AN: Sorry it was such a delay again! I'm so horrible with my updates. Anywho, many hugs sent Cassandra's way for her moving reviews...thank you so much. I hope this chapter can live up to it.

I really enjoyed writting this one (Well, I've enjoyed them all, but this one possibly the most). Wagon Train was a hard episode for me, though I loved it. I thought the group could use a little bonding after everything that happened...

Chapter Specifics:

Genre: angst, hurt/comfort

Spoilers/Warnings: Major spoilers for Wagon Train Part 1 & 2

Characters: Ezra, Nathan

Time Set: After Wagon Train Part 2

Theme: Silence

Nathan took drink of that fiery drought, letting it slowly down his throat. His eyes stared out over the dusty street, as a gentle breeze whipped around him.

It was quiet. So painfully quiet. Nathan leaned against the pole beside him. He had always been one to love the quiet—it was such a rarity in Four Corners—but not tonight. Tonight it was to quiet.

The sound of a boot knocking against wood broke the bitter silence, but Nathan was not sure if that was good or not. The healer was not sure exactly when it was he had begun to recognize his friend's by the way they walked, but somehow he knew who it was before he even looked up.

"I have been musing over the various incidents of the past few days and I believe I have come to a conclusion," the soft southern draw disrupted the silence. Nathan subconsciously massaged his temples.

"I'm not in the mood Ezra," he mumbled

"Honestly Mr. Jackson, I was about to inform you that I have deduced a way to properly memorialize our dear Fiddler." Nathan slammed his hands down on the wooden walk, pushing himself up as he turned on the gambler.

"Ezra I've had enough! That land isn't yours and it never will be!"

Emerald eyes blinked in shock, looking entirely scandalized. Nathan stormed away assuming he had left the other speechless.

Jackson could not believe that after everything Ezra could be so heartless. A soft sweet sound suddenly filled the air stopping the healer in his tracks. It was wistful as the breeze and woeful as the night.

Nathan spun around. He saw the wooden instrument tucked under Ezra's chin; the hands so agile with cards equally deft as he rubbed the bow against the strings. The healer found himself immobilized where he stood by the baleful melody. Finally the song ended, releasing him from the trance.

"It's not a fiddle but it's the closest alternative," the southerner explained. Nathan strolled back over to his friend.

"This is what you meant?" Nathan asked. Ezra nodded. "Where did you learn to play the violin?" Ezra flashed his iconic grin.

"In my line of work Mr. Jackson, you acquire many anomalous abilities." A smile played at Nathan's lips as the southerner began another baleful tune. Nathan looked up at the sound of soft footsteps. Vin leaned against the wall beside them, his face unreadable and his eyes distant. The melody wafted around the tracker, filling him up and emptying him out. One by one the other four joined them followed shortly by Mary. The music wrapped around them weaving a tale of gain and loss.

Vin grappled with his unvoiced sorrow over Charlotte, Josiah shook his head once again in relief over the near capture by the desperate widow, JD had forgotten his fear, Buck supportive as always, and Mary and Chris standing so close and yet both casting fugitive glances at each other. The wagon train had done something different to each of them.

The night was still filled with the scent of loss, but it was not longer silent.