"Shh!" Taoura commanded, holding up a finger to her lips as she stepped out of the long afternoon shadows to stand in front of her somewhat startled master. The Spectir had a twinkle in her eyes, belying the stern look on her face.

Kysenn tried not to be annoyed with her. He knew that she had to be frustrated with him these days, when he truly needed guidance but never bothered to call to her and ask her to serve the only purpose she was created for.

"Taoura," Kysenn said, holding out a hand to her. "If you have come to me with a strong enough will to leave your shadowland slumber, then perhaps I should listen."

"You think I sleep?" Taoura asked before breaking the silence she'd commanded, laughing her musical laughter for several long seconds. "Things change, m'lord. These days I just stay in Ruame with some of the other elders of my kind."

As much as Kysenn wanted to question the validity of her story, Spectirs could not lie. She spoke the truth.

"Why have you come to me, then?" Kysenn asked, guiding the beautiful spirit out into the sunlight of the Palace courtyard. "Why leave such a place?"

"You need me," Taoura said bluntly. "But I suppose that wasn't a shocking revelation, now was it?"

"I never have understood why the Goddess of Light and Truth would make such frustrating creatures," Kysenn shot back as he pushed the hood of his cloak back to let the sun warm his face. As the disfigured elder priest of the Lifegod, Kysenn rarely wandered for his own enjoyment. That was not something he thought he deserved. His life was in servitude to Dayn, for asking the most selfish request his heart had ever held.

"You are in love," Taoura stated, dropping Kysenn's hand and prancing over to one of the fountains. Her feet barely touched the ground as she walked and Kysenn could only wonder how she could pass as human for very long in Ruame without anyone getting suspicious of her true nature. She wouldn't be able to lie about what she was.

But things had changed. Things always changed.

"I'm not in love," Kysenn said.

"I can't lie," Taoura replied. "You know that. Should I just explain to you..."

"No," Kysenn interrupted. "Not here. Not now. I don't want to take this any farther."

"I don't like to see you hurting."

"Have you ever seen me not hurting?" Kysenn shot back, pulling his hood back over his head and starting towards the dark hallway where he'd been before Taoura had appeared.

"Yes," Taoura cried, rushing back to him. "When you are with him, sometimes, I see you without pain."