Loose Ends
By Trynia Merin
Disclaimer: Excalibur and its characters are property of XMEN. This is a work of fiction, and is not meant for profit or to demean the characters. The events here take place after my first story Dreams Nailed. Please R and R. This part has no R rated stuff, but I'd put it a PG for language and some tense situations. As for adult material, they'll be marked in upcoming individual chapters.
***
Chapter 7
Amanda and Cerise entered the suite, under the watchful eye of D'marran. Clad in her violet and crimson armor, Cerise sized up her opponent, who didn't seem much in the way of stature in her silver technomagical creation. Amanda narrowed her eyes, and looked at her formidable opponent towering over her.
"I shall attempt to teach you the basics means of Shi'ar combat," said Cerise as demurely as possible. "We shall be combating in near vacuum conditions. And you must not rely so much on defense as offense..."
"So what do you have in mind?" Amanda asked, anger in the pit of her stomach. A strong temptation to try one of her mother's DEATH spells arose in her mind, and she temporarily suppressed it. Somehow she wasn't sure if they would work on an alien, but she was tempted to try.
"Your powers are mystical in nature. Can you form armaments with them?" Cerise asked. She held up her hand and Amanda saw the pools of crimson light formulate into a spilling cascade of energy. On Cerise's wrist formed a red shield, and in her right grasp formed a battle-axe.
Amanda dodged as Cerise swung the first blow, tumbling out of the way. Her mystical shield crackled forth, as the axe swiped down, and collided with her nimbus in a web of sparks. Cerise shook her head and backed away.
"You are purely defensive. You must thrust and parry your attack," she said.
"Parry THIS," Amanda gritted, putting her fists together and reaching deep as she spoke a spell. A spear of green energy crackled and shot out like a stroke of lightening. It slammed into Cerise, who was caught of guard with the magical bolt, which knocked her back.
"Impressive," Cerise said, rolling to her feet in a defensive crouch. "That is more to the offensive. But my stellar sensors verify that is your strongest move..."
"It's not my best," Amanda said, following with a swirl of her hands as she traced a pentagram in the air, and suddenly two mirror images appeared on either size. Cerise stood up and reformed her weaponry, swinging widely at one image. Amanda countered with a levan bolt, sideswiping Cerise's head. The missile sizzled past Cerise, and the smoldering smell of burning feathers reached her nostrils.
"Simple," Cerise said, attacking both images with a swipe of her arm, and a powerful kick. One image sizzled but Amanda had moved clear to suddenly vanish in a haze of sparks. She materialized behind Cerise who was quickly battling the mirror images, only to discover Amanda was not among them.
Amanda raised her fingers and summoned a spear of energy, quickly hoping it would do something despite Cerise's armor. Her spells weren't effective against the iron of Cerise armor, but she was sick of this alien amazon pushing her around. Time to show her what a real witch could do, Amanda thought. As Cerise battled the images, Amanda raised her hand and tossed the spear. In the nick of time Cerise dodged the bolt, which barely grazed the long tail of her white plume.
"Can you fight a foe who is airborne?" Cerise asked, suddenly defying gravity.
"Shit," Amanda cursed, glancing up as Cerise passed around her in a low arc. She suddenly held up her hands and blocked the next blast of crimson energy barely in time.
"Your skills are noteworthy, but you still have shown no hand to hand initiative. Such expenditure of energy is futile," Cerise shook her head, as she began to form a sphere of energy to encompass Amanda.
"Says you," Amanda said. A blinding spark flashed in Cerise's face suddenly exploding into a phosphorescent blaze brighter then the sun. Momentarily blinded, Cerise cursed in her alien tongue as Amanda levitated up and delivered a kick to Cerise's head. The force of Amanda's kick knocked the alien over and Cerise went down hard.
However brief the victory, Cerise rolled away, and brought up a crimson shield of power to bear as Amanda lunged again. A levan bolt crashed into the crimson shield, and Amanda cursed again as Cerise's hearing compensated for her loss of sight.
"You'll have to do better then that, human," Cerise said, standing up and shaking her head, which was ringing. Amanda's exosuit had given her some measure of amplified strength. Again the hated battle-axe formed and blindly Cerise advanced, swinging it in ever-increasing arcs. Amanda gritted her teeth and realized that she had to stop running and hiding behind spells. She had no real weapon to fight with. Summoning a monster would be help, but somehow she knew she wanted to wipe that smirk off the alien's face.
"Come and get me, birdy," Amanda said as she teleported out of the way. Cerise had regained her sight, and blinked back and forth.
"This is pointless. Unless you learn hand to hand, you cannot hope to prevail in armed combat," Cerise said. "You are no warrior..."
"Maybe not, but that shows how much you know,' Amanda said, suddenly realizing what she had to do. If Cerise wanted a weapon, she'd get one. Long ago at the circus she remembered the lessons that the sword dancers had done. She herself was an acrobat of equal to Kurt. Had she relied on magic so much that she had forgotten this skill?
Cerise reached her, her stellar sensors anticipating where Amanda would next materialize. AS she swung with her axe, she suddenly heard the soiled of her energy meeting Amanda's barrier. Reaching into her abdomen, she put her right hand at the hilt of the weapon concealed and slowly drew it out. Light flashed off the Soul Sword as Amanda lofted it high, and her armor blurred and shifted.
"You are armed?" Cerise suddenly blinked, loosing concentration of her power. Amanda lowered her shield and brought back her hand. The first stroke almost took Cerise's head off as the soulsword whizzed over her head. Only by a second Cerise dodged decapitation as she leaned to the side and formed her shield to block.
Amanda leapt as Cerise swung with her crimson battleaxe, leaping up and over the amazon's head. The soulsword whirled and met the crimson weapon, sparking as they landed apart from one another, panting. Was it her imagination, or was Amanda's armor suddenly bulked in the region of the chest, and the spiked helmet covering her head.
"You were concealing your weapon all along, were you not, Earther?" Cerise asked, her eyes sparkling as the ante was upped.
"You could say that," Amanda said, circling as Cerise swung her axe and she countered with the Soul Sword in silver arcs. From his vantagepoint, Khaos watched both women facing off, now more equally armed. Magic challenged science, and the only weapon that could face Cerise was the one Amanda had appropriated from Kitty. Or so it seemed.
Blow for blow Amanda met Cerise. She quickly realized the alien amazon was far stronger, despite the mystical enhancements in her own armor. If she kept up this hand to hand swordplay she would tire. But Amanda was faster and nimbler as she flipped and spun in a series of flips worthy of Nightcrawler, keeping just ahead of Cerise's swipes.
"You fight well, human. I am impressed," Cerise said, as Amanda flipped up and over her head. However Cerise suddenly took to flight as Amanda landed, and swung wildly.
"Am I supposed to cheer?" Amanda gritted, sweat pouring down her forehead under the steel of the mystical helmet. She thanked Sabu for his training, and Ragnar, the sword eater for his impromptu lessons, not to mention Stephan, her long lost brother who had taken it upon himself to teach her the basics and intermediaries of swordplay. HE had even taught Kurt, who often sparred with Amanda. She still was only meeting Cerise blow for blow, frustrated and angry she could not get the drop on this smug amazon.
"But you are not a warrior of the caliber of the Grand Jhar," Cerise said as she advanced again. Crimson bands curled out from her fingertips, wrapping around Amanda. The soulsword cut through them as Amanda loosed herself, in an effort to stop Cerise' power from cutting into her.
"Amanda," Khaos called. "Her power is not technomagical, but yours is. Remember!"
"I don't even know HOW to take that advice," she mumbled. Trying to run the soulsword through Cerise wouldn't work, because Cerise's power wasn't magical. It was something else entirely, like a mutant power. Not to mention Cerise's greater strength would soon overpower her, suit or no suit.
"This lesson shall soon end. My sensors indicate you are close to exhaustion. I do not wish to tire you," said Cerise.
"Oh, but I do wish to tire you, Birdy," said Amanda under her breath. She began to chant her spell, slowly, hoping that it would work on aliens. Cerise felt a sudden drain to her strength, staggering as her power flickered. Ancient Romany spells reached out as Amanda's eyes flared and she spoke ancient words of power. She felt so fatigued, so drained.
Not as effective as on humans, but effective enough. Cerise dropped on one knee, shaking her head. Amanda finished her spell, raising her soulsword as she vanished and then reappeared behind Cerise. Just then Nightcrawler teleported in. He saw Amanda raising her sword over Cerise, who was stunned, on one knee.
"NEIN!" he shouted.
"Do not interfere, human," said D'marran, blocking his way. "This is a challenge of the Grand Jhar..."
"Since when!" Nightcrawler shouted. "You must STOP this!"
"Since now," D'marran snapped. "The human must be allowed to continue. IT is our way. Only when first blood is drawn can it be stopped!"
"Cerise," Khaos gasped, not wanting to intervene. Cerise glanced up in shook to see the soulsword descend. Heart pounding he and Wagner advanced as Amanda's stroke sliced at Cerise' head. Cerise barely was able to raise her hand, felled by the Romany sleep spell.
"Mein GOTT!" Kurt cried. Scchzick! Sang the soulsword, cutting into feathers. Kurt materialized behind Amanda, who held something in her hands, and Khaos was at Cerise's side, stunned by what he saw. Cerise blinked; amazed her head was till attached to her body.
"You..." Cerise gasped, looking up as Kurt held onto Amanda, who was panting, soulsword in one hand, and something white and fluttering in her other.
"Are you all right?" Khaos asked, and looked at Cerise, who glanced at Amanda with something between anger and admiration. Kurt glanced at Amanda, letting her go as he stepped back, panting in fear. Amanda held up the white object, and grinned. Cerise gasped in shock, to see the long white plume from her head fluttering there in Amanda's grasp.
"I... seem to have lost... some of my plumage," Cerise panted, muzzy from the sleep spell, and slowly rising with Khaos' help.
"Missing something?" Amanda asked. "Birdy?"
"My... my... warrior's plume," Cerise panted. "How... you..."
"First blood, of a sort," said D'marran.
"Mein GOTT what are you two doing?" Kurt shouted.
"She escalated the fight," said D'marran.
"She did indeed," Cerise panted. "And honor demanded that I continue till first blood be shed. Your consort insisted on increasing her hostility. I merely wished to test her limits."
"Do you realize you could have KILLED one another?" Kurt cried. "You didn't TELL her it was a combat?"
"I might have neglected to mention it," Cerise said. "And she is not dead. As you see clearly, Kurt."
"I didn't," Amanda said, looking at Cerise, who shook her head in disbelief that the human had bested her in a sense. "I could have, but I didn't. And I proved my point..."
"I have underestimated you, human," Cerise said, looking at Amanda blankly.
"You sure have," Amanda said. Before Kurt could stop her, she walked over and tossed Cerise's missing plumage at her.
"She did win," said D'marran. "You succeeded in your goal, milady."
"You should have told her," Khaos said to Cerise, who looked back at him, flinching.
"Cerise, you almost killed her..." Kurt gasped. "I saw you fighting... I..."
"I did not," Cerise panted, looking at her plumage.
"You could have. How do I know you didn't try to put her out of the way with this little training session, which just HAPPNED to be a challenge, you didn't inform her of?" Kurt snapped. He turned to Amanda, who stood by the door. She looked at Cerise who was still standing there in shock, next to Khaos, regarding Kurt's anger with sadness.
"I did not," she whispered. "I am sorry Kurt..."
"This isn't over," Kurt said to Cerise as his hands formed into fists at his side, and he whirled on Amanda, who looked on, weary with her exhaustion. "And you Amanda, you should know better... you could have been KILLED! And you KHAOS, why didn't' you stop them?"
"It was something they had to work out for themselves," Khaos said. "Since you did little to prevent it."
Angrily Kurt stormed out, past Amanda. She said, "good night to you, fuzzy."
"You fought well, Daytripper," Cerise said reluctantly to Amanda.
"Thanks, that's all I wanted to hear," Amanda said to Cerise as she sheathed the soul sword.
"I suggest you rest now. The fight ahead is long, Amanda Sefton," said Cerise as she waved a dismissive hand. "And I suggest you use those skills in battle."
"Uh huh. Just watch out for yourself, Birdy," said Amanda as she saluted and strode out, her dignity restored, even if she was sore and bruised, and Kurt was pissed at them both. She left Khaos and Cerise alone, looking at one another.
"Milady, we must talk," Khaos said. "It seems you waste your affection on Kurt, when he loves another. And this is the way of folly. Especially when your friends are at stake, and there are others who care for you as he once did."
"I'm listening," Cerise said slowly, looking up at him with her liquid brown eyes. He hadn't intervened, and she was glad. He did know the ways of the warrior, unlike Kurt. The dispute with Amanda had gone not as she expected, but the challenge was there even before they lay eyes on another, and had to answered. Why could Kurt not understand?
By Trynia Merin
Disclaimer: Excalibur and its characters are property of XMEN. This is a work of fiction, and is not meant for profit or to demean the characters. The events here take place after my first story Dreams Nailed. Please R and R. This part has no R rated stuff, but I'd put it a PG for language and some tense situations. As for adult material, they'll be marked in upcoming individual chapters.
***
Chapter 7
Amanda and Cerise entered the suite, under the watchful eye of D'marran. Clad in her violet and crimson armor, Cerise sized up her opponent, who didn't seem much in the way of stature in her silver technomagical creation. Amanda narrowed her eyes, and looked at her formidable opponent towering over her.
"I shall attempt to teach you the basics means of Shi'ar combat," said Cerise as demurely as possible. "We shall be combating in near vacuum conditions. And you must not rely so much on defense as offense..."
"So what do you have in mind?" Amanda asked, anger in the pit of her stomach. A strong temptation to try one of her mother's DEATH spells arose in her mind, and she temporarily suppressed it. Somehow she wasn't sure if they would work on an alien, but she was tempted to try.
"Your powers are mystical in nature. Can you form armaments with them?" Cerise asked. She held up her hand and Amanda saw the pools of crimson light formulate into a spilling cascade of energy. On Cerise's wrist formed a red shield, and in her right grasp formed a battle-axe.
Amanda dodged as Cerise swung the first blow, tumbling out of the way. Her mystical shield crackled forth, as the axe swiped down, and collided with her nimbus in a web of sparks. Cerise shook her head and backed away.
"You are purely defensive. You must thrust and parry your attack," she said.
"Parry THIS," Amanda gritted, putting her fists together and reaching deep as she spoke a spell. A spear of green energy crackled and shot out like a stroke of lightening. It slammed into Cerise, who was caught of guard with the magical bolt, which knocked her back.
"Impressive," Cerise said, rolling to her feet in a defensive crouch. "That is more to the offensive. But my stellar sensors verify that is your strongest move..."
"It's not my best," Amanda said, following with a swirl of her hands as she traced a pentagram in the air, and suddenly two mirror images appeared on either size. Cerise stood up and reformed her weaponry, swinging widely at one image. Amanda countered with a levan bolt, sideswiping Cerise's head. The missile sizzled past Cerise, and the smoldering smell of burning feathers reached her nostrils.
"Simple," Cerise said, attacking both images with a swipe of her arm, and a powerful kick. One image sizzled but Amanda had moved clear to suddenly vanish in a haze of sparks. She materialized behind Cerise who was quickly battling the mirror images, only to discover Amanda was not among them.
Amanda raised her fingers and summoned a spear of energy, quickly hoping it would do something despite Cerise's armor. Her spells weren't effective against the iron of Cerise armor, but she was sick of this alien amazon pushing her around. Time to show her what a real witch could do, Amanda thought. As Cerise battled the images, Amanda raised her hand and tossed the spear. In the nick of time Cerise dodged the bolt, which barely grazed the long tail of her white plume.
"Can you fight a foe who is airborne?" Cerise asked, suddenly defying gravity.
"Shit," Amanda cursed, glancing up as Cerise passed around her in a low arc. She suddenly held up her hands and blocked the next blast of crimson energy barely in time.
"Your skills are noteworthy, but you still have shown no hand to hand initiative. Such expenditure of energy is futile," Cerise shook her head, as she began to form a sphere of energy to encompass Amanda.
"Says you," Amanda said. A blinding spark flashed in Cerise's face suddenly exploding into a phosphorescent blaze brighter then the sun. Momentarily blinded, Cerise cursed in her alien tongue as Amanda levitated up and delivered a kick to Cerise's head. The force of Amanda's kick knocked the alien over and Cerise went down hard.
However brief the victory, Cerise rolled away, and brought up a crimson shield of power to bear as Amanda lunged again. A levan bolt crashed into the crimson shield, and Amanda cursed again as Cerise's hearing compensated for her loss of sight.
"You'll have to do better then that, human," Cerise said, standing up and shaking her head, which was ringing. Amanda's exosuit had given her some measure of amplified strength. Again the hated battle-axe formed and blindly Cerise advanced, swinging it in ever-increasing arcs. Amanda gritted her teeth and realized that she had to stop running and hiding behind spells. She had no real weapon to fight with. Summoning a monster would be help, but somehow she knew she wanted to wipe that smirk off the alien's face.
"Come and get me, birdy," Amanda said as she teleported out of the way. Cerise had regained her sight, and blinked back and forth.
"This is pointless. Unless you learn hand to hand, you cannot hope to prevail in armed combat," Cerise said. "You are no warrior..."
"Maybe not, but that shows how much you know,' Amanda said, suddenly realizing what she had to do. If Cerise wanted a weapon, she'd get one. Long ago at the circus she remembered the lessons that the sword dancers had done. She herself was an acrobat of equal to Kurt. Had she relied on magic so much that she had forgotten this skill?
Cerise reached her, her stellar sensors anticipating where Amanda would next materialize. AS she swung with her axe, she suddenly heard the soiled of her energy meeting Amanda's barrier. Reaching into her abdomen, she put her right hand at the hilt of the weapon concealed and slowly drew it out. Light flashed off the Soul Sword as Amanda lofted it high, and her armor blurred and shifted.
"You are armed?" Cerise suddenly blinked, loosing concentration of her power. Amanda lowered her shield and brought back her hand. The first stroke almost took Cerise's head off as the soulsword whizzed over her head. Only by a second Cerise dodged decapitation as she leaned to the side and formed her shield to block.
Amanda leapt as Cerise swung with her crimson battleaxe, leaping up and over the amazon's head. The soulsword whirled and met the crimson weapon, sparking as they landed apart from one another, panting. Was it her imagination, or was Amanda's armor suddenly bulked in the region of the chest, and the spiked helmet covering her head.
"You were concealing your weapon all along, were you not, Earther?" Cerise asked, her eyes sparkling as the ante was upped.
"You could say that," Amanda said, circling as Cerise swung her axe and she countered with the Soul Sword in silver arcs. From his vantagepoint, Khaos watched both women facing off, now more equally armed. Magic challenged science, and the only weapon that could face Cerise was the one Amanda had appropriated from Kitty. Or so it seemed.
Blow for blow Amanda met Cerise. She quickly realized the alien amazon was far stronger, despite the mystical enhancements in her own armor. If she kept up this hand to hand swordplay she would tire. But Amanda was faster and nimbler as she flipped and spun in a series of flips worthy of Nightcrawler, keeping just ahead of Cerise's swipes.
"You fight well, human. I am impressed," Cerise said, as Amanda flipped up and over her head. However Cerise suddenly took to flight as Amanda landed, and swung wildly.
"Am I supposed to cheer?" Amanda gritted, sweat pouring down her forehead under the steel of the mystical helmet. She thanked Sabu for his training, and Ragnar, the sword eater for his impromptu lessons, not to mention Stephan, her long lost brother who had taken it upon himself to teach her the basics and intermediaries of swordplay. HE had even taught Kurt, who often sparred with Amanda. She still was only meeting Cerise blow for blow, frustrated and angry she could not get the drop on this smug amazon.
"But you are not a warrior of the caliber of the Grand Jhar," Cerise said as she advanced again. Crimson bands curled out from her fingertips, wrapping around Amanda. The soulsword cut through them as Amanda loosed herself, in an effort to stop Cerise' power from cutting into her.
"Amanda," Khaos called. "Her power is not technomagical, but yours is. Remember!"
"I don't even know HOW to take that advice," she mumbled. Trying to run the soulsword through Cerise wouldn't work, because Cerise's power wasn't magical. It was something else entirely, like a mutant power. Not to mention Cerise's greater strength would soon overpower her, suit or no suit.
"This lesson shall soon end. My sensors indicate you are close to exhaustion. I do not wish to tire you," said Cerise.
"Oh, but I do wish to tire you, Birdy," said Amanda under her breath. She began to chant her spell, slowly, hoping that it would work on aliens. Cerise felt a sudden drain to her strength, staggering as her power flickered. Ancient Romany spells reached out as Amanda's eyes flared and she spoke ancient words of power. She felt so fatigued, so drained.
Not as effective as on humans, but effective enough. Cerise dropped on one knee, shaking her head. Amanda finished her spell, raising her soulsword as she vanished and then reappeared behind Cerise. Just then Nightcrawler teleported in. He saw Amanda raising her sword over Cerise, who was stunned, on one knee.
"NEIN!" he shouted.
"Do not interfere, human," said D'marran, blocking his way. "This is a challenge of the Grand Jhar..."
"Since when!" Nightcrawler shouted. "You must STOP this!"
"Since now," D'marran snapped. "The human must be allowed to continue. IT is our way. Only when first blood is drawn can it be stopped!"
"Cerise," Khaos gasped, not wanting to intervene. Cerise glanced up in shook to see the soulsword descend. Heart pounding he and Wagner advanced as Amanda's stroke sliced at Cerise' head. Cerise barely was able to raise her hand, felled by the Romany sleep spell.
"Mein GOTT!" Kurt cried. Scchzick! Sang the soulsword, cutting into feathers. Kurt materialized behind Amanda, who held something in her hands, and Khaos was at Cerise's side, stunned by what he saw. Cerise blinked; amazed her head was till attached to her body.
"You..." Cerise gasped, looking up as Kurt held onto Amanda, who was panting, soulsword in one hand, and something white and fluttering in her other.
"Are you all right?" Khaos asked, and looked at Cerise, who glanced at Amanda with something between anger and admiration. Kurt glanced at Amanda, letting her go as he stepped back, panting in fear. Amanda held up the white object, and grinned. Cerise gasped in shock, to see the long white plume from her head fluttering there in Amanda's grasp.
"I... seem to have lost... some of my plumage," Cerise panted, muzzy from the sleep spell, and slowly rising with Khaos' help.
"Missing something?" Amanda asked. "Birdy?"
"My... my... warrior's plume," Cerise panted. "How... you..."
"First blood, of a sort," said D'marran.
"Mein GOTT what are you two doing?" Kurt shouted.
"She escalated the fight," said D'marran.
"She did indeed," Cerise panted. "And honor demanded that I continue till first blood be shed. Your consort insisted on increasing her hostility. I merely wished to test her limits."
"Do you realize you could have KILLED one another?" Kurt cried. "You didn't TELL her it was a combat?"
"I might have neglected to mention it," Cerise said. "And she is not dead. As you see clearly, Kurt."
"I didn't," Amanda said, looking at Cerise, who shook her head in disbelief that the human had bested her in a sense. "I could have, but I didn't. And I proved my point..."
"I have underestimated you, human," Cerise said, looking at Amanda blankly.
"You sure have," Amanda said. Before Kurt could stop her, she walked over and tossed Cerise's missing plumage at her.
"She did win," said D'marran. "You succeeded in your goal, milady."
"You should have told her," Khaos said to Cerise, who looked back at him, flinching.
"Cerise, you almost killed her..." Kurt gasped. "I saw you fighting... I..."
"I did not," Cerise panted, looking at her plumage.
"You could have. How do I know you didn't try to put her out of the way with this little training session, which just HAPPNED to be a challenge, you didn't inform her of?" Kurt snapped. He turned to Amanda, who stood by the door. She looked at Cerise who was still standing there in shock, next to Khaos, regarding Kurt's anger with sadness.
"I did not," she whispered. "I am sorry Kurt..."
"This isn't over," Kurt said to Cerise as his hands formed into fists at his side, and he whirled on Amanda, who looked on, weary with her exhaustion. "And you Amanda, you should know better... you could have been KILLED! And you KHAOS, why didn't' you stop them?"
"It was something they had to work out for themselves," Khaos said. "Since you did little to prevent it."
Angrily Kurt stormed out, past Amanda. She said, "good night to you, fuzzy."
"You fought well, Daytripper," Cerise said reluctantly to Amanda.
"Thanks, that's all I wanted to hear," Amanda said to Cerise as she sheathed the soul sword.
"I suggest you rest now. The fight ahead is long, Amanda Sefton," said Cerise as she waved a dismissive hand. "And I suggest you use those skills in battle."
"Uh huh. Just watch out for yourself, Birdy," said Amanda as she saluted and strode out, her dignity restored, even if she was sore and bruised, and Kurt was pissed at them both. She left Khaos and Cerise alone, looking at one another.
"Milady, we must talk," Khaos said. "It seems you waste your affection on Kurt, when he loves another. And this is the way of folly. Especially when your friends are at stake, and there are others who care for you as he once did."
"I'm listening," Cerise said slowly, looking up at him with her liquid brown eyes. He hadn't intervened, and she was glad. He did know the ways of the warrior, unlike Kurt. The dispute with Amanda had gone not as she expected, but the challenge was there even before they lay eyes on another, and had to answered. Why could Kurt not understand?