Least damages

"Sounds like I do most of the works and the night warriors get to have the benefit of my work." Aria spoke with a shrug.

Edmond walked closer to where she was sitting and brought his face close. He looked straight into Aria's eyes and said, "We will only be your court. You get to be the queen." Aria noticed the light in Edmond's eyes as he said 'queen'. He really was a bit too obsessed with the crown.

Aria stared into the deep blue eyes and spoke, "As you said, I am a kind person. You will have to give me a stronger incentive than 'to be queen' for me to make a whole court implode."

Edmond was clearly taken aback by Aria's words. But he had composed himself in a second and walked away, towards his own chair. With one hand on the back of it, Edmond turned to look at Aria and spoke, "The biggest incentive is right in front of your eyes Aria. Revenge!!"

Aria raised her eyebrows, "Revenge?"

"Of course!!" Edmond explained, "Revenge against an ungrateful mother who abandoned you as soon as you were born. What will be better than . . . . . . . ."

But Aria's mind spun as she noticed her barrier being broken. Her concentration faltered for a second as she realized that Vincent was forcing her barrier to get to Helen. But she quickly recovered herself before any harm was done to the actual Helen, who was three-fourths through the way.

Aria mentally cursed herself for getting distracted. She had become too focused on transporting Helen, maintaining the barrier and having a conversation that she hadn't noticed when Vincent had walked to Helen's room. If she had noticed it a minute or two before, she could have rushed there on the pretext of protecting Helen.

She quickly considered her options as Vincent was almost to the dummy wearing Helen's clothes. She could stop him from breaking in, but that would greatly increase the chances of Helen getting hurt. If Aria's concentration faltered, the whole of earth Aria was bending could fall on Helen.

She could start a fight right now, but it posed the same problem. Plus, fighting required a great deal of bending and Aria was already a bit tired from the long day and bending continuously ever since she left the Scott mansion.

Aria also considered fleeing, but that really wouldn't solve anything. These people would come after her anyway and who knew who they would target next. Aria shuddered as Victor and Sonia's faces flashed across her mind.

While Aria had been going through all this, only a split second had passed. Vincent was still a few metres away from the Helen dummy.

Aria chose the option with the least damages. She completely removed the barrier in Helen's room, stopped using her power to hide traces of her bending throughout the hideout, except for the place where Helen had escaped, and closed off her mind to everything else other than hiding traces of her earth bending and transporting Helen as fast as she could.

Edmond was very surprised when Aria did not reply and looked like she had zoned out. He was positively shocked by the pressure of Aria's wind as she stopped hiding her affinity.