The second baby I delivered came easily enough, and I set out from their home late, an almost full moon swimming in the black sky above me. It was a long way, and the weather still not warm, so I had been feeling justified in calling the charger and armor. It was safer that way, prudent, not to mention warmer and faster...

The ground on the path was spongy, deep with moss, ferns, and rotting leaves, so that the charger made little noise. I didn't see it coming, nor did it see me coming, until the last possible moment.

The charger's ears suddenly flipped forward, and he jumped into a flying change of lead, ducking off of the midway of the track perilously close to several low lying limbs. I ducked, and caught the blurry glance of another charger barely skim by me; close enough to where our stirrups sang when they met.

I pulled the charger back onto the road, pirouetting him in the deep loam to face what I had very narrowly avoided a collision with. Another paladin, and it was most certainly not Adrian. "Hail!" He greeted slowly, pulling his helm off, while I stared at him. His armor was off, wrong slightly... He was a paladin of Stormwind. His horse's barding bore the lion of Stormwind, while mine bore the same L P as many of my things did.

"You bear the seal of Lordaeron."

Ah, the voice was back, as it always came, when I touched the Light within me and embraced what I was.

"Do not show him any more than he has already seen. Turn and ride away. He knows too much as it is."

I nodded, throwing my weight to the side and spinning my horse on his hocks. "Hup!" I snarled, and he burst into a full charge straight from the spin, heading down the track as fast as his hooves would take him.

"Wait! Come back!" The stranger called, and I heard hooves behind me. Damnit. Fool. It took every ounce of knowledge I had of these paths, this area, to finally elude him. And that took hours to accomplish, requiring some riding feats I was not entirely comfortable doing in my expanding condition.

The yard was quiet, the house dark, when I banished the charger and my gear. I ran up the steps, closing the door tight behind me, dropping the latch. Adrian and Mathys were away, gone to the first of the fairs. Since we were staying here, we needed stock, and they had traveled with the neighbors to make that purchase. I was alone, a state which rarely disturbed me, but now, I would have liked some company. Too close a call.

I stirred up the fire, lit the wicks, and did my best to make it seem as if I had been here the entire time. He hadn't been that far behind me... As if in response, I heard hooves, and a quick glance out of the window proved I was correct. He was stubborn, I had to give him that. I greeted him on the stoop, bleary eyed, my hair in night braids. "Baby coming?" I asked, using my exasperation to sound newly awakened and more than a little grumpy.

"What?" He demanded, dismounting and coming into the lantern's light.

"Is there a baby coming?" I repeated slowly. "You were sent for the midwife?"

"Ah, no." He shook his head, planting his helm under his elbow and staring down at me. "You're the midwife?"

"Yeeessss." I drawled, as if I found him a little lacking in intelligence. "There's another reason for you to be here at midnight, then?"

"I'm looking for a paladin."

I looked him up and down, then peered at the charger in my yard. "Seems you've found yourself." He wasn't half bad to look at, not as nice as my Adrian, or even the black haired one, but he was nicer than any other in the Valley.

"No, not me. There was another, on the road. Female, she wore the armor of a knight of Lordaeron..." He frowned in puzzlement, and I sighed, hugging my shoulders. He wasn't going away, and it grew cold. He stepped in when I motioned him to, and I shut the door behind him. "Thank you, mistress." He said, his eyes falling to the visible swell of my belly. "Old Lordaeron." He continued, his gaze casting around the room. Mathys's empty cot was visible, and the house breathed silence. "Where are your menfolk?"

"Gone to the fair to buy sheep."

"And they've left you alone? Like this...?"

I sighed, I'd never get rid of him now. Not until Adrian returned. I recognized that look, that was a paladin who'd seen something that required doing. "You lost your companions?" I asked, and he looked at me blankly. "You said you were looking for a paladin on the road? Lost your companion?"

"No. No companion of mine. I'm not from any Lordaeron lodge, and I'm willing to say she wasn't either."

It was no act to look painfully confused and a little irritated. He took a seat on the bench before the fire, gathering his thoughts. "There aren't supposed to be any members of the Order in this area right now."

I growled at that, and he craned his neck. "None supposed to be here, while those damned undead kill our neighbors, our friends, our stock?"

His face fell. "Fair enough." He finally granted, "Fair enough. This area has been badly treated by the Crown, and the Order, that I admit. You have every right to hold that against us. But the woman I saw earlier was not from Stormwind. Not from here. She wore the full gear of a paladin from Lordaeron."

I placed a tea kettle on the oven, shaking my head. "Lordaeron paladins not allowed here?" I chided, and he chuckled, removing his mitts and extending his bare hands to the fire.

"Lordaeron produced great paladins, and does again. She's just a continent away from where she belongs, and the gear she was wearing hasn't been used by Lordaeron in three decades. If I didn't know better, I would say I faced a ghost...but."

I contemplated and measured my options. Lying was a bad thing, the chances were too high that he'd catch me in it. "I don't know." I began carefully. "There's no one here who doesn't belong here, and you tell me this one does not? This area is rife with spirits, perhaps it really was a ghost?"

"No. That was a flesh and blood sister of the Order." He disputed, and I was thankful that he was turned away from me and missed my grimace. Just my luck, he was not going to swallow that. Of course he had realized I lived. The water heated, and I made two cups of tea and two bowls of stew. He glanced at his warily when I placed them on the bench beside him.

"What?" I demanded, and he shrugged.

"I'm presuming you're married." Again, the glance at my belly and I gave him the look that should deserve.

"I am, indeed." I confirmed, and he nodded slowly, staring around the room. I looked at it again, warily. Had I left something out that should not be? Something that gave too much away? No... the cradle was upstairs, in my room, and the vast majority of what remained had belonged to the previous owners.

"Few here offer hospitality, even fewer women. Your husband not the same jealous type that seems to grow around these areas?"

Ah, that's what had him worried. He was alone with a woman in a rural area. I knew the reception that Adrian and I had received, and Adrian had brought his own bride with him. A lone male was competition to the men, especially one as nice as this one was. And to the older women, he was too free...no farm, no family, too liable to come and go and make trouble. "If Adrian does not trust me, then he's not worthy of me."

The paladin blinked, and I realized the comment was a mistake, but it was too late to bring back. "Eat it before it gets cold." I muttered, and he took a bite.

"This is really good." He stated, and I knew then exactly where he'd been staying. I smiled, almost said something, when the wind changed direction and picked up force. It was a small change, but it caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand. A loose shutter banged on one of the windows and I moved to secure it. The moon was still high, but was becoming obscured by deep shadowy clouds, and suddenly I was thankful I was not alone. I felt him put down the bowl and move to stand behind me, almost close enough to touch.

"A dark wind." he said, reaching out to bring the shutter to latch. "Is your husband close by? Expected back...soon?"

"No. They left two days ago. It will take them more than a week to get there, a week to buy, and another back." No, Adrian and Mathys were nowhere near here. It was supposed to be safer, it was spring, the passes were clear...

"Good." He muttered. "Bad. I feel remiss in letting you remain alone..."

"Do not suggest you wish him to leave. I'd rather he knew, than to have you alone tonight."

"Then don't leave me alone." It was a bold statement, but he seemed relieved by it. He went out to get his pack, and dismissed the charger, looking around the yard. It seemed as if the very shadows waited with bated breaths, and his stride was long and quick when he came back. He dropped the latch, and then rammed the door wedge home.

"Cellar entrance?" he demanded, and I shook my head. There had been once, but Adrian had spent a week filling it with bricks left in the barn. The only way into the cellar was from the inside of the house.

"Adrian filled it with bricks; there is no way in there."

He glanced at me dubiously and took the lantern, unerringly heading for the inside cellar door. It didn't take him long to reappear, and he gave me a grudging nod when he did. "Good enough. Any other ways in besides the windows?"

"No."

"And those look fairly sturdy."

I shrugged. Adrian had some artistry with a forge, and had replaced the door and shutters with heavier versions of what had been with the house. The iron binding the oak was as thick as my thumb, tediously hand wrought. None of us had forgotten what had happened to the last people to live here. There was a howl, far away, and he startled. "I noticed no stock on the way in. Your barn lies empty?"

"It does." That raised another dubious look, and I shrugged again. "My husband, uncle and I came here as refugees, travelers, this last autumn. They let us live in the house now..." The truth, and some explanation for the things which didn't want to fit together correctly. "The previous owners died here. All the stock slaughtered. We decided this spring that we were going to stay, so my husband and uncle went to replace the stock..."

"A midwife is valuable, and abandoned lands invite the Scourge to linger."

Yes, to both of those. I watched him as he broke out his bedroll, and shed his harness. "Your room is upstairs?" He asked, and I nodded. "Mind if I took a look upstairs? Just to be certain?"

There were a hundred reasons for me to deny him that, but also none. I had been gone for hours, there actually could be something up there, just beyond my sensing... "I... was gone most of the afternoon, most of the evening, delivering a ba..."

With that, he was gone, moving for the stairs, and I had no chance to bring him back. I trailed him, watching as he hit the first door at the top, the empty bedroom. I could see into it between his ankles, and it was desolately empty as it had always been. He moved on, to the other door, pushing it open. It was not the way I had left it; the cradle had been moved, further into the open. The incriminating carving was obscured, however, by a fine woolen baby throw tossed over the headboard. Adrian had his pack with him, mine should hang from a peg on the wall, but it had vanished. The paladin dropped to his knees, glancing under the bed, and then opened the large chest at the foot. Nothing. I watched him take one final look around, and he nodded his satisfaction finally.

"Seems well enough." He said, opening the window to double check the latch on the shutter.

"Thanks." I said, and he gave me a shy smile in answer.

"Sleep well." He murmured, letting himself from the room, closing the door behind him. I heard his heavy tread on the stairs, and knew he had gone back down. When he was well gone, I heard another step, this one in the room with me, and I spun.

The black haired ghost stood in the corner, half devoured by the deep shadows. He placed my pack on the floor, and smiled at me. "I don't remember." I whispered, and his smile stilled. "I..."

He moved towards me, with the grace of a very large, very powerful man trained to carry his weight. "I know." His voice was faint, wrong, so far away, and I wanted to cry. "You must forget to remember."

Again, that. "I must forget you?" That was a crime. I was certain of that. I owed this man so much more than that. I wasn't certain how I knew that, but I did. He deserved better. He dropped his eyes, a fall of rooster tail black hair across his brow. He turned from me, moving to the cradle and staring down at it. A touch of his fingertip set it to rocking, and he nodded sharply as if he'd talked himself into something he wasn't entirely certain of.

"Yes." He said, and vanished. It was all I could do to stop the anguished howl I wanted to let go of, and perhaps if I'd been alone, I would have given into it. As it was, I buried myself in my covers and cried myself to sleep.