Amanda opened her eyes. She stared up at a wooden ceiling, the wind screaming outside. Turning her head she could only make out a flurry of whiteness. The slight motion caused her forehead to pound and Amanda brought her hand up to her forehead. Surprisingly enough she felt a bandage there. Frowning she explored it a little further, her fingers finding tender flesh. Amanda winced and withdrew her hand.

She looked around the simply furnished room, wondering where she was. The only pieces of furniture were a crudely bed, bookcase, fireplace, a few shelves, and nightstand. However, random objects were crammed onto shelves and books had been tossed into the bookcase. Papers were tossed around. Branches were placed in jars and dried flowers had been put on the window pane. Clothes had been dropped in piles, though the room didn't smell so she figured that they were clean.

The only thing that was treated with any reverence was a bible that had been placed on the nightstand near the bed. It had been positioned carefully, its pages obviously well thumbed. It was the only object on the nightstand, as though its owner didn't want anything disturbing the holy book.

It was an unusual place and Amanda felt a flicker of worry looking around. Its owners might be as unusual as the room. However, the bandage was a good sign that they didn't want to hurt her. At the same time she struggled to remember how she had come to be there. Most of her memories of her recent endeavors were fuzzy.

Amanda could remember her car crashing and trudging through the snow. All of that was clear and intact. After she'd been hit on the head events took a turn for the indistinct and vague. With a further effort she remembered falling in the snow and the blurry shape, but she didn't know who that had been.

"Foolish. Foolish! I leave you alone for chetyrah days, now look!"

"Vhat vas I supposed to do? Just leafe her zere?"

Amanda blinked her eyes and turned her head as she heard the scraps of conversation.

"Nyet, nyet. I am not saying that. Why twist words around?"

"I am not tvisting anyzing vatti. I just do not know vhat you are saying if it is not zat."

"I am saying storm will last for long time!"

Furrowing her brow Amanda struggled to sit up, her limbs obstinately resisting her. Her eyes drifted towards the door that the voices were filtering through. Whoever it was that had protected her had obviously tried to care for her injuries, and was now in the next room having an argument. It sounded like it was about her.

"Vhy should zat matter?"

"It means I cannot see two feet out there!"

"I had trouble vhen ve vere coming here…"

"Da, and you should have brought to monastery!"

"Vatti, she vas concussed. I did not zink zat she vould make it."

Puzzled at the turn the conversation was taking Amanda gently touched her bandage. She was concussed? That would explain how blurry things had become at the end, and it would certainly explain the blood. Still, she seemed better now. Was that normal for people who had been recently concussed? The thought made her frown. How long had she been out?

"But the storm was not so bad then."

"I zought it vould let up, make it safer. But it got worse after drei days."

Amanda's eyes widened and felt somewhat frantic. Some of the words were unfamiliar, but that she recognized. Three days? She'd been out for that long? Obviously she'd been taken care of, but the thought that she had been out for three days worried her. Had her concussion been that bad? Were all of her motor functions fine? She would have to test it to find out.

Swallowing hard she started looking around the room again. She saw her backpack placed neatly against the wall and her jacket on a hanger. In a panic she wondered if the box was inside. If she had somehow lost it while she was falling then it would have all been for nothing and she'd have to break her promise to her mother. She had to check if it was still there.

Amanda put a tentative foot outside of her bed. Cold air assaulted her, even though there was a fire going in the fireplace. Breathing in she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders before bringing her other leg around to join it. It knocked against something but she ignored it. Her legs felt strange and she had to feel about with her toes for a few seconds in order to get her bearings. Satisfied that they were both on the ground she tried to stand up.

"Ozzers haf stayed vith us for a vhile."

"Not this long!"

"Miene gott vatti, zis ist not-"

Her right leg collapsed under the weight and she fell to the floor, knocking the nightstand over. Gritting her teeth Amanda looked back to her leg. She had almost forgotten that it had been injured. Like her head it had been bandaged, but unlike her head she hadn't given it much of a thought before going forward in her motor activities.

Amanda took one look at its swollen size and realized that it was twisted, in the very least. Most likely it had undergone a very bad sprain. She realized, quite a bit too late, that it had been on a pillow before she'd moved it. Someone had propped it up and she should have known not to move it.

She cursed under her breath and pushed herself into a kneeling position, dragging the blanket with her. Amanda pulled herself towards the nightstand and righted it, placing the Bible gently on top. Guiltily she looked around to make sure that she hadn't knocked anything else over. Luckily she hadn't.

Just then the doorknob began to turn. Amanda blinked and began guiltily edging away from the nightstand. She hadn't gone very far before the door opened a crack. From her position she could barely make out a shape behind the door. Any facial features were too shrouded in shadow for her to make out.

"Um, I take it zat you are avake?" the man asked.

"Of course she is. Otherwise she wouldn't have made noise," the other voice snorted.

"Vatti…" the man at the door sighed.

"Fine, fine. You handle. I go upstairs."

There was something that sounded like a small explosion. Amanda jerked back, nearly hitting her head against the bed frame.

"Sorry about miene vatti," the man at the door said, "Um, you speak English yes? Vatti taught me und ve zought vith ze writing on ze backpack…"

"Yeah, I speak English," Amanda replied.

There was an awkward silence. Amanda cleared her throat.

"Thank you for saving me," she said.

"Oh no…it is uh, vhat vatti und I do," he said, "Oh, my manners!"

She heard him snap his fingers.

"I am Kurt Vagner," he said, "Miene vatti ist Azazel Vagner."

"I'm Amanda Sefton," she said.

"It is pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," she replied.

She looked around the room, gesturing with one of her hands.

"Is this your room?" she asked.

"Ja. Ze um, ze guest room did not already haf fire in it vhen I brought you in," he said, "You vere qvite cold so I zought it vould be better for you und I did not vant to move you too much because of your head..."

"Don't worry about it. Thank you, you've been very kind," Amanda said.

"Nein, like I said, zis is our job," he said, his voice sounding nervous, "No need to zank us Miss Sefton."

"You saved my life," she said, "I think it's going to be okay for you to call me Amanda, don't you think?"

"Oh…ja, of course."

She smiled. Her mind went over what Kurt had said about it being his job to rescue people and, for a minute, she thought she realized what had happened.

"Are you some sort of mountain rescue?" asked Amanda.

"I suppose so," he laughed.

The laughter made her slightly uncomfortable, but she decided not to remark on it. She splayed her fingers on the ground and began to push herself up.

"You should not valk on zat just yet," he said hurriedly, "Not good."

"I'm just trying to get back to the bed," said Amanda.

"Uh, vell, it is very bad prain," he said, "Putting veight on it vould cause furzer tearing und quite possibly sprain it furzer."

"Oh," Amanda said, wincing, "I didn't realize it was that bad."

"Should not leave any permanent damage," the man remarked, "It vill heal, don't vorry."

"I'll try not to."

There was another long pause. Amanda looked at the bed and back at the man at the door. A few seconds passed.

"Could you help me?" she asked tentatively.

"Oh...vell…I vould luf to, um…"

Her eyebrows shot up. There was very definitely something strange going on.

"Vell…you cannot stay on ze floor…"

Kurt heaved a heavy sigh.

"Please do not be frightened."

"Excuse me?" asked Amanda.

Kurt sounded miserable when he spoke again.

"I hope zat you vill not be scared, but I know you vill."

"I don't know what you mean," Amanda said.

There was another sigh.

"You vill."

The door began to push open by inches, letting more light into the room. Amanda waited patiently as Kurt slipped into the room, confused somewhat by the incredibly peculiar circumstances she found herself in. Then the door opened fully. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp and chomped down on her lip.

Kurt looked at her sadly, his eyes big and golden. His skin was a dark indigo, rough and textured. Pointed ears peeked out beneath a tangle of black hair. If she concentrated she could see fangs through his lips. One of his hands nervously scratched the back of his neck but she could see that it only had three fingers on it.

A pointed tail swished nervously behind him. Since he wore no shoes she could see that he had two toes with hooked ankles. Overall the effect was something out of a storybook, the monster that the hero had to face at the end. She pulled her legs in and pushed herself up against the wall.

Seeing her reaction Kurt took a step back, holding his hands in front of him in surrender.

"I am going to leafe ze room right now," he said, "Be calm bitte. I am leafing."

Slowly he took deliberate steps away from her. His golden eyes continued to look at her sadly and Amanda found herself staring at him. Suddenly she felt like an idiot, and a cruel one at that. Kurt had saved her from what had had to be the most dangerous night of her life and now she was treating him like he was about to hurt her.

"I'm sorry," she blurted.

He stopped moving, cocking his head to the side.

"I'm really sorry," Amanda said, "I shouldn't have done that. I was surprised but that was no excuse. I'm so sorry."

Kurt continued to stare at her.

"Apology accepted?" he ventured.

Swallowing Amanda held out her hand. He redirected his stare to her hand, like it was something he'd never seen before.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "Um…could you please help me up? If you still want to."

The seconds passed without him making a move in one direction or another. He just continued to stare at her hand. As time went by Amanda began to think that he was going to turn around and leave the room. She wouldn't blame him if he did. Amanda hadn't exactly been the image of gratitude.

Then he took a step towards her and grasped her hand, his fingers going on the outside. His hand felt like sandpaper under her touch but he was strong. At one point he practically lifted her a few inches off the floor. Leaning on his arm she travelled the few steps to the bed and got in, stretching out her legs. Amanda gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you," she said, "You've done a lot for me."

His eyes scanned her for a moment before he shrugged.

"It's vhat I do."