'Luna. LUNA!' Mano's voice brought Luna back to reality. 'There are a couple of things I want to check out. Are you OK for a while?' She nodded.
Mano moved to the door of the tent and was soon lost to view through the rain which was now falling harder.
'Hi' Rolf said. 'Where were you?'
'I was just thinking.'
'I thought a wrackspurt had got to you.'
She tried to smile, and failed. 'Oh Rolf, I'm so scared.'
'Don't cry, Luna. I hate it when I make you cry.'
She moved to his bedside, using a wet cloth to wipe his face. 'You've never made me cry.'
'Never?'
'Well…nothing important. Do you want anything?'
'Only you.'
'I meant to eat or drink; is there anything I can get you?'
'No.' Rolf was silent for a while, his eyes gazing at the roof of the tent. The rain beat a steady tattoo, which was comforting despite its power. 'Luna, I'm sorry if it has to end like this. I don't want to leave you and the children.' He gave her hand a squeeze, and lay back. 'It would be sad to end it like this though, a non-magical creature after all we've been through.'
'Mano said he'd never lost anybody yet; don't give up on me.'
'Do you wish we'd never met, and you'd married somebody safe and boring?'
This time she managed a smile. 'Never! Oh Rolf, you changed my life so much, and I've not regretted any of it. Are you in any pain? Is there anything I can do?'
'No, to both of them. I'm quite calm and peaceful, surprisingly. I suppose it's because I know what's happening.'
-o0o-
They looked round as Mano came back in to the tent, wringing wet. He was carrying a small case in his hand.
'Luna, what blood group are you?' She looked at him blankly and shook her head. 'It's OK, I can test you. I just need a few drops of your blood.'
She shrank back and shot a frightened look at Rolf. 'It's OK, Luna, it's OK. It's nothing bad.' He looked at Mano.
'In our world, the last thing you ever do is give anybody your blood. It can be used for all sorts of things that you really don't want to happen to you; blood's the basis of most Dark Magic. What's your plan?'
'We've got some emergency transfusion kits here, but I need to find out if we've got any matches. Luna, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Everybody has a certain type of blood, you see. If I can find people who match Rolf, we can put some fresh blood in to him; it'll buy us some time.'
'Like a Blood Replenishing Potion, you mean?' asked Luna. It was Mano's turn to look blank. 'It tops people's blood up if they've been injured' she explained.
'Can you make that?' The hope shone in his eyes.
Luna looked down. 'No, I'm sorry.'
'OK, we'll try my way.' He took a few drops of blood from Rolf, to show her what was happening, and he needed to test Rolf's blood anyway, and dropped them on to a card, then waited a few moments. 'A-. Not surprising with your background, that'll be your mum, probably. OK Luna, are you ready?' He repeated the test. 'A+. Sorry, we can't use you.'
'Why, if we're both an "A"?'
'You can't put a Positive in to a Negative. Rolf could give blood to you, but not the other way around. I'll keep checking; we'll find somebody.' He headed back out of the tent.
Rolf lay quietly on the bed, staring at the roof. He wouldn't meet Luna's eyes.
'What is it Rolf? You're keeping something from me, I can tell.'
'There aren't many matches for me, and South America isn't a good place to find them. It doesn't look good.' He looked at her. 'Luna, I want you to know I love you.'
She moved closer to him. 'I love you too, Rolf. I think I may have done since the moment we were introduced.'
