Homecoming

"Exactly how long are you going to remain furious at her?" It was weird for either of them to hear the other speak. They had been an only child growing up, and hadn't had a twin to adjust to the same timbre and quality of one's voice coming from another's lips. Still, Anann had practically demanded that they speak openly because watching the silent exchange from outside 'was disturbing'.

So, Rhiannon found herself looking up from her unpacking to find Rhia leaned against the doorway, arms crossed over her petite chest, her hair loose and flowing down to her waist, and startling blue eyes locked on her motions with the suitcase and wrapped little trinkets from the week spent returning to the mansion. She knew what Rhia asked, but decided to leave it alone. She had just calmed down, after all. "Would you prefer the green shawl, or the blue?"

Rhia's eyes narrow much like a displeased cat. There's a fluttering through the innate mental link the two share, but Rhiannon's firm grasp on keeping her thoughts her own for the moment leaves the pixish aspect with a dark glower and an exasperated eyeroll. "All right, all right. You're still bitchy that she's completed the current set. I get it. Can you at least share what happened in Norway?"

"You have the same memories as I do, why are you asking?"

"Oh, just because the memories of fire, burning, giant skeleton dragons, Bellona -- was she really there?"

"Mmhmm. Remembered us too. She's still touchy about the whole 'Romans got their asses handed to them' detail." Rhiannon smirks as she finishes up the first suitcase. She stops for a moment to eyeball the remaining stuff and vows to never let Anna hop around the world as a raven again. She's wound up with far too many shiny trinkets.

"Right. Bellona - and Loki bet Mars in a chess match?" Rhia hops onto the bed, upsetting several papers that skitter down to the floor.

"Now give Benjamin some credit ... he moved the pieces." Rhiannon says, and the two exchange a perfectly partnered grin at the tease. "In all seriousness, Benjamin needed all the help we could give him (though he only thanked Tal - see if I laud his praises ever again -hmph-) to become close to Mars' intellect but once there, Ben took the lead."

"And then Mars... took you on a tour of the garden?" Rhia's tone is dubious but Rhiannon ignores that bit.

"It was the perfect cover for Vana and Kelly to plant the seeds Jord gave us; and when it wrapped up - Tal gave me the perfect cover for the countdown."

"Then everything went to hell?"

"Something like that," Rhiannon says after falling quiet for a minute. If she closes her eyes she can still feel the flames of the Devourer upon her skin, and subconsciously, she shivers at recalling that haunting cradlesong. "The point is, we dealt a stinging blow to Loki's plan. It's not a perfect victory, but it is a victory."

"What about Kelly?" Rhia doesn't speak that question aloud, but it's echoed in the shared space of their mind, as if it were Rhiannon's own doubts bubbling up to plague her. Yes. What about Kelly, indeed.