To say it in words...[Tomo;FINISHED]

[Cielle Blanche]

[this takes place after "As long as you know" and "His arrival"]

Cielle had retreated calmly into the castle after she had heard Ranmyaku's news. there was nothing that she could do now. No excuse that she could make for him. There was nothing to protect him from her mother's wrath. There was one pet peeve that the Yami-ou had, and it was being betrayed without reason. Arashi had not bothered to figure out how his actions would affect others before acting, and that's why it would make her mother very angry...

She paced the floor of her mother's room, having asked her to meet her there, wondering how she was going to put her news into words.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo entered the room, wondering what it was that she could have been summoned by her daughter about. Cielle had been very busy attending to the matters of the Hellion Nation while she had been dealing with the crisis of the castle and intruders. If she had made a mistake in her work she would be well forgiven, because she had already done much more than she could have ever asked from her daughter.

In fact, unfortunately she had even more work for her to do. There was going to be a meeting coming up, and Tomoyo would be asking her if she could deliver the messages to the other kings.

Opening the door to her room, she entered, her long, white hair contrasting against a long, royal blue dress with a train almost two feet long. "Yes, Cielle? You wanted to see me? Is something wrong?"

[Cielle Blanche]

Cielle wasn't sure how to say any of the things on her mind to her mother. Yes, something was very wrong. Something that could put their whole family in danger. But she didn't want to say it like that. Her mother was very sensitive now that she had given birth, and she didn't want to jar anyone. However, Cielle still felt like the thing that had been most affected by Taiyou's visit was herself. She could have been making a hullabaloo about nothing, but she couldn't avoid not telling her mother something his important. She would never be forgiven.

Nodding and taking a deep breath, Cielle exhaled loudly. "Yes. There's something that I have to tell you. Please, take a seat."

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo found her way over to the bed in the room. "What is it? I know you've been busy a lot lately. what is it that you need? A day off? Is there something that you need to do?"

However, the gloom that shadowed her daughter's face spoke of something else. So, begrudgingly, she asked, "...did something happen?"

[Cielle Blanche]

Cielle knew that there was no lying to her mother, and she for a moment longed for the usage of the same power. She had always wondered if her mother had lied to her about some things--however, more often than not the things that her mother shared with her were true, even if she didn't do it often.

Would there even be a point to lying to her? Would the Balseraph just know either way?

Cielle sighed and shook her head; she couldn't lie to her mother. It wouldn't do any good. It wouldn't change what happened.

"...a lot of things happened...while you were gone in the hospital," Cielle asked, tears welling up in her eyes as she continued to speak. Her hands began to shake without warning, and Cielle clasped them to hide it. "While you were gone, we had a visitor. His name was Tai..." Her voice faltered. She gasped out the last of her sentence, "and he was coming here to kill you!"

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo's mind carefully processed her daughter's words, her expression a deadpan that was the result of many years of being sought and hunted after. Tomoyo was prepared to take this in stride, but there was something about the expression on Cielle's face that warranted further discussion. Obviously whatever had happened, the ordeal had troubled her deeply.

However, she was concerned about the fact that someone had come after her while she had still been pregnant. It had been a fear of hers that she would have been unprepared for such an attack. And now, after discovering a Dragon in her Realm, she was being told that her current prisoner was not at the point of such an attack.

That meant that she had two different scenarios to work with; a Dragon whose mission was unknown, and a mysterious visitor named Tai who had attempted to hunt her down. But Cielle had still been alive when she had returned with the baby; her castle had been safe. That only left one question...

"Who was he? What race was he? What happened while he was here?"

[Cielle Blanche]

Cielle resolved to not cry. She would not be able to continue talking to her mother if she kept crying.

"He had the aura of a Celestial, but I couldn't tell what choir or band he was from. I can't tell, you know, because I'm just not strong enough. He was really angry, and he wanted to see you. I told him that you weren't here, and he didn't believe me. At all. He was going to attack me. I knew that I didn't have to power to fight him, so I channeled the magic of the security system. I know that it put the rest of the castle in danger, but there didn't appear to be anyone with him. He was using fire, and I knew that I wasn't strong enough to redirect or control his fire, either. I was hoping that push come to shove the security system would magnify my power. He retreated, after I spoke to him. But he was going on about losing his family. They were special to him, and he wanted them back. Before he told me that, I thought he was just any other fallen, just trying to get compensation for a transgression or error or something, but it wasn't the case...and it was all that I could do to try to keep him from attacking..."

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo's first thought was to check the city for the presence of this being who had attempted to murder her. However, if the person was still in her city she would have been attacked again by now, she was sure.

Leaning forward, Tomoyo hugged Cielle. She had done such a good job in terms of keeping Heaven running during her pregnancy. But this position as her second-in-command was becoming too much for her, it seemed.

"Thank you for your services. I need only ask you one favor, and I will let you return to the Mortal Realm and to your Blanche pack. I appreciate you being such a good daughter to me. I'll miss you, certainly, but there must be some time for your to repose, dear. I've been very hard on you."

Frankly, Tomoyo was glad that she was now knew that there was someone else to be searching for. She had to yet to send out an investigator to seek out information on Ilreg, so she would be taking out two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Tomoyo gave her daughter one more squeeze before pulling back. "Thank you, very much. I mean it."

[Cielle Blanche]

Cielle could feel the additional information on the tip of her tongue and when her mother pulled away, she couldn't meet her eyes.

"There's more. Not more than a week ago, Ranmyaku made an appearance at our door. She was in this odd, monstrous form. She told me that....that Arashi as done all of these horrible things. He's hurt so many people and...I couldn't believe it, but it has to be true..." She took a deep breath. "Arashi killed the King of the second Layer, Morita Haruhi, and massacred her castle in Heaven. He's not considered a target of apprehension by Heaven..."

She flinched preemptively, knowing that her mother's rage was sure to follow. She knew that mama was going through a lot, with the Dragon that she had captured, Tai, and now Arashi all in the same fell swoop. Cielle knew that she wasn't going anywhere now, for this was the time that her mother would be needing her the most.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomo's face deadpanned. Her mouth would have hung open if she hadn't been so focused on saving face during the course of this conversation with her daughter.

And yet and still, the words that came out of her mouth were:

"What?"

Trying to calm herself with a deep breath and failing, she said, "How long have you known about this? Have you been keeping this from me...?" She knew that it was very unlikely, but she had to know just in case. She stood. "Come, we will walk and talk at the same time."

Hastily leaving the room, Tomoyo led the way from her old room in the castle to the throne room, right before the large entrance doors. "Messengers, NOW!!" she shouted in a way that was most unbecoming of herself. If this was true, she was going to have to notify all of current Kings. She called forth four messengers. For Yomi, Rei, Kojiro and Ayaka. Something would have to be done as soon as possible.

Knowing that the appropriate time would have to come at some point, she needed to also send a missive to Kouzetsu Gin, the new Ha-ou of Hell who distinctly did NOT like her. However, despite that setback, if Arashi really did do something foolhardy of that nature, he would have to be killed without exception.

"Symphony!" she cried, and the Lillite appeared in front of her. "We have work to do."

Turning to Cielle, she said, "Where was he when Ranmyaku told you this? Do you know where he was at all?"

Not waiting for a reply, she quicky used her magic to summon some parchment and scrawled a letter. Symphony reached over and touched it, causing the paper to replicate itself three times. Handing those to Symphony, Tomoyo summoned another piece and carefully worded a note to Kouzetsu. She would have to get someone's Elemental Spirit or sprite to deliver the message, considering that Gin would most likely attempt to have the messenger captured or killed. Also, a spirit would be able to leave using magic without problem.

Symphony couldn't do it at the moment, and Yomi's Nectar was using all of her abilities to help Yomi heal as soon as possible. Tomoyo knew that Rei's spirit no longer held a physical form to use, and that left Tomoyo with the option of Kojiro. He wasn't the most tactful choice, but she supposed that nothing could go wrong using his spirit so long as he wasn't going in person.

But she would worry about that later. The meeting would come first.

[Cielle Blanche]

"I don't know where he was," Cielle answered quickly. She couldn't help but get the feeling that her mother was angry at her, even if she wasn't. There was just this look on her face and in her eyes and the hectic way that she was going about doing everything. "All of this only happened a couple days ago. But you were swamped with the baby and protecting the castle and imprisoning people. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you."

But by the time that she finished, her Tomoyo was calling on messengers and writing letters and such; once again she was the Yami-ou, and all of the motherly nature that Cielle had come to know for the last nine months began to fade. At least, as far as she could see.