her plaintively, ignoring the search for her feline companion. She sighed, conveniently deciding that it would serve him right if she had a late lunch without him.

*Gariyen?* she sent politely down to one of the many assistants in the kitchens.

*Yes, Lady Aravian?* His mental 'voice' was tinged with anxiety and… fear?

*What's wrong, Gariyen?* she asked in alarm.

*Nothing, it's nothing! How can we help you?*

She growled. *Gariyen.*

*It's just… well… the cat. He's, well…*

Aravian sighed. *I'll be right down.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra's Altar

Calida smoothed her finger down Nickolaes' lips in a comfortable movement. He shuddered, not unpleasantly, at the flitting caress that he was so used to. It took him a moment to pull himself together; by that time she'd taken his silence for consent. She had him backed against a wall and was doing something with her mouth against his neck that was very distracting and oh… Wait. No. This wasn't what he meant to be doing, even though Calida was as nice and curved and soft as ever… Soft. Aravian wasn't so soft, but lithe and toned like any hunter.

He cleared his throat. "Calida…

"Mmmm…."

"Erm, Calida darling—whoa!"

He then put a hand on each arm and pushed away, not as gently as he'd have liked.

She didn't seem offended, at least. She looked at him with wide, surprised eyes. The two of them had had an on-again, off-again fling since they'd hit puberty, whenever they weren't attached or in pursuit of another person. "What's wrong?" she asked in a clear, curious voice.

He rubbed his forehead. He had no idea what to tell her. He couldn't say he wasn't in the mood—that would be an insult to her, which he liked her too much for, and besides, there was—heat burnt the tops of his ears—clear evidence to the contrary.

Her intelligent eyes narrowed at him. "Are you doing something behind our backs?"

"No! Well…" He frowned. In a way, wasn't that what he was doing? But like that it sounded so… sneaky. "No, not really. It's not like that."

He didn't catch the smile on her mouth, only heard the hard tone of her words. "What's it like then?"

"Well, frankly, I don't see how it's any of your… oh." He broke off his angry speech as he realized she was chuckling. "You're teasing me. I get it."

She shook her head endearingly, then took him by the arm and started leading him through the dark again. The girl switched modes too quickly for him—one moment, she was hot to trot with her tongue in his ear, the next she was an amused buddy. "So, who is it?" she asked archly. "It's obviously someone odd, if you haven't told me." She gave him a scathing look there.

"Well, I suppose she is odd, by quite a few definitions… and definitely an odd pick for me." He half smiled, half scowled.

"Why, exactly? I thought all types were your types."

"It's Aravian."

He had a moment to chuckle at her reaction as she stopped dead in the hall. They began walking again. "My. My my." She slid a look at him. "Isn't she a little… young, even for an easy thing like you?"

"Thank you, Calida darling."

"Oh, you know what I mean. You'll bed anything that smiles at you." He huffed a bit indignantly at her. "Admittedly, generally only things that don't move don't want to bed you." He smiled at that. "But still, it's not even her age; Darkness knows we were her age when we started, well, playing around, but really…" She seemed to think about it for a moment, and lose points for her argument. Shaking her head, she commented, "Anyway, I thought she was with Luthar."

"They're just friends," he growled at her.

"Mm-hmm. Whatever you say."

Nickolaes, and most everyone else, had been aware for awhile that Luthar was utterly devoted to his friend and hopelessly in love with her, as only the untried could be. He was also aware, like everyone else, that Aravian was completely oblivious to her friends swoon. Unlike everyone else, he no longer assumed that one day those two would be a couple.

He still had the presence of mind to feel guilty for the wave of jealousy he suddenly felt for his younger cousin.

He sighed. "It doesn't matter right now, Calida. Nothing's really happened, you know? I mean, nothing big, except maybe to her, but I really don't know because she's been avoiding me… She and I are discussing it tonight," he added, almost unwillingly.

Calida patted him sympathetically. "Aww, poor Nickolaes." She smiled at him, quizzically. "She's sort of gotten under your skin hasn't she?"

He had to think about that one for awhile.

~~~~~~~~~

The Keep

Aravian made it to the kitchen out of breath, with hundreds of possibilities running through her mind. Few of them were pleasant.

What she saw made her pause.

Avaesel sat in a corner, with what looked like a whole pig squashed under one paw while he finished off a leg of lamb under the other. Half the kitchen staff seemed to be attempting to frantically make food, while ignoring the cat, while the other half had given up and was just glaring at him fruitlessly.

Aravian, too, stared for a moment. Then she seemed to puff up like a furious cat and stalked over to Avaesel, who noticed her presence a moment too late.

"AVAESEL!!"

People looked at the girl yelling at the Arcerian with obvious concern.

The Arcerian glared at her and tried to move the pig farther into his grip.

*I thought you were going hunting!*

*We did,* he responded warily.

"Then why are you stealing everyone's dinner!" she shouted.

If he had eyebrows, he'd have been scowling. *Nothing to catch but squirrels and floor-dwellers!*

*Don't be silly. The woods are full of game.*

*Not in the woods where we hunt.*

She paused then. *Where were you hunting?*

He eyed her warily. *The woods that surround the Dark Altar… Cassandra's Altar.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra's Altar

Daemonar came skidding into the room at a breakneck speed, as if the Harpies themselves were chasing him. Except if that had been true, he probably wouldn't have had a grin on his face to fade when he realized that everyone was already there.

Comfortable.

Ahead of him.

Way, ahead of him

Daemonar grumbled and sat in the corner.

Nickolaes grinned and stood, beginning to say something.

At that moment they were interrupted.

***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***

OOOOOWWWWW!!!! My tongue's bleeding…. Gerrr, remind me not to lick knives.

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……...……………….

…………………………….

Don't ask.

If you want to know, send an IM to PrncssofStorms because she knows. I'm not explaining to the rest of you.

Bah.

Do you think it's karma????

THANK YOU'S

(a.k.a. I love you people so much!)

okay, we'll be doing a list and responses again this time, because I'm friggin tired and I'm dozing off in front of the computer (very hard on the people I'm IMing with)

My eternal gratefulness goes out to:

Elektra

IQ

Kapies

Crow

Starlight (my apologies to the voices ;P )

DarkSideofNowhere

StorytellingStar

Raksha

Keesha (whoa! 4 review in one sitting! Thanks!!!)

Goddessnmb1

Hungsta (I'm considering starting a blink-a-thon… lol)

Alanna Roseguard

Jimaine

Daecivar (lol, k then)

Thera's Blaed

Sakura Usagi (I think I remember contacting you via e-mail about the familiar thing? I'm still flattered people like that idea that much… :) )

Lady in Black

Athene

Angharad Gwyn

OniiStar

Kris

Aquafenianblue (lol, love your typing! ;) )

Morgana

Jilly H

And responses to:

Angelajria Knight: I do remember him saying that, but I'm going with that Draca said the Queen of Ebon Askavi was no more or whatever it was… I don't remember it exactly. I dunno, I remember I had some reason behind that comment when I wrote it all those months ago :) BTW, I've been wondering about this: how did you come up with your name??? I love it, it's fun to say really fast **nodding sagely**

Lady Grimms: As Alanna Roseguard suggested, Mephis is probably the shortening of Mephistopheles of Faust… I don't think that 'Peyton' complies with the theme of the names; it's a variant of the name Payton, I know, but I don't remember anything having to do with any myths etc being associated with the name **shrugs** I could be wrong though :) Thanks for reviewing!

Sarah: Actually, I was aware of these discrepancies when I first started writing… I address them in an Author's Note somewhere, I don't remember where. I don't blame you for not reading those things though, I sort of ramble in them :) Anyway, just sort of think of my fic as an AU fic where most everybody is long-lived. Thanks for reviewing!

Crossover-to-my-world: Lol, no I've never tried giving jewel ranks to people in my life, but I'll be sure to try it soon!! Lol. Thanks for reviewing :)

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**homer simpson face** Mmmm, poet shirts……………