He awoke with a start. Sweat rolling down his face and back. The wetness it caused made his ginger hair stick to his cheeks and forehead. His breathe came in short gasps. He had, had a nightmare. Glancing around the man slowly got his bearings. It had been six years since the battle against the Adderhead. Two years since Roxanne had died. The very thing that he had had a nightmare about. The death of his wife. He loved her. But yet as time went on he realized that his Love was just the fact that she was "safe". It had never been a cause for him to run.

"Silvertounge's right... It's about time that I live my life again." Sitting at the edge of his bed he put his head in his hands. "But what to do? I could always become a fire-juggler again." It would take alot of hard work and he knew it. After Roxanne's death, fire had abandoned Dustfinger because of the element's jealousy over Dustfinger's grief of his wife.

Pulling on his boots and standing up, Dustfinger headed for the door. Just as he opened it his chest receved a slight rap. Standing infront of him was a blonde beauty. Her blue eyes looking at him with worry. "Don't look at me like that." He murmmered as he headed for the outhouse.

"So you're doing better today?" She asked as she followed him.

Very briefly he thought about screaming at her to make her run the other way, but without fire his threats were no good. Besides she was the only one that didn't blame him for the accident. So he said, "I've been better. Though I guess I'm not at my worst..." It wasnt' the best answer for him to give to Meggie Folchart, but it worked for the moment.

"Well Mo's invited you to dinner again..."

He could hear the underlined hidden meaning. The 'since no one else wants you around'. 'I guess we'll put up with you since Meggie will'. 'You dont' really deserve our handouts'. 'Someone like you cant' be trusted'.

Just before he shut the door of the outhouse, he looked Meggie in the eyes, "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing. I was there remember. I was helping you in the fields. You were nowhere near Roxanne. Besides Dustfinger, I know that you love her." There was a stained note to her voice on her last sentence.

(It's nothing. She's just explained this to me so many times she's annoyed by it. I know her reasons but what does she want...)