Chapter 24

If your hope scatter like the dust across your track,

I'll be the moon that shines on your path,

The sun may blind our eyes,

I'll pray the skies above,

For snow to fall on the Sahara-Snow on the Sahara, Anggun

"M-ma," Gray groaned, twitching jerkily back and forth in his bedroll. "Ma, the injuns..t-they got Pa…"

Lyric glanced over her shoulder as she was handing Chula a thick branch they had procured from the forest. They had been trying, without success, to repair the busted sling for the last half hour or so. After trying, and failing, to fix the splintered branch they had used as a beam, Chula decided it would be easier to just fashion a new one.

She frowned at the sheen of sweat trailing down the injured man's face in the sunlight filtering through the trees, at how tight his posture was and how ashen his complexion had become. She laid a hand on Chula's arm and gestured at Gray with her head.

"He appears to be having a nightmare." She murmured concernedly.

Caleb lifted his head and glanced in his friends directions, a frown pulling at his lips for a brief moment. He watched until Gray settled once more and then let out a soft sigh through his nose, as though he had been holding his breath.

"Yeah, he has nightmares sometimes." He told her solemnly, turning his attention back to their project. "That one is pretty standard."

"Shouldn't we do something?" She asked, watching Gray toss from side to side in agitation.

"Nah, he'll quiet down soon enough. His nightmares rarely go on more than a few minutes and he sleeps so hard that I doubt we could wake him even if we tried." Chula told her simply.

Gray continued muttering to himself but, as Chula said, he did eventually go still. He had been relatively quiet for the last half hour, having fallen into a light doze soon after Clarina and Saul departed. She and Chula had found themselves with little to do other than converse quietly amongst themselves. Idle chit chat could only take one so far however so, when it ultimately tapered off, they decided to busy themselves crafting a better sling.

Despite the semi-private time she was enjoying with him, Lyric found herself wishing that Clarina would return soon. She did not enjoy being the only thing that stood between Mr. Tucker and death. She was being overly paranoid, of course, he had been fine for the hour or two they had been gone, but the longer they stayed away the more worried she became. As though he had read her mind, Gray gave a sudden and great shout from his place by the fire.

"MA!" He shrieked, shooting upwards in the bedroll. "GET PA'S RIFFLE!"

Lyric shot about as that terror filled voice wrenched through the otherwise quiet air. Gray looked around wildly, his chest pumping as though he had run for miles. Looking panicked, he attempted to get to his feet. This failed of course and he collapsed, laying on his side with a pained yelp.

"Shit!" Chula cursed, tossing aside the sling to hurry to his friends side. Gray lay in a fetal position, moaning, as Lyric hurried over as well. She was unsure what help she could provide but was resolved to help nonetheless.

"Gray!" Chula said soothingly as he reached the man, "you're not at the farm, brother!"

Gray looked about erratically, twisting from side to side as Chula lifted him upright in an attempt to guide him back into a more comfortable position.

"T-they're everywhere!" He stammered, reaching out as though to grasp something and then falling back against Chula's chest in exhaustion.

"Come back, Gray!" Chula said, cradling the man in his arms as though he were a baby. "You're not there anymore," he continued soothingly, "follow my voice, brother."

Gray showed no signs of comprehension, let alone compliance.

"Liddie…" he panted, unheeding, "Could-couldn't save 'er…"

"He's hallucinating," Chula murmured when any further entreaties fell on deaf ears. His handsome face was tight as he turned imploring eyes up to hers.

"Is there any more of that wild Lettuce tea?" he asked, his voice rough with fear and desperation.

Rushing to the cooking pan, Lyric tried to scrap out what little remained into Saul's dented cup. It was lukewarm now, tepid, like bath water, but Gray appeared to be in no condition to care. She all but ran to get it back to him.

"Alright, Mosye." She murmured, falling to her knees beside the two men. Chula lifted his friend's head so she could tip the cup towards his lips.

There was no way to know precisely who or what Gray saw when his blue eyes settled on her, what horrible memory his fever ravaged brain conjured up, but one thing was abundantly clear, it was not Lyric he saw.

Those already glassy eyes went wide and terrified in his pale face. He gave a great cry of 'NO' and wrenched himself sideways, out of Chula's grip. One arm came up as he did so, catching her with tremendous force along the chin.

Lyric hunched over in pain as agony exploded throughout her face, spreading like wildfire up to her temple. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and she spit it out into the grass as Chula struggled to get the incensed man under control once more.

"Dammit, Gray!" She heard him grunting. "Would you cooperate, please?"

Despite the throbbing that radiated up the side of her skull, Lyric hauled up the cup which, mercifully, had not spilled and pushed the rim of it against Gray's clenched teeth once more.

"Please, Mosye," she begged, "you must drink!"

It took some doing on both their parts, with Chula holding his head and her persistently pushing the rim of the cup against his teeth but, eventually, his lips parted enough for her to dump the contents down his throat. He spit at least half of it back up but, between the two of them, they managed to get enough in him that slowly, painfully, he began to relax.

The horrible rigidness that had bowed his spine settled, the feverish fervor dimmed in his eyes and, after what felt like hours, Chula was able to lay him back on the ground. The man still mumbled to himself, twisting sluggishly in the blanket they pulled back over him, but at least he was rendered quiet and non violent once more.

"Are you alright?" Chula asked her when his friend was settled. His eyes swung in her direction as she held her cheek gingerly in one hand, already feeling a lump forming along her jaw.

"Oi," she murmured back, wincing.

"Let me see," Chula said, reaching across to take her face in gentle hands. She grimaced as his thumb grazed over a tender spot and he murmured an apology as he turned her face this way and that.

"Well, it'll bruise, " he said apologetically, "but nothing looks broken or fractured. I'm sorry he hit you."

"It's not your fault any more than it was his," she told him, giving him as much of a smile as she could manage with the discomfort, "he didn't know what he was doing."

"I know, I just…" He trailed off as he tried to find the right words.

"I just hate to see you hurt." He finally murmured, looking sheepish and a little embarrassed to put it so bluntly.

A warm glow filled Lyric's chest and she lifted a hand to cover the one that he still had resting against her cheek.

"I'm fine, truly." She told him, reassuringly.

He looked uncertain but didn't argue with her. After a few more awkward seconds passed, she patted his hand and climbed to her feet, dusting off the skirt of her dressing gown as she went.

"Could you watch him for a moment?" She requested, "I should probably splash some cool water on my face to alleviate the bruising."

"Alright, but watch for Gators," he warned as he sat back on his heels, "I've seen at least two since we woke up."

"I will." She promised and wandered over to kneel by the water's edge.

True to her word, she tested the area with a long stick before splashing the cool liquid on her jaw and the back of her neck. Nothing moved out in the green water, though she did see two medium sized reptiles sunning themselves on the opposite side of the bank.

Peering up through the dense foliage Lyric thought about how the humidity had grown ungodly in just the last few hours. It would only get worse as the day wore on and she wondered how the men were going to fare in those heavy cotton shirts and trousers of theirs. She had beads of sweat running down her back and all she was wearing was a considerably lighter dressing gown.

She wondered, as well, what was going to happen once this was over and they returned to town. Would she and Clarina simply return to Breeze Knolle as though nothing had changed? She hoped not, she had no desire to return to that house and it's hallways full of sordid memories. A part of her hoped the union army had burned it to the ground while they were gone. That was a silly wish though. She and Clarina had no money, nowhere else they could go. She might hate the plantation and everything it had come to represent but it was still a roof over their heads and a place to sleep until they came up with a better option.

Where would that leave the three men as well? Was it not logical to assume Chula would have to leave once they found their wayward unit? That eventuality filled her with the worst kind of dread, she could not bear the thought of being parted from him. Yet was separation not inevitable, had she had found him only to lose him once more?

Feeling dismal, Lyric stared down at the liquid pooled in her palms and swallowed a lump that threatened to rise in her throat. No, she couldn't abide the thought of that...yet he could hardly abandon the army to build a life with her. The war showed little signs of ending anytime soon and it could be months or even years before they found one another again. What if he were to die during that time? Shaking her head, she tried to push that thought from her mind. He was here, they were together. It would have to be enough for now.

As she prepared to splash the remaining water onto her face and return to him, her reflection in the water gave a great shimmy. Lyric glanced down, unsure, at first, what it was she was seeing but the rippling water appeared to be distorting her features in an unusual manner.

The change was subtle at first, and she looked mostly as she always had; Golden eyes, full lips, cafe ole skin but, as the water shimmered in the sunlight, those features swam. Her full lips narrowed into something more heart shaped, her nose elongated, narrowing out. Her dark brows faded into something thinner and more delicate. Lyric let out a startled gasp when the water settled and she was staring, not at her own reflection, but at that of the girl from the mirror.

The face staring back at her wore an expression equally as startled as her own, as though she were just as surprised to see Lyric as Lyric was to see her. Eyes like cornflowers, which were already bright in the girls pretty face, went wide and terrified. As she watched, those heart shaped lips began to move.

The girl was calling something out from the other side of the invisible divide, Lyric could clearly see words like 'help me' forming on her lips. She shook her head in disbelief, not believing that what she was seeing could possibly be real. There was no sound as the girl spoke, nothing discernible, but as Lyric watched she lifted one of her hands and slapped it insistently against the barrier.

Bam, bam, bam went that pale palm against the smooth surface of the river. Boom, boom, boom came and answering call in Lyric's head. She let out a muffled, pained noise, clapping a hand against her head as that sound reverberated throughout her skull.

Help me, the girl's lips continued to plead.

I-I don't know how, she thought back desperately.

Let me out, her lips plead soundlessly.

Slapping turned into banging. She rained an assault on the wall of her watery prison with tightly clenched fists and Lyric felt each and every hammer like a battering ram. She slapped her hands over her ears as pain exploded all throughout her head.

"Please..." Lyric begged, pushing out the smallest hiss of sound through clenched teeth. She was nearly bowed over in pain, marveling that the two men were seemingly unaware of the loud and persistent banging.

Let me out, the girl's lips continued screaming. She was like a desperate, trapped animal. Her blue eyes entreating Lyric to help her, to release her, to do something! If she realized that her assault on the invisible wall of her prison was causing Lyric pain she showed no sign of it. Lyric whimpered, hot tears trailing out of her eyes as that perpetual booming threatened to tear apart her psyche .

P-please…" She pushed out in a squeak.

Her hands shook where they still gripped at the sides of her head. It was an effort not to fall forward into that green water, gray spots were appearing in her vision.

Seeing no alternative and wanting the pain to cease, Lyric lunged forward and slapped the water's surface with the flat of her palm. She wasn't certain if the 'LEAVE ME BE' that followed was something she actually screamed or if it was just a desperate thought wrenching its way through her mind. Ripples distorted the image of the girl's face and Lyric froze where she knelt, her hand still stretched out before her.

"Hey, you alright?" Chula's voice suddenly issued from somewhere behind her. He sounded curious but not overly worried, as though he were merely wondering what was taking her so long. She felt his hand drop onto her shoulder and started, pained tears streaming down her cheeks.

All she could do was stare, wide eyed, at the place where the Moon haired girl had been. There was nothing there now, save for the ripple of disturbed water that was spreading out in an ever widening circle. She swallowed on a suddenly dry throat, trembling, as Chula came around to kneel before her.

"Hey," she heard him saying as he leaned to peer worriedly into her face, "What's-are you crying?"

She couldn't answer him, she couldn't even find her voice. It seemed to have fled along with the girl trapped inside that a watery prison. She was trembling, she could feel it in every part of her body and her hand seemed to shake where it was still held out before her.

"Lahollo," he said insistently, taking her face in his hands and forcing it upwards, forcing her to look at him, "tell me what's wrong?"

Somehow, she managed to turn her frightened eyes up to his worried brown ones. It was a numb gesture, done more to ascertain that he was really there than to respond to his request. She let out a frightened gasp when the sun flamed out behind his head and made him appear, not as her soldier, but as the raven haired man.

She recoiled from him, shaking her head as terrified screams threatened to bubble up in her chest. Unable to cope with everything that had just occurred, Lyric scrambled to her feet and shot off through the trees as though someone had lit the soles of her feet on fire.

"What the fuc…" Chula yelped when the suddeness of her departure caused him to fall on his ass in the sand.

"LYRIC!" she heard him calling behind her.

She neither answered nor looked back as crashed through the brush. Sticks and small rocks dug painfully into her bare feet and needle grass ripped at the flesh of her legs but it did nothing to stop her mad flight. She knew, in the part of her brain that was still rational, that she should have offered him something more than an abrupt flight from the campsite. She simply couldn't stand to be there a moment longer.

Poor lamb, the voodoo woman's raspy voice echoed up from the recesses of her memory, You'll burn, she'll burn her way right out of you.

Was that what had almost happened, Lyric wondered fearfully? Was her fate going to be that of Bran's, a slave to the whims of some other.. Entity?

She had little time to think on it further before her foot caught on an upraised tree root and she was crashing to the forest floor. She landed hard on her chest, the impact knocking the air from her lungs. She rolled into a fetal position in the dry leaves, gasping, as a cramp clenched painfully in her right side. If she had had the air to do so, she probably would have screamed but, as it was, she could only manage painful hitching noises.

The crack of breaking twigs heralded Chula's arrival and his appearance caused her to slump in defeat, her gasping morphing into despondent sobs. She found herself wishing he had just left well enough alone. He had caught up to her more quickly than she would have liked but being a swift runner had never been one of her virtues. How must this scenario have look from his perspective, she thought dismally. She had pushed him away, ran off like a mad woman. Now here she was, collapsed in a heap and a hair's breadth away from hysteria. She did not have the mental wherewithal for explanations and neither did she have the heart to send him away.

Whatever he might be thinking took a backseat, however, when he caught sight of her lying trembling amongst the leaves. There was only the briefest of pauses between the time he arrived, ascertained her location, and he was rushing to her side.

The crunching of dry leaves was loud in her ears as ran to her. She saw his boots first, then his knees as he fell beside her. His hands were gentle as he tugged her up from her prone position and his arms sturdy when she all but fell into them.

"It's ...it's too much!" she sobbed, brokenly.

"Shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh," He shushed, his lips moving against the top of her head. His arms tightening around her, holding her as she wept,

It went on for a long time, her sobbing and his soft murmurings in that soothing other language of his. After what felt like an eternity, her tears began to ebb and her breathing lost it's hysterical cadence. When the flood of emotion finally subsided, she lifted her head to look into his concerned eyes.

He stared back at her with the oddest expression on his dark face, something that was equal parts bewildered but also resigned to this thing that was that was happening between them. He let out a little sigh when she looked at him, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek, rubbing her tears away with his thumb.

" Keyu yaiya, Lahollo." He murmured tenderly. Without warning, he leaned in to trail his lips across her cheeks and nose.

She inhaled sharply at the contact. His lips cut a path across her cheekbones, pressing against all the places her tears had fallen. They avoided catching her lips however and she felt some disappointment in the avoidance. She found that she very much wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drive the fear and terror from her mind and she would not have stopped him had he tried.

"I-I'm sorry about your shirt, " she stammered when he finished, she felt very self conscious about the stain spreading out over his shirt.

"It's probably ruined..."

"You think I give a damn about my shirt?," He asked her, one of his eyebrows going up incredulously. "I can get another one, I'm more more worried about you right now. You looked like you had seen a ghost before you took off like a bat outta hell. What happened back there, Lahollo?"

"I saw.." She trailed off, suddenly afraid to put what had happened into words, not knowing entirely how to put it into words.

"What?" He prodded gently when she paused.

Clenching her jaw, she let out a little sigh and tried to explain what she had seen, what had happened. She had to fight the trembling that threatened to return with the memory of it. Chula listened with a thoughtful, if concerned, expression on his handsome face. He kept his arms around her waist the entire time, as though afraid she would flee once again.

"I didn't hear or see any of that," he told her when she finally finished speaking, "I only saw that you had been by the river for an excessively long time. I was afraid Gray had hurt you more than you let on or something."

"I don't know what to think," She murmured as she slowly climbed back to her feet. "She seemed so desperate and scared.

"What do you think it means?" He queried as he too stood up, still maintaining a light grip on her elbows.

"I don't know, I mean, it is not the first time I've seen her but this was... different." She said shakily. "It felt as thought she wanted... I don't know, but Chula," She paused in speaking long enough to grab a handful of his shirt and peer fearfully up into his face, "what if all of this has darker connotations? What if we're just chess pieces in someone else's game!"

"Hey, hey, hey," he said soothingly, pulling her forward until his forehead was resting against hers. Lyric took a deep breath, trying to let his closeness calm her racing heart. She shut her eyes, focusing only on him, and herself, and this moment they were sharing.

"Didn't I tell you that nothing would hurt you while I was breathing?" Chula reminded her, quietly.

Lyric's eyes popped open and she lifted her head to gaze into his beautiful eyes once again. She so wanted to trust in everything she was feeling. She wanted to believe that their feelings were genuine, and not the product of whatever 'others' had brought them to this time and place, but with what had just happened she was utterly uncertain any more.

"I want this to be real," she said in a whisper, feeling the tears threatening all over again. "I just don't understand how can we feel this strongly when we don't...when we've only just..."

One of his hands lowered to grasp one of hers. He pulled it up between them and pressed it over his heart, covering her hand and holding it there. She felt no jolt this time, no flood of visions. There was only the thump of his heart, beating away like a drum beneath her palm.

"The only thing I know," he told her ardently, "is that this is yours. It's been yours from the first moment I saw you."

He leaned in so she could see the seriousness of his words shining in his eyes. She inhaled deeply, the woodsy scent of him filling her nostrils.

"I love you, Lyric Atabei Harris," he confessed, his full lips so close that she would only have have to lift upwards on her toes to capture them. "I love you."

"But is it real?" She asked, doubtful and hopeful all at the same time.

"God, I hope so!" And with that he closed the distance between them.

The meeting of their lips sent an altogether different jolt traveling throughout her body. It brought an aching, a sense of deja vu so powerful that it could not be ignored. As his lips molded to hers, the inexplicable odor of sawdust returned to fill her nose. She was suddenly, acutely, aware of being back in that tight, cramped corridor made of roughly hewn logs. The possibility that they could be caught at any moment loomed large in her mind but, as his tongue probed insistently against her lips, she opened to receive him without hesitation.

He inhaled sharply, pressing her tightly to him. Lyric felt his long fingers trailing up and down her spine, strumming, as though she were a fine instrument. She found herself wondering how those nimble fingers might feel on other parts of her body as well. Without warning, he propelled her backwards and she expected to come to rest against the wall of the corridor but, surprisingly, her back came to rest against the rough surface of a tree instead. A distant booming resounded from somewhere outside but neither of them cared. The whole world could explode around them and they would die content, knowing they had found each other at last.

"I scoured the ages," Chula was panting against her lips, "I searched time itself for you."

A dim part of her mind recognized that his voice was... wrong somehow. It was deeper, less melodic than it should have been. He tried to say more but she silenced him with a deep kiss of her own, entwining her tongue with his in an erotic, primitive dance.

He lifted her, his hands cupping her buttocks as she wrapped her legs around his waist, gasping as that hard male part of him bulged in his trousers. He ground it against that throbbing, aching part of her and she moaned, wanting more of him.

"I know your name." she heard herself gasping when they came up for air once more, was that really her voice?

"You are Uncas, son of Chingachgook, the last-"

She never finished that thought. He was rubbing against her in such a pleasing way that she arched, overcome by heat and desire. Later, she would wonder at these words but, in that moment, it all made perfect sense. The name she had seen in the dark room that long ago morning, had it really only been two days ago, that name belonged to him. He was Uncas. But he was so much more than that, wasn't he? Was he not also Chula Nahotabi, her soldier, the man she loved?

"Alice," Chula moaned, raining kisses along her jaw and down her neck, "Alice..."

One hand lifted to cup her breast through the thin fabric of her dressing gown. She whimpered, begging him for something she couldn't quite put a name to. She wanted him, she needed him in the throbbing place between her thighs. Who knew how far things would have progressed had Clarina not chosen that moment to call out in the distance.

"Lyric, Caleb!" Her sister's concerned (and also annoyed) call cut through the trees like a dagger. "Where the.." she cut off as though she had stumbled.

"Where are you?" she called out a few seconds later.

The two of them froze in place. Chula's hand stilled where it rested over her breast. They blinked at one another, shocked, as though only just realizing where and who they were. Abruptly, he stepped back, looking utterly shocked and ashamed as he dropped his hands from her. An embarrassed flush came to darken his already tan face as Lyric slid slowly back to the ground.

"I.." Chula started to speak, perhaps to apologize, but seemed unable to find the proper verbage. His expression could only be described as guilty, as though he had tried to force himself upon her.

"We should go." She mumbled, wishing she had the words to assure him that she too had been lost in what they had been doing. He let out a long hiss of air and ran his hands back through his thick hair.

Lyric dusted herself off, casting her eyes awkwardly to one side. Slowly, silently, they began to move, to walk, to make their way back towards camp. Lyric walked slightly ahead of Chula, listening to the sounds of his boots crunching on the leaves scattered about the forest floor.

She knew she should say something to him. They needed to discuss what had just happened, but the truth was she was too exhausted to do so. Her head ached horribly, as though an iron ball were rolling from side to side within it. She truly wanted nothing more than to curl up on the ground and sleep for the next 100 years.

She didn't know if it was because of what had happened back at the river or that intense kiss, but whatever it was it had left her completely spent. The pale, moon haired girl... Alice, had fed her a mystery. Their kiss had only served to deepen it.

"I meant what I said." Chula said solemnly from behind her, his voice breaking through her weary reverie. Lyric stopped walking but didn't turn to look at him.

"It's you I love." He continued, walking until he was standing by her shoulder. Even though she wasn't looking at him she could feel the intensity of his gaze on her.

"I don't know what any of this means or how it happened but I know that much is true." He finished quietly.

Lyric wanted to return the sentiment but found that she could not. It wasn't that she didn't return his feelings, she did, quite ardently, but more it was because she didn't trust their source. She could not make such a confession until she figured out where her feelings began and her other self's ended.

"What's happening to us?" She heard herself asking instead. She made herself turn, made herself look into his eyes even when the very movement of it made her head hurt that much more.

Looking at him standing before here, with his heart in his eyes and everything laid bare on his face, Lyric had no doubt that she would have laid with him back by that tree. Had Clarina not called out when she did, they would be there still, locked in an embrace that was fueled by forces other than themselves. There would have been no hesitation, no second guessing, and that lack of inhibition frightened her almost as much as what had happened back at the river.

"I don't know," Chula answered quietly, " But whatever it is feels old, and strong, like it won't be ignored."

"I feel like there's this stranger inside me," she revealed carefully, "this whole other person who both does and does not belong."

She paused to gather her thoughts, frowning. She could feel Chula's eyes on her again, waiting patiently until she reached a conclusion.

"Whoever it is is waiting, she's been waiting, for a very long time for me to acknowledge her." She continued, speaking slowly so as to make sure she said everything she needed to. His face was impassive as he stared back at her, guarded, as though he too were afraid to speak what was on his mind.

"I think she's been waiting for you." She told him softly.

Chula was quiet for a few more seconds, thoughtful. Lyric could almost see the gears turning in his mind, as though he were carefully considering each and every eventuality.

"I think you might be right," He said slowly, " Especially after what happened back there. My 'other half' has never been as persistent as you describe. He doesn't appear in mirrors or speak to me much, though when he does he means what he says."

He didn't sound entirely pleased with this revelation. Maybe, like her, he was struggling with what all of it meant. He might have said more but the breaking of twigs heralded Clarina's arrival. She was approaching rapidly and her face was as dark as a storm cloud.

"Where have you been?" Her strained voice demanded angrily! "I specifically told you to keep an eye on him?"

"I..we…" Lyric stammered for an explanation but her sister didn't give her a chance to offer one up.

"It hardly matters!" She said briskly,

"Mr. Wehde and his son have been kind enough to loan us their wagon." She continued in a clipped tone, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at them like they were unruly school children.

"I'll deal with whatever it was you were doing at a later date." She promised darkly.

Lyric knew that this 'dressing down' would be mostly for the benefit of the Wehde's, who might be able to overhear, but Clarina did not look at all pleased with them. Lyric's face flushed as she realized she didn't have a good excuse for their absence either, not really.

Together the three of them walked silently back into camp. Once they stepped through the trees, Lyric discovered a local tobacco farmer by the name of Louis and his youngest son, Charles. Louis or 'Wedhe Sr' as he was locally known, was a stocky man who sported a large, oddly trimmed, brown beard. It was clean enough along his chin but his mustache grew wild and bushy under the nose. It gave the appearance of wrapping around his head and covering a decent portion of his upper lip.

He was bent over Gray, studying the man's sleeping face and saying something she couldn't make out to Saul. Saul for his part was nodding and still attempting to maintain his 'mute' facade. Lyric tried to put herself back into the servants mindset as they approached and Mr. Wehde glanced up right as Clarina, Chula and herself reached the fire.

"'Bout damn time!" The older man scoffed irritably.

He scowled as though he had personally caught Chula and herself in a compromising position. His suspicious eyes told her he knew exactly what they had been up to and he did not approve. She looked away from him to stare at his son, Charles, instead.

Young Charles stood a little ways back with his arms folded petulantly over his thin chest, looking as though he'd rather be anywhere other than where he was at that moment. No doubt, he would rather have been home in bed, sleeping off the previous nights drink he had consumed at the saloon. Charles Wehde was known for his excessive drinking and gambling to many around the Parish and he didn't look at any of them as he lounged there, looking bored and awaiting instruction.

"Well don't just stand there, boy!" Wehde Sr. barked at Chula, "Help me get your young Master here into the wagon. The nigger girl there can assist Mrs. Thibodeaux!"

Chula's face hardened for half a second, his hand clenching into a fist at his side. Then he rallied and nodded before walking over to quietly help the older man lift Gray off the ground. The younger Mr. Wehde moved in to help and the three of them human chaired Gray back towards the road. It was only when they were out of ear shot that Clarina rounded on Lyric.

"What happened?" She demanded incredulously. " We came back and you two were just gone! Anything could have happened while you were off doing.. god only know what! What possessed you to leave a sick and injured man all alone like that?"

"I'm sorry," Lyric muttered guiltily, wincing in pain as the girls sharp tone caused her head to throb, "Something happened.. I-I ran off and Chula went after me and...I'm sorry, Clarina. It just...it all went belly up!"

"Is that really all there is to it?" Clarina asked tightly, folding her arms over her chest.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lyric demanded, growing defensive in her exhaustion and pain.

"I'm not blind, Lyric." Clarina told her firmly, "I see how the two of you are together! I wouldn't have left you alone if I thought you would disappear to do...other things... in the swamp!"

"Good god, Clarina, give me some credit!" Lyric burst out incredulously, louder than she intended. "I was hardly sneaking off to do amourous things with Chula!"

Guilt swept through her as these words escaped her lips. The memory of Chula's lips moving against hers, of the sensations flooding throughout her body, filled her with such a rush of heat that she shook her head to dispel the image from her mind. It may have started out innocently enough but it had not been so by the time Clarina had called out for them.

"Alright, alright ! Keep your voice down." Clarina shushed, glancing around to make sure the others weren't returning just yet.

"Just promise me that you're not going to rush into anything untoward with Mr Nahotabi." Her sister begged, her voice low.

Lyric realized she couldn't make that promise. She was already rushing headlong into whatever this was. A large part of her, though frightened, wanted to experience all of it.

"I can't." She sighed, casting her eyes to the side tiredly. "Just know that, regardless of how strange everything might appear, Chula would never intentionally hurt me."

Clarina looked doubtful and as though she wanted to argue the point but Charles Wehde took that moment to make his way back over to them.

"Everything's ready, Mrs. Thibodeaux." He told her softly. Clarina grimaced at the title but did not bother correcting him.

The two women followed silently as they made their way back towards to the road and the waiting wagon. Wehde Sr. was already settled in at the front so Charles crawled up beside him as Saul reached down to help his 'niece'. Caleb reached down to help Lyric up next and, once everyone was settled, Wehde Sr. snapped the reins to propel them forward.

Lyric, exhausted, curled up on the floor of the wagon. She was weary to her very bones and just wanted to sleep. Dimly, she was aware of a gentle pair of hand's lifting her head and arranging it more comfortably against a muscled thigh. She felt her hair being lifted from her face and spread out behind her while long fingers came to stroke rhythmically through her locks.

A part of her realized they should show more decorum but her head ached so badly that it hurt to keep her eyes open. Anyone could glanced back would see them like this, everyone would know that something major had shifted within their relationship. Despite these concerns, her eyes were already beginning to close. The gentle back and forth motion of the wagon was somehow comforting.

She fell asleep before the wagon had even gone a mile down the road, a small smile on her face, as Chula's fingers dragged in a comforting motion through her hair. She wouldn't wake again until they arrived at the hospital.

Authors Note:

That turned into a very long chapter! I wasn't even planning on getting this up until next week but I was so proud of it that I just had to upload it now. That being said, I can't tell you how many times I changed the part where Lyric see Alice in the lake. OMG, this had to be the 4th or 5th version of it! I mean, every time I come back to edit I change something but this was getting insane. I think at one point Alice was standing out in the water like a ghost, another time it was just her floating beneath the surface being all spooky...I think once she was singing? It took me forever to settle on this final version!

I have to say though that, out of all of them, I like this one the best. My earlier drafts had Alice being more threatening than I think she would be under the circumstances. She's not an aggressive person and I don't think she has any concept of whats going on. Her moments of consciousness are really brief, kind of like someone lighting a candle in a dark room. When the match is struck the only thing she can see is Lyric and she doesn't understand why Lyric doesn't acknowledge her. I don't think she's trying to hurt anyone, more that she just doesn't understand what's going on. I'm going to be able to explore that more in subsequent chapters.

We got a kiss finally! I know you all have been waiting for that! Hell, I've been waiting to write it! XD What a kiss it was too! I don't think i'm going to be able to keep these characters from having sexy times before I planned for it. I WAS going to have them hold off until towards the end but uh...yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen now lol

The kiss was another section that went through several drafts before I settled on what you read. I considered having them experience what happened under the waterfall here but I'm going to save that for later. It was originally MUCH more graphic and I was going to leave it that way but I think it would have been too much. I'm pretty happy with what I settled on, I think.

Moving on to Music we have a orchestral piece and a song. The orchestral piece is called Little Impulse and it's from the Movie, The Piano. I imagine it starts playing when Lyric runs off and ends after Clarina calls out for them. It's frenzied and beautiful and suits the scene nicely.

The song for this chapter is called Snow on the Sahara by Anggun. I've had this song for years and I hadn't listened to it recently but one day when I was rearranging my playlists I gave it a listen and immediately thought "This is a Lyric song". Its such a pretty little love song and I think it encompasses how she feels really well.

I think that's all I needed to get out about this chapter, the next one is a Caleb POV. Magua is slowly worming his way back in my mind as well so I think we'll be seeing more of him in the future (In case anyone forgot he existed). I don't know entirely when I'll get the next chapter up because I'm still editing it and attempting to get Clarina's next chapter written but hopefully it'll be soon!

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing and I will see you at the next update!