"This is Forbidden..." (Complete)

[Gabjas]

Thalia emerged from the chambers alongside Dimitri, releasing a long breath as she emerged. Owls milling about paused to stare at her briefly, before realizing their manners and bowing to her, only to continue on. She hoped Sentes had departed without detection, if he had then he would be well on his way to Ambala by now. And only the sooner would he return to her open wings.

Thalia felt her gizzard collapse slightly as Dimitri questioned her on Sentes, her mind scrambled for some sort of lie she could tell to convince him their reasons about her affection, but sadly, she could not find the words.

Sucking in a frosty breath of morning air, the Barn owl turned to the gnarled owl beside her. "Can I-I trust you, Dimitri? With a secret?" her voice wavered as she spoke, the anxiety shaking her gizzard.

[Deleted]

Dimitri turned and looked at Thalia, giving her a puzzled look before settling into a soft smile. "Please, Thalia, what do you take more for? Some young soldier with ambitions of glory and honor? I am far beyond playing simple games of allegiances, all that matters to me is the continued ascension of the Pure Ones. So, yes, your secrets are safe with me." Dimitri responded to her, taking a moment to scratch the side of his face. "I learned early on that to be trustworthy was the bring great honor and respect upon you and as such I have tried my hardest to retain the confidence of those who open themselves to me, why else do you think I make such a good father to our owlets? They know that they can talk to me about anything and I won't dare turn them in. You wouldn't believe how many have confessed their desire to leave the Pure Ones, though I shall not provide names."

[Gabjas]

Thalia hesitated. She doubted this owl would approve of her little secret, but there was no use in hiding the undeniable truth. She wanted to be proud of her love, the heart took strange turns and ended up set on this simple Barn owl, low ranking. A peculiar match yet so perfect. If only everyone else could see how great he truly was beneath the layers that had been caked on over the years. Cruel and hateful became loving and tender.

Perhaps Dimitri would understand. Perhaps he would not. She encouraged herself mentally, urging herself to spit out what she had been containing. "I know this may be a terrible shock, but I am in love with Sentes, the messenger."

"I decided to take him from his position so we could spend more time together, but now I realise it was a stupid mistake. Not loving him, but putting my own heart before the greater good of the Pure Ones. I will not let it happen again, I promise."

[Deleted]

Dimitri cocked his head slightly to the side, taking in what Thalia said and nodding his head slightly. "So, the final piece is put into place and the picture that is Thalia finally comes into focus," he remarked, with a slight chuckle in his voice. "I guess it make sense now, a great Pure One whose ever at the mercy of her own heart, heh, it's almost like poetry," Dimitri remarked, his mind briefly bringing up memories of Nyra before she had lost her mind. "Well, worry not, it is not of my concern who you choose to lay in your hollow with, but I must, of course, bring up inevitable dilemma this positions you in. I do not see Tytus as one who would willingly allow such a breach of courtship to continue and, as clever as you are Thalia, the truth of the matter is Tytus will find out, one way or another. You are the High Tytoness, which means all eyes sit on you. Sentes is lucky, he is ignored and is thus allowed to practically do as he wish with few realizing this. But it is different for you, Thalia, every owl follows your actions and one tiny slip will be enough to accusations to be made." Dimitri said, recalling his own experiences as a High Tyto. "In the end Thalia, you might have to decide, where does your heart truly lie? With the Pure Ones or with Sentes?" Dimitri stared into her black eyes, an indication of how serious his words were.

[Gabjas]

Thalia was stunned, absorbing his words like a parched animal, parched from acceptance. The secret was no longer contained, it was free. If it were for the better or not, Thalia would have to see. Her thoughts and feelings had now grown wings of their own, and with each slip of the tongue, it would grow closer and closer to flying away from her reach.

"Pure Ones and my lover?" she whispered to herself. Why had she not seen? In the end, she would have to fess up to her own uncontainable heart, the crimes she had committed with no thought of how it would impact her future.

She hated how she could have been so blind. Pure Ones; the kingdom, the ever strong and ever pure legion she had dedicated her entire life to. It was an honor to be gifted with the rank she had been, even though she had been hatched no more qualified then another owl. They chose her of all owls and respected her. They looked up to her and took every word she might utter as if it were the decree of a great queen. They thought she was a great queen.

And what had she done to them? Her purity would be tarnished and her stature ever dented by this mistake. Was it worth forsaking everything she had ever known for this owl? No. No it wasn't good enough. He did not deserve her, only her rightful mate Tytus did. She cursed herself for ever thinking otherwise. Her heart had wandered as it wished and now she would cage it. They did not belong together. And the Pure Ones did not deserve her own mistakes and burdens, they were loyal and pure.

"No." she uttered, a tear catching in her throat like the storm forming in the greying clouds. She ruffled her feathers, her sleek and beautiful feathers. "The Pure Ones, they are my home. They are my life. Love - no.... this is NOT love. I love Tytus, not Sentes." With this, the High Tytoness spat angrily at the ground.

"Dimitri, please forgive my - peculiar actions. But I assure you that my love for Sentes... is dead!" she cried, raising her wings and thrashing them about, her eyes searing with fury. "Dead! Dead! Dead!" she stamped her talon down, covering the dirt were her tears had fallen.

Her tantrum now over, Thalia closed her eyes. Her feathers smoothed down slightly and her breath steadied. She opened her eyes, training them on the old owl before her. "I will be in my chambers." she said calmly, and with that, the owl emerged from the chambers with a heart of stone.

Our love is dead.

(OOC: Woah, where did THAT come from? Perhaps they are not meant to be....)

[Deleted]

((That's the musings of an old owl who is far beyond her in years, but we both know, Thalia may try to deny it, but she loves Sentes, no matter what.))

Dimitri studied Thalia, considering her reaction to the question. The old owl shook his head slowly and, despite his own best judgment, he followed the High Tytoness. He knew the truth, despite her words there she could not tear the love she had in her heart away. That was how emotions worked, he himself knew this. His love for the owlets he took it is what kept him around, without them he probably would have given up a long time ago. But this little demonstration showed how much Thalia loved Sentes and how conflicted she was. The truth was, Dimitri approved of this union, anything that could potentially dislodge Tytus from power was worth his support and Dimitri always felt that there was something more to Sentes than how he appeared. His loyalty and commitment would make him an ideal mate for Thalia, who in recent time had mostly been neglected by Tytus. But Thalia needed to be honest with herself first and accept the fact that there was no future for her and Tytus. The question was, would she continue to deny her feelings, or would she embrace them and fasten Tytus' downfall. "Thalia, if that is indeed your decision, then Sentes must be dealt with. Under your orders, I can have him killed in Ambala, far away from the notice of any Pure Ones. He is a fairly worthless owl and there's no doubt no one will miss him once he's gone, even I can't say I'd care as his term of usefulness to me is at an end. So, Thalia, all you need to do is give me the order and I will personally make sure Sentes does not leave Ambala alive," Dimitri remarked, hoping that his words would pluck the right strings of her heart and he watched patiently for her answer, knowing this would be the point of no return for Thalia. Dimitri was gambling here, he thought Thalia cared far more for Sentes than for anything else, that she could not possibly order the young Barn Owl's murder, and he was hoping that this assumption was correct.

((But Dimitri has his own plans and Thalia is a key player in those.))

[Deleted]

Sentes stood in the hollow that had served as his home in Ambala, go through the few little trinkets he had here. Knowing he probably wouldn't need to come back, he had rummaged through his belongings here while he waited for the last report from his informants to arrive. Now he had it tied in a small bundle, ready for the trip back to the HQ. His informant had turned out to be far more trustworthy than Sentes had realized, even with his absence, he had continue to work on fishing out the last few details and only a hour had passed after he had returned before the owl had brought him the finished report. It was too bad he wasn't a Pure One, they could have used a hard-working owl like him.

He also had found a white lily and plucked a flower form it to give to Thalia when he returned. he figured she would like it, since she probably hadn't seen an actual flower in some time. The Pure One HQ was basically devoid of any and all plant life outside of some moss and a few weeds. But as he prepare himself to depart, he felt uneasy down in the pit of his gizzard. He didn't know what it was, but an general feeling on uneasiness overcame him and he forced himself to sit down and take a few breaths. He had no idea what had come over him and he had never felt like this before.

[spice]

(OOC: Gabjas, can you send me a pm regarding our plotting session at the assembly and where it all fits into place with you and GH's plots? I would appreciate knowing and being able to rp accordingly.)

[Gabjas]

Thalia reeled around, her wings outstretched. "No!" she bellowed. What are you doing, Thalia? Despite her sudden outburst; all the resent she held for her betrayal, when faced with the proposition of his death, all she felt deep within her heart spewed forth. She could not live without him, even if it would make her life easier. She could not deny it, and no owl could tell her otherwise. She did love Sentes, the fire of their love was no rekindled in her heart. It burned intensely, each heart beat casting a spray of sparks into her soul.

"No. But..." she trailed off as an idea came to mind. However insane it seemed, in the end it would literally solve everyone's problems. The Pure Ones would no longer have to suffer for her own mistakes, and her love for Sentes would no longer be treason. Everyone could be happy. She had an idea...

To fake her own death.

[Deleted]

Dimitri could not help but smile as Thalia fell straight into his talons. She was now the key that would allow his plant o come to fruition, all he needed to do was nudge Thalia in the right direction. "So, even now, your heart still cannot turn away from that young owl. That put's you in a very precious situation. But, Thalia, what if I told you there was a way that you and Sentes could be together without having to forsake the Pure Ones?" Dimitri asked, almost whispering in her ear. He knew just how to strike her heat chords, all thanks to Thalia's desperate confession. Now he just needed to make her dance...

[spice]

Katara flew into the canyon opening, her feathers ruffled from the wind and her eyes blazing bright. She seemed to almost glow, and she projected happiness. She had ridden a storm, calmed her mind and gone about her duties. Now, she needed to see the High Tytoness.

She flew silently, but stopped at the sound of voices. She took a perch, and stood behind a rocky outcropping. She made out Thalia's voice, screeching in a rant. She seemed to be telling of her love for Sentes, and Katara involuntarily smacked her head with her wing. Oh Thalia, she thought, shaking her head. The Tytoness had never been able to keep a secret.

She strained to hear the other voice, but a clever little whisper was all she thought. Katara knew only two owls who spoke like that; Kygoe and Dimitri. She knew the Tytoness would never have told Kygoe, as he would have twisted it and tried to get Thalia in hot water. She straightened from behind the rock outcropping, shaking the dust off.

She walked to where Thalia stood, and to her disgust stood Dimitri. "Tytoness," she said, bowing her head. She gave a curt nod to Dimitri, her feathers crawling at the sight of him. He had always been rather shrewd, and Katara had never truly trusted him.

[Deleted]

Dimitri turned to watch as Commander Katara appeared, and gently nodded of her. Dimitri had nothing against Katara personally, she was actually a fine Commander are more than worthy of her position. She was also one of Thalia's closest friends, so he had never done anything to purposefully get on her bad side. But they had far different ideas on how to run the military and Katara had mostly sidelines any and all ideas he ever put forward, preferring the advice of the younger, more inexperienced officers. As a result, Dimitri had lost a fair amount of face amongst the Pure Ones and so had turned to treating him like an incompetent fool. It was this fact that mostly irritated Dimitri, but he didn't necessarily blame Katara for it. He was more likely to blame himself for his position; he had allowed himself to be sidelines by Katara when he should have stood his ground. "Commander Katara, an unexpected pleasure. Unfortunately, Thalia and me here are discussing some... private matters that do not involve you," Dimitri remarked to her.

[spice]

(OOC: Thalia and I. Sorry, couldn't help myself XD)

Katara gave Dimitri a curt nod, her eyes burning with a cold fire. "Dimitri," she said simply. "I believe that I am entitled to be here, as Thalia should know the happenings of her Pure Ones. And this matter does in fact involve me, as it involves Thalia and the Pure Ones." she turned back to Thalia, her head now risen.

"There have been a few squabbles down by the canyon Gulch, and it seems that your secret is starting to get out." she said to the High Tytoness.

Katara was much younger than Dimitri, and a majority of her officers were too. She had never trusted this shrewd owl, and seldom took his advice. She did not believe in his harsh ways, and she felt he was too manipulating.

She felt that his old ways from the old Pure Ones were far to disorganized and cruel. Katara feared the Pure Ones would be left in tatters, the way Dimitri's old ones had been. His old ideals went against what Katara led by, as she was a fair, just and kind Commander. The recruits loved her and her officers mostly trusted her. And, of course, she was Thalia's best friend.