Blasphemous Rumours (Cleo/Adara)

[Adara Snow]

Adara blinked, uncertain what the word mistress meant, but gathering a vague idea from the rest of what Cleo had said. And then Cleo had begun to cry, and all Adara could think to do was rest one pale hand against one of Cleo's for whatever comfort that might give. "Such...abuse of power and trust is unconscionable," Adara said softly, her mind struggling to keep the words distant from her personal thoughts.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo nodded, comforted by Adara's words. She wiped her tear stained cheeks, blushing at her embarrassment of crying. "I rejected them both, and vowed to not marry until I knew it was true love" she said softly. "I have made life hard for myself, but it would be harder living in a loveless world, one I was forced into" Cleo reasoned. She knew her situation was painfully similar to Adara's and it was because of that she had accepted Herr Snow, he could be her escape route. But she was caught in the crossfire and could not see a safe way out.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's lips curved into a soft smile at Cleo's words, and her dark eyes brightened. "That is a good vow to have made," she assured the other girl, giving no sign that she had noted Cleo's embarrassment, and thereby letting it fade as it would. "You are very strong, I can see that, and I know that you will find what you seek." Adara's mind was purposefully shielding her from her own troubles, shutting them off with a parchment-thin wall of control, but she held firm. Cleo needed support, not an emotionally fragile girl breaking in front of her.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo smiled softly at Adara, comforted by her words as they came from a shielded mind which did not know the full horror of the world. "I will have no way to support myself now, I shall have to work to earn my bread" she paused, there was another alternative, but it was a secret, hidden part of her that was rarely seen by other people. "Or I could sing" she added softly. "Either way it shall be hard, too hard at times I think" she sighed, she may be strong, but her situation was tough enough that it might break her.

[Adara Snow]

"Life is hard at times," Adara agreed, "but I have faith in you." If Cleo had already done so much, already defied not only the man she was to marry, but his father as well, and her own parents...it was a sign of her strength that she had survived it all with her sanity intact! Adara's mind had already begun to see Cleo as a role model as a result. "Do you enjoy singing?" Adara asked. The way that Cleo had said the words implied that she did, that perhaps it was a guilty pleasure of sorts.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo smiled guiltily at Adara. "It's my favourite thing in the whole world. But hardly anyone knows I sing, the last person to find out what my ex fiance." she said, shivering at the memory of that meeting. "I don't normally like singing in front of people as it doesnt fit my image and it's a part of me that I have to keep hidden" she explained. She ran a hand through her hair, gazing up at the sky, she had no idea what she had got herself involved in. "How about you, any guilty pleasures?" she asked with a grin, she needed to know more about the situation.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's cheeks blossomed with rose at the question, as direct as it was, and as immediate as her mind responded. She could think of several, though she supposed, in truth, those which involved Emilian carried no real guilt at all. Adara's gaze lowered to watch her hands smooth against her skirt a moment as she formed her reply. "I write," she admitted, though it was obvious by her reaction that writing could not have been the whole of her thoughts. However, writing had been a guilty pleasure for years, so it was an easy response, and a far less complex situation than that involving Emilian.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo knew that Adara was holding something back, she could tell by her manner, but she didn't press it, she didn't want to scare Adara away. "Writing is almost like singing I believe, it is a song of the soul" she said, tilting her head as she watched how her words fell with Adara.

[Adara Snow]

Adara lifted her gaze to Cleo's, her blush softening as it began to fade. "That is lovely," she said of Cleo's words. Adara was, perhaps, as loathe to let go of the thought of Emilian as she was to speak of him, but Cleo's words made it easier to move on. "I had always thought of writing as being from the heart, but the heart is part of the soul, is it not? Is singing the same for you?" she asked.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo considered Adara's words for a moment. "When I sing it is truly me, as you sing from your soul, you can't pretend to be something you're not. If I'm sad, I sing sad songs, if I'm happy, I sing a cheerful song." Cleo smiled wistfully at the thought of singing. When she sang she could fool herself into thinking she was free.

[Adara Snow]

When I sing it is truly me. Adara thought on those words for a moment. Her first, reflexive thought was wondering who else Cleo might be when not singing, but then, again, Emilian found his way into her thoughts. She knew how much of a shield people could put up around their true selves because of him. She also knew what freedom it gave one to be the true self beneath the facade. "You should always sing, then," Adara said at last, certain of her words. If singing was what brought out her true self, then it only made sense, in Adara's mind.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo smiled, "words spoken with wisdom" she said softly. She sifted through her mind for a few moments until she found the words she was looking for.



Cleo lifted her voice in song, pouring her soul into it as she did any song. She forgot Adara was there, forgot her present situation, forgot everything but the joy of singing.

[Adara Snow]

Adara listened to Cleo's song with rapt interest, her lips curving at the words, at the emotion behind them, and the honesty she could feel in Cleo for those moments. When at last the song had ended, Adara smiled, her eyes shining with the threat of tears for the meaning the song held for herself as well as Cleo. "That was beautiful," she sighed. It held such a thread of hope and joy for life.

[Cleo Frost]

Cleo blushed deeply, her cheeks darkening to a delicate rose colour. "Thanks" she said humbly, pleased that she had sung well. "I don't like singing in front of people because it shows my weaknesses as well as my strengths. You should feel lucky" she said, gently teasing Adara gently.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's lips curved further. "I do," she told Cleo. "Thank you for sharing with me. If that is the true Cleo, then I count myself incredibly lucky for having met her!" Adara was still only beginning to understand how people could count emotion as weakness, but she did understand, in a way. She wondered sometimes how long she had loved Emilian before the night she had admitted it to herself, and only then because another had pointed out the truth so that she could not argue. "You may trust me with your secret," Adara said at last.