Dian Rubens sat one night in her favorite chair, holding her two year old babbling son on her lap. Lately she had been thinking about her past, perhaps that it was time to write her own stories...

Her son suddenly switched from babble to words, shaking her out of the reverie. "Mama, wotcha thinking on?"

She didn't immediately answer the boy's question. Instead, she took a few seconds to gather her thoughts. It wasn't often that she and her son actually spoke aloud. They had adopted a queer means of communication through body language and small sounds. One of the times that they did talk, however, was when she would teach him some of her favorite stories.

"Nothing, Sisyphus..." Yet she remained in thought. It had been around three years since her encounter with Lawrence and Holo. She had traced their journeys through the tales of fishermen and merchants who by chance had seen the couple from time to time. Once or twice, she even tried to search them out by flying over vast mileages of commonly traveled roads. But her efforts to contact them were futile, and she always returned hungry and unsatisfied. The arrival of her son was a pleasant yield, but cut her off from all of her resources concerning the two.

Her son Sisyphus, a demibeast, was a rather "odd bird" persay. Because of his nievety, he could not be taken into public and was very unsocialized. Being part bird as he was, he was a fast learner and could already stretch his wings and fly for short distances at a time. But his human blood held him back with the unnecessary emotions and curiosity associated with human childhood. Dian saw this as a trivial trait, but loved him all the same. Thinking on this, she ruffled his shiny black hair and began to help him preen his wings.

"You'll have to do this on your own someday, you know." her fingers worked fast, reparing his feathers as would an experienced beak. Sisyphus blushed and gave his mother a big goofy grin. As unaware as he was of the world, one thing that he did know was the pleasure of having his wings cleaned and maintained.

After his mother had finished, she led him to the window. "What would you like to have for supper tonight?"

Sisyphus put his finger to his bottom lip and nibbled it for a while. He then responded with an excited smile.

"TOMATOES! And maybe some salted pork!"

Dian chuckled and stepped onto the large windowsill. Before she set off, she gave her son one last look, telling him to stay in the house and to not make too much noise. He sat obediently in her chair and picked up one of her books. She opened her great wings and dropped from the window and out of view. Only a shadow could be seen floating amongst the clouds, a silver silouhette in the moonlight.

Sisyphus leaned forward and grabbed his feet, ruffling his dark wings. He was hungry, but his mind was hungrier and he flipped open the book to where he left off.

He read aloud: "Yoitsu and the Moon- Hunting Bear"

xxxxxx

The monastery was cold and dark, made eerie by the echoing cries of the newest addition to the orphanage wing. Mother Lucia held the child close to chest as she awaited the arrival of the wet nurse. Other nuns awakened by the noise giggled and sneered at her, but they were met only with a cold shoulder. After a few minutes of swaying the baby back and forth, the wet nurse was at her side. Wordlessly, she handed the baby over and the crying stopped as it began to feed.

Renault signaled to Lucia and they walked out of the nursery together. Renault seemed to have a concerned look on his exaggeratedly pointed face. As they approached the hallway that led to their quarters, Lucia spoke to break the silence.

"She is a beautiful child." she stated plainly.

"I have made arrangements for her to be christened..." Renault replied. "But, there is something else I must talk to you about."

Lucia didn't expect much from the conversation, rarely did anything of true interest happen in their small corner of the world, as small of an outpost from the church as they were. But at the same time, she caught a sense of urgency in his tone.

He cleared his throat. "Raoulos' men apprehended a suspicious character last night, they had followed this man from Nacrin a few nights ago."

"What is so suspicious about this one?" Lucia was a tough and cynical woman, and knew that Raoulos would do anything to get money. Furthermore, there was often no way to question his prisoners. Raoulos often tortured his prisoners, mutilating them either until death or until they wished they were dead. She could not hold respect for a heartless and brutal drunkard like him.

"It was said that he made underhanded deals with alchemists and other satanic ilk." Renault held his sharpky pointed nose in the air, as if turning away from something rotten and decaying. As proud and committed to the church as he was, he kept his own little black book in his heart that his brother Raoulos had unrestricted access to. With the funding of the church, he could dispose of anyone he wished.

Lucia was often none the wiser to his schemes, but she could tell that all was not right in the ranks of the church. She didn't like his uppity attitude, didn't think that it was proper for him to continue to associate with his sinful, unchristened brother.

"What is the price this time?" She asked with a huff.

"It seems that this time, he's given us a choice... Dead or alive?"

A flock of doves dramatically flew off the rafters and through a broken window far above. The noise made Lucia jump, and from that moment set an ill feeling in her gut. She said her goodnights to Renault, and went to her cell to pray. Tears flowed from her eyes for reasons she did not know.