A/N: Only a couple weeks after Traitor... the events of that meeting were not made publicly known, only that there had been a traitor among them and that he had been dealt with.

Music cues included, goes to the Inception soundtrack song 528491 (wonderful song, hard name to remember, I do not own it just in case you were wondering.)

T'reth and Ackala came on the large gathering with confused frowns, and Gree pointed out the ring leader standing on a small platform with a torch, riling the crowd up with alarming ease. Something about someone lying to them and using them for his own agenda. The two of them left Gree and skirted the crowd to confront the slightly deranged-looking speaker. T'reth recognized him, but couldn't quite remember the man's name. Ackala had no such problem, luckily, and his bellow carried over the crowd easily once he decided they were close enough for a confrontation.

"Liman, what in Lykotus' name are you doing?" the second in command demanded. Liman turned toward them with a start, eyes flickering in fear for a moment. He covered it up with a broad, on-the-edge grin.

"Speak of the devil!" he exclaimed. "If it isn't the man of the hour, our honest and self-righteous leader!"

The crowd muttered angrily and both leaders had a sinking feeling as they continued forward. A covert glance at Ackala let T'reth know his friend's inner ear was starting to buzz, but the large man pressed on regardless.

"Liman, what lies have you been spreading?" Ackala growled, fists clenching. Liman jeered.

"No lies, mighty Ackala, only truths that you are very much aware of. Traitor!"

Ackala lurched forward at the accusation, ready to lay into the thin, weed-like merchant, but T'reth drug him back with some effort. The crowd's agitation jumped, but then calmed with T'reth's steady but dangerous words.

"Liman, explain yourself." He ordered. Liman's sneer was strained, and he straightened his merchant's clothes in a nervous habit.

"Gladly, oh noble T'reth. Both of you have been lying to us."

A hush fell over the crowd as they watched the scene play out. There wasn't even a breeze to stir the trees and tents as they waited for him to answer.

"How so?" T'reth wondered.

"Where were you born, T'reth?" Liman asked pointedly.

Ackala snorted violently. "Where he was born has nothing to do—"

"It has everything to do with this war!" Liman shrieked back, spitting in his enthusiasm. T'reth patted his friend's shoulder.

"It's alright, Ackala, I can handle this."

The look Ackala turned down on him and the way he clenched his jaw told him how much he doubted that, but he allowed his leader and friend to step up and confront the rabble-rouser on his own.

"I have never lied about my heritage. It has never been important until now, and it has only ever strengthened my determination to win this war with you. It shouldn't mean anything." He paused to take a breath. "I was born in Havenfield. My parents were Royalists."

The crowd erupted with outrage and T'reth raised his arms for their attention again, which was only marginally successful. "I was born and raised Royalist, it is true, but once I realized the error of their ways I left and have never looked back. According to them I am less than one of you for what I did, and I want to win our freedom as much as you do!"

"Liar!" Liman screeched, eyes shiny in the torchlight. "He's lying to us again!"

~0~

On a hill above the large camp, a shadow perched in a tree—something even the most skilled woodsmen would have overlooked or never noticed—suddenly came alive and shifted on the branch beside the trunk of the pine. Two orbs that were eyes reflected back the dim glow of fire as they focused on the tents below her, wings ruffling as her attention was caught. Deception, anger, fear, and impending violence were heavy in the air and she contemplated the sources and receivers of each emotion or action with a cold mind. No interference was necessary yet—it was debatable whether action was necessary at all, but it was an option available to her if she chose to act on it. All that really needed deciding was whether she cared enough to intervene, or if she was going to let the mortals have their way with each other and let them sort it out on their own.

Star determined to wait a while and see what would happen.

~0~

(528491) The crowd grew louder at the merchant's words, beginning to mill in agitation. T'reth tried to calm them with words of assurance, but they fell on deaf ears. When Ackala moved to be closer to his friend, tensing and grinding his jaw as the ringing in his ears grew steadily stronger, someone tried to pull him back. He automatically turned with a raised fist, but T'reth jumped to catch his arm.

"Don't!" the smaller man hissed. "You'll set them off."

Meanwhile, Liman yelled over all the noise. "He's in with the Royalists! He coordinated the attack on our defenseless women and children while we were 'ambushing' forces that didn't exist!"

The crowd that had become an angry mob roared back at the reminder of that event. The situation was rapidly deteriorating and T'reth quickly started searching for an escape for himself and Ackala, who was suddenly being wrestled to the ground by five other men. He needed to act soon.

At the back of the mob, Gree was momentarily frozen in panic at what was happening before he turned and disappeared around a tent. He needed to go get help, before it was too late… If it wasn't already too late.

~0~

In the tree above camp, the reflective orbs narrowed. This unrealized Child of the Sun—this T'reth. What was he to her? In a blink, she saw the outcome of these events if she did not act. He was not to die, neither of them were, but it would bring great grief and much pain to him. Nevertheless, he was only a mortal. He was nothing to her.

(0:49) So why did the situation put her on edge and push her into the grey area of indecision? Why could she not go back to her meditation and ignore him?

Why did he mean something to her?

~0~

T'reth launched himself off the platform, plowing into Ackala's assailants, hoping to free him so they could fight their way out together. It was working for a moment and would have worked for longer if he had been willing to pull his sword on the mutinous men…but he couldn't. They were not the real enemy here.

The mob surged forward and he was overwhelmed before he could free Ackala. The first blow fell.

Star was on her feet in the tree, watching with eyes narrowed to slits, tense. Gree was coming with reinforcements, but T'reth would be a mess by the time they got there—Ackala too, but she couldn't really bring herself to care much about him. The bark of the tree crunched beneath her hand as she fought an internal battle. Why should she help? Because she cared about T'reth. But why did she care? She didn't know! She shouldn't and it made no sense. But the fact was that she did.

So what should she do?

The mob swarmed around the two leaders, yelling, screaming, beating on them with all their might. There was no sense to it, but there rarely ever is with frightened, angry men looking for someone to blame. Gree returned to the scene then, swords drawn and leading a contingent of loyal soldiers, and the young man couldn't help but stop and gape at the sight. Panic gripped him. What if he was too late? What if T'reth and Ackala were both already dead? What then? The other men and commanders rushed around him to attack the back end of the mob, but Gree found his gaze drawn to the sky.

I find your cause honorable and I pledge myself to it. You will have my assistance in your fight.

That was what she had said when T'reth had introduced her to the officers. "Star?! Where are you? They need you! Help us!" He half-pleaded, half-commanded the empty air. There was a sudden rush of wind on his face, a soft sigh that brought a single word to his ear; here.

Without warning, a wall of fire (2:03) exploded next to T'reth, throwing the mob back with just as much violence as they had been attacking with. It advanced, turning the grass to ash and charring the earth. A second wall wrapped around Ackala before anybody could react, pushing his assailants back, killing some instantly and terribly injuring others. A third wall covered their other side and left them on patches of green grass amidst the large black circle. The last explosion encircled them completely and finally illuminated the winged goddess between them, arms lifted and opaque eyes reflecting the awful heat and anger of the fire she had conjured.

Which promptly (2:23) disappeared, leaving only the blackened earth and burned men as proof it had been there at all.

The humans that weren't screaming in pain were silent and still as death while the tall, thin woman landed delicately and folded her dark wings to her back, sweeping her soulless gaze across the masses, face expressionless.

"I am Star." She stated, though most of them already knew or had guessed her identity by then, and her hard but quiet voice carried to all of them. "I have lent my abilities to support your cause. A cause which this man," she gestured to T'reth, who had just managed to gain his feet, "is both willing and capable of leading forth to victory. Were it not so, I would not be here. Were it to become not so, you may be assured that I would properly deal with him myself. Until he fails this cause, he falls under my protection along with all others who faithfully support it with him. You of the mutinous faction would be wise to remember this." She turned to T'reth. "I leave you to judge your own people."

His injuries were not as severe as they would have been, but he was still injured. It would heal, it shouldn't have bothered her, but she proceeded to surprise both him and herself by reaching out in the middle of his "Thank you," to cup his chin in one hand, and for the first time in a very long time, she healed a mortal.

T'reth blinked, mouth snapping closed, and he reached up to feel for the missing damage, massaging his tingling jaw, while Star quickly withdrew and ruffled her feathers, unnerved by her own actions. He met her eerie gaze again, and somehow he was suddenly less afraid of it.

"Thank you." He repeated, softer this time.

She turned without a word to touch a slightly amazed Ackala, healing him as well, before taking flight and disappearing into the night again.

T'reth and Ackala shared a look.

"Wow." The larger man breathed. "That was… incredible. Did you know she could do that?"

T'reth shook his head mutely, and then turned as Gree drug a pasty-white Liman up to him. He wondered at the goddess' strange behavior, but then shook the thoughts away. He had a mutiny to wrap up at the moment. He would have to ponder later.