<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7d/783387491dba470535f9fd0384c8ec17_%281%29.jpg)</div><strong>Aria</strong>(http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=94201)<br/><br/>Aria woke in tears.  She usually did these days.  The young blond always tended to pick at the emotional wounds for a few moments upon waking.<br/><br/>First, she would reflect on which dreams were the worst.  Was it when she woke sobbing for the pain she and her beloved goddess shared?<br/><br/>Was it when she woke calmly, in quite tears, fearing that she was going numb to her goddess's plight?<br/><br/>Was it when she jerked awake, body aflame from phantom tentacles writhing over her, forcing unwanted fire into her blood?  Was that the worst of it?  When she woke yearning for Tenebrax too find her and take her?  Too end the torment of yearning for the bastard's attention?  At least her goddess was forced to satisfaction.<br/><br/>No, that wasn't the worst, Aria decided as she rose and crossed to the polished copper mirror to bathe her sweat drenched body with a wet rag.  If she were to share her goddess's forced climaxes, at least she'd be experiencing what her goddess experienced.  It would be a moment of closeness with the woman she loved and served.<br/><br/>That hateful lust meant she wasn't going numb.  That hateful lust meant she still empathized with her lady Lux.  That she still loved her goddess, still shared her ordeal.  When she simply cried instead of sobbing and writhing, it meant she was getting stronger.  She was enduring and persevering along with her beloved goddess.<br/><br/>For the first time in years, instead of hating herself for thinking of her own ordeal when Lux suffered so much worse, Aria past into a place of serene strength.  “I will endure with you, Lady,” she whispered softly.  “Together we will persevere, and we will overcome Him.  For You, and for the world you shelter.  Blessed be.”<br/><br/>By the time the sailor entered, the usually melancholy beauty was dressed in carefully fitted turquoise armor padding. She flashed him a smile bright as the dawn.  “Good morning Mr. Phelps.  Could you please help me with this armor?”<br/><br/>A few minutes later, Aria emerged into the eternal dusk and the brisk sea wind.  Again, she smiled freely and crouched too reach out to Dae.  She ruffled the wolf's neck, then leaned in to give the beatitul beast a hug.  “You guarded me again, Dae,” she whispered, smiling but with unshed tears in her voice.  Looking up at the ranger as he moved to join them, she smiled, and again the smile carried the warmth of the rising sun.  “Varis.  Thank you for watching over me tonight.  I don't know what I’d do without you and Dae.”<br/><br/>Her eyes crossed to Anna and she smiled at the older girl's hard at work, pummeling the main mast with skill Aria yearned for.