Saturday evening, I got a concussion.  I didn’t think much of it until Sunday morning, when I sat down to start writing… It took me about 2 hours to get out what I normally could get out in 5 minutes.  I just could not write the chapter, or even really focus enough to get a placeholder up before now.

My sincerest apologies.

I seem to be recovering, however, so hopefully the chapters should resume as normal.  Considering what day it is, and the time, and that I am still recovering, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get out this past Monday’s chapter as I had hoped… but I should at least be able to get one up this coming Monday.

If I can get two chapters written by 12:00PM Central Time on Monday, then both will go up.  If not… then only the one chapter, and this week’s chapter will have just not happened.

All I was aware of was darkness… darkness everywhere.  I could see myself, as if lit from all directions, but there was nothing else; or if there was, I couldn’t see it.  Was I dreaming?  I was pretty sure I was, but I couldn’t say for sure.  It was all so surreal.

Then there was knocking.  Loud, arrogant knocking that just would not quit.  I don’t know how a sound such as knocking could seem arrogant… it just did.  Suddenly everything was spinning… or rather, I was spinning around in the pitch blackness… and I heard voices.   One was distant and unknown, one was close and familiar.  I heard my name, but it didn’t sound like my name.  It sounded like a foreign tongue, that I knew once upon a dream.  My head was pounding as words started to float into my not-quite-consciousness.

“When?” the close, familiar voice asked.

“Tomorrow,” came the unknown voice that was now close as well.  Something about it rubbed me the wrong way… my hair was standing on end, and I felt like running.  “I don’t know where, yet…”

“I don’t think she’s going to like this.”

“I don’t know her as well as you obviously do, so I couldn’t say.  I think it’s too soon, myself, but you know him.  Still don’t see why–”

“Marcus.”

“Right, right, sorry.  Anyway, you’re supposed to go later today into town and get her ready… apparently Aurelias thinks she deserves some rings after all this.  I don’t see why, but then again, I’m not–”

“Marcus!”

“Sorry, again,” he sighed.  “Later today, go into town, she’ll get pierced and she’ll be fitted.  Tonight there will be a rehearsal and tomorrow it will become official.”

There was a sigh from beside me and I looked around in the darkness, searching for its source.  I could only see faint shadows, which irritated me but I couldn’t do anything about it.  I tried walking towards the sound, but something held me in place, preventing me from moving.

“Sometimes I wonder if Aurelias really knows what he’s doing.  We’ll be there, though, after she wakes up.  She’s had a hard past couple of days, so I’m not going to wake her up unless I need to.”

“Alright.  Do you have a specific message I should tell him, or should I just pass on what you just said?”

“Do whichever you think is best.”

“I’ll be taking my leave, then.  We’ll see you two tonight.”

There was the sounds of movement, and then silence again.  Before long, the lights that had been illuminating my body seemed to die out, and then there was nothing but darkness.

I awoke to the warmth of Nir’s rays on my face, and Pyrrhus prodding me.  I resisted growling… it felt like I hadn’t slept at all and I was still exhausted.  I rolled over to face him with a scowl.

“What?” I asked, irritated.

“Come on, get dressed.  We need to leave,” he replied.

“Leave? Why? Why can I not sleep?”

“Because Aurelias has something planned for you.”

“What’s he got planned?”

“If you get up,” he said, obviously growing irritated himself, “you might just find out.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Because I can’t, now come on, get up.”

I glared at him.  ”No.”

He sighed. “Are you always this stubborn?”

I didn’t deign his question worth an answer and instead rolled over so that my back was to him once again.  All of a sudden it got quite cold and I realized Pyrrhus had just yanked the covers off.  ”Hey!” I shouted at him, sitting up and facing him.  ”I was using those!”

“And now you’re not,” he said, leaning towards me and slipping one arm around my back and the other under my legs.

“Hey, no, Pyrrhus, don’t!” I protested as he picked me up.  What, is he going to carry me wherever he wants or needs to go if I don’t want to, now?

“You left me with no choice.  Now, shall I carry you to the village like this, or do you want to get dressed first?”

“Will you set me down if I say I want to get dressed?”

“Only if you mean it and then follow through.”

I sighed and mumbled a little.  ”Fine.  I’ll get dressed.”

“Good,” he said, setting me down onto my feet in front of the closet.  I gave him a small glare before entering, making sure to slam the doors behind me.

I yawned and stood there a couple minutes, wondering if I go could back to sleep comfortably in the closet where I was before deciding it wouldn’t be a good idea.  I really don’t want to go anywhere today, though… I just want to go back to sleep.  I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to, at this point; instead I started looking through the clothes, trying to find something suitable to wear.  I don’t even know what we’re going to do, much less what to wear.  He said Aurelias had something planned for me, but… I don’t want to be the only one dressed up.  Then again, I don’t want to be the only one not dressed up, either.  There’s gotta be some middle ground here somewhere…  Eventually I found a long, black dress that seemed to have red dragons and gold gryphons permanently engaged in fight and flight printed on it.  Well… This should work.  I put it on then opened the doors of the closet, causing Pyrrhus to glance up from his seat on the bed.

He must have left the room at one point, because he’d changed clothes.  Now, he was wearing blacks slacks and matching bracers on his arms, and a dark green shirt that had the first few buttons at the top undone, leaving most of his upper chest visible.  There was a scar barely visible near where he’d started buttoning his shirt, leaving it mostly unnoticeable.  I couldn’t stop staring at him, but at least the sentiment was returned.  I was the first to bring myself to look away.

“So I guess I must’ve dressed appropriately, after all, huh?” I asked, not making eye contact.

“Yeah, you did.  At least, as far as I can tell, I mean,” he said, sounding a bit nervous and standing up.

“As far as you can tell? Don’t you know?”

“Well… what Aurelias has planned, the last time something like it happened, it was about a couple hundred years ago.  I wasn’t really old enough to remember much.”

“Oh,” I replied.  Pyrrhus’s mentioning his age gave me pause; I’d thought he was around my age but now I doubted it.  ”Um, how old are you, anyway?” 

“238, why?”

“Because when I first met you I’d thought we were about the same age, for some reason, but when you mentioned you weren’t old enough to remember something that happened a century before I was born, I wasn’t sure.”

“How old are you then?”

“113,” I answered, looking down in shame.  ”Old enough for rumors to start going around the village about me being cursed since I haven’t grown a tail yet…”  There was a few moments of silence before I felt Pyrrhus embrace me.  ”Um, Pyrrhus?” I asked nervously, unsure of what he was doing.

“I… You’ll grow one, I’m sure.  Some people… they just age a bit different than others, you know?”

I knew he was trying to comfort me with his words, but it didn’t even sound like he believed them himself.  For that moment, though, I chose to believe them anyway; it was better to me than considering the truth.  I rested my head on his shoulder and just let him hug me until he thought I was okay, breathing in his scent and enjoying the feel of his silk shirt on my fur.  He must be wearing something… he smells different now than he did before.

“We should be going,” he said as he pulled away after a couple minutes.  ”Um.  Do you feel better, at least?”

I nodded slightly.  ”Yeah, a little.  Thank you, Pyrrhus.”

He smiled slightly.  ”Let’s go, then,” he said and lead the way out of the house.

The market was busy again today and while I still got some strange looks, it wasn’t as bad as yesterday, and I had less time to notice them if I wanted to keep up with Pyrrhus’s brisk pace, as well.  He led me deep into the market center, where fewer and fewer people who weren’t shopkeepers were.  Eventually we stopped at a place and he held open the curtain that served as the door for me.

Inside the shopkeeper’s whole face lit up upon seeing us enter.  Surprisingly, even though I didn’t recognize her personally, she was of a tribe I actually did recognize:  the Fifth Tribe.  We’d come across her kind before in our trades.

“Ahai!” she shouted out in greeting, then the little feline-like person bounced up from her stool and landed in front of us.  The Fifth Tribe and mine hadn’t always gotten along the best but there were times we were quite friendly towards each other, and from the stories they were the closest to being like ours.  Seeing a Fifth Tribesman after all that had happened was a nice change, if nothing else.

“Ahai!” I greeted back, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Pyrrhus had came in behind me and was now standing beside me.  He shook his head a little as if in disappointment or something similar, although I could see the smile playing at the corners of his lips.

“You must be Stidolph Kristi,” the shopkeep chittered away happily in the higher-pitched, rapid-paced way of her Tribe.  ”I am Gatti Mayako, and I am the shopkeeper here and will be piercing you today!”

“Pleased to meet you, Mayako,” I said, then the rest of the words sunk in.  I paled.  ”Wait, what?  You’re going to be doing what?”

She tilted her head to the side and looked up at me, her eyes squinting and ears drawing back slightly, before exclaiming, “Oh, dear! You were not informed!”  The little cat-person turned on her heels to face Pyrrhus, looking quite irate.  ”How did you not tell her? Why did you not tell her?  You know my policy!  Fully-informed, consent must be given!  These are requirements!  Why are you trying to worm your way out of my policy?  Do you not want my business anymore, Mr. Voss?”

Pyrrhus was taken aback and almost looked scared.  ”I, no, Mayako, I,” he managed to stammer out before she laid into him again.

“You and your gods-be-damned brothers!  All alike!  Always dragging your girlfriends or what-have-you in here and trying to get me to mark them as yours!  That is why I had to change my policy to begin with, and until now you at least had complied, but now!  Why must you people be so difficult?  Why must your family act as you do?  One would think you would have brains since your family has been the Elders for centuries, but no!  Just as foolish as the little kits that come running through here not knowing what they want but wanting it anyway!”

“Miss Gatti, please!” Pyrrhus tried pleading with her.  ”This isn’t my doing, believe me!  I was just told this morning by Marcus what Aurelias wanted, and I was told to keep it from her, and that is just what I did!  I haven’t been in here since Dad died, you know this!  How could I have known about the change in your policy?”

“Marcus told you what?” she asked, her tone changing, turning a bit icy.

“He told me what Aurelias wants, and he told me not to tell Kristi.”

“That little mongrel!  You two will stay here, I will return with the hellion!” she said then stormed out quickly.

“Um,” I started, but Pyrrhus interrupted and just shook his head.

“You don’t want to know.  And neither do I.”

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“Pyrrhus…”  I wasn’t comfortable going this far away from the village, especially knowing that beast was still on the loose somewhere, and could even be watching us.

“Shh, we’re almost there.”

“Almost where?” I asked in exasperation.

“You’ll see,” he said, taking a few more steps forward and looking around before coming up behind me and covering my eyes with his hands.

“Hey!  Pyrrhus, this isn’t funny!” I managed to get out before he clasped a hand over my mouth, adjusting the other hand so it covered both my eyes.  Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.  I was on the verge of a panic attack as he walked me forward slowly.

“You need to be quiet, or you’ll disturb the wildlife and ruin the scene,” he breathed into my ear as he removed his hands and took a step back. 

I stared at what was before me.  He was right; I was likely to have scared off the animals if he hadn’t done what he had to make sure I stayed quiet.  We were near a stream, close enough to see it well but far enough that, when we were quiet and still, we weren’t noticeable from it.

There was a doe there, along with a small fawn, drinking from the clear waters.  Further behind them in the shadows, I could make out the shape of a buck and another doe.  Several different kinds of colorful fish swam freely, and occasionally frogs could be seen moving through the vegetation on the banks.

“Now you can’t say you’ve never seen a river, have you?” Pyrrhus whispered, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“It’s gorgeous,” I whispered back, still engrossed in the beauty that was before us.

He nodded.  “We need to go, though,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back a couple steps before moving away.  “Aurelias should be leaving soon, and we need to talk to him before that.”

“Oh,” I said, sad to have to leave even though he had a point.  I’d completely forgotten about that.  “I guess you’re right…”

We started heading back the way we came in silence until we reached the small shack that served as a restaurant.

“Alright, so, absolute basics.  What did your tribe teach you about the forming of the world?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at me.

“So I’ve gotta teach you stuff now?”  I kept looking longingly back in the direction we came from.  It was so beautiful…

Pyrrhus grabbed my hand and started picking up the pace.  “Hey!” I shouted, trying to pull my hand back as we entered the village proper again, where he let go.  “What, is the stream evil now or something?”

He stopped and turned around to face me, a frown on his face.  I couldn’t help but flinch.  Aw, man… that’s the same look Dad would always get when I disappointed him…  I fidgeted and looked down, glad the village had all but cleared out by now.

“It is when it distracts you.  I’m trying to help you here, which, if you remember, I’m not obligated to do.  But I can’t help you if you don’t let me!”

“I’m sorr–”  He stopped me with a finger on the lips; had I not been feeling so ashamed of myself I would have been giving him quite a death glare.

“Don’t.  If you’re sorry, show me, don’t tell me.  I have to know what you know before I can build on it or change it.  Understood?”

I nodded slightly, though it wasn’t easy with his finger on my lips.  It was very tempting to bite it to get him to move his hand away from my face.

“Good.  Right now, let’s just go talk to Aurelias.  You can tell me what your tribe’s taught you once we get home,” he finished then turned back around and headed towards the Elder’s Office at a brisk pace.  He went right in once we got there and walked straight to the back.  The woman from earlier wasn’t at the desk and the only light in the place was coming from the open door to Aurelias’s office.

“Oh, Pyrrhus,” the older Voss said in surprise, looking up when he heard our footsteps.  “What are you doing back?”

“Need to talk,” he replied, inviting himself in and taking his previous seat.  I followed him in sheepishly, taking the seat I’d occupied earlier as well.

“What about?”

“This arrangement,” Pyrrhus said, crossing one leg over the other and looking at his brother seriously.  Whoa… they look so similar, they really do… If only they had the same hair color and Aurelias didn’t have the few wrinkles he does, they could almost pass as twins…  “There’s a problem with it.”

“That problem would be what?”

“You want me by her side at all times, right?”

“I thought I made that clear,” Aurelias said, his eyes betraying his boredom. 

“What about when one of us needs to use the bathroom?  When we need to bathe?”

“You accompany her, she accompanies you.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not going to work.  Maybe you haven’t heard of it, but there is such a thing as ‘privacy.’”

The Elder scowled at his younger brother, not appreciating the sarcasm.  “You don’t have to get smart with me, Pyrrhus.  I know what it is.  You two are just not entitled to that privilege right now.”

I’d been able to stay quiet until now and let Pyrrhus handle things, but this was too much, I just had to speak up.  “And why not!”

Both Pyrrhus and Aurelias jerked their heads in my direction in shock.  It seemed both of them had forgotten I was there, which just further annoyed me.  Aurelias was the first to regain his composure.

“Because,” he said, “you are under the protection of the Seventh Tribe.  We cannot protect you very well if we cannot keep an eye on you and if we are not ready and nearby to take immediate action at all times.  Pyrrhus just happens to be best suited for the job of being your guard.”

“Are there no females who could take over for just half an hour or something so I can take a damned bath?”  The situation was grating on my nerves.  I didn’t even ask for protection!  I don’t see why I should be forced into it…

Aurelias was obviously agitated by this point.  “No.  There are not.  Pyrrhus is the best person to protect you, so that is his job, no one else’s.  Deal with it.  Now,” he said as he stood up, “I believe we are done here.  Goodnight.”

Pyrrhus stood up then took my hand, all but forcing me to rise to my feet as well.  “Goodnight, Elder,” he spat at his older brother as he lead me out of the office and back to the streets of the village.  I didn’t like it but I didn’t complain, either, being too occupied with my thoughts.

As if it matters who’s guarding me if that beast were to show up!  That arrogant Elder himself could be the one guarding me and it wouldn’t matter!  The only way anyone could live through one of those beast’s attacks is if she let them live, like she did me!  I doubt she’s going to come after me at this point, anyway.  She’d probably already have arrived if she were going to.  Even if she does show up at this point… no one would stand a chance.  Not even Pyrrhus…

I looked up as Pyrrhus slowed to a stop, wondering what was up then noticing we were at our ‘home.’  He unlocked the door, mumbling to himself, then let me go in first before following and locking it.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh.

“Why?” I glanced back at him over my shoulder.  I’d made it to the bottom of the staircase to the second floor, but he was still at the door, leaning his back against it and looking down.

“You’re obviously not pleased with this whole situation, and there’s nothing I can do to make it any better for you.  I can’t even get my brother to change his mind and let you have some privacy.”

“It’s not your fault I’m in this mess… And it’s not like we can go against the Elder or anything.  I mean, he’s the Elder!  He obviously had his mind made up before we even got there… I don’t think either of us could have done anything to change it.  But, I appreciate your trying.”  There was silence for a few minutes as we just stood there, before I eventually spoke again.  “Come on.  I really could use a shower.”

He nodded and followed me up to the guest room where I got some clothes to change into after I was clean and he got his book.  “There are towels in the bathroom, so we don’t need to go back downstairs for them,” he said as we headed towards the bathroom.

“Okay.  Um…”

“Don’t worry,” he said with a slight chuckle as he hopped up onto the cabinet beside the sink and sat down, opening his book.  “I’m going to be reading, not peeping.”

I nodded slightly and undressed after I was sure he’d started reading and wasn’t watching me anymore.  I got into the tub and pulled the curtain shut, turning on the hot water first, then the cold and adjusting until the temperature was just right.  Thank the gods for small favors, I guess, I thought as I looked over the curtain and let the tepid streams of water wash over my body.  The curtain wasn’t completely opaque, but it wasn’t clear, either; at most, if Pyrrhus had been trying to watch me, he’d only be able to make out the general shape of my body rather than the details.

I decided to try and clear my mind of the past couple days’ events as I turned up the hot water and started washing.  It worked pretty well until I got to my right arm, and the memory of its former injury came rushing back.  I clutched it to my chest as the horrendous pain came back for a few moments.  Damn… Still hurts like crazy when I think about it… I shook my head slightly to dispel the memory and its accompanied pain before checking my arm over.  If I didn’t know any better, I almost would have thought it to all have been a dream; there wasn’t one sign of what had happened left.  I stared at it for a couple more minutes before I finished washing myself and turned the hot water down considerably.

Letting the cool water rush over me, I was able to imagine I was back at the stream Pyrrhus had shown me.  In my mind I waded into its depths, closing my eyes and letting the patches of sunlight wafting through the treetops warm my skin.  I greeted a doe that came up to me, letting it sniff my hand and realize I was not a threat then got rewarded by her letting me stroke her soft fur, run my hands down her back…

“You still alive in there?”

I jumped, Pyrrhus’s voice startling me out of my reverie.  After a few quick seconds I’d recomposed myself enough to reply, “Yeah.  Why?”

“Because you’ve been in there almost an hour.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.  There’s no way!”

“There is, and you’ve found it.  I’m not kidding.”

I sighed.  “Alright, I’ll be out in a sec,” I said as I turned off the water.  Suddenly a towel was flung halfway over the top of the shower rod, making me jump again, my back hitting the wall.  “What the hell!”

“Sorry,” came his reply.  “Didn’t mean to startle you, just thought I’d help…”

“Oh,” I said, letting out a sigh of relief and taking the towel.  “Thanks.”  I dried myself off quickly and wrapped the towel around me before pulling back the curtain and stepping out.  Pyrrhus was already facing the door.

“Go ahead and get dressed,” he prompted.

I complied, putting on a pair of pajamas we’d bought earlier that day.  They were pink and had little fox heads printed all over them, and felt like they were made of silk.  The color of the foxes didn’t match my mother’s coloring, but it didn’t matter; it was close enough for me to be reminded of her, and to feel a bit safer in them despite everything.

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Even after I’d found enough clothes for my taste, Pyrrhus kept having me try on more.  I was getting the feeling he’d been spoiled, with his “you can never have enough” attitude.  At least he’s the one who’s going to be carrying all this…

“So why didn’t you tell me the Elder was your father?” I asked, after trying on what felt like the hundredth dress.

“Because that would’ve been lying,” he replied with a shrug, handing me another outfit.  After noticing the look of doubt I was giving him, he added, “Aurelias is my older brother.”

“Oh.  Is he the oldest?”

“Yeah, though him and Marcus were both in the running for Elder after Dad’s…after the accident.”

“You wanna talk about it?” I asked, peering over the top of the dressing room door at him.

“No,” Pyrrhus said flatly, turning away. “Come on, I think you have enough clothes by now.”

I followed close behind him as we left the marketplace, keeping my gaze lowered to the ground.  His father’s dead…or at the very least not around anymore… I shouldn’t have asked that.  The way he said it…whatever happened obviously wasn’t pleasant, and after yesterday I of all people should have known better!  I don’t think I’ll ever want to talk about what happened yesterday, I sure know I don’t yet, but I had to…he doesn’t, though.  I’m just some foreigner he’s having to babysit, there’s no reason for him to tell me…Oof!

“We’re here,” Pyrrhus said, tossing a glare over his shoulder at me before entering the door he’d just unlocked.  I’d been so deep in thought I hadn’t noticed he’d stopped and ran into him.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling very sheepish.

“Just come on.”  I couldn’t help but flinch at the sudden iciness in his voice and in his words, though I followed him in immediately anyway.  “That’s the living room, that’s the kitchen back there, laundry room’s on the other side of the kitchen.  You’ll be responsible for doing your own laundry,” he said, walking through the front portion of the house and then up the stairs.  “That’s the bathroom, and I guess now we’ll both be staying in the guest room since I’m not allowed to leave your side and my room’s definitely too small for the both of us.”

He opened the door for me and followed after, making sure to lock it behind him before he dumped all the clothes on the bed.  “Let’s get these put away,” he muttered as he opened a set of doors near the bed and went into the small room, emerging a minute later with an armful of hangers.  “You put’em on the hangers and I’ll hang them up, alright?”

After about ten minutes all the clothes were hung up in the walk-in closet and he’d had me change into a long, slim purple dress with a floral pattern on it.

“Sorry you can’t get more privacy,” he said when I’d opened the closet doors.  He’d taken a seat on the edge of the bed and was watching the streetlife below through a window behind the large bed.  “Aurelias can be kind of…over-protective, sometimes, especially of foreign relations.  And since you’re the last of your tribe, you’re kind of ‘it’ as far as foreign relations go.”

“It’s okay,” I said as I sat down on the bed a couple feet away from him.  “I understand.”

“We’ll need to get some bedding from the laundry room before either of us can sleep in here tonight.”

“Wait, we? Are you sure the Elder literally meant for you to be by my side the whole time, to the point we have to share a bed?” I asked incredulously.

“Like I said,” Pyrrhus sighed, glancing back towards me, “over-protective.  And he always means exactly what he says.”

I sighed and leaned against the bedpost, resting my head on it and closing my eyes.  Great.  Just great.  I don’t even really know Pyrrhus at all, and I’m stuck sharing the same bed with him.  Granted it’s a big bed and we can probably avoid each other, but it’s the principle!  Maybe I should’ve ran in a different direction, maybe I could’ve run into a village with an Elder that’s not this ‘over-protective of foreign relations’…

“We should probably go get the bedding now,” Pyrrhus said after a few minutes of silence.  He was watching me when I opened my eyes.  “You look like you could use a nap before dinner.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.  It’s not like I exactly…rested…last night.”

He stood up and offered me a hand to help me up.  Do his moods usually go from one extreme to the next like this, or what?  Meh, that’s a question for another time. I took his hand and let him help me up this time, remembering his almost-wounded-puppy act the previous time I’d rejected his help.  He kept hold of my hand as he made his way to the laundry room, all but forcing me to follow, only letting go once we’d made it there.

On the way back up to the room, Pyrrhus motioned for me to stop.  “Wait right here for a sec, I’ve gotta get something out of my room.”  He disappeared into the doorway for maybe 30 seconds before joining me in the hall again.  “Please don’t tell Aurelias I did that.”

“Um, alright?” I said, confused.  What’d he do?

“Thanks,” he said as he lead me back into the guest room we were to be sharing.  He set his load on the bed and took a large book off the top and set it on a dresser.  “Something to read while you sleep,” he replied in answer to my inquisitive look.

After making the bed he had me go back into the closet to ‘change into something more appropriate to sleep in.’  He made me get way too much fancy stuff… I don’t think I’ll ever wear even half of this! I sighed and shook my head as I opened the doors and came out.  Pyrrhus had pulled a chair up to the side of the bed which had the covers folded back, presumably for me to get in, and had started reading.  He glanced up at me as I came out of the closet and smiled.  “Well, don’t you look nice.”

“Er, thanks,” I mumbled, feeling the heat of a blush rising to my cheeks.

How the heck am I supposed to get in that side when he’s so close? As if hearing my thoughts he stood up and pulled the chair back, making room for me to get in.  “Sorry,” he chuckled.  “Don’t look at me like that, you’re like an open book.  The look on your face gave it away.”

“Oh,” I shook myself slightly and climbed into the bed.  “For a second I thought…”

“Thought what?”

“I thought you might’ve been reading my mind, like…like her,” I whispered, looking away.

“Oh, Kristi, I’m sorry,” he said, wiping a tear from my cheek.  I jerked away automatically, and his expression fell even more.  “I didn’t mean to make you think that, or to make those memories come back…it really was just the looks on your face that I was reading.”

The memories had all came flooding back again, it was all I could do not to let more than a couple tears fall.  I rolled over, hoping he wouldn’t see any more than he had.  “Goodnight, Pyrrhus.”

“I’ll wake you up in time for dinner,” he said with a sigh, and I heard the chair scoot back closer to the bed.

I awoke to the beast shaking me.  “Leave me alone!” I screamed, scratching at her paws and forelegs in an attempt to get her away from me.

“Hey, watch the claws, watch the claws!” came a familiar voice.  That’s…

Opening my eyes fully, I looked around the room in a panic, searching for the beast I knew had been there.  “She…she’s…”

“Not here,” mumbled Pyrrhus.  “Hurry up and get dressed so I can go take care of this.”

This? I looked at him and immediately my heart fell.  He was holding his arm where I’d scratched him and drawn blood.  Oh, no…the first person to be kind to me after that and the one in charge of my welfare, and I attacked him!

“Well?  You going to get up so I can wrap this and we can eat or are you going to keep staring at me all night?”

“Sorry…I’m really sorry, Pyrrhus,” I almost pleaded.  I didn’t want him any angrier with me than he might already be.

“Don’t.  Just get dressed.”

I got up and went into the closet, turning on the light and closing the doors behind me.  All the clothes that had been so beautiful in the daylight seemed so drab now.

“It’s my own fault,” I heard him say with a sigh after a minute or so.  “You were obviously having a nightmare and I woke you up anyway.  After what happened… You aren’t to blame.  It only makes sense you’d be defensive.”

Doesn’t make me feel any better about it, though. I changed into a dress exactly the same as previous one, the only exception was that this one was gold instead of purple, before stepping back into the room.  Pyrrhus took my hand with his uninjured one as he all but dragged me to the bathroom where he started washing off his arm under the tap.

“You should bathe when we return.”

I nodded slightly.  I’d been cleaned up a little by one of the native women who’d fitted me in the marketplace, but I was far from clean and I definitely felt it.

“In all honesty, I probably should have had you bathe before now, but even now I’m still not sure how we’re going to do this.  Standing outside would probably be too far away for Aurelias’s liking, but I’m fairly certain that neither of us wants me to stay in here and watch you bathe or anything.”

The hair on the back of my neck bristled at the thought.  “You are not going to stay in the same room as me when I’m naked!”

He rolled his eyes as he turned off the tap and dried his arm.  “I don’t plan on it, if I can help it.  On our way back from dinner we’re stopping by the Elder’s Office again so I can speak with Aurelias about it and see what he suggests.”

“What are we going to be eating, anyway?” I asked, deciding this was as good a time as any to change the subject.  There was no way I was going to let him stay in the bathroom with me while I bathed, no matter what the Elder said.

“Riverfood,” he replied, dressing the scratches.

“Riverfood?  What the heck is that?”

Pyrrhus gaped at me.  “Are you serious?”

“Very.”

He shook his head in disbelief, the light hitting his hair differently due to the movement and revealing traces of colors I hadn’t noticed before.  “Please tell me you know what a river is.”

“Of course I know what a river is, I’m not stupid!”

“Riverfood is basically a lot like seafood.  Only the meals consist of fish caught in the river, instead of caught in the sea.  You’ve seriously never had it?”

“I’ve seriously never had it,” I said in a somewhat mocking tone, rolling my eyes a bit.  “My village is far from here, far from any bodies of water that contain any life.  Why is that so hard to understand?”

“Guess it isn’t,” he mumbled.  “Let’s go.”  He pushed past me before taking my hand in order to lead me out of the house.

Outside the house I managed to get him to let go of my hand.  It had been cute at first, even endearing, but by now it was just downright annoying.  “I’m not a baby, Pyrrhus!  I won’t run into a wall and hurt myself or just up and disappear if you’re not holding my hand!”

He stared at me in surprise.  “I…I’m sorry, Kristi.  I didn’t mean to make you feel that way… I guess I’m just used to Aurelias putting younger people under my protection instead of people of your age.  It’s a bit of a habit.”

“You didn’t start it until we were inside, though,” I said.

“You didn’t seem to want me touching you before then.  It was the first time you’d let me.”

I sighed.  He had a point.  “Whatever, let’s just go eat.”

Pyrrhus walked down past the market on the edge of town and into the surrounding forest for a few minutes before we came to a rather small, rundown looking shack.  “We’re here,” he said as he held the door open.  It was rather dark inside, though I couldn’t tell if that was done on purpose or if they just had really poor lighting.  There was a tank in the back of the front room that seemed better lit than even any of the tables and had some sort of brown creatures with claws moving about in it.  I could hear what I thought was water running in the tank, but upon listening closer I realized there had to have been a stream or something nearby; the sound just wasn’t right and didn’t match the tank.

Shortly after we’d entered a short woman greeted us.  I couldn’t make too much out in the darkness, but from what I could see she had a dark green tint to her skin and what appeared to be horns growing out of the top of her head.  “How many?”

“Two, please,” Pyrrhus replied, resting a hand on my lower back.  I tensed up but decided not to say anything in front of the other person.

“Right this way, sir,” she said, grabbing two menus from a stand near the door and making her way to a table near the tank.  She seemed to have a limp at first, but after we sat down I noticed her legs were shaped differently; it looked as if the god of her tribe had mixed a frog with someone like Pyrrhus.  She set a menu down in front of each of us then asked, “What can I get you two to drink?”

I started looking over the menu, but I didn’t recognize the language at all.  “Um, I’ll have…um…”

“Two waters, please,” Pyrrhus answered for both of us, then waited for the waitress to leave before chuckling.  “Guess you weren’t taught Menwe, huh?”

I shook my head.  “Menwe’s the language of Elders and merchants.  My tribe never saw a reason to teach it to those who weren’t destined for leadership or trade.”

“Destined, huh?  Guess your tribe thought differently than most.  A lot of tribes teach everyone basic Menwe these days.  You trust me to order for you?”

“I…I guess?”  I’d never had anything like what this place was likely to serve, so anything he could have ordered had the same chance of appealing to my taste.  Not like I have much of a choice, anyway, since I can’t even read this damned thing.

The waitress came back then and set the glasses down.  “Ready to order?”

“Two orders of catfish, fried, with slaw and pickled asparagus for the sides, please,” Pyrrhus handed her back the menus as he ordered.

“Coming right up, sir!”

“What?” he asked me as she left.

“What, what?”

“You’re giving me a dirty look.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.  It’s like you just saw me kill a baby and eat it.”

“Well, what kind of person eats kittens?”

He blinked then burst out laughing.  “What, you think catfish is cat in the shape of a fish or something?”

I shot him a glare.

“Sorry, but,” he shook his head and paused before continuing, “it’s a type of fish.  It’s called catfish because they have really long whiskers, like a cat.”

“Oh.”

“While the Second Tribe’s been known to eat anything they can catch, this place is still technically in Seventh Tribe territory, where eating companion animals is illegal.  So you don’t have to worry about something like that here, alright?”

“Second Tribe?”

“Your tribe really wasn’t that into education, was it?” he said with a chuckle.  “Mara, our waitress, is the daughter of the owner of this establishment.  They, along with all the employees here, are Second Tribesmen.”

“Oh.”

“One of these days, Kristi, you’re gonna have to tell me just what your Tribe did and didn’t teach you, so that maybe I can teach you what they didn’t so you can get along better.”  He grinned at me.  “After all, you’re not going to get very far not knowing who or what you’re dealing with, are you?”

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Why did he spare me?

“You are aware that I am female, correct?”

I couldn’t help but jump a bit, raising my head to look at the beast who was sneering at me.  Could she read my thoughts?

“This is our stop,” she said, rising to her back legs just long enough to dump me roughly on the ground.  “Stay here, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she turned to look at me and snarled, showing off her double set of fangs. “Don’t even think about running off, because I will find you and make you regret it.” With that she loped out of the cavern and into the setting sun.

I pulled my legs up to my chest and held them there, letting my mind wander.  Who was this beast?  What did she want?  I could still clearly see the scene in my mind, the beast seemingly coming from nowhere and tearing into my sister’s side before dropping her to the floor to bleed to death. The men’s bullets had no effect on the brute except to anger her, causing her to turn on them while my mother screamed and held me to her chest…I swear I’ll never forget the look on my brother’s face as his head rolled to a stop at my feet.

This wasn’t the first odd beast our people had encountered; the forests surrounding the villages were full of demons, some intelligent but most not.  Before, however…they had always been easy to dispose of, our weapons had fell them easily enough.  She was impervious to everything we tried.  Bullets, fire, arrows, knives…everything we had attacked her with did nothing to harm her. She actually had seemed delighted that we tried!  This beast is like nothing we’d ever encountered. What kind of beast could laugh and talk, was immune to harm, and appeared to be capable of reading my thoughts?

I sighed and got up, peering outside.  No sign of her…could I escape?  I shook my head and shuddered, remembering her threat. 

It’s already dark out.  Didn’t she say just a few minutes?  I don’t know how long it’s been, but I know it’s been more than that. Nir just doesn’t give in that quickly, and Sor has been celebrating for a while.

I decided to play it safe and stay in the cavern as ordered.  After looking around a bit, I had discovered a small bed of sorts seemingly made of leaves and fur. 

I don’t think I want to know what is under all that… Why can’t there be anything else to lay on in here?

Resigning myself to my situation, I laid down on the bed.  I could have swore I heard something cracking as I settled down…

I awoke much later with a pained scream, being forcefully removed from the bed courtesy of the beast’s teeth.  Crumpling into a heap against the far wall, I started crying.

“Oh, get over it! I just broke your arm, it’s not like your going to die,” she said as she curled up where I had been sleeping.  “Thanks for warming it up for me,” she sneered at me.

I glared at the beast as I clutched my arm to my chest, trying to stop the bleeding and ignore the bone jutting through the skin as the tears continued their flow.  Whether it was my blood on her muzzle or someone else’s I don’t know.  One thing I do know, is one day, that will be her own blood that she wears!

The beast’s laughter as I slowly lost consciousness was the last thing that I remember.

I awoke with a groan and forced myself to sit up despite the pain.  Looking down at my arm, I was surprised to see that it looked almost as good as new, with just a bruise where the beast had bit me the night before.

“What…what kind of trickery is this!” I exclaimed, checking my arm over to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.  Sure enough, it was all but healed, albeit still sore. 

After realizing there had been no answer to my cry, I got up and looked around.  Tur was in the sky already though Nir wasn’t yet.  Where has she gone so early?

It didn’t take me long to decide that this might be the only chance I’d have of escape, so I took it.  I started easing outside of the cavern carefully, ears turning in every direction to listen as I also looked for any signs of life.  That beast truly is gone!  I started running.  Even when my clothes would be caught on branches, or I would cut my feet on the rocky terrain, I refused to stop.  I had no idea where the beast had gone, but she had been quick the day before; I didn’t want to risk giving her time to catch up.  I didn’t want to know what would happen if she did.

Long after Tur had set, I ran into another village.  Ignoring the looks from these odd people I’d never seen before, I collapsed against the side of a building to catch my breath.  After a few minutes I finally looked around.  These people were different from my kind, obviously from another Tribe.  Their skin was paler than ours, and their ears were all flesh and longer and pointed, where ours were covered in fur and shaped as though taken from a dog.  From the few that came close enough for me to see, their eyes seemed different, too; the pupils were much rounder than ours, and smaller.  Many of the older ones seemed to have decorated metal of some sort in their ears and on their face as well.

I spotted a small group of boys who were watching me out of the corner of my eye and watched them closely, moving my ears slightly to better hear what they were saying.  Before I could make out much, one of the boys pushed another towards me.  The others gave small words of encouragement, apparently wanting the one to talk to me.  He approached slowly, cautiously.

“Um…er…miss? Is there…something that we can help you with?”

I turned to face him head on.  Sheesh.  They act like I’ll bite or something.  This one was young, but not too young.  Probably about my age.  He had a color of hair I’d never seen before, like someone had combined red and purple and white together and pearled it.  His eyes were a similar color, though they appeared as though the white had been left out of the mixture.  He had a small ring of metal with a swirl design through his right eyebrow.  I have to admit…it may be odd, but it’s pretty.  Wonder how I would look, if…

“Miss?” he repeated, snapping me out of my thoughts.  He looked even more nervous than before.

I looked away, remembering the question he’d asked and trying to figure out how best to answer it.  “Gone…”

“Huh?”

I closed my eyes and choked back a small sob, the memories of yesterday flooding back again, and the pain in my arm returning as though the beast had just assaulted me again.  “Gone, all gone.  Everyone.  My…my family, my village…everyone’s gone.  The beast killed them all…all but me.”

“Oh, shit,” he said, and I could hear him moving.  I looked partially back in his direction, so I could see him out of the corner of my eye; he had moved into a squatting position beside me.  Over his shoulder I could see the group he’d started in, looking shocked.  They whispered amongst themselves, and from the snippets I caught they were wondering if their friend had lost his mind or if I just plain wasn’t dangerous.

My attention turned back to the one closest to me, who had just put his hand on my knee.  I tensed up and bared my teeth, letting out a small growl; he didn’t seem to notice.

“You escaped though, right?  You seem to be fine… Do you have a place to stay?  Do you have any injuries I can’t see, do you need me to get the healer?”

I resisted the urge to move away quickly.  He’s just trying to be nice…he may be a stranger, but he’s just trying to be nice… I gritted my teeth and looked away, trying to think of an appropriate answer. 

“I…can’t go back.  She will kill me or worse if she finds me again…even though I may not be safe here, either–”

“We can kill it if it follows you! We’re not an unarmed populace here.”

I gave him a kind of half-glare out of the corner of my eye. Neither were we.  I decided not to argue though; he meant well, at least.  If nothing else, it wasn’t his place… “I should talk to your Elder.”

“Oh,” he said, sounding hurt.  “I suppose you’re right.”  He stood up and offered a hand to me, looking even more hurt when I ignored it and stood up on my own.  “Follow me,” he said with a sigh then started heading for a large, long building across the village.  I followed close behind; I may not have trusted him when it came to the beast, but he at least would be a better defense than I could hope for on my own against whatever his people might try and do.

“What’s your name?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at me.  I gave him another half-glare. 

“Not polite to ask someone’s name without giving yours first,” I muttered.

“Oh.  Voss Pyrrhus.”

“Stidolph Kristi.”

“So you’re of the Fourth Tribe, then,” he said as we entered the building.  I think he meant it as a question, but he had gotten distracted upon entering…he was talking to a lady behind a desk.  She also had an odd coloring of hair…they all seemed to, actually.  Like whatever god made them had pearlized multiple colors to make each of them especially unique.  Her hair was a combination of orange, blue, and black it seemed.  What an eyesore… She had metal in each ear, and two rings in her left eyebrow.  I couldn’t tell the designs on any of them.

“Go on in, but be quick, he has an appointment shortly,” she said and waved Pyrrhus towards the back.

He nodded his thanks and turned his head back toward me for a second before he started walking again, heading down a long hall.  “Sorry, but we’re not allowed to just walk in whenever we want…I’m sure you know how it is.”  I nodded slightly as we stopped in front of a door and Pyrrhus knocked.

“Who is it?” bellowed a voice from inside, my ears going back and wincing slightly. If that’s the Elder, I sure hope he isn’t this loud when I’m in there talking with him…

“Voss Pyrrhus, with a foreigner, sir!”

“You may come in.”

Pyrrhus changed his posture before opening the door and striding in, closing the door after I followed.  I looked around very briefly before looking at who I assumed was the Elder, who had stood up in a greeting.  His hair was a mix of yellow, red and gold, and he had too much metal decorating his ears and eyebrows for me to count without closer examination.  I wonder if they use metal as my people use inkings?  If they do, I wonder what Pyrrhus has done to earn one so young…

“Please, sit down,” the Elder said, motioning to the seating in front of his desk…which consisted solely of one small couch.  Guess he doesn’t often have multiple people in here at once… Probably means the meeting room is separate from this one, unlike how ours was.  Though that seems like a waste of space… This place confuses me.

I sat down on the far end, Pyrrhus following suit on the other end.  After the Elder was sure we were comfortably seated, he settled down into his rather large chair behind the desk.  “I am Voss Aurelias.  Who might you be, young one?”

“Stidolph Kristi,” I replied, somewhat distracted.  The Elder and Pyrrhus have the same family name? Are they related? How?

Aurelias smiled down at me.  “Stidolph, eh?  Well, what brings a member of the Fourth Tribe here, and how can the Seventh Tribe help?”

Tribes again… I glanced over at Pyrrhus momentarily.  He sat still as a stone, eyes firmly on the Elder.  I’d been taught about Tribes, of course, but I’d never learned to recognize someone’s Tribe by their family name.  As far as I could remember, no one in my Tribe did, except for the Elder alone.  No one but the Elder or those thought to be in line to become Elder had a reason to learn how.  They must be related!

“I, well…” I couldn’t help but fidget.  The Elder’s gaze was locked on me, and it made me nervous.  “I’m…the last.”

He blinked in surprise then sat up straighter, taking on a more serious tone.  “The last? Of the Fourth Tribe?”

“Yes,” I said, lowering my gaze.  I could only hope this would be the last time I would have to relive the memories.  “Yesterday, right before Tur went back to slumber, a beast entered my village.  She…she killed everyone.  We did our best to kill her, but nothing worked.  All our weapons did was make her angry.  She killed everyone…” I fought back a sob.  “She left me alive, on purpose!  She knew I was still there as she ate her fill on my friends, my neighbors, my family… She took me with her, to a cavern.  She left after that, but made me stay there.  I fell asleep on…on her bed, to have her wake me up by throwing me across the room by the arm, with naught but her maw.  I passed out from the pain and bloodloss, to awaken alone today, not long after Tur had chased Sor out of the sky, but before Nir followed his brother.  I made my escape then.”

Aurelias handed me a cloth which I used to dry the tears that were now flowing freely.  A couple minutes passed before he spoke.  “First,” he said slowly, as if he was still trying to put together what to say in his head, “how do you know this beast was female?”

“She told me as much.”

“She spoke?”

“Yes, sir.”

He propped his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers together, staring at his hands as though they would tell him what he wanted to know without having to speak the questions.  “What kinds of weapons were possessed by the Fourth Tribe?”

“Guns, bows and arrows, knives, staves, spears…fire, of course.”

“And none pierced the beast’s hide at all?”

“No, sir.”

“Why did it keep you alive and reasonably unharmed?”

“I…I don’t know, sir.”

“What damage did you sustain?”

“Well…none, now.  Last night…all I know for sure is that my arm had broke, because the bone was protruding from the skin, but…when I woke up today, there was only a bruise where she had bit me.”

The Elder’s brows furrowed at this.  He stood and turned so his back was to us and strode to the windows along the back wall.  “Do you think the beast will follow you?” he asked after several minutes.

“I don’t know, sir.  She was quick… I think if she were to follow me, she would have been here by now.”

I fidgeted as the room went quiet again.  He’s not going to let me stay here…he’s going to make me leave and not come back, to protect his village, I just know it. I fought back more tears at the thought of having to face the beast again and what she would do to me for running away, but ended up crying into the cloth.

“You will remain here, in our custody.  You do not need to worry about this beast anymore, we will find a way to destroy it before it can wipe out any more Tribes.”  I looked up at the Elder in shock, though he was still facing away.  “Until I can find more suitable custody, you will be in the custody of the Voss family itself, and Pyrrhus will be left in charge.”  Aurelias turned back around to face Pyrrhus.  “You are not to leave her side until I say otherwise, is this understood?”

Pyrrhus stood quickly to address the Elder.  “Yes, sir!”

“Once you leave, you will go to the market,” he said, moving to his desk and writing something on some paper quickly.  “She is to get new clothes, and whatever else she needs.  Then you will go straight home.  Show this to the merchants and they will not charge you.  Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Pyrrhus said, taking the document.

The Elder turned to me.  “We cannot bring back what you have lost, or undo what you have seen.  But hopefully you can find happiness here,” he said, extending his hand. 

I stood and shook it.  “Thank you, sir, really.”

He smiled softly at me.  “You are welcome.  You two may go now.”

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