Rosto was right. It wasn't exactly the welcome home that she was expecting but she did welcome the distraction. It was better than getting too much time to think. The morning began with more pigeons than she had corn for. Mostly confused souls, who without being able to lay down their burden had remained tied to their bird until Beka returned. There were so many, all at once, it was overwhelming. Still, she listened patiently to their stories, trying to determine which she would have to follow-up on. Finally she recognized Mother Cantwell's voice complaining of a splitting headache.

"Wouldn't even face me, the cowards"

She didn't know anything about her captors. The children were the hardest to hear. Confused and frightened some of them didn't realize what had happened to them at all.

Their cries were horrifyingly familiar. The worst was a little girls voice who asked Beka why her mommy didn't come when she cried. Beka bit her lip until she tasted copper trying to keep her emotions in check. Eventually a hand dropped onto her shoulder and she winced away reaching for her baton on impulse.

"Woah, Beka, calm down. Why don't you take a break?"

"What are you doing here Rosto?" Beka asked coldly trying to hide how unsettled she was.

"I saw every bird in the city caught up with you this morning... Are they all...?"

"No, not all of them. Most of them."

"Gods..." he pulled a cloth from his pocket and raised it to her lip slowly and she stiffened. "Don't punch me, Cooper, I'm just trying to help."

"I don't need your help."

"No, you don't," he affirmed, pressing the cloth to her lip for a moment until the bleeding slowed.

"I have to go," she mumbled as he pulled the cloth away.

He nodded, tracing the small wound on her lip with his fingertips, leaving behind a tingling that had nothing to do with the scratch.

"Ersken is waiting for me outside."

He nodded again, but didn't withdraw.

She wished he would try to 'kiss her better', flirt, make a joke...anything but this. Anything but this quiet intensity that made her cheeks burn.

"Actually, Ersken got bored with waiting outside and came up here. Want me to come back in a few minutes?" Ersken was leaning against the door frame giving Rosto's smirk a run for its money.

Rosto dropped his hand and grinned at Ersken while Beka turned a classic shade of crimson.

"Oh it'll take much longer than that," Rosto grumbled to the dog, immediately raising a hand to block Beka's inevitable blow.

Beka pulled her arm free of his grasp in irritation. "Let's go," She ordered pushing everyone out of her room.

Beka stalked down the street toward the Kennel forcing Ersken to jog to catch up with her.

"We have to tell someone, Ersken."

"The dogs know, most of it anyway, but everyone that has 'investigated' came to the conclusion that Rosto is offing his own. I didn't want to push it lest someone decide to just send him to execution hill."

"You don't think..." Beka started

"No, Beka, I don't. You don't either."

Beka nodded. "Come on, we're talking to Goodwin."

When they reached the Kennel and found a place to talk to Goodwin in private they explained the situation, most of which was unknown to her.

"There's little I can do right now Beka. If no one else is implicated, pushing an 'investigation' into this is likely to end badly for Rosto whether he is involved or not."

"We have to do something," Beka fumed, "we can't just let these children be killed because their families are mixed up in the court!"

"Agreed. Here is what I can do. I can pull some strings to get you and Ersken partnered together. That will give you the opportunity to gather evidence, approach this in your own ...unique way. For now that will have to be enough."

Ersken nodded his approval. It was a start.

While Goodwin worked to get Ersken and Beka partnered together for watches, Beka took her off duty afternoon as a chance to catch up with her spinners. She found Hasfush first, knowing that she was likely to be causing a scene in the streets after so long. As Beka suspected Hasfush had gathered so much in her swirling winds that people were beginning to avoid that area of the street. Stepping into the winds Beka listened as life passed her by. She heard people complaining about the price of bread, cursing the coles and discussing how the Rogue's inn was the only place worth trying to eat lately. Then the conversations shifted. She heard talk of the challengers. Apparently even Rosto was having difficulty keeping people fed. And hungry people revolt. People wondered if it wasn't time for some new Tortallian blood on the throne. Listening to all of these conversations made her realize how close it had come...had she been a few days or weeks later in stopping the coles... Suddenly a gruff voice caught her attention.

"...that much, they'll be out for days. Won't even want to wake up." A harsh laugh punctuated the words. "Easier that way...less squealing for mommy..."

Try as she might however, it seemed that the speakers had passed beyond the spinners range, as Beka could hear no more of the conversation. She pacified the rest of the spinners over the next few hours calming them to their normal size with offerings of Port Caynn dust and a willing ear. More of the same, complaints about bread prices and idle talk. But she did learn one thing. Rosto's attempts to keep things quiet had failed, his time was up.


As much as she would have preferred to avoid Rosto for a while, he needed to know what she had heard, so she walked by the Dove before her watch.

Aniki waved her back towards Rosto's rooms with a smile and Beka knocked on the open door.

"Come to finish what we started?"

Beka rolled her eyes and Rosto waved her into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Nothing more from your birdies, then?" Rosto said, half sitting on his desk facing her.

"Good afternoon to you too," she sighed. "You should know...it's not a secret anymore. People are talking. They know something is happening."

Rosto nodded but didn't look surprised. "Anything else?"

"Not really, they're knocking them out somehow and keeping them out for days. Some kind of drug perhaps? Also..."

"Not holding out on me, are you, puppy? Odd as it might seem, we're on the same side."

"The men...It's just a feeling...but... I think they might have been involved the first time too."

"You think so? It's been kinda messy for someone just picking up where they left off."

"Yeah, well, the leadership is different."

"Yates..." Rosto started.

"Yates is dead."

"He had siblings...brothers."

"Who haven't been seen in Corus for years."

"Revenge and Power, Cooper, it would fit."

"Why attack people from the court? Why not me, If it's revenge they're after I'm the one that hobbled their ma, tracked their brother until he took the choice."

"Perhaps. Perhaps they're not done yet. This way they don't have to worry about the Dogs. Dogs don't care." Rosto's voice held a challenge and he stood stepping closer.

"That's not true." Beka said, raising her head defiantly.

"Fine, Terrier, some Dogs care. But not enough, because right now you and I are the only ones looking for this scut."

Beka sighed. "You need to watch your back Rosto. The shadow isn't all people are talking about. There's talk of ... new blood."

"There's always talk of new blood, Beka. Are you worried about me?"

"I'm worried about Corus. You're...good for Corus...right now."

Rosto laughed humorlessly, "A striking commendation."

"I have to go to watch, Rosto. Try not to burn down the city today?"

"No promises, Beka. I shall pine in your absence and despair can drive a cove to desperate measures." His eyes twinkled merrily and Beka rolled her eyes.

"Beka," He called, as she made to leave the room, "I suppose I don't have to ask you to be careful?"


Ersken met Beka outside again and they walked towards the Kennel together. "We can't ask too pointed of questions or it will just make Rosto's problem worse."

"That's Rosto's problem," Beka retorted and Ersken gave her a pointed look. "It's true," she continued. "Rosto is well capable of taking care of himself. Our job isn't to protect Rosto. Our job is to protect the next child in that monster's sight."

"I know what our job is," Ersken replied in a frustrated tone. "Doesn't mean we can ignore the consequences of our actions. I'm not asking you to protect Rosto. I'm asking you to try to avoid taking down another Rogue. This one is usually on our side."

Beka nodded. "All right, how do you propose we go about this?"

"No mentions of the name directly. No general questions about kidnapping of children. Let's treat each child as though it is an individual occurrence."

"Speaking of which. It's not just children this time."

"No," Ersken responded, a puzzled look in his eyes. "We've tried to determine why..."

"Was she the first?"

"Yes, do you think that's important?"

"I don't know yet. But it seems like whoever this is is going to great lengths to imitate the sna- I mean, Yates. But not doing a very good job. Perhaps Mother Cantwell wasn't the same person, or was before they decided to imitate Yates?"

"It was definitely the same person. Same style note, same handwriting. Different handwriting from the sh- from the first time though."

After checking in at the Kennel they headed back into the lower city. They stuck to those close to the children at first, asking if anyone strange had been around, or if there was any discord within the family...standard questions about a child kidnapping. Nothing popped out as a commonality between all the stories. Nothing except that their family was known to be involved with Rosto's court.

As they walked Ersken filled her in on what had been done before she returned to the city. Aniki has been working with some of hers...Fiddlelad, Lady May and Reed Katie. They were all involved with Dawull's crew in Waterfront. Phelan likewise was monitoring Ulsa and her crew in the Prettybone district. Beka was not surprised. If there were any chiefs that were the most likely to try covert methods to rattling Rosto off his throne it was those two. Neither Aniki or Phelan had been able to gather anything substantial yet. The only thing of interest, apparently, was a slight increase in traffic through the slave markets and no one was exactly sure if or how that was connected to the disappearances.

Not more than an hour before their watch was to end a pixie came up to Beka and tugged on her sleeve. "Aniki needs to speak with you," the child said, hovering after delivering her message. Beka nodded thanks and gave her a copper, which she pocketed happily before skipping off.

"What couldn't wait for an hour?" Ersken wondered out loud as they walked toward the Dove. Exchanging a glance they broke into a run.

The Dove was relatively quiet during the day but still Kora waved them back into some of the back rooms. Aniki was pacing and Rosto and Phelan were seated. They didn't speak until they got a nod from Kora, perhaps she had applied some kind of charm to prevent eavesdropping?

"Lady May." Aniki burst out as soon as Kora indicates she is free to speak, "No one has seen her since yesterday afternoon. This arrived with her family last night." She held up a small note which Beka reached for. It said only that she had 48 hours to be ransomed and an extraordinary number in coins. Nothing else.

"These aren't meant to be paid." Rosto said, stiffly. "If they were they would pick a value just beyond the value the family could afford. And they would tell us where to leave the money."

"Besides," Phelan broke in, "the one you ransomed last night; they just found him in Waterfront less than an hour ago. They took the money and left a body."

"It doesn't make any sense," Aniki said in frustration, "Why would they do that? People don't pay if there's no hope."

"Unless they're not interested in the money," Beka commented. "Who loses the most from all this chaos?"

"The families of those taken," Rosto answered flatly.

"Who looses from all of them," Beka amended.

Rosto glanced up, "Someone is creating the conditions for a challenge."

Ersken nodded. "And they're protecting themselves from the Dogs by making it look like Rosto is cleaning house."

"Why are the slave markets so active lately?" Beka asked, "I keep hearing about it but nothing specific."

Aniki nodded, "We're getting the same reports. But we don't have a hand in them."

Beka looked contemplative and Rosto caught her eye. "What are you thinking, Cooper?"

"I don't have any proof."

"We'll not hold it against you."

"I think someone is moving Dream Rose again."

"Why?"

"My birdies are complaining of splitting headaches and telling me that they're being kept out for a long time. I heard someone talking about how 'they wouldn't want to wake up.' And now they've taken someone who wouldn't go down without a fight. It has to be magework or a drug. It sounds like Dream Rose."

Rosto nodded, "And you think they're employing the slave markets to do it."

"It's been done before." Beka glanced at Ersken. "What about Poundridge. Everyone knows he works the slave markets and has a hand in Dream Rose."

"We spoke to him earlier," Ersken added, "His clothes, his jewelry...everything about him screams sudden extra income these days."

"We can't prove anything based on new silk shirts," Beka said.

"We'll watch him," Rosto decided, "perhaps he's in contact with the kidnappers."

The group broke up, but Rosto walked back to the boarding house with Beka, waiting outside with her as Achoo did her business.

"He's just the supplier," Beka commented after a moment of silence, "He wouldn't be worth following unless they need to restock on Dream Rose. We have less than 24 hours now to find Lady May and we still have nothing of substance."

"We'll watch him tonight. People aren't as clever at sneaking around as they think they are. In the meantime..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple chain with a dark stone on it. Unclasping it he moved to place it around her neck but Beka took a step away.

"I can't take that, Rosto, I told you I'm not..."

"I'm very well aware of what you are not, Beka. If it makes you feel better think of this as a... professional courtesy."

"I don't wear necklaces, I've no intention of getting strangled by the next drunk cove I've a run in with."

"The chain is insubstantial. It will break before causing you any damage...and I had the stone charmed. It will warm to the touch when Dream Rose is nearby."

Beka looked unconvinced and Rosto sighed, the smirk leaving his eyes and exhaustion filling them. "Just wear the bloody charm, you pert gixie. Ease my mind?"

Beka nodded and Rosto clasped it around her, fingers lingering at the nape of her neck.

"Lady May is a fighter, Beka, they must be good to have caught her unaware," he said, finally dropping his hands onto her shoulders.

She turned, breaking the contact. "I know. We're doing everything we can to find her." she said as she opened the door for Achoo and entered the boarding house.

"Good, but that's not what I meant." he said quietly.

"What did you mean?" Beka said questioningly, turning back towards him to find he was right behind her.

He leaned down and kissed her again, preventing her shocked step backwards with a hand on her lower back.

He pulled away slightly after a moment but didn't step back. "That's what I meant."

He had barely gotten the words out before she sent him reeling backwards hands clasping a bleeding nose.

"I'm sorry," she stammered then shaking her head she continued, "Wait, no I'm not. I warned you I would punch you next time."

"That you did, love, it was worth it."

Beka sighed and turned towards the stairs "Have a good night, Rosto."

"You'd just leave me, wounded here in the hallway?"

She glanced back, he did look a pitiable sight, pinching his nose to try to stop the bleeding with blood staining his white shirt front.

"I am sorry that Kora will have to deal with that shirt. That's why I wear black." With a wide smile, she retreated up the stairs.

She knew he would be waiting in the hallway for the bleeding to stop, since it was not usually a good idea for the Rogue to be out bleeding all over the streets. Rushers smell weakness like sharks smell blood in water. With a sigh she grabbed her kit and a piece of cloth. Dipping it in one of Kora's healing balms that would clot the wound in a few seconds, she turned and opened the door.

He had followed her up the stairs and was outside, leaning against the wall waiting for her to open the door. Arrogant cracknob. Handing him the cloth she closed the door in his face before she was tempted to hit him again.


One hand on his nose, Rosto still couldn't help but smile as he watched her disappear up the stairs. He loved a challenge, and Beka Cooper was nothing if not that. It would be a few minutes before the bleeding would slow enough for him to make his way back to the Dove, unless...

With a grin he followed her up the stairs and leaned against the wall across from her door. Any moment now... he thought. The door didn't open though and he was beginning to think he had miscalculated when suddenly he heard movement inside. His smirk settled into place as the door opened. Beka's eyes widened when she saw him waiting for her. He opened his mouth to speak but before he had the chance she stuffed a piece of cloth into his hands and slammed the door again.

Oh well, at least she opened the door. Covering his injury with the cloth he felt the tell-tale tingling of one of Kora's charms as he made his way back into the night.

She had taken the stone. That was the victory he had wanted tonight. It was something of a specialized charm and he would never tell Beka how much it had cost him to acquire it, but it was worth it. He had trouble sleeping as it was, without the fear that Beka would be drugged in some back alley while he wasn't paying attention. This whole thing still didn't make sense. If this was about his throne the time for a challenge had been when the city had been on the brink of bread riots. Why bother with all of this...mess now. They were missing something.

He decided to check in on the rushers he had on Poundridge. Phelan was with them now, along with several other rushers Rosto knew he could trust. He hadn't even made it all the way there when he practically ran into Phelan on his way back to the Dove.

"Don't you have somewhere you're supposed to be?" Rosto commented.

"Thought you'd want to know this as soon as possible."

"And what might that be?"

"He thinks he's a lot sneakier than he is, he left a note in one of the alleyways near his house. Pretty well hidden but he led us right to it. The writing isn't familiar, and it just said; "You're running out of time."

Rosto nodded. Perhaps Beka and Ersken's visit had spooked him after all. Did that mean he should be expecting a challenge soon? "What did you do with the note."

"Left it. Thought you might want a shot at whoever comes to get it."

They both turned toward Poundridge's home. When they got close another Rusher from Phelan's crew ran towards them. "A cove just came to pick up the note, went that way, Brian's on him." Rosto shot in the direction indicated, rapidly gaining on Brian who likewise pointed him in the right direction. As he approached the cove turned a corner and realized he was being followed. Subtlety went out the window as Rosto tried to outrun his query.

The cove finally realized he couldn't outrun Rosto, and so turned to confront him as he raced around the corner. A sudden pain in his head stopped him short and Rosto collapsed to the ground in the alley. Phelan and Brian, though only a few seconds behind couldn't see what direction the assailant had gone. With Phelan on one side and Brian on the other they carried Rosto back to his rooms at the dove.


Gods his head ached. Why did I drink so much... Suddenly he remembered the chase, the alley and the sudden pain , this is no hangover. The cove ambushed me! He could hear a soft voice but couldn't understand her words. It sounded like someone was calling his name.

They sounded muffled like... like she was speaking to him through water.

"Rosto, please wake up." She sounded upset, and he tried to focus on her.

He forced his eyes to open and they burned and stung and the entire room seemed to shift and sway with him.

"Rosto! Rosto, look at me, can you hear me?"

"Beka?"

"Thank the Gods! You cracknob, you scared me!"

"What do you mean, what happened?" Suddenly he became acutely aware that she was holding his hand and there were tears in her eyes.

"Aniki brought you back here, we weren't sure you were still alive... The healers weren't sure if you would wake up and..." A tear fell down her cheek and she leaned closer. "He must have hit you with something hard...because you have been out for hours."

He looked at Beka in confusion. "Why are you crying?" Beka doesn't cry...

She wiped her eyes self-consciously. "I... I thought I lost you, Rosto. The city needs you...I think...I think I need you too."

His world suddenly shifted into focus. He tried to sit up but she placed a light hand on his chest to indicate he should lie still.

All the times he imagined this moment. All the things he wanted to say and now it was here and he had no words, simply staring up at her beautiful blue eyes in amazement. His head still pounded and the edges of the world seemed blurred but none of that mattered because she was leaning down to him and with a smile placed a soft kiss on his lips. He had kissed Beka before, but never like this. Her lips were sweet and soft and so willing. His body felt heavy, like molten lead, but still he lifted his arm to place a hand behind her head and draw her closer. She melted into him and he tried to focus on her, but his body was failing him. His arms fell limp and his eyes drooped. "I'm sorry, Beka, I'm so tired...I can't..."

"It's all right," she hushed him gently, pulling back only slightly so that her lips brushed his as she spoke. "You're safe now, I'll be here when you wake."

He clung to her words. Hearing an echo of her promise as he fell back into the darkness.


He knew he was waking again by the pounding in his head. Everything seemed sharper now, sharper and more painful. He heard voices again, but he couldn't pick out hers.

"...found Lady May, earlier..."

"...didn't even bother..."

"...been almost 48 hours already..."

The voices swam together in his ears as he fought to open his eyes again. Where was her voice. She promised she would be here.

"...he's waking up..."

"...finally..."

"...tell him..."

"...Rosto?..."

"Would you all please talk one at a time so I can bloody understand you?" Rosto snapped as he finally managed to open his eyes and see several concerned faces hovering over him. Not hers.

"How are you feeling?" Kora asked looking him over.

"Terrible, thank you, where's Beka?"

"She's not here Rosto." Kora answered nervously, "Do you have any pain in your head, ringing in your ears or nausea?"

"Yes. Where is she, she was here, where is she?"

Kora looked concerned and placed a hand on his face.

"Do you think he's still under...maybe still feverish," Phelan asked.

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to have a fever, but my knowledge in this area is limited..."

"I'm right here, why aren't you answering my question. She was just here, and I need to speak with her again."

Kora glanced at the others. "Why don't you all leave for a moment, I'll talk to him."

Aniki nodded and the others left leaving Kora sitting nervously on the edge of his bed.

"Rosto, I'm sorry, but she's not here. She wasn't here."

"I saw her, she was here..."

"Do you remember the alley?"

"Yes, what does that have to do with Beka?"

"You were doused with Dream Rose, you've been out for almost two days."

Dream Rose...Rosto's heart sank. "You're sure?"

"I'm sorry, Rosto, we've been with you... She hasn't."

He nodded but Kora still looked nervous. "What aren't you telling me, Kora?"

"It's about Beka. That night they got you with the Dream Rose, they got her too. We haven't seen her in almost 48 hours now. It's been over 24 hours since we received her note...there was no ransom demand this time."

For a moment Rosto was frozen in place. In that moment he fully understood how people got addicted to Dream Rose. What he wouldn't give to go back to that world where she was safe, where she loved him and she was safe. But it wasn't real. What was real is that she was gone, and if the pattern held than it might already be too late to save her...

"What have you been doing, why haven't you found her!"

In a passion of energy Rosto shot out of bed scattering water and medical supplies everywhere as he did so. The crash brought Aniki and the others back into the room and Rosto turned on them. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you out finding her?

"We've done everything we can. No one has slept in two days, but we can't find any leads." Aniki said, "I'm sorry Rosto."

Rosto sank down onto the bed in exhaustion and Kora approached worriedly. "She's strong, Rosto, and we haven't found ... "

"Could she have escaped on her own, maybe she went to the Dogs?"

"Ersken hasn't heard anything." Kora replied.

"Lady May is a fighter too, did she escape? Could Beka have..." Rosto started hopefully but the downcast expressions told him all he needed to know. "Please tell me we have something?"

"We found Achoo. Not far from the boarding house. We figure she must have been dosed at the same time as Beka, but she's still out cold." Aniki said sadly.

"Can't escape if you're unconscious." Rosto finished bitterly.

"...but Achoo is smaller, Rosto, she could have woken up." Kora said. "Ersken and the dogs have put the pressure on Poundridge, and we've searched the area you were attacked for any sign of where he might have gone. We can't find anything...It was a long shot to begin with."

"So you're just waiting around for her body to show up?" Rosto growled.

"We've gone building by building through that alleyway." Aniki responded, "There's no sign of the captors or Dream Rose. We'll keep expanding our search until..."

"Poundridge..." Rosto said, a bright gleam in his eye. "He's still alive?"

"Yes," Kora nodded.

"Then I think perhaps Ersken is not putting enough...pressure on him." Rosto grinned, and stood again. "I'm going to go pay him a visit."


AN: I wouldn't want to be Poundridge at this particular moment!

Thanks for reading.