The Headmaster smiled.

"It seems you have caught me doing research again. It can wait if you wish a night time tour of the school."

He smiled at the gift.
"I am certain it will be with that kind of assurance."
He slipped the apple into his bag of holding and gestured to the room they started in.
"This is the recieving hall of the administration building. This building houses the offices that take care of testing, enrollment, finances, and it has banquet facilities. It's the first thing any potential Ravensheart student will see, so I want it to be the finest we have to offer. Please come with me."
He takes her arm and escorts her through a fine ballroom.

"This ballroom is an exact replica of the grand ballroom in Castle Ravensheart, but in a smaller proportion. You see, before the accident that forced me from RhyDin, I was a Guild Leader and very accomplished sorcerer. I also was a knight of my deity. I had my own land and my own enchanted castle. I had a family, a wife and two children. It seemed as if everything was perfect....then the accident."

He has escorted her to the patio just outside the ballroom when he gets to this point. His eyes look over the grounds in the still of the night. He sighs. It's pretty clear this isn't part of the tour.

"...anyways... Where was I? Yes, I hired some of the finest landscapers in all of RhyDin to make this patio very welcoming and relaxing. We had imported flowers from all over the multiverse, including the Moonshard Lilys you see lining the paths."

Sure enough, as the dark has settled in, one can see flowers that adorn the pathways of the campus every 10' or so that glow with a pale light. They look like tiny moonshards.

The elf sighs deeply.

"I was born on Kadorasil as a half-elf. I worked hard and studied magick so that I could champion the greater good. this caught the attention of my deity. He made me his champion, his paladin. I came to RhyDin and all seemed to be going well for me. I joined a guild whose purpose was not to fight darkness per se, but more to bring light back to the forgotten. I met a woman there. I built a strong castle and enchanted it. I had two children. I always searched for greater magicks...then I was sabatoged. One of the formulae I was working on exploded, destroying my castle and casting me deep into the nexus. For centuries I wandered the multiverse searching for a way back, but my magick was gone. My deity was gone. Little did I know that this was all a trap set by my rival. Eventually, I found my way back, but after sacrificing much, including my humanity which made me an elf. I found that all that I cared for was long gone...dead. Mistress Sha'uri is the only link to my past. She is a faculty member here."

He stands and offers his hand

"But I have bored you enough with that woe...shall we continue?"

((This was sent to my inbox accidentally))

~~Lasherette listened intently to his story. A "rival". "Before we continue on, Briarius, may I be so bold as to ask you a few questions? Such as; "Who was this rival of yours?" And how could an explosion cast out your diety? As far as your family is concerned....please accept my condolences." She looked down and away. "I don't know if you heard. Word gets around Rhydin these days rather quickly...especially bad news." Her voice dripping with sarcasm. " It's been just over a month or so ago. I lost my baby....a boy named Drake...and my fiance' Alexander Lasair. I try not to count the days.. I only know that I had to live on. I didn't want to. Then....well...you're an intelligent man...you can look at me and know what transformation I have been through. I was terminally ill with consumption. I was dying both emotionally and physcially. A man came to me. Offered me love....which few had ever offered me. As well as the promise that he would never leave me. Life ever lasting with a man who would love me, protect me, and keep me safe for all time. I had to do but one thing.
And I did. Amazing the things we do in the name of "Love" isn't it?" As her back was to him, she now turned and looked him in the eyes. Peridots dark and intense. Though, I am an abnomally. One of the "undead" with a human soul still." She stared at him, perhaps he knew how such a thing happened.
::Sighing:: "Well my Maker denied me. Putting me out, a fledgling with no one to care for me. Then a man named SOTHE of the Hellsing Clan has been after me. Afraid...alone...I stayed locked up in my castle.
Till one night Ivan of Fermanagh came calling. I had loved him....known him as a human. But he refused to turn me. He was furious with me for me allowing another to turn me.
He is watching over me....he knows my life is in danger. He has adopted an urchin who had been living off the streets. He is so sweet and gentle and kind to her...and me"....she looked down...."let' s just say he has never had patience for me."

"So...that is how I come to you, I thought I would get some information regarding the school for the child who resides with Ivan. I do not reside there. I live in the Beresford Mansion." Stopping a moment. Light green eyes moved left to right.
"We are most certainly not alone here. I ....I smell a female. Hiding." Eyes look to his for reassurance. She took his arm...he could feel the tension running throughout her being. "Shall I leave?" Looking to him, dark peridots staring into his hues of blue. Searching....but for what?~~

The growl, the hiss, it all came from behind them as the feline jumped up on the railing. That demon cat, all tiger stripped with brown, grey and black... leaping high at the woman's back to run up using her shoulder to leap off of and on to the top of the Headmaster's shoulder. Now she was purring as she curled round the back of his head, tail swish swish swishing to and fro... and moved to his other shoulder only to look at the woman with oddly deep emerald orbs and hissed rather demonically at her, then again at Bri before the scatter brained cat jumped from Bri's shoulder and darted across the patio to hide in some bushes... or so it would appear.

That is, all for about five seconds before she emerged again, calm and poised as if she wasn't just off her rocker a moment ago... as if now she was as docile as a lamb, pacing herself gracefully back to Bri, purring as she rubbed against his legs and mewing sweetly up at him. With her, one could never tell for sure. It was suicide to assume anything with this one.. this was Sabre the cat from hell.... purring sweetly and curling her tail round Bri's legs.

The Headmaster chuckled a bit.

"It's odd that you mention that. This school was built upon my lands and the probably used materials they found around."

~~Lash yelled out in surprise as the cat attacked her beneath her dress. With the toe of her other shoe she kicked it, before she bent down to grab it off of her, but it scampered off before she could grab it, just missing it by the tail. Looking about, she was wincing. She was looking for a place to sit. She felt the blood running down her leg from where she was bit, and the sting from where the claws mawled her ankle. She looked up at Briarius...."You didn't tell me to be aware of "Attack Cats!" ::She gave him some what of a smile, as she grabbed his shoulder to balance herself, not putting her foot back down. "All animals usually love me. I even have the ability to mezmerize them, have had it since I was a child. This is most odd." She looks up into Briarius' blue hues for some form of explanation.~~

The cat was no longer running when it entered the kitchen. It was now coughing and wheezing oddly from the broken rib caused by the kick. The cook looked down to the feline and for once felt sorry for it. She approached it cautiously.

"Got a firball there hun? Or are ye comin down wit somethin ill?"

Sabre growled weakly and coughed some more. She didnt even bother moving away as the Cook brought her hand down for Sabre to sniff, knowing what a skittish feline she was. That's when she knew something was wrong. Sabre snapped as the cook tried to pick up the cat, shifting herself away but seemed unable to run away or go too far. Just a few paces is all. That's when the cook noticed the odd movement and the strange look about the cat's ribs. The cat coughed some more and this time there was a tiny spackle of blood.

"Oi now... what mule kicked yer side hun? Oh gosh that really looks like it.. eh... wearing pointed toe shoes? what in bloody nine hells... we don even have a mule round here! What the... grrrr..."

She grabbed a towel and gently forced the cat to be wrapped up, trying to imobilize her and keep her from more damage. She endured the snip and hiss she gave her, knowing Sabre only did it out of fright. She couldn't blame the cat, she'd snip and bite too if she got kicked by a mule wearing pointed shoes.

"Master Bri?! Mistress Sha'uri!? Help here! Sabre, she's hurt!"

She did sound frantic. She picked the cat up, holding her carefully, yet firm and wasn't sure which way to go. Mistress told her not to be disturbed out there and never mind it was the wrong time of year to ask things like that. So she started to walk towards the front. Then stopped. Master Bri she had heard him go up as if to answered the door.... And she got a worried, very worried look on her face. What if... And she was suddenly scared of whatever it was that the Master had answered the door to and maybe he was in danger. Out the back door she ran as fast as a deer to the barn screaming Mistress Sha'uri all the way and banging on the barn door, willing to endure whatever wrath the mistress had then endure what unknown thing had Bri in danger. Of course, the cook had a very vivid imagination.

"Mistress Sha'uri! Lan sakes Ye gotta help! Sabre's hurt! Master Bri's in danger! Mistress Sha'uri!"

No answer. She picked up the rock and threw it through the window busting out the glass. Oddly, she heard nothing, not even the break of the window nor shatter of glass upon the ground inside. the window was too high for her to peer in. She sneered.

"Magicks..."

She didn't know what else to do, Sabre wheezing and coughing. So off she ran to the Temple...... praying for some divine intervention. After all, it was Sha'uri's cat. Someone was bound to answer, right? If not, maybe she could find some potions. She frantically searched until she found the cabnet with the bottles and searched through the plethora of concoctions.

"Gods! Please.... gotta be some potions here...Ah ha!"

She grabbed the one marked in the Elven word for Heal. It was easier to get Sabre to drink it then what she had thought it would be, the feline lapped it up as if she hadn't had water in days. The wheezing stopped and the sound of bone shifting and snapping back into place was heard. Sabre began to purr. The cook grabbed a nearby chair and sat on the floor, putting her forehead on the seat instead. Sabre's nose nudged her as she purr, purr, purred.

She emerged from the forge, the doors were opened swiftly to bang against the side of the building bouncing back slowly as the tall figure walked past them. Sweat glistened upon skin darkened by the soot of the forge she'd been deep in task over when the stone came from no where, smacked her in the head, which almost made her loose her concentration, and almost ruined the creation. As the rest of the world didn't seem to be crashing in just yet, she finishing her last few strokes upon the item, set it aside to cool and moved out to see what was occuring.

Smoldering sapphires caught movement into the temple after a brief glance in the direction of Tina's room and over the compound. All seemed quiet, save for the brief movement near the temple. Sha'uri moved that direction and came inside just as the cook's head came to rest upon the chair. She set the hammer down on the alter. Sabre glanced up, mewled sweetly and jumped up into her arms.

"What is going on?" she asked gently, noticing the empty bottle and the tint of blood on the cat's whiskers, which she stroked to get some on her fingers to bring it to her tongue to taste...


The cook looked up with surprise and quickly stood changing surprise to forlorn.
"Oh mistress! I'm sorry I broke the window. T'was an emergency. Someone kicked Sabre and broke her ribs. I'm no healer, but she was wheezin and making odd noises. I thought for sure she was in a bad way. She couldn't hardly move away from me."


"Who kicked her?" Sha'uri was frowning, glancing in the direction of the main building, sensing.

"I do nae know. I know Master Bri went to answer the door, I heard 'im go that way an maybe fifteen minutes later the cat was draggin itself in the kitchen, just a wheezin away. I got scared, Ma'am."


Meow.

Sha'uri glanced down to her cat and began to meow back to her. She was really just speaking with her, finding out more and gleening the images from Sabre's mind, taking them in from her prospective.

"She's got the blood of a vampire on her whiskers. Odds are she's taken some of it in her.l I don't have the spells to properly get the taint out of her system. Seems Bri is entertaining some vampiress in the house. She must not be familiar with animals of a predatory nature, those a bit on the wild side... which surprises me since she is a vampire. They are the predatory wild ones."

She momentarily paused wiht a smirk.

"Anyway, sabre gave fair warning but I guess the woman thought she could step over sabre trying to come between sabre and bri. Clingy thing... but Sabre attacked her, freaked out by the dress. Can't say as I blame her. From the cat's prospective, she was being captured. I doubt the woman poses any threat unless she's charmed Bri.. but... I doubt it. He's a bit stronger willed then that. So, I will assume he's busy entertaining."

"What'll we do then? Is it safe?"

"Probably."

"I no... not going back in there. Nae by myself."

"I'm sure it's fine, Lyndra. It'll be okay. Just.. I don't think you want to be here."

"Here's better then there."

Sha'uri sighed heavily, feeling the weight of burden on her shoulders. Motioning to Lyndra to follow, she moved to a cabinet along the far wall. Taking out one empty vial and a necklace of garlic, she handed the necklace to Lyndra.

"Here, wear this.. vampires hate it. Just stay in the kitchen out of the way. Now, you really should go back before your bread burns." Sha'uri smiled gently.

Lyndra nearly jumped out of her skull, realizing the Mistress was right. And on she went running out the door and bakc to save her bread!

"Oh... gods."

She took the empty vial and wrote Sabre on it. Then she moved to a cushion tucked away in a corner where the sun would come through the window in the afternoons and Sabre would often lay. She picked up a few untainted hairs from the cushion and placed them in the vial, tucking it away safely for later. Then she began to walk back to the forge carrying the cat with her.

Stepping back inside, she shut and locked the doors and moved over by the red hot coals of the forge. In one swift movement, Sha'uri twisted the cat's head, killing it instantly. Then she tossed the body into the fire, letting it burn to nothing, quelling any fears of gaining an undead cat in her house. Vampiric animals had no control of themselves. She wouldn't let Sabre go through that, nor expose anyone else to it. Tomorrow she could rez her cat untainted as it was before. Perhaps the feline would be a little calmer after that experience.... She could only hope so.

Still, that thought didn't give her comfort as she watched the cat's body burn away, tears flowing like a river from her eyes yet she was not sobbing, quiet as they fell. She would keep this to herself and not bother Bri with it, even though he could've probably helped. It was possible they didn't know or realize, especially since nobody came running to help the frazzled cook. And she had to wonder just how badly a small runt of a cat like Sabre could've actually hurt anyone of normal humanoid size.... She wasn't worried.

She looked up at him with a smile and gently wiped the blood from her legs. As she did so, the scratches were all completely gone, the bite had all but just about healed.

No, Sha'uri wasn't worried one bit.

~~Standing there with her mouth slightly agape, she stared at him, her peridot hues narrowing at his words. She sat on a bench a moment, and nursed her ankle and calf. The cat had taken a literal bite out of her, so it would take her more than a dab of saliva, to heal herself. So here she sits bleeding from the DAMNED cat, and Brairius' only remark is what.........????

Looking down tapping a hankie to her calf, she looked up to how far she had to walk to the coach. Tieing the hankie above the bite, she stood. Glancing at Briarius, she extended her hand...she replied curtly. "Actually, I was looking to send Ivan's adopted human child possibly to your school, but if you allow demon cats to have free reign of your campus, I think a 6 yr. old human wouldn't understand, such an attack, as which I just experienced. And I was invited Briarius....perhaps you should have told the "Witch" Shauri that you had done so....and locked up your demon cat when you saw it out here with us.....but that would require some thought, and quite frankly I have no idea where your mind is!" Turning on her heel, she tried to walk as she felt no pain. Reaching her coach she told Warren to talk her home "NOW!" With the crack of a whip and the gallop of hooves she was gone into the night.~~

~~She couldn't see much by the light of the lantern inside the coach. The bite was still bleeding, so she just took the hankie and wrapped it over the wound, and tied it tight. Wincing a bit, she sat back on the newly covered leather seat. She thought about the cat...it was demonic, no doubt. And no doubt he knew it. And she was able to pick up on the female in the kitchen. Who was well aware that Lasherette was there, with Briarius. Not knowing the relationship between the two, she imagined there was "something" between them. Sighing, she knew that Ivan was going to be furious with her for going to the School. It was the kind of thing he would wish to do. She merely wished to surprise him. Ok....and meet up with Briarius again, without Ivan present.
Looking out the carriage window she tapped her gloved finger against her lip. Perhaps something more intimate...on her terms. In her home.
Perfect...if he would accept.

Looking down at her leg, she could feel her blood seeping out from beneath the hankie. She tapped on the window...."Warren...make haste!" "Aye, Mistress!" Came his reply as she heard the crack of the whip and felt the lurch of the carriage. Damn cat....animals were easily tamed by her...thus this was no "ordinary" cat. Thinking of all she would have to do to clean the wound, so as to not allow her blood....Ivan's blood to be polluted by the cat's saliva, and germs...she let out a loud sigh. Ivan hasnt been home in many a night. Hopefully he would not be home this evening either. She would get with Gregory....he could help her. She still obviously needed someone to live in the home with her....a bodyguard if you will. With Ivan gone so often...it wasn't safe for her to sleep alone...without anyone to watch over her. Gregory was intellgent and all...but he was no warrior...no bodyguard.

As they reached the Castle...Warren quickly ran about to her door to assist her. As she stepped out she winced. Gregory was right there, taking her by the arm, he inquired as to what was wrong. Before she told him, she looked over her shoulder at Warren. He was just about to put the horses away. "Warren....I want you to rub salve on the horse where you hit it with the whip! If you cannot make a horse speed up without beating it, perhaps I should take the whip to you...so you can see how it feels?!? Warren looked at her, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"Yes, Mistress...uh...er...No Mistress....I mean....Yes, Mistress." He had removed his hat and bowed to her. She merely glared at him, narrowing her peridot hues..."Take good care of them Warren....or I will see you are taken care of....am I undestood?" Dropping his head, he took a step back. "Yes, Mistress", he replied softly. "Good." Lasherette replied, then she turned her back to him and began the ascent up the stairs to the Castle's main door. Gregory said nothing, as he assisted her, noticing the hankie, and blood flowing out from beneath it into her shoe. Walking, trying not to put pressure on her ankle...she hung on to Gregory. "Ivan isn't the only thing that likes to bite me...." She quietly said to Gregory, as they reached the top. She was wearing a smirk on her face now. Slowly he lead her into the castle and to her room, to tend to her ankle.~~