What they think

A scene between Arella and Arias to talk about Shadow.

After that episode, and the fact that I had now discovered my magic caused me to retreat into myself and not to show my emotions or what I was thinking to anyone, not even Arella. She seemed hurt by my lack of cooperation with her, and eventually, I started to open up to her, but only to her. I had been renamed after that episode, because for the Senate, Allyssianne was dead. I was renamed Shadow. I remember that day clearly, as if it was only yesterday that it happened.

I was reading a book, when the door opened to show Arella standing there. I looked up, closed my book and walked over to the window, keeping my back to my mother, even though it pained me inside.
“Arella.” I said softly, but emotionlessly.
“Shadow.”
“My name is Allyssianne...”
“No longer, little one. Because of the appearance of your other side, the Senate have decided that the Allyssianne that we knew is now dead, and that you should bear a new name. Your magic showed itself black, and therefore, I chose the name Shadow for you.” I bowed my head, still not turning round, my hands gripping the window ledge in an attempt not to allow myself a break in my emotional barriers. “Allyssianne... Shadow, please face me...” She said softly.
“I must not feel any emotion to be able to guarantee the safety of those around me. I wish not to hurt anyone, least of all you...” I replied. There were soft footsteps behind me, and I jumped slightly as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“We will teach you to meditate... You will be able to feel emotion again, but you must always remain careful as to how much you allow yourself to feel.” I turned round to face Arella, to face my mother. I looked deep into her eyes, the violet to the gentle blue, pleading with her.
“Arella, mother, it is not that I wish not to see you, it is that I wish not to hurt you. This magic inside of me is too alien for me to comprehend...” Arella bowed her head, seemingly upset.
“I understand.” She said softly before she turned and left, her white Senate robes billowing out behind her as she strode out of the door, closing it quietly behind her. I curled up into a tight ball by under the window, intending to get some sleep.

Arella and Arias materialised silently in the room, looking around until they spotted the little girl curled up on the ground.
“Must we wake her?” Arella asked.
“No, the child has not slept these last few moons, just as you have not.” Arella seemed to wince slightly at these words.
“You see everything, High Priestess...”
“I need not, I see it in your eyes. What troubles your mind Arella?”
“I worry about my little one,. I wonder now if it was the kindest thing, to let her live. She must survive in fear of herself and of others, of what she will be capable of...”
“You believed in her, you thought that she would be able to fight her other side, you had faith in her. There is no crime in those actions.”
“I forsaw it. The pain, the betrayal and treachery that she will be forced to endure for years to come. I chose to ignore it, hoping to be able to change the future. Alas, I was wrong, and now it is too late.” Arella knelt beside her sleeping daughter, brushing a lock of violet, white streaked hair from the girl’s face.
“It is never too late.”
“She sent me away today. She has never done so before...”
“Arella, her mind is confused. To be thrown into a world so strange and alien to her when she has no idea of the far limits her power holds. She knows not how to act. All she knows is that demons are dangerous, they are killers and destroyers. She wishes only not to harm you.”
“It hurts to see my child in such mental pain...”
“We shall do all we can to sooth her troubled mind, but we still need her cooperation. I fear it will be all the harder to obtain now.”
“Why is it so?”
“I have looked briefly into her mind, and seen that she is intent on shielding herself from the world, to shut herself away in fear of harming someone.”
“But Allyssianne would hurt no one!”
“Allyssianne would not, but Shadow would. She nearly killed Meran.” Arella bit her lip, worry creasing her pale face.
“I see now that the best option would have been to end her life when she was younger.”
“Dwell not on the past, it leads only to losing yourself.”
“I cannot help but think about what would have happened had I had the sense not to walk into that trap. It is not fair on her.”
“No matter how much we try, there is never any fairness.”
“But such a fate to befall one so young...”
“Had it now been you and Shadow, it would have been another soul.”
“I still fear for her though.”
“We should let the girl sleep in peace, we should leave...” With those parting words, Arias and Arella vanished silently from sight.

I heard everything that they said, even though I was asleep. Frowning, I sat up, wondering how it was possible. Eventually I sighed, guessing that it was another of those demon things.