The days had gone by, hadn't they? It seemed so long ago since she had been at her home, feeling unrest growing beneath her skin. Silas had given her nothing, nor had Alain with the business of his current case. It progressed, nothing happened yet. What was that supposed to mean? Anger and annoyance had driven her from her home, if people didn't want to include her in their plans she would just withdraw herself from it. It had worked for a while, in a way. The Great Helm had offered solace. Peace. The slow and more often empty than not inn had become a place for her to get away from her troubles, serving there as a tender. It was like home, yet not. Quite, the patronage sparse but she was free of those binds that were slowly closing in. She had seen Rena there, met a friend of hers who had told an amusing tale. She had seen Locke once, but the visit had left her saddened. Then Alain had come... she hadn't really expected that. He was busy. Rarely going out to see her, his time there spent more in physical pursuits than telling her anything of his days. But he came with an apology ready, and again when Izira felt everything start to sway the sea was suddenly settled. Everything would be alright. It was something she was telling herself.

Peace was about her as she sat on the small wooden bench in the park, placed within a little alcove of sheltering trees and blossoming flowers. She had brought along a quarter loaf of bread and was scattering the crumbs about for little birds that gathered near her feet. The breeze in the air carried her hair to brush against her face. A calm and settled look fixed within amber-brown eyes. Her top was black, off the shoulders with a stretched-wide v-cut collar. A twist at the center accenting the dip between her breasts. The skirt was a deep charcoal gray, covering her leg down to the knees. A short slit to either side. Black closed-toe heels finished the outfit. In the days that have passed since leaving her home, her eating habits had not been what it should. It was starting to show, however slightly, the weight she was losing. Not enough to be alarming, but noticeable still.

Alain's smoking. In public he's done everything to keep his cards close to the chest, show his hand to no one, but in public and private he has been going through about half a pack a day or more. His black tie is loosened over a white shirt, top button undone, and while his grey slacks look classy, he appears tired and disheveled. When he sees Izira sitting there in the park, feeding the birds, his heart twists. Attempting to reassure himself, tell himself it's for the best, anything of that nature is meaningless at this point. He knows what he's decided to do, and with his hands in his pockets, he makes his way towards her.

It is the movement that catches her eye, turning her attention from the birds towards whoever might be joining her in the park. She had not been expecting Alain, but it looked to be a pleasant surprise. "Alain..." Speaking his name, that one word carried the love she had for him. It showed further in her eyes. For whatever doubts festered when he was away, they fled like shadows from the sun in his presence. She stood to meet him, the remainder of the quarter loaf set aside on the bench.

"Hey..." He smiles, a touch, and draws closer. There is a sadness and hesitation in his face, and a few feet from her, he breathes a sigh. "I... I'm afraid I have some news that I don't think you'll like..." The smile fades in a moment to a frown.

Her smile falters, steps stopping her at a distance from him. Concern etched its way across her face, but she couldn't find the words to ask him what he wanted to say. Only waited for him to say it.

He removes the cigarette from his lips, held carefully as he rubs two fingers into the back of his neck for a few seconds. "I looked for several ways around it, and couldn't find any... it's come down to a matter of life or death." He scoped out the park as he entered, so he speaks freely. "As part of the case, there is a woman I will be unable to fake it with, who I will have to sleep with."

She stilled further, blinked. Looking at him again like she couldn't get him into focus and then looking away.

Alain looks at her when she turns her head, and cannot help but think in passing that she is still beautiful when she is angry. He looks away as well, after that particular thought, and puts the cigarette back between his lips. "I'm sorry. I know it hurts you... and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Who is she?" She had known, she had been warned that it might happen, but really she hadn't thought it would... that it could.

"Lisa Jefferies. Her soul is bound to the lawyers. They read her mind and nearly killed her the other day, and it... complicated things." He's staring at a few children playing out in front of a house about a hundred yards distant.

"You haven't told me of her before..." She turned her eyes back towards him. "Why do you have to..." She couldn't even form the words. They felt like bile rising in her throat.

"She was assigned to sleep with me and gain inside information for the lawyers. I had hoped to find some way to fake it, but she refused to cooperate with anyone, and I didn't see her again for a while. Thought she was a non-issue, and had other things to think about... But Mister Howe disliked her disobedience, and had 'ridden her soul' to watch our conversations. He..." He begins to describe exactly what had been done to Lisa, and thinks better of it. "...he tortured her, and left her to me. I had her healed, and looked at every alternative I could imagine, put my heads together with powerful mages... There was no other alternative but to heal her, and tell her everything we knew before Howe figured out she was alive and started soul-riding again. I'll have to sleep with her, and also spread disinformation to Howe through her." His brow furrows deeply.

She tried to wrap her mind around his words, a bit of bitterness now that he hadn't really kept her up to pace. Now it felt like everything was out of control. She had hoped to be his silent partner, not just in general... but for help and guidance. Now a choice had been made. He had talked to others... he hadn't spoken to her but to let her know. There was moisture in her eyes, turning away again to keep it from showing. "But... she knows... it... doesn't mean anything?"

He shuts his eyes, tilting his head back towards the heavens. "...It honestly depends on how much or little she cooperates in terms of working against Mister Howe." The deception of an honest and innocent person. He wants to scream, but he merely tightens his lips instead.

Her head tilted backwards, eyelids closing and chasing out the tears that ran swiftly down her cheeks. A few escaping, before she managed to bottle it down. The force of emotion grew beneath that forced block and she worked to keep it at bar, unable to find her voice to reply to him.

"I think this case has turned me into a monster," he admits quietly. "I..." He considers, and turns back to her, looking at her. "I don't know when this great big awful mess is going to be over, and I don't even know if I'll be alive when it's through. And this whole time you're waiting, staying out of my way in the public eye, watching your step when that burden should only be on me... and getting hurt by all of it."

Her head sunk forward, a tremor running through her body. In her mind she walked the paths where his words could lead. He was going to be with another, was there worse news to come? Pulling her head up, she turned towards him again. The pain drawn clearly on her face and in her eyes. She swallowed hard and another tear fell free of the growing well in her eye.

"I can't ask you to wait for things to get better anymore... because I don't know that they will. I'd like to say that once this case is over, I can free myself of every obligation and let go of my desire to get involved, and give you what you deserve... but I don't want to lie to you, Izira."

She tried to give him a hopeful smile, but it wavered and died quickly. "Alain..." It was a weak plea, hardly making it over the lump that had grown. Several more tears slipping away.

The aching frown returns to his face, and he drops the cigarette, putting it out underfoot. "I can't do this to you anymore, Izira. I'm sorry."

That was it. There wasn't more to say about. The lump hardened into a rock, sinking from her throat to her stomach. He was walking away. The tears in her eyes vanished under the sudden flare of brightness. Pain vanished from her face and all that was left was a resolved mask. She stepped towards him, a hand going out to find that ring that hid their bond. Unaware of the block that had been put on his end, her gift seared into the ring and broke the bond between them. Now what had been blocked but was still there was entirely gone, a void. Her hand remained above the ring. "Fine."

He looks at her for a long moment, words threatening to bubble forth, a range of anguished emotions in the face of her cold resolve, an ability he'd always prided himself in. His eyes flicker around her, and then back to her fiery gaze, and the only words he can find are, "I'm sorry. " He looks at her another moment as he takes one step back, then another... then turns around and walks away, hands returning to his pockets.

The fire was alive inside of her. There was too much. Pain a living thing that twisted with the fire that became more and more powerful within her. Bond broken, she had it all once more. She had accepted that. Madness would be a welcomed bedfellow to her broken heart. Eyes gazing unseeing at his retreat. So be it.

((Tegan and Sara - Call it Off))