I know I have made a slip the second eyes turn to me with a touch of confusion. My heart beat quickens and I am afraid they will hear its roar inside me. Have I been found out, so soon? My throat pinches off and Surema swims before the backs of my eyes as I long for her support, her touch, her damn memories! She'd told me Ophelia was distant from her father, I thought calling him by his true name would have been the normal, but I am mistaken it seems.

Paladin moves to speak, talking of the Foothills as if they are his, which I can easily suspect that they are. I wrack my brain, infinitely less capable than Surema's, to remember how Ophelia should feel about this. I am momentarily saved as the arrival of my twin, rather her twin, interrupts. I nearly give a sigh of relief - I know how to be a twin - until I see her practically hostile glare tossed my way as she pointedly stands beside our father and away from me.

The hurt that flashes in my eyes is real.

Surema pushes me away when I appear unlike my normal self, unable to accept that I remain within. She is analytical and critical, observant but reserved in that regard. I on the other hand, by the mere nature of my ability, stem from an emotional base - we're nearly the opposites when out magic is concerned which makes me smile within. I must react to everything as if it is a personal affront to me. This Ktulu who treats me cruelly when she suspects is a knife driving into my actual back, whether it appears as Ophelia's or not. I imagine her as my true twin, my sweet Surema, and how terrible it would be for her to look at me like that did she think me abnormal. Do these sisters truly love each other if they would turn on each other so quickly? Should Ktulu not give me the benefit of the doubt or at the very least offer aid rather than acid?

I frown slightly.

I must become Ophelia. I cannot be me for this, the situation is delicate and the girl too complex, as Surema had tried to warn me. I cannot completely abandon myself, for it is my mind that sees through her multicolored eyes, but I quietly slip deeper into the background...

"Sister," Ophelia greets softly, longingly, her eyes straining with the uncertain sorrow lancing through her at the abandonment of her twin. She ducks her head a bit, subconscious of her sister's preference for their father. Ophelia had always been a bit closer to Soleil, but never closer to anyone than Ktulu. To see her sibling purposefully jab at her took her aback.

"O-of course," she stammered, feelings jumbled by this loneliness careening through her. She could feel her heart thumping in her throat and tried to swallow it down as her eyes flicked between sister and sire. "But did you come for us, father?" Ophelia asks with little tone, only true question in the backs of the words as she watches him with a guarded expression. She is reluctant to feel happy that he is here, because this isn't a family matter, this is business. "You've taken up leadership again, haven't you? Your wounds..." She most hated his presence when he wore a crown. It reflected in her tone of voice and the wrinkles of concern around her eyes. Those days were behind him she'd thought? It changed him in many ways and she was once more reminded of the coldness he displayed when bargaining with Nyra. How could she forget that encounter? Had he been her father then? No, he'd been king and nothing more to her while she stood as a pawn in the way of his king's games. Could Ktulu so easily forget and forgive?

Of course, Olema reminds the niggling conscious of Ophelia, like a separate being within her, beside her. Because Ophelia remembers everything and Ktulu does not.

Ophelia's suspicions are confirmed as Kri and Paladin take over the conversation. It turns rapidly away from a cordial talk amongst leads as the reality of Paladin's ascent rear's its ugly head. Ophelia is aghast, her features crestfallen as her eyes hold her father firm, disapproval and even fear reflected in the folds of her delicate features. He had always been honorable, but this? A traitor as Kri called him? Could it be so?

Ophelia's ears had pricked at the mention of Jackal. I remember little of that now, too many other facts stuffed inside me, but it triggers something all the same. Ophelia knows him. Good or bad? I take a chance, knowing her bad list to be more limited.

"Why is Jackal here?" Ophelia asks gently, hoping to break the rising tension between the pair as her gentle face queries Kri without judgement. "He is a kind boy and surely he deserves to be in his home?" Despite her personal judgement of Paladin he had sound reasoning behind all his words, and he was still her father. Yet Kri had equally as steady words and under her reign Ophelia lived more or less happily. She respected the leader, and I more and more as this meeting progressed.

Kri banishes him with a sincerity that sends a quiver down Ophelia's limbs. Her head shoots around, eyes wide and wary as she regards the black dun king. She flicks her gaze to her sister, hoping against hope to find some support from the girl. "Why?" Ophelia questions Paladin softly, a touch of disbelief and rejection backing the simple question. Why must you unsettle the balance. Why must you crawl to the glory of kingship?