Aura - Contained Suspicion
Jan 14 01:19:29 2005

Aura's footsteps echoed off the inner Sanctuary walls as she
made an entry from the as-quiet exterior of Truce, a pair of
tiny tree-structured women positioned one on either shoulder
as she did, only to pause just inside and look back out the
door, violet eyes thoughtful.

Something's not right... why haven't I seen him in almost
a week?

She sighed, turning again in a mildly upset manner and striding
towards the statue in the far back, stopping only at the base
to look up into the crafted face of the Goddess she so admired.
Still, on this night... she felt wronged, somehow, in some way
she couldn't quite understand. She felt like...

... like someone was lying to her. Was it possible?

She found herself at a loss for words. The twin dryads
her shoulders seems to realize this, too, as each one
defied gravity entirely by rising into the air alongside
her face, giving each cheek a reassuring pat. It didn't
help.

"No, I'm okay... I don't know why I'm troubled, really.
Nothing's wrong, right? I'm being restless, that's all."

The dryads looked behind Aura's neck for a quick, uneasy
glance at each other, each one holding onto the side of her
face in a comforting embrace. Aura blinked, extending her
gloved hand out and opening her palm as still another tiny
tree-person materalized therein, looking up at her with
the same huge green eyes. Aura smiled slightly.

"No. I appreciate you and your friends being here for
me when I don't really have anyone else. You only
want to help, too, right?"

The dryad in her palm sat herself down, clutching lovingly
at her index finger. The gesture was cute, truly, but for
some reason, Aura couldn't bring herself to even giggle.
Her mind kept drifting back to the past week's worth of
conversations between her and Variance... and the night
before, with Seikou. Almost unwillingly, her eyes gathered
a misty coating, almost on par with the threat of tears.

What's wrong with me? Everything's fine! Variance is
taking care of matters while...

Her thoughts froze, right there. Vaisu's capture.. or
rather, his surrender... and she hadn't seen Seikou since.
Did it bear a correlation of some kind? Had something...
happened to Seikou, since then?

"I don't understand... why would he suddenly just not
see me again? I'm so confused... You don't suppose..?"

All three dryads exchanged puzzled glances between each
other, before looking back up in the same direction towards
Aura's face, each tiny expression as blank as the others'.

"No.. of course Variance wouldn't lie to me. What
reason would he have? I never did anything wrong to
him, or anyone else, did I? That's silly."

The trio of tree-women suddenly looked uncomfortable,
each one disappearing in a small puff of grass blades,
leaving Aura alone with her thoughts. Again. She sighed,
sitting back on her posterior on the floor in front of
the Goddess's statue.

'Love'... What a strange concept...