“T”), which was what Alec called the
awkward crossroads a potential couple invariably arrived at, in order
to decide to be a couple or not. Alec tried to spill his guts, and
was doing okay when Kicia savagely seduced Duarte. She had wanted him
for so long she was boiling over. After an hour of oftimes tender,
oftimes tempestuous coupling, the two lay in bed and finished “The
Talk”.

Kicia didn't think they
would work unless Alec took her with him when he left and unless Alec
got over his infatuation with his teacher. Neither seemed possible,
and for the first time that he could remember, Alec Duarte – Cowan
– cried. He said goodbye to Kicia and expressed that should their
paths cross again, maybe they could be together. Kicia found this
unlikely and said some soul-crushing things to Alecto disabuse him
of this notion and get him to leave before she, too, lost it. And
thus, Alec returned to the Marchessa for three more years, and
consummated their attraction. Kicia dropped out of school and
embraced the Flicker Street bohemian crowd, the hub of Hallmark's
outcasts, freaks, loners, artists, and aesthetes. There she met the
enigmatic Brother Zodiac and the two began a passionate affair filled
with romance and music and – other, darker things to be discussed
shortly.

IV. Sojourner's Solacium

Sojourner made it to the
Marchessa's Solacium in Libania in 1975.He submitted himself for
training, and was accepted. He met Cowan for the first time, having
no idea yet that Alec avenged Clay's family's deaths. Duarte helped Sojourner adjust to the different approach of Marchessa's Solacium.
Clay responded well to his new teacher. Clay was intrigued by the
relationship