Atonement; Yllithia

"Yllithia, we share your loss. I assume you're here to pick up his things?" The solemn faced priest gave her a bow while speaking. She didn't let her eyes follow his movements, she was used to taking everything in without focusing, this time was no different. She shook her head pressing her lips into a soft smile. It was visible she was trying to keep it there, but she knew her father would have scolded her otherwise. It's the way you present yourself in which people will trust. Keep it there or you'll lose your only advantage. She didn't want to smile, she didn't want to remember her father. She wanted to sob, to scream, to allow everyone in that temple to know the darkness of her grief. But she kept her composure.

"No. His things belong here. His work was always for the temple." It took every ounce of strength she had to keep from wavering on those words. Her father had loved this place, loved it as a second child, one that came even before her.

The old Kaldorei nodded sagely. "Then what brings you to our place of Elune young one? You should be recuperating yourself." He had eyed her on the last words. No doubt in her mind he was trying to assess if she faced any serious wounds as well. She didn't. She knew it. The other priests knew it. She'd escaped nearly unscathed, all superficial scraps and cuts. Most accrued after the attack. Her father had taught her one thing well, listen and obey elders, especially him. And his final words she had listened to, now they echoed in her mind.

"Atonement." She finally said, not wanting him to gaze at her anymore.

"What was that?" He asked. She wasn't sure if it was due to his probing or because he didn't really hear her.

"I'm here for atonement. I'm here to take up a position in the temple. It was his wish long before I followed mine." Yllithia looked down biting on her lip. If she had only done so so many years before hand, would any of this have happened? Would everything continue on it's semi-peaceful route? It didn't really matter, it was her past, but if her future were to prevail she needed Elune, she needed the strength she no longer had. "Please?" She lowered to a knee bringing the bow that had been grasped tightly in her hand to the ground, setting it to the floor so gently it made no noise. "Please..." She looked up, desperation in her pupil-less silver eyes.

The elder was chewing on this. If he turned her out she'd have no where. Their house was a haunted place for her, it would be so empty, it would remind her of all the rebellious choices she had made. If anyone were to tell her she couldn't, she wouldn't go on this time.

"I don't think it's wise." He began, she didn't let him finish.

"My father gave this temple his life. He chose it over becoming a druid, he chose it over staying by my mother, he chose it to be his place. You may not have respected him as one of the following of Elune, I'm not dense enough to not have heard the whispers in the hall, you say you share my loss, then share my gain as well." She rose, leaving her cherished weapon on the ground, closing her eyes for a moment she took a deep breath, opening them with a renewed determination. "I will not let his work be in vain, nor his life. Allow me to learn the ways that I've seen for the last hundred years, allow me to redeem the Loreweavers name, or turn me out and let another's blood be on this temples hands."

The priest knew what she spoke of. Yllithia had practically grown up within these walls. Her father had spent long hours each night running the most mundane of tasks. Lithriel was never a great priest, but he did devote himself to his work. Yllithia knew with her arts in words they couldn't turn her down. The temple wouldn't dare turn out a Kaldorei in need.

He sighed and nodded. "You know what you're doing?" He showed signs of still hoping to talk her out of the decision, but Yllithia wouldn't allow it. She followed through on anything she was determined to do. Anything she needed to do. And this she needed more than anything she's ever needed before. Her father was dead... because of her.

She nodded pressing her lips. "No longer will I use the bow or the sword. I'm ready to take into myself the teachings that he loved so dear... show me the ways of Elune. I shan't disappoint you sir. Eventually I will become something this temple respects, that others will know my name, and that... of..." She couldn't finish. All his life Lithriel had been overlooked. To fulfill his dream after his death, was it right? An irony of course, he wouldn't be remembered for the things he did, but only what people said of him, if they spoke at all. She would speak it.

"Very well." He nodded in a bow as a welcome. "You must change and purify yourself. Leathers aren't welcomed by Elune. We heal those that inhabit the land and such clothing would suggest otherwise." He eyed her. "You've a lot of work ahead of you, rash decisions lead to problems in the future."

"I know what I do. Perhaps assuming such things can lead to problems as well." She rolled her shoulders back, the defiance flaring for a brief moment. Realizing this was not the time or place to start a confrontation with the one that held her future in a word she pushed the smile back on her face and flourished a bow. "Lead on Elder."