"You shouldn't make her marry." Vyse said from the doorway. Ramirez scowled, but did not turn to face the reluctant soldier.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" He snarled.

"The man who raised your daughter, that's who I am, Ramirez. Aurora is a free spirit. You can't make her marry someone she doesn't know."

"It's Lord Ramirez to you. And don't tell me how to raise my daughter." Ramirez snapped. He felt he ought to throw this idiot out of the room, punish him for interrupting his privacy, but he continued to stare out of the tall window at the silver moon, his hands behind his back.

"You say she is your daughter as though you are proud of the fact. She is a part of you. Yet, you treat her like scum. I'm not forgetting what happened five years ago so easily." Vyse said quietly. He would never forget it, ever. Aika's daughter. Stumbling back to his house, clutching rags to her small body, bleeding and sobbing. Not only had he raped his own daughter, he'd raped Aika's daughter. It was an insult to her memory. "Fina would never have treated Ryne the way-"

"I am not Fina. Ryne is your son, yes? I bet you wouldn't mind at all if my daughter married him." Ramirez interrupted sharply. Vyse was now drawn into his game. Ramirez was trying to outsmart him, catch him off guard. He wouldn't let that happen.

"If that is what Aurora chose to do, I would not stand in her way. I wouldn't stop her from marrying a nobleman if she told me she loved him. One of the things you learn from being a parent is that they need freedom. Something you've obviously never learned, my people don't get a day's rest. Ever."

"What I do with my kingdom is my choice. Stop telling me how to run other people's lives and get out of my sight, or I'll have your soul fed to Zelos and your body thrown to the dogs." He watched the mirrored reflection as Vyse turned and stalked from the chamber. The door closed and all light was stolen from the room. Ramirez continued to stare out of the window into the darkness.

The Silvite man stared down at his hands. He was ill. He knew it. Silvites were not meant to live down on Arcadia for so long. The problem was, his heir cared too much about the worms. She wasn't experienced enough, if only he had taken another wife. Then he may have had a son to continue first. A son he could have molded into the desired shape. But no woman had ever been the same. None had been as beautiful as Aika. None had been as strong, or as spirited. He had soon stamped that spirit out of her, though. He did not smile at the thought, even though he had constantly told her he would love the day she succumbed to him.

Unfortunately, reminiscing about a teenaged girl that had been dead for years could not solve his problem. Aurora needed to marry. But she did not want to. There was no real way he could get her to, and to ensure that she would remain bound to the same man after his death.

"Stupid girl." He grumbled under his breath.

"Vyse... We really shouldn't be doing this..." Aika mumbled, lying back and letting her hair trail around her shoulders and down to her waist. Vyse kissed her collarbone and then clasped her hands in his.

"I don't care." He murmured, his warm breath on her body. The redhead just lay, silent for a while, thinking. Vyse buried his head in her neck, their hands entwined and resting on her collarbone. Then she spoke again.

"But what if I get pregnant?"

"That doesn't matter. I still love you."

Aika arced her back, a small purr sounding in her throat, then let go of him and slid her arms around his neck, her lips moving as she murmured something incoherent.

"What?" Vyse ran his tongue over her neck. Aika just smiled up at him.

"This is the first time... That I've ever felt good like this."

"He's so cruel to you." He whispered, and kissed her shoulder. Aika sighed. She felt so warm, so comfortable in Vyse's arms. Nothing like Ramirez. She just wished she could remain like this forever, safe and warm in the darkened room. The twenty-year old rogue laid his head on her chest, sighing and closing his eyes. Aika ran her hands through his long thick hair, kissing the top of his head.

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she looked down at the sleeping rogue. She hated this. Ramirez, her... husband, he treated Vyse so terribly. Sometimes, she wondered why he could not have just killed them, but the answer was simple; it was even more painful to watch him being tortured, being hurt. Even though he was older than her, he seemed so young now, so thin, so ready to do as he was told.

His spirit had been killed, and that was what she hated most. Her best friend, the one thing she loved more than anything else in the world, except maybe Aurora, just a little curly haired toddler. But then, Vyse took care of her so well. It had brought them, if possible, even closer. Just being together like this, close to each other, it made the pain melt away, as though everything were the way it was before the Wars. But she knew that tomorrow morning, they would wake up, Vyse would be forced into a soldier's uniform, and Aika would once again doing menial chores for Ramirez, and the spell would be broken.

But for now, she held him closer to her, savouring his skin one last time, turned her head and slept.

Vyse awoke with a start. A crick in his neck started to throb as he slowly stood up. Damn it. He'd fallen asleep at the table again. A thin blanket fell from his shoulders. He picked it up, thinking of taking it back to Ryne's room, when someone burst through the door, white hair streaming behind her, silver strands gleaming in the morning sun. The Silvite girl threw herself in his arms and started sobbing. Vyse grabbed a chair to steady himself, then put a worn hand on Aurora's trembling shoulder. She started mumbling in his jacket, and he only caught a few words, such as 'Ramirez', 'marriage', 'complete snobs', and then she howled 'That BASTARD!' and started sobbing even harder.

"Hey, Aurora, calm down. Try to stop crying, then tell me everything." He steered Aika's daughter into a chair, and sat on the table. Aurora trembled a little, clutching her bare knees, her head bowed as far as it would go. He realised she was only wearing the pale pink buttoned shirt she wore for sleeping, and her underwear. Times like this he wished she were a little girl again.

"He just told me this morning... A bunch of noblemen. He wants me to... to meet them. They're all idiots with more money than sense. This isn't like him!" She suddenly howled, lifting her head up. "What happened to the guy that just left me alone to get on with my life?!" Vyse frowned. This was very out of character for Ramirez. He furrowed his brow. What could the Silvite possibly be planning now?

"Aurora... I don't know. You really can't tell with Ramirez. Maybe he's just trying to make sure you're taken care of when he's gone."

"You don't think that. No-one, not even the stupidest pile of Looper dung would think that." Aurora glared at him with her mother's coffee coloured eyes. Vyse raised his hands, grinning guiltily.

"Hey. I'm not that dumb, Huskra dung maybe, but never Looper dung." He said, then he sobered. "Aurora. Listen. He loved your mom... In only the way a half-crazy Silvite Admiral could. Maybe, it's his way of showing affection."

"No. He just wants to find some pompous stupid wanker and teach him how to be cruel to people like you! Vyse, why couldn't you be my papa too?"

Vyse sighed heavily. Everyday, he wished this. He loved her like his daughter, and the only thing separating them was bloodlines. He asked the moons the same thing every night. Every night, he thought about Aika, and how he wished they'd been together sooner. Ever since Aurora was born, he had taken care of her, and Aika too. Aika had fallen ill after giving birth, and Vyse had been there to help her recover. Where had Ramirez been? Where was he, when Aika had grabbed Vyse's hand, sobbing as Aurora tried to enter the world feet first? That's what he wanted to know.

"I wish that too. But then if you were my daughter, think about it. There would be no hope. The reason most of us keep living is because we hope that you could change it. Who knows what kind of demon he'd have got instead? Besides, I doubt you and Ryne would have been so close if you were siblings." Aurora gave a weak smile, but looked at the floor again.

"Aurora, I carry a lot of guilt. I was stupid, I believed that we could bring Ramirez back around to our side. But there's a darkness in him, and I don't think he can escape it. Maybe he doesn't want to fight it. I don't know. I don't like trying to talk about your father, Aurora."

"I feel that if only I'd have acted sooner, I could have stopped Ramirez. Our lives would have been different. Then Aika would be alive, and so would Fina. But I wouldn't have Ryne, and I wouldn't have you. Swings and roundabouts, I guess." He sighed. Aurora looked up at him curiously.

"What are 'swings and roundabouts'?" Vyse just grinned and shook his head. At that moment, Ryne ambled into the room, wearing only a pair of baggy ragged pants, scratching his long tousled hair and yawning.

"Hey, what's all the yelling about?" Instantly Aurora jumped up and flung her arms around him, burying her head where it reached his collarbone. Vyse just folded up the blanket and set about, glancing back at them. At the side of him, Aurora seemed so tiny, as she told him about her latest problem.