Orpheus wandered through the paths of the gardens. He had had a trying day and needed to rest his mind. As he passed, like a ghost, through the gardens he looked at the flowers. Perpetually in bloom they seemed to him to be a mockery of life. He prefered to watch them die and be reborn like a new spring in the borderlands. His mind drifted over campaigns fought in the Blight, with the death all around and the ever changing nature of the place. He wondered what it must have been like to watch Malkier fall. He had read about Malkier in the library when he had first come to the Towers. He felt a strong tie to that land that defended itself to the last. He never knew why.
Seeing a bench where he could sit he directed himself towards it, only to notice that a novice sat there. he ignored her and sat down, deep in thought. The girl shook visibly in fear, he ignored her. Eventually she got up and walked quickly away. He didn't notice. His thoughts whirled around everything, around his sister and her note, around the men he had seen die and the shadowspawn that had escaped. Life is not fair, that is why evil escapes and good dies. Much like the flowers here.
He looked up and saw Alucard wandering around himself, his giant morningstar swinging from his belt. Orpheus smiled faintly before he made signal for the man to come talk to him. The signal was a faint motion of his little finger, something he had devisewd with Alucard so that they would ever be able to communicate without need of speech. He smiled at the man as he approached "Come brother, let us talk." was all he said
Alucard had been trudging through the garden's when he noticed the figure of Orpheus, staring at the flowers with a grey look on his face. The man had been working more than anybody else recently, and it showed. Not only that, he had been spending time in the library. If there was one thing that did something to people, it was libraries. Books bought back memories which, from time to time, would have done very well covered under years of peace, especially for men such as the Master of Arms. Alucard had seen war, and it had been enough to make him join the Order. Orpheus...well, he had probably seen more than all the Gaidin put together. That much war could do things to a man. Alucard had had his share of pillaging, war and death. Men, women, children...He had all seen them die...
*Enough! Stop thinking about such things...*
Alucard shook his head, trying to take the thoughts out of his head. They had haunted him for some years after he had arrived in the Tower, and there was no need to bring them back.
Suddenly hearing the call of Orpheus, Alucard raised his head.
"You wanted to talk?"
Orpheus watched as his old friend sat down. Sometimes he pitied him for his past. he never knew what to think about the odd gaidin. He had bonded a yellow and yet yearned for war not peace. Wherever he went he held an air of death about him. Orpheus knew that this was more than just the Gaidin in him showing through.
"Yes Brother, I have to talk with you." he sighed "For only a short while have I watched the Gaidin as their master yet for that while I have seen us grow weak." he sighed "It is my belief that some of the new Gaidin must see more of war than their dreams and the illusions of the Other Realms." he watched the man beside him, he knew that that man had suffered in those realms more than once "they are dangerous the worlds of the Ter'Angreal but they are not real and they do fade even if they leave their marks on us." Some more than others. Nothing can Heal those that come out mad, or those that do not come out. "What should we do? Should we go out and fight? Should we take our bondmates on a crusade to restore our strength? I am undecided as to what must be done for I fear that others will disaprove if we show ourselves to be a force in the world."
As he spoke he thought deeply. The gaidin were growing weaker and they needed to leave the Towers on occasion rather than staying behind and learning war from books. Books are good for one who knows war, not for one who seeks to learn it. The days of the hard Gaidin were drawing to a close and Orpheus had to stave it off. He liked the Channelers but less and less did they need Gaidin. One day they would stop bonding men and women and all he had fought for would crumble. He had to try and stave it off. He did. He was worried.