Hollywood Zenith

Samuel stayed by Talia's side occasionally monitering Samara and Ariel's progress. The 'cleansing' had to be carried out secretly without alerting any hostile forces in the vicinity so they had to be careful about it.

Steve along with the night owl team also arrived by noon. Talia was still sleeping peacefully so he left her security in their hands to finally leave her side.

By then, Samara had fulfilled her promise and was getting ready to say goodbye to Ariel for good. He wasn't present for it as he thought it was best to give them space but after it was done Ariel was silent, occasionally gazing at something in the distance, completely distracted.

Samara had left her with heavy responsibility but more than that she made her promise not to get involved with anything dangerous but Ariel knew she couldn't do it.

This was the only thing she knew and walking away from it would mean her losing her way in life.

"Aren't you going to watch it?" Samuel asked sitting beside her. Since he had promised to look after her, he would keep his word.

"My master told me not to do it. She had prepared a way to pass away using the same methods she would use on..them. It would be painful to watch her suffer."

Samuel never specified or told her how to do it. There were many ways for her to go but she choice to relive the ritual on her own, maybe because of the guilt but she didn't need to do it.

She must have went through it when she was first initialised into the order. After all to become a vishakanya, she needed to endure the ritual which was identical to what she was doing now.

"What are your plans for the future?" He asked.

"I don't know. I would like to stay with Talia but I don't know if she will trust me after what happened."

"I don't think you need to worry about it. Talia also need to adjust to her new life but more than that, she will need you as her only living family member."

"Family huh...I wonder what it means to be a family. Now that my master is gone, it's hard for me to imagine doing anything else."

"Why don't you stay here and work with me? I mean, we will have to face the people who drove your master to such madness. With your expertise, you can help me uncover more about their plan beside, we will be fighting a uphill battle as they appear to have hidden themselves very thoroughly over the centuries."

"I don't know. You know more than anyone how much I hurt her. Will she ever consider me?" Ariel was so small that he wasn't sure if he heard her right.

The cool beauty was self reflecting on her actions and was asking for his advice in such a blatant manner was definitely something he never expected.

"You can take some time to answer me. Beside, Talia doesn't seem to hold any grudges for you or your master. More than that, you will need a place to decompress for a while why don't you stay here and help my people?"

"I will think about it."

"Right, we also need to stay alert. Our enemies might be lurking in the shadows but as far as I know they could get suspicious if your activities in this region drop suddenly. I believe they must know general vicinity of this base or might even know this location exist after all you guys have been fighting for generations."

"I know how vicious they are. You might have seen the records. We have had several dealing with then in the past and even cooporated on several occasions. My master was always against it but other elders seem more incline to think about the betterment if the clan than her."

"I know but they haven't really shown themselves in their entirety or else your master wouldn't be having such a hard time finding them."

Samuel knew about the dangers. No matter the path Samara took, she was only acting on her impulse for revenge now that she was no longer here, he needed to carry that torch but he wouldn't use innocent lives for his cause.

He felt like he could take his time and let them relax a bit before an all out war for that what he needed most were reliable allies and superior technology.

For now, he knew he was no match for them. Even if he had the world's strongest family behind him, these figures who lurked into shadows seemed to hold too much power manipulating others for their cause. He had only began to map out their command structure but they could just cut off the tail to escape which would mean they will go into hiding.

He wasn't sure if they would ever resurface if that were to happen. These people have been ruling behind the scenes for centuries, a couple more decade would be nothing for them. They might just wait it out which would be bad for his future plans.

They talked for a while but Ariel never gave him any concrete answer so he left her aline for now.

She would need to take care of Samara and other's funeral which will take few days. Samuel could wait but he left abruptly and was worried about the girls at home but more than that, he was worried about him keep delaying the fild shooting.

He was one of the largest investor but that doesn't mean he could keep other actors waiting for him. He needed to finish everything by the end of the week before heading to film the last two installments of the harry potter franchise.

He had been busy dealing with Kate's situation then after that Talia was in danger so he never sat down to think what he will do with his acting career after this gig but there was so much on his plate that he might not really time to do anything for a while but that would have to wait for now.