Alisoina rarely admitted when she had bitten off more than she could chew. To Hunter, to Abeline and Alioe even to herself, she would keep a strong back and level gaze into the world of the unknown. Ghosts couldn't keep her from the search for truth, nor her youth.

...But to Athrym, Ali could be weak, be frightened, be fourteen. They were like-- like sisters. Sisters bonded by mutual violence and adventure. They had braved one ghost together, and by the goddess they could do it again if they so chose.

Yet it was with a meek step that the redhead made her way to Athrym's room, heart heavy with dread and fear. She was in a very dangerous situation, and she needed advice, help and affection, none of which she could expect from the callous Hunter or the old Abeline. Rapping on the older girl's door, lLi called out quietly.

"Athrym? Are you in there? It's Ali. I need to talk to you... please?"

The blonde looked up from the thick grimoire she was studying as the familiar field of her younger best friend radiated from the closed door. She marked the page and closed the book, standing.



Reaching out, she pulled open the wooden barrier, smiling.

"Ali, hey! Of course, always, come in!" Moving, she put an arm around the red heads shoulders and guided her inside, kicking the door shut and sitting her on the soft bed. Something wasn't right, she could read it in the girls face. Something about her looked different...even unrecognisable. Alisoina had changed her look, and even though it suited her, it made her look older. And not...Ali-ish.

"What's wrong?" The blue eyed girl asked, frowning.

Ali plopped onto the bed, a sigh escaping her. Athrym was really the best friend a girl could ask for. Always so perceptive; Ali didn't need to say a word and already Athrym knew something was afoot. Brushing some hair away from her face, the omnipresent black ribbon holding most of it back, she turned guilty lime eyes on her friend.

"Well... you remember when we were talking about Ghosts at the lunch table?" She could remember the day, but she wasn't sure if the older girl had payed any attention; she had Nauleth there, after all.

She sucked her lip, unsure how to continue. "Well... Hunter found some. Two. They're-- stuck here. And We're trying to free them, because they deserve to be happy. Yet the deeper we go in--" the deeper they went in, the less Ali felt like Ali. "it's just getting very scary and I wanted someone to talk to. If Hunter thinks for one second I'm being emotional or girly, he'll stop letting me help. And I want to help so badly!" Sighing, she turned her big eyes on Athrym. Sometimes you just want to be hugged. Ali was having one of those times.

The blonde nodded slightly, not quite remembering the discussion, but wanting the younger girl to continue.



Athrym stared for a moment, unsure of what to say. Ghosts? Being free? Happy? She caught the girls look and made a sort of shushing sound, pulling her closer in one armed hug, reaching up to push a stray lock of hair from the girls face. Since when had she started wearing that black headband?

"Its alright Ali, its alright. Tell me everything. Why are you trying to free ghosts and why in Alioe should they deserve to be happy? Last ghost we met tried to hurt us." She frowned.

"What has Hunter got to do with all this? How did he just...find..ghosts? And why would he try to stop you for being emotional or girly? That's just...stupid!" The girl made a mental note to speak to Hunter sometime soon. Alone. What was he doing to her friend?

"These two are different... well, they've tried to hurt Hunter but not me so much. The girl's meaner than the man." She sighed, and shrugged. "I guess I should start from the beginning."


Ali felt very happy that her friend wanted to protect her, but she couldn't let her come in between Ali herself and the Ghosts. "No, let me explain. From the very beginning.

"I guess for me is started after you used pain on me, when I went into hiding in the East Garden. I felt so at peace there, like no one could really harm me. Naul proved that wasn't true, but... I don't know. The feeling made me happy, somehow."

She ran her finger along the ribbon in her hair, like it was some kind of warding charm or omen against harm. "Well, one day in the library I ran across Hunter looking into ghost stories. He told me a little about this woman in the East Garden pond who tried to pull him in... and I remembered a ghost story... anyway, he almost left me there." She got a bit of a glare in her eyes as she recalled how he tried to keep er from the Ghosts.

"Anyway, after that he found some other things and we discovered more about the Ghosts, how there was a boy ghost too, and that they had been in love until a horrible thing happened and they both died. But-- well, I look like the girl Ghost. And the dead man, Couldin-- his Ghost thinks so too." Scrambling how to describe it, Ali brought a hand to her throat, remembering the cool feeling of his hands, the coldness against her cheek and neck as they looked through the yearbooks. "I told him I wasn't her but he didn't remember and now I think he's in love with me. Hunter wants to protect me, I guess... but I need to save them! If I don't, I could never live with myself..." And Couldin would never let her be. She was becoming Catherine for him.

She realized only after she felt a wetness at the top of her hand that she was crying. Leaning into Athrym, she sighed. "I just want to help them, Ath. I want to be loved." How come the two objectives seemed cross purposes? If she saved Couldin and Catherine, would Ali ever feel so loved ever again?

Athrym listened to the story with furrowed eyebrows, opening her mouth to interrupt, then stopping again. How would Alisoina know what the ghost was..thinking?



The blonde pulled away from the girl to look at her, properly, searching her face. Was the cheeky red head playing a joke on her? It didn't look like it. She looked absolutely serious. Perhaps Hunter had the right idea after all.



Smothering the girl in another hug, Athrym sighed.

"Ali, you are a wonderful, smart, fun, exciting girl. And your only fourteen. Your going to find love, of that I have absolutely no doubt. But...dear...not with a ghost. Even if I didn't find that...somewhat disturbing..what does he have to offer you? It..he..doesn't even realize your you, he thinks your someone else. Another ghost, his..lover?" Pulling back again, the blue eyed galdor sighed.

"Are you taking break this year? Going away from Brunnhold for a bit? I think it would be a good idea. Kind of like, fresh air. This place is crazy." She frowned and wiped the girls cheeks.

"Alisoina, I love you like a little sister, and to be completely honest this ghost thing worries me. But, I understand your feelings. Just...be careful alright?"

"It's not really like that, Athrym--" But what was the use battling over who loved whom? In the end, Ali had to admit she was totally, desperately entwined with Couldin and Catherine, whether it was romantically or merely thrillingly. He gave her the chance to let go and be something more; And if Athrym felt that, then... well... Ali needed to think.

Besides, which such ringing endorsements, why should she ever worry? Ali fought the blush that rose at her best friend's words. Yet... if she was only fourteen, why did she want it so much? Why did she have to wait?


Ali nodded. "Yep, looks like Mummy wants me home, at least for the week. She'll probably want to hear about everything. That's why I wanted to tell you, because she would just get upset and throw a fit." Although the smiles Ali recieved when teachers found out she was 'Relisia's girl' still confounded her, Ali knew that her mother couldn't have been as deeply in trouble like this, ever. She wouldn't understand, not the way Athrym could.


Nodding, Alisoina managed a smile. In the light of day, away from Hunter and the garden and her own mirror, things seemed more reasonable. Looking much more composed and almost back to her former self, the redhead curled about to be sitting on her feet, lime eyes sparkling.

"I will be. But tell me your plans over break? What's going on between you and Nauleth lately? We never did get to finish out conversation about the ball." She remembered the night with a mix of bitterness and happiness, though with current events as they were, she was glad things went the way they had. Now was a time to catch up and be overall girly. She was Alisoina, after all.

The blonde smiled a little. It was classic Ali, as messed up as her ghostly encounters were, she was still just...Ali. Letting go of the girl and tucking her fringe behind her ear, the older girl shrugged.

"Well, he asked me at the ball about speaking to Margol, my father, to ask his permission for my hand in marriage. Then we left. Then Angus and Fred managed to bust into his room and that was awful." She blushed a bit.

"I told Naul I loved him, and he said he loved me too." Leaning back on her arms, she tilted her head in thought.

"I don't really know what happens next. I suppose Naul will see my father or scry him or something? As for break, I honestly can't say. I'm still clocking confined to school grounds, unless they decide to be extra nice to me. I know I'll be here for St Grumbles, but thats about it." Chuckling, she rolled her eyes.

"My life is so boring compared to yours."