Amy drew her horse up sharply as echoes rebounded off the rocks. The animals stilled, even the breeze seemed to have paused, allowing her to listen closely. No other shot came. Only Phillip had ridden out with her and he should have been four miles away at least. The shot seemed to have come from much closer.

Amy searched the awareness that ran through her subconscious like a river and found her brothers well and calm as expected. A whisper moved through, much like the gentle ripples of a fish swimming by…something…no, someone, she'd only brushed against like this a few times. Someone she never expected would find his way to her doorstep. She yanked the reins more sharply than she meant to, and with apologetic pats for the initial over-reaction, encouraged him to run for the front gate. Two short years ago she hadn't been able to feel the presence of people outside of her family. She liked this new, useful trick and had to admit she hoped it would stay around.


The thudding hooves drew Aaron Klein's attention, but his eyes would not leave the stranger's face. Once he had fired the warning shot, the pale young man had frozen in fear, hands in the air, but Aaron wasn't going to trust him any more than he would trust a mountain lion. Klein acknowledged Amy's arrival with a slight tip of his head.

Glaring at the intruder over the bar gate, he held the rifle steady and called to Amy after she stopped her horse. "This gentleman claims to have friends livin' on my mountain, Miss. I told him he's mistaken, but he ain't leaving."

Amy dropped to the ground, stepped to Mr. Klein's side, and gently touched his arm. "He's not mistaken, Mr. Klein, he just has a terrible habit of showing up places without calling ahead. Isn't that right, Adam?" She smiled at the Immortal.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. It is rude of me." Methos lowered his head in contrition, blinking through shaggy bangs. He saw Amy pinch her lips together to stop a giggle from escaping.

Mr. Klein slowly lowered the rifle, maintaining his glare at Methos, who's hands remained in the air. "You'll be alright then, Miss? I'll go back to my work."

"Yessir. We all appreciate your vigilance more than you know. You're comin' to dinner tonight, right?"

Mr. Klein sheathed his rifle and swung onto his horse more quickly than most seventy year olds could. "Yes, ma'am." With a final glare at Methos, he turned his horse to the trail and went on his way.

As the old man disappeared through the trees with a final glare over his shoulder, Methos dropped his hands and leaned on the gate while Amy undid the padlock and chains. "Your foreman greets visitors with a gun, even shoots first. He's the perfect employee for you."

"Yep. And you won't be able to bribe him with flowers the way you did Madame Martin! If I'd known you were coming, you could have avoided that."

"I didn't have access to a phone," Methos shrugged. In truth, he had decided to leave Tibet because, after months of meditation, he had not been able to recenter himself as he usually could. Unsettled and realizing more meditation was not going to help, he left with the vague idea of hitchhiking across North America before returning to Paris. What had surprised him was finding himself walking up a mountain in Idaho.

At one point since landing in California, Methos had remembered he knew Amy had a home in the States, but he also had no idea where that was. And, even if he'd know that, he had no way to know if she would be there. Methos had no idea what he was doing, but subconsciously his feet had chosen a path and he stayed on it, waiting to see what would happen.

Amy unlocked and opened the gate, inviting Methos through with a jerk of her head and then relocked it behind him. She remounted her horse. "The road will be easy enough, just follow it up to the house. At least one of the guys should be inside and can show you around. I have to check a section of fence, and I'll be right behind you."

Before Methos could protest, she had turned the horse and was galloping back the way she had come. With a sigh Methos shouldered his duffle bag and strode up the road, such as it was, as Amy had instructed. He had not had the smoothest of introductions to three of her "brothers" before. How could he expect anything to go more smoothly with two more involved - assuming all five Elven men were at home? He decided to wait a distance from the house. Or at least not enter until Amy arrived.