The wind on the sea

[Christine Daye]

She smiles.

"...one should encourage a thirst for knowledge when one finds it... of course you may ask another question!"

[Regulus Grey]

He pauses

"I hope I do not pry too far...but how does Mr Black come to have the power to order Ancillae Caswell about? It's..very different to how I was...informed the Camarilla worked."

He blinks

"Of course feel free to tell me no more, I do not wish to pry into private matters."

[Christine Daye]

"....Mr Black is... a unique individual..."

She smiles a little, secret smile.

"... but let me reassure you... there is nothing sinister there... he and Miss Caswell are friends... he looks after her sometimes... she can be... well..."

She shrugs as if to say what can you do?

"...Malkavians... we have our... quirks..."

[Regulus Grey]

Regulus chuckles

"Certainly no argument there Ms Melody."

He nods his understanding.

"Now...I believe it is your turn to ask a question."

He smiles.

[Christine Daye]

She tilts her head slightly, the expression on her face abstractly puzzled, as if she were trying to work out a complicated musical passage. Her tone of voice has no more emotion than a faint puzzlement.

"...how did you stay alive...? ... when all seems dark and you thought that there was no reason to keep on going...? ... when you could see no end to your torment...? how do you keep going...? ... knowing that the one you trusted... trusted beyond all measure... betrayed you... and ran? ... and worse... broke your heart... for nothing... and even worse... tried to tear you away from the one thing that has been your shelter and protection since... how do you keep going...? ... knowing yourself for a fool... but I loved... fool that I am... how do I keep going...? ...crow on the cradle... what shall we do...this is a choice that I leave to you.."

She shakes her head, as is to throw those thoughts away.

"...but no... you have never been in love... so you can never have known... "

She smiles, bright and sharp, like the edge of a knife.

"...why did you choose Bath?"

[Regulus Grey]

He blinks slowly.

"How did I keep going? I fear my answer is not eloquent...or very enlightening."

He breaths deeply, his eyes rapidly flickering between those of a wolf and those of a man. His nails dig hard into the scales of his forearm.

"I kept going...I kept going beceause there was a spark inside me that never went out. When I was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion...it said 'If you die now, those brave men will never have their fate known.' It said 'if you give in, you are giving up. You are letting the world beat you.'"

He breaths deeply.

"It said 'if you give up...lay down and die...you will be forgotten."

He shakes his head, roughly wiping at his eyes.

"I have never loved someone in that sense. But I have lost..I loved those men like brothers. When we were dying..I loved the man who gave up his last scrap of bread for another. I loved the man who gave his blanket to me beceause I was too cold to sleep. I loved them all...but each of them lay down and died."

He turns to face her, a small blood tear gathering at one corner of his eye.

"I never gave up...beceause I still had so much to live for."

He blinks again, turning and continuing to walk alongside her.

"It's my home. Before I went to Oxford to study it's where I was born and raised, a number of years ago now it's true. But it's still a place I am familiar with. Why did you pick Bath?"

[Christine Daye]

"...so... bloody minded stubbornness then... I can understand that..."

Like a flick of a switch her mood changes and she giggles.

"...oh... I didn't pick Bath... Maestra did that... I didn't want to come... I thought it would be terribly provincial and boring... I wanted to go to London..."

[Regulus Grey]

His teeth flash in the low light of the moon.

"Well from the sounds of it, Bath has been anything but boring."

He nods, a smile creeping into his face.

"Do you know much about Prince Dyonisia?"

[Christine Daye]

"...oh!"

Christine's face lights up.

"She is so gracious and wonderful and such an incredible harpist! I was so very lucky to be able to attend the opera with her a few months ago... she was so welcoming to a visiting neonate... and not even one of her own Clan! I was completely in awe of her poise... her beauty... her astonishing talent! ...oh... and the rest of her Court is so cultured! So charming! She is just... just... amazing!"

Her face goes dreamy, obviously star struck.

[Regulus Grey]

Regulus grins

"I shall be sure to be on my best behaviour then...and to brush up as well as I can. I believe it is your question now Ms Melody?"

He quickly scans the darkness once more, slowly pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger.