[b]"You don't understand, Marken," Ella murmured quietly, looking down at her rum, "I never said I forgave Ariana for what she did, I just didn't want her to die a slave. I was in her position not long ago, and if I were to continue down that road, I would have been just like her. Ariana did terrible things, yes, but only because she had to. I know she had to pay for her crimes, I just... I didn't want it to be while she was still on the leash of the people who forced her to do those things. Instead of dying as her own person, Ariana was killed as an expendable slave."

Ella downed the rest of her rum and put the glass on the table, guessing she should slow down on the alcohol a bit. She had tolerance, yes, but she was drinking fast enough to even get herself drunk. She still felt so helpless now, and pathetic. Why couldn't she get Ariana to be her own person? and who was the man that she was warned about, working close enough to the king to slip under radar? Her mind was starting to hurt a bit at the questions in her own mind.[/b]