"But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose." ~Anne Bront"

Rhydin Marketplace, Sunday evening, November 5th

The nip of winter was in the air, even though it was still a long way off. Isuelt enlisted the aide of her wool cloak and leather gloves in this evening's outings. She wasn't really 'on duty' but it was unlike her to stay home in front of a hearth when she could feel trouble on the horizon, she could almost smell it coming.

Patrolling was always hard for Rose, in recent times. Nightmares plagued the teen and if anything, she had been avoiding the Order and most pointedly, Issy. Her defense of the innocents had grown more violent but none more so against certain types—-she broke legs of men whom were praying upon the younger and more drastically, she put another in a coma. All deserved. Or, so she thought. Rose drew the lit cigarette to her lips as she pressed her back to a wall of a shop, her eyes looking up, tired and filled with the weight of the world.

Isuelt saw the flicker of light and the bright red of a cigarette igniting from her not-so-lofty perch on the fire escape. Per usual, her eyes narrowed as she oversaw the situation, though this individual was not a man, as for whatever reason she was expecting it to be. A girl. A girl she knew. Her dark brow lowered as she read the expression on the young woman's face. It was like looking in a mirror. As she slid down and landed nearly alongside of Rose, she donned a cock-eyed grin.

Mid-inhale, Rose coughed and turned towards Issy, drawing the cigarette behind her back and coughing heavily. "M-maa!" She drew her other hand up, coughing hard. "M-Mom!" She expertly flicked the cigarette behind her. "H-hey..." She kept her eyes low. "What's up" I....I didn't hear you?"

Isuelt chuckled, genuinely amused that this girl felt the need to hide a cigarette from her. "S'okay, my first husband used to smoke all the time. Those nasty black cigarettes that you need hair on your chest just to inhale." She modeled her stance after Rose's, leaning against the building and looking up. She inhaled deeply and let her exhale come in a puff of smoke as well; only this was due to the chill in the air. "You okay?" She kept her gaze up at the roofline.

Rose swayed on the spot. She was not sure how to feel. "I'm fine." She affirmed. She lied. She took up a brave front.

What is that expression' Like Mother, like Daughter" Isuelt didn't know whether or not she felt more amused or empathetic. "So..." she began easily enough. But the one thing that Isuelt was not was a 'small talker.' If anything she was a get to the heart of the issue right away type. Some would argue that she was a stab right through the air to hit the bullseye at the heart of the issue type. She was brutally honest and severely blunt, two qualities that lent her an edge only slightly less sharp than her sword. "...there are a few things going on in this city. Which one is the one weighing you down the most?"

"Just the....usual?" Rose mused. "The disppearances and the confusion of hellish known." Rose shrugged. "I....I am not going..." She looked to Issy. "You totally know what is wrong don't you?"

A dark eyebrow flicked upward as she returned Rose's glance, "Wrong with you or wrong with this city?"

Her bottom lip quivered. "Momma I can feel her rage and it's affecting me....I can..." She flexed her fingers, then looked to them. "I..." She paused, then looked to Issy. "I can't sleep right anymore....I can see things....see....things that I..." She trembled. "She can't control me." She affirmed, afraid. "But I.....she...." She felt tears swell. "The dreams are real and I..." She shook her head. "I can't deal with it."

A piece of Isuelt's heart burst. She knew what Rose meant, and she could imagine quite well what it must feel like. Isuelt herself had had a taste of being linked with Renna and it scarred her and haunted her to this day. Without saying a word, she reached around Rose and enclosed the girl into a tight hug. Isuelt wasn't the type to pay useless lip service such as 'there, there' or 'everything will be all right.' Because it wouldn't. Isuelt herself had trouble sleeping, constantly feeling as if she were being terrorized by Renna, even if Renna was nowhere to be seen. She took a deep breath as she held onto Rose, trying to relay some sort of solidarity with her.

Rose clutched at her. Desperate. "I-I'm afraid you won't trust me and I....I've....considered..." She paused. "I....I don't want you to think I'd ever betray you or anything!" She buried her face into her chest. "I love you and I....I just wanted to....for some time I just wanted to prove myself and....and....when the dreams came and....I thought of running away or just ending it....so that she could never use you against me....if I was dead then you'd be safe, you know?"

Isuelt gripped Rose's shoulders gruffly and thrusted the girl from her at arm's length so that she could stoop down and look her eye to eye. Her point needed to be crystal clear. "Stop it. Do you hear me" Stop." Her gaze nearly bored right through Rose. "That talk is..." Is what? Isuelt had tried the same route of escape no fewer than twice in her life. What did she expect of this young woman' And speaking of betrayal" That was Isuelt's number one fear at present. That she herself, whether unwittingly or not, would betray her Order and Renna would hand all of her deepest secrets and Scathachian knowledge over to the Bhaalites. "Rose?" She dipped her chin trying to gain the girl's attention. "Running away and ending your life are two very different things. The latter is not an option. Ever." Her fingers gripped tighter, "Do you hear me?"

Rose was stiff. "So....I should....run away?"

Isuelt took a deep breath. Hadn't she done that more times than she could count' "No. You will stay." She lightened her grip on Rose and straightened up, her voice softening. "As long as you want to and fight at my side. And the side of the Scathachians. So long as you will have us."

"I will always fight at your side." Rose whispered softly. ?"You're my Mother."

"Then, there you have it." She raised her chin and winked to Rose. She sighed and smiled as she reached out and wiped Rose's tears. "Renna's methods are enough to make anyone feel the way you do. But you are special, Rose. You have her inside of you. But you've got some of me in there too." She nodded once more. "We'll fight her together. Inside and out."

Rose's smile was loving, her eyes teary. "....How do you do it' I don't understand how....You're....so brave and I..." She flexed her hands. "I'm always hungry." She paused. "For more. To advance. To....to....to..."

"You can be hungry. You can use your weapons. You can use them the way they were meant to be used. But only if you control them. Turn them, make it so that YOU control that hunger, rather than it controlling you. Turn on her..." Isuelt's rage was boiling. "These tactics of Renna's will only fuel your fire. She uses her dreams to stockpile fear in you. Fear of her, fear of yourself. Turn it." After a pause, "I'll help you." She was nearly whispering.

"I-I almost kill kill them..." She licked her lips. "Mom....if....I..." She looked to her. "If I step out of line, c-can you do me a favour?"

Isuelt watched Rose for a long time without saying a word. She felt that she knew what the forthcoming request would be. She sighed and looked down before she lifted her gaze once more to Rose. "Yes?" She didn't want to ask, but she knew that it was important for Rose to say whatever it was that she needed to.

"The Egorwrathian bloodline is based off of....abilities....I'm, much a part of you as her so..." She lowered her hands to her sides. "If I....turn" If you kill me....I won't return." She fell into silence, her eyes looking up at her.

It was a long while before Isuelt blinked. Her gaze fell onto Rose and locked onto her eyes, which at times seemed so much like her own. The warrior within her took over, and she was thankful for the words that dripped from her tongue. "If the time ever comes for your sacrifice to be the good of the Scathachian Nation and all that it protects, I will do my duty."

Rose turned away, sighing hard. "Thanks."

Isuelt let a few moments pass between them in silence, perhaps to let them both decompress. "What has Renna done lately' What are the disappearances you speak of?" Isuelt had been quietly absent for a few weeks as she had left Rhydin to seek council of the Scathachian Temple a week's ride to the north. She knew that they needed to know of this new enemy in the Bhaalite ranks.

"People." Rose shook her head. "I don't know....I saw them..." She squinted hard at a space to her left. "They were killed....sacrificed....I think."

Isuelt's brow knitted, "How many?"

Rose closed her eyes, press a hand to her head. "....I-I'm not sure?" She clenched her eyes harder still. "Hundreds" Thousands" She's....She's taking Negzarcugis and eating worlds so I don't know?"

"She took thousands of people from Rhydin and ate them"!" Isuelt was fully awake and enraged now.

"No, not from here....elsewhere....I think?" Rose lowered her hand. "I....I can try and access the network if you want?"

"No. Don't." She sighed heavily. "I don't want you drawing any more attention to yourself than necessary." She looked around and sighed once more. "Okay, this is what you see when you close your eyes?" A glance to Rose.

"Only fragments, Mom....Just images." She looked to her.

"Why is she doing this" Do you know" Is she trying to gain strength?" She hated having to subject Rose to this line of questions, but it was necessary.

Rose closed her eyes. "....Feeding" I think. Her biology. Raw materials to make more of herself. The....essences are lost' Given." Rose pressed a hand to her head as she bowed it.

"It's okay." Isuelt reached out and touched Rose's shoulder. "You don't have to search for the answers if it's painful or risky. There are others who know Renna. I can ask them. One of them tried to tell me something a few weeks back." She had no idea how to find the one she used to call Lexia. But there was another she knew exactly where to find, "And we can go to Edward Batten and see what he thinks, as well."

Rose opened her eyes. "....Thanks." Rose opened her eyes, glowing crimson. "Wait..." She stiffened and thrusted herself to push Issy against a wall. "We have to run!"

Ripping from a portal, the massive tri-pedal machine stomped forward, crushing a passerby with its foot, arching back and aiming up its head and dual cannons towards the pair. "TARGET. Found." It released a barrage of magic-fire bolts of thundering energy as it moved towards them. The low voice boomed as it charged forward, firing wildly. "Abomination! Erase!" Isuelt's back was up against the brick as she looked down to Rose, "Why?" Those eyes looked so much like Renna's it sent an icy chill down her spine.

Rose threw up a hand and formed a shimmer shield around them both as the bolts thundered against it. She kept her back to Issy as she pushed back, howling a blood-crawling scream. "Run! Run!"

Isuelt blinked, not really even knowing what she was looking at. "Are you **** kidding me"!" Isuelt tried to grab Rose's hand, she wouldn't be leaving without her.

Met with resistance, the machine stopped, plowing its fire harder still against the shield. "ACCEPT DEATH....FOR THE EMPRESS!" It back towered over the two as it stood over them, firing wildly still. The building behind them was torn to bits—-holes as large as cars crystalizing and shattering.

Rose kept her shield up, falling to a knee as she looked back to Issy. She had no choice" If she lowered her shield, they would both be dead. Grabbing her hand, she looked back to her. "Momma! Run! Please!"

"I'm not leaving you to face that alone!" She had drawn her sword more out of habit than necessity. What in the world would a blade do against something like this?

Like a machine, it kept its fire up. It knew eventually the shield would fail.

Rose fell to both knees as she looked to the machine, then back to her, crimsons glowing. "....I'm sorry I....I used the network I....I wanted to give you answers and..." With a simple rise of her other hand, she summoned shadows to wrap around Issy, just as her shield failed, transporting Issy across the marketplace as the fire blew up concrete and smoke where their original position was.

Isuelt hit the cobblestone street hard, it was jarring to say the least! One moment she was trying to pull Rose out of harm's way and the next she was...well, she didn't know where she was. Isuelt grabbed her blade and stood up and looked around just in time to recognize the southend of the Marketplace and watch a ball of flame and smoke coming from the shop where she just was with Rose. "Oh gods..." Her voice failed her as she gasped for breath, staring after the destruction at the other end of the Marketplace.

The machine ceases. "Terminated." It steps back as it shimmered, disappearing.