bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
Beth had been quick to rush out of Aurin's sight, but not eager to sprint her way back to her room. Those few precious moments alone would be valuable time to think. Though she had no solid evidence and it was simply Aurin's word against his, she had a feeling that the Templar was being forthright with her. And that mean all signs pointed toward Constans having lied to her face.
But for what reason? She wasn't about to flatter herself by thinking it had to do with trying to turn her against Aurin; futile attempts had been made on both sides to make her choose one over the other before, but she was firmly stuck in the middle of their war and they knew she wouldn't budge. It couldn't have been about that, otherwise everything would have been planned out a lot more carefully. No, with that deep a wound, and that much blood...
No.
He wouldn't.
Would he?
There was some irony in the fact that the realization had drained all the color out of her face and made her stop dead in her tracks. Of course, this wasn't a moment for humor, if her suspicions had any weight to them other than the clues she had already gathered. She had also just lost the opportunity to snoop around through Constans' possessions. That meant she would most likely have to figure out a clever way to ask for the truth. Her encounter with Aurin had gone entirely wrong, but that was unexpected. Now she had time to prepare herself. But what could she possibly say to him? Oh, hey, you haven't actually been cutting yourself, and blaming it on your rival Templar, have you?
That would go over smoothly. Maybe it would be better if she said nothing at all. If she tipped him off that she was suspicious of anything, she would probably wind up even further away from the truth. Then what? If he didn't turn to her for help, who would he trust instead? What if he didn't trust anyone and continued down his dark path, with no one being the wiser until it was too late? What if, what if... Bethen sighed. She could only deal with the present moment. The best course of action would be patient observation, then -- even if the thought of what he could be doing with that blood was going to make it almost impossible to look him in the eye.
She finally opened the door, shut it behind her gently, and leaned against her looming bookshelf. Beth glanced around her room to see where he was, but didn't meet his eyes for more than a second. She shuffled the objects around in her arms until one was cradling the books, while the other held out the robes. "Here," she said softly, waiting for him to take them before turning back around to stare at the wooden slats of the door. "I ran into Aurin, actually." She waited a beat, listening for some kind of reaction, but not too long. Her heart was thundering in her ears, but her voice was completely calm and even. "He's been posted outside your door. I had to convince him to let me through. I didn't say anything about your...incident, though he did seem a bit on edge. I don't know if you should show up around there any time soon. At least not until the shifts have changed. Maybe you ought to stay here for a while, rest a bit?"
Finally, thinking she had given him plenty of time to dress himself, she stepped back around and surveyed the pile of yellow rags on her floor. "You lost a lot of blood, you know. How's the cut? Are you feeling any better?"