"But Van! We can't just leave him here to that monster!" The white haired woman gestured to the room that the small pig-tailed youth slept in. "He nearly shattered his mind. In fact he DID shatter his mind. I was just barely able to put the pieces back in place. I wasn't able to completely remove the taint, and the child is going to have a pathological fear for the rest of his life. I don't know how you can justify leaving that boy here with that abusive monster."
"Fandes, we don't even know if it really was the boys father that threw him into that pit of cats, or even if the pit was real." The main raised his hand in a placating gesture as the woman made to speak. " -I know, I know. But you and I know of more then one way memories can be changed, and I just refuse to believe that someone would torture their own family in such a fashion. It could even be a tradition or something." A hansom man wearing white clothing replied.
"That's a load of crap and you know it. He belongs in Velgarth, I can feel it." The white haired woman said.
The man sighed. "We still can't take him with us, and if he truly belongs in Velgarth, he will find his way there on his own regardless. I refuse to take a child to a battle zone. I've figured out how we were sent to this world and we can come back. And we will. We'll come back for him. But after the battle. The kind lady that owns this house said that she would take care of him until his family came to get him."
"Vanyel, how are we going to find him again after we leave?"
"I gave him my signet pendant, the one of the little Companion. I will be able to find it wherever it may be on this world when we return." Having said his part, the man gathered the woman up into a hug. "I'm going to miss being able to gather you into a hug like this."
"Me too, But not too much, I don't think I could deal with Stefen's jealousy. I would probably end up trampling him."
"True," the man and woman shared a laugh. "Alright Yfandes, it's time we got home. Stefen is waiting and we have an appointment to make in the Forest of Sorrows and I have a feeling it would be unwise to be late."
Ranma sighed as he got back got back to camp and saw his father had passed out drunk after eating all the food again. Stupid wolves… Stupid pops. It had been three weeks since the last attempt at the Neko-Ken training and his father found him staying with that kindly older woman. Genma had not mentioned the Neko-ken since the day he found Ranma staying with that kind old lady and Ranma was understandably reluctant to bring it up.
Pulling his beadroll out of his pack Ranma got ready to get a few hours of sleep before sunrise. He was more then tired enough to fall asleep and more then a little curious too. The first few days after the dreaded cat-fist training Ranma was plagued by horrible, indescribable nightmares that he could never remember after he woke up, but more and more lately they had been taking on a softer feeling, less full of pain and fear. He even started to remember some of what happened in them. It wasn't much and image here, an emotion there.
As Ranma lay down he gazed at the infinity spread out above him. It was such a clear night, and it seemed all the stars had come out for a show. Absentmindedly he reached up and started to kneed his pigtail, feeling the little horse amulet twined inside. The old lady that helped patch his cuts had given it to him and told him about the two that had found him and calmed him down. He didn't give them much more though, except to wonder at their kindness to take time out of their day to help a complete stranger.
I wonder if I'll have another dream tonight. Ranma thought to himself as his conscious left him. They always start out so scary, but then She comes and chases all the felines away … and tells me everthing will be all right … everything will be all right… and she sounds like bells …such nice white hair… and blue eyes…
"…zzzZZZzzz…"