Aquamarine eyes gazed at him, twinkling with malicious amusement. White fingers flicking through a deck of cards, then dancing over a pair of golden dice and flicking them through the air. They came up snake eyes.

"A bad cast from you?" His own voice, shaded with disdain. She laughed at him, and the voice was eerily similar to someone Roxas had heard recently. But who? He examined her more carefully.

She was a tall, statuesque and beautiful woman. Illegian, from her appearance, beautiful silvery white hair fell down her back in a frothy wave. She was lounging on a divan, rich fabrics shot with gold dripping onto the floor. The table in front of her had been inlaid with lovely woods in an intricate pattern of birds and grains. She shifted to pick up her dice, and he looked away from the tantalizing glimpse of female flesh as her gown parted with the movement. Her gown was a beautiful thing, a light yellow sundress that was slit to reveal a great deal when she moved.

The room was just as beautiful as her, and Roxas watched, amazed, as his gaze traveled over furnishings the like of which he'd never dreamed of. Yet a large part of him was completely indifferent to the rich carpets, the luxurious woods and the great glass doors that opened to an immense garden full of orange trees and sculpted bushes. The paintings on the walls were the kind of artwork that was seen once a generation, but it was as if he'd seen them all before, too many times to count.

"Lady Luck isn't always kind." He snorted, glancing back at the woman. She leaned back, smiling and rolling the dice between her hands. "Your brother is worried about you. It's like you're trying to take… his place." He stiffened at that and favored her with a glare.

"Don't be absurd. We're all better off with him gone." Roxas heard himself say curtly, and she shrugged, tossing the dice again. Double sixes.

"Are we really? And I'm not just saying that because he was my friend. Things did get better at first, but they're not better now, are they? I think the problem was just a touch more complicated than we thought." She smirked and spread her hands. Roxas stared at the beautiful web of power that glowed between them, blue and silver and gold, forming fractal patterns of pure chaos. No matter how closely he looked, there was always more detail to be seen. It was beautiful and more complicated than any one mind could comprehend… except for hers. "Well, don't let me keep you waiting. The boss wants to speak to you."

"About what?" Roxas could hear the fear in his own voice, and her smirk softened into a more sympathetic smile.

"I think we can both guess. But don't worry, your brother and I will have your back. Just like we tried to do for him." She sighed, leaning back. "Hopefully we might even make a difference this time."

"Good luck with that." Roxas briskly left the room as chaotic fractals dissipated into the air behind him.

He had no faith in her or his brother. There were some things that not even Lady Luck could help with. And in too many ways, he would be getting precisely what he deserved.


"Hey, Roxas, wake up. Your horse doesn't like you much." Roxas blinked as Axel's hand on his elbow suddenly roused him from his reverie.

"Axel, I was dreaming." But it had been an odd waking dream. And who had that woman been? Now that he was awake, Roxas realized that she resembled Riku. She had even sounded a little like him. Were they related? But he knew he'd never seen a place like that, so beautiful and strange. He'd never been off the Plains until he was enslaved and sold to the whorehouse. It didn't make any sense.

"Well, stop it. We're about to come into Ayrlin's Pass." That made Roxas blink and concentrated his attention. The road was sloping down as they reached a valley in the mountains, and there was indeed a glacier lake below them. It looked deep and blue and cold. A small, snug little town sat on its banks and Roxas could see the wood smoke drifting up in the breeze. The valley was full of ancient conifers, mostly untouched by man. Which made sense, really. The townsfolk only needed a bit for their heating and building, and logging was impractical here. How could you get the logs out of the valley in enough bulk to be worth it?

There was a small cheer as they rode into the town, and Axel flushed a little as plenty of people stopped what they were doing to point. Some of the townsfolk ran up, to greet friends and family, and Axel swung down off his horse just as three young neko girls ran up to him.

"Dad!" "Father!" "Beast! We thought you were dead this time for sure!" Axel laughed in pleasure, giving each girl a hug as their mother watched with a smile. Roxas stared at them, shocked speechless for a moment. All three of the girls had fiery red hair and snapping green eyes, although only one really resembled Axel closely. The other two had darker skin and rounder features like their mother. And they all had bushy neko tails, rather than Axel's sleek one. If Roxas hadn't known better, he would have thought they were Axel's sisters. He didn't possibly look old enough to be their father. And their mother looked much, much older. Roxas stared at her for a moment. She was a small, still pretty woman with long brown hair, deeply tanned skin and warm brown eyes. Her features were round and pleasant, and Roxas was reminded a bit of his own mother.

"Roxas, these are my daughters." Axel introduced them when things had calmed down a little. "Esmerelda, Talia and Varis. Children, this is Roxas. He's a lot meaner than he looks, so be nice to him." All three girls looked at him alertly, and then the one that looked like Axel… Esmerelda… flirted her ears at him. Roxas blushed, unable to hold it back. Attractive girls had never really noticed him, and all of Axel's daughters were very pretty indeed.

"He looks younger than us! Dad, you're horrible." Varis wrinkled her nose as Talia laughed, shoving her.

"Well, if we looked for someone his age he'd have to go to the graveyard, Varis!" Roxas blinked, wondering again how old Axel really was. These girls seemed to know a bit more about it than he'd heard so far.

"Darlings, I think your father would like to reach his nest and put his things away." Their mother interrupted gently, and Axel flashed her a grateful smile. Most of the Immortals were passing by except for the ones like him, who were busy dealing with loved ones. The three girls stepped back, chastised. "But Axel, could you come to our place for supper and bring Roxas? I'm sure the girls would like to spend some time with you."

"I would be glad to, Shela." Axel said with a smile. He always enjoyed her cooking. "Thanks." He was even glad that her mate didn't mind him coming and spending time with the girls. Sebastian's step-father most definitely minded Axel intruding in their life, but Axel wasn't about to give up his place completely, mainly because he'd done some careful observing and was sure that man wasn't treating his son the same way he treated his own children. But then, few men did. Shela's mate was an exceptional man.

As they went through the town, Roxas found he was a little disappointed and slightly nostalgic. He was disappointed in the size of the place. Ayrlin's Pass was much smaller than Immervale, only one step over a village, really. But it was very cozy and pretty, and vaguely reminded Roxas of some of the larger towns in the Swartheld Plains. The people here all seemed healthy and happy, too. It felt like a good place to be.

The Immortals' home, when they reached it, turned out to be a fortified building. It was built to be defensible but wouldn't really be that hard for a determined enemy to take. But then, why would a determined enemy assault a mercenary troops winter quarters? And the positioning of Ayrlin's Pass made it unlikely war would ever roll over it.

"So, I guess I should take Illuch's old quarters now." Axel mused to himself, then sighed. "I'm going to miss that bastard." Roxas just nodded. He'd never met Illuch, so he didn't have much to say. The quarters Axel led him to were very big, though, actually a suite of rooms. There were nice carpets on the hardwood floor, and a few paintings of sailboats on the walls. A large bookshelf filled one wall, and Axel sighed as he noticed the personal items scattered across the desk in the corner. "Oh damn. I forgot he had more stuff than I do. We'll have to clean it out. If there's anything you want to keep, go ahead." Axel planned to see if anyone else wanted the rest of Illuch's things before selling them and putting the money into the company bank. Roxas frowned, looking at the items on the desk.

"Doesn't he have any heirs or someone this should go to?" Axel shook his head, picking up a small paperweight.

"No. I already checked with Scratcher. No family, and his lover died in the battle with him." They were absolutely certain now that Illuch was dead. One of the soldiers filtering in had managed to see exactly what happened. It hadn't been nice but it had been quick. "It's sort of sad, but also a good thing, really."

"A good thing?" Roxas shot him a look, wondering how that could possibly be a good thing and feeling the old disdain coming back. But Axel just shrugged.

"When you go risking your life every year, it's not wise to have dependants. What if I hadn't come back? Right now the girls would probably get along fine, but what about when they were, oh, three? Shela would have been in dire straights without me back then." She hadn't gotten married until the kits were five, and that had largely been possible because Axel had given her enough money to make a good dowry. Marriages were partly business transactions, and while Shela's mate was a good man it was hard to say if he would have taken her if she'd been a penniless woman with three kittens. Roxas bit his lip, then nodded. Axel had a point. "Oh look!" Axel grinned as he opened the door to the bedroom. Roxas flicked his ears at the huge bed, then snorted.

"I can see where your mind is. But it's too early." He wasn't going to let Axel sex him up when it was just mid-afternoon.

"Too much work anyway." Axel went to the closet and started taking out the clothes there. "Can you… no, you won't know where. Can you get all of this out and folded? I'm going to get some boxes." Roxas nodded and Axel left the room.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting the rooms cleaned out and set up for them. When Axel moved his belongings into Illuch's old rooms, it was something of a revelation for Roxas.

"What is all this stuff?" Roxas frowned, opening a box of Axel's belongings that he hadn't gotten to yet, and blinked. "Uh…" Frowning, he lifted strands of semi-precious stones out of the box. "What in the world?"

"Hm?" Axel poked his head out of the bedroom. He'd been putting away his clothes into the walk-in closet. "Oh! Yes, that's my hobby. I make jewelry in my spare time." Roxas blinked, taken aback by that. "I also make these ornamental vial things, but they're not so popular really. It's all for fun anyway. I lost my traveling supplies when we lost the baggage train." That was why Roxas hadn't seen him making anything before. Roxas stared at the box, reaching it to pick up little bags of beads. They were all labeled with what type of bead they held, although when he opened one he saw the glass beads inside had all different kinds of patterns and colors.

"…Oh." Roxas stared blankly at the stones as Axel went back into the bedroom. For some reason the sight of the beads aroused a sharp, painful sadness in him. "Why are you so human?" He whispered to himself, then blinked and frowned. Why wouldn't Axel be human? Well. Besides the fact that he didn't seem to age. And Roxas had heard rumors that Axel survived wounds that should be fatal. The blond neko shivered. Was there some reason why he thought Axel shouldn't be human?

"Some reason you're just staring at those? Hey, you should change and get washed up before we go to Shela's. Well, unless you don't mind smelling like horse around three pretty girls." Roxas scowled at Axel as the redheaded neko looked down at him with laughing eyes, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Screw you." Roxas muttered as he went to the closet to pick out something to wear. Not that there was a lot of choice. He only had three outfits, and they were all looking a bit worn, but he'd managed to keep one of them mostly clean. He quickly changed into that, dark brown pants and a white shirt. "What do I care what your daughters think of me?"

"Young men always care what girls think of them." Axel said solemnly. "It's a fact of nature." Roxas sighed, exasperated, but privately admitted Axel had a point. He liked girls just fine and being dismissed by them was always painful.

"Careful Axel, I might take up with one of them. Esmerelda is pretty." Roxas said maliciously, and Axel winced.

"Hey! You stay away from my daughters! You're not good enough for them." Roxas snorted at that, brushing off his clothes for a moment. Axel had already changed, and it was a bit annoying. He had left some better clothes at the fortress, and he had changed into some very nice black slacks and a bright red shirt. He was also wearing a beaded necklace of dark green jade, with a pendant in the shape of a circle.

"Yeah. Did you make that necklace?" It looked well-made. Axel nodded as they started out.

"Yeah, I got a store of jade beads on the cheap when I was traveling through Rauma." Roxas lifted his eyebrows at that. He knew enough about geography to know that Rauma was across the sea. "It was a while ago."

"Hm." They walked over to Shela's house, Axel leading the way, and Roxas glanced around the town a bit more as they walked. It really was similar to a neko town, and there were quite a few neko living here, in fact. It was a bit odd. "Axel, why are there so many neko living here?" He hadn't seen nearly as many in Immervale, and most of them had been slaves.

"That's because the other side of the Pass leads into Roskar." Axel frowned as he thought about it. "They're hard on neko there. Call us sub-human. A lot of the neko who get fed up with it and can afford to leave go over the pass and quite a few of them end up here in Ayrlin's Pass. Not just that, when winter comes we sometimes send groups through the pass to try and catch any really desperate ones making the trip." Axel shrugged. "We find some of them. Others freeze to death. The pass isn't kind in the winter. It's a bit easier in the summer."

"Ah." There were dozens of tiny kingdoms across the mountains, and each had its own customs and sometimes languages. Roxas didn't know much about Roskar, but it sounded like a bad place to be. Shela's house, when they reached it, was a tidy little cottage. Axel rapped on the door firmly and Esmerelda answered the door. Roxas felt his stomach do a slow flip-flop. She had struck him as the prettiest of the three when they met in the street, but now she had changed to a rich chocolate gown with green and red embroidery, and her hair was braided with strands of beads woven in. He couldn't help but be attracted to her, although Axel was right really. Even if he'd been free, she was too good for a penniless former slave. The house and clothing all struck Roxas as firmly middle class, better than he and Sora had even when they were still on the Plains.

"Dad!" They hugged for a moment, and Roxas had to suppress a flare of jealousy as she kissed Axel messily on the cheek. It was his daughter, for gods sake! But they didn't look like father and daughter. Then Esmerelda smiled at him, and he forgot to worry about it. Her eyes were just as bright and beautiful as Axel's, but he could look at her without hate… and without that other, burning emotion underneath. "You came just in time, we were about to start without you."

"Sorry." Axel said contritely. "I didn't know we were late."

"You're not!" Valis popped her head out of the next room. "Come on Esme, don't keep them at the door, poppa is hungry." Roxas blinked, a little confused, but figured it out as they walked into the dining room. There was a huge table there, and it needed to be big to fit everyone in. Sitting beside Shela was a black haired, strong looking neko man. He smiled and nodded at Axel, who nodded back. And further down the table were two young kittens, both boys and probably six. They both looked up curiously, and Roxas could see they had their mother's eyes and their father's hair. Neko births were almost always twins and triplets, so they tended to have large families.

"Hello there. I'm Lars." The man said with a friendly smile. "Those two bundles of trouble at the end there are Timo and Raki." The two little neko boys waved shyly at Roxas, who flicked his ears back. "You would be Roxas. I hear you've met the girls already."

"Uh, yes." Roxas looked down at his plate, a little embarrassed as Esmerelda grinned at him. Then Shela brought the food in, and all the attention focused on that. It turned out that supper was chicken soup with bread rolls. The soup was incredibly good, full of carrots and potatoes and peas as well as chicken. Axel dug in with a will as conversation started around them. Roxas just let most of it slide over him… what was the Dragon festival they were talking about, for instance? He'd never heard of it.

"So how have you girls all been doing in school?" Axel asked as there was a pause, and Valis laughed as Esmerelda looked embarrassed.

"Esme failed math again. She's been taking summer courses." Shela said calmly, shaking her head at her daughter. "She keeps saying she's going to join the Immortals as soon as she turns fifteen." Roxas frowned as he caught the carefully concealed anguish in Shela's eyes. And Axel stopped eating for a moment, frowning.

"Are you still saying that, kitten? I wish you wouldn't. It's not safe." Esmerelda sighed, irritated by what she saw as parental denseness.

"I know that dad, that's the point. I want to fight! I like to fight. You can't stop me." She set her jaw mulishly.

"Technically, I can. I'm commander of the Immortals now, you know." She gave Axel a look that was full of betrayed rage, and he sighed. "But I won't, if that's what you really want. But please kitten, think about it, okay?"

"Okay." The air was a bit downcast, but Esmerelda apparently felt the need to turn it around because she suddenly spoke up cheerfully. "Dad, I was wondering! Roxas can probably tell me. At school they gave us all the sex talk, and if you're both boys does that mean you do it in the pooper? How can that possibly feel good?" Axel almost choked on his soup as Shela and Lars both stared at their daughter, appalled. The boys both burst into giggles as Roxas flushed.

"Esmerelda! We are eating here." Shela recovered first. Esmerelda grinned, unrepentant. "If you keep that up you'll be going to your room without supper, missy."

"She's definitely your daughter." Roxas muttered to Axel, who grinned. Then he raised his voice. "You'd have to ask Axel about that, actually." There was a brief silence around the table as Axel coughed.

"Mean, Roxas, very mean." It wasn't even strictly true, since Axel won the contests as often as Roxas. But Roxas did win plenty. "Um, anyway. So about the Dragon Festival. I was thinking of entering the water race." The conversation turned onto safer topics, leaving behind school and sex.

Soon, they were bidding everyone goodbye. Axel got three quick hugs and another messy kiss from Esme before they left, and Roxas was silent for a while before finally speaking.

"That makes me miss my family." He'd had three brother and sisters as well as a mother and father. They hadn't had much, they'd been dirt poor farmers actually, but they'd had each other. It was painful, seeing a happy family so close up. Axel sighed and put an arm around him. Roxas stiffened for a moment, then let himself relax against the older neko.

"I know how you feel." Roxas flicked his ears, wondering how that could be the case. That was Axel's family. But then, Axel didn't see them most of the year and he wasn't the one married to Shela. He had to feel like an outsider in his daughter's lives. Roxas snuggled up to him for a moment, almost managing to relax against Axel.

How can you be so human? Roxas bit his lip as the thought came back to him. Why was it so strange, that Axel would be human?

He didn't know, but imagined he would find out.