Krysta's Sanctuary

[Krysta Hedwig]

Krysta did as instructed, closing her eyes and shaking herself quietly. She focused on nothing but the music Megan was playing, pretendig it was just a cd or record. She began to sing. The first couple of lines were a bit wobbly; not out of tune, just weak and broken. But the more she sang the more she got into the flow and her voice began to come out true and pure. It somehow didn't matter that Megan was there and as she heard her own voice and heard how good it was the more confident she felt. In fact she suddenly felt she wanted to sing for Megan to show her what she could do.
As the song hit the higher key-change she closed her eyes tighter, hitting the top note confidently. She couldn't believe it. She was sure she'd muck it up infront of someone else. Despite the mood of the song she smiled through the lyrics, trying not to laugh.
Finally the song came to the end and as it became soft she faded her voice out, ending on a light soft note and letting Megan finish it off on the guitar.
Finally she opened her eyes and looked at Megan with a grin. She started laughing and turned bright red before covering her face with her hands.

[Alexandria Silverton]

"Very nice Krysta, I'm impressed." She said with a smile, taking off her guitar and putting it back down for a second. "You seem to have become more confident in yourself as you sung, I could tell by the volume and perfect pitch of your voice" Megan said, putting her book of music away. "I don't have much more work to do with you to help you get over your stage fright, I'd say a couple more lessons and you could be good" She said, smiling. She had complete faith in Krysta that she could get over this stage fright, that she was going to offer a proposition after.

[Krysta Hedwig]

Krysta rleased a massive sigh and grinned.
"Thanks. I was really nervous to start with but it got better. I was sure I was going to mess up the key-change, though." she admitted. "I feel like I can sing in front of you, but I'm not sure about a crowd. You'd have to be playing with me, I think. So I don't feel like all the attention is on me." she said. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think that's the problem. It's not the singing, it's everyone looking at me and scrutinizing me." she suggested, looking at Megan to see what she thought.

[Alexandria Silverton]

That worked perfectly with what Megan was going to suggest. "Well, Krysta. If you believe the problem lies in people just staring at you, then I have an idea for that. How about you and I perform together? I could play my guitar and sing backup, and you can sing lead?" She asked and smiled. She rummaged through her pockets for her mirror, so she could make sure she looked perfect, that was her problem, she's quite vain, but who isn't really?

[Krysta Hedwig]

Krysta looked slightly wary. This was going a bit too fast for her liking.
"y-yes I guess so. What? Now?!" she asked in alarm as she saw Megan check herself out in her mirror. "What happened to the other couple of lessons! I'm not ready!" she cried, suddenly feeling a little nauseous. "And to who? It's late, everyone will be busy." she added, looking for an excuse.

[Alexandria Silverton]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..Krysta, just calm down. It was only a mere suggestion, don't worry about it." She said, shaking her head. "I didn't mean now, I only meant when you are ready, and we will figure this all out later, you're still getting the lessons as promised." She said, trying to make Krysta just calm down.

[Krysta Hedwig]

Krysta sighed with relief and relaxed.
"Oh thank Yana for that. I thought you meant now!" she cried and started laughing. She waved her hand at the drinks cabinet and the bottle of whisky flew across the room to them. She caught it and poured herself some more, offering it to Megan.
"Well I admit I feel much better now that I sang in front of you and didn't make a fool of myself. Thanks." she said sincerely.

[Alexandria Silverton]

Megan laughed. "Of course I didn't mean now! I know you aren't ready yet, and it would be extremely stupid for me to push you into that now." She said and smiled. She took the bottle of whisky and poured herself some then handed the bottle back to Krysta. "You're quite welcome, you know you have a very lovely singing voice" She said and smiled sweetly.

[Krysta Hedwig]

"Thanks." said Krys and blushed. "You're the first to hear it for quite some time. Well apart from Kit of course." she told her. "So what do you want to do now?" she asked. "I can play you one of my songs if you like." she suggested, slightly hesitantly.

[Alexandria Silverton]

"Hmm, well there is nothing to do for now. I've heard you sing, given you my opinion. All I need to do later is prepare the next lesson and yes I'm afraid there is homework" She said and smirked. "Your homework for next lesson is to work on playing more independantly, for one lesson I won't play, I'll just tell you to play and sing something for me, and you'll do it hopefully without a problem" She said, packing her guitar away and closing the case.

"I'd love to hear one of your songs, that's only if you're comfortable to play in front of me without me accompanying you" She said, biting her lip softly.

[Krysta Hedwig]

Krysta was about to say she didn't mind playing Megan a song if she could play piano with it when she was suddenly hit hard in the stomach by excruciating pain. She screamed.
"Oh god! What the..." she gasped, clutching her stomach and wincing. It happened again. "ARGGGHH!" she screamed again. It was horrible. It felt like her body was being ripped apart and being put back together the wrong way. She stumbled to her feet, wondering who the pain was coming from. She focused on it, wincing again as she did so. She was pretty certain it was Emilia, there was a distinct wolfish feel to the emotion. But what was happening to her she could not determine. She tried to pin-point her location but Emilia was losing herself and it was hard to get a focus. She sensed another presence nearby. Simon. Simon was with her. Kit? Yes Kit was there and someone else who felt familiar.
She looked at Megan through bleary eyes.
"Sorry, megan...rain-check. Gotta go. Sorry." she stammered, heading for the door. She looked back briefly. "Stay if you want. Have a drink." she said before leaving the room.

[Krysta Hedwig]

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Krys came back to her room when she knew Amanda had gone. She needed to be alone. She couldn't explain it but her head was in a mess. She felt like cracking her head open just to make it stop. All day she had been experiencing irrational bursts of fury, wanting to lash out at anyone and everyone that spoke to her. The tiniest little things either made her furious or start crying. Even nice things got on her nerves, just because they were nice.
She'd also had waves of deep sorrow and where she'd discovered tears rolling down her cheeks for seemingly no reason.
She felt trapped, she felt dispair, she felt loneliness and she felt smothered. She hated the whole world and being in it.

The music room had vanished to be replaced by a large bed with a thick down and feather duvet. On the nightstand was a jar containing some kind of herb, a jug full of cold milk and a huge slab of chocolate. She dropped onto the bed and picked up the jar. It was St John's Wort. She opened it and pulled out some of the strange plant. She put in in the bottom of a glass and glared at it, making it grind itself into a powder. She poured milk into the glass and stirred it all up. She swallowed half of her drink and ate two pieces of the chocolate before crawling under the duvet and pulling it up around her chin. More tears poured down her face and onto the pillow. Eventually she fell asleep.

[Krysta Hedwig]

************************************************

Krysta entered her sanctuary to find everything the way the old training room used to be. Her weapons were lined up on one wall, her books against another. A training mat spanned the floor and the Book of Natherra lay on its podium in one corner. She passed to it and opened it to the next blank page. Taking the quill beside it she wrote the day's date down at the top and wrote a short description of the dream she'd just had. She frowned in concentration as she tried to remember as much detail as she could. Finally she wrote the details of where she was going and placed the quill down.
She turned and faced the glass cabinet in the centre of the weapons wall and walked over to it. She ran her fingers over the class box affectionately and the lock clicked. The lid slid open smoothyl revealing the dagger within. She reached for it and gasped as she felt the jolt of power pass through her fingers. She wrapped her fingers around the hit of the Knife and lifted it from its confines. It's intertwining blades glinted in the soft candlelight and her eyes gleamed as she slid it into the holster on her belt.
She had discarded her robes for the combat clothes her Mother had once worn: black combats and a black skinny tank. Her skin seemed whiter than ever against her attire. She closed the lid of the box and took a step backwards. She sighed deeply. It had only been a matter of time before the calling made its first cries into her subconcious mind. She turned on the spot and swept from the room.