A/N: Sorry. I really, really can't do much without music some days. Stay tuned.

I kept dreaming, all those days on the boat back from the island. I saw it in my sleep- belonging. The one thing my blood didn't give me, belonging. Endless expanses of woodland, peace, simplicity. The pack. I could feel the others, sense them as they paced. Minsc took the tiller from me, of course. Khalid and Jaheira lay belowdecks, curled up on each other like mates should be. Should be. I still think a little like them, to this day- how things should be in that very simple, very basic way that transcends race.

For two weeks, I was a lycanthrope, something I've fought and killed so many times. Kivan paced the decks like a trapped animal, restless and growling occasionally. Everyone was infected, everyone. But, even as we were before a pack, we were doubly so afterwards. Tiax bared his teeth at Quayle as he passed. I paced to the bow and gripped the rails hard, watching the overcast sky as the boat rocked.

"Big bro."

"Yeah?"

"Minsc says we'll probably be in the Beard in a few days. Speaking of which..."

"Hmm?"

"Realize you're growing a mustache there, elfy-boy?"

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Mind's elsewhere."

"Yeh, I hear ya. Having dreams too?"

"Yes. Not the usual kind though."

"Lemme guess- running through the woods with a bunch of wolves, feeling like nothing in the world can hold you down?"

"You're kidding me. Having it too?"

"Everyone is, even Safana."

"Freaky. Any ideas on what to do when we reach shore?"

"Well, I guess we see Mendas. "

Kivan stalked over, eyes roving and wide.

"I can't stand it."

"What?"

"I can't stand it. being on this boat. Elves were not made for seafaring. We need..."

"Woods? Been dreaming about them?"

"How did you know?"

"Everyone has. It's freaky. I'm starting to rethink leaving that island. I mean, Sarevok's dead. We could have lived there, no problems, assassins..."

"We have only killed two..."

"Three, if we count that strange woman who wanted to kill you."

"True."

I sighed, leaning on the rails. It was so close. I could feel it- I could be free. Rabbit away on the high seas, like I always dreamed of with the Merry Ellen Carter. Hell, we had taken to calling this ship the Sea Wolf. I heard a few melancholy notes drift from a guitar after.

"Here's to you, I sing for my daddy-o.."

The experience was getting to everyone. The catacombs, the piled bodies of old men, of Fuller and a half-dozen of my old friends...nightmare apparitions made the wolfwere island seem positively quaint. We had left more than a few of them alone, happy enough. It was tempting to try and grab the wheel from Minsc, turn us around and head back there...hunt with the others...

"As I lay him down, down to sleep..."

But Gorion raised me better, and Lathander expected me more, divinity tugging at my consciousness. The Blood wanted to give into animalism, into the power that the curse game. I'd be a butcher. I think it was Eldoth singing softly, to himself. He might be an arrogant, manipulative, womanizing bastard, but he's more than that too. Skie curled up to him, arms around his wait. I missed Branwen more than ever.

"It's been so long, since I lost my daddy-o..."

Three months? No, closer to four. And running would never solve anything. Sarevok might be dead, but people still needed help. My friends, first and foremost. Kivan was still a lost soul. Quayle needed to...retire, I guess. I had yet to convince him that he was getting too old for this business. Skie needed to be steered away from Eldoth. Viconia needed someone to look over her- I mean, she's a Drow, walking on the Sword Coast. she's liable to get herself hung like that.

"Hope he's watchin'... watchin' over me..."

People needed checking up on. I made a mental note to visit Farmer Brun, maybe help him with his harvest. Maybe help Ajantis back south, to visit his mentor. Yes, south. People needed help in Cormyr as much as they did along the Lion's Way. I'd check in on everyone I've seen, make sure they're alright. Well, at least once I got past this lycanthropy thing.

I sighed again, watching the clouds sunder before the sun. Yes, I saw it- Lathander would show the way. I just had to be patient, and lend a hand where it's needed.