Flame had returned from her meeting with Sentinus in one piece and had, for once, a good night of sleep. She'd changed her future for the better, but there was more she could do- she wanted to turn against the family and she only knew one way in which to do that. Something told her Harshing was not true family, merely in it for the resistance and the resistance was where she wanted to be.

She walked up to Harshing's door and knocked on it.

Harshing opened the door and dragged her inside. "Yes, I knew it would happen!" He swept past her and sat down. He drank several bottles of whiskey before offering her another seat and a slab of chocolate cake. He waved his wand and the fire roared, casting tiny shadows on the floor.

Flame looked confused and then decided he was talking about Sentinus trying to get her pregnant. She took the seat and looked at the floor. "It happened, and then he destroyed it himself." she laughed. She sat back, wandering how Harshing would react.

Harshing was puzzled. "YOu must have... disappointed him." Harshing was smiling, he had successfully fractured the Family. It was Harshing who had suggested the idea of impregnating Flame in the first place. Ignition. He had masterminded a chain reaction which would have ended all Family.

"You came here for another reason?"

Flame smirked. "Of course I disappointed him. I disobeyed him. I refused to go with the priests, refused to lose what remains of my life to giving birth. I don't want that." then she sighed. Now for what she was here for.

"I know you're still working for the resistance. Let me join you, please."

Harshing paused to sip more alcohol. "I am not working for the resistance. Also, I'm not working for the Family." He drank some more, still looking into Flame's eyes. "Perhaps it is possible that I am working for my own cause?" harshing stood and warmed his hands near the fire. "You will do well to get out of the Family however. Sentinus will want to take revenge for his humiliation."

As Harshing drank she noticed how thirsty she was herself, but she let no sign of it show on her features. "Then why turn me against the family if you don't work for the resistance?" she asked him, before he continued. "Then help me get out. I need an escape route, and you're the only one I know." she said, brushing hair from her face and letting, for once, the fear she felt show upon the features.

"Did I not tell you that you were no daughter of mine," his voice was broken, his eyes in tears. "I distanced myself from you for a reason, Children bring weakness, they ruin plans, they destroy genius." A glass slipped from his hand and smashed on the floor. "Luckily I was able to incorporate you to my advantage. You are now key to the destruction of the Family."

He looked at her. "You must stir friction throughout the Family, make them doubt Sentinus. Spread the tale of how he raped you, spread what he does to his own people. We must rot the core of an iron belly."

A broken voice, tears, they were not part of the Harshing she knewIt was hard for her to see. She caused him pain and she did not wish to. She felt bad, as if she'd done something wrong. She shouldn't have let the emotion show, she shouldn't have given this the chance to happen. She rose from the chair, stepped towards him, thought about placing hand on his shoulder, faltered and then decided it was best to comfort him the best she could.

"I am no daughter of yours, Harshing, just an alliance who wants to help you." she told him. Seeing him like this was distressing, she needed to try and be strong. Her voice seemed it, but she didn't feel it.

"I shall tell them, turn them against the beast which is Sentinus, let them know the reality of the situation. I can't let anyone else put themselves into the situation I did, it's not nice." she paused. "But I'm just one person, what am I against everyone else in his blasted race?"

"One person is all it takes. If you can persuade one other person it is a success. THe seeds of doubt are all we need and then I can summon the resistance to conquer the Family. And I... I shall destroy Sentinus." He sat down and pointed to the door. "Go there at once, I relieve you from your studies."

Flame stared at him, horrified. "I want to continue with my studies, I will need them if I ever want to be anything other than another letdown. I want a good future, and I have no way into one without my education." she sighed. "But I shall go, if only to return when I have passed on the doubt." she told him, turning to the door and stopping at it. "If it's anything to you, I care about you to." Then she walked out.

Harshing watched her leave then whispered under his breath. "Oh God, understand my souls deep restlessness." And with that he fell into a deep sleep and when he woke his bones were aching.