Hiya guys! I just thought I'd tell you a little about Ahiru's injuries. There seems to be a little confusion, so I thought I'd clarify…

Ahiru at the moment is suffering from post-concussive syndrome. This was brought on when she hit her head on the ground after being flung about by the tornado. Symptoms of post-concussive syndrome include:

-Headaches (check!)

-Personality Changes (check!) Including getting angry for no apparent reason (check!)

-Dizziness when standing or sitting (Check!)

It can take weeks to months for these symptoms to appear, and to go away. Rest is the best treatment, however…Ahiru hasn't been doing that, what with the ballet, learning a whole new way to live…etc.

Check out WebMD for more information! Okay…back to reading! Please read, enjoy, and review!

When Rue arrived at the antique shop, Fakir let Uzura answer the door. He had enough sense of self-preservation that he didn't want to confront her without explaining Uzura's "helpfulness" earlier.

The crimson-eyed princess walked into the room, her eyes sharp and alert. When she spotted Ahiru, her eyes softened before she looked back to Fakir, arching one eyebrow to indicate that he should explain.

"Her clothes are soaking wet. I said she needed to get out of them, which is why I called you. However, Uzura, over here," Fakir indicated the puppet with a nod of his head, "decided to interpret it her own way and be oh-so-helpful when I called you."

"Helpful zura!" The puppet chirped from her post beside Ahiru.

"Hmph. Fine, if that's what happened…then I suppose that I don't need to throttle you…for now."

XXXXX

Two hours later, Fakir sat on the bed beside Ahiru's sleeping form. He had moved her to her old room at Rue's suggestion, and Rue had also changed her into some dry clothes.

He reached out to gently brush a strand of hair from her face, and his touch lingered on her soft cheek, still warm to the touch from her fever.

"Ahiru," he sighed, withdrawing his hand and rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm.

He was tired. Drop-dead, bone-weary, can-barely-think-straight-yet-alone-form-a-coherent-thought, tired. It was all too much. The sudden reappearance of Ahiru, her claiming to be someone named Carlotta, snapping at him, and being so…so…not Ahiru. She was like an anti-Ahiru now.

But for the moment, at least, she was once again his Ahiru. His clumsy, loud, naïve, loveable, joyful, hopeful Ahiru. The Ahiru that he loved more than his own life.

He let his thoughts wander about his relationship with the girl lying on the bed in front of him. His mind was tired, and so the memories came, unbidden, as they always did when Fakir wasn't focused.

Ahiru, laughing by the lake in a pair of yellow shorts and a turtleneck sweater. Ahiru, bustling around the kitchen, not really helping…being counter-productive in fact, by simple virtue of her Ahiru-ness. He had to chuckle softly at that.

Rue, watching from the doorway, observed the scene with soft eyes. He loved her. From the way he looked at her, Rue knew Fakir loved Ahiru. And she also knew that it was killing him to have her not remember who she was; killing him to see her act nothing like the girl they all knew and loved.

She knew, because it was killing her inside too. And so it was that Rue decided the time had come to pay back her debt to Ahiru, to give Ahiru the happiness that the duck-turned-girl had given to all of the people of Gold Crown Town.

XXXXXXXX

"Drosselmeyer!" Rue called.

"So once again, the Raven girl, in all of her glory, called to the story teller." Drosselmeyer's voice was mocking, scornful towards the princess.

"I have a proposition for you," she said, "if you are willing to take it."

"A proposition, you say? My…how intriguing…" Drosselmeyer's interest had been captured.

"Ahiru is back, but-"

"WHAT? But at last! I had enacted my revenge! Very well, then this time I'll-"

"No!" Rue cut him off, piqued at his interruption. "No," she repeated, "Ahiru is not the same. She has changed. It is almost…" her voice lowered to almost a whisper, "almost as if she has lost her heart."

"And what about your proposition, Princess of the Ravens?"

"I want you to return Ahiru to the way she was."

"Tsk, tsk. Surely you do not expect to get something for nothing? Foolishness, Raven Princess, foolishness…"

"No, not for free." Rue swallowed around the lump in her throat. If she didn't say it soon, she was going to lose her nerve. "If you restore Ahiru to the way she was-the way she should be as a human!-then, I'll…I'll…"

"Yes? Yes?" Drosselmeyer materialized a pair of eyes to stare at her with. Rue did not even flinch, looking straight into them.

"Take me instead. If you restore Ahiru, then take my heart. I'll give it freely if it means that Ahiru can be happy." She glared at the eyes, every inch a regal princess. Every inch, Mytho's princess.