As Kleio stood at the end of the hallway, watching Verity sulk away to her quarters, the image projected into Avadiel’s mind shifted. Kleio entered her own quarters, adjacent to Verity’s, and stepped before a mirror to speak directly to her Impera, the once Paragon of Chaos.

“I have done as you asked, Your Grace, and allowed you the use of my eyes so that you may view the arrival of the Young Sentinel, but so may I make one request?”

From her comfortable seat on the stalled train, Avadiel sat remotely viewing the events at the palace. She reached for an opalescent glass stone, pressing it between the palms of her hands to open up a channel across space to speak with Kleio.

“Well, that was certainly an illuminating conversation.”

“Nothing you have not already heard her express yourself.”

“But, she’s never said that she wishes she wasn’t our child.”

“She did not mean it like that, Your Grace. She is a temperamental youth, trying to find herself in a world where her entire life has been decided for her. It is nothing more than the rebellious venting of a privileged child.”

“As always, you are right. You have always understood her better than we have,” Avadiel sighed.

“That is my nature, Impera. That is why the Sister’s chose me to be your priestess- my insightful mind.” Kleio smiled softly, almost smirking. “Now, if I may?”

“Yes, of course, Kleio. You are always allowed to ask of me what you need.”

“Now, I only ask this because intuition tells me that this may be a question asked of you later, and I only want to know how to respond,” she prefaced. “I merely want to be able to answer honestly-”

“Ask your question, Kleio.” Avadiel tried to hide the worry in her tone from Kleio’s prodding.

“Why didn’t you just transport the entire party to the palace when you knew the train was stalled?” Kleio bit her lip nervously. “I understand that you do not like to lord your abilities over the other mortals, but I can’t for the life of me understand why you wouldn’t want to make an exception so as not to miss the arrival of a Sentinel?”

Taking a deep breath, and knowing that she was speaking to one of her most trusted companions, Avadiel allowed herself a brief moment of vulnerability. “Partly, because I was afraid to face him.”

“Afraid of what, Your Grace?”

“Of what all of these changes mean?” Anxiety broke through her usual controlled demeanor. “For the entirety of my existence as a Paragon, Sentinels were to serve as a Paragon's champion on earth. But, now my mortal daughter, one of the few born of blended blood, has been chosen by the Sisters to be served by a Sentinel… why?”

“You fear for your life.” Kleio stated, her keen intuition as sharp as always.

From the terrified expression that crossed Kleio’s face, she immediately regretted her candor. Avadiel shook her head in the negative, mostly to clear it.

“Of course not,” she denied, swiping at her eye to remove the waterline, casually trying to appear as if he were merely brushing away the irritation of a fallen eyelash. “That’s paranoid.”

“Yet, you still ask the question we are all asking ourselves, my lady. Why would the Sister’s choose a Sentinel to serve the Imperatrix?”

Replacing a weakness with her usual stoic composure, Avadiel forced a confident smile onto her face. “Perhaps it means only that my daughter is meant for great things- that as the first Blend she will lead us all to a new world.”

“Please don’t tell her that.” Kleio smirked. “I’m still trying to get her to come to terms with the idea of being Impera someday. Sister’s only know what she would do if she thought she had a more complicated fate than leading the empire.”

“Regardless of my worries, we both know that trying to unravel the workings of the Sisters’ plan is to try to study an Infinity Hole by trying to catch it. You get sucked in so deep it crushes you underneath its own complexity.”

“You’re changing the subject, Your Grace.”

Avadiel sighed. “No I’m not, Kleio. Rather, I am just coming to my senses. With all the revelations and changes, I’m been letting my mind wander to much into irrational speculation. I’m sure it is merely stress, and the absence of home.”

“So, why aren’t you here, my lady?”

“Moving that many people would have been absolutely exhausting in my mental state. Besides, I’m aging, Kleio.” She asserted in a tone a little sharper than she actually intended. “I don’t not have the energy of Infinite to fuel my magic anymore, and the older I get, the more I have to conserve my energy to use it.”

The look on Kleio’s face did not express wholehearted belief in the Impera, but Avadiel knew her former priestess well enough to know she would not press the issue beyond it. As predicted, she accepted it with humility, whether she truly believed the lie or not.

If there is nothing else, Your Grace, I must attend to the Imperatrix. I feel the need to keep an eye on her until tonight’s festivities.”

“Understood,” the Impera smiled, knowing the concern was warranted when it came to her headstrong, impetuous daughter.

“I expect that you will be arriving in time to attend the gala?” Kleio asked, albeit hesitantly.

“Yes,” Avadiel assured. “The track engineers expect the remainder of the water should be pumped away within the next few hours. With getting ready, I may be a bit late, but I will definitely be there.”

“Very good,” Kleio nodded with a smile. “I will let your ladies know that preparations that can be arranged prior to your arrival must be done so to expedite your arrival.”

“Thank you, Kleio.” Avadiel said, gently with genuine kindness and appreciation. “I would be lost without you.”

“And, I without you, my lady,” Kleio added, somberly. “Safe journey home.”

The image in the Scrying Glass blurred before it evaporated entirely, leaving an empty, transparent space through which Avadiel could see the palm of her hands. If only her own racing thoughts could be cleared from her head so easily.

The Fall had freed her in many ways, allowing her to experience true love, the pleasure of family, and the comfort of friendship. That did not change the fact that from the moment Minister Gideon had shared with the royal family what had been revealed to him by the Seer, she had been fighting the panicked fear that this was a foreshadowing of events to come. Changes were happening so quickly now, and Avadiel did not yet know how to come to terms with the events occurring around her. Until the last week, Avadiel had never truly felt mortal in the wake of the fall, or that she was so utterly out of control of not only her fate, but that of her family.

She loathed lying to Kleio, even if it was only a lie of omission. Avadiel enjoyed the close relationship that had developed between her and her former priestess. In the early years, when learning to manage her newfound mortality and limitations, the people she could trust could be counted on one hand, and Kleio had was second only to Rowan in that regard. Kleio had left the priesthood to serve her Paragon at the palace, and when she had become pregnant by Rowan, Kleio offered her services as governess and tutor. To no other person could Avadiel have trusted the education and rearing of her child. A special child- the first child created from the mixing of Paragon and mortal blood.

That thought in mind, how could she look into the eyes of her most loyal servant, her strongest advocate, and most trusted friend, and tell her that she believed the Sisters had marked her for death. And worse, she feared that her child was being groomed to become her replacement.