[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1U4bQ50.png[/img][/center][hr][sub][color=lemonchiffon]Location: The Hot Springs[/color][/sub][hr][hr]
Tia's eyebrows drew together as she looked up at Orion. It then occurred to her how very [i]abnormal[/i] she was acting -- and how, if the Arch Priest did not permit her to tell others about her visions, this was going to be very hard to explain. Tia looked between his crimson eyes, lips parting as if she intended to do just that. But no sound came out. There was only the aching hollowness in the center of her chest, the space where Ranni and her sister had taken root in her heart before Tia had all but abandoned them. A tear finally managed to escape her dark eyes, cresting over the hill of her cheek. 

Tia was so engulfed by her own emotions, she didn't even manage to see Sya -- looking [i]exceptionally different[/i] from how Tia remembered her -- slithering her way into the springs with a very large bottle of alcohol. Worse yet, she didn't realize the spring's other patron, Ayel, entered the scene until after he was a mess of flailing limbs, soaked cloth, and screeched words. 

She jumped as he shrill voice cut through the winter air like jagged shards of ice. Suddenly jolted into this new reality, where her springs were the site of chaos, Tia spun. Things quickly devolved. The man -- a noble, based on his clothes and demeanor -- was calling for recompense. Sya ([i]why was she a snake now!?[/i]) was hissing and blubbering into her drink. The orange-haired woman was baring her fangs at the man, all but promising blood and blight. Her fangs glinted in the moonlight. It was all too easy to imagine them sinking into [color=FFFDEF]flesh. Tearing. Blood[/color] [color=FDF9E0]pouring from sundered skin, soaking crimson into cloth, pooling into the[/color] [color=fffbda]parched earth. Filling her mouth, her lungs, overflowing the tattered remains of her throat as she gasped.[/color]
[center][sub][color=2e2c2c]And so the heavens shined.[/color][/sub][/center]Tia gasped loud and sharp. Blood was soon to be shed in Aelios' waters. 

Frantic, she turned back over her shoulder to cast wide eyes on Orion -- he was a calm, steady presence, stone amongst the tempest. Better yet, he was [i]blightborn[/i]. Under normal circumstances, she would've hated to make this mess anyone else's burden to bare -- but she was in a bit of a panic, herself. Tia flicked her frantic gaze from Orion, to the two women in the water, and back again, her request bright in her eyes: deescalate. 

Then, her notebook and pencil still lost in the snow, she hurried over to the nobleman. Was he hurt? He must've been, for all the shrill emotion in his voice. Tia hadn't seen him go down, but she doubted [i]Sya[/i] of all people had done anything malicious. The other woman... well, that remained to be seen. She still set Tia on edge, like she was a hare out in the open field as a hawk circled quietly above. But the issue of fault and punishment and reparation could be settled later -- when bodies were [i]less likely[/i] to stain the stones of her temple. 

Tia rolled up the sleeves of her robe. The cold air was sharp against her skin as she reached down to the man, trying to get a good grip on his arms and help him out of the water. Tia had never been very strong -- her help likely didn't amount to much. But as she held him, she sent tendrils of her soothing magic through him, searching for some ailment or wound to heal. He must've been in pain, right? No one just... made this much of a fuss. Something must've been grievously injured, to cause him such agony as to fill the air with his cries. And the sooner Tia could get him calmed and [i]away[/i] from the two women he'd already upset, the better.

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[color=lemonchiffon][sub]Interaction: Ayel Raunefeldt [@Dezuel], Kira Rykker [@The Muse], Orion Nightingale [@Qia], Sya Leela [@PrinceAlexus]
Mention: Ranni and Dyna Soleil [@Queen Arya][/sub][/color]