The Basic Rundown

After she sat down again, Mika took a deep breath and Winlay was certain her friend was still trying to buy some time and decide exactly what she could tell her for now.

"Ok here is the deal, the Chevalier and the Templar were both part of the Church several years ago. Before either of us was even born. But then a discovery was made that could change the Church forever. I can't go into details about that right now but what I can say is that this caused a split in the Church."

"What do you mean? What kind of split?"

"The kind that caused the Chevalier to be **** to flee the Holy Capital by ship. They were supposed to be escaping in secret, but someone leaked the plan. The Templar gave chase and a battle occured at sea. It was believed that the Chevalier were wiped out, but a small group managed to escape. Over the years we have grown our forces enough to start challenging the Church from the shadows, but not in a standard fight."

"How come I've never heard any of this?"

"The Church buried all information regarding the Chevalier. The Oracle we saved was one of the Chevalier involved in the discovery. He stayed behind in hopes of changing the Church so that we Chevalier could one day return and set things right. We didn't count on Beldan's greed or how badly the previous Oracles would run the Church into the ground."

"About that discovery?"

"I'm sorry Win, but until we get out of here and see what's going to happen, I can't endanger you with that information. All I can say is that the Chevalier were at least parially successful in keeping the discovery away from the Church and Templar."

Winlay could hardly believe what she was hearing. The Church had been split between two factions and that Beldan and the Oracles had been doing something wrong? It didn't make any sense. Winlay wanted to find out what the truth of all this was.

She was so lost in thought she didn't notice Mika staring at her until her friend spoke again.

"Winlay?"

"What's up Mika?"

"Remember what I said about the kissing thing?"

"Yeah," Winlay replied a little nervously. Mika looked a lot more serious than she normally did. Her friend's normal youthful energy seemed to be replaced by something else.

"Well, I'm about to kiss you again."

Mika began leaning towards her, and Winlay was momentarily frozen in indecision. Mika had told her it was nothing, but then was happy that Winlay had admitted she liked it. Then she had told Winlay that Adam liked her. Winlay liked Adam as well and had never given something like a relationship with another woman anythought until now. She knew she liked Adam, but seeing her friend now moving towards her with the promise of a kiss made her heart start beating faster. She knew she had to make some kind of decision quickly, but she wasn't sure what to do.