"Date night?" He asked and Vincent agreed with a grunt.
"Are you staying in or going out?" Sage jabbered, "I'm just asking because I thought I would surprise Ram and I wanted to make sure we wouldn't disturb you in any way." Vincent glanced at the young man decided to share the one piece of wisdom he had about the women they were dating.
"You do realize you are talking about an Amazon? Don't you?" Sage nodded.
"Then you should know these girls share everything and I do mean everything. They wont even bat an eye if one of their sisters decides to walk in and join you while you are in the middle of most intriguing session you've ever experienced." Sage flinched as he saw Vincent grin absent-mindedly.
"Do you mean that you and-"
"We are here", Vincent cut in just before the doors opened and they saw the note on the penthouse door.
"They are at Kandi's. Let's go down", Vincent said and pressed the button.
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"How do I look?" Ram asked and twirled around. She was wearing some of her mothers old clothes and Neha's shoes. The light coloured jute shirt and skirts hid under them the finest leather pants and top anyone had seen.
"Like a seer", Neha laughed and earned a glare from her cousin. Ram reached for the sheepskin coat and disappeared under it.
"Dad was a big man", she said with nostalgically.
"Yes he was", Azure agreed as she stepped into the granary. She turned to talk to her daughter:
"They are waiting for you Neha. You are a mother now and you should remember your place in the Circle. I'll take Roseata there once she's finished." Ram knitted her eyebrows but nodded to Neha.
"Go on, I'm sure they'll want to hear all I've told you."
"Fine then. Have your secrets. I'll make sure I have mine when the time comes", Neha said to her mother before stepping out and heading to the main cottage.
"I keep forgetting she's an adult now", Ram said, "All I see in her is the little girl I used to play with and torment others."
"You are an adult too Ram, even if you're not a mother yet", her aunt Azure stated and stepped closer to ran her fingers through the golden locks of her niece, "Did you take care of what we discussed before you left?" Ram met the older woman's gaze steadily and nodded.
"I did. They wont bother you ever again. She is dead and so are her sons." Azure breathed deep and closed her eyes.
"I wished it would never come to this."
"They didn't give us a choice. Granny May will never bother you again and Neha will never need to know what became of her father", Ram whispered.
"I shouldn't have asked you to take care of my problem dear child. Clark was my mistake and I should have dealt with him myself." Ram grabbed her aunts hands and squeezed tight.
"Do not blame yourself. You didn't know what he was when you met him. You couldn't have known about his mother either and I'm glad I was able to help. Without this mission I wouldn't have met some great people and I wouldn't have become a part of something bigger. I have a good life in the city and I love it."
"Do you love it enough to leave this place forever?" Azure asked gently and Ram looked down. She shook her head and tried to hid her tears.
"I don't know."
"I only ask because the Mothers Circle will want to know. They want to know which is more important to you, our family or your freedom."
"How can I choose?" Ram whispered, "I love this place and I love our traditions but I also love my life in the city. And I'm not ready to abandon my friends there."
"Do they know what you are giving up for them?" Azure asked and saw Ram shake her head.
"No, they don't."
"Why is that?"
"They have their own dramatic lives to live and my problems can wait. Besides I don't know how to tell them that once I stop being a Turk, I have to take on the responsibility of leading this tribe. How do I tell them once I return here for good I can never abandon my family? How do I tell them that the lives of everyone I know and love depend on the things I see?"
"You don't, because none of that is true. Only your mother wants it to be true. We used to have more than one seer in this family and they didn't always agree. That's why there was another leader who listened to all the seers and made her decision after deliberating everything told to her." Azure explained.
"What changed that?" Ram asked.
"Some bad decisions. Few mothers decided to choose their mates according to their wealth instead of their hearts and thus they quelled the gift in their blood. That's why Aquamarine and I don't have the gift. I married for love but I didn't realize I had chosen badly. Neha made a mistake in choosing her first lover but the moment her heart turned to Greystone, Nella asked about the runes for the first time."
"Does she have the gift?" Ram asked.
"Yes she does", Azure nodded, "Neha doesn't want to see it and I'm not pushing. There's time. Grandmother Auburn has the gift and she was the last seer until you were born. Now we have three seers and I'm sure you wont be the last ones. The future wont stay hidden."
"I wish I could believe that", Ram sighed.
"You do not need to believe it. You can see it but now, Mothers Circle awaits. We must go."
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"Are you sure about this?" Katrina asked when she and Kandi returned to Kandi's new apartment.
"I'm sure. Either we wake Tseng up and give him a migraine or we break into his office and take a look at Ram's file", Kandi repeated, "And to do that I need few things from my home office." The Amazons stormed into the apartment and found two men gazing upon the opened gun safe.
"Going somewhere?" Vincent asked.
"Change of plans. It's going to be a girls night out", Trina dismissed the two men and pushed Kandi to the office.
"If it's a girls night out, then where's Ram? Where have you hidden my girlfriend?" Sage's laugh died as he saw the quick glances between Kandi and Trina.
"What's happened?" Vincent asked eerily.
"She forgot to refill the liquor cabinet", Trina replied.
"And?"
"And she's missing. We found her guns and phone in the sewers and her clothes in an abandoned house south from Shinra building", Kandi said quickly, "We were just about to see what Tseng knows about her, that could help us find her."
"Why don't you just activate the tracking chip Tseng asked me to inject her?" Sage asked.
"What?" The Amazons were about to attack the blushing Turk.
"All I know that Tseng asked me to inject a small, dormant chip under her skin just in case she disappears. For some reason he thought it could happen", Sage explained, "It wasn't easy but luckily she likes knives and- umm, let me show you." Sage walked past the glaring women to Kandi's office and sat in front of the computer. A moment later he said:
"She's on the northern continent, west from Icicle Village."
"Good job Sage", Kandi said and pierced him with her eyes, "Was Ram the only one you injected with a chip?"
"Umm, no?" Kandi stood up and said:
"Wrong answer but I'll take care of you later. We need a chopper, now!"
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Ram followed her aunt Azure and stepped into the humble cottage where the Mothers Circle dwelt. She stood next to the scorching fireplace and waited for mothers to settle down. She didn't speak and she didn't even look up until she was spoken to. The first words she heard were said with her mothers cold voice:
"Welcome home Roseata Azalea." Ram nodded but didn't speak. She knew her mother was wating for her to give a reason for scorn.
"Why are you here?"
"Mother Aquamarine", Ram bowed slightly before lifting her head, "I'm here to bear witness to my cousin Nettle Hazards marriage to Greystone."
"And who told you of this occasion?" her mother demanded to know.
"I did", Azure said calmly. Aquamarine glared at her sister when another weak voice interfered:
"The real question is why didn't her own mother summon Roseata Azalea the seer to attend the wedding." Ram smiled as her great-grandmother Auburn stepped to the light and opened her arms.
"Come child", she said and Ram went to embrace her. Aquamarine hadn't flinched at the rebuke of her neglect but had cringed at the sound of her daughters title.
"And why is the young seer allowed to stay away from her family and tribe?" Aquamarine demanded defiantly. Auburn didn't even look at her when she said:
"Because I've seen it. This is her path and she must travel it. It does no good to bind a child to a rock and then mock her for fearing to tread on unknown terrain when you let her go", great-grandmother Auburn said and touched Ram's chin, "We must retire and consult the runes. We cannot discuss more before that." The mothers in the Circle mumbled approvingly as Aquamarine opened her mouth to object. Azure laid her hand on her sisters shoulder and silenced her by saying:
"As you wish grandmother."
Ram took her great-grandmothers hand and lead her to the back room. There they sat on the ground next to a small fire pit and inhaled the smoke. Auburn threw a pinch of green powder to the fire and breathed deep the smoke emerging from the fire. Ram followed her example and reached to her sides. She kept her eyes closed and let her fingers do the job. She picked a small pouch which felt right in her hands and opened it. She took the plate her great-grandmother offered her and dropped the runes on it. Ram moved her hand slowly over the plate and the runes and turned the plate a little before opening her eyes. She looked at the runes and turned pale. Auburn leaned over her shoulder, nodded acceptingly and said:
"You have the gift, child. It took me weeks before I deciphered this fate but you saw it immediately."