What Lily Lass Lifted...

*That hurt,* Lily thinks at Kaija through haze, sitting up in Kaija's mind, attempting to project herself away from the violence being inflicted on her body. Focusing on Kaija's emotions, she projected a series of cages, each with padlock holding its occupant in place; all save for the last and the hostile approach of incarnate rage, baring down on her from open gate of it's paddock. All teeth and claws and eyes, its features blurred or none existent, it rushed her closing the distance faster then she had feared it would. Rushing to the nearest cage, she found guilt huddled in the corner. Tapping the lock, it fell away just as fury tears into her back. Enthused by its freedom, guilt steps from the cage and gripping fury by the scruff, rips it from Lily's consciousnesses.

A little surprised at the new development, I slam each of my mind's chambers closed and reach for the knife in my pocket. Something to break her concentration...

Smiling, Lily touches the door to Kaija's emotions again. *I can't project like you, but you can't stop me by locking away what you don't want me to see.* The door swings on its hinge, guilt and fury still grappling each other as Lily turns to the other cages. One at the far end catches her eyes and, nursing her side and back, she approaches; inside, temperance sits in lotus and looks up to smile. "Help me?" It smiles and nods and Lily turns the lock. In a flurry of robes and feathers, it flies to the combatants and pulls them apart, holding them at arms length, where their mutable shapes seem to curl small until they are little more then cubs. Placing each in its paddock and sealing the door behind, It nods to Lily and she returns to the white stars of pain in her own head.

I flick open my dagger and prick the skin of her stomach ever so slightly. The blood only bubbles down slowly.

"ENOUGH" I snap in the tone father used to use when kaija, our siblings and I would get out of hand "no weapons" I remind Kaija spotting the knife " stand up. we have alot of work to do it seems" I sigh when they don't respond so I pick them up bodily "get some water it is going to be a long day."

I stand and stare Liam down. "YOU" I shout "are NOT my father. Until a few weeks ago you didn't even recognize who I was." The anger fries the atmosphere, so hot the egg on the sidewalk would burn "You were the one that wanted us to practice with knives."

Groaning, Lily grips her head and nurses the matted tender spot at the back of her skull where Kaija beat it into the floor. Djehuty and Liv step to her side and begin to minister to her injuries and a few minutes later she stands and leans against one of the walls, watching.

"no I wanted you to practice forms with wooden knives you two jumped the gun and wanted a fight and started a fist fight." I say my own tone hard "and your right I am not father Kaija. but it worked. what would have happened if you had lost control?" I look over at Lilly "and you Putian need to practice protecting yourself aswell when you decide to do what ever you are doing. there is a lot to be said for muscle memory." turning my attention back to Kaija "yes I didn't remember you. for litteral Centuries I didn't remember Anyone and spent the first ten years of it thinking I had failed to save you." my tone is softer but hard " the events are fresh in my head and all the time between now calm down and get some water. I am being a hell of a lot nicer then father would be."

"well at least father loved you" I say as I turn from him to get Lily a glass of water.

"now is not the time for that dispute Kaija. if he didn't love you he would never have publicly said you were his daughter. nor would he have set your bleeding bride price that high, Or, had me and our other siblings make it difficult for someone to earn it." I smirk "he wanted to make sure you ended up with a man who could not just provide a house for you but could match your metal. and you didn't hear mother and fathers fight over all of that" I leave out how some of us heard the aftermath of that fight.

I glance at Djhuety, and roll my eyes. "Bloody vikings. The both of them." I murmur.
After a little time, both girls are settled on the couch, and though Lily is still rubbing the back of her head and Kaija is massaging her knee, the healing seems to be taking well. Their bruises-at least the ones to their bodies-have disappeared, and their muscles will feel normal soon, if the power I poured in is any measure. And watching them, watching their emotions, I'm surprised. The anger is gone, replaced by a sense of something like satisfaction, and camaraderie. Well, at least the fight was useful for something, I think dryly.
"I think perhaps you girls could use some lessons in mental protection. Physically, you're both quite good at defending yourselves, but mentally you're rather below par for your ages." I say, sipping my tea. "Yes, you too Kaija." I say, meeting her glare with a mild look of my own, "You are quite powerful, but your mind works on instinct. You shout like a spring-swollen waterfall inside everyone's heads. It'd be good for you to hone that. Power is only useful if it's under control." I glance at Lily. "And you're better than some...but you're still wide open. And where you grew up that's not good."

i look dryly at liv "wide open? get your mind out of the gutter" i finish my coffe and as i walk to my room to get some clothes i say "gee some people" when im halfway out of the room i look at lily and back to my sword lying on the table she grins impishly i give her the thousand mile stare and pick up my sword "im watching you".

"Lilly is a bit raw on the protecting herself aswell. But at lease we know if we get into a fight she isn't a liability" I smile "and Ignacy when i have a sword you and I will be practicing outside"

I snort. "If. It'd be more apt to say 'when we get in a fight', the way the Nightside is."

i look at liam "why outside? i mean what am i gonna do? burn you down?"

Liv and I look at each other and nod, affirming the Ignacy's assessment of our thoughts. "I haven't a doubt in my mind that you would in the long run."

I smile at the expression on Ignacy's face, before turning back to the girls. "How's your head?" I ask, studying Lily. She shrugs.

"I'll live, despite the efforts to the contrary," she winces then grins at Kaija. "Sorry bout the provocation."

I raise an eyebrow. "That how you got in me to follow..."

She nods. "You really got to loosen up, Lambkin. You had that poor Desire chained so tight it could barely twitch."

I nod. "Interesting how you do that. And clever. You bypass the mental protections and go right for the emotions, the hormones. Nice trick." Djhuety crosses his arms over his chest, as if defending himself.

"Well, see how you like having your emotions toyed with." I bristle, hunching my shoulders and shooting Liv a frosty glare.

"peace 'Lambkin' it could have been worse besides most things like that have some effect on the person using them aswell" I smile trying very hard not to make a micky out of him

At the note of Lily's pet name for me, I glare daggers at Liam before softening a hair. Liv stifles a giggle at my expense. "Could have been worse..." I mutter to myself, before wandering into the kitchen for a mug of tea. The clink of glasses soon follows. Lily stares after me, puzzled and amused. "And most men seem to like it when I make them 'fall.'" she shrugs.

I share a look with Lily that clearly says 'men...' and smile. "How did you learn to do that? To visualize the body and mind in a way you could manipulate?"

"I dono... Locks and doors were always simple, but I just figured out the mind thing a few years ago; that's about the time the service industries took an interest," She strikes a pose and smiles demurely. "Its just a different kinda lock so long as I think of it like that."

I cock my head. "Speaking of locks, whose house were you burgling when these men took hold of you?" Her smile never wavers, but her eyes regain that hard, guarded look.