Lance stood in the doorway of his and his sister's home, looking for her. But there was no response to his call; the lamps in the house were lit, but there was no sign or sound of movement. He stepped inside to look around, in case she had not heard him, with Ahn following closely behind.

The front door opened onto the living room, the largest room in the house. The floor, like that in much of the rest of the house, was covered with a light brown carpet; it was not particularly soft, but it did its job. Four chairs were set in a rough square to the left of the door, where the bulk of the living space was. A long table was pushed against the left wall under a large window so as to be out of the way, though it could be moved back with little difficulty if the occasion called. The right-hand wall held a fireplace, along with the room's only decoration: a large painting of a forest scene, so well done and so detailed that one could almost lose oneself in it if one looked at it for a while. A set of pegs was nailed to the far wall near the right corner, all unused at the moment. A doorway on the right-hand wall near the front led to the dining room and kitchen, and a hallway directly opposite the front door led down the length of the house to the bedrooms, washroom, and library.

Lance headed toward the kitchen first; he doubted that Danica would be there unless she was doing something, which he would surely have heard, but he decided to check anyway. As he passed through the dining room, he noticed that Danica had finally had the broken leg of the circular dinner table fixed. Some time ago, he had come home to find the bottom of one of the legs sawn off and replaced by a stone; according to Danica, an unusually large rat had been nibbling away at the leg for several nights before she finally caught it. Lance had always eaten his meals here quickly since then, not entirely trusting the stability of the table despite Danica's assurances that it was as steady as ever.

The kitchen was, as Lance had guessed, empty of life. The iron stove stood dormant on the left side of the room; the array of pots and pans hanging on the wall next to the stove was complete and undisturbed. The cabinets against the far and right walls were all closed, and nothing sat in the water-filled tub Danica used for rinsing. No, Danica was not here. Lance shrugged, then turned around to head back toward the living room, Ahn quickly stepping aside to let him pass.

All five doors in the hallway were open, leading Lance to believe that Danica was not home after all, but he glanced in each as he headed to his own room to put away his equipment. The first door, on the left, led to Danica's bedroom; her window was thrown open to let in the mild breeze, and her bed was neatly made, as usual. Danica was clearly not in the washroom, farther down the hall on the left; nor was she in the library or the guest room. As Lance reached the doorway to his own bedroom, he said without looking back, "I'm just going to put my things away here."

Lance's room was, as usual, cleaner than when he had seen it last; Danica always took the time to straighten out what she called the "mess" he left every time he stayed. He, at least, did not consider his habits that bad; Danica just had higher standards than he did. With a shrug, he unbuckled his tool belt and laid it on his bed; he could worry about putting the tools themselves away later. The sight of the empty scabbard on the belt then reminded him that he would have to get a new sword; nothing could return the treasured blade, unfortunately, but better to have any sword than none at all. He then removed his armor, which, though it was lightweight, tended to become stifling after long periods. He hung the thick, plated leather vest on a hook put on the wall for that purpose, leaned the leg guards against the wall below the vest, and placed the heavy boots next to them. Finally, he set his large traveling sack down on the floor and rummaged around in it until he pulled out a pair of lighter walking boots; he put them on, then rejoined Ahn outside his room. "Maybe Danica's out wandering around town or something," he suggested. "C'mon, let's look." They headed out of the house, Lance closing the door after Ahn exited.

As Lance started to walk through the town in search of his sister, he noticed minor signs of damage to some buildings that he had missed before: a partly-scorched roof here, a small, splintered hole in the wall there, occasional pieces of ash-blackened wood lying on the ground. He would have to ask Danica about the damage, but whatever had caused it did not seem to have been too serious. People were going about their everyday business the same way they always had, and none of the fragments of conversation going on around Lance mentioned anything out of the ordinary.

Then Lance heard a familiar voice call his name. He whirled around, and sure enough, his sister was already running toward him, a pleasantly surprised expression on her face.

"Danica! There you are!" Lance called in response, and quickly closed the remaining distance between them. They embraced each other warmly for a moment when they met. "I just got here and was wondering where you'd gone."

"Actually, I was just about to make myself some supper," Danica said as they released each other. "But I expect you'll want to know what's been happening--oh, who's that?" she asked, taking notice of Ahn, who stood a few meters behind Lance, waiting.

Lance turned in the direction of her gesture. "Ah, yes, that's Ahn. I met her on my way here from Zozo," he explained, "and she had no particular destination in mind, so she decided to come with me." Then he turned to Ahn. "Ahn, this is my sister Danica."

"Nice to meet you, Ahn," Danica said as she held out her hand. Ahn approached her, took her hand nervously, shook it, and snatched her own hand back as if it had been burned.

"She's a bit shy," Lance said to Danica as they started toward their house, Ahn following, "but actually quite nice." Danica nodded. After a slightly uncomfortable pause, Lance continued, "So how *have* things been here?"

"Well..." Danica trailed off as she thought for a moment. "`Eventful' would probably be a good word," she said with a wry smile, as they reached the house and Lance opened the door. The three of them entered the house, and Danica closed the door behind them. Danica turned to Ahn. "You can hang your cloak up over there, if you like," she said, pointing toward the pegs next to the hallway entrance.

"Thanks... but I think I'll keep it on for now," Ahn replied, moving quickly to seat herself in the chair nearest the front door.

With a shrug, Danica took a seat herself, followed by Lance. "Is there anything I can get you?" she asked.

Ahn shook her head, a slight, measured motion. "No... go ahead and talk."

Danica shrugged again. "All right. Anyway," she continued, turning to face Lance, "you probably noticed the leftover signs of destruction around Maranda. Burnt wood, water damage, that kind of stuff."

"I did," Lance said, nodding. "In fact, I was going to ask you about that."

"Well..." A frown crossed Danica's face as she recalled the cause of the damage. "About a month ago, we were... attacked."

Lance gave her a startled look. "By who?"

"An undead army," Danica replied, shivering at the memory. "I have no idea why... I don't think anyone does. They just up and attacked, for no reason."

"How bad was it?" Lance asked, concerned.

"It could actually have been a lot worse," Danica reassured him. "Someone had the sense to call for torches to help drive them off. Someone was careless and ended up setting a fire that might have taken several buildings out... if we hadn't had help. And what help..." She paused again. "You're probably not going to believe this."

"Try me," Lance said. "I'll believe anything after the last couple of years."

"Leviathan," Danica told him. "Leviathan, the mythical sea serpent, was our help."

Lance gaped in disbelief. "Leviathan?" he repeated. Had anyone but his sister told him that, he would have called it--and them--ridiculous. Magic was one thing; after Kefka's reign, no one could doubt its existence. But this was straight out of fairy tales that surely dated back hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. /Of course,/ he thought, /even fairy tales have to start somewhere, I suppose.../

"Yes, Leviathan," Danica was saying. "There was another one there, too, though I don't recall its name, if it had one. Between the two of them, they pretty much saved the town. They killed off all the... attackers... with magic, and then brought in some sea water to douse that fire that had been started. The whole town stunk of salt for the next week or so," she recalled with a chuckle.

Lance chuckled as well. "I can imagine. Well, I guess that's good news, in a way; the balance is maintained, so to speak."

Danica's smile faded unexpectedly then. "The attack could have been worse. The true horror... that came afterward." She closed her eyes, her mind replaying scenes that only she could see.

"Go on..."

Danica took a deep breath. "Not long after the attack had been driven off... we were hit by a plague." Lance gasped, and Ahn, who had been sitting quietly and listening, suddenly took on a pained look. "It was horrible... people started coughing like crazy, got terrible bumps on their bodies... people were *dying* in less than a day." Danica shook her head to try and clear the memories from her mind. "I was lucky enough not to catch the disease before it was--somehow--cured. I wouldn't be surprised if those sea serpents had a hand in the cure." She sighed. "But not everyone was so lucky... over a thousand people died before the plague was taken away."

Lance sat in silence, trying to assimilate that loss. A thousand people... that was no small fraction of Maranda's population, which probably did not number over ten thousand even including all the outlying areas. A thousand was probably a full quarter of the population of the town itself. In that respect, he supposed, he and Danica were lucky that they had no living relatives to lose; it would be difficult for a full family to avoid losing a member with so many deaths.

"So," Danica said in a brighter voice, changing the subject, "how did you and Ahn meet?"

Lance looked up at her, then over at Ahn, whose expression had relaxed a bit again. "Well," he began, "I'd just left Zozo, and decided I'd come back home for a bit. A bit north of Jidoor, I ran into a trio of wild Ralphs. Really wild, because I've rarely seen them come so close to a town before. At any rate, they seemed to decide they wanted me for a midnight snack. I managed to pull one of them out of the group and kill it, but another one came after me too quickly. I had to defend myself, but couldn't get a clear swing... my sword wound up getting lodged in its side, probably the ribcage. My favorite sword... and it ran off, yelping in pain." He realized he had clenched his hands into fists, and consciously relaxed them. "Saved my life, I suppose, but I loved that sword..."

"Oh, dear," Danica breathed, her face echoing his pain. "I'm sorry..."

Lance sighed. "Well, there's nothing to be done for it, I suppose. I'll have to have a new one made... if I can't replace the memories, I can at least get as good a blade.

"Anyway, the last one was still coming after me, so I ran for the forest nearby to try to lose it. As it turned out, Ahn was in the same forest, and she hit it with an arrow as it passed her. Or so I assume, at least." He saw Ahn nod. "She had just left Jidoor, and had no destination in mind... so I invited her to come back here with me." He shrugged.

"Well, I see no reason why she can't stay," Danica said, then looked at Ahn. "If you want to, of course."

"Yes... I think I would like to," Ahn replied hesitantly. "Thank you... thank you both."

And of course, to hunt.

She really did like Lance's sister. She was kind and had welcomed her into her home with open arms--something Ahn's people would never think of doing. Especially not with humans. And as for Lance... well, she had not had a friend for twenty years, and though she was still reluctant to even speak with humans, she was very grateful to him.

She checked the string of her bow. It was getting ragged; she would have to get a new one very soon. She wondered if it would even last this night's hunt. Shrugging, she went on into a small wooded area just outside of town.

Her skin felt damp as she entered the forest, which was unusually jungle-like for this time of year. She leaped up into a low tree branch and let herself run stealthily through the treetops once again, as she had done so many times since... the cloud. Banishing such thoughts from her mind, she focused on the forest, on any signs of life.

She stopped suddenly when her nose caught a strange scent. Cold, almost... metallic. She proceeded cautiously towards the scent, arrow ready.

She reached a small clearing only to find that there was nothing there. The scent was very strong, close to overpowering, but she sensed no life. She scanned the area again with her nightvision. There was something moving in the warm breeze, like it was hanging from a tree on the other side of the clearing, but two trees blocked her view of whatever it was. She scampered around to the other side via the branches and nearly fell down at the sight she saw.

A body. A human body. Pinned to the tree through the neck by a huge, jagged metal spear. Insects and worms crawled in and out of the decaying flesh, and a strange dark blue substance oozed from broken skin.

Ahn gagged at the stench. She had smelled decaying flesh before, but none like this. Gathering up her courage and giving in to her curiosity, she moved closer and examined the body's face. Or what was a face at one time. It was twisted and contorted, the putrid flesh rising up in bubbles. The blue liquid stained its clothing.... But the clothes were not very old. Almost like new. His death must have been very recent, but what about the decay?

Ahn quickly stepped back in realization. Thoughts flooded her mind. Poison. Disease. There was a killer out there, stalking the forest, preying on those humans--and elves--who thought to hunt on its grounds. Something that she strongly doubted would be stopped by an arrow or two.

Choking. Something was choking her. She felt her body being propelled through the air. She hit a tree and slumped into darkness.

* - * - *

Ahn awoke slowly. Her mind felt like cotton and there was a sharp pain in the back of her head. She reached up with a heavy hand and felt wetness, and when she drew back it was covered with blood. She hissed from the pain.

It was still dark, which meant she had not been out for long. She looked at the moon and found that it had moved very little. But the stench, that stench had gotten extremely strong. She gagged and lost what little she had in her. Using her nightvision, she scanned the area. There was a large being sitting across from her. It was grinning at her, rotted teeth showing.

Ahn froze; then she found her bow still slung across her shoulder. How had it survived that attack? But there was no time to answer that question. She fumbled for an arrow and readied it as the grinning thing made no move to stop her. She pulled back on the string and aimed it the best she could, then screamed a curse as the string snapped. She threw the bow at the thing and reached for her knife, which was not there.

Then, as panic began to flood her, she remembered her great-grandfather and what he had told her to do if she was ever in trouble.

When in doubt, scream.

* - * - *

Lance awoke to a persistent buzzing noise. He tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it refused to let him; it was at just that pitch that he would not be able to sleep at all if it continued. Annoyed, he got himself out of bed and pulled some clothes on, intending to find the source of the noise and silence it, by force if necessary.

His open window immediately told him that the sound was coming from somewhere outside. He wondered for a moment whether someone wandering around had inadvertently disturbed a bees' nest, until he realized that the sound was too high-pitched for bees. In fact, it was not really a buzzing at all. He was not sure what it was, but it was not a buzzing.

As he left his room, he noticed that the door to me guest room across the hall was open, and the bed empty. /Maybe Ahn went out for a walk,/ Lance thought. /She did say she could see well in the dark./

Lance headed down the hallway and through the living room, walking slowly and quietly so as not to wake Danica, and stepped outside, closing the door to the house behind him. The odd noise was only a bit louder here, still too indistinct to identify, but Lance was able to tell its direction: it was coming roughly from the south. /Nothing much there,/ he mused. /Just some trees. I wonder what.../

Then the sound trailed off, only to start again a moment later at full force. No, Lance thought, it definitely did not sound like a buzzing. More like...

A scream.

Lance instantly snapped awake. /Ahn?/ he wondered, worried. She certainly seemed capable of taking care of herself, but he did not know anyone else who liked taking walks in forests in the middle of the night. Making a quick decision, he ran back into his house, still stepping lightly, and to his room. He donned his armor with the speed and ease of years of practice, then took the belt knife from his tool belt and strapped it onto his waist. It did not have nearly the length of his old sword, but he could fight with it if necessary.

As he headed back out into the hallway, a sleepy-eyed Danica emerged from her room and looked a question at him. "Ahn," he replied curtly and hurried out of the house, leaving Danica to stare after him, confused and concerned.

Lance dashed along the streets, quickly passing out of the town proper and into a forest of moderate size. He threaded his way among the trees, uncaring of the noise he made as leaves crunched under his feet, using the ever-nearer scream as his guide. More than once, he nearly ran into a tree that was all but invisible in the dim light of the crescent moon, but he did not even slow down.

As he approached the source of the noise, it was suddenly cut off and replaced with, "Lance, watch OUT!"

Lance turned just in time to see a large... something... bear down on him. Startled, and cursing himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings, he jumped to the side as the thing lumbered past, bringing with it a horrid stench of decay that threatened to overpower him. As he coughed, trying to clear the smell from his throat, he heard the creature slow down and come to a stop some distance away as it realized it had passed its new target. Lance whipped out his belt knife, the blade gleaming dully in the weak moonlight, and turned to face the direction in which his adversary had gone. The knife seemed to be hardly a decent weapon against something of such bulk, but it would have to do.

For almost a minute, the only sound was the faint crackling of leaves as the creature seemed to shift around a bit, out of Lance's sight. /It wants me to go after it,/ Lance realized. /It means for me to misjudge its position so it can use surprise against me. Well, I won't fall into that trap./ Lance continued to hold his knife out, turning it one way and another to try and find the creature with reflected light.

"Lance," said a quiet voice a few meters to his left.

Lance jumped a bit, startled, but immediately returned his attention to where he judged the creature to be. He could not allow himself to lose its position. "Ahn?" he whispered fiercely.

"Yes," Ahn replied. "I can see it, and I think it knows that. I don't think it will attack while it's being watched." There was no need to clarify what "it" was. "If we can keep our attention on it while we get out of the forest, then we--"

"And will it move with us?" Lance interrupted sharply. "If not, it could circle around behind us and attack at any time. I don't have your eyes, so we can't watch ahead and behind at once. And even if it does stay with us, what's to keep it from attacking after we leave the woods? Will you bet that we can run faster than it can?"

"It won't leave the forest," Ahn retorted. "It clearly needs the element of surprise, and it won't have that outside the forest. And if it doesn't come with us, we run. That thing's going to have much more trouble going through the trees than we will, so speed won't help it."

Lance was silent for a moment, then nodded. "All right, we'll try it your way." He held out his left hand for Ahn, his right hand still holding the knife.

Ahn took his hand, then said, "It's between us and the town now. We'll have to circle around." They began moving, ever so slowly, Ahn watching the creature as Lance could not. Ahn never spoke, and Lance could only assume that it had not moved; he could not hear anything beyond the slight noise he and Ahn made as they stepped cautiously along the ground.

Then, after they had almost completed their semicircle, Ahn stopped suddenly. "He's turning... going the other way. Run!" Suiting action to words, she let go of Lance's hand and dashed through the trees in the direction of Maranda. Lance followed just as quickly, keeping his knife ready in case the thing did in fact catch up with them. But within a few minutes, they were once again in sight of the town, and a glance behind them told Lance that they were not being pursued.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief as he caught up to Ahn. "That was close. Are you okay?"

Ahn turned to look at him. "I..." She brought her hand to her head and closed her eyes, emitting a soft groan. In an instant, Lance had an arm around her shoulders, supporting her. She opened her eyes a moment later and lowered her hand to her side again. "I think I got hit on the head," she finished in a slightly less stable voice.

"Where--" Lance cut himself off as he noticed a damp spot on Ahn's dark hair. He touched it gently, eliciting a gasp of pain from Ahn; his hand came away with blood on it. "Oh dear... c'mon, let's get you back in bed."

"Ah, there you are, Lance," Danica greeted him from the dining room, where she was setting cups of water on the table. "I was just going to wake you for lunch. Ahn tells me you had an... interesting adventure last night."

Lance nodded. "That's one way of putting it." He entered the dining room; Ahn was sitting at the table, looking almost none the worse for the previous night's excursion. "How are you doing?" he asked her.

"I'm all right, I think," she replied slowly. "Danica says that my head isn't bleeding, and she can't find any clots, so whatever hit me last night must not have done any serious damage."

Lance breathed a small sigh of relief as Danica began bringing lunch in: a fairly simple meal of stew, bread and soft cheese. She brought his and Ahn's plates first, then her own; all three then proceeded to eat in silence.

Ahn was the first to finish, though Lance and Danica were not too far behind. "Thank you," Ahn said to Danica as she began to rise from her seat. Then she suddenly put her hand to her forehead.

"Are you okay, Ahn?" Lance asked quickly.

Ahn let her hand fall, but did not look up at Lance. "I... I'm not sure..." She stood slowly. "I think I will go lie down for--oh..." Then, suddenly, she stood straighter and began talking in what sounded like gibberish.

Lance started toward her. "Ahn? What's wrong?"

Upon hearing his voice, Ahn stopped talking and looked at him. "What?" she asked. Then, without warning, a look of sheer terror entered her eyes, and she began running from Lance and Danica as if she feared for her life. Within a few seconds, she was out of the house, almost tearing the door from its hinges in her haste.

"What's wrong with her?" Danica wondered out loud, worried.

Lance called out, "Ahn! Wait!" But Ahn kept on going. With a quick, "I'm going to find out," to Danica, he dashed after Ahn. The young woman had agility on her side, though, and Lance was hard-pressed to keep her in sight. He mentally cursed the traffic in the streets as he dodged between and around startled townspeople.

"Ow!" came a startled exclamation as Lance bumped into someone, quickly followed by "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry," Lance mumbled as he continued in his pursuit of Ahn, paying no attention to the victim of his rush.

Lance finally caught up to Ahn at the edge of the forest; she was sitting on the ground, holding her face in her hands. As he approached, she looked up to see him; she seemed startled, but the fear that had been in her eyes was gone. She quickly folded her hands behind her and started to speak even before Lance had a chance to ask her what was wrong.

"I'm sorry, Lance," she said. "I don't know what got into me. I was just... suddenly scared of you." She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. "I probably made a fool of both of us running through the town like that."

Lance knelt down next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. Whatever happened is over now." Ahn nodded slowly.

"Do you two enjoy running through the town like you were mad?" came a voice from behind Lance.

Lance stood and turned around in surprise. The speaker was a blond-haired girl, not more than twelve or thirteen years old. She was quite tall, nearly matching Lance's own height when he stood to face her. "Who're you?" Lance asked her, a bit annoyed at her intrusion.

"I'm the person you didn't apologize to when you ran me over," she responded tartly.

"Yeah, all right, I'm sorry." Lance waited a moment; the girl didn't move. "Was there something else?"

"Curiosity," the girl replied. Lance's eyes narrowed. "You seem like you're about to head off on an adventure. Where're you going?"

Lance blinked; that wasn't the question he had expected. "Odd you should say that... what's your name, anyway?"

"Darrin," the girl replied.

"Darrin," Lance repeated. "We're not, actually. About to leave, that is."

"Ah," Darrin said, "but you're *going* to." She looked absolutely certain of her statement. "And I want to come along."

Again Lance blinked in surprise. This... girl... come with them? They didn't even know where they were going yet! And Darrin certainly didn't have the look of one used to long journeys. He told her as much.

Darrin acquired an indignant look then, and said, "I've been through quite a lot, thank you. I'll bet you have no idea what I've been through."

"And just what have you been through?" Lance asked.

* - * - *

Darrin woke suddenly. She glanced around in an attempt to see what had awakened her, but nothing disturbed the darkness of night, save for the light of torches entering the window from outside. Her friend Relm was sleeping soundly nearby. Darrin chuckled a bit at that; her parents still didn't know Relm was here. Darrin did not hear anything, either; the house was fairly quiet, except for some rustling of paper--probably her father or mother reading a book in the family room downstairs. It felt a bit warm, but who was she to complain? It was a nice contrast to the cold weather that had enveloped the area. So what had awakened her? she wondered.

Smoke. She smelled smoke.

In a sudden panic, she jumped out of her bed. Neglecting caution, she flung her door open and ran out into the hall to see where the smoke was coming from.

Her brother's room was on fire!

"Oh no!" she gasped. Then she screamed. "MOM! DAD!" she yelled as she ran down the stairs, narrowly escaping a tongue of flame that leapt from the room.

"What is it, Darrin?" asked her mother, looking up from her reading. When she noticed the panic in Darrin's face, she became worried. "What's wrong?

"Kit's room is on fire!"

Both her parents sprung to their feet, startled. "Damn," her father muttered. "I *told* Kit to stay away from those fire rods!"

"We have to get out of here!" Darrin said frantically, tugging at her mother's arm.

"You get out," her father told her firmly. "I've got to try to get him out of there. I'll need your mother's help."

"I'm going to go get help," Darrin said, dashing for the door. Just then, she remembered Relm sleeping in her room, unaware of the flames. "Uh, Dad," she said a bit nervously, "I didn't tell you or Mom, but Relm's sleeping over. She's in my room... you've got to get her out too!"

Darrin's mother narrowed her eyes for a moment. "Why didn't you tell us?" she said somewhat angrily. Then her anger dissipated in the face of necessity. "You go get Strago. We'll need his help with the fire. Your father and I will get Kit and Relm." As Darrin turned to leave, she added, "Don't worry, Darrin - we'll be okay."

"HURRY!" Darrin screamed as she turned and ran out the door.

Seconds later, an explosion behind her knocked her to her feet.

* - * - *

"I managed to get to Strago, who got two people to help. Relm and Kit were fine, but my Mom and Dad died in the fire," Darrin said, her face reflecting that painful memory.

"I'm so sorry," Ahn said, now standing as well. More to herself, she added, "I know how that feels..."

"It's been really tough," Darrin said. "I just wanted wanted to stay as far away from Thamasa as possible after that. But I've learned to take care of myself since then. And I've traveled, too--in fact, I just arrived in Maranda."

"Well, I understand your desire to get away from Thamasa," Lance said. He paused for a moment, then continued, "But why would you want to join us--strangers--when you have no idea where we're going, or even who we are?"

Darrin smiled. "I consider myself a good judge of character. And you two seem to me like definite characters." She chuckled a bit at her own joke. "But seriously, you seem like interesting people, and I'm starting to get bored of sitting around a lot, not doing much." With a shrug, she finished, "So I figured I'd just go wherever you were going."

Lance and Ahn looked at each other. Lance shrugged, and at the same time, Ahn said, "Well, if she can take care of herself, as she says..."

"Yes, that *is* what I said," Darrin told them emphatically.

Lance turned toward his home, and beckoned to Darrin. "Come on then," he said. "We're not going anywhere until my sword is finished; if you don't have someplace to stay, my sister can probably arrange something until then."

The temperature that day was mild; the sky was clouded over, forecasting a storm but also shielding the harvesters from direct sunlight. The humid air, which would have been unbearable on a hotter day, was merely a bit uncomfortable. All in all, it was a fairly good day to be working outside, even if the work itself was not that exciting. As the four worked, they told each other bits and pieces of stories to relieve the tedium of the work--all except Ahn, who remained quiet.

The morning passed quickly, and it seemed only a short time before Danica called a halt for lunch. As Darrin climbed down from the tree she was in, Danica, Lance, and Ahn slowly emptied their baskets into the rapidly filling barrel so as to bruise as few of the fruits as possible. When they had emptied the baskets, they set them down next to the barrel and headed inside. Once they reached the kitchen, Danica immediately headed for the breadbox to slice some bread for sandwiches; Lance went to the cupboard and took dishes out for the four of them. Lance and Danica went through this routine every time Lance returned to Maranda and stayed with his sister, though they usually did not have guests. Lance then poured water to drink, as Danica made the cattle-meat sandwiches that were common for lunches, speeding through the task with the ease of experience. Within minutes, the four were seated around the table eating.

The table was quiet while the four ate. The sandwiches were quickly finished--none of the four had eaten breakfast--and Danica got up to make seconds. Lance, noticing a couple of empty cups, also got up and headed over to the water jug, bringing it back to the table to refill the cups. The second helping went a little more slowly, but just as quietly; all four were thinking to the work still ahead of them.

After lunch and a short rest, they headed back outside to continue their work. Danica headed back inside every now and then to check on the progress of a stew she was going to serve for supper. By the time the sun had set, two of the three barrels on the side of the house had been filled, the third was mostly so, and there were still apples left on the ground. "I don't think I've ever seen that many fall in one season," Danica commented, "even taking into account that we picked some from the trees as well." Then she noticed the bin where they had tossed the rotten or worm-eaten apples; it was nearly empty. "And with so few bad ones... well, no one's going to be short on apples anytime soon." She chuckled. Then she glanced up at the sky, which was still overcast and now quickly darkening. "Looks like it's going to rain any moment now. C'mon, let's get inside and eat." No sooner had she said that than she felt a raindrop land squarely on her head. She and the others quickened their pace.

As the four entered the house, the rain had passed the "drizzle" stage, and was quickly approaching the volume of a full rainstorm. Darrin, the last one in, nearly slammed the door in her haste to get out of the rapidly strengthening storm. Safely inside, Danica headed to the kitchen to finish preparing the stew she had started earlier. Lance, Ahn, and Darrin sat down in the living room to wait.

"So, Ahn," Darrin said conversationally as Lance began to unlace his boots, "you haven't been talking much today."

Ahn shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "No... I suppose I haven't," she said in a soft voice. She pushed her hands a bit farther under her lap.

Lance looked up from removing his left boot. "Is something wrong, Ahn?" he asked, a bit concerned. He, too, had noticed her silence. But with the newcomer Darrin around, it could probably be attributed to her shyness. Probably.

"No, nothing," Ahn said quickly. She seemed to want to say something more, but was unable to find the words to express it.

"You're just a little shy, is all?" Darrin said, though it wasn't really a question by her tone of voice. Both Lance and Ahn looked at her in surprise at such a forward statement, and an uncomfortable silence stretched for several seconds.

"Yes..." Ahn said finally. "Yes, that's it exactly."

Almost at the same time, Darrin said, a bit apologetically, "I didn't mean to pry... but I thought that maybe if you talked about it, you wouldn't feel so shy anymore."

"No, that's all right," Ahn told her. "I'm uncomfortable around people. I know that. I try not to be, but... I am."

"Well," Darrin suggested, "maybe if you can figure out why you're uncomfortable, you can get over it." Implicit in that, all three understood, was a suggestion that Ahn tell something of her background. Another silence ensued, as Lance and Darrin waited for Ahn to speak, and Ahn struggled with her own fears.

"Lance!" Danica called, shattering the silence. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Coming," Lance called back. Then he turned to Darrin and Ahn, and shrugged. "Well, I guess supper will be ready shortly," he told them. He stood up and started toward the hallway. Within two steps, however, he realized something was wrong: specifically, he could not lift his boot. Looking down, he saw that he had forgotten to remove his boots after unlacing them, and had stepped on one of the laces. He bent down to take the boots off with a chuckle shared by the others which relieved much of the tension in the room.

* - * - *

The four sat down at the dining room table as Danica ladled stew into the last of the bowls and set them out. They waited until Danica served herself and sat down, then all dived hungrily into the food. It had been a long, hard, dull day of work, and they were relieved that it was over. The stew, they found, was quite good. Mixed into the broth were peas, sliced-up carrots, and corn, along with bits of buffalax meat; and Danica had added some spice to liven the taste. Lance had always complimented her on the quality of that stew--with good reason--so it was no surprise to him that she had chosen to make it tonight. But tonight it seemed even better than usual; Danica was obviously trying to impress the guests. Their comments within the next minute indicated beyond a doubt that she had succeeded.

"This is delicious!" Darrin exclaimed around a mouthful of stew.

"Yes... it tastes good," Ahn agreed after swallowing a small spoonful.

Lance nodded. "Well, you won't find better anywhere else," he told then, then shot a smile at his sister.

"Oh, Lance, stop it," Danica said in mock protest.

"Well, it's the truth," Lance retorted in the same vein. He took another spoonful from the bowl and swallowed it, then added, "If you don't want it to be the best, I can always take ashes from the fireplace and dump them in." Everyone chuckled. Then a bit of stew spurted out the corner of Darrin's mouth.

"Oops," she said, blushing and quickly wiping the spillage up with her cloth napkin. But that only provoked more chuckling, which blossomed into full-blown laughter as mouthfuls of stew were hurriedly swallowed. Lance was pleased to see that even Ahn was laughing.

As they calmed down, they continued eating, though occasionally one of them would chuckle for no apparent reason. The bowls were not particularly large, and within a few minutes, Darrin was already asking for seconds. Danica got up, took her bowl, and refilled it, bringing back with it some sliced bread as a side dish. They each took a slice, though Ahn merely put her slice beside her bowl on the table and continued eating her stew. A short time later, Lance also finished his bowl of stew, and went to the pot to refill it--though only partway, as the stew was quite filling.

As they finished their supper, Danica said, "Thank you so much for your help with the apples. It usually takes me the better part of a week to do all." She looked then at Lance with barely suppressed mirth in her eyes. "And it was *so* nice of you to drop by just in time, Lance." A chuckle escaped her then.

"Well, it's not *my* fault I'm busy most of the time," he protested, but he could not help the grin on his face. He and Danica had been through this many times before. And indeed, seconds later, Danica grabbed Lance in a tight hug, which he returned.

"So..." Danica and Lance released each other after a moment, and Danica addressed the two guests. "Do either of you read? We have a small library here..." At an enthusiastic nod from Darrin and a more reserved one from Ahn, she and Lance led them toward the rear of the house and the library.

* - * - *

Danica roused them the next morning at daybreak. To their complaints, she pointed out that if they finished with the apples that day, they'd be free to relax afterwards until Lance's sword was ready-- and if they didn't, they'd have to put up with her pestering for another day. So Lance, Ahn, and Darrin got themselves out of bed, washed up, and changed into their dayclothes. By the time they made their way to the dining room, Danica had set out a breakfast of toasted bread, apple jelly, and eggs, and she was pouring glasses of water as they entered. They sat down at the table as Danica filled her own glass; then they all started eating--except for Ahn, who looked at her plate with distaste. "I don't like eggs," she said quietly, looking up at Danica.

"Oh dear... I'm sorry. I didn't know..." Danica apologized, and quickly reached across the table to take the egg off Ahn's plate. She deposited it on her own plate, and apologized again.

"You didn't know. It's not your fault," Ahn told her, then picked up the knife beside her plate and started spreading jelly on her toast.

Breakfast was eaten in relative silence after that; between the incident at the table and the dreary-looking weather outside, no one was in a very good mood. One by one, they finished eating, got up from the table, and headed to the living room to put on boots in preparation for the day's work. Danica was the last of the four to finish, and as she arose from the table and collected the dishes to put in the sink for later washing, the others headed toward the front door.

Shortly they were all outside, surveying the apple orchard. The previous night's storm had left its mark: the ground was quite muddy, and there were even puddles of standing water in a few places. The sky was still overcast, though it did not hold the threat of another storm, as if the clouds had expended all their energy in the downpour and were simply waiting to be dispersed by the sun. Then, without a word, the four picked up the buckets they had left by the side of the house, and began collecting the rest of the apples.

The mood remained subdued for about the next hour and a half, though the work proceeded fairly quickly. Then they were interrupted by a startled exclamation from one of the apple trees. It was followed in short order by a cracking branch, a thud, and a cry of pain. Lance, Danica, and Ahn immediately came to the same conclusion.

"Darrin!" Danica shouted in alarm. She hurried toward the site of the disturbance. Once there, she saw Darrin kneeling on the ground, a grimace of pain on her face; a broken-off part of a branch of the tree lay on the ground beside her. There were a couple of rips in her clothing, and minor scratches on her hands and face. "Oh, Goddesses, Darrin!" Danica cried, kneeling down in front of her. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"One of those branches had the--ow!--had the audacity to slip out from under me," Darrin told her.

"Well," came Lance's voice from behind Danica, "she can't be too badly off if she's cracking jokes." He chuckled. He and Ahn had arrived shortly after Danica had.

"But," Darrin continued with a gasp of pain, "I think my left knee hit a rock when I landed." She lifted the knee off the ground, and surely enough, there was a small red stain on her trousers, as well as a small hole in the material. Below her knee lay the offending stone, gray and silent.

"Oh dear!" said Danica. She carefully lifted the leg of the trousers up to see how much damage had been done. The skin turned out to only be punctured in one place, and that puncture was small; but there was already a large, ugly bruise on the knee. "Come on," she said to Darrin, lowering the pants leg, "let's get you inside and see what we can do about that." She stood up, then helped Danica to stand as well, and they started off slowly toward the house, followed by Lance and Ahn. The baskets remained where they had been dropped at the sound of Darrin's cry, forgotten for the moment.

Inside, Danica quickly seated Darrin in a nearby chair, then dashed to the kitchen for two bowls, two cloths, and some soapsand and water. Lance and Ahn seated themselves in other chairs, giving Danica room to work. Darrin waited patiently; the pain of the fall had subsided a bit and was easier to bear.

Danica returned shortly with her materials, and quickly set to work. She first took some soapsand, wet it, and scrubbed her hands thoroughly; the soapsand lathered as Danica scrubbed, dissolving in the water to create an effective cleansing agent. When Danica was certain her hands were clean, she took another handful of the soapsand, neglecting the fact that her wet hands caused some of the sand to dissolve in the pot, lathered it, and then began attacking the abrasions on Darrin's skin. After cleaning Darrin's hands and the cut on her cheek, Danica glanced down at Darrin's left knee, and Darrin obligingly lifted the pants leg to allow Danica to clean the cut made by the rock. Darrin winced at both the pain of Danica putting pressure on the bruise and the sting of soap on the open cut, but did not cry out; within moments, Danica was finished. She rinsed her hands off, then wet part of the cloth in the clean bowl of water and rinsed the soap off Darrin's skin, dabbing it off so as not to add to any of the injuries. Once that was done, she dried her own hands on the dry portion of the cloth, then, with the second, completely dry cloth, repeated the dabbing process, now drying Darrin's skin off.

Finally, Danica put the cloth down, finished, and looked critically at the knee wound. The scratches on Darrin's hands and cheek would heal quickly, she knew, but the cut on her knee would take longer--it had already begun to bleed again--and the bruise would remain there for two or three weeks at least. "Let me get something to put on that," she said, then picked up the bowls and cloths and hurried back to the kitchen. She returned in a moment with a small piece of cloth and two pieces of adhesive tape. She put the cloth on the cut and fixed it in place with the tape; then she stood up and looked Darrin over. "You'd better stay in for the rest of the day," she said. Darrin nodded, though she clearly didn't like having to stay inside while everyone else was outside, even if they were working and she wasn't. "You can go get some books to read, if you want," Danica continued. "Just don't go running around--you're too likely to fall and do something worse to that knee."

Darrin nodded again. "I understand," she said. "And thanks." More to herself, she added, "Dad always said this would happen eventually..." She shrugged, then looked back at Danica. "You can get back to work. Don't let me keep you from finishing up."

"Of course," Danica replied. With a glance at Lance and Ahn, she headed back outside; Lance and Ahn followed her. They retrieved their baskets and once more started collecting apples. Within an hour, the last of the three barrels of apples had been filled to the top. "Well," Danica said after calling them over, "this looks like all we're going to get. Let's stop for lunch, and we can roll these over to Galen afterwards. The owner of the food store," she explained to Ahn. "He buys the apples I collect each fall."

They went inside, and Danica put together some sandwiches for lunch. Lance had saved a few apples in his basket, and he brought them to the kitchen for Danica to slice up. She did so, and put a pot of honey on the table for dipping. The four ate lunch then, finishing quickly so as to get to the rest of the work and finish it as soon as possible. After lunch, they headed back out toward the front door; Danica told Darrin where they were going, and admonished her again not to take any chances with her knee.

But Darrin had other ideas. "Wait!" she said. "I want to help with that!"

Lance looked at her curiously. "Why?" he asked. "It's just dull work, rolling the barrels around and then counting out all the apples and making sure no bad ones got by. You ought to feel lucky Danica won't make you do it."

"I just want to," Darrin said stubbornly.

Lance and Danica both shrugged. "Well, if that's what you want, we'll wait until tomorrow," Danica told her.

So much the better, for Darrin was as well. She had learned to read at an early age, and it had been one of her favorite rainy-day activities before the accident that had destroyed her house over a year ago. Since that time, though, she had never really found a chance to read. Now she headed immediately for a shelf which, she had discovered last night, held all the works of Maer Lomel, her favorite author by far. Lomel was an incredibly prolific writer; she had turned out over three dozen books in her fifty years, and she was still going strong. She wrote mostly fiction, but had also authored a few non-fiction books, including a book on her methods of writing, which Darrin intended to look through when she had a good long time to do so. At the moment, Darrin was in the middle of re-reading a series of novels by Lomel about a world in which dragons and humans lived together but apart, their two societies separated by mutual distrust, and two people, one human and one draconic, who set out to bring the two groups together. The series was long--eleven books, and not yet finished--for which Darrin liked it that much more. As she pulled the first book off the shelf, she marveled at its near-perfect condition: the leather cover was hardly worn, and not a single page had a folded edge. She opened it to the point at which she had left off the previous evening and began to read. The thought crossed her mind that she really should be getting to know Lance, Ahn, and Danica better, but she paid it no heed; the novel had captured her immediate interest. She settled down in a comfortable chair and began to read.

About three-quarters of a book later, Darrin felt a tap on her shoulder just as a slight shadow fell over the pages she was reading. She looked up to see Lance standing in front of her. Guessing that he had come to tell her that supper was ready, she inserted a bookmark and closed the book, then stood up from the chair and headed to the shelf to put the book away.

"You must really enjoy reading," Lance commented. "I called from the doorway to tell you that supper was ready, and you didn't even blink."

"I do," Darrin replied as she returned the book to its shelf. "Especially these books. Maer Lomel is a great writer, and her Dragonworld novels are my favorites." She started toward the doorway. "If you get a chance, you might want to read them sometime."

"Maybe." Lance shrugged, following Darrin out of the library. "I don't read much."

When they reached the dining room, Danica and Ahn were already seated at the table. Danica had made a salad for that night's supper; it consisted primarily of various greens, with slices of tomato and onion tossed in. As Darrin sat down, she also caught a glimpse of a pie sitting on the countertop, nearly hidden behind other miscellaneous utensils. /Apple, no doubt,/ she thought with a wry mental grin. There were a few bottles of salad dressing in the center of the table, but she ignored them; she preferred to eat her salad plain, often to the mild surprise of others. As, she noted, the case was tonight; she caught glances from Lance and Danica as she started to eat, though Ahn seemed not to notice.

/Ahn, indeed./ If anyone wouldn't have noticed or wondered, it would likely have been Ahn. It *could* have simply been a difference in taste, but Ahn seemed to be sampling each of the dressings, as though she'd never seen them before, despite the fact that they were rather standard fare with salads. Indeed, perhaps she hadn't. There was something odd about her, something that didn't quite fit. Something didn't *feel* right about her, to Darrin's mental senses. Not that she would ever pry about it; such a thing would go against every fiber of her being. But she still felt... odd.

Oh well. It was not an important matter at the moment; Ahn would explain if and when she wanted to. Meanwhile, she had a salad to eat, and in all likelihood, a slice or two of pie later. And, as it turned out roughly fifteen minutes later, she was right. Danica collected the empty plates from the table, then excused herself and headed to the counter. "I had to do *something* with all those extra apples we have this year," she said, moving things around, "so..." She turned back to the others to reveal an apple pie.

"Danica..." Lance said, shaking his head but with a smile on his face. "You are just too predictable." He rose from his seat, took the pie from her, set it down on the table, and embraced her, all in one seemingly smooth motion.

"Well, do you want this pie or not?" Danica said after a moment, and chuckled. Lance gave her a final squeeze, then let go. He went to one of the cabinets and pulled out four dessert plates and forks to go with them; Darrin brought a knife to the table and began cutting the pie into slices as Lance placed the plates and forks around the table. Danica distributed a slice to each of the four, and they began eating; within minutes, all but Ahn were on their second slice. Darrin was nearly done with hers, and after asking the others' permission, took the last slice from the pan.

As they all finished and got up from the table, Danica said to Darrin, "If you want to help us out tomorrow, you should get some sleep now and give your knee a chance to start healing. I'll be done here in a few minutes and check on you, if there's anything you need."

Darrin nodded. As she started toward the hallway and the room that she shared with Danica, she grimaced as the pain in her knee suddenly flared up. She mastered it quickly, though, and reached the room without further mishap. She changed into her nightclothes and climbed into the bed, relishing both its comfort and the fact that it took weight off of her injured knee, and waited for Danica.

Danica arrived a few minutes later as she had promised, holding a bag in one hand. An icebag, Darrin realized, and she pulled the covers aside enough to allow Danica to place the icebag on her knee. She winced involuntarily as the ice made itself felt quickly through the skin of the bag, but as the cold spread over her knee, the discomfort lessened. "Anything else you need?" Danica asked as she pulled the covers back over Darrin again.

"Well..." Darrin paused, trying to determine how Danica would take her next request, then continued, "Would you mind reading out of a novel to me? It's something I like having people do once in a while, especially when I'm sick..."

Danica shrugged. "Sure. Did you have a specific book in mind?"

Darrin breathed a mental sigh of relief; she had guessed correctly. Had she known Danica better, she could have been more sure, but it had worked out anyway. "Yeah. _Falling Out_, by Maer Lomel. Second book in the Dragonworld series, if you've read it. It should have a bookmark in it."

"Ah, you like those books too?" Danica said with a smile. "Sure. I'll be right back."

Danica returned in a couple of minutes with the novel. Even in that short time, though, Darrin had begun to yawn. She was more tired than she had thought. Perhaps the injury had something to do with that; she recalled hearing once that the body used sleeping time to speed recovery from injuries. As Danica started reading, Darrin began to picture the scenes in her mind, but before long, Danica's voice became a background buzz as Darrin slowly succumbed to sleep.

* - * - *

When Darrin awoke the next morning, the sky was just beginning to lighten outside her window. She yawned, then pulled the covers aside, sat up, and stretched. She was about to swing her legs over the side of the bed when she realized that there was something on her right knee. She looked down to see what it was just as she recalled the icebag Danica had placed there the previous night. The ice, of course, had melted, as the heat of her body had warmed it considerably overnight. She lifted the bag from her knee and set it on the table next to her bed, noting that the bruise underneath was looking a bit better than it had last night, then stood up and stretched again. She then went to the bathroom to relieve herself and wash up; after that, she returned to her room and dressed for the day.

Since no one else was up yet, Darrin decided to get a bit of reading in before the day's work started. A quick glance at her bedside table told her that Danica had not left the book there. Darrin had expected as much, but it never hurt to check. So she tiptoed down the hallway, carrying her bedside lamp with her to provide light to see by in the still-dark passage. After a dozen steps or so, she recognized the library door, and opened it slowly so as not to make any noise. She then walked quietly to the bookshelves, set her lamp on a nearby table, pulled out the second Dragonworld novel, opened it to where Danica had left off the previous night, sat down, and began reading.

Some time later, she heard approaching footsteps, and looked up from the book to see Danica in the doorway. "Now how did I know I'd find you here?" Danica said with a smile. Darrin marked her position with the bookmark, closed the book, and set it on the table; then she rose from the chair and headed toward the doorway. "Breakfast is ready," Danica continued, and started down the hall toward the dining room, Darrin following her.

"How's your knee doing?" Danica inquired as they walked.

"Pretty well, I think," Darrin replied. "It hasn't hurt at all this morning, though it still looks ugly."

"Good," Danica said. "It'll keep looking like that for a while, but as long as you don't bump it again, it should be fine otherwise."

When the two reached the dining room, Lance and Ahn were already seated at the table and eating. Darrin and Danica joined them and started on their own food. Breakfast that morning consisted of corn-bread muffins with butter and glasses of water; nothing remarkable, but it would hold them until lunch.

Afterward, they headed outside and around to the side of the house where the apple barrels stood, all three completely full. "We need to cover these and roll 'em down to Galen's," Danica said. Suiting action to words, she picked up one of the barrel lids leaning against the side of the house and lifted it over the barrel that stood before her. The lids were ingeniously designed: there were three flat "prongs" spaced evenly around the circumference of the lid, which fit into three indentations in the rim of the barrel. Connected to the indentations were narrow tracks through with the prongs moved; the fit was tight enough that it took some force to rotate the lid. Each track was, at the end, cut a bit wider, so that the prongs would tend to lock in place and resist being rotated back through the tight tracks. The end result was that, once the lid was in place, it would not accidentally come off while the barrel was being rolled around.

Danica proceeded to fit the lid onto the first barrel and lock it into place; Lance took another lid and sealed the second. The third barrel, though, turned out to be a bit too full; when Danica tried to fit the lid on, there were a couple of apples in the way. So she tossed Darrin, Ahn, and Lance each an apple. Darrin caught the apple thrown her way, shrugged, and began eating it. Meanwhile, Danica locked the last lid onto the third barrel; then she and Lance, who had set his apple down, carefully tipped the barrels over onto their sides.

Once the three barrels rested comfortable on the ground, Danica directed Lance to take one barrel and Ahn and Darrin to take another as she herself began rolling the third toward the street. Lance followed with his barrel; then Ahn and Darrin rolled theirs after Danica and Lance. The barrels were massive, but once they had started rolling, it became easier to keep them moving.

Within a couple of minutes, three barrels were rolling along the street in front of the Adairs' house. Darrin focused most of her attention on keeping her and Ahn's barrel moving in a straight line, but saw heads turn as they traveled, and heard a couple of compliments given to Danica about the apparent size of the apple crop this year.

After going down the street a ways, they turned a corner and continued down another street to the right. Then Darrin saw a middle-aged man come out of a building and jog up to Danica. He was quite short, a few inches shorter than Darrin, though well-proportioned for his size. He sported very dark hair, almost black, with a thick beard of the same color. Danica stopped, and Darrin and Ahn quickly took hold of their barrel to stop it as well.

"Danica!" the man greeted her. Then he glanced over Lance, Darrin, and Ahn. "I see you found yourself some helpers this year."

Danica nodded, then introduced them each in turn. "My brother Lance I think you know, even if he does make a special effort to disappear right around this time of year." All three shared a chuckle at that. "And Ahn and Darrin are new friends of ours." Turning to Ahn and Darrin, she said, "This is Galen, the shopkeeper I sell my apples to."

"Pleased to meet you," Galen said to them. Then, to Danica, he continued, "I see you've had quite a harvest. All three barrels along this time."

"You'll be surprised," Danica told him with a little smile, then started back in the direction of Galen's store. Lance, Darrin, and Ahn followed. Rather than entering through the front door, however, they turned into an alley next to the store. Galen inserted a key into an angled door set near the base of the wall, turned it, then opened the door, revealing a stone ramp leading down to what was presumably a cellar. Galen stepped inside first, ducking under the low doorway, then took hold of Danica's barrel from the other side and began to guide it down the ramp. Danica repeated the same procedure with Lance's barrel, and Lance did the same with Darrin and Ahn's. Finally, Darrin and Ahn stepped under the doorway and into the cellar.

The room was fairly large, though not enormous; there were a number of crates and barrels around the walls, a set of stairs led to a door in the left-hand wall, and a square wooden platform about five feet on a side was set into the floor, about three feet below floor level--for what purpose, Darrin was not sure, although it might be used for holding something. The room was lit by a number of oil lamps set on the upper shelves; the stone walls themselves were bare, except for a couple of cobwebs in the corners.

Once the barrels had been rolled down the ramp and onto the cellar floor, Galen took one over to the wooden platform. After rotating it so that the lid end was over the platform, he knelt down and, with Danica holding the barrel steady, unlocked the lid and removed it. The apples immediately began pouring out--and, to Danica's surprise, the platform began to fall into the floor! The surprise must have been evident on her face, for Galen smiled and explained that the platform was mounted on springs, and fell as more weight was put on it.

Within a few minutes, all three barrels had been emptied into the pit, and despite the springs beneath the platform, the pile of apples rose to a peak about a foot above floor level. While Lance and Danica were finishing with the last barrel, Galen had taken some flat, partitioned crates down from a shelf and set them a short distance from the apples. He directed Darrin's and Ahn's attention to them. "We use these to count out the apples. They're divided into ten spaces on a side, so a hundred apples will fit in one. Make sure you check the apples for serious bruises, wormholes and the like, and set any such aside--we can use them to make things like applesauce and apple cider later." At that point, Lance rolled the last barrel to the side; Galen passed crates around to everyone, and the counting began.

* - * - *

"Forty... forty-five... fifty-two... fifty-eight. Four thousand four hundred fifty-eight apples," Galen finally announced, his tone both surprised and pleased. "You were right," he told Danica, "that was an unusually large harvest." He took the last crates over to the shelf with the rest of the apples, most already boxed up for moving into the main store area. As it turned out, only a couple dozen bad apples had found their way into the barrels, and those had been placed in a separate box. "So for those, I pay you..." He did some rapid mental calculations, mumbling aloud in the process. "Thirty-one thousand two hundred six gold pieces?" He glanced up at Danica; when she nodded, he continued, "I'll be back in a moment. Oh--the lunch is on the house, as usual," he added, referring to the sandwiches he had brought them at midday.

As he headed for the door leading to the store itself, Danica explained to Darrin and Ahn, "Galen pays me seven GP for each apple I sell him. Then he resells them for ten GP apiece. That way, I get enough money to live reasonably well, and he uses the profits to help run the store." Lance, meanwhile, was locking the lids back onto the barrels in preparation for taking them back to the house.

A moment later, Galen returned holding a small sack of coins. He handed it to Danica, who accepted it with a smile and a "thank you". Then he helped the others roll the barrels back up the ramp and out of the cellar, though they were light enough now that they could each be handled by one person easily, even Darrin. Once they were out of the cellar, Galen gave them a final farewell wave before locking the cellar door and returning to his store.

As they approached the Adairs' house, Danica asked Ahn to take the barrel she was handling around to the side of the house, then headed inside. As Darrin followed Lance and Ahn with her barrel, she could not help but be curious as to why Danica had headed inside early. Not that there was any reason for her not to... but there wasn't any reason for her to do so, either.

The answer became apparent a moment later, after the three now-empty barrels were once again standing against the side of the house. As Darrin, Lance, and Ahn headed back to the front door, Danica came out of the house holding what four of what seemed to be--no, they *were*--fishing poles. "I figured we ought to reward ourselves for having finished that work," she said as she approached. "What do you all think of going fishing?"

"N-no, I... haven't," Ahn replied quietly, seeming to pull herself inwards, as if the sea was some evil creature she was doing her best to hide from. Her gaze was focused on the wooden planks beneath her.

"Well, there's nothing to be worried about," Lance reassured her. "The sea--" He stood up and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "--is just like a large lake. It's just water; it won't hurt you, even if you fall in. And the pier is perfectly solid." He lifted his foot and stomped down on the boards for emphasis. Ahn cringed as he did so, but the wooden structure didn't shift in the slightest. "See?" he told her. "Nothing to be worried about."

"But..." Ahn started. "But it's so... big..."

"Just think of it as a big lake," Lance suggested again. "That's all it is, really. A lake that covers a large part of the world." At his last remark, Ahn huddled down even further. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Ahn seemed to hesitate, as if she were trying to work up the courage to speak. "When I lived..." she began, but then trailed off, as if unwilling to continue.

"Go on..." Lance encouraged.

"When I was young," she started again, "the place where I lived had only streams, and some small lakes. You could always see to the other side of the lakes, and even when you couldn't, you knew that it wasn't far away." She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "What you say about the sea... it frightens me to imagine."

Lance stepped toward her and put an arm about her shoulders. "Maybe you just need some time to get used to it, then. Why don't you come and sit on the bench, where you can look along the shore?" He looked down at her, awaiting her answer.

After a moment, she raised her head slightly, and said, "Maybe... maybe you're right. Maybe I do need to get used to it..." She rose slowly, hands clasped tightly together in front of her, eyes still focused on the wooden planks beneath them. She let him guide her to the bench on which he had been sitting; then she turned around and seated herself, her back against the firm wooden railing. As Lance walked past her and sat down at her right side, she lifted her gaze, bit by bit, until she was looking directly ahead.

The shoreline extended in a nearly straight westward line for several kilometers, at least as far as the horizon. Sand stretched inland for perhaps twenty meters before giving way to grasses and other small coastal plants; rocky strands jutting out into the sea occasionally interrupted the off-white expanse. Maranda's port was visible in the distance; several ships were docked there, and one was just leaving toward the west, perhaps heading for Jidoor. A few seabirds called through the air above, and the afternoon sun's light reflected brightly off the waters ahead, making the crests of waves seem to sparkle. A cool breeze blew in from the sea, constant but light.

Ahn stared at the scene for a long moment, and it seemed to Lance that she was almost forcing herself not to look away from it and back toward the reassuring sight of the solid ground they had come from. But she seemed to gradually become more comfortable with it, and Lance took the time to enjoy the view himself. He relished the chance to simply relax, without having to worry about what job he would have to look for tomorrow or how long it would take to complete.

The peaceful silence of the moment was shattered by Darrin's cry of "I've got one!" Lance turned his head sharply in her direction, and saw that her fishing line had indeed gone taut. She had already grabbed the line and was starting to pull it in. Or try, anyway, as whatever was on the other end seemed to be putting up a considerable fight. Danica quickly set her pole down, leaning it against the railing, then took hold of Darrin's line. Between the two of them, they slowly pulled the line in, to reveal, dangling from the hook...

"Seaweed!?" Darrin exclaimed. "After all that trouble, all I get is *seaweed*?"

Lance chuckled from behind them. "That stuff can put up a nasty fight," he said. Darrin favored him with a "stop-mocking-me" glance before kneeling down to get the green stuff off of the hook.

"It's all right, Darrin." Danica sat down beside the distraught girl to help. "Most of the sea grasses are just as edible as fish, and I know some that taste great in a stew."

"Yeah," Darrin replied, somewhat placated, "but I was expecting something more... more interesting."

Danica patted her on the back. "Well, who knows? Maybe next time you'll pull in a... whoa!" she interrupted herself as her own fishing pole rattled against the railing. She sprang up, grabbed it, jerked the line toward her to set the hook, then started pulling it in. At the end, a large trout thrashed around, attempting to free itself.

As Danica pulled it up over the railing to set it down, Darrin pouted. "See, now you get the real fish." Then she chuckled to show that her distress was not genuine.

"Oh, you," Danica said in mock annoyance. Then, after she detached the fish from the hook, she picked it up and slapped Darrin lightly on the face with its still-wiggling tail.

"Hey!" Darrin protested, grabbing the fish from Danica and slapping her back. Then they both chuckled, along with Lance. "Ew, now we're both wet." Darrin grimaced through her laughter and wiped the side of her face with her arm.

After putting the fish into an ice-filled bucket they had brought along for the purpose, they cast their lines out to sea again, their laughter having settled down into an occasional chuckle. Lance returned to his seat next to Ahn, who was now staring out at the open sea. As he looked at her, she seemed to be almost daring the sea to attack her--and at the same time, mortally afraid that it would. Slowly, though, her gaze became less intense. "So big..." she whispered. "So much water..."

"Are you a bit more comfortable out here now?" Lance asked, quietly so as not to startle her.

"Yes... I think so," she replied in the same tone, not moving her head at all. Lance heard the uncertainty in her voice, but did not press her; she'd be fine with enough time, he thought. He shrugged, and started to stand, intending to retrieve his own fishing pole and attempt to catch something. Just then, though, a particularly strong breeze came in from the sea, blowing Ahn's long hair around, and Lance caught a glimpse of her right ear. He sat back down, startled into silence.

"Ahn..." he said slowly after a moment, "what happened to your ear?"

Ahn turned her head sharply to face him, the shock on her face a mirror of what he himself felt. She emitted a soundless scream, and jumped to her feet as if to dash away, but she slowly mastered the impulse and sat down again. "I cannot hide forever," she said quietly, seemingly to herself. She reached behind her back and gathered her hair up, revealing her left ear. Like the other, it came to a slightly raised point at the top, rather than being smooth and round. The disfiguration was small, enough so that her hair hid it easily, but definitely noticeable. Then Ahn placed her hands, palms down, on her legs, letting her hair fall back into place. Lance looked down at them.

Each hand had only four fingers.

He looked back up at her, staring in renewed shock. "What... who... are you?" he whispered.

She gazed directly back at him; written in her eyes was resignation mixed with fear, and below that, an irrevocable loss of such magnitude that Lance could not begin to fathom it. Then she spoke. "I am an elf," she told him, her voice even softer than usual; he had to strain to make the words out. "And, I believe, the last of the elves."

If Lance had thought he could not be surprised further, he was wrong. /An *elf*?/ His mind reeled. /But... that's not possible! Elves are creatures of fairy-tales, myths! They don't exist! This is the real world, not one of elves, mermaids, and magic.../ There he faltered. Magic did indeed exist, as had been more than adequately proven in the past year and a half. And if magic existed, then anything was possible. But still...

"We have... had... lived underground since the Great War over three thousand years ago, a war between elves and humans," Ahn continued, ever so slightly louder. "Since then, memory of the war faded, and memory of humans as well, until you were no more than a myth to us, the race that forced us into our underground home. We had become used to living inside the earth, to the dimmer light provided by our torches, to the different variety of foods we could grow. When my grandfather was a child, only stories remained of the upper world, and only one written account of the flight itself, sealed away in the records chamber. We all learned of the one route to the surface, but no one ever thought that it would actually be used again.

"Twenty years ago, when I was not even twenty years old, one of our... explorers found a box hidden away in what was almost a maze of passages. It was made of wood, about an arm's length wide--no, less, I think--and half that high and deep. It was very old, over three thousand years old, but the box was made of very thick wood, and it was still intact. When it was brought to our Prince, he declared a holiday, saying it was likely something from the very first days of our underground living. Everyone came to the central square, where the Prince had had the box taken for a public opening. It was on a high stand, so everyone could see it. Once everyone had arrived, he walked up to it... and opened it." Her last two words were filled with intense horror and fear.

"What... what was in the box?" Lance asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

"Nothing..." Ahn said. "Just a lot of dust. But... but it wasn't dust." She shuddered for a moment, then rushed on. "A moment later, wisps of black smoke rose from the box, then became a cloud, a big black cloud that started filling up the room. Everyone looked around, worried, and then the Prince... he... he started choking! And then the people next to him did, and then the Prince fell down, and more people started choking, and the black cloud just kept getting bigger and bigger and people started dying and--and everybody started running--and then--" Her monologue was cut off by her sobbing, and she threw her arms around Lance and held him tightly, laying her head on his shoulder as her tears flowed freely.

"Dear Goddesses..." Lance whispered, shocked yet again. A weapon... it must have been that. He did not know how he knew, but he was certain; no other answer made sense. A weapon, planted by those humans thousands of years before when they knew their enemy was escaping. They must have sent someone along to bury it, to ensure that the humans would eventually be victorious. A weapon capable of killing thousands, hundreds of thousands, in a single blow.... And it had worked. Worked almost to perfection, destroying--no, murdering--an entire race for the vengeance of some commander three thousand years dead. Now Lance realized the depth of her loss, and he embraced her roughly, letting her cry out her pain. He knew that nothing could ever make up for such a tragedy, but the least he could do was offer her comfort.

Some time later, she gently loosened herself from his grasp and lifted her head again, her eyes red from her tears. She sniffled a couple of times, wiped her eyes dry with her forearm, then began to speak again. "I was near the back, with my uncle. He grabbed my arm and we both started running for the passage to the surface. There were a lot of people behind us, but we were closest to that passage when everyone started running. But the cloud came after us faster, and we heard people dying behind us as we hurried toward the surface. But we almost made it... almost. We were maybe a minute from the exit when the cloud caught up with us. My uncle... Earlier, he told me to try to get out even if he didn't make it. I told him of course he would. And we were so close..." She took a deep breath before continuing. "The cloud caught up with us, and he fell down, choking like everyone else. As he fell, he gave me one last push forward. As if I needed it." Then she stopped for a moment. "The cloud reached me a few seconds later... I felt nothing. I was scared out of my wits, wondering if maybe the coughing only started after breathing the cloud, and how much it was going to hurt when it happened, because I knew I couldn't hold my breath that long.... But I ran all the way to the surface exit and got out without feeling a thing. I don't know how, or why, but that cloud spared me when it killed everyone else. And so I have lived by myself for the last twenty years... lost. I have nothing except memory left."

Lance remained silent after Ahn finished her story. There was nothing to say; she had lived through more in twenty years--more, in fact, in those twenty minutes, or however long it had taken the cloud to perform its deed--than anyone should have had to live through in a lifetime.

Only after a moment did the two of them realize that Darrin and Danica were standing nearby. "You heard?" Ahn asked simply.

Danica nodded. "Most of it, anyway," she replied. Another moment of silence passed. Then she said, "Well, I'd better head back to the house and see about getting supper started. Darrin..." She looked down at the girl. "Would you come and help me with it, please?" Darrin nodded solemnly to her, and they set off toward the town, leaving Lance and Ahn alone.

For the next several minutes, elf and human sat on the bench, looking down the shoreline. Activity at the harbor had decreased markedly, as people began to head back to their houses for the night. The sun had dropped a bit lower in the sky and had taken on a bit of a reddish tinge, reflected by a few high-altitude clouds. Birds still called overhead, the sea breeze still blew, and waves still lapped at the sandy shore. One could not tell from appearances that a startling revelation had just taken place.

"You don't think anyone else escaped?" Lance asked finally, gaze still on the scene ahead of him. "Another exit, perhaps, or..."

"No," Ahn told him. "After I escaped to the surface, I had to stop and catch my breath before going any further. If anyone else had survived, they would have made it out by then." She paused. "I gave up hope a long time ago."

She fell silent, and neither spoke again for several minutes more. Lance was still trying to cope with the enormity of what he had learned: myths becoming real, a story of a weapon designed to destroy an entire race... He was almost tempted to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming. But the reality of the situation would not be denied.

Some time later, Ahn broke the silence. "I... I should go back there sometime," she said. "Perhaps there will be... maybe something that explains it. Maybe the cloud is gone, and there is something else left in the box... Maybe someone managed to seal the cloud out and survive..." There was little conviction in her voice, however, and she shook her head to dispel such useless thoughts. "And I want to see my home again. We accomplished so much... The Prince's palace was an incredible building, built up from stone over hundreds of years. And we had natural beauty there, too. /Thoranen Cerilu/... the Halls of Crystal. When the torches there were lit, it was wonderful to look at. And /Teres Komau/, the Stone Fortress..." She trailed off into memory.

"Ahn... would you mind teaching me your language sometime?" Lance asked, turning his head to face her. "It sounds so... full... so descriptive..."

Ahn shrugged. "I can. I'm not sure what help it would be, since it is as dead as my people, but I will teach it to you if you like."

"I'd like that," Lance told her. "Thank you."

Once more, the two sat in silence for some time. The sun dropped slowly toward the horizon, its reddening light making the sea appear almost on fire. The harbor was quiet now, as all the ships that were leaving the port that day had already left, and everyone else at the port had gone home. For all that their surroundings had to offer, Lance and Ahn could well have been the only two people in the world.

Eventually, Lance stood up. "It's about time we headed back to the house," he told Ahn, offering his hand to her. "Danica should have supper ready shortly." Ahn nodded, and placed her four-fingered hand in his five-fingered one as she stood up. He grasped it tightly as they started back toward the town of Maranda. Lance's fishing pole remained leaning against the railing, forgotten.

* - * - *

As Lance opened the door of his house, the smell of fish wafted out. "Seems like Danica's got supper nearly ready," he commented as he stepped aside, allowing Ahn to enter. He followed her in and closed the door behind him.

"Three minutes," they heard Danica call from the kitchen as they headed to two facing chairs in the living room and sat down.

"So, you've kept your identity hidden for the last twenty years?" Lance asked after a moment.

Ahn shook her head. "Not that... I've lived alone. I could not bring myself to meet humans... not until a few months ago."

"I see..." Lance replied. He could not imagine what it must have been like to live alone for such a period of time, with nowhere to go, no one to turn to. But he understood that she had had little choice, since her... unusual... physical features would have been nearly impossible to hide for that length of time. "What happened that made you change your mind?"

"After the world shook," she said, her voice recalling near-terror on that day, "I feared I would go the way of most of the plants and animals, that I would... not be able to survive. But there were living creatures, and plants of a sort, so I was able to get food, and I found a small cave to live in. Then, as I watched the world finally begin to recover, I decided that I, too, would try and recover from the wound of twenty years ago. That I would try to live with others again.

"It was hard for me to fit in, though. I had learned much of the common language from listening to groups of humans when they passed in my direction. But I had grown up in a different society, and your customs were not mine. I never felt very accepted anywhere, and I ended up just traveling from one town to another, sometimes staying in an inn overnight, but usually just picking up supplies.

"Then... then an accident happened. I was attacked by some sort of scrawny cat. I only got a scratch, but it must have been poisonous, because I don't remember much after that except wandering down an underground tunnel, coming out, and collapsing. Then I woke up, to find the scratch gone, and--"

Danica's voice interrupted her. "Supper's ready!" she called from the direction of the dining room and kitchen amid the sounds of plates and silverware being brought to the table.

"Just a moment," Lance called back. Then he turned to Ahn. "Go on," he encouraged her.

But Ahn shook her head, her momentum broken. "We should join them. I can talk more later." She rose from her chair and started toward the dining room.

Lance shrugged. "All right," he said, standing and turning to follow her.

As they entered the dining room, Danica emerged from the kitchen with a plate on which sat the trout she had caught earlier, cooked and cut into four sections. Cups of water had already been set out, and Darrin was laying out the last of the silverware. All four ended up sitting down at the same time; Lance took the seat nearest the living room entrance, with Ahn and Danica to either side of him. Each of them, as if at some unspoken cue, picked up one of the sections of fish with knife and fork and set it on their respective plates, then began eating in silence. No one spoke for the duration of the meal; the only sounds were those of chewing and swallowing, and the ticking of the wall clock in the living room.

One by one, they finished their meals. When all four were done, Danica and Darrin collected the dishes to bring back to the kitchen and wash. Lance stood up slowly, watching them go. He wondered for a moment whether he should wait for them to return, so that they could hear Ahn's story as well. Then he felt Ahn's hand grasp his, and he turned to see her also standing. She seemed to want to speak, to ask him something, but was reluctant to break the silence. So Lance asked her quietly, "What... what is it?"

Relief passed through her features for a moment at his words. Then she responded, just as quietly. "Should we... wait for Danica and Darrin?"

Lance hesitated for a moment, still uncertain, before answering. "Yes... I think we should," he said, settling on that choice as he spoke. They had a right to know, he decided. Darrin would be traveling with them, after all, and Danica - how could he keep something like this secret from his sister? Especially since she had heard what Ahn had told him at the fishing pier. At least they had been lucky, and no one else had been around at the time, for Lance was not sure how others would have reacted to her. He knew a number of people who hated all things supernatural, because of the havoc Kefka had wreaked on the world with his magic; while he did not share their opinion, he could certainly understand it. And he knew that he could allow no harm to come to this young woman, whose only crime--though certainly sufficient in others' minds--was being born to a different race. But what would he have done if giving such protection had required him to kill another person--a civilian? To that, he had no answer.

/Young woman?/ he repeated to himself as he looked at Ahn. She had said she was younger than twenty when the "accident" had occurred, yet she had sounded like she meant not *much* younger. And it had been twenty years since that time, she said, which would place her in her late thirties. Yet, by appearances, she seemed to be just into her twenties. Was this another dissimilarity between elves and humans? Did the elves mature more slowly, or live longer? He would have to ask sometime. /But not now./

Lance and Ahn waited through another uncomfortable silence for Danica and Darrin to finish their work and return. When they finally did so, Lance had to suppress a sigh of relief. "Ahn has more to tell," he said to them, and without commenting further or waiting for a response, he turned and started toward the living room. Ahn followed behind him; after a short pause, so did the others.

As they took seats around the living room, Lance was suddenly reminded of the time he, Darrin, and Ahn had engaged in conversation here a few evenings ago while waiting for Danica to finish preparing supper. How different things had been then...

While Ahn began retelling her story for Danica and Darrin's benefit, Lance thought over the immense changes that had occurred in his life over the last few weeks. He had left Maranda about two months ago, and had performed two or three small jobs since then; these days, work for a bounty hunter was difficult to find. About three weeks ago, after having had no luck searching for a job for a week and a half, he had decided to head back home for a while. Then, near Jidoor, he had been surprised by three vicious Ralphs. In the process of fighting them off, his sword had become lodged in one, which had then run off, taking the sword with it. The only remaining one had chased him into the forest as he looked for something suitable to at least defend himself with. Before long, he came to a small cave in the side of a large rocky hill, into which he ducked. The cave would both protect him from the animal--at least for a moment-- and possibly provide something, if just a sharp splinter of rock, that he could attack the creature with. Then, he heard the Ralph suddenly break in its stride and roar in anger. Something had obviously attacked it, but he could not tell what. A scuffle followed, and the Ralph's final howl of pain indicated that the attacker, whoever or whatever it was, had won. A moment later, he heard a voice telling him that it was safe to come out, and he had discovered that the voice belonged to Ahn.

They had continued toward Maranda together, the trip taking close to two weeks. Nothing much happened along the way, and there had been little conversation on any but practical matters. Then they had reached Maranda, and Lance had introduced Ahn to his sister--

Something in Ahn's voice caught his attention, and he snapped out of his reverie to hear Ahn reaching the end of what she had told him earlier. "--must have collapsed," she was saying. "But when I woke up, the scratch was gone. There was a man lying nearby on the ground, and next to him was a glowing disk--something magical." She stood up and walked over to her black cloak, which hung from a hook on the wall. Reaching inside, she pulled out a small black leather pouch, and, holding it where Lance, Danica, and Darrin could all see it, she opened it.

The room was immediately filled with a bright light, and Lance brought his hand to his eyes to shield them from the glow; even as they became used to it, he found that he could not look directly at the bag, the light was so intense. "I cannot risk taking it out," Ahn said, "because it does... something... when it touches skin." She closed the bag tightly, though Lance saw that a bit of light was still able to escape, and returned it to the pocket it had come from. "If I ever find him again, I will return it to him.

"I took him to the town's inn and took care of him there until he woke up the next morning. Then he met some friends of his, and I decided to leave the town. That night, I met Lance after killing a creature that was chasing him."

Danica nodded. "And then you returned to Maranda?" she guessed.

"Yes, that's right," Ahn told her. "And you know what has happened since then."

As Ahn finished her story, Danica, Darrin, and Lance sat quietly, still digesting it. Lance wondered again how she had kept herself going for so long since the disaster; he doubted he would have had the will to live for even one year after such a traumatic experience, much less twenty. She was simply amazing in that respect. And if she had gone those twenty years alone and hidden, only to have her identity finally revealed to someone who was less tolerant of her kind...

"I think you will understand," Lance spoke up then, "that it would be in Ahn's, and our, best interests not to reveal Ahn's... differences. There are some who would be... disturbed... by them, and by our association with her." All three of the others nodded, but Lance saw a questioning look on Darrin's face. He turned to face her and explained, "After Kefka broke the world, many became fearful of magic and anything related. Some took it so far as to despise anything that had even a hint of being unnatural. And I suspect that, despite the recent incident here--" He cast a meaningful glance at Danica. "--those opinions have changed little." Danica nodded.

"What `incident'?" Darrin inquired.

"Danica can explain that to you tomorrow, Darrin," Lance said, then rose from his chair. "Or tonight, if she wants, I suppose. But I think we all ought to get some rest; it's been a long day. I plan to, anyway."

"Yes, Darrin," Danica agreed. "We can talk about it tomorrow. Why don't you just head to bed for now." Despite her phrasing, the sentence was clearly not a question.

Darrin sighed, then stood up along with Danica; they headed toward the hallway and the room they were sharing. Lance stayed for a moment, waiting until Ahn also rose. But rather than following the others, she walked over to Lance.

"Thank you," she said to him, her quiet voice filled with gratitude. "Thank you for accepting me." She then hugged him fiercely, her slight form belying her strength. A surprised Lance returned the embrace, and they held each other for a full minute before letting go. Then she turned and started toward the hallway, Lance following slowly.

Lance reached his room shortly, then changed into his nightclothes and climbed into his bed. He lay there for several minutes, reflecting on the day's events, before finally blowing out his bedside lamp and closing his eyes. His last conscious thought before sleep took him was the hope that tomorrow would be considerably less exciting, since he didn't know whether he'd be able to handle another day like today.

She slowed her pace as she delved further into the forest; she felt most comfortable in the depths of the woods. Even more so than her old home, in the depths of the earth. Somehow, this cold, damp world among the green seemed more of a home to her than the cozy reddish holes she had been born in. She sighed softly to herself as she drew in the scenes about her: her ears perked up to the sound of cricket mating calls, and the soft mewings of young birds. It was not yet morning, and yet the forest was already awake and thriving in its near-silent way. A contented smile crossed her face, and she closed her eyes, letting her nose and feet guide her. She missed nary a step, continuing to avoid every trace of resistence as she continued gliding onward.

She only opened her eyes once the sound of lapping waves reached her. Slowly, she lifted her trembling lids, letting the dim light flow into her. Something indelniably soft and warm came over her, as she felt the warmth of the just-rising sun file into her. She wrapped her arms snugly about her body, then walked forward, eyes straight. The sea was pristine: somehow, in this bay, the waters had calmed, and barely a ripple crossed its surface. It seemed as though ebon glass, stretched wide between mounds of dirt, suspended in the landscape. Ahn, her fear of the sea forgotten in the mystique, took another step forward, feeling more confident as her shod toes touched to solid wood. The dock beneath her was going nowhere. She took another step, more rapid and confident than the last. Still the dock held.

Ahn unravelled her arms from about her, and continued on towards the edge of the dock, ears trained on listening for creaking wood that never made a sound. Her eyes remained fixed on the pristine horizon, and she didn't blink as she finally rested her hands upon the final bar, suspended over the edge. One push, one break, and she would fall into the sea. She might not emerge from it; it was so huge, so unbroken. She would fall into the glass sea, and never emerge, ever after being a simply shadow in the surface of it. A reflection, so easily twisted and broken by tiny ripples.

Her head, stiff, slowly lowered; she let it dip down deeply, and her eyes focussed on the still waters below. It seemed a deep murk at first, with no substance, just void. But, slowly, gently, the waves beneath the surface moved aside, and she spotted a small glitter, dashing about in the water. She narrowed her eyes, and bent forward a bit. What was it? It blurred down, into her field of vision, then paused in middle of its movements. She grinned sheepishly at the sight; it was only a fish. Suddenly, the sea didn't seem so strange after all. A tiny, silverbacked trout, flitting this way and that. All water, be it stream, lake, pond or ocean, will have fish, Ahn decided. Trout, most often. Her smile widened a touch; trout seemed to follow her.

Suddenly, struck by inspiration, she bent down slowly. Her hand gently spread into a four-pointed star as it pressed down into the water, and she breathed in sharply as the icy water chilled her fingetips, and the breath was exhaled again slowly and hesitantly as the rest of her hand was slowly enveloped. She craned her neck forward, she was now bending beneath the safety bar, and was at the dock's very edge. She could feel the cool vastness of the sea pulling her in, but her eyes saw only the fish that her fingers could almost brush...

"You won't catch many fish that way," said a familiar voice from behind. Ahn jumped at the sound, jerking her hand from the water. The fish jerked at the sharp ripples, and swam away in a frenzy. She bit her lip, then looked behind, seeing a fairly chipper Lance behind her. He was smiling brightly.

"Good morning. I see you've finally decided to see what the sea's all about," he continued. He then proffered her his hand. She accepted it, with her dry hand, and pulled herself to her feet, letting her wet arm drip slowly at her side. Lance glanced at it, one eyebrow slightly raised. "What's with the hand fishing?"

"Oh, nothing, really. I just felt like I needed to come down here, give it another chance. It's quite beautiful at this hour, this weather." She glanced out towards the still-opaque sea, the sea now a thin sliver of gold on the brim of the glass. "Is it normally this way? This calm?"

Lance took a step closer to her, and motioned out to the sea with one hand. "No, not often, I'm afraid. This is the calmest I've ever seen it. So, we'd best enjoy it while we can. Too bad Darrin and Danica had to miss this, though. Danica at the very least; I don't think Darrin would appreciate this as much as we do. It takes a certain kind-" Lance said, then stopped as he noticed that the young elf was no longer listening to him. She eyes were trained on the waters beyond, her ears full of the sounds of the ocean. He sighed softly to himself, them closed his own eyes and let the still morning envelop them both.

The man approaching from the direction of Maranda was of medium height, a bit shorter than Lance. He had brown eyes and hair a slightly darker shade of brown which fell, not quite neatly combed, to his shoulders. A long scar was visible on his left forearm.

Lance recognized the man immediately. "Jolen!" he exclaimed, though he kept his voice soft in deference to Ahn and his surroundings. "It's been a while!" He started toward Jolen.

"Indeed it has," Jolen replied in the same tone of voice. The two reached each other and shook hands firmly. As they then sat down, Jolen gestured toward Ahn. "Who's that?" he asked.

"A new friend of mine," Lance said. "She's never seen the sea before... figured now was as good a time as any to start getting used to it." He paused for a moment. "It *is* a very nice morning."

Jolen nodded. "That it certainly is."

"So," Lance began before Jolen could ask any more questions, "what brings you to Maranda?" Lance knew Jolen well, and knew that, despite their friendship, Jolen would cause trouble if he learned about Ahn's identity. His parents' deaths at the hands of one of Kefka's monstrous creations had set him strongly against magic and anything even distantly related to it.

The two had grown up together in Maranda since childhood, becoming fast friends by the age of eight. Jolen had been the more reckless one; Lance had had to pull him out of trouble more than once. Both had entered the mercenary business over a decade ago, and while Jolen quickly learned the skill of caution, he had continued to act on impulse often, until an implse sent him out hunting monsters while Maranda was attacked and his parents killed.

"Well, for one, it's the anniversary of my parents' deaths," Jolen reminded Lance.

"Ah, yes." Lance waited a moment, then prompted, "And...?"

Jolen chuckled. "You'll never guess."

"Hmm?"

"I've decided to take up carpentry."

Lance gaped in feigned surprise. "You? Carpentry?" Then he chuckled as well. "So it finally got to you, I take it." Lance was referring to an incident in their childhood. They had been playing catch, and Lance had accidentally thrown the ball too high; it landed on a neighbor's roof. Jolen immediately ran to the front porch of the house, and attempted to use the chair there to boost himself up to the roof. However, the chair could not withstand his jumping, and had collapsed under him. Lance had insisted that they help build a replacement chair.

"That it did." Jolen shrugged. "You know as well as I that there's little call for mercenaries anymore, so I figured I ought to find something that'll let me earn a living more reliably." He paused. "So what are you up to now?"

"Well... to tell the truth, I'm not really sure," Lance said slowly. "I returned a few days ago after finishing my last job, and I suppose I've been hoping something would suggest itself to me."

"You could become a carpenter too," Jolen suggested with a grin.

"Heh. I suppose." Lance knew that would not suit him, though; he needed to be out and about, not staying in one place all the time. His heart was an adventurer's, and it would always stay that way.

"But you don't *really* suppose so, do you," Jolen said, sensing Lance's thoughts from his tone of voice.

Lance shook his head. "No, you're right, I don't," he said. With a wry smile, he added, "You know me too well." Then he sighed. "Maybe I'll go cave-hunting... miners will pay a lot for finding a new site for a mine.

"Who knows," Jolen suggested, "you might even find a vein of gold." He chuckled at Lance's disbelieving expression. "You never know."

"No, you never do." Lance shrugged. "Anything can happen."

The two stood silently for a moment, until Jolen said, "I guess I'd better get going." He glanced back in the direction of Maranda. "I have some things to get ready for today."

Lance nodded, then extended his hand. "Nice to see you again," he said, "and good luck with your second career."

"Thanks," Jolen replied, shaking Lance's hand. "And the same to you, wherever you end up." Then he turned away and started back toward the town.

Lance looked past the retreating figure toward Maranda, the encounter already fading from his mind. The town was just beginning to stir as the sun rose above the horizon. Not many in Maranda--or anywhere else Lance had been--were such early risers, but some people, particularly those who lived on farms, had a lot of work to do while there was light by which to do it. He recalled his own experiences of living by the sun: he and Danica had spent a few months each year during their childhood helping out on their uncle's farm. The two of them had been known to get up even earlier on occasion, going outside to simply absorb nature as they could not do while living in the town. Lance recalled having often wished to live there permanently when he was younger. But as time had passed, he had become restless, and long before his twentieth birthday, the age at which he would go out on his own, he knew that he could not live in a single place for the rest of his life, tied to the land as his uncle, and now his sister, were. He could still recall the disapproval he had faced from his family when he had announced his intentions; the admonition from his uncle that "blades are for cutting wheat stalks, not human necks," his aunt's silent yet clearly disapproving stare, the strong suggestions from his parents to find a job less dangerous. But he wanted to travel, and his interest in and skill at fencing had offered him a way.

Once again, as he had many times before, Lance wondered whether he had made the right decision. His parents had never completely forgiven him for what they saw as his discarding the morals they had tried to instill in him, although he tried to avoid killing as much as possible, and when the creatures of the wild had begun to threaten human settlements several years later, he had taken jobs of getting rid of them exclusively. He had continued to visit his parents on occasion, often with Danica, until his mother died of a heart illness, followed a few years later by his father. Those visits had been pleasant, certainly, but some aspect of the "family atmosphere" that had been present when he was younger had disappeared, never to return.

Lance's uncle, on the other hand, had been less critical of him than he had expected; after some initial grumblings about people who had "no regard for human life", he seemed to accept Lance's chosen profession, particularly once Lance turned his attention toward monsters instead of people. Lance had visited his uncle's farm nearly every time he had returned to Maranda, and Danica often went with him; more than once, they had followed the same early-morning ritual as they had when they were younger.

As it happened, they had been at the farm on the day the world shattered, and Lance's thoughts now went inexorably to the memories he knew he would never forget. It had been a restday, and Lance's uncle and aunt had slept late; Lance and Danica had woken with the sun, and were outside in the woods when the ground started to shake. They turned back to head toward the house, but the vibration quickly intensified, and though they ran as fast as they could, they were still several hundred meters away when the earth seemed to rise up under their feet, throwing them to the ground. As they stood back up and continued running, a section of the farmhouse began to crumble--the section in which their uncle and aunt slept. Sudden fear lent speed to their efforts, but mere seconds later, the earth reared again, this time throwing them backward. When they regained their feet, they saw that a massive crack had appeared in the ground between them and the farmhouse, one that ran to the horizon in both directions; even as they watched, the two pieces of land seemed to float away from each other, and moments later, water rushed in to fill the gap, flowing so quickly as to form an insurmountable barrier to them. They retained enough sense to retreat from the new shoreline and stay out of the forest, but they then both collapsed on the plain, suddenly drained of strength and will, as the land continued shaking around them.

By the time they regained consciousness, the violent earthquake had stopped, replaced by an eerie silence broken only by the sound of the newly-formed river some distance away. The sky was dark as usual for nighttime, but few stars were visible, and the near-full moon shined with a reddish tinge, as if some evil being were staring down at the earth. They remained still for several minutes, until Lance finally broke out of his trance, seeing what remained of his uncle's residence still visible across the river. He had brought his sword, fortunately, allowing the two siblings to build a raft and return to the farmhouse. As they worked, the night gave way to day, and a sky as startlingly red as the moon had been. Animal noises slowly resumed, but they were far sparser than they had been; the breeze that arose early in the morning carried with it a feeling of despair.

Once the two reached the house, their fears were confirmed; an hour's searching through the rubble turned up the crushed bodies of their uncle and aunt. They dug graves nearby, noticing that even the soil seemed to have had the life drained out of it, and laid the bodies to rest in them, never speaking a word. Afterward, they collected their own belongings, which had fortunately been in a section of the house that had remained standing, and set out toward their raft to find civilization.

A tap on Lance's shoulder interrupted his reverie, and he looked up, startled. It was only Ahn, however, and he relaxed, a small sigh escaping his lips.

"Is something wrong?" Ahn asked, sitting down beside him. "You seemed upset..."

"Not much," Lance replied. "At least, not anything that's really worth worrying about anymore. I was just thinking back to the day of the shattering..." His voice trailed off, as he thought once again of his losses.

"What happened then?" Ahn asked, sensing his distress.

"Well, if you want to know..." He paused, and at Ahn's affirmative nod, he told her of the events he had just relived in his thoughts.

"Oh, dear... I'm sorry..." Ahn said, reaching up to put an arm around Lance's shoulders.

"It's been the better part of two years now," Lance said. "It's nothing I can change, so I don't think much of it anymore. But it was hard at the time..." He thought for a moment. "I haven't actually been back there since that day. Maybe I ought to go back sometime."

"Yes, maybe you should," Ahn agreed, an unexpected firmness in her voice. "Just as I should return to my own home someday..."

On impulse, Lance asked, "Where was your home? I mean, where is the surface entrance?"

"North of the town of Jidoor," Ahn replied. "Actually, it's not too far from where I first saw you."

"Well, then, if we were going to head toward Jidoor anyway... why not go there?" Lance suggested. "I admit that I'd like to see it as well... and perhaps we can learn something of--" Lance hesitated, knowing that he was stepping on dangerous ground. "--that black cloud."

Ahn sighed. "Perhaps. It might not even be gone... it might still be down there, and it would probably have the same effect on you as on everyone else..." She fell silent for a moment, then spoke again. "Lance... you're all I have. I don't want to lose you, too..."

Lance turned his head to face Ahn directly. "I would never allow that to happen. Don't fear on that score."

"Thank you..." Ahn put her arms around Lance, leaned her head against his shoulder, and hugged him tightly. Lance returned the embrace in equal measure. For that moment, he did not care, or even realize, that Ahn's four-fingered hands were easily visible to anyone who should approach the dock; that a breeze had blown enough of her hair aside to reveal the tip of her ear; or even that the person sitting next to him was a creature out of fairy-tales and myths, now vilified by that same grep of stories. All that was relevant was that he cared for Ahn, and he knew she cared for him as well.

Some time later, the two slowly separated, and Lance said, "We should probably head back now... Danica and Darrin will be getting up and wondering where we are."

Ahn nodded. "Yes, I suppose we should."

The two of them stood up, took each other's hands, and started the walk back to Lance's home.

* - * - *

Lance could tell that someone was already awake by the light shining from the windows of his house. Even so, he opened the door slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. One of the two might still be sleeping; perhaps Darrin had woken up early to read, or perhaps Danica was making breakfast. Either way, there was no need to wake the other.

Neither turned out to be the case, though; Darrin and Danica were already sitting at the table eating a plain breakfast of bread, cheese, and glasses of water when Lance entered the house. "Ah, there you are," she greeted him as he and Ahn walked into the dining room and sat down at the table, their places already set. "Up early today, I see."

Lance nodded. "Enjoying the early morning air, just like in the old days."

"Ah," Danica said with a smile, but Lance was almost certain he saw pain flicker across her face for the smallest fraction of a second. So she, too, was not completely over the two-year-old incident. He doubted the pain would ever completely fade; they would only get more used to it as time passed.

Lance took a slice of bread, spread some cheese on it, then stared at it thoughtfully for a moment. His sword would likely be ready today; if it was, he would be free to leave. Not that he wanted specifically to leave Maranda or his sister's home, certainly. But after the last couple of days, he wanted to visit Ahn's underground home--as much to satisfy his own curiosity and interest as for her sake.

"Are you expecting the bread to talk to you?" Danica said with a laugh, and Lance looked up, startled.

"Oh... I was just thinking." He took a bite from the bread, thought a moment longer, then continued, "Danica... I know I've only been here a few days..."

Danica blinked. "You're not thinking of leaving already, are you? Darrin, at least, is in no shape for traveling, what with her knee."

Lance nodded, then sighed. "I know. But Ahn wants to return to her home, see what's left... try for some closure. And now is probably as good a time or better than any." He gave Darrin an apologetic look. "I know you can't come with us now. But we'll be back in a month, maybe two, and by then you'll be fine again."

"That's okay, I understand," Darrin reassured him.

Then Lance turned his attention back to Danica. "We'll be back before long, I promise you," he said. "And perhaps then, we can try for some closure, too."

"Yes... perhaps we can," Danica agreed, nodding slowly.

Just then they heard a faint knock on the front door, not repeated. Lance rose from his seat and headed toward the living room. "If that's him, he's quite early," Lance commented.

But it was indeed the swordsmith, with Lance's new blade finished. "Ah, you're up," he said as Lance opened the door. "I saw the lights on

Lance nodded. "Let me see the sword, then," he said without preamble.

The swordsmith drew the blade from its scabbard and handed it to Lance, who looked over it with a critical eye. Fine work, certainly. The blade's slight curve was smooth, and the blade was not bent or warped; if the hilt was perhaps plainer than his old sword's hilt had been, the sword itself would function none the worse. Nonetheless, Lance put on a mildly disapproving face; it would do him no good in bargaining for the smith to know that he was pleased with the work. He then took the scabbard from the smith, buckled it onto his belt, and strode around to the side of the house to work through a few practice forms. This was the most important test of any weapon: its balance. If the sword's blade was too heavy or too light, one would not have enough control to use it effectively. But, as Lance had hoped, this blade performed perfectly. Not that he had expected any less, for any smith who sold unbalanced blades usually did not remain a smith for long.

"You like it, then?" the smith said from behind him.

Lance finished a last form, then sheathed the blade and turned to face the smith, affecting a frown. "Well... it will do, I suppose," he replied, filling his voice with reluctance.

"Twelve thousand, then?" the smith offered, sounding as if that was a perfectly reasonable price.

"I thought this hilt was made of leather, not diamond," Lance countered. "Try four thousand."

After a few minutes of haggling, they struck a deal at seventy-five hundred gold pieces. Not bad, Lance thought, all things considered; it had been about what he was expecting to pay, and he suspected it was also about what the smith was expecting to get. Neither of them was a newcomer to bargaining, so despite all the play, both had known what the outcome would likely be. Satisfied, he walked back into the house, retrieved the money from the cashbox in his room, and returned to the front door to pay for the sword. After a couple of polite exchanges, the smith left, and Lance closed the front door after him.

"So that was him?" Danica asked from the dining table as Lance removed the sword and scabbard from his belt and leaned them against the wall of the living room.

"It was indeed," Lance replied as he returned to the table and sat back down. "If it can't replace... the other, it is at least a good blade."

"You know," Darrin told him, "you should stop worrying over the `other one.' That won't get it back for you."

Lance was taken aback for an instant by her brazenness, but when she finished, he just shrugged. "I know. It's not really a big matter, anyway. It's just that, after having owned it for nearly twenty years, I'd gotten rather used to it."

Darrin nodded. "I know about things like that... I know it's hard to let go," she said, the sharpness gone from her voice. "But sometimes a wake-up call helps."

"So..." Danica started after a moment of uncertain silence, "I suppose you'll be leaving shortly?"

"Yes... I suppose so," Lance responded, then looked at Ahn. "Unless you want to wait, Ahn..."

Ahn shook her head. "No, I think you were right. I think the sooner we get there, the better."

"Well, then," said Danica, rising, "let me go make some sandwiches for you to take along. Darrin--" She turned to the girl. "--would you help me?"

"Sure." The two entered the kitchen.

"Well," Lance said to Ahn, also standing up, "I'm going to go get my things. You probably should, too, I guess." Ahn nodded, and followed Lance down to the end of the hallway to their rooms.

Lance absently began repacking the large sack he had emptied when he arrived in anticipation of staying considerably longer. A change of clothes, in case they stayed in Ahn's underground home for a while. /Four days. I've only been here four days, and I'm leaving already./ His nightgown and slippers. /I've stayed at *inns* for longer than four days before./ His bedroll. /I feel like I'm deserting Danica, like she doesn't mean as much to me anymore. But that's not true./ Waterskins--no, those needed to be filled first. /But I would like to see Ahn's home, and she needs to./ A lantern, a can of lamp oil, and a tinderbox. /And I'd like a chance to get to know her better, as well... she seems like a very nice person./ His cashbox. /Maybe... no, speculation will do no good./

Finally, Lance buckled on his tool belt amid the jangling of metal hitting metal, and attached the scabbard holding his new sword to the belt. He left his armor where it was: he would not need it on this trip. Then he slung the sack over his shoulder, picked up the waterskins with his free hand, and headed for the living room.

Ahn was already there when he arrived, and already wearing her cloak. She had considerably less to carry: a smaller, though bulging, bag, her newly-restrung bow, a quiver of arrows, and her belt knife. Lance set his own sack down just as Danica and Darrin entered from the dining room, Darrin carrying the bag of sandwiches and Danica carrying two full waterskins.

"Thanks, Danica," said Lance as he exchanged her full skins for his empty ones, put them into his sack, then took the bag Darrin held and put it in as well.

"Well... have a good trip, I guess," Danica said after a moment.

Lance embraced her warmly. "We will," he assured her. Then he kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, Danica."

"I love you too, Lance," she replied, returning the gesture. Then they let go, and Lance knelt down to pick up the carrying sack again. "It was nice to meet you, Ahn," Danica continued.

"And you," responded Ahn. She stood up and approached the other three; Danica walked over to her and hugged her as well. "Thank you for... for accepting me."

"Of course," Danica replied. "Anytime."

After a moment of silence, Lance said, "Well, I guess it's time to leave." Ahn nodded and joined him as he started to walk out of the house.

"Farewell," Danica said to them as they left, overlaid by Darrin's more enthusiastic "Goodbye!"

As Lance and Ahn headed for the main street of Maranda which would lead them out of the town, Lance asked Ahn, "So exactly where are we going?"