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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FourthMovement|Fourth Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Dust of Ecstasy ==
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| − | Amidst the hazy time after the fight, members of the Gears took the Exalted to the Manse. Home of a wealthy member of Whiteshield nobility who owned many factories, the lesser Earth Manse was ideal to hold their Exalted saviors... having enough rooms for a whole family and more, its owners dead during the Parishioner's takeover for owning such a resource.
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| − | The place was cleaned up by Iron Tears' spirits sooner, though some rooms are still in disarray from when it was liberated from the forces of the Parishioner...
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' The blood of the terrible battle flowed from Opal like water from a ducks back, and she looked every part the immaculately neat woman that oft held so many at arms length. Once the ripples of bliss had past, and the gore expunged, she contempltated what had happened.
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| − | ''She had given into them. ''<br>
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| − | ''Like she had no choice. ''
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| − | Opal couldn't lie to herself. It had felt good, even as it had stained her virtue and before she had to thrust it away from herself that she would not be forever tainted by it... it had felt damnably good. ''They said they had known her. That they had missed her. She was in their clutches once. Was that the way she was how she was? '' Her expression slid from its usaul inscrutable calm to a more concerned one. She rose to her feet, and left her room to seek out the Child of Flame.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti sat in front of the large fire in one of the uppers rooms, arranged in a medatative posture. She imagined at one time the chamber had been used to recieve guests, probably by the lady of the Manse to judge by the decor. There was a large window with balcony, overlooking the Manse's garden, now mostly ruined by the fighting to reclaim the manse.
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| − | Kanti was staring into the fire, flames dancing in empty eyes, away in the comforting blankness of her meditations, away from all the pain of Creation.
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| − | She started to stir, her eyes unchanging and yet filled with everything that had happened over the past few days. She started to watch the sparks shooting up the chimney
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' Fire attracted fire, and using this logic, she traveled to where she remembered a large fireplace to be house. She entered the room and found her there, and stopped in the doorway, watching her for a small moment of time.
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| − | ''Does she really love them, after all they've done?" ''
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| − | She repressed a sigh, and quietly knocked on the jam of the door.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti stiffened just a little at the knock, but then she stood and turned, looking to see who was there, at the door to the ruddy tinted room.
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| − | "Opal," she smiles a little. "What is it that you want?" she enquires, her posture that of a devoted servant, the robes woven from her screams wrapped about her, the hearthstone on her stomach glimmering softly with a light of its own.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Do you really mean that, Kanti?" She said, with a softness that was rarely present in her voice, as well as touching upon her eyes. She entered the room, her hands placed within the opposite sleeve of its twin.
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| − | ''She would be so beautiful without those scars... someone defiled her so deeply... ''
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| − | "Forgive me, I did not mean to disturb your meditations."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "There is no intrusion," Kanti says easily, no trace in her voice or posture to suggest otherwise. "Please stay, if you wish," something suggesting that Kanti would just as undemandingly leave at Opal's whim.
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| − | ''The stone woman was strange and beautiful and cold. ''
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| − | ''I wonder why she has come. ''
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| − | "If you are hurt ..."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She considers the word for a moment. With a slender hand, she closed the door behind her. She watched Kanti for a long moment.
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| − | ''Perhaps she cares, clothed as she is in the servitile nature by the one who made those robes to her, I should just tell her. ''
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| − | "I am, a little," she said, softly. The gentle melodoic softness of her voice matching the tender perfection of her visage.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti looks concernedly at Opal, taking a step closer to the woman, her eyes starting to looking her up and down, to assess the woman for injuries.
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| − | "Where does it hurt?" she asks in a quiet voice.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Scratches in a few places, mostly. I am harder to cut that I look, but there claws were so very sharp. But mostly, I hurt here." She places her fingertips over her heart.
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| − | ''Don't tell her you died a little inside when you saw her give in. Don't tell her, because she'll think you think her weak. ''
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| − | "I wanted to spare you more suffering, not give you more," she said, as she placed her cool, alabaster hand against the Dragon-Blooded's cheek. "Would you help ease the hurt, and speak to me for a time?"
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti shivered a little at the hand, so cool on her cheek compared to the warmth of the fire, though her eyes and her body show nothing to suggest the touch is anything but welcome.
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| − | ''....the heart is so hard to heal. ''<br>
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| − | ''Her mind and her body, those I could heal easily but...I hope I can help her. ''
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| − | "Of course," she says, the fire lending a warmth to her voice. "I would be happy to speak with you for as long as you wish. Would you like me to soothe your small cuts before we begin?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "If it pleases. What should I do, that you may do that?" She said, softly... gazing into those eyes, searching for some intent. Kanti was damnably hard to read. Did she even care for the strange woman that cooled her cheek and intruded on her rooms uninvited?
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| − | ''At least I can give her some comfort, to let her correct something real. Something she could touch. ''
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "I will need to lay my hands upon the cuts, but only for a moment." She says simply, her eyes showing care and concern for Opal's wellbeing, mixed in with overtones of the preceeding days and weeks. An imperceptable shift of her body hints to her joy at being able help, being able to serve.
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| − | "It does not hurt."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She considered this for a long moment, before nodding her head. She could see it would make her happy, and thats all that she cared about right now.
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| − | Opal began to disrobe, removing the fine white robes she so favored, removing the ungarments beneth, though she pooled them before her chest, that she would not be completely bared before the woman. She looked down at her, a head and a hand taller, and closed her eyes for a moment.
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| − | What was stone became flesh, what was rigid and cool became yielding and warm. Opals skin took on a soft hue than her dominating whiteness... a gentle, golden hue. Her hair became platinum, instead of colorless white, and it flowed down her back free from the disciplining flows of Essence her charm and her robes enforced upon it.
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| − | Shallow cuts were splayed about her skin, for Agony had worked very hard to piece the layers of protection Opal had interposed.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti watched the transformation with interest and surprise, her eyes lighting softly with delighted surprise. Finding out something like this of her patrons, even though Opal was not exactly such, was always fascinating.
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| − | She looks at the cuts, scarcly deeper than the ones that Agony had ... gifted her with, before the betrayal, and she looks more sympathetic. Cuts meant to hurt, not to injure, truely.
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| − | Kanti looked at the woman for permission, then stepped closer, calling the wood essence to her hands as she reverently traced her fingers over the cuts, opal seeing the green essence knitting the wounds closed, leaving behind small spots of tarnish, bruises on a golden skin. She looked up.
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| − | "There, does that feel better, Opal?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She gave out a small sigh of releaf, for they had stung her a little. She smiled down at Kanti, and for some reason she did not know, did not want her to pull away. "Much. I would ask you to work upon my kicked muscles, but I do not wish to impose."
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| − | ''No one has seen me like this for a long time. You are letting your guard down. You shouldn't. ''
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| − | ''...but she's so '''warm'''''
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| − | She reached out, and caressed her cheek again, as the other held her undergarments in meek covering. ''All Essence shares a pattern, flows predictably... '' She imagined her Essence as the emerald, fragrant energy... imagined it growing, moving into Kanti.
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| − | With a soft exhale, she felt some of her Essence leave her, and flow back into Kanti, replenishing her. She opened her eyes, not knowing they had fluttered closed.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti's whole body shows that she is pleased that she could help, even in this small way, and she returned the smile softly.
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| − | "It would not be an imposition, truely. If it would make you feel better, I would do it for you gladly." she says, in simple response.
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| − | This time, the hand caused no shiver, though the essence flowing back into her did, the feeling electric.
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| − | "Thank you." she says softly.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She smiled softly at this, and nodded her head. "I had been... practicing that for a time." She said, lilting her head to the side gently. She doesn't remove her hand, just continues to let her Essence touch Kanti's. She could see the soft warmth of her Exaltation, the gentle heat of it.
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| − | She smiled, actually smiled, at Kanti.
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| − | "Do you desire I lay out upon something?" She remembered this feeling. Closeness, it was called. It had been so long....
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti's eyes lit slightly at the smile, and it validated her somewhat, something that she needed. She glanced about the room, and spotted the long, low table, no doubt used for laying out tea, cakes and other such things when guests were being entertained.
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| − | ''she needs this. Needs to see that I feel better in her presence. I am glad that I do. ''
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| − | "I think if you were to lay out on the table, that would be easiest ... it might be cold though." she says, by way of caution and apology.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "I have been cold my whole life, Kanti. I doubt very much it should be uncomfortable." She finally removes her hand from the Fire Aspect's cheek, and lets it fall away. She moves to the table, and lays down upon it, front first. Once her modesty is covered, she takes the fabric from before her breasts and balls it into a pillow, which she then proceeds to lay her head upon.
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| − | ''It was so nice to have someone eager to show you kindness, to do things for you... did Selina truely know the marvel that was Kanti? ''
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| − | She closed her eyes and let considered this, and many other things, quietly.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti's eyes show a brief flicker of what might be sorrow as the hand is removed, then she follows the jadeborn over to the table, waiting for her to settle herself.
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| − | ''such a physique... not for so long.... ''
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| − | She leans down and presses her hands to the jadeborn's flesh, feeling out the musclature, and then starting to slowly but firmly work it.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She let out a sigh of release as she felt Kanti working upon her. Working on muscles she had let knot, because she was too fearful to remove that which protected her from other hurts.
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| − | "Would you do me the kindness of telling me about yourself, Kanti?" she said, softly. She began to feel herself relax for the first time in years, dissolving stress built up over all that time. She literally began to feel tingles here and there, the cool air over her skin, the way her long hair kept her head and neck so warm.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti smiled softly at the sigh, her hands working over her still, working out all the stresses and strains in the muscles below.
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| − | "What is it that you would like to know, Opal?" she asks as her deft fingers work on a knot on her right shoulder.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "That was a vague question, wasn't it. Perhaps how you came to be with the Dark Angel." She lets out the softest of groans as a cramp in her shoulder vanishes.
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| − | Her almost inhumanly perfect form shifts a bit, as she becomes more accustomed to the flat surface against her recently bared skin.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti closed her eyes, the barest sensation of a shiver transmitted down her arms to the Artisan she worked on with warming, questing digits. She takes several breathes, centering herself, continueing to work.
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| − | ''I will have to talk about Her. ''<br>
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| − | ''Will She approve? ''<bR>
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| − | ''What would She think of opal? ''
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| − | "I... was sent to capture the Dark Angel, and Seventh Moon with Fiona, and one of the fair folk." Her voice is tinged with some regret. "She was called Kiri. We tracked them ... and then when we found them, we fought."
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| − | Her hands move through all of this.
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| − | "Kiri fought with Seventh Moon ... and I ...attacked the Dark Angel. I could not land a touch on her through her defences, and her blade could not slice my skin."
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| − | The hands stop now.
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| − | "And then it all changed, and she was above me, and she said such things, and then I was with her." Kanti's tone is forced to be level, forced to be neutral, forced not to show the terror that grips her even now.
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| − | The hands start to move again.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' The pause spoke volumns. Volumns upon volumns. She closed her eyes, and told herself not to weep for her. Kanti would think she had only caused her to cry, and it would only pain her.
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| − | She turned a little, and took Kanti's hand. "I am sorry that such things were done to you, such... horrors. Tell me how I might comfort you. Tell me how I might make you joyful for even a fleeting moment."
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| − | ''I wish I could help her stop hurting, to mend what was done. She is so... perfect in her love for another. ''
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| − | ''Like I used to be.''
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti seems surprised as her hand is taken, though she makes no move to remove it from the strangly warm grasp. She smiles down at the woman, her face and eyes conveying the mixture of emotions brought on by the memories of the Abyssal. Need. Fear. Lust.
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| − | ''I worried her ... I made her hurt. ''<br>
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| − | ''Like I made Moon hurt. ''<br>
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| − | ''I should not speak of my pain to people who care. ''
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| − | "Do not worry for me, please." she says sofly. "The pain is not more than I can bear."<br>
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| − | ''Though I cannot face even my own dreams. ''<br>
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| − | "I just wish to help you ... you do not have to be corcerned for me."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: '''She considered Kanti for a time, and chided herself for her own lack of foresight. Kanti projected her compassion outward, and wanted naught in return. Selflessness? Insanity? Sainthood?
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| − | "Then... lay with me, Kanti. Warm me so that I might know tenderness again, that I might know the softness of my own flesh before I return to the coldness of my shell."
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| − | She said the words, and they came unbidden... but she knew she meant them, somehow. "Please. I am so very cold."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti does not hesistate as Opal makes the request, looking down at her impossibly perfect golden body and then nodding.
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| − | "Of course." she says with the warmth only one chosen by the dragon of fire can manage. Her fingers move to certain pins as she talked, and the garments made from the products of her suffering drift to the floor with merely a whisper. More of her body is made visible to Opal, more of the artful, destructive, perfectly carved scars visible on her skin.
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| − | "I will lay with you and warm you for as long as you wish."
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| − | The bracers followed, and then the lingerie the Dark Angel had bade her wear, and then Kanti wore only the garda bird collar, dripped with soulsteel that encicled her neck. She moved to Opal then, and kissed her, properly and with promise for what awaited the Jadeborn woman.
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| − | "As long as you wish." she whispers, her voice filled with desire.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' What little left about her was tossed away. She opened her arms to Kanti, and kissed her in greeting. "That might be a very long time indeed..." She said, breathlessly. She brushed her hand down the length of Kanti's loveliness, and kissed her once more. She gave herself over to it, and let this once and foriegn pleasure come to her again.
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| − | Together, there with Kanti, Opal gasped out a moan for the first time for a long time. A sound of release.
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| − | Amoung her discarded robes, a bit of yasal crystal twinkled, and began to glow almost...
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| − | ...contently.
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FourthMovement|Fourth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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