Grace meets with Lauren in her lab as they continue to gather data on Grace's ability to sense and identify fae without seeing them. Lauren asks "I'm sending in Jeanette's reports on you for her. I'm having some difficulties. I've studied her old reports and I think I've got her style down pretty well. It is the content that is the problem. I can't tell them what we're really doing." Grace ponders. "No you can't, can you. You could tell them I've been doing some analysis of crime scene evidence." Lauren nods.

"I'm worried about Jeanette. Yesterday's rain was long and cold. At night, it goes below freezing much of the time. I know her. She's loyal and determined in a quiet way. She won't give up. If she thinks Cassandra wants her to stay out there, she will."

"Tamsin thinks she's doing fine." Lauren replies.

"She may be surviving and even adapting, but that's not the same as doing fine."

"Grace, what are you thinking about doing?"

"I don't know. But I want her to know that Cassandra isn't planning to retrieve her."

"If Cassandra was planning to abandon Jeanette, why would she be staying here? Don't do anything, let it play out."

Race speculates "Perhaps Cassandra's plan is for Jeanette's friends to rescue her."

The next subject is put into position behind the blind. Grace concentrates. "Six chambered heart and lungs…" Grace smiles sensing familiar things she can't put into words. "It's Bo."

Bo comes around the curtain. "Hello Grace. How is the experiment going?"

"She's amazing and getting better with practice." Lauren replies.

"Bo, could you ask Trick what he knows about the wolf in the woods? I'd ask him, but he's not comfortable around… people like me… and whenever I go there I get the same feeling that Kenzi gets about some of the fae thinking about having me on a plate…"

"I already have… asked Trick She is very old, perhaps one of the oldest Fae still living. She is powerful enough that no Fae will go into those woods without gaining permission first. To get permission they must leave a note and a gift at a point on the edge. They must explain why they seek her counsel and agree to make a sacrifice of chi to her. Very few are accepted… very few. One who was was Bruce."

"Bruce?" Grace asks.

"Yes, but he's rarely spoken of it. Perhaps he'll tell you…his bedmate."

"We fell asleep after testing the ropes."

"Is that what they're calling it now?"

"Nothing happened. I worked on limbering him up and we fell asleep." Grace says.

"I'll bet he enjoyed the… ah… limbering…" Bo teases.

"Stop it. I'll talk to him about Jeanette and the forest, but I won't press him about him visiting it before… and what he tells me stays with me." Grace leaves.

"She and Bruce are … bedmates?" Lauren asks. "Grace got her own bed. It seems Bruce helped her set it up in the attic. Kenzi found them asleep on it. Later, Grace tried to sneak him out. When I caught them at the door, she tried to pretend he'd just arrived. But it was still raining and his coat was dry, so they were busted."

"Ropes?"

"Yeah, it's an old rope bed with a straw mattress. It has a thick down comforter. Kenzi tried it. She said it is like being nestled in King Kong's palm… without the rest of the big horny ape."

"Mmmmmmmm" Lauren says smiling. "Not that yours isn't nice" she quickly adds.

"Kenzi snores" Bo says. "But it's a cute snore, like a purring kitten… and I've had thoughts of having Grace on a plate… but just for a chi suck."

"Uh huh" Lauren says while increasing the dose of Bo's self control shot she was preparing. Bo gets into position to receive it in her rump.

The following day Grace finds Bruce's home. It is a small cottage a little bit more than a mile outside of the town tucked in between a little used road and a stream. The area beyond the stream is heavily wooded. Next to it is a small barn which he uses as a blacksmith shop to augment his income. As Grace approaches she hears the ring of his hammer on metal. She carries a basket with food and pauses to discreetly watch him work. Bruce has his back to her concentrating on his work and doesn't notice her watching. She starts down the path to his work yard.

"What are you making?" Grace asks as she gets close to his anvil and forge. Bruce jumps in surprise and then settles down embarrassed. "Oh… It's nothing." Bruce says and covers what he was working on with a cloth and then puts on his shirt. "I'm sure it's lovely." Grace says and uncovers a hatchet like object with a fairly long handle and a head that is long similar to a bearded battle ax. "Interesting" Grace says. Bruce covers it back up. "It's a commission made to order. It's called a tomahawk. The most difficult part is that it can also be used as a pipe."

"How did you find me?" Bruce asks changing the subject. "I actually found your advertisement on the internet. 'Bruce the Blacksmith, custom objects made to order' and there was a map." Grace explains and Bruce smiles. "An internet troll helped me set that up. It hasn't helped business though; I think you may have been the only one to have seen it. Most customers are repeats or by word of mouth."

"What brings you by? Do you need something made? Oh, I have something for you." Bruce says and he quickly retrieves an object from the barn and hands it to Grace. It is a metal plate on which there is a coil of round bar with a large loop at its base and a plug with two bars engaging the smaller upper part of the coil. Grace looks at it in curiosity before saying. "Thank you… But if you don't mind me asking… what is it?" Bruce smiles "It is what is sometimes called a courting candle" he explains. "The candle goes down the center of the coil and rests on the block which can be adjusted to control its height. When the candle burns down to the top of the coil, it's time for the suitor to leave."

Grace marvels at the design. "But what if she doesn't want him to leave?" she asks. Bruce explains "It's the girl's father who sets the height. But if he wasn't watching, she could always just turn the block and raise the candle." Grace nods, with a sly smile she says. "I suppose, if you were the suitor, I'd get a long candle and turn it up slowly. I brought food."

Grace opens the basket and shows the contents to Bruce. Suddenly Grace realizes that they are not alone. She turns to see an older woman in buckskins and wet bare feet approaching from the direction of the stream. Ignoring Grace, the woman goes to the anvil and pulls the cloth from the tomahawk. "Do you want to try the belt?" The woman nods and Bruce retrieves a leather belt with a patch on the side fitted with a metal ring. The woman puts it on, fastening it with a pair of 'D' rings. She drops the partially finished tomahawk into the ring and quickly withdraws it to a fighting stance. She places both on the anvil and nods to Bruce "When?" she asks. "Sundown, two days" The old woman pauses to briefly look at Grace carefully and then without a word she moves quickly and silently back toward the forest.

Grace watches in amazement as the woman vanishes into the trees. "Who was that?" she asks and Bruce answers. "The one who commissioned the tomahawk… the tomahawk that was supposed to be a secret." Grace takes a few steps toward the stream trying to see anyone. Bruce takes her by the arm. "Never cross that brook. Promise me; promise me now, that you will never venture into those woods." Grace nods. "I promise. Was that…?" Bruce nods. "I never know when she's coming. I'll find a sketch, and know she's been here. I make what she wants and leave it here. Later it will be gone and there will be leather, antler, or a wood burl in its place." Grace nods, still looking toward the forest.

"How long do you think she watched?" Grace finally asks. "I have no idea. It is rare that even I see her. My guess is that she watched long enough to figure out who you are. Time means nothing to her. If she didn't want to be seen, she would have come a different time. She could have tracked you walking down the road and wanted a closer look."

Grace gasps a bit, looks to the woods, and then smiles. "Did I frighten you?" Bruce asks. "Yes. But just for a second, I sensed another immortal… in the forest." Grace smiles "Jeanette was with her… and she wanted me to know."