More talks with Rhia

I have to say, outside of Ben there is no one I trust more than Rhia...and at the same time I know not to trust her.  Rhia's words are like honey on a burn.  They will soothe your soul and she will tell you what you want to hear if it suits her purposes.  

After a talk with Sekhmet, that the Lady Bast interrupted with some tidbits of information, Rhia stepped back and let me try to do the talking...which I of course screwed up, but Wuyi distracted Sekhmet from my blunder which led to her and Rhia being dragged off for some more bloody sex while the rest of us had dinner.  During the dinner a hummingbird appeared in front of me that no one else seemed to see.  It said it had news of my father and I excused myself to my room to speak with it.

He was one of my fallen warriors and he was here against my father's orders, but his loyalty to me was strong for I saved his brother.  He told me that a blow from Mikaboshi seemed to have infected him a few weeks back and he was dimming, weakening.  I knew instantly that this was my fault.  Had I not tried to kill myself, distracting him in battle, this wouldn't have happened.  Worse my father's pride would not let him admit it.  I promised to look into it and do whatever I had to.  He promised to give a message to my father for me and departed.  Alone, I sat there weighing my options and in my heart I suppose I knew what I had to do.  In the end I'm certain that is why I went to Rhia before Ben.

Rhia helped me see that criminals weren't cutting it.  how in the world was I to expect my father to fight off what was effecting him when all I send is the blood of the worthless?  So she took me hunting and the streets ran red with Egyptian blood.  I knew my husband would be furious with me but I had no other choice.  I needed to send my father worthy blood; I promised him I would continue my work so he would know his daughter had not been corrupted and I had failed in that.  When we returned I asked Rhia to come with me to talk to Ben.  I needed her strength to not fold like a cheap suit.  It was a brutal thing to endure, that talk.  A large part of me begged and pleaded to give in.  To ease my husband's pain and disappointment...to swear not to do it again.  I hate to say it, and I still feel horrible about it, but I think we beat him down.  He agreed what I had to do was simply what needed to be done, but it felt like him just giving in and I didn't like that feeling.  In return I agreed, after a tiff over the way he 'requested' it, not to kill anymore of his people.  In the end I made it up to him in the best way I know how, and reminded him once more that I was worth it all.

Finally we returned to the sewers to follow Bast's lead.  There was fighting over a door blocked off to Egyptian gods and whether we should open it..which we had decided to DO before we left.  But this is the band's pattern...and in the end we got snuck up on by creepy cultist type people...yay us!