Aida watched as the last of the people who'd come for the meeting were left, all headed back to where they usually lived, to stay there until the fortnight passed. The horses began to canter away through the trees, and then they were gone. It seemed she'd be left with Virth, Alexander, Tomas, and the woodsmen—the same as before. Part of her wished she could get to know the other Innocent people better, but mostly she was glad it was quiet in the forest again.

As the woodsmen, along with Tomas and Alexander, began to move away from the front of the lodge, she turned to Virth beside her. "Virth," she said, "do you think you could teach me how to fight the Ageless?"

Virth glanced at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "I'm not sure my teaching you how to kill people would really be in the best interests of everyone," he said. "You know, the whole Innocent issue. I don't think the rest of them would approve."

She pursed her lips. "But—you said Aaren can trace me. If the Ageless come while we're at the tomb... don't any of the rest of them know how to fight?"

He shrugged. "Alexander does. And some of the other men have a vague idea, I'm sure. But in general... no. It's not what they do."

"So if I'm going to be killed, I shouldn't even try to defend myself. Is that what you're saying?" As she spoke, she felt her face growing hot; she was... angry. She rarely got angry about anything, but the idea of dying, when it could easily be prevented... it made her angry.

Virth let out his breath in a long sigh. "If I was a different person, I'd tell you that to die for the cause of the Breaking Dawn, the compassion and the innocence, is worth it." He paused. "But I'm not. All I'll say is, do what you have to." He looked at her a moment longer, then reached behind his back and pulled two knives out from under his clothing somewhere. "Swords aren't easy to hide, but... knives are." He held them out to her, hilts first.

She took the knives from his slowly, with shaky hands. She'd never really held a weapon before, and the fact that it wasn't something she was supposed to be doing made it seem all the more dangerous.

"You'll never have good aim with hands like that," Virth said, turning on his heel. "Put those somewhere on you and follow me."

She glanced up at his dark head moving away from her. She looked back down at the knives in her hand and quickly tried to stick them between her underclothes and overshirt. It didn't work very well. She crossed her arms to hold them in place and started quickly after Virth.

"That's a horrible hiding job," he said as she came alongside him. "You need a belt."

"Well," she said, "if you would give me one." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Fine. You can have one of mine. You'll have to poke another hole in it, though," he said, glancing over her. "You're awfully thin."

She said nothing but stayed walking in step beside him.

"I don't know how good you'll get with knives in a fortnight. We'll mainly practice throwing them. They're useless short distance. The Ageless will have much better weapons. And throwing knives isn't easy. It takes a lot of practice. But I'll do what I can to keep you safe."

She bit her lip and glanced at him. His eyes were straight ahead, face set in stone. He seemed all business. "Are you worried about it?" she asked finally, in a soft voice. She thought he didn't quite seem his usual, sarcastic self.

He glanced at her, and she noticed how green his eyes were again, but he looked quickly away. "A little bit. Both of us are going to be in the same place, and both of us can be traced by the Ageless. So yes, that worries me."

"They won't... kill us, though," she said.

"No, just cut out our hearts. Which, effectively, would kill you. But me on the other hand..." He gave a shrug and a grin, but it wasn't a happy grin.

"You promised to give up your heart and live with them," she recited dully, remembering that part of the story.

"Yes, and I'm afraid being a man of my word might come back to bite me."

She swallowed and then pursed her lips together. She saw now why he didn't take promises lightly. Yet, he'd promised her something and followed through with it. And he was doing even more for her, without a promise binding him. "Virth," she said, glancing at him again. "I'll do what I can to keep you safe, too. I promise."

He glanced at her; his eyes looked questioning, like he wasn't quite sure he believed her. But then they changed. He smiled, a very small twitch at the corner of his mouth. She smiled back at him.

When they stopped walking a few moments later, they were in the forest. She could see the lodge through the trees not far away, but far enough that they wouldn't easily be seen. There was a small sort of clearing here, where the sun seemed to dip down and spread the area with light, dappling on the grass and leaves.

"Take out the knives," Virth said, and she retrieved them from under her shirt.

He took one from her and held it out in front of himself, his palm wrapped around it, fingers on one side, thumb on the other. "Hold it like this," he said, glancing at her. "Not too tight, but not too loose. You want to have a good grip on it, but you don't want to fight it."

She copied him with the knife she still had in her hand, and he went on.

"Ideally, you'd stand sideways, with one foot more forward than the other, and turn at the waist to face your target. But in actuality...you won't have time for any of that. You'll just find your target, raise your arm, and throw." He hardly seemed to move, and then the knife shot from his hand into the tree several feet in front of them, hitting straight in the middle and sticking in the trunk. Virth turned to her with a half smile. "Well," he said, "now you try."

She looked at the knife in the tree and back at him. "I—but how did you—?"

He crossed his arms, refusing to say anything else.

Shaking her head a little, she raised her arm and threw the knife. It landed pitifully on the ground, several feet from the target tree. It was useless. She didn't have the slightest idea what she was doing. She looked at Virth and bit her lip.

"Not quite," Virth said with a smile. "You were too panicked. And you didn't aim at all."

"Well neither did you!" she protested. He'd thrown the knife like—like he didn't even have to look at the tree. It just got there, without him doing anything.

"Yes, I did," Virth said slowly. "You just didn't notice. In battle, you have to aim fast. You'll hardly have time to think about it. Keep both your eyes open and know how far you have to throw. Let's try this again." He walked towards the tree and she followed him, stopping where her knife was to pick it up off the ground.

They returned to their throwing spot, and he showed her again.

"Now, I can see my target, and I'm not going to take my eyes off of it. I'm just going to bring my arm up, and it's not going to be so much a throw as just bringing my arm forward, right towards my target, and letting go." He threw his knife and it hit the tree in the exact same spot it did before, a perfect hit.

She bit her lip. She still didn't see how she could do this. She looked at the tree, brought her arm up slowly, and threw. It landed a little closer to the tree this time, but still on the ground. She sighed and looked at Virth. "I'm not sure this is going to be a success," she said.

He shook his head and walked forward, taking the knife from the ground. "It's not this difficult," he said, handing her the knife. "Try again. I'll help." He walked behind her on her right side, and she felt his hand guiding her arm up and out. She was just ready to thrust forward and let go, when he caught her arm in a tight grip and stopped her. "You're holding it too tight," he said. "What did I tell you? Don't fight it."

"I'm not fighting it!" she argued, turning towards him. "I'm just—"

His green eyes silenced her. He held up a finger and shook his head. His hand moved to her wrist and brought her hand close to her face. "You're holding it too tight," he said again. "Think of the knife as an extension of your arm. You don't have to fight to control your own limbs. The knife is you. It's fighting for everything you're fighting for. You just have to give it a little bit of direction." He loosened her fingers on the hilt and wrapped his own fingers on top of hers. He raised her arm up, and together they moved the knife forward, towards the tree. At the top of their path, he let go and pulled her hand away with his. The knife soared forward and hit the tree dead center, next to his. The two knifes touched at the blades, stuck into the same part of the tree.

She glanced at Virth. "See," he said softly, "it's easy."

"It felt easy, that time. It felt wonderful."

Virth looked at her a moment more. Then he stepped away from her, shrugging. "Well, that's how you throw a knife," he said. "Let's see if you can do it again."

She nodded, and they walked to the tree again. They removed their knives at the same time, grasping the hilts and pulling the blades out of the bark. They walked back again and stood facing the tree.

"Now, on the count of three," Virth said. "One." They both found their targets at the center of tree. "Two." They both raised their arms up, ready to throw. "Three."

They threw, and as the knives flew through the air, she blinked and something strange happened. They weren't in the forest anymore. There was a sweet fragrance drifting around them, and there were shadows in the corner of her eye. They were on a grey cliff, in a flower meadow, both at once. She felt Virth stirring at her back. She blinked again, and they were back in the forest. Both knives were in the center of the tree.

She glanced at Virth. "I...I guess I can do it again," she said.

He looked at her and then at the knives in the tree. His forehead was creased into many lines. "I guess so," he said, with a lack of feeling. He started towards the tree without another word.

She started after him quickly. "Virth, what—what was that? What happened?"

He stopped walking and faced her abruptly. "It was my heart. And your heart."

"But why?"

He shrugged and started walking again. He stopped in front of the tree and pulled out his knife with a strong ferocity. "It can happen, when people are close to each other. I've never had it happen before, except...with Aurore." He stared ahead for a moment, and then started walking away.

She quickly took her knife from the tree and followed him again. "I—I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to—"

He snorted and rose an eyebrow at her. "I know," he said. "You don't have to apologize. It's not like I really care anyway. Aurore's been gone a long time."

"But—you love her," Aida said, looking up at him. He made it sound like he didn't care, but she couldn't believe that.

Virth didn't look at her. His eyes wandered through the trees, down at the ground, back to the lodge. "Yes," he finally said. "I guess so." He looked back at her, into her eyes, and she thought that he looked...well, not quite convincing. But not just that. They looked so alive and yet so, so...she couldn't put a name to it. She just wanted to...

She reached out her hand to touch him, but stopped herself. She took a step backward instead. She realized that she felt a little shaky, a little like—like part of his heart was still inside of hers. She felt closer to him than ever, and it wasn't quite comfortable. "Well—thank you," she said. "For teaching me."

He nodded. "I'll continue teaching you, if you want. Other angles and things."

She nodded back at him. "Yes. I'd like that."

"They're so beautiful," Aida said, staring up at the sky. The stars shone above them like a million diamonds, glistening in a curtain of black. She was sitting on a blanket with Virth on one side and Alexander on the other, a short ways away from the lodge.

"They are, aren't they?" Alexander said. "I never get tired of that sight."

She smiled at him and then looked down at her hands. "I can't believe it's really happening tomorrow," she said, slowly looking back up. She looked at Virth and felt... odd. Over the fortnight, he'd been teaching her how to throw knives and even a little bit of actual close combat with them. It had happened three more times, where their hearts seemed to wrap around each other. They didn't talk about it, just shrugged it off, but... she thought about it. Tomorrow, she'd help him wake up his true love. They'd be together again. Get married, probably. Well, she was happy for him.

"It is strange," Alexander spoke after a moment. "The time's just flown by."

She kept her eyes on Virth. He looked back at her, but he didn't speak.

"Does anyone want anything to eat?" Alexander asked abruptly, turning toward both of them. "I made rolls yesterday, and I think we ought to eat them before we go tomorrow. We don't know just what'll happen, and...I don't want them to get stale."

Aida smiled at him once again. "I'll have one," she said.

"Excellent. And you, Virth?"

Virth shrugged. "Why not?"

"Good! I'll go get a few," Alexander said. He jumped to his feet and started heading towards the lodge at a jog.

Aida turned back to Virth. "So," she said quietly, "tomorrow... everything changes."

Virth nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "It's about time. A hundred years is a terribly long time to wait for anything, Aida. Don't live to be as old as I am. You won't like it."

She looked at him without speaking. There was a slight smile on her face, but she didn't feel a lot like smiling. It seemed like... a lot had changed, just in this fortnight, and... she was finally comfortable now, and tomorrow everything was going to change all over again. "Virth!" she said abruptly, her voice ranging higher than she meant it to.

He swung his head around to look at her, and she bit her lip hard. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say now.

"Do you—do you think it will all work out all right?" she asked at last, twisting her fingers together.

Virth shrugged and glanced at the ground. "It depends on your definition of all right."

"But—do you think—"

"I said I'd try to keep you safe, and I still intend to," he said, looking into her eyes.

She sighed. "Yes. But... other things, like—" She glanced at him. He was watching her with a blank stare. She sighed again. "I'm just not sure I'm ready," she said.

There was a long pause before he said anything, and then it was very low and very quiet, so she could barely hear him. "You're not the only one." He looked away from her, and she was just going to ask him what he meant when he turned back to face her. "If there's anything you want before we go, what would it be?"

She bit her lip. "I—I don't know." She thought for a moment. So much had changed, so quickly. She was kidnapped and then ran away and ended up here, and... it had been so long since she'd been home. Home. And then she knew. "I... I wish my brothers knew what was happening to me. Or just—that I was all right. I wish someone would tell them." She looked back at Virth. His face was close to hers, again. She took a sharp breath and felt her heart beat once. She blinked, and it happened again. She took a sharp breath as she looked at the grey cliff and flowers cascading everywhere. She lowered her head down toward her chest. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Virth said, behind her. "I don't...mind this."

"I think I could have stopped it," she said, speaking what she'd barely thought. But it was true. She could have turned away from him. She could have refused to go. "I know I could have."

"So could I," Virth said.

She took a breath; she hadn't expected that. "Oh." She felt a gust of wind blow against her. There was warm air and cold air, tangled together in ribbons that wrapped around her skin. "It's... beautiful," she said after a moment.

"It's just you," Virth replied, his voice a hush in the wind.

"I don't think so." There was something beautiful about the shape of his heart— the mountains, the landscape that could be described by nothing but... wild.

"Maybe I shouldn't have taught you." His voice made her wince. He sounded a little bit angry, a little bit desperate. He didn't ask for this. Or did he? He said... he could have stopped it. But she could have, too.

"You were just trying to help," she said in a whisper. She turned around to face him. He was already facing her, and he was so close, his eyes so green, full of life... and pain. Her breath caught in her throat. Whatever she was going to say died on her lips.

"Tomorrow, everything changes," he said, looking steadily into her eyes.

She nodded at him and before she could say anything else, he blinked.

"I've got the rolls!" Alexander said, running toward them from the lodge.

She glanced at Virth and took in a long breath, putting a smile on her face for Alexander. "Thank you," she said, as he handed her one of the rolls. She and Virth ate them in silence, while Alexander carried the conversation on about whatever entered his head.

She spent the night in a fitful sleep and couldn't help feeling that she was almost dreading the Breaking Dawn, but that was so wrong, and Virth—Virth—what about him? She didn't even know, but he was in her thoughts, in her... heart. And she couldn't get him out. In the middle of the night, he left his bedroll and walked out the door alone. She wondered where he was going, and what he was doing, but it wasn't her place to ask him. She tried to go back to sleep, forcing her eyes shut and her thoughts calm

In the morning, there was a note beside her. Feeling puzzled, she picked it up to read.

Aida! You're alive! Thank goodness! We are not completely certain of where you are or what you're doing (this Gideon fellow seems rather elusive), but we have been assured that you are alive, which is enough, for the moment. Please, stay alive. And please, come home sometime.

Love,

Your brothers (Mattias, Lindwin, Isaac, Jechem, and Gelent)

She smiled through tears and looked around for Virth, hoping that some things would stay the same, even after the Breaking Dawn.

So, I had kind of a difficult time getting back into this, and I don't really think this is the best chapter, quality wise. But...that's okay. This story has always been more about just writing than actual quality, anyway, so it's all good. But tell me what you think! I would appreciate a review! If anyone is still reading! I love you, if you are!