~Avalon Stables~

That sense of being watched became the moment of awareness that she was indeed being watched. Penn’s lips pursed as tension rippled through every fiber of her being as she approached the shore line. All she had wanted to do was have a relaxing swim but even that could not be obtained no matter what she did. The simple fury curled inside of her as she closed her eyes and gave in to that roaring sensation of the tide that was deafening her once more.

At first she had struggled and fought the change. It perhaps was not her that fought but the Shell she had used and borrowed that struggled ever time she as the Lady truly revealed herself and used her power through the Vessel. Even now the struggle took so much out of her but being this close to the water helped to ease the struggle, it made the pain far more tolerable when it came to that transition.

Naked she emerged on the shoreline, hardly having the shy embarrassment that the Shell she used possessed of her physical body. Instead she stood tall and proud, near ethereal in her grace and ways as the light moved across her flesh as a mirror shine of reflective moonstone hue.

Those lake blue eyes had altered to become shining pools of ethereal blue lacking pupils or white, nothing more then that eerie, unnatural blue. The gold of hair writhed and came to rest as serpentine midas strands of slick wet against the mirror shine surface of her flesh as her true form and power was known.

She did not reach for the relic or her clothes when the lackeys of the Crusaders approached. She knew well that they would whisper their curses and foul words at her even as she fought them. The Lady had no choice but to survive even if it meant death for those that surrounded her.

Two of the lackeys were made quick work of as her skill and grace of movement had her around them as easy as water licking and lapping at the shoreline, so easy and peaceful would her nature and steps be. The last one though near doubled her in size and part of her being that split the awareness of the Lady and the Vessel made her vaguely recall the mountain of a man known as Pont.

Despite the size and strength of the man before her, the Lady was not as delicate a creature as she appeared. The manmade weapons they carried were used against the last man when his large hand closed around her throat and began to slowly work its way to crushing the life out of her. The spots grew before her eyes before the Lady near could feel the very essence of being starting to slip and fade as she was losing the life of her Vessel.

Snarling her small hands lashed out and boxed his ears roughly, once, twice, three times before he released her. It was only then that she scrambled toward the pile of clothes to grab the relic. The moonlight kissed across its namesake along the handle before the gun was fired and the man went down like a bag of bricks.

The Lady moved faster then she ever had in that moment, a blur of moonlight and magic, as flawless and rippling as the serene surface of water. Only when the bodies had been buried would she still and allow the Vessel, that delicate Shell to have possession once more.

Thankfully this time the Lady had been gracious enough to leave Penn with enough energy to dress and carry herself as far as a pile of hay before collapsing and giving in to the sweet claim of exhaustion.