All too well

Date | 25th of April 2022
Time | Early noon, around 12th April 2022
Weather | The sun is shining and It’s getting warmer
Attire | A beautiful summer dress and bare feet
Place | Norah’s house in Oakheart

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At least it was sunny and warm today. She had opened most of the windows in her little house, and the door out into the garden. Even though she had spent a week at her parent’s house, she had decided it was time to get back to her own space. Mostly because she knew that if she just stayed by her parents she would never get better. At least she had decided to take some time off work, even with everything that happened in the company she just needed a couple of days to get over meeting Bentley again and all the emotions that it brought. Mostly because he knew everything about her, down to the smallest details. He had always been there because she had called, but if there would always be something stopping them from actual being together, it might be time to put an end to it. Even if it broke her heart.
So instead of facing all her feelings she was standing in the garden, planting some beautiful flowers she had found on the marked. Trying to pretend that she wasn’t broken, that she wasn’t falling apart in every way that was possible.
She looked over her shoulder as she heard something, but as there wasn’t anything there, she shook her head and looked back at the work she was doing.

vJasper had been told to go home by Norah. The person who he was supposed to interview fully. Even though he had packed all of his things, when he stood in the airport, about to board, he chose to turn around. He could tell O’Connell the news over a phone call and his cat… Well, he was still dead and even though it hurt knowing the package he had ordered was at home, it could wait, and if not, he could get a friend to send the package. He got into a cab and traveled to her home written in her file. But she wasn’t home – so he tried again today.
He got to her front door and knocked on it, with no response. He put his bags by the door and like yesterday, he walked around the house to see if she was in a room, ignoring him, or maybe just outside. And there was jackpot. “I thought about what you said,” he started off and approached her. “I’m quitting Interpol,” he said. “I got a friend of mine to ship my package,” he elaborated and got stopped next to her. “So, friend, what are we planting?” he wondered and put his hands in his pockets.

“Oh Jesus fuckin-“ she stopped herself and her entire body had spasmed with shock from him speaking to her. She looked towards him and let out a small snort, before a smile started to form over his lips.
“You’re quitting Interpol? Just like that?” she said as a smirk danced over her full lips and then a laugh left her and she shook her head. Getting up she took of the gloves that had protected her hands from the dirt and other things from planting. With a small of her fingers the rest of it was done. “Lavender, love the scent that they give” she said with a soft smile putting the gloves away in a small basket where there were other small things to plant things with.
“Coffee, tea, or something stronger?” she wondered, as she walked inside and stopped by the oven and looked inside. Her cherry pie looked like it was coming off nicely, at least it made the whole house smell incredible. Then she turned to see if he had followed before she started to make a pot of tea for herself. You never knew with those americans they used to love their coffee more than brits loved their tea.

“Sorry that I spooked you,” he said, chuckling a little. He nodded as she asked about Interpol, “Yup,” he said quite determined, “I’ve got better to do,” he explained and shrugged his shoulders before he watched her planting flowers. His eyes followed her as she got up to her feet.
He nodded slowly as she mentioned that she was planting lavender. “Calming effect,” he added to the fact that she loved the scent. He watched how she put away her gloves and followed her as she headed inside. “I’ll do with a cup of tea,” he replied enjoying the smell of cherries. Normally he would go for coffee, but to that sweet smell, he believed that coffee would be a too bitter and strong taste. “What are you baking?” he wondered and leaned against a free counter top, watching how she moved around in her home.

“A cup of tea coming up, any preferences?” she asked, pulling down a small wooden box where she kept all of her teas, and as everyone knew they came in variers forms. She looked up while she was taking in her own options as he asked what she was baking, then she turned her head towards the oven. “Just a normal Cherry pie, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything like this, not since my last husband” she shrugged and looked back and picked a blackberry for herself, then she gently put the box closer to him so he could find a tea that he would like. That made it so much easier for her, than to start listing all of his options.
Then she grabbed the kettle and started pouring the hot water over the teabags, all the while she stole some glances at him, and if he caught her doing it gave him a small smile. “Why don’t you tell me why you are really here?” she sighed and softly placed his cup beside him.

Any preferences. God, there were so many kinds, how would he even know if she had anything that he would like. It would have been much easier to go with coffee, he at least knew what that included. “Let me see what you got,” he said with a little smile, letting her choose first. “It sounds delicious,” he replied licking his lips a little, furrow his brows as she mentioned something about her last husband. He wanted to be reassured when she had been divorced, because that didn’t stand out clear in his mind. She however pushed the box towards him and he started looking. Now it was a jungle for him, which was one of the reasons why he caught her looking at him, which made him smile back at her. He then picked one that sounded like something that wouldn’t combat the cherry taste – after all he had this feeling that he was getting a taste later, but who knew maybe she wanted to bring it to her new work?
Brilliant question. He put the teabag in the cup and turned to look better at her, “Well, I did offer you friendship,” he said and crossed his arms pulling a lighter smile.

“Are you expecting guests?” he wondered with furrowed brows, gesturing to the pie. He could feel the presence of an older vampire approach.

She raised a brow as a teasing smirk formed over her lips, crossing her arms she moved her body so her hip could be pressed against the counter. A friend, that was true, he had promised that. But why her? Why after she had run off like that, and her way of being that night it hadn’t really put her in the best light, now had it. Besides, she knew few men that wanted a relationship. But who knew, maybe he was gay. Would explain why he had been so good at keeping his hands to himself, and besides he hadn’t really liked it when she had gotten too pushy. Was rare to find men that were prudes. But who was she to judge; she clearly had a thing for trash.
Turning her head towards the door she pressed her brows together as he asked if she was expecting guest. Then she growled as she could feel the same as he did. “No, and he isn’t welcome” she announced, but also knew that a door wouldn’t stop him from entering. She walked towards the front door and opened it, shortly looking down at the bags that Jasper had placed and then looked back up. “Yeah, you aren’t welcome here, get off my property” she said in an alarming low voice feeling how her powers were already drawing on the shadows indoors, even though it was weakened considering the time of day and they were nearing the summer months.

Jasper furrowed his brows as she growled of the sudden aura that had appeared outside. A surprised look appeared on the upper half of his face as she said he wasn’t welcome. That sounded a bit harsh. How bad could the guy be? Jasper followed her towards the front door, seeing more of her home on the way, but also remembering that he had put his bags in front of her door. “Those are mine, sorry,” he said, keeping his distance from her and the door, noticing a man standing on the other side looking oddly at the bags.
Leigh looked up at her as she told him to get off her property, and therefore also noticed the demon on the other side, “Who is that?” he ignored her order and could almost feel his blood boil, though it didn’t make him warmer at all. He looked at her and pointed towards the demon, “Who is that Hanna?” he sneered, being truly jealous. Leigh still believed that Hanna was his.
“I’m a friend,” Jasper replied loud enough for the vampire to hear. Leigh’s eyes darted to the demon. One could almost see how fire started in his eyes. Leigh didn’t believe the words of the guy, because why would the guy have brought everything he had to her house? Was he moving in or something?

Norah grinded her teeth as he asked who Jasper was. It was so clear that he was jealous, how did he even dare to go there, when there had seemingly been a parade of women in and out of his house, while she had been bound to him? Her eyes narrowed as he pointed towards him asking once again. Jasper answered for her before she could, and with a wave with her hand she raised a black wall between them and Jasper. Not that it meant that he couldn’t hear anything, but if she remembered correctly the last time, he had found her with someone, he had asked why she had killed him. This time she cared whether the man stayed alive or not, and she had no idea what powers Jasper had access too.
“None of your concern who he is, whether he is a friend or not, you have no right to now anymore” she hissed, walking a step closer towards him. “I’ll ask you one more time, get the fuck off my property, you and I are through, I’m done, find another witch that can be your mate so you can make them your walking blood puppet” she could feel how her powers started to flare up again. Dangerously pushing her magical abilities and how the necklace that she was wearing burned against her skin as it sucked into her energies.

A wall was raised in front of the demon that Leigh was so unsatisfied by being here. His eyes then darted to Hanna and stepped closer to her though she told him it was none of his business. She then revealed, once again why she didn’t have any trust in him and why she believed they were done. “I’m not-” he groaned before he sighed. “I wasn’t trying to make you into a fucking blood puppet,” he said somewhat calmer though his voice was still quite insisting. “I would never do that to you,” he spoke much calmer and caringly, while reaching out for her “I love you for who you are,” he spoke softly and tried to let his hand find her cheek and jawbone.

On the other side of the shadow wall Jasper sighed and tried to figure out whether or not he should interfere or not. He could hear how they were talking, and he figured that it might just be a sad ex-boyfriend that wanted to be with her, sadly also a jealous one. He believed that the conversation might take longer than expected and therefore went back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the cherry pie. He even dragged a stool with him, so he could sit in front of the oven and wait. After all, he believed it was easy to hear what they said even from the kitchen.

As he reached for her, she slapped his hand away. There was no way that he was touching her this time. There wouldn’t be a do-over this time, no second chances; she was done.
Which, in retrospect, was about damn time. With all the times she had been pushed aside and overlooked just because she didn’t speak loudly enough or make sure to voice her own needs. It had to end; maybe that was the whole root of the problem with her and Bentley? The fact that she had never told him that she actually loved him and wanted to be with him. Her constant fear that he, of all people, would also push her away and leave her. Because through all the heartbreaks, he would properly be the one that she would never be able to recover from.
A high-pitched laugh left her as he told her that he loved her for who she was—what a load of bullshit. Once again, she slapped his hand away. “Yeah, I don’t think so”, she sneered. She noticed that Jasper had moved away, so she let the wall formed by shadows fall so she didn’t have to use unnecessary energy. “You have given me no proof that I should trust you, and as you can probably see, your name isn’t on my collarbone anymore, so you have no use for me” she narrowed her eyes and let her fingers glide over her collarbone that no longer contained a name. But instead, the thin arms of black that could look like thunder had struck her skin. Her arm fell down her side as her bright blue eyes took in his reaction to this new revelation. Hopefully, it would be enough for him to go, so she could have a lovely evening and eat some of that pie that was baking in her oven.

Leigh raised his brows of surprise when she slapped his hand away. His mouth opened slightly as she told him, that she had no proof that she could trust him. How was he going to be able to gain her trust, if she didn’t listen to him? How had he broken her trust? He had had Ayah visiting, and Kaleen screwing up the meeting. Nothing had happened with any of them, but somehow, Norah felt like it was stepping on her trust? He couldn’t see why. He had never been connected to anyone before, which had been the only reason why he had acted so late to the fact that his neck had been broken and she had been able to feel it. He had to get used to the fact that he couldn’t just be reckless like he used to, but after all, the ties had been cut quite bluntly with his mother, so what could go wrong now?
Leigh clenched his teeth as she said that he had no use of her anymore. “I… I don’t think you understand…” he spoke softly, this time not trying to seduce her with any touch. “I don’t wanna use you,” he told her and kept his eyes on her. “I don’t care if my name is on your collarbone or not,” he added. Leigh was definitely not in the mood for leaving just yet.

“No, it isn’t me that doesn’t understand; you’re the one that isn’t understanding anything!” she raised her voice this time. She had hoped that she could stay calm and collected, but there wasn’t much energy left in her to do that. She was stretched so thin that at this point that her cracks were showing to such a degree that she couldn’t hide them any longer.
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, hoping it would buy her some time. Maybe calm her down. It didn’t. “Well, I care, and this time, this time, it’ll be a name that actually wants me, that sees me the first time and not just some object to be used in any way – just admit it, if you hadn’t remembered the mark, you would have left me to die, you wouldn’t have cared, you showed that so clearly when you almost died putting me through hell and didn’t show up before three days after!” she wanted him gone, she wanted him out. Out of her life for good!

Leigh clenched his teeth a little as she claimed that he didn’t understand. His brows raised a little as she started to explain. He wanted to complain and tell her that she was wrong. He looked away for a moment, mostly to collect himself so he didn’t blow this up more than it already had been. “I am sorry I showed up that late… And I never wanted you to be in the risk of dying, I-… I want you to understand that you got me on a bad leg that day, and no that’s no excuse, but I didn’t know that I was your mate back then and-” he bit his lower lip thinking his words through. He wasn’t the type to just give up on a woman. “You’re no object and you shouldn’t be used for anything,” oh, how he wanted to touch her, to show her that he was serious. “We can accomplish so many things,” he said softly.

”No”, she shook her head, taking a few calming breaths. “Leigh, we”, she pointed between the both of them. “We will never accomplish anything, I have someone else, and you and I, we are done” to underline that she meant it, she let her powers swallow the bags and put them into the living room. And then turned to close the door. What a turn of events, it had even been a quite lovely talk she had been having with Jasper in the kitchen only to be cut short because Leigh should play the jealous boyfriend, which was hilarious, mainly because they hadn’t even been in a relationship when it came down to it. And there would never be a time where she wouldn’t believe that the only reason that he had even been with her was because of how her blood had been to him. Had it been a nice couple of times they had been together? Sure, but now it was over.

Now Hanna said many things, but he stopped listening when she said she had someone else. She brought the bags inside and closed the door. He stood staring for a moment, letting everything sink in. “I hope he wants to be there for you. That he would tear the world down for you… Because that is what I would do for you,” he shouted towards the door. Now, he could use force and barge in, but it wouldn’t help make her believe that he wanted the best for her. Or at least that he thought that. “If you leave me out here, I’m not going to be there for you,” he told her softer.

“Thank you,” Jasper said from the kitchen, where he was about to find oven mittens to take out the pie. He had heard how his bags had been brought into the living room. He opened a few places where he believed oven mittens would be and eventually found some and took out the pie. “You should leave him out there,” Jasper mumbled his opinion. “He truly doesn’t sound like a person who truly cares for you,” he took off the mittens and put them back in place before walking toward her. “You know, I would almost believe that he was describing the guy who picked you up the other night,” he said and leaned towards a wall, watching her.

“I have that, thank you very much”, she growled and slammed the door in his face. A low scream left her as her powers acted up and threw the coffee table across the room and the entire table fell apart as if it was made of sticks.
She walked into the kitchen just at that moment to see that he was taking out the pie; a small scoff left her as he pointed out that Leigh didn’t sound like a person that cared for her. “He doesn’t, not that I blame him; he has some serious mother issues that he needs to take care of” she rolled her shoulders back. “But well, I didn’t see it before because I was a slave to the mate mark”, she mumbled; well, she had seen it but not as clearly as she saw now that she wasn’t any longer enslaved to feelings that she couldn’t control.
“Who?” for a moment, she was confused and thought back to the nights she had met Jasper. “Bentley?” she then gathered her thoughts and licked her lips. “Well, I don’t know, we’ve known each other for over four hundred years now” funny how she could be so strong in her beliefs just a moment ago, and now she questioned everything once again. Maybe it was a matter of not feeling deserving of any kind of love because she had never really felt that. “If it were going to happen, it would have long before now”, she said with a soft smile letting her thumb glide over the scar on her hand—remembering just how he continuously came to her rescue when she contacted him.

Jasper raised his brows a little as he could see and hear how the coffee table was thrown across the room. He heard her scoff and smiled a little. It was the least he could do, now that she had been occupied by the front door, correct?
A short laugh left him that he tried to kill when she mentioned that the guy by the door had some mother issues that he had to take care of. It was very, very interesting. “I’m so sorry,” he said.
“Whatever you call him is up to you, sweetheart,” he laughed a little. He didn’t really care for the matter what the boy's name was, nor who she was with if she didn’t endanger herself. He hummed a little. “Oh, so a lifetime friend, huh. And he would do all of what mister douchebag out there said he would do?” he commented, watching her as she moved around. Now, if someone out there truly wanted to tear the world down for someone, it may or may not be a very, very determined match. He grumbled a little loudly as she seemed to think, that if they had to be together, it would have happened. “Are you sure about that?” he wondered, looking at how she touched her scarred hand, almost as if brought her memories. “Did he help you with that too?” Jasper wondered and pointed towards her hand. An affirming nod left him as she responded. “Aha… And have you ever confronted him about how you feel - and not just when you’re doing whatever you do when you’re alone,” he wondered. Now, he was no expert in love at all. Well, he had loved his cat, but that didn’t count. But he believed, that if someone continuously met up through so many years, it might be because there were some deep-rooted feelings.

Her eyes glided down at the scar as he asked if Bentley had helped with that as well. She nodded slowly, even though there was a bigger story behind it than just a bullet wound. Fucking kids.
Filling her lungs with air, she took a moment before a short chuckle left her. Then she turned her head and looked towards him. “No, it’s more complicated than that; our families aren’t really” she shook her head, blinking “his mother almost killed my brother last year, complicated” she licked her lips, already knowing just how both Malcolm and Cassian would react if they found out that she was hanging around Bentley. Not that she thought her father would be that excited either. Her mother? Well. Her mother had always believed in doing what your heart told you. Look where that had gotten her, married to a man that had abused her for years and then just left her like she had been nothing.
“What about you, going to stay in Athena?” she tried to change the subject and let her hands find the counter’s edge. “Or going back to America?”

Jasper watched how she acted when he spoke about why she hadn’t spoken about her feelings for her ‘friend’. He furrowed his brows a little as she mentioned their families and leaned a little back. He licked his lips a little as she explained that his mother almost killed her brother last year. “Well, that does sound complicated,” he agreed, taking a greater breath in. “But neither of you are responsible for what any of your family members are doing,” he tried to assure her. He knew very well that the story she told was complicated, but if Norah wanted to be with him, the family should be able to see upon what his mother had done, and either trust Norah’s thoughts about him or simply not interfere. As long as the couple was happy and healthy, it didn’t matter what the family was doing, did it? Of course, if you were a family person it might matter a bit more, and he had this feeling that Norah loved and cared for her family.
He looked up at her as she asked if he was staying. “I’m here for you,” he told her, “I’m staying,” he said with a smaller smile.

On the other side of the house, close to the road, Leigh met Mary-Jane, Norah’s youngest sister. The two of them only conversed for a short while before the girl was grabbed by her arm and dragged towards the front door. He only stood there for a moment before he believed that Norah wasn’t going to open the front door again, especially if his aura was around. The small spaghetti arm was already sore from being dragged and even though she told him he would only get his ass kicked, he didn’t let go and started to walk around the house.

She couldn’t help the small chuckle that left him as he told her that they weren’t responsible for their family members. “You clearly don’t know what it’s like to be born into legacy families”, she said with a twist of her lips, letting him know she found it rather funny. “He is a Sinclair; I’m a Jones, it like Romeo and Juliet just way bloodier”, she snuffed and then turned to look at the pie simultaneously as he told her that he was here for her. “Interesting”, she hummed as she started finding plates for them to enjoy the fruits of her labour. “You know, there is a good division for supernatural in Aston, meaning that it would be a good opportunity to put those skills of yours into something good – unless you would rather just find a nice house and settle down”, she added, not really knowing him at all, which was rather weird given the circumstances that they were standing in right now. It was like she finally realised how unusual this was, and she turned towards him just as she placed the plates down on the counter. “Is this just a thing you do? Find people you find interesting, and then you just decide to be a part of their lives?” she asked, giving him a slightly confused look and smile.

Jasper cradled his head a little to each side as she spoke about legacy families. He didn’t care much for them. There were so many and even though he was immortal, there was too little time to keep up with the legacies. “Way bloodier,” he repeated chuckling and looking down at his feet, shaking his head a little before he glanced back up at her. He let his tongue run over his teeth thoughtfully as she spoke, thinking about it for a moment. His eyes looked directly up at her as she put the plates down, “It’s a first,” he explained and shrugged. “Does it make you uncomfortable?” he wondered tilting his head a little. Now, it might be odd, but he believed he could be a very great friend, knowing everything, without knowing anything.

“Lit gang ay me!” the small Scottish girl yelled. She tried to make her arm smaller to slide out of his hands, but his grip only followed, and when she wanted to make it go back to its normal size, his grip was simply tighter. He pulled her close, so her back was against his stomach, and put a hand over her mouth, making her muffle and try to bite him while trying not to trip and fall while he walked with his extremely long legs into the backyard. Maybe, just maybe Leigh didn’t think this through.
Suddenly they stood in the backyard by Norah’s windows, looking through them. Leigh tried to find Norah and the demon but could see them. He grabbed around Mary-Jane’s neck and pulled her up, while still holding onto her mouth. At first, Mary-Jane grabbed his hands to try to keep any stress away from her neck while her feet dangled under her. As soon as she figured it didn’t do enough, she transformed into her blonde, older, and stronger version. She could suddenly touch the ground with her toes, and she tried to give him a couple of quick elbows in his stomach, but he acted like it didn’t even hurt him. Then, with a very quick movement, she managed to hang onto him while she pulled herself up to kick his face behind her. He simply took a small step back. “That wasn’t very nice,” he hissed. Mary-Jane transformed herself again, but this time to her fox. He couldn’t hold her the same way, and therefore she managed to bite him, which didn’t do much damage, but it made him groan and throw her away, through a window and into Norah’s home.

She turned her gaze and looked thoughtfully into the space in front of her. Then she slightly narrowed her eyes before turning her gaze back to him. “Not uncomfortable –“ she gave him a small smile and let her tongue run over her lips. “But it isn’t something I’m used to, that people make that much of an effort”, she chuckled, knowing that the thing with Leigh couldn’t be compared, and Bentley, well, maybe the many years had made her forget just how much he had done for her over the time. Always excusing it as if it was just something he did because of what she was willing to do for him. But maybe Jasper was right, and there was more to it than just lust between four walls.

Not that the two of them managed to do much more than that before Norah heard someone yell outside. “What is going on” she pressed her brows together and started looking into the garden, only to see Leigh standing there with her sister.
If she hadn’t been angry before, it was nothing compared to the anger that flared up in her. Her powers sucked out the darkness in the room and pulled it into her body, fuelling it with energy. Just as she slammed the door open with her powers, she saw how the fox came flying; just in time, she made a portal making Mary-Jane fall through that into the house instead of through the glass. “You dare to touch my sister?” the tone of voice was so icy and putting pressure on words she had never done before. “Maybe I should do the entire world a favour and end you," she hissed, feeling the entire ground underneath her feet tremble as her power reached a limit where it would be hard for her to contain it. “Any last words, vampire?” her eyes shone in a light blue colour before they turned dark. Darkness exploded from her body, tentacles crawling over the stone patio, reaching for their target.

“You know people should-” he stopped himself as he too heard someone yell in her yard and started to follow her, seeing how the jealous boyfriend had caught a little gi-grown woman. What?
As if it was nothing, Norah made sure that the grown woman, who was a fox didn’t get thrown into the glass windows but was teleported inside. Jasper was quick enough to catch her, so she didn’t get any bruises from the throw.

Leigh looked at Norah as she spoke. “She bit me!” he tried to defend himself, even though he had been the one who had started to take her hostage. He sank a lump in his throat as she threatened him. “What?” he almost whispered. Any last words? “Norah, don’t do that-” he tried to tell her but with the way she suddenly looked, he knew that this was his actual last words because soon enough, shadows and tentacles surrounded him.

Jasper looked at the fox. It was showing its teeth at him, or at least that was what he believed until he noticed how crooked the fox started to look, almost as if it was getting bigger and smaller continuously as if it couldn’t decide on its size. The shapeshifter was seemingly in pain from whatever transformation that it was going through. He tried to communicate with it, hushing and making calm movements, but nothing really seemed to help.

The shadows grabbed around his legs and arms, suspending him as she walked closer. Her fingers gripped his jaw as he begged her not to do it. Raising a brow, a small pout formed over her lips. Mocking him. “Oh, but why?” she asked as a wicked grin spread over her lips. “Why shouldn’t I do it? You clearly don’t understand when to back off and when to be there” she let her thumb glide over his cheek before she grabbed his chin and placed a kiss against his lips. “You know what, I’m not going to kill you; I’ll just send you to a place where you can think about what you have done so far – either do something great or see the world rise above you – Bye, Leigh”, she said before she let the shadows engulf his entire body sending him off to the realm where she drew her powers. She had only seen glimpses of it when she teleported herself through it. If purgatory was a place, that was it.

Then she turned, and as she did, she teleported into the kitchen where Jasper sat with Mary-Jane, that was going through a transformation that the family had known would happen, at least after how Iris had transformed into her true form. “Seems you’re finally ready”, she mumbled, before touching her sister, letting the overflow of magic in her that almost threatened to consume her pulsate into Mary-Jane, letting her feed off the energy that would help the young kitsune in the transformation to her form. Not that it would make it any less painful.

With a groan, Atarah had informed Killian that something was up again, and they had teleported to their daughter’s location. Not that they were met with the same chaotic scene as before. But it seemed like something else was happening. “Norah?” she called out and walked into the kitchen, looking at how the black lines from the mate mark had spread down Norah’s back, almost pulsating as she did something to Mary-Jane, that Atarah at this moment couldn't explain what was. She was so focused on that, that she didn't even take notice of the unknown man in the room.