Cimmera once more brought breakfast to her sister, entering the suit of rooms that she called her own but had given over to her sister to use for her stay with barely a knock. She placed the laden platter on the table and studied her sister. She was wearing the Mystrian armor and was buckling her katana into place, they hung, sitting on the waist on one side and dipping to curve over her hip on the other crossing low over her stomach, one katana on each side of her.. Valen too was clad in his armor and finishing sorting through his pack, carefully selecting what he'd take with him on the journey.

Hypatia looked up and smiled. She'd regained some of the weight she'd lost in the hells and while still underweight, was no longer gaunt. A serene beauty marked her that had not been there before; it appeared that being in love agreed with the cleric.

With a sigh, Cimmera offered Hypatia a small book. "I wish you didn't always run off after a few days of rest but by at least this time you'll have someone looking after you." She smiled at Valen. "I had Kurt make this up for you," she indicated the small book, "It's got maps of the areas you're going to be in sketched into the first pages. Do be a dear and add any details that might be of interest in the blank pages that follow the maps. Like how you came into possession of the Cloak of Ascalhorn."

Hypatia gave her a surprised glance, looking up from the breakfast she was eating.

"Oh don't think I didn't have some of our best lore masters take a look at some of the goodies you brought back. You've confirmed some things we thought were only legends. I read that book your friend the Kobold wrote. It shed a lot of light on some things. Although why you travelled with a kobold is not one of them." She gave her sister an arch look.

Hypatia smiled, "Deekin; you'd have to meet him to understand. You'd like him I'm sure. He wants to be good. He wants to show other Kobolds that they can be good too. Plus he's funny."

Cimmera smiled, "Well that's good to hear then. Not a lot of other people would give a kobold bard, a half orc sorcerer, a tiefling and any number of drow the chance to prove themselves good."

Hypatia frowned. Cimmera was fishing and she wanted to head off that line of questioning before it went too far, before she started making connections. "Yes, well, not many people turn out to be world saving heroines, now do they?"

Valen looked at her, surprised. Hypatia was not generally one to brag about her accomplishments.

Cimmera frowned, "true, my dear sister; and yet I wonder why you feel the need to continue running. Why don't you settle down somewhere?"

Hypatia gave her a startled look, "I'm not running. We want to see that our friends are well."

Valen scowled; what would Hypatia be running from? Why would she run from anything? He'd watched her stand toe to toe with the worst the Underdark and the Hells had thrown at her without backing down.

Shaking her head slightly, Hypatia smiled, "I like to explore; to see the wonders of our world." She finished her breakfast and went to grab her pack, "I'm leaving most of the treasure I found here with you, dear sister. There is one chest of stuff I've sorted out as special to me. As for the rest; take what you like, tithe what you like and take good care of anything left.

That distracted Cimmera from her attempt to delve into her sister's psyche. She looked over to the row of chests she'd provided for the massive loot Hypatia had with her when she'd arrived at the Temple her eyes wide, "That's…very generous of you."

"Be happy, my dear sister." Hypatia slung her pack over her shoulder. She gave Cimmera a sly look, adding, "And take it with you when you follow that Planetar of yours."

That surprised her, "I couldn't…" she gestured around weakly, unable to give voice to all the reasons she had to stay here.

"Oh, I'll find you. Worry not. And I'm fairly certain you can follow your goddesses leading anywhere. People still meet and touch and learn to love one another on the planes as well as here."

Cimmera stood, suddenly considering possibilities that had never occurred to her before. She suddenly felt like she'd been set free; free to leave the safety of the temple and to go where her heart might lead her, to follow her own dreams and to see amazing things for herself. Her expression was one of wonder as she slowly followed her sister and Valen down to the Temple foyer.

No sooner had they entered the foyer when a messenger from the temple of Mystra approached and informed them that Hypatia's presence was required by the High Priest at the temple.

Puzzled, Hypatia bade Valen to wait with her sister while she answered the summons, "probably thought of a couple more questions to ask me," She offered, frowning.

She followed the messenger to the temple, trying to figure out what they might need her for. Perhaps some special task? Truly she did not know. She was surprised to see the main cathedral mostly empty when she got there, save for Gabriel whom she gave a slight smile in greeting to as she passed. The High Priest stood up on the dais before the altar waiting for her. He had a couple of new priests with him, priests she'd never seen before but then she'd been away for a long time so that was not so surprising.

What did surprise her was Gabriel falling into place behind her. When a priest she recognized as the boy from long ago whom Cimmera had saved her from, stepped around a marble sheathed column she gasped and stopped, suddenly wary. Why would a lower priest of Sune be here? And why that one of all of them? He had never risen very high in the ranks, his own inherent selfishness keeping him from truly serving his goddess.

"What's going on here?" She demanded, noticing Gabriel stepping right up behind her and wishing he'd step away. If there were going to be a fight she'd prefer not to accidentally strike an ally. Why would I think that? This is my own home temple for the love of Mystra. Yet she couldn't shake the dread certainty that a battle was in the near future.

"It has come to our attention," Farquhar began slowly, a cruel smile curving his thin lips, "That you are consorting with the spawn of a fiend."

"What?" Gabriel stepped forward, almost shoving her out of the way, "No, she just thinks he can be redeemed. It is a naivety of hers."

Farquhar smiled, displaying yellowing teeth, "Oh, no, my good Paladin. Antonius here assures me that it goes far beyond that. She is no longer an innocent."

Antonius sneered, "She could have chosen you, my noble friend, but instead she chose to let a tiefling teach her the ways of love."

"Is this true, Hypatia?" Gabriel demanded harshly, whipping around to face her, "have you given your purity to one whose veins flow with fiendish blood?"

As if it's any of your business, or anyone else's for that matter. But paladins are so pig headed; he'll not leave until he gets an answer, self righteous cad. Sparing an irritated glare for Antonius, Hypatia looked up at Gabriel's thunderous countenance and very gently said, "He is a good man."

"He is not a man!" Gabriel backhanded her, the force sending her flying over the low benches to land in a heap between two columns.

It took Hypatia a minute to push herself up to her knees, leaning on one of the nearby benches for support, her lips and nose bleeding and a bruise that would cover the entire side of her head already starting to form. Blinking to clear her vision, she tried to gather herself. "No? And tell me, how does being a man make you better than he?"

Charging over, Gabriel grabbed both of her arms in a punishing grip, hauling her to her feet, "Tieflings are brutes. They are cruel, evil creatures who delight in tormenting and torturing those weaker than they are."

She still couldn't see clearly but she managed to turn her face up to his and spat, "Shall I ask my sisters and the daughters of my sisters across the face of Faerun who brutalizes them? I know the answer to that question, as do all women, and it is not tieflings, Gabriel; it is men. Men who beat them, men who rape them, and men who tell cruel lies…"

"No!" He struck her again and felt something in her face give as she slumped, knocked senseless by the force of the blow.

Farquhar glided down from the dais and over to where Gabriel still held the unconscious Hypatia by her arms, in equal parts seething with rage and horrified by what he'd done to her. She deserved it though, he assured himself. Giving herself to a tiefling, sullying herself and her priesthood; he rationalized and so tried to silence the quiet voice of his conscience.

Farquhar knelt and removed the rings she was wearing while his personal priests took her weapons. Antonius took her amulet.

Farquhar shook his head his eyes glittering with avarice and perhaps lust, "You've done us a great service this day, Paladin. We will not forget it. Now that she has had her magics removed and will be no threat we can begin to counsel her, perhaps turn her back to the path of… goodness." He showed his teeth again in some mockery of a smile, "For now though, take her to the dungeon and place her in a cell. She'll likely be angry when she wakes and we don't want her pet tiefling to find her before we've had a chance to see if she's under some kind of enchantment."

Those words had the desired effect as Gabriel, desperately looking to silence his conscience latched onto them and because they made his actions good ones, believed.

Flinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes Gabriel nodded, declaring, "It is the duty of paladins to root out heretics wherever they may be found."

Watching until the paladin was safely out of the large foyer, Farquhar grinned to Antonius. "Well done, my friend. It pleases me no end to see how gullible the noble of heart can be. A few whispered lies, a couple of choice words and they'd turn on their own mothers. So sure that everyone around them is possessed of a corrupt soul beyond redemption and so confident in their own infallibility."

"With the Ring of Mystra now in my possession, the priesthood will follow me, believing that my possession of the ring indicates the favor of the goddess is upon me." He turned a cold smile around the room, "And you shall finally be given your rightful standing in priesthood instead of being held back by those who are weak."

"What of her tiefling lover? I hear he is a fearsome warrior," Antonius glanced around nervously.

"Bah," Farquhar scoffed, "Tieflings are creatures of chaos, ruled by their blood lusts. You said this one spent time in the Underdark? Likely he was a pet for one of the Drow Matron Mothers and will relish his freedom when our dear Hypatia doesn't return. The chaos he'll stir up in the city once he realizes he is beholden to no one will provide an excellent distraction for the city guard and those nosey paladins."

"Boss!" The rather high pitched whisper impinged upon Hypatia's consciousness and brought with it a splitting headache. Groaning she rolled to the side, trying to block out the sound and the pain. Her face hurt, her head hurt, her neck ached all the way from the base of her skull to her shoulders.

"Boss!" Another whispered hiss and she could ignore it no longer. Memory returned and she sat up, the sudden change of position causing her to retch. She was glad she'd not had much to eat for breakfast, wiping her lips with trembling fingers she peered through the darkness.

"Deekin?" She croaked the question.

"Boss!" The little kobold clapped his hands over his mouth and looked around to see if anyone had heard him. No one else seemed to be in the dungeon at the moment and he merrily chattered on, "Halaster keep Deekin with him while Boss has exciting adventure in Underdark. Deekin sing for Arch Mage, and tell stories to Arch Mage. Arch Mage lets Deekin watch sometimes though; through enchanted pool, enchanted crystal, even once through enchanted dragon's eye. Deekin writes it all down in new book. Then this morning Halaster say, 'Two for two, now off with you.' And Deekin suddenly be here with Boss, whos looking like shes be needing help."

Hypatia had been holding her head, an expression of exquisite agony on her face as she tried to listen to Deekin while every sound seemed to slam through her bruised head. Finally she held up her hands for quiet and spoke in a bare whisper, her jaw dislocated and resisting her attempt at speech, "Deekin, I need you to go to the temple of Sune and find Valen. Tell him that I'm in trouble. Tell my sister, Cimmera, that the high priest is not what he seems. He's evil. Go, Deekin, don't talk to anyone until you get to the temple of Sune. Find Valen. Don't get caught."

"Right Boss, Deekin be right back. Kobold companion will be big hero, rescuing Boss. Maybe Deekin writes his own story next." He cast a moderate healing spell on her before scampered off, pausing to cast invisibility on himself as he went.

The healing spell caused the massive swelling of her face to subside some and the nausea to fade. She lay back trying to gather herself. In a few moments she cast a healing cantrip, unable to focus through the pain long enough to cast anything more powerful on herself. Another few minutes to rest and she cast another one. She was trained enough in the healing arts to suspect that the gauntleted backhand Gabriel had given her had cracked her skull. She was lucky to be alive.

Slowly, one cantrip at a time she worked her way up to casting a cure light wounds on herself. Still bruised, her face still grotesquely swollen and likely still with a hairline crack in her skull; she got no farther in healing herself when Bronwyn came to fetch her on Farquhar's order.

"Now, Valen, we can't just go storm the temple of Mystra," Cimmera held out her hands to physically stop the big tiefling from marching out of the temple in search of Hypatia. "True she's been longer than we expected but we don't know why they wanted her. Maybe they sent her to check up on one of the orphans she tends to."

"Something's wrong," Valen growled, "I felt it."

Cimmera frowned, "I felt something too, but I also felt it come and go quickly."

Valen glared at her, "She was angry, then it was gone."

"Likely someone said something that cooled her anger. She's quite capable of taking care of herself."

"Wow, yous look just like Boss," the voice seemed to come out of the air and both Cimmera and Valen leaped back, tensing.

"Who are you?" Valen demanded.

"I's Deekin, faithful Kobold companion of Boss. "

"Deekin?" Valen looked towards where the voice had come from, "Hypatia told me about you."

"Ooooh, Boss tells big scary goat man about little Deekin?"

Cimmera covered a laugh with a cough and listened, trying to find the invisible kobold.

Before they could question him further he blurted out, "Boss's in trouble, sends me to find Valen and sister. Says High Priest be evil."

Valen shot a scowl at Cimmera before demanding, "In trouble where?"

"Boss be in cage in dungeon under temple. Gots big bruises on face and arms, Deekin notices but not tells Boss; doesn't want to embarrass her."

"Valen, wait!" Cimmera commanded, thinking rapidly. "You cannot go in there by yourself. That temple is full of clerics who have access to the realm of arcane as well as divine magic. We will have to bring some allies. The paladins will help us but we must plead our case with them, and quickly."

Turning brightly glowing crimson eyes on her he commanded, "You go and gather your allies, I'm going after Tia. Every moment she's there she's in danger." He paused, "It sounds like she needs a healer too and something is very wrong if she can not heal herself."

Suddenly very frightened Cimmera nodded, "I'll be as quick as I can but don't get yourself killed. Hypatia will never forgive me if I let you get yourself killed."

"I shall endeavor not to get killed," Out the door he charged, pounding through the streets as fast as his powerful legs would take him. Deekin scampered along behind, trying to keep up.

Cimmera flew out the door herself, running swiftly to the garrison where the paladins kept themselves apart from the rest of the city for their training and devotions.

"He removed a ring that carried the symbol of her goddess?" Xanthus whispered the question worriedly, troubled by the tale his friend was telling. "Wouldn't that show the favor of her goddess is upon her?"

"Perhaps it was that favor that caused her to become complacent and fall," Gabriel whispered back.

Farther discussion was cut short as the doors to the large room were flung open and Cimmera, High Priestess of Sune hurried into the common area. "Agathon?" She called out as she fairly flew down the lengthy tiled floor.

"Yes, Cimmera," The headmaster of the school, Paladin and Silver Raven, Agathon, answered; stepping out from a small alcove where he'd been going over the training and chore schedule for the next few weeks. "To what do we owe the honor of your exquisite presence?"

"Uh oh," Xanthus whispered under his breath.

"Hypatia has been taken captive in the temple of Mystra. She just got word to us that the High Priest there is evil. She's wounded. We need help to get to her; she's been thrown, wounded into the dungeon."

Agathon's eyebrows shot up, "Those are serious accusations, Cimmera. To accuse a High Priest in his own temple is a grave matter."

Cimmera drew herself up haughtily, "I know. Yet it is true. Hypatia just saved Toril itself from destruction, can you think of a single reason she would be wounded and thrown into the dungeon in a temple of Mystra?"

Gabriel stepped forward, "She has fallen! She has consorted with a tiefling!"

Cimmera gasped and turned to glare at Gabriel, "How dare you! Valen is a good man and any relationship they may have is none of your business. How dare you spread such lies. Hypatia is not fallen." She turned back to Agathon, "She bears a ring that was a gift of the Lady of Mysteries herself. She calls upon the most powerful of spells as a divine spell caster. She has not fallen."

Agathon considered Cimmera and then turned to Gabriel, considering him also. "Hypatia is your sister, Cimmera. You are biased in her favor."

Cimmera opened her mouth to argue but he held up a hand to silence her and turned to Gabriel, "And you are biased against this tiefling. Do your respective biases balance out…I wonder?"

"Please," Cimmera spared a furious glare for Gabriel, "Valen is even now storming the temple to rescue her. She'll be very displeased if he is killed."

This surprised Agathon, "He is intent upon rescuing her?" He nodded, "Very well then. Come!" He turned and motioned to a dozen or so men who appeared, stepping out of rooms and from behind columns where they'd been waiting to see how things would go. "We shall watch carefully when we enter the temple. If the Tiefling is indeed rescuing Hypatia then we will have our answer. If, however; he is simply sowing chaos wherever he goes, then we shall have that answer too. I expect if the latter is the case we'll run across the bodies of his victims before we reach the temple."

The early morning streets of Darlune were only just filling with people hurrying hither and yon on unknown errands and business of their own. Still there were enough people about that they heard whispers of an enraged tiefling charging towards the temple of Mystra. Though they looked and listened as they hurried over there, there were no bodies left for them to find and not a whisper of anyone being harmed by the fiend.

"I told you," Cimmera muttered bitterly under her breath as they raced up the steps to the temple, shooting a resentful glare towards Gabriel.

They stepped through the massive bejeweled doors of the temple and into a battle zone. The Clergy of Mystra seemed divided and each faction was battling the other. To the left, there were a few clerics healing those of their own who became too injured to continue the battle. To the right, those who fell were left to their own resources.

To their left towards the front of the chapel a cluster of priests and priestesses were grouped tightly around someone in their center, casting defensive spells and shielding whatever was in their midst. A small Kobold was singing a song of Doom near them.

"Don't hurt the Kobold," Cimmera snapped. Agathon gave her a questioning look and she could almost see the thought process, first a tiefling and now a kobold? These are evil creatures. She gave him a look, entreating him to withhold judgment until he had seen for himself how they behaved.

To the left lay bodies, crushed and battered and up towards the front, Valen fought valiantly against the bulk of the priesthood. His wounds bore mute testimony to the ferocity of the battle. He was beset on all sides by priests wielding staffs, maces and magic. Still he made progress, laying them low as he tumbled and spun, swinging his flail, Devil's Bane, in deadly arcs. He took vicious hits and bore the lash of agonizing spells, grunting in pain yet making inexorable progress.

"Do not let these heretics stop us. They would give away the secrets of the weave to any who asked. We know that such knowledge is for us alone. Only we have the right to touch the weave. Not the unwashed masses, not the self-centered mage, the insane arch-mage. It is time we cleansed the temple of the weak and impure!" Farquhar exhorted his followers. "We will destroy the Weave and the Shadow Weave before allowing the impure and unworthy to touch it!"

The High Priest raised an odd looking orb, directing it towards the faction on his left. From the center of the cluster of clerics a voice rose in panic, "Don't let him use the anti-magic orb again!"

With a supreme effort, Valen broke through the cluster of clerics that surrounded him and charged the Dais.

Those few seconds were enough for Agathon to make his judgment. "Help them," he waived an arm towards the cluster of priests defensively surrounding Bronwyn and Hypatia. Cimmera also went that way. The rest engaged the priesthood who were on the right, those who appeared to be following the High Priest.

"Now you shall witness the full power of someone willing to use what they've been given!" Farquhar held out his fist, the Ring of Mystra adorning one bony finger and pointed it at Valen. "Sonfina!" He shouted the word just as Valen reached up and grabbed it. A cascade of healing flowed over Valen, his wounds closing while he simultaneously ripped the ring and a good piece of finger off of Farquhar.

"Healing spell?" Farquhar screamed from rage, pain or both, "Who in their right mind loads up a healing spell into an Anyspell slot?"

"Hypatia," Valen growled swinging Devil's Bane.

Farquhar screamed, a sound later recorded by Deekin as being 'like a girl', throwing himself out of the way, rolling across the floor; then scrambling to his feet he ran. His chosen followed, the two with the katana, having healed themselves as soon as Valen's attention had been turned away from them. The rest broke away from the clergy and reinforcements Cimmera had brought as best they could and also ran. Once outside the temple they easily disappeared into the crowded streets.

Valen killed one or two more of them as they tried to get past him but did not give chase. He leaped down from the dais, running to where Hypatia lay on the floor, Bronwyn and several other priests trying to tend her wounds. He held out the Ring of Mystra, "Here's her ring. He used the spell though."

"It will be alright, good Valen," Cimmera knelt by her sister and placed her hands upon her. A bright healing glow surrounded her and Hypatia slowly opened her eyes.

"Boss!" the little Kobold squeezed between some of the priests and knelt next to her, "You's ok now. Deekin get Valen and your sister, just like you's ask."

"Thank you, Deekin," Hypatia smiled weakly and held out her hand. Valen grasped it and helped her to her feet where she swayed unsteadily for a moment. Valen steadied her and while he had her hand, cleaned the gore off the ring and slipped it on her.

All of these things, Agathon watched and weighed.

"You's is so good to little Deekin, Boss," Deekin gave her a toothy smile.

"What happened?" Cimmera asked, standing also.

"He's insane," it was Bronwyn who answered. "He wants to destroy the Weave and the Shadow Weave. He's convinced his followers that they alone will have access to magic once they do that. He's going to use that orb you gave us as part of your tithe, Hypatia."

Agathon having directed his men to arrest those of Farquhar's followers who had not managed to escape and who had survived the battle then questioned Gabriel and Xanthus before striding over to where the remaining priesthood of Mystra had gathered. "He will have to be stopped."

Hypatia nodded, carefully, her head still throbbed and her neck still hurt. She looked around, careful of her aching muscles, "Cimmera, take Deekin to the chest of my things, please. Deekin," she knelt down to look Deekin in the eye, "Fetch me Enserric, please."

"Oooooh," Deekin jumped up and down, "Enserric be very nasty sword,"

Hypatia nodded slowly, "I'm going to be chasing a very nasty man."

"Deekin fetch Enserric but don't be doing anything without Deekin though. Deekin can't write new book if he don't sees what yous doing."

"While your kobold is fetching your weapon, we should search Farquhar's quarters and see if we can find any clues as to where he'd have gone," Agathon started towards the door at the back of the naïve.

"He's not my kobold," Hypatia snapped, correcting Agathon while giving Gabriel a dark glare. "He's my friend."

"He's a creature of evil," Gabriel barked.

"He's not the one who cracked my skull and left me in a cage in a dungeon!" Hypatia shot back.

Valen stepped around Hypatia, standing half in front of her, glowering down at Gabriel.

Agathon turned back, frowning, "We'll discuss this in the High Priests quarters. Now if you would follow me." He turned and indicated for Bronwyn to lead the way. "How do you like being a priest of Mystra, Bronwyn?" He asked as the group consisting of them, Valen, Hypatia and Gabriel made their way to the rooms that Farquhar had occupied.

Bronwyn smiled nervously, "I find that it suits me."

"Better than being a paladin, then?" Agathon asked the question without censure, genuinely interested in the answer."

"Uhm, yes…sir," Bronwyn answered, opening the door when they reached their destination.

Agathon watched as Gabriel, and then Hypatia followed by Valen entered the room. They gave the room a quick search for traps and while they searched, Agathon seated himself at the desk. "Before we get too far along in our search for former high priest Farquhar, I'd like to know what happened here today. Bronwyn, why don't you start by telling us what you know."

Looking up from a drawer he was rifling through, Bronwyn grimaced, "Farquhar sent me to collect Hypatia from a cell in the dungeon. Why do we even have a dungeon?"

He shrugged, "I was appalled when I saw her. She was barely conscious and trying to heal herself but she had a bad head wound and couldn't concentrate long enough to cast powerful spells. I healed her as best I could, but she'd been wounded some hours ago and as you know, magic can't undo some of the damage done when a wound has been left untended for a while."

Valen, practically hovering over Hypatia, growled menacingly.

Bronwyn gulped and continued, edging slightly away from Valen, "I helped her to her feet and asked her what had happened. She said that…that there was a conspiracy. She wasn't sure what it was about but several people who had no business here had contrived to make accusations about her that enraged… Gabriel."

Gabriel flinched as all eyes in the room turned to him.

Bronwyn wasn't finished yet though and taking a breath he forged ahead, "she said that he struck her and she can only assume left her in the cell at the order of Farquhar. I thought her tale was pretty farfetched, perhaps a result of the terrible blow she'd taken to her head but when I got to the chapel with her…Farquhar started raving about destroying the Weave and the Shadow Weave. How that would limit magic only to him and his chosen. I knew then that Hypatia was right and that Farquhar was insane. I shouted to some of the priests I knew and that's when the battle started."

Farquhar's fanatics attacked and only a few followed me. We fought and were gaining an edge because it seemed like our spells worked better than theirs but then Farquhar raised that orb.

I recognized it as the core of the obelisk Hypatia had tithed the day before. That was when our magic failed, when he used that anti-magic orb. They had taken Hypatia's weapons and her rings. She was wounded trying to heal us with healing kits.

Had the tiefling not arrived when he did they would have killed us all."

"Valen," Hypatia stated adamantly, "his name is Valen." She turned to glare at Gabriel, "Not 'demon-spawn', not 'tiefling', not 'fiend': Valen."

"Why?" Cimmera and Deekin had returned while Bronwyn was speaking and Cimmera was horrified by what she was hearing, "Why, Gabriel? She trusted you. Why would you do something like that?"

Gabriel had the grace to look ashamed and for one moment was glad that they were out of the main hall of the temple where many more would have heard the tale. "I…I was led to believe that Hypatia had betrayed her sacred vows and committed lewd acts with..." He trailed off. "She said that he was a better man than I."

Valen looked down at Hypatia, surprised warring with the rage he felt that someone she trusted had betrayed her so, "You told him that?"

Hypatia tried to shrug, wincing at the pain that shot through her from her abused muscles, "It is true. He struck me the first time because Antonius told him we were lovers. Only," Hypatia's expression hardened into one of hate, "He made it sound dirty."

"Farquhar said she might have been under an enchantment or charm. I believed him." Neither was an excuse and he knew it.

Deekin with surprising sensitivity unobtrusively handed a sheathed sword to Hypatia. He then stood slightly behind her and took out a small book within which he began writing furiously.

Hypatia took the sword and belted it around her, even on the tightest notch it hung low on her hips.

"So," Agathon stood and came around the desk, handing a scrap of paper he'd found to Cimmera. "Antonius, isn't he that priest of Sune? Told you that Hypatia was, what? Dallying with a tiefling?" He held up his hands placatingly as all four, Cimmera, Hypatia, Valen and even the kobold looked to take exception. Their loyalty did not go unnoticed. She might choose unlikely companions, but she clearly chose very well. "And you struck her?"

"She said he was a good man." Gabriel admitted, drawing himself up and facing what he'd done. He wasn't proud of himself but he wasn't going to shirk from his mistakes. He might have been played for a fool but he wasn't going to add cowardice to his list of sins.

"So you struck her," Agathon continued. "And she said he was a better man than you, so you struck her again?"

Gabriel hesitated then nodded.

"Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us everything, Gabriel." Agathon suggested, though the steel in his voice made it clear that more was riding on his answer than just clarity.

For one brief moment Gabriel considered glossing over his original reason for taking an interest in Hypatia but something in Agathon's eyes told him that would be disastrous so after a moment to think about how to say it, he told them the whole thing; starting with his plan to make Hypatia his wife. Which, while he would admit wasn't as noble as perhaps it could be, wasn't as bad, in his opinion, as the reactions of everyone else seemed to make it out to be.

Since he was telling the truth, he went ahead and told the whole conversation that had occurred in the temple, including Hypatia's scathing condemnation of him in particular and men in general.

When he was done Agathon studied them all carefully, weighing what he'd heard.

Valen glared at Gabriel with crimson fury glowing in his eyes his tail lashing behind him. Deekin was bristling behind Hypatia. Cimmera had one delicate hand over her mouth and a look of horror in her eyes.

Hypatia drew the blood red blade from the sheath now buckled around her hips and said, "I'm going to kill Antonius first."

"My dear lady," a voice broke the shocked silence that followed Hypatia's declaration, "It's about time. I thought you'd forgotten me. When you first rescued me from a life of boredom I had hoped you had more in store for me than a dusty chest. I beg of you, don't consign me to live out the rest of my days forgotten and lost in some treasury."

"Worry, not, Enserric," Hypatia spoke quietly, "We're about to visit the wrath of the goddess on a real heretic."

"That's an impressive weapon, Lady Hypatia," Agathon noted. "One doesn't often see an intelligent weapon. How is it that you were not carrying it when you first came to the temple?"

Hypatia shrugged and gasped at the pain the movement produced. She still had the mottled remains of a massive bruise on the side of her face. "I was carrying my katana."

Cimmera glanced at the scrap of paper, "It looks like Farquhar has set up a place of his own out on one of the oldest of the Ghost Holds. We'll need to head there."

Agathon nodded, "Right. Gabriel, you'll be travelling with them and giving them whatever aid you may."

"No!" Valen got the word out before Hypatia, but just barely.

"Forgive me for making this difficult for you but Gabriel is going to have to perform a penance if he is to be reinstated in his former position. The penance I'm assigning him is to earn, one or the other, or both, of Hypatia's trust or forgiveness."

Hypatia gasped, then clenched her teeth and her fists.

"Do loosen your grip, my dear lady. You're starting to manhandle me a bit," Enserric commented a bit petulantly.

"That's not fair!" Hypatia blurted, "I'm not going to be responsible for whether or not he gets reinstated."

Valen frowned thoughtfully. There was something more going on here than met the eye. Of course if the paladin made so much as half a hostile move towards Tia he'd kill him himself. "There is a certain amount of justice in it, Hypatia," he ventured softly. "You are the one he wronged."

Agathon stared at Valen thoughtfully. The tiefling was far exceeding his expectations.

Hypatia whirled on Valen, and he felt, before he saw her expression, the impotent rage that threatened to overwhelm her. It both surprised, and found an answering echo, in him. Shocked he realized that she didn't want to forgive this Gabriel. She wanted to hate him. "Hypatia?"

She raised blazing hate filled eyes to his and he felt her love for him well up from the depths of her being, like a spring, saw it in the way her eyes went from icy green to a softer, warmer emerald; and the twisted grimace of hate marring her face softened. Finally she sighed, "Alright. It is possible he might earn my forgiveness but I will never trust him again."