Disclaimer: I'm not going to write one of these every chapter. Consider it officially disclaimed. I do not own any of the older characters, nor do I own the places. Names/characters you aren't familiar with are mine. Everything else is solely owned by the wonderful, creative, and awesome Anne Bishop.

A/N: For some reason, my asterisks don't show up, so everything that's said on threads will be italicised, just like thoughts. Sorry for that.

I do not usually update this quick. I'm a slow writer. Not only that, but I'm sick right now so I'm bound to be even slower. Please put up with my slowness v.v

Neka1(the chic geek): Thank you for reviewing, you are the only one that did v.v It's not that she can't use Craft to do her hair, it's just that she doesn't. She doesn't like to be lazy with simple things like that. Other things however...

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As Omrah and Alane raced up the stairs, Laurent came out of his bedroom, fixing his suit and generally not paying attention to his surroundings. Omrah, being herself, was the same. She slammed into him and they landed in a pile on the floor.

"Ow. What the hell hit me?"

"I believe the question is why did you run into me?"

"Oh Laurent! Why are you always in the way! Can't you see I have to get changed to spar with Uncle Lucivar? Speaking of sparring, why are you in a suit? Aren't you practicing today?"

"How about you get off of me and we can have this conversation vertically, like normal people."

With this said, he slid his sister off of his lap and stood up. He brushed the imaginary dust off his pants and readjusted the jacket of his suit. Omrah stood up gracelessly and huffed at him.

"Well, fine. Say hello to Alane first though. Honestly, you have no manners."

At the mention of her name, Alane stopped her giggling, neither had realized she'd been laughing at them since they'd collided. Laurent glared at his sister and turned around to look at Alane, his gaze dropped quickly to the ground and a bit of crimson spread across his cheeks. Alane reacted the same way, causing Omrah to huff. She pulled Alane's hand and started to walk around her brother towards her room.

They were halfway there when Laurent called out to them, causing the two to stop and turn around.

"I didn't answer you yet!"

He walked quickly to the both of them, looking his sister in the face and angling his body away from Alane. He didn't want Alane to know the kind of effect she had on him so he was trying his hardest to keep her from finding out, making it all that much easier to see. Omrah ignored the feelings emanating from her sibling.

"You were saying Laurent?"

"Father is taking me to Amdarh today, for our birthday. That's why I'm not dressed for practice. As a part of the gift, I'm allowed to bring one other, and sister, before you get your hopes up, I'm not allowed to take you. Sorry, Father's orders. I was actually thinking of asking Lady Alane here to accompany us."

He turned to Alane, his ice-blue eyes hopeful. Alane blushed and glanced away. Omrah huffed, the two of them were completely infatuated with one another but were too scared to admit it. She poked her friend in the ribs, hard, startling an answer from her.

"I-I'd love to go with you. Just let me change real quick all right? I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Laurent looked relieved and Alane looked pleased. Omrah looked slightly ill. She wanted her best friend and her brother to be together, but to have them out here making googly eyes at one another was more than she could handle.

"Thanks for the news and I guess I'll see you later Laurent. Alane, let's go."

Alane followed, in a dreamlike state, frequently looking back at Laurent with a smile on her lips. Omrah left her love struck friend in front of the armoire in Alane's room, hoping she'd snap out of it soon enough to pay attention to what she was doing.

Omrah left the room quickly, if she didn't move fast Uncle Lucivar would come get her, something she wanted to avoid. He'd come looking for her once a few years ago. Before she'd known what had happened, she was in the fountain in her garden. She had emerged sputtering and spitting mad. Uncle Lucivar had just glared at her and reminded her to never be late for practice again. So far, she hadn't, but she wasn't so sure about today.

She took a left at the end of the corridor and walked straight to the end of that one to reach her room. From the other side, she felt waves of terror and a stabbing sadness.

Mother Night, she thought, I left Vivere alone. She has to be terrified by now.

Omrah opened the door to find a wolf lying on the ground whining. Her whines were full of pain and despair, of a loss so deep it burns the soul. Omrah knelt on the ground next to the wolf.

Little Sister, Omrah said on a distaff Opal thread, why are you so upset? I did not leave, I just went downstairs for a bit.

A scared feminine voice replied. I had feared you left me.

Dear heart, I could never leave you. You know that I can't leave you like your pack did.

When Vivere was a pup, her pack had been hunted. Vivere had survived only because her fur was the same color as snow, reflecting the same amount of light and not giving her position away to the hunters that had slaughtered her pack.

The pack had fought bravely to save Vivere and the other pups, trying to get them on the Winds, those psychic roadways in the Darkness, but one hunter had a Sapphire jewel, just one rank darker than the Queen's Green. With his Sapphire jewel, he had trapped all of the Kindred wolves and slaughtered them.

Luckily, the hunters had been in Witch's Realm and were subject to her law. They claimed the Kindred were no different than other animals, except that their fur had more value. The receiving room had to be repainted before the room could be reused. You did not anger Kaeleer's Heart.

But, that night had scarred Vivere. She'd watched her family murdered in front of her eyes. She'd never play with her brothers and sisters again, never see her mother or father. She was locked with grief within herself.

She hated the fact she'd been spared and had asked for death. Her plea fell on deaf ears, no more Kindred would be needlessly killed. Especially after her Birthright Ceremony when she walked away with an Opal jewel and it was clean she was a Queen with the strength to form a strong Court. So, until she was old enough to form her Court, she'd been placed in the care of Omrah.

Omrah was a Black Widow/Queen. She sensed the heartache of the lonely pup and had made a tangled web for her. She had let the pup relive the pain of that night, had let the pup see it was a good thing for her to have survived. Omrah had drained the poison from the wound and now, two years later, the pup will still trying to finish what Omrah had begun.

It had been a long and painful road. At first Omrah hadn't been allowed out of the pup's sight. She'd whine and curl on the floor, waves of pain making all of the residents uncomfortable, regardless of the jewel they wore.

They had finally progressed to the point that Vivere didn't always have to be with Omrah. As long as Vivere knew Omrah would be coming back, Omrah could leave for days and Vivere would be fine.

But this morning, Omrah didn't wake Vivere or leave her any kind of sign she'd be returning. The wolf had assumed something had happened to her caretaker and that that she was all alone again.

Omrah tried her best to soothe her Sister. Vivere was only an adolescent wolf, two and a half years old. Sure, this equated to about fourteen human years, but still not that old. Old enough to still need and want reassurance from those she loved.

Usually Ladvarian and Kaelas would calm her down when Omrah left like this in the morning, but the two were currently with Jaenelle on her tour of the Territories. This left Omrah with a distressed adolescent Opal jeweled Queen. This morning wasn't going to be good.

Omrah began to sing a song in the Old Tongue. Almost immediately Vivere calmed down. The Kindred always acted this way when they heard the Old Tongue, though most of them didn't understand any of the words, it spoke to them on a level their human Brothers and Sisters couldn't understand.

It was the song Omrah had sung while making the tangled web for Vivere, the song she sang when she made any poison or potion, or spun any tangled web. Everyone that knew her just dubbed it 'Omrah's Work Song'. It was much more than that, but nobody knew just how much more, not even Omrah herself. All she knew was that she'd been born knowing this song, it was as much a part of her as her other gifts. And she used it the best way she knew how.

The wolf stopped whining and began to breathe more evenly. Soon she was breathing deeply, asleep. She was in a healing sleep. Not the same sleep a Healer would use, but the sleep a Black Widow used to heal a wounded mind.

Vivere would sleep until she forgot the pain and distress this morning caused her. Omrah felt bad, it was almost as bad as wiping her memory. The only reason it was different was because, once the wolf's mind was whole, memories like these would resurface slowly. Thank the Darkness for that kindness.

Omrah got off the floor and stretched. She hated doing that to Vivere, but it was all she could do. She left a little bubble of a thought right outside Vivere's Barriers. I haven't gone anywhere dear heart. I've just gone out for practice. When you wake up, come down to the field and play.

Omrah knelt down and pat the silken head of the troubled wolf on the floor. She sighed and stood back up. She turned to her armoire and opened the doors.

She slid out of her emerald green dress reluctantly, letting it pool around her feet. She picked it up carefully and hung it back up in its proper place. She pulled out a dark brown tunic and a matching pair of leggings. She took her under things out from one of the drawers and put them on carefully. She hated practicing with Uncle Lucivar. He made her work. Even on her birthday.

She pulled the tunic over her head quickly, the pants getting the same treatment shortly after. She brushed her hair again, taking out the delicate clips and placing them back on her vanity. She put her hair in a tight braid. She then wound her braid up until it became a bun.

She pulled a pair of soft shoes from the bottom of her armoire and put them on. She closed the doors to her armoire and walked out of her room, throwing a quick glance at the sleeping wolf. Omrah used Craft to float Vivere onto the bed, her usual sleeping spot. She smiled quickly at her charge and slipped out of the room quietly.

She had to hurry now if she wanted to get to practice on time. Uncle Lucivar didn't accept any excuses. Never mind that Laurent was making a move on her best friend, that her wolf had suffered a mental relapse, that it was her birthday. None of it mattered to Uncle Lucivar. She picked up the pace until she was literally running. It was bad enough she had to practice today. If she was much later, Lucivar would make her spar with him. And that was something she did not want to do this morning. Everything else would seem easy compared to having him as a sparring partner.

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Next chapter: Sparring with Lucivar? Or maybe someone else...

A/N: Alright, I know this is kind of getting lame, and you probably don't want to read any more of my chapters v.v I promise Alane and Laurent aren't always like that, but they are teenagers experiencing first love. A plot will begin to emerge within the next few chapters.

I made a few changes to chapter one, mostly to Alane's appearane. I had confuzzled her parents with the parents of another character that should show up next chapter, thereby totally taking away her Dea al Mon heritage. It will never happen again, I swear, please forgive me v.v I also changed Omrah's Jewel, forgot you can't get anything below a Red for a Birthright .'

And something I know someone is bound to say, if not now in later chapters, during the Purge Jaenelle did get rid of all the tainted Blood, but it's been about 25 years since then. Tainted people have been born and some (children at the time) aren't as innocent as they were.