The oracle was by no means an ugly woman, however she didn’t hold that bold feminine presence that would instinctively set one’s hormones on fire. The canvas of her face had lines brushed in with the paint of passing time and great knowledge, her dark eyes reflecting the secrets only few would ever find revealed. Her hair had perhaps in another lifetime been a lovely auburn or something of that nature, yet it too had faded with time, like a leaf stolen of its youth when the arrival of autumn dawned before winter’s ferocity.

Cairo had come to see her once or twice, yet every time it seemed his memory of her was put to shame. There wasn’t much consistent about her, at least, so it seemed, therefore he always had to try and memorize her, the way she looked. Unfortunately, that would cause him to accidentally tune out what it was she said.
But she already knew that, didn’t she?

He took a seat as she searched through the cabinets for a spice to add to the contemporary cauldron boiling lightly on the stove, her voice very light as she spoke to him.

“You look different.” she observed, looking over the dishtowel tossed over her shoulder, studying him behind bifocals.

“What was the point of us getting up, anyway?” Glytch asked with a childish groan, bringing out a chair from the control room and taking a seat, rolling around lazily on the floor, looking to be quite bored.

“Pft, who knows?” Locke asked, taking her attention away from the screens, a contrast to Zion who was studying them intently, reading them with awe as she noticed the striking clarity.

“Better to be safe than to be sorry.” Zion finally said, looking over at the two who only stared back at her.

Cairo stepped out of the room, blinking his eyes as though waking from a dream. Something about him seemed different, as though he’d been hit by a brick wall. He stared at the floor without a mind for a brief moment before looking over at Ares, then back at the door, the joy that had once been in his eyes now completely void.
Though no one could ask him what had been said, what words were exchanged. They were, as always stated, for him and him alone.

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