A silent thought {Open}

[Fiona]

Fiona folded her arms around her legs as she sat near a small stream in the Siwyn forest, letting her long white hair fall around her like a veil. She was gripping a necklace of a star inside a circle, the point of the star pointing up towards the heavens. In the center of the star sat a ruby, small but glittering and beautiful, like her sister Aisling's eyes. Not a day went past that Fiona regretted abandoning her sister, but she knew she had no choice. She distrusted Akurie because she knew that the woman had killed Relyn the year before, and Fiona had sort of like Relyn. He was kind enough, although she couldn't say she trusted him with her life like Aisling could. She couldn't understand how Aisling could trust anyone at the Castle with her life.

Fiona's heart wrenched. Aisling couldn't even trust her anymore, not after she left... She sighed and looked up at the stars she could just barely make out through the canopy of leaves above her and had to smile. She had made friends at the Keep, and even if she did miss her sister more than life itself, she knew that one day Aisling would see what Fiona had, and would come to the Keep and ask to stay as well. At least, Fiona could hope Aisling would come.

Fiona stood and stepped out onto the water of the stream. It was cool and relaxing under her bare feet, and it calmed her more than anything else ever could. She smiled as she tilted her head up, letting a shaft of moonlight light up her white hair, turning it silver. She loved the night, the stars and the moon, and the water that she stood on, feeling it flow under her feet. Fiona's head lowered when she heard footsteps and she turned, wishing she would see her sister silhouetted against the trees, but she knew she wouldn't. "Is someone there?" She called, a bit quieter than she had wanted but unable to force her voice to go louder than a loud speaking voice. She looked around, frowning. She heard the footsteps, but couldn't hear anyone's reply. "Hello?"

[Trejan]

Trejan was walking through the Siwyn Forest with a frumpy look on his face. Today he had seen that Felley--Ferrid--Feld--Felid! That was it! That felid again. He'd seen it before he was sure of. At this point, from what Cadelen had explained to him while he was re-cooperating in the Infirmary Tent, he knew that all the Riders came in pairs. A humanoid and a creature linked together by some mystical force. However, whenever he saw this felid, it was always alone. The white blurs of movement danced around his memories with a familiar faintness that tickled his mind.

"GRAH!" He called out, kicking the nearest fallen tree branch. Why couldn't he figure out what exactly that felid meant to him? It was so familiar he was sure, but he knew nothing of it. The wind around him tousled his hair and began to grow violent--ripping leaves from limbs and making the tree branches rustle about angrily--but it quickly calmed down when Trejan resumed control over his emotions. He sat in defeat against the trunk of a tree. It was so aggravating, being so close yet so far. Maybe he would ask his father.

That is, if he ever saw him again. The old man must be dying, he thought, but cast the thought aside for another time--desperate to keep the image of his grieving father out of mind. It was then he heard a faint, "Is someone there? Hello?" Not feeling like getting up, he voiced back, "Yes, I am." An obvious answer. The wind carried his voice away to the original speaker, who he could feel from the shift in the wind was south-west of him.

[Fiona]

Fiona frowned at the voice that spoke back. "Yes, I am." She sighed, she recognized the voice as someone from the castle, but that simple answer meant nothing to her. It could have been almost any guy at the castle. "I do not know who 'I am' is," She called back, hands on hips as she squinted her eyes to see out into the gloom. Her night vision was good, but who could see in almost pitch blackness? She certainly couldn't, she knew that for a fact. She moved in the direction that the voice had come from, but stayed along the stream, feeling more in her element standing atop the cool flowing water.

"Where are you?" Fiona asked curiously as she stopped just at the edge of a moonbeam, wanting to be in at least a bit of light so the person who had been stomping through the woods didn't try to attack her, thinking she might be a Wing member.

A sudden fear shot through her. She only had her water for protection, and what if this person knew her sister? What if they mistook her for her twin and attempted to kill her, not believing that she was Fiona?

[Trejan]

Trejan heard a sigh in the distance. "I do not know who 'I am' is," the girl called out. The noise of sloshing water could be heard, so Trejan knew the girl must have been in the creek that was near. "Where are you?" the girl called. Sighing Trejan got up, feeling the wind blow all around him, gently caressing his face. He could vaguely recognize the voice of the girl, probably one of the other potentials back at camp.

When he got to the clearing he stopped. The girl stood in a sliver of moonlight, illuminated at the waters edge. Her beauty wasn't what made him stop, even though it made him blush (he was secretly glad she couldn't see him in the darkness). What made him stop was the look of growing terror on her face.

"H..Hey," he called out, weak at first but stopping and adding more strength, moving towards the moonlight with his hands up. "What's the matter?" Stepping into the light of the moon himself, he kept his hands up in the air though he knit his fingers together behind his head. Trying to calm the slightly panicking girl, he decided to introduce himself. "I'm Trejan, a Potential for the Order." Or at least, that's what he thought Cadelen had told him he was.

[Fiona]

Fiona's eyes were still searching the darkness as she tried, and failed, to hide the growing feeling of dread and terror from her face. She was so scared someone might attack her, and she had none of her weapons, and she could only use her elemental powers for so long before she became worn out. She didn't think the voice would attack her, but what if they saw Aisling instead of Fiona? She was sure some of the other Keep members who had seen her sister before had thought that Fiona might have been Aisling for a moment when they only briefly saw her from the corner of their eye.

When Trejan stepped from the shadows, Fiona relaxed. She knew that he hadn't seen her sister before, or at least she was almost sure he hadn't. She smiled warmly at him after he introduced himself, the look of terror and dread vanishing from her pretty face. "Trejan," She said gently. "I know you, from the Keep." Her smile brightened. "We're both potentials there. I'm Fiona McLoughlin." She winced slightly. "I ran from the Wing of Moonlight a little less than a year ago and made it here just after the Keep was..." Fiona's voice trailed off as she shook her head sadly. "I didn't even know that Riders were real until I came across the Wing of Moonlight. I had always thought it a myth." She smiled again. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

[Trejan]

Instantly when Trejan stepped into the light the girl relaxed. He sighed and put his hands down as the girl introduced herself as Fiona McLoughlin and stated she knew him from the Keep. Then he said something he hadn't anticipated. Fiona told him that she had escaped from the Wing of Moonlight a year ago. His eyebrows raised when she left her statement about the keep hanging. She then made mention of how amazing it was that the riders were real. "Yeah, it's amazing."

He thought back to the scene just weeks ago when he was brought to the Order. That running white figure in the snow. It connected then. Maybe that white Felid he'd seen roaming about was the same one from his memories. But what had that Felid anything to do with him? Maybe the next time he saw it he would confront it. "I mean, I guess it's cool. Before I was brought to the Order, I was caught in a snow storm that separated me from my father. I thought I was going to freeze to death. Even pushing the air away from me didn't help. Before I passed out I remember a large cat-like figure running toward me. I think I was rescued by a Felid. But I don't know if it really surprises me. My father always believed in them."

After Trejan got done explaining his story, he remembered what Fiona had been talking about earlier. "Hey, what was that you were saying earlier about a Keep?"

[Fiona]

Fiona blinked with surprise at Trejan's question. She was sure he would have known about the Keep. She was sure almost everyone had known about the Fall of the Rider's Keep. She motioned for Trejan to come over and she moved to the shore and sat down on a small rock just big enough for the two of them to fit comfortably on. "You don't know the story about the Rider's Keep?" She asked him, turning so she could see him in the faint shaft of moonlight. "It was attacked, a little over a year ago now I think." She bit her lip, looking thoughtful. She hadn't known it until she had reached the keep itself, and then Yelena had been there to to explain it all to her. Maybe no one had explained what happened to Trejan?

"The Keep was attacked by a strange monster," Fiona finally said after her long pause. A Groom, I think?" She shook her head. "No, not groom, Gloom." She nodded when she remembered it. "The Glooms attacked the Keep, and despite everyone's best efforts, the Keep fell and was destroyed. Has no one told you this?" She asked him.

[Trejan]

Fiona seemed surprised Trejan didn't know the story. He listened intently as she told him the story of the Fall of the Rider's Keep. His eyes widened as she continued with the story. It was impossible to think about. "Wow... Like, a whole castle filled with the entire Order? Those are fearsome creatures if they can do something like that." Trejan shivered at the thought of the Shades. He'd only been with the Order for a little while, but had been through most of the camp and got a good idea of the Order's size.

He'd even watched in on some of them practicing. Even the younger riders were impressive. Trejan guessed that they had to be that way though, with the little numbers they had. That equalled more one-on-one time from what he saw and they had to be well-prepared despite their small size. "Uhhh, no. I just came to the Order about a little over a week ago," he told Fiona.

"So tell me a little more about the riders," he asked, genuinely interested. He sat down, crossing his legs and placed his chin on one of his palms as he pat the ground next to him. "I haven't really been informed much. Cadelen said I should ask some other members to get to know them."