To be suddenly on her own was not cheap. But, she had known this, and prepared for it. Little deals made on the side, skimming profits off a bounty. The hunters didn't care, in fact, they all but told her to. They were dying out, fewer of them returning from each hunt. She was still young, still strong and fast. Aileen had absorbed all she could from them. It was still hard to accept she was finally alone in the world. Thus, the woman wanted to do the one thing she believed she could to ensure her survival until her mission was complete. Those responsible and all their ilk will pay for what they did to her family, for how could a group of them descend upon a grieving, hardworking household struggling to survive with new expenses and less hands to complete the chores?

How could they have butchered a man and his infant son? Aileen clenched her hands into a fist, pushing onward toward the cathedral while dwelling in the anguish the memories brought. Seoras was innocent, yet they robbed him of his life before he had a chance to live it. The cathedral was elegant, gorgeous if she was to be perfectly honest. It was quite possibly the most beautiful building she had ever laid eyes upon. Onnen had much to offer the huntress. Plans were forming in the back of the human's mind to visit local apothecaries to learn a quick synopsis of the magical properties of the herbs of the area. Then, of course, find some kind of beast hunter and elders to learn all she could of this land, the monsters it harbors, their weaknesses. If she was to spend any time here in her search, these were essential.

Dressed in her dark hunting leathers, her hair pulled in a tight bun, Aileen made her way across the bridge, up the stairs and pressed against the door. Dark eyes did not require adjusting to the room as it was flooded with the light of the sun itself. A few crescents were dropped into the collection plate as she made her way into the cathedral, eyes scanning the room. Lady Sirona, goddess of light and strength had built a religious gathering hall worthy of envy. Many people milled about inside, some sitting at the pews. Someone approached, a clergyman, if she was to assume by his attire.

"Welcome, stranger, to Kanisa Kuu la Malaisa. How may I be of assistance?"

"Would it be possible to ask a boon of Lady Sirona? "

The clergyman smiled at the visitor as she ask if it was possible to ask a boon from Lady Sirona. ”It is possible, however, may I ask of you what the boon might be and your reason for asking for it?” He questioned, this was routine clearly, as it helped to weed some of the more superficial requests out before they reached Sirona herself. While he waited for the answer the clergyman’s eyes did a once over of the young woman’s weapons, he didn’t seem concerned about them, but just wanted to know what they were dealing with. A dagger, a sword and some throwing knives, nothing special it seemed.

While this was going on at the entrance Sirona was in her private quarters. She had just finished cleaning herself up and cleaning her armour, since she rarely took it off outside of this space she wasn’t foolish enough to now that it could start to smell after a while. So using the privacy of this part of the Cathedral allowed Sirona to take the time out of her amour that she needed to give it a good cleaning. ”You can repair yourself and shift to protect me, but you can’t clean yourself.” Sirona chuckled lightly, speaking to her armour, which in a strange way was alive. It was standing with no assistance on its own in a corner, it looked like there could be someone in it, apart from there was no head poking out, but it was empty. It swayed ever so slightly as if it was on edge, like it was ready to leap to Sirona’s protection at a moment’s notice.

Sirona had bathed, never taking off her small clothing while she had, and was finished drying herself, including her small clothing. Ever since that night Sirona had been able to look at her own reflection in a mirror(which was why there were none in this area), and felt sick when she was unclothed. But she did want to change her top at least. Sitting on her bed the angel took a deep breath, she had a new shirt laid out, she just needed those couple moments to get it on after taking the one she had on off. Just as Sirona removed her top that was the very same moment that Lume, her house cat sized owl griffin, jumped up into her lap to snuggle and request scritches.

Sirona almost shrieked as his soft feathers brushed her skin and out of pure reflex she flung him off of her. Before the poor little creature could hit the floor his wings opened and he controlled her landing, leaving Sirona shook for a moment. ”Lume, please, we have been over this, don’t jump into my lap when I’m out of my armour.” She half scolded, getting her shirt on quickly and her armour on its own walked over to her and assisted in putting itself on.

Fully armoured again Sirona frowned as Lume looked upset by her reaction. Sirona stretched her arms out. ”Come on, now you can cuddle if you like. I’m sorry I scared you.” It didn’t take much to make the owl griffin forgive her as he hopped into her arms and folded his wings as Sirona apologized with scritches behind his ears.

Sirona and Lume flashed out of sight and appeared again just outside the main area of the Cathedral, where her clergyman was speaking to the young lady. Sirona walked in, armour shining and the hood down, her black hair, brilliant blue eyes, facial tattoos and large wings made it easy to spot her as she walked in.

He offered a smile and answered her question with a question of his own. Charcoal eyes scanned over the backs of the heads of those sitting in the pews. Of course he would inquire further, to screen out certain things or people so that Lady Sirona was not inconvenienced by trivial things. When she turned back to him, Aileen noticed he was sizing her up, though didn’t seem perturbed by the fact she was armed at all. ”A blessing in my efforts against evil.”

Whether or not he seemed to approve of her request, he directed her towards the goddess who had just entered. Aileen gave him a nod and went to approach the goddess. She didn’t know if the clergyman followed her, but she was suddenly full of a sense of anxiety. It was a feeling similar to approaching an elder, or before a dangerous ceremony. Her stomach churned. Did she yearn to prove herself to this woman? All Aileen wished for was a boon of grace, protection against the creatures of the night as she hunted the murderers who killed her baby brother.

How did one approach a goddess? She began to dig the nail of her middle finger into the flesh of the saddle joint of hand. Aileen chose to bow to the goddess, the way she did for the elders. ”It is an honor to stand before your presence, Lady Sirona.” She stood straight, shoulders squared as she pushed her anxiety away, still digging that fingernail into her hand. ”I am Aileen Ó Conaill, seeking your light to shine upon my quest, protecting me from certain peril until I can avenge the death of my baby brother.”

The clergyman nodded slightly at the response to the question but didn’t give any outward indications if that was a good reply in his opinion or not. However, when Sirona walked in he gestured towards her. “Ah, what timing. Please, introduce yourself.” He said and watched as Aileen headed towards Sirona before he went back to what he had been doing before.

Sirona stopped when the unfamiliar young woman stepped up to her and bowed, speaking her name and her giving her request. Sirona blinked, she hadn’t expected to be approached like that but while caught off guard for a moment she composed herself. ”A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Aileen.” Sirona replied with a slight bow of her head in a reciprocation of the respect that had been given to her by Aileen already. However, the sought after blessing and the reason for it were things that Sirona wished to speak on further. ”You have my deepest sympathy for your loss, Aileen, please, come with me.” With that Sirona led Aileen out of the Narthex and towards the opposite door to what she had come in from.

This door led outside and then into the Maobi building once inside Sirona led the young woman into a private room. ”Please, have a seat, would you like something to drink?” Sirona offered and would get whatever request drink if any. The room was plain but the chairs were comfortable and Sirona found one to sit in herself, having to fidget a bit to get her wings into a more comfortable position as she did. Looking back to her guest Sirona continued. ”We can talk in private here. Please, can you tell me what happened? I will understand if it is too painful to relive, though.” Sirona wanted to know a little more about Aileen before she gave out any kind of blessing or boon, there was a chance that Sirona might offer to get personally involved as well.

The lady Sirona returned the respect in her returned greeting and offered her condolences. Aileen followed the goddess out of the Narthex as requested. With the uncertainty of the introductions out of the way, it was no different than following a respected mentor to her next lesson. Her eyes gazed at the gardens and architecture of the temple once they were outside, followed the path to another outer building, and entered that. The huntress briefly thought about the offer of a drink. ”Tea please, hold the sugar.”

Once seated, her gaze followed the armored goddess as she moved to get her guest the tea. The silence stretched between the two until Sirona handed Aileen the cup. She found herself staring into the dark liquid, the storm of anger surging as the memories came to the surface. ”It was dark, my father was giving the horse a good brushing before coming in when they showed up. He came rushing to the house, told me to go out the back door and run. I went to reach for Seoras, but Papa said he’d tend to the baby…” Aileen sighed. ”I did what I was told… I ran.”

She took a sip of the tea to wet her lips a bit. It was obvious that she blamed herself for listening to her father, that Seoras’s life was her fault. If Aileen had stayed or took Seoras with her… Would they have survived? ”The next morning, Papa hadn’t come to our rendezvous point, so I went home. The house had burned through the night… I could see Papa’s foot sticking from beneath the collapsed roof…” Even after ten years, talking about it still hurt, yet she could see it clearly as if it had just happened that morning. ”Three days later, vampire hunters came on their trail. While they couldn’t find their prey, they did take me under their wing. Now, I hunt for the vampires who murdered my family. But, I fear that I may meet my end before I see my quest through, which is why I come seeking your light.”

Sirona listened without interruption as Aileen explained what had happened in her past, and it was as tragic as Sirona had assumed. Vampires had come for her family leaving her the only survivor of that catastrophic night and Sirona could seen plainly that Aileen was still hurting from that night, just like it was yesterday. The blame she was putting on herself was evident as well, of course that blame belonged to no one other than the vampires themselves. The hunters had come along and found Aileen and taken her in and trained her to be a vampire hunter and now she sought out those that had killed her family.

The angel shifted her chair a bit closer to Aileen and reached out to gently take Aileen’s hands gently in her own gloved covered ones if Aileen allowed the simple gesture that was meant to be a comforting one. ”You have my deepest sympathies, Aileen.” Sirona started that sympathy was mirrored in her eyes. ”What happened was not your fault, if you had stayed behind you would have died to. All fault in what happens lies with the vampires that attacked your family, they are the ones that hold the full responsibility for what happened to your family.” She continued. ”I want to help you, Aileen, but, I want to ask first; are you seeking out revenge or justice?” Some might believe there wasn’t much of a difference between the two but their certainly was and Sirona wanted to know where Aileen’s mind set was at right now. ”And, should you accomplish your goal, what is your plan moving forward from that point?”

Sirona scooted the chair to shorten the distance between goddess and hunter, reaching out with a comforting gesture. It was enough to shock Aileen out of her memory, but she calmed her reaction in time to allow the goddess her kindness. She began to share her sympathies with the hunter, pointing out the obvious logical conclusion of death as if reading Aileen's mind. Then, she asked her questions, questions that required a bit of serious contemplation.

Once more, charcoal irises drifted back to her tea, watching each ripple caused by little movements of her own imperfect hand. What exactly did she seek out? Weren't they essentially the same? "While I cannot admit knowing the absolute difference between the two, I would like to say that I'm seeking justice for my family… For Seoras. As for what will happen should I succeed…" Aileen looked up at Sirona with a cold, confident stare of hatred. "I will continue hunting those bloodthirsty monsters to protect other families, spare them from my fate." Her teeth clenched together as she kept herself maintained. After all, she was in the presence of a goddess and she must act as such.

"Such creatures should not be allowed to terrorize people. Simple folk should not have to fear, nor should they experience the pain and loss by them." For as vehement as Aileen was in her belief, she was surely forgetting one major thing. Even if she was to eliminate vampires from the world, people would always have something to fear. They would always experience loss from some creature or another, even something as simple as a lion or tiger. She could not protect them from everything, but she could not see beyond her drive to kill vampires for that which she had lost.

Sirona listened calmly to Aileen’s answer to her questions, noting the clenched teeth in her jaw movements. When Aileen was finished Sirona was quiet for a moment, but didn’t look away from Aileen, keeping Aileen’s hands in her own for now. ”The difference between revenge and justice is that revenge is about retaliation in rage, anger, hatred and spite, your foremost intent is to cause harm. While justice is to seek a restoration of balance, of seeking closure, when you justice is served than so is the conflict that led up to it.” Sirona explained. ”Once you have gained justice for your family then that chapter of your life, that pain, may ease, slowly, perhaps, but those wounds can start to heal.” She paused a moment.

”I will help you seek justice, Aileen, to restore some sense of balance in your life. But, I will not help you seek revenge, as that is a path that truly never ends, you may become what you hate most, if in a different form.” Sirona confirmed with a small nod. ”One more thing I wish you to realize is that you can not, and never will, kill all of the vampires in the world. Help remove those that pose the biggest threats, yes, those are the kind that need to be removed. But I can say from experience that not all vampires are evil. Some feed on animal blood and others on willing beings.” Sirona couldn’t keep the small shudder from running down her own spine at the thought. ”Those you can ignore for now, until they become a threat. You cannot allow yourself to become blinded by one objective, one mission, and throw yourself away for that one thing.” Sirona released Aileen’s hands and leaned back in her chair and waited to see what Aileen’s reaction would be. Sirona had already said that she would help Aileen in her question for justice, but Sirona’s warnings were plainly laid out as well, though she would of course answer any more questions that the hunter might have.