"This is Forbidden..." (Complete)

[Deleted]

Sentes wrapped his wings around Thalia and rubbed his head against her. "Thalia, all I want is for you to be happy, whatever you want I will follow. If you think it is best to not pursuit this, then I will accept that. But if you truly feel your heart belongs with me, then I will face whatever the consequences are. I am not afraid, Thalia, your love is worth whatever hardship I have to bear. There is nothing else in my life that demands my attention and devotion as you do, I'd abandon the Pure Ones entirely if that meant spending the rest of my life with you. I just want to make sure you know, deep in your heart, that this is the right thing to do," Sentes told Thalia, closing his eyes slightly as he held her in his wings and began to gently preen the feathers on her face, particularly around her eyes and beak. He truly wanted to stay here with her, he wanted to rest beside her every night, but he also wanted to make sure Thalia was happy as well.

[Deleted]

Dimitri slowly made his way through the main catacombs, heading to the hollow where the High Tyto and his mate made their residence, his old age and an old battle wound making his movements slower than a normal owls. He had just learned this morning that, for seemingly no reason at all, Thalia had re-assigned the spy Sentes from his post in Ambala. Thalia had not run this decision past him or anyone else he knew of within the command structure and seemingly had done it on a whim. He was frustrated that she would so carelessly undo the work that was being done to promote the Pure One's eventual takeover of Ambala. He had tried to speak to Katara about this, hoping she's back him in confronting the High Tytoness, but she had been nowhere to be found and thus had decided to deal with this on his won. Unlike the other Pure Ones, Dimitri did not hesitate to verbally reprimand either of the leaders and it was rare, if ever, that he called them anything but their names. He was too old and to grizzled to care about such formalities anymore and that just something Thalia and Tytus had to accept if they wanted access to his knowledge and strategies.

[Gabjas]

Thalia closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. Pausing. She inhaled, smelling the scent of his feathers. It was intoxicating to her. "Yes. You are worth everything we may have to endure. Your love, is all that matters to me now." She brought her beak against his, locking him in her soft embrace.

"I love you. And that is all I truly know." she breathed. Whispering sweet nothings into his ear was how she spent the next few moments, and it seemed like an eternity. The two lovers; forbidden to be together, frozen in time. She wished this moment could last forever.

[Deleted]

And that was it, Thalia and Sentes had sealed their fates to each other, no matter what was to happen, they belonged to each other and no owl was going to change that fact. Sentes did not respond to her, instead letting his warm embrace be enough of an answer to indicate his thoughts, but he did whisper a soft, but firm statement to her, "I am your mate and you are my mate." Their lives were now intertwined, for better and for worse, but Sentes refused to think about anything but being allowed to spend more time with her. He gently pressed his face against hers, their beaks now side by side and whispered a question to her. "Would you care to see the stars with me, before we have to part for the evening?" As much as he wanted it to stay like this, he knew that she had her own business to attend to and so did he, after all he had to go clean out his hollow now if he was going to be living at the HQ and right now they could not be seen together publicly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dimitri finally arrived at the entrance to Thalia and Tytus' hollow. There was no indication that anyone was actually awake or even there, but he was forbidden to enter the hollow to check. The guards had stated that Tytus had not been home for sometime now and that they had not seen Thalia leave either, although Thalia did have another exit to the outside in her hollow available as well for her own personal use. Dimitri took a deep breath and called out into the hollow, "Thalia, if you are in there, I demand to speak to you in person!" He let out an extra little screech as a follow up to indicate he was not in a happy mood with her.

[spice]

(AAAAAND BOOM!!!! THERE WERE OWLETS!!!! Jk, XD)

[Gabjas]

(XD Haha, how did THAT happen so fast?)

Thalia nodded to her lover, whispering a quiet "That would be delightful." She stepped from the shelter of the chambers and was immediately bathed in the pallid moonlight. She gauged the height of the moon. "I have about an hour to spend with you before I must attend to my royal duties. I mustn't sacrifice the good of the Pure Ones, even if it is for you, my love."

Her head snapped around as the doors to her chamber swung open, and Dimitri stood beneath the intricate awning with a rather cross expression. She cast a warning glance for Sentes to stay outside as she apprehended the old High Tyto.

"Dimitri, it is a pleasure to see you again." she cooed, a futile attempt to ease his mood. "What is it that troubles you, sir?" Thalia really did not need to address this crude old owl politely, seeing as she was the High Tytoness. In fact, she could call him a vulgar word as a nickname all she wanted and there was nothing he could really do about it but complain.

However, this owl was a great role model for her. He had helped forge the remainders of the Pure Ones after Nyra had been defeated and the Pure Ones deteriorated far past their former glory. He had been an outstanding leader, and the battle scars he bore were for the good of all pure owls.

[Deleted]

"Thalia, I demand to know why you reassigned my spy in Ambala to another post here at the HQ without first consulting me or any of the other officers beforehand," Dimitri responded to the High Tytoness, not even making an attempt to restrain his tone in front of one of their leaders. "Sentes was closing in on the key to taking Ambala for ourselves, a project that has been ongoing for close to a year. I fail to see the reasoning by abruptly interrupting all that hard work, especially when there are plenty of other owls here that you could have easily requested for your assignments," Dartmont added, as he started to pace back and fort in front of her. "Was this all your own idea, or did Tytus put you up to it?" he asked, locking eyes with her. Dimitri never could accept Tytus as their leader, at least Thalia had mostly been raised a Pure One, but Tytus had come from the Guardians, the hated enemy of the Pure Ones. Although Tytus had never shown any treasonous characteristics, Dimitri's anger toward the Guardians for the destruction of the Pure Ones burned hot in him, every scar on his body was a constant reminder of their treachery.

[Gabjas]

Thalia froze in her tracks to greet him. The thought had never occurred to her how her love would jeopardize the Pure Ones mission. It was greedy of her to have stolen such a talented spy for her own personal gain, and if she did not act fast, the entire Ambala mission might plummet into the abyss of failure.

She nodded thoughtfully, beginning to pace. "My sincere apologies, it had not occurred to me but now I see what must be done. Sentes will be returned to Ambala post-haste, unless of course, there are any other spies you believe would be worthy of the task."

She paused, eyeing Dimitri hopefully. She did not want to send her lover away, but if it was what must be done, then it was her task to see to it. She cast a glance to where Sentes was hiding, just around the corner. She hoped she had not hurt his feelings by her sudden willingness to cast him back to Ambala.

"I should have consulted you first, Dimitri. I am sorry."

[Deleted]

Dimitri eyed Thalia, noting that there was something off about her. He couldn't put his talon on it, but the air around her did not feel as high and mighty as it normally did. But Dimitri didn't bother his mind on it and turned towards her question. "If you are so keen on having him serve you personally, I can let it slide, since Sentes was almost finished with his work there. However, I do need him to at least finish his final report, which may require him to go back one last time to gather the last bit of information, but otherwise he can stay here," Dimitri relented, ruffling a few of his feathers. "However, I do expect you to take much more care in dealing with the soldiers, Thalia. They are not simple toys for you to move and a play with, they all are in their positions for a reason and it is extremely inconvenient and frustrating to us all when you move them around without our consent."

[Gabjas]

"Yes, thank you Dimitri. I have -" she hesitated slightly before continuing. "I have been rather stressed lately. But nonetheless I should have consulted you first and that is a great mistake on my part. Please forgive me." It was a peculiar sight to many, seeing her, the High Tytoness in all her grandeur and opulence, bow to this grizzled owl as she did now, but for her it was only respectful.

He had been a great High Tyto, far greater than she would ever be. He deserved many things that he did not receive, so showing him a little courtesy despite her stature was no problem for Thalia. "I will send for Sentes in due time and return him to Ambala to complete his final report."

[Deleted]

Dimitri smiled and actually bowed to Thalia in response, something he rarely did and it was a clear indication that he was satisfied with the outcome of the discussion. Dimitri had nothing against Thalia personally, he did think she was a proper figurehead for the Pure Ones, given he beauty, instead it was her decision to be Tytus' mate that his disapproved with the most. "Thank you, Thalia, now if you will excuse me, I must go seek out Katara and discuss this with her, she was strangely absent from her hollow this evening," he mentioned and started walking his way back outside.

[Gabjas]

Thalia saw her chance and leaped at it, she had been hoping to see Katara for some time now in hopes of apologizing for her rather rude behavior earlier. "Would you mind if I tagged along?" she called after him, jogging somewhat to catch up. "I have something I need to discuss with the Commander."

She once again glanced back to where Sentes was hiding, whispering a quiet "Use this ledge to sneak away, dear. You will have to go back to Ambala for your final report anyways. Miss you." she blew a kiss with her beak and flew after Dimitri.

[Deleted]

"I cannot tell you not to come, you are the High Tytoness after all," Dimitri responded to Thalia, letting a soft shriek come out of his beak. "As I said, Katara is not in her hollow, nor is she back at command. I figured she might have gone down to the pond to clean up, otherwise I don't know where she would have gone off to, it's not like her to just up and disappear without letting anyone know," he informed Thalia. "By the way, you did not answer a question of mine. Why, of all the owls, did you take Sentes to serve you? He's a good spy, but that owl is basically useless at everything else," Dimitri remarked. Although he had served as the owls' instructor, he never held strong feelings for him, not like he did for those owlets that he had raised since they were young. To him, Sentes was a mere tool to be used in order to promote the agenda of the Pure Ones.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sentes took Thalia's message and, after making sure both her and Dimitri had left the area, he took off out from her secret entrance. He had to spend a few minutes just up int he air, getting himself focused again. His heart was in such a flutter and he felt his face burning red from the words of Thalia. But he had one last job to do and he needed to get control again and finish his task. He went back into his hollow and grabbed a few things, but he didn't spend any extended time there. He wanted to get this job done soon, particularly since his contacts in Ambala would probably be concerned about his absence. Hopefully, though, they had gotten him the last bit of information he needed to finally finish his full report and submit it for consideration to Commander Katara.

[spice]

(I think I'll also bow out of this thread. SKIPPING TIME!!!! *skips away*)

[Deleted]

((Well if that's what you want, I guess this will pick up right after Thalia and Dimitri speak with Katara.))

Dimitri landed back at command, a sigh coming from his beak. As he had expected, his news didn't get much of a sympathetic ear from the Supreme Commander. It was probably Tytus' fault, he had cautioned against any aggressive actions, even if the opportunity was plain in sight. It was one thing that Dimitri was particularly frustrated with. The HQ was devoid a good resources, the whole reason he had set up here was the fact that it was mostly deserted, and for good reason. Dimitri never intended the Pure Ones to settle here for good, but subsequent High Tytos had been reluctant to make any move to take new territory, leaving the Pure Ones a ragged mess. He would hope maybe at least Thalia would be willing to convince Tytus to change his mind, though he knew she didn't think too highly of him either.