Self-Harm Trigger Warning/Minor Character Death Disclaimer: In the hope to not trigger anything unpleasant for our readers, we regret giving away a plot point in this part but please be forewarned that a minor character will die in part because of actions they take to injure themselves.

Disclaimers: All original property is owned by Showcase, and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Lost Girl' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

Pairings: Bo/Lauren

Time-Frame: Set directly after Episode 3:02

Rating: M (Contains scenes of violence, sexuality and mild nudity)

Summary: Set directly after Episode 3:02, following an AU storyline of our own creation.. Distinctly Bo/Lauren centric.

"Lauren and Bo resonate." Zoie Palmer speaking about Doccubus in an interview on AfterEllen.

*****BIGGEST SHOUT OUT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD*****

To Robin and Lisa, the most wonderful and generous people in the world who have ensured that this and all our other stories will continue to be worked on and published by gifting us with a new laptop when they found out our old one had died and the tragic event was keeping us from updating.

~~~ Thank you Robin and Lisa ~~~

Heavenly Resonance. - Part Fifty-Three

By: The RainbowWriters

Pandora finally picked up the crystal glass in front of her and took a long drink, letting herself savour the taste of the whiskey and water within for a contemplative moment. Tamsin watched every nuance of her motions and facial expression but the woman gave nothing away yet.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you, to complicate things for you." Tamsin finally summed up reaching for the bottle Trick had left in front of her to refill the other Fae's glass.

"Your not wanting to tell me had nothing to do with the tale's complexities Sin, don't lie to me or yourself." The brunette shook her head and sipped at the refilled drink. "But that matters little." She went on breathing out deeply. "Do your Geist and her master have their proper attire, the human is slight, I doubt any armour you have salvaged from the dark if you even have any, fits her." She put down her glass. "Father has not the time nor the base materials to forge anything from scratch, and for one like her, unused to it, such garb would be more of a hindrance than a help but I have some spell-weave still, enough at least for a corset and leggings perhaps."

"No, you know what you're right." Tamsin reached for the bottle and took a long drink of the straight whiskey. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you involved, I didn't want you were you could be hurt, where he could do you any more harm because of me. You are and have always been too precious for that. There, is that truth enough?" She fixed Pandora with sharp eyes.

Suddenly saying nothing Pandora pushed up from her seat and crossed the short distant between her and the blonde. Roughly she grabbed a handful of blonde hair and literally pulled Tamsin's face to her own, pushing their lips roughly together with a bruising pressure.

It was not exactly the response that Tamsin had expected, but it didn't keep her from kissing the smaller Fae back with the same intensity. Her mental checklist of things she needed to have ready for their fight against Mikah was done, except for waiting for the return of the Gemini dagger and the two seeking it. That last thing only required her to pass time waiting, which meant she didn't have any reasons left to push Pandora away and rebuff her again. She pulled the brunette onto her lap, feeling her move easily off her feet, her light weight coming to rest on her thighs the next moment as long arms wrapped around her neck, Pandora's other hand snaking into her hair.

Tamsin just lost herself in the taste and heat of the kiss she found herself captured in, the aggression Pandora poured into her approach matched the Valkyrie's own fire perfectly as she pressed her body back against the slender woman.

Finally Pandora pulled her mouth back, pulling Tamsin's bottom lip a little, caught between her teeth as she retreated, releasing it only when she was happy to.

"Is this our base? Is it secure? I need to know where to bring my supplies." She slipped completely off Tamsin's lap and stood back.

"Yes." Tamsin realized she was sitting there dumbfounded by the intensity of attraction that had rekindled inside her. "Take my truck." She reached into her pocket and held out the key.

"I was going to." The brunette reached for the key and closed her hand around it. "While I'm gone find out if your Geist Master needs a full outfit and if your Geist has all she needs too." The dark eyed beauty fixed her eyes on Tamsin as she slid the key into her pocket. "And make sure I have somewhere to sleep, I get short tempered if I don't get a good nights sleep."

"I can tell you now Kenzi, the Geist Master, has a katana that's only sharp because I got it for her." Tamsin gave a one sided smile. "And the Geist has a Nagaika and not much else. Oh and I have a sleeping bag for you." She winked finally.

"I was talking armour Sin and you know it." Pandora actually let her hard scowl melt slightly into a softer smile. "I might be a while I'm going to talk to father." She added softly.

"We are playing a waiting game like the Blood King explained, until they return with the dagger we are helpless." Tamsin gave a soft nod, she pushed up to stand and took a step closer to her. "I won't tell you not to tell him, I'll leave that up to you because I know Kefar would not betray the Resonants once he knew of them but Pandora..." Her brow furrowed as looked at the other Fae. "Don't judge him too harshly for what he asked of me so long ago, he did it out of love and before any of us knew how things would turn out."

"He did it out of a lot of things, one of which was love." Pandora nodded and looked up at Tamsin. "What I can't work out is why you did it?" She admitted looking into the Valkyrie's eyes. "I mean I wasn't the love of your life, I never have been, I don't mean by that we didn't have something good, we did but I didn't make the world stop for you. You didn't owe my father any special degree of loyalty or favour. So why would you go along with his wishes when you could have taken into the King's court a young, perfectly willing, talented and humbly speaking of course, damn fine Ellefolk, who would have served one of the Dark King's favourite Valkyries with a deep seated passion and drive?"

"Because I would not have lived by the Rule of Share." Tamsin spoke the words with the honesty the whiskey let her have. "Having other Valkyries touch you, no." A flared curl of her lip underlined her words, causing a bark of laughter to break from Pandora's lips.

"You broke my heart because you didn't want to share me? You kept me as one of at least four regulars in your bed, but THAT'S the reason you broke my heart?" The beautiful brunette shook her head.

"I wasn't the smartest Valkyrie in the group." Tamsin shrugged her shoulders and moved to lean back against the bar taking a swig of whiskey. "And I didn't say it was a great reason."

"Did you let them touch Reese? Or didn't it matter with him so much?" Pandora's lip curled into a snarl of her own.

"The things the others did and demanded of Reese only underlined that I made the right choice." Tamsin put the bottle down. "Because if they had done those things to you..." She walked back over and put her arm around the still angry looking Fae's waist to pull her close. "I would have had to kill them."

"Did you ever wonder why I married? Did you even know? Did you think I did it to hurt you? Did you think, hope I did it for love?" The brunette stayed in the Valkyrie's arms her blue eyes tracing up and down the blonde's strong body.

"It did hurt, but yes I hoped it was for love or something equally satisfying." Tamsin didn't shy under the appraisal. "Wasn't that obvious by the fact I showed up to get drunk but wasn't at the ceremony?"

"I did it so I could leave the court, so I wouldn't have to see you day in day out. So I wouldn't have to look at you, you and your terrible beauty just out of reach, over and over for the rest of time." She breathed in through her nose deeply. "I hated you more than I loved you and I loved you with all of my heart."

"I hate me too." Tamsin gave a soft shrug. "Tell me at least he's a good man, because if he isn't I'll go nip and slit his throat 'cause hell I'm planning on killing a King, what more can they charge me for."

"He's dead Sin." Pandora shook her head. "He died years ago." She breathed out as she stroked her hand down over blonde hair. "You're an idiot." She announced suddenly. "When I was sent word that my Father had spoken out against Mikah and that he was to face trial and banishment from the court, which I was summonsed to witness, I knew before I went home it had something to do with you." She looked into Tamsin's tired eyes. "I just knew somehow that you were trouble." She shook her head. "That you were dangerous and as soon as I arrived at the chambers and you weren't among the Valkyrie guard and Göll was there standing as Sword mother, I knew what had happened." She blinked dark eyes that were suddenly filled with tears. "My father was supposed to die that day." She admitted pulling her eyes away from her at last.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why your Father didn't just condemn me like the rest, for his own good, your good. Trying to ask for leniency." Tamsin's face held a firm frown in the face of the deep sadness that had been a result of her.

"Wrong reply Sin." Pandora chuckled shaking her head. "And he did more than ask for leniency for you Sin, obviously the story by the time it filtered to you got a little watered down. My Father challenged Mikah's ruling and demanded that you be returned to the sisterhood of the Guard." She added almost nonchalantly.

For a moment all Tamsin could do was shake her head, after all she knew the armour smith was smart enough to know making such a bold request of Mikah would have led to punishment.

"Why wasn't he killed?" She finally asked the question in a soft voice.

"Because I made a deal." Pandora replied quirking her eyebrow slightly. "It's how the court ran, I learnt that from you and from Father." She looked back at the Valkyrie.

"And what was your deal?" The blonde continued to watch the other Fae's emotions and reactions.

"I traded a good Fae's life for another." Pandora's clenched her jaw tightly. "I lost a husband, but kept a father." She looked at the floor by Tamsin's feet.

"You should have never been in that position." Tamsin growled and closed her eyes for a moment. "He's going to die Pan, it may not be by my hand but it will be by the hand of the one whose banner I stand under. He is going to die and his reign is going to end, forever. When you meet Lauren, you will understand more, I promise." She opened her eyes to look back at Pandora. "I promise you he will die."

"Let me help you." The slender brunette met the look Tamsin gave her, raising her hand to place it against the Valkyrie's chest. "I'm not asking for forever, I'm not even asking for a place in your bed or your heart, just let me be what I wanted to be all those years ago... the one who readies you for battle, who walks beside you into it, knows you are ready, knows your equipment is flawless and fit. I'm still good with a bow, and these days my skill with semi-automatic weapons isn't bad either." She gave a smirk.

"You have never left my heart Pan." The Valkyrie gave a soft shake of her head. "And Gods forsake me but yes, please be my squire for this war." She saw the instant satisfied look pass over Pan's face and had to add something. "But I need you to understand, as only you can and they don't, it will be me and only me who faces his Valkyries, and even if I best the lot of them, he will probably finish me. Can you be squire knowing that?"

"Whatever it takes Sin." Pandora nodded. "I understand war." She pressed up to close the distance between the two of them and kissed the blonde again, this time there was a certain softness to the action.

"What the hell?" Vex's voice suddenly announced as the front door of the Dal slammed back off it's hinges. "I left my last shag before the world ends behind, I didn't realize we were allowed to bring them back with us." He glared at Tamsin and the brunette.

"Pandora this is Vex, he's on our team because he screwed over the Morrigan and Mikah, so he has no where else to turn." Tamsin turned her head and rolled her eyes. "Vex this is Pandora, touch her and I tear all your fingers off one by one and make you eat them."

"Oh and what might the pretty Pandora do for us all?" The Mesmer sauntered a little closer, his eyes tracking up and down the slender brunette in obvious appraisal.

"She is Ellefolk, a seamstress and good with automatic weapons." Tamsin raised an eyebrow in warning. "So even if I don't kill you, she can."

"Now I love a woman who can take care of herself, it's a turn on and a half." He gave the brunette a lecherous wink before slinking past them both and pushing up onto a stool at the bar. "Where is everyone? Are the terrible twosome still off with the dirt dwellers?"

"He will probably need armour as well, but do his last." Tamsin said the words to Pan as an aside. "As far as we know, there's been no word. GG and Kenzi are downstairs in the guest room, Trick is... well doing whatever he does."

"Well I come bearing good news so be a good little Valkyrie and round everyone up will you?" He waved his hand vaguely at her. "I'll look after your little Ellefolk friend while your gone."

"Actually she's leaving to get supplies, be careful." Tamsin looked at the brunette seriously for a second before Pandora nodded and headed out of the bar towards the truck outside. "I'll round people up but..." She plucked the bottle off the bar. "This is mine." She sauntered away taking a swig ignoring his frown.

-x-

Dyson hadn't immediately let anyone step onto the bridge, instead he had moved out sideways onto the platform and tried to get as good of a viewpoint on it as he could. Of course the only view that had afforded him was of the plates of obsidian hanging in the air with no supports or pillars. Seemingly with nothing to keep them aloft and fighting gravity, but there in the air they all hung, the perfect bridge that Lauren had asked for.

"We can look at it all we want Cub but there is only one way to be sure." Raril put both hands on the belt at his waist and adjusted it as if getting up his courage. "And I volunteer." He looked at the other giving a nod before he moved to the opening between the two pillars and took a step out onto the first plate.

Almost immediately the air filled with a new sound, a strange sucking noise and thankfully for the brave Dwarf he had only take one full step onto the bridge and was within gripping distance for both Sigba and Dyson to reach out and pull him backwards just in time for the first plate to drop out from under his feet. It remained out of place just long enough to have thrown anyone on top of it down to be dashed on the rocks below before with a hiss and clunk it replaced itself into the long chain that spanned the Ring.

"A Dwarven bridge that doesn't allow Dwarfs to cross..." Sigba helped right his friend and scowled out at the structure. "Ridiculous."

"Maybe... begging your pardon Raril, you're too heavy." Manlo made the subtle suggestion as an alternative to the first conclusion.

"I only weight thirty two stone I'll have you know!" Raril glared at him as if mildly offended.

"Let me try first, then we can judge if its a weight or a race issue." Dyson strode over and immediately took one firm step out onto the plate.

His first foot was barely on the plate before the sucking sound came fast and furiously as the plate flew out from under him and it was all the swift shifter could do to throw his weight back onto his other foot. For a moment he stood there with foot hovering in mid air, looking down at the rocks below. As long as his foot hovered there the plate did not replace itself, only doing so when he pulled it back and was no longer above the space the obsidian piece should occupy.

"It's not an issue of race." Dyson summed up.

"I be the lightest, let me try." Dira came to the place between the two small pillars in turn, and tentatively moved as the others had to put his foot out onto the plate. Manlo, being a sensible sort, had retied the tether of rope between them and as soon as the sucking noise had started he was ready and pulled the other dwarf back away from the lethal drop.

Lauren had been forced by all of the men crowded around the entrance of the bridge to step back and watch. She shook her head softly as each of them in turn made an attempt without even considering the one fact that was racing through her head.

"Perhaps its another false lead, as crossing the basin itself to be attacked by Atronachs was." Sigba put forward the new appraisal.

"A bridge that is uncrossable or perhaps we have missed something that must be inserted to secure it in place." Raril began to look around and motioned for the others to look as well. "I have had the displeasure of being in a trapped mine one that required a pin be inserted in order to keep a dam from opening to flood the tunnel one was trying to escape through."

At his prompting everyone except Lobi began to look around the plateau, even Dyson moved around to inspect things in case the creation of the bridge had changed something they had already investigated.

"Echo." He said softly coming to her side, as he did he reached into his side pouch and drew out several items before he bundled them up and tied them to the tether of a wineskin of water he carried. Knowingly he held them out for her to take.

"Thank you." Lauren looked at him with a soft smile, so glad that at least he seemed to understand the likely answer to the problem they were experiencing. "I appreciate all of you making such brave attempts but..." She called to try to get everyone's attention but only succeeded in her voice getting lost in the wind. "MAYBE IT HAS TO BE ME?" She called out this time loudly, so that every one of the men searching the plateau turned to appraise her.

Dyson turned at first going to on automatic object to her stepping out onto a bridge that had so far flung out from under each of their feet but as he saw her standing there in her armour, with Bo's dagger on her side as well as provisions, he immediately rethought his position.

"I believe we have forgotten the obvious." He began to walk back towards the blonde and all of the other Dwarves did so as well, as if they all began to come to the same conclusion at the very same time. "Is there anything else you need?" He asked in a soft voice when he was close enough to be heard.

"I honestly don't know what I will need once I am there, but I do believe this is mine to do, legend says as much." Lauren gave a soft nod, even though she was sure his wolf nose would pick up the spike of adrenaline in her system at the idea of venturing out to make the dangerous crossing and indeed what was supposed to lay in wait for her on the other side. She looked from him to the rest of the group. "Thank you, all of you for getting me this far, but I am the Echo and I must face Erindal it seems alone."

"You will best him Echo, we all believe in you." Lobi's eyes were bright with both hope and pure belief, a look that was combined with happiness as the blonde moved closer to him, easing down slightly to pull him into a tight hug.

"Thank you most of all." She whispered to him in the brief embrace. "From the very beginning you have seemed to understand what I need, if the bridge stays up under my feet, I know it is because of your faith in me."

"I have no doubt, it will hold Echo." He whispered back and let her stand back up.

As she did so, Lauren could feel the eyes of the other Dwarves on her, all of them etched with worry and concern.

"We would all face Erindal with ya..." Raril frowned harder still as she moved slightly closer to him, his eyes dropping lower to look at the dark floor.

"I know." Lauren assured him as she reached out and closed her hand around his. "But this is the way it needs to be, without you..." She paused and then looked around them small group. "All..." She added. "I would never have made it this far. You have all done more than was asked of you, more than your duty." She squeezed his hand and backed up a little. "You've taught me more about myself in the last five days than I learnt in the last five years and..." She moved to Sigba. "No matter what happens..." She looked directly into the toughened warrior's eyes. "I am not the person I was when I came here, I am stronger, bolder and have more belief in... pretty much everything." She summed up. "And that's because of you." She smiled and stepped back again turning lastly to Dyson. "And you." She added softer.

"This is not how this is supposed to happen, I am supposed to be with you till the end." Dyson shook his head, not necessarily warring with her but the reality of what they were facing.

"It's funny because for the last number of years you've always been with me, in my head, this constant rival, this constant comparison, this 'better than' marker that I had to reach. I hated it, you haunted me." Lauren stepped close to him. "Now..." She reached out and closed her hand around the cusp of his shoulder. "I want you with me, your strength, your courage, and I know it will be." She closed her eyes briefly. "Bo loves you because she knows you are a strong, loyal and good man, and here, you've shown me that side of you. Honestly, it's hard not to weaken a little to that." She smiled softly. "I'm coming back Dyson, I'm coming back because the dagger we need to save Bo is over there, I know it is, I can feel it." She took another deeper breath and looked into Dyson's eyes. "I'm coming back."

"The crossing will take a long time." The shifter looked back into brown eyes, instantly going into practical mode. "Keep your pace steady, conserve your energy, stay low if the wind is really strong..." He began to try to list of tips as he thought of them.

Lauren brought her other hand up to hold onto his other shoulder, her eye contact constant.

"I'm coming back." She repeated slower this time and the wolf took a slow breath.

"I'll be ready." Dyson nodded for a moment looking back into brown eyes before pulling her into a tight hug. For once the blonde was ready, and she lifted her arms up and held on just as tightly. After all this was going to be her last contact with him, with any of them, after she stepped out onto the bridge she was on her own and that combined with everything that meant, it literally terrified her. Then again who wouldn't be terrified with the prospect of facing a Dragon alone?

Breaking the contact after a long moment she shuffled backwards slightly and straightened her shoulders and turned to look at the path ahead of her. Her eyes travelling first along the path of black that lead into the distance, then travelling back to the two short pillars near her feet.

"Long Live The Source and The Echo." Raril made the loud call raising his weapon above his head making Lauren stall as she had been about to step off onto the first slab.

Soon the other Dwarfs were echoing his call, their weapons similarly raised, turning her head to them Lauren smiled and walked to the very edge of the platform. With a final breath she stepped out onto the first obsidian slab, just as the bright light of the day lit the basin of Tamwithril.

-x-

Bo had to admit that by the time Minette had fluttered out of her room again, she was a little more than exhausted. Mostly mentally if she was honest. Sorting through files that each represented a life, each represented the potential of the cost of her choice was mind wracking. The simple endeavour reminded her that she was far from ready to be 'this' kind of leader. Not even focusing on the wicked part of what her Father was, but just what it boiled down too. Making choices about peoples future that they had no control over, choices that put them in danger or took something irreplaceable from them.

On the desk now were three piles; the pile of candidates she had rejected mostly for reasons that wouldn't please her Father, the pile of candidates she had already chosen for the gruesome task of entering into binding with him and those who were still under consideration as she had only been able to pick seven of the twelve she needed so far.

Of course there was also the nagging voice in the back of her mind, that seemed to sound at times like Trick, urging her to re-evaluate her choices and try to pick those she would think whose Fae attributes would make them more easily defeated when the fight came. She knew this was the 'right' course of action, the prudent one to her cause but nothing about this situation was right.

Trying to re-focus herself, it suddenly struck Bo that Victoria hadn't emerged from the bathroom and she moved over to the door that divided the two areas.

"Victoria? Are you okay?" She gave the door a light rap with her knuckles just once.

When her gentle enquiry got no reply, Bo turned the door handle and pushed the door open knowing that it didn't have an internal lock, none of the rooms she had seen in the house had them. The only locks to be found were ones like the ones on her cell door, they weren't meant for privacy concerns just for security.

Pressing into the room beyond Bo came to a quick stand still again, her unsettled stomach flipping quickly again as her eyes quickly picked up the obvious contrast of scarlet streaked on the bright white porcelain. They began at the sink spilling over its bevelled edge, marking its slender stem in patches and splashes before pooling slightly on the white tiles of the floor around the crumpled form of Victoria. The pieces of at least one destroyed disposable razor scattered around on the floor, one of the thin metallic blades in the bottom of the sink, another still pressed against the thumb of her right hand.

"No, no, no..." Bo moved in quickly and lifted up the limp woman from the ground into her arms. "Victoria? Victoria? Please not like this, you didn't deserve this." Her voice was a little frantic, the intensity of her worry and fear evident.

Though Bo didn't look, she didn't really need to, it was obvious that the young woman had had limited success with the fragile and flimsy blades from the razor, but she had made attempt after attempt on her arms and even her neck, doing enough damage during the time Bo had been distracted with Minette for her to have become weak through blood loss and shock.

"Dead...woman...walking..." Victoria slurred, not opening her eyes as she lolled her head slightly against Bo's body.

"I'm sorry, this is my fault." Bo leaned her face down close to the other woman's, wiping back her still wet hair. She took another look around the room, seeing the amount of blood she was sure that without medical treatment and probably a transfusion there was no way the young woman would survive. Things she doubted would be provided if she rose the alarm about her injuries. She couldn't try to find Minette, the young Fae was unlikely to understand the consequence of what was going on but there was one other person she could try to turn too.

Fumbling under the counter, she tried to remember some of the things Lauren had taught her about wounds and quickly packed towels against the worst of the bleeding points. She also elevated both her arms on the side of the tub, hoping it would slow down the amount Victoria was losing. Not thinking to care how she looked she backtracked to the door, almost surprised when she tried the door knob and found it turned. Thankful for the small victory, she oriented herself as best as she could and began a mad race to try and find Aoife. It wasn't that she expected the older Succubus to have the resources to get an ambulance but she might at least have an idea who else they could turn to for help.

With nearly every corridor looking the same, it took her some time to find the right rooms but she literally burst into them to find her mother sitting in front of a grand window reading a book.

"I need your help, now, hurry!" Bo didn't even move further than the doorway, urging Aoife to move with her hand.

It was almost with surprise that Bo watched her mother instantly close the book and move from her place, hurrying to her side, a frown deeply creasing her brow.

"What...your clothes, Bo what have you done?" Forgetting to edit herself the older Succubus hissed the question at her daughter her voice full of worry and concern.

"It's not me, please I don't know what to do." Bo grabbed at Aoife's hand and started pulling her back into the hallway.

Again to Bo's surprise her mother came along almost willingly moving swiftly through the hallways until they were back in Bo's room and moving through it to the inner restroom. It didn't take the older succubus any time at all to understand the situation when she was faced with it, the older Fae instantly moving over to kneel down beside the young human, her fingers going to her neck to check her pulse.

"You left her alone?" Aoife asked in a tight whisper.

"She had just been cleaned up, I thought she'd want to dry her hair... Minette and I were outside, I didn't think..." Bo fretted moving down to her knees as well. "I didn't think she'd do this."

"Didn't you at least sway her?" Bo's mother looked at her with a soft scowl.

"I don't do that!" The younger brunette answered trying to put more pressure on the towel at Victoria's throat. "I know the guards won't call her an ambulance, she needs a transfusion, stitches..." She pointed out the obvious to her mother. "A doctor."

"Baby." Aoife paused and softened her voice reaching out to draw her hand over Bo's hair. "It's a common fact known in the farms that the toxin you father uses here at the house causes a painful lingering death to any unlucky enough to experience it. Always sway anyone you wish to keep alive and compliant." She frowned sadly looking at her daughter for a moment.

"What do you mean toxin? He poisons them?" Bo asked the question with a even greater look of shock on her face and when she saw her mother nod that it was true she had to put her mouth to her stomach feeling suddenly as if she would lose control of it and throw up. "That's why she kept saying it." She looked down at Victoria thinking of the words 'dead woman walking'. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know... I was trying to save you."

"No human comes back from the house dear." Aoife shook her head. "Your father spent a lot of time and money researching a toxin that would only effect their physiology and not Fae biology, unfortunately it is I believe painful." She frowned again and looked down at the pale girl on the floor. "The best thing you can do for her is to end her suffering." The older Fae looked back at Bo with a compassionate look.

"You're not kidding are you?" Bo asked and the sad frown she saw come back at her in answer proved that Aoife wasn't joking, far from it. "Can you do it?"

"I would baby, I would but your Father will know it wasn't you who consumed her, know you didn't do as you were supposed to and we would both be punished, not to mention her kind for making you weak again." Aoife looked down sadly at the bleeding young human. "What happened in the throne room was just a start, don't underestimate how cruel he can be, how cold. You were right, he is soulless."

Bo took a deep breath, looking again down to Victoria and then up to Aoife again unable to face the decision right away.

"You can make her passing painless Bo, like falling asleep exhausted with pleasure. Think of what she is feeling to make her do this, ease her suffering. She will find no such compassion from the guards if they find her like this." Aoife urged her in a compassionate voice. "When she's gone I will clean things up so you're Father won't know, you must be the one to drain her though ."

"I..." Bo went to object.

"You can and you will do this." Aoife's voice became a little more forceful. "You cannot save her, she was dead the moment she made a move against your Father, you can only make it less painless then it is right now."

"I hate him!" Bo hissed the words low under her voice, as she put her hand on Victoria's face and let her power seep into the young woman. Instantly the brunette's body eased from the painful pose it was in and her eyes even fluttered open a little. "I'm sorry, but this way is the only way." She whispered before she leaned in and with a feathery pressure brought her lips to Victoria's to kiss her goodbye before she pulled back and started to drain the woman of her chi. In moments Bo lowered her limp head back to the floor, hating the glossy white look in Victoria's eyes and the unnatural smile on her face.

"Get into the shower and clean yourself up." Aoife instructed her in a soft but firm voice. "Bo, no one can see you like that." She motioned to the succubus' blood soaked clothes. "Please, I'll clean up out here."

Bo opened her mouth but realized she had nothing to say. Wrapping her hand around her stomach she stumbled towards the glass shower unit leaning her free hand on the wall next to it for a moment to steady herself before trying to focus on the idea that she needed to get herself undressed and into the shower itself.

For the second time that day Bo felt her mind close in on itself a little as her life became a darker place than she had ever believed it could be, and not for the first time in the last twenty fours hours did the Succubus wonder whether or not she would last long enough to be worth saving.

-x-

The walk across the 'Echo's bridge', as Lauren's mind was now referring to it, was a long strange one. Despite the staggering drop below her and the fact that the 'bridge' didn't have any sort of railings in order to give the perception of safety, the intense winds that Dyson had expected to be attempting to push her off just simply didn't exist. The expanse of the bridge seemed somehow sheltered from the natural gusts and torrents of air that carved around the Ring of Boen, as if there was indeed almost high walls on either side of her.

The distance had proven to be just as deceptive, as there were no markers or even landmarks other than the Roost at the other side to gauge where she was. At first she had started out counting her steps, trying as the Wolf had suggested to pace herself, but when she had gotten past five hundred she'd found the exercise was making her tired much as if she'd been counting sheep instead of her progress.

More than once she had stopped for a brief respite, taking a drink from her pouch and when she believed she was at the halfway point, she had let herself open the small ration pouch that Lobi had given her. She'd picked a stick of jerky to slowly work on, knowing the chewing would allow her to focus on something other than the intense irrational desire she had to look down. But of course Lauren knew that looking down was only going to make everything that much harder.

By the time she'd finally made the long passage, the torch in her hand now feeling as if it weighted ten times its weight. Her legs ached from the walk after the intense climb up the temples winding staircase and she had been worried at several points that she just didn't have the stamina to finish the journey. Yet Lauren had walked on, robotically by the end of it, foot over foot, step after step.

The moment she was on the small platform in from of the entrance to the Roost she stopped, the idea of stable safe obsidian ledge underneath her overwhelmingly precious. Leaning against one of the two small pillars that marked the entry to the bridge on that side, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the stone. She couldn't even begin to guess how long the walk had taken, though just from the change in the light and the position of the shadows in the Ring of Boen she knew it had been a long time.

Stretching out her arms and taking another drink Lauren finally looked from where she had come from to where she had arrived, her eyes focusing on the grandeur that was the entrance of Erindal's Roost. It was not merely a rocky outcrop in the Ring that out of convenience the Dragon began to use as a home. No this 'Roost' had been made, carved by master craftsmen, whose artistry knew no bounds and whose work must have taken months if not years to complete.

The rocks of the mountains themselves had been moved and placed with care to create the structure, but more than that, each had been carved to resemble a living fibre, either vine or straw, with leaves and branches carved into each as detail. The joined rocks giving the illusion of being 'woven' together, almost making a gigantic nest of sorts. All in all the almost circular entrance looking much like the complicated work of a weaver bird, just on a gigantic scale, the size necessary for a legendary Dragon.

To Lauren's further amazement, and possibly even piquing her curiosity more than the structure itself, were there fact that on some of the rocks, strands of glittering beads and jewels hung down, sparkling in the light. Strung on delicate metal threads, the twinkling jewels twirled and twisted in the breezes that were once again present on this high peak.

'Offerings.' The word came to the blonde's mind as she pushed off her leaning post to get a closer look at one strand, letting the delicate work of art rest against her palm for a moment. 'But...' She frowned slightly as she studied the beautiful tiny stones and jewels. 'Why something so beautiful, so pretty for something so terrible and so feared?' She shook her head, the idea just not making sense in her brain.

Releasing the strand to once again hang by itself and catch the slightly failing light, Lauren looked again at the general visage of the Roost. It had a mythical, mystical quality to it, but at the same time, something almost, divine or holy. Neither of which Lauren had really expected. To be honest a part of her had expected rotting cow corpses and scattered rib bones. The rocks scratched and carved out by the repeated scraping of talon like claws on them from the landings and take offs of the huge beast that dwell here. Not this serenity and well, beauty. The fact that the word 'beauty' even came to mind confused her more.

Bending to retrieve the torch she had dropped while stretching, Lauren moved closer to the dark entrance way, leaning to peer into the blackness beyond. Her stomach tightening slightly as she was faced with the reality that this was it. There was no quick retreat, no exit and no back up. There was her and there was destiny.

"It's now or never Bo." Lauren took a breath and spoke the words softly to herself. "Time to find out if I'm any match for a dragon." With a quick breath and a glance behind her at the obsidian bridge, the blonde dipped inside.

Immediately her eyes had a hard time adjusting to the intense darkness, after all during her crossing on the bridge the sun had not only rose but made it a fair distance into the sky towards its high point. On top of the dark, she also noticed that it was cold. Standing just inside, closing her eyes to help them adapt to the change in conditions, Lauren tried to use her other senses in order to take in any hint of what she could expect.

As she did, her heart almost stopped as her ears picked up the sound of very faint breathing. But not the breath of a man or a dwarf. No, these breaths were deep and large, as if enormous volumes of air were being slowly sucked in and then pushed out by what she could only now logically guess was Erindal. The dreaded Dragon who had brought his curse to all of Tamwithril. All and any hope she had at that point that the 'Dragon' part of this quest was something more metaphorical than physical petered out.

"I am the Echo." Lauren tried to make her voice as loud as she could as she opened her eyes and stepped further into what she guessed was the large open interior of the Roost. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do but it seemed like a good enough place to start.

"I have heard that before."

As Lauren wasn't expecting any kind of answer, the poor blonde nearly jumped out of her skin as a low rumbling voice commented on her announcement. Indeed it nearly took all she had not to drop her torch out of both shock and fear.

"Not from me." She made her own reply as quickly as she could, holding her dying torch higher, still not really being able to see anything but blackness in the cavernous room.

"Then light the burners and let me see you, one who claims to be the Echo." The inhuman voice rumbled again.

Going on basic instinct and general knowledge Lauren headed to the nearest wall. Any burner or light fixtures of most kinds would logically be located there. To her relief, her deduction had been right and the blonde quickly located a wide based, bulbous oil lamp, it's exposed wick, cold and stiff. Dipping her torch to it, it took a while for the flame to catch, but when it did, a bright warm flame flickered up from it lighting the indented decorative archway it rested in.

Indeed the large lamp provided enough illumination for Lauren to be able to see similar lamps in identical recesses either side of the one she had just lit. Moving straight to the one on the right Lauren moved quickly to begin lighting as many as she could, while at the same time taking the opportunity to get more of an idea of the Roost itself.

The Doctor had been right about the massive room. In essence it was empty but not in the way Lauren had expected. The blonde had envisioned a cave, natural and basic, but what she was in more resembled a Cathedral. It had been created, specifically so, unnaturally so. Like the outside, this had been hand crafted by artisans. This building was carved with care and intent. The high ceiling was vaulted and carved with the same vine like patterns that adorned the outside. The floor was cut obsidian tile, flat and perfectly even. This wasn't some ramshackle hovel of suitability, this was a palace.

Reaching the seventh lamp Lauren stopped and turned to cross the vast room to repeat the procedure with the lights on the distant side, but she literally stalled, again the torch in her hand slipping slightly as she did, this time because of what she saw not what she heard.

At the far end of the room, the furthest point away from the entrance, tucked into the darkest area that remained, the lights were just strong enough to highlight an enormous shape.

When she was a child, much like a lot of children she'd wager, Lauren had had a healthy interest in dragons and unicorns, all animals whether they be real or imagined. She had leafed though picture books, read fairy tales and seen movies to grow that imagination. Unlike most children Lauren had had an adulthood that had handed her new books, not picture books this time, but books that told her that dragons and unicorns... they were real. But still they were in books, animals of a different time, a different place.

The thing at the end of the hall was not a book, or something imaginary. It was a very real, living being.

"Finish." Not lifting his head off the floor the low rumbling voice bluntly broke Lauren's stupor.

Blinking rapidly the blonde took a quick breath and took long bold strides across the hall and began to light the other lamps, her mind beginning to whirl rapidly. What in the name of God was she thinking? She couldn't kill something like that any more than she could pull off a gold heist.

Each of the lamps she lit brought more and more general light to the large room and soon the shadow at the far end came into full spectacular view. It was big, Lauren had expected that, but the reality of it was amazing. Lying down as it was right now the Dragon was easily the size of a train carriage, that being just its torso. Its tail which right now was curled around in front of it didn't end in a fork as Lauren had expected, but a flattened club with short spikes coming out from it in a fan like shape. The tail was easily as long as its body was.

Lauren's science brain woke up briefly throwing words like counter weight and balance around, but she was too distracted by the fact she was looking at a dragon to really focus on such thoughts. Even as her eyes traced over its body more, picking out obvious muscles lines and features, sizing up the powerful back legs and the smaller front limbs her brain remained stuck on the reality of what she was indeed looking at. She marvelled over the obviously relaxed wings tucked into its back, but even the question of how the enormous beast could fly didn't spark more than a flicker of query in her hyper brain.

Unable to tear her eyes away, Lauren felt her eyes pan over every inch of the creatures surprisingly short but thick neck. She wasn't sure why she'd thought it would be longer then it was, possibly she'd been spoiled by the images in her old picture books. Her eyes continued even though her brain remained shocked up to the Dragon's broad and fearsome head.

One thing Lauren hadn't been expecting were horns, quite so many horns. Six main ones created a kind of frill around the back of the magnificent beast's head, the long tapering spikes twisting slightly upwards as they went back. Prominent nose ridges marked up the creatures snout over its eye sockets, leading in a direct line to one of those horns. About halfway up the ridges the bones were exposed, themselves turning into small nubby horns growing in length the higher up its head that they travelled. From the highly armoured eye sockets bright red eyes glowed out at Lauren, their dark black centre pupils visible even from the distance away that the blonde was.

The other thing she really hadn't been expecting was its colour. Erindal, the terror of Tamwithril, was as white as snow. Scale after perfect overlapping scale was almost opalescent, contrasting starkly with every horn and nail on its body which was as black as the obsidian floor on which it was lying.

"Tell me 'Echo'..." The way the white beast said the title showed that he still held a great level of doubt to her claim. "What weapon have ye brought to slay me?"

"I have come to break a curse." Lauren put her hand on her thigh, covering Bo's dagger in its sheath with her palm. "I have no wish to kill you." The blonde was honest.

At this response Erindal seemed to take great effort to slowly lift its head and stared at her more curiously, or at least that seemed to be the emotion on its unusual face.

"How do you think you can break the curse of Tamwithril?" Erindal's large head turned a little on its neck to appraise her.

"I don't know." Lauren was honest again as she rolled her eyes upwards slightly. "And if I have to I will do what ever I have to do but..." She stopped and took a breath, looking back at the enormous creature in front of her and then around it again, struck once more at just how 'wrong' something felt about what she had been told about the curse, or at least the way to break it. "Why would a dragon who created such a land of desolation hide away from it in here and not proudly patrol it?" She asked suddenly looking back at the white Dragon.

"Because I wish too!" The words came in an angrier tone and the nostrils on his face took in a quick sniff of air. "Just as you wish to conceal the weapon you carry, stained with the blood of many and yet lie that you are not here to kill me."

Lauren managed to stall the step her body wanted to take backwards in fear from the abrupt outburst. Instead she pulled her hand off her thigh and drew out Bo's dagger, holding it aloft by two fingers around the grip.

"I entered your Roost with my Source's dagger." She said unable to actually hide the self mocking snort that came with this admittance. "A dagger I carry more to calm the longing in my heart, to ease the ache inside it that I feel when I am away from her, than I do to ever think to use it." She moved it slightly to look at the blade. "Looking at it, I'm not even sure it would go through your hide." She admitted shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure you have at least a double layered epidermis, the outer layer being scale, then the inner being the dermis..." She stopped herself realizing she was about to totally just 'geek' out.

"If you be not a warrior, then tell me what are you?" Erindal lowered its head back down to its resting place.

"I'm The Echo." Lauren slid Bo's dagger back into its sheath and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "And I may not be a warrior but that doesn't mean I won't fight for what I believe in, what I need to fight for." She frowned slightly. "It just means I don't think that fighting is all that there is." She shook her head. "Look I didn't expect to talk..." She admitted the side of her lips pulling up into a slight smile. "Oh I don't know what I expected." She laughed again and shook her head. "I came here for a dagger. The Gemini Dagger, and I ended up on a Quest to save a land and a people I'd never heard of and..." She stopped again.

At her mention of the Gemini Dagger, his large head came up again, his eyes seeming more alert and more focused on her then they had ever been.

"Come closer to me, if you be the Echo then place your hands upon my snout. But be warned..." Its voice darkened a little. "If you be a liar, with one breath I will send you to be dashed upon the rocks below and what might be left to rise will be crushed by those that serve the Ring of Boen."

Hesitating for a moment Lauren pushed herself forward, after all wasn't this why she was here? What had she to lose? All of this had to have an ending of some kind. Taking what she hoped were even, relatively confident steps, Lauren drew closer to the enormous creature. Only realizing when she was actually close enough to feel the heat from it, that she was actually in a room with an actually dragon, that may at any moment be about to eat her.

Trying to breach that particular mental battle Lauren was about to do as Erindal asked when she stalled. She had intended on doing what the mighty Dragon had asked her to but something stopped her.

Lauren had been a doctor for a long time. She had decided to be one when her best friend had died and she had believed it to be her fault, she had never wanted to feel that helpless, that useless again. Over twenty years of refining her skills, of looking for nuances in behaviour and attributes had honed Lauren Lewis, in ways even she didn't really recognize. Life had given her skills and abilities that others simply didn't have, couldn't have, they weren't her, and right at that moment, those unique skills kicked in.

"You're sick." The words slipped from Lauren's lips, her feet stalling, her body turning away, pulling her in a direction opposite the huge beast's face. "Your respiratory rate's uneven and that odour..." She flared her nostrils. "Sweet but sickly, suggests bacterial infection of the epidermis maybe even some necrosis." She stepped down towards its torso.

"Be you a healer?" The dragon's voice was softer as she approached, it didn't move yet to stop her or even to shy away.

"Not of Dragons." Lauren glanced over her shoulder shaking her head, suddenly making the decision to dare to get close enough to actually touch the great animal. "But where I come from I'm a doctor." She slowly, almost reverently lowered her hand onto Erindal's slowly moving chest.

"Echo." The word slipped from the beast in what could only be described as a whisper, its head moving as much as it could to observe her again the moment her hand came in contact with its scales. "I have waited so long."

"I don't..." Lauren turned to look at the great white beast, frown lines deeply etched on her face. "I don't understand." She shook her head. "Why did you do all this? Cause so much hardship, so much pain? Cursing the basin, destroying all those people?" She frowned harder still.

"The story, my story, the story of the Gemini dagger has been corrupted over the long years. Much as the land of Tamwithril has." Erindal's eyes looked sorrowfully at her. "This land was once under my protection, under my care and then it was a beautiful place to behold, filled with the laughter of children, decorated with trees and grasses of all colours." It took a short breath. "It was my fault Echo, my burden and I have tried to bare it as well as I could." It seemed to sink its head lower. "One came to the valley, a wicked heart that wished to take the power of the Gemini dagger for themselves, the dagger which I guarded. I could not allow the dagger to be taken but a price was paid for that warrior's treachery." With an enormous groan, the beast rolled a short distance away from Lauren onto its side to show her that from the centre of its chest stuck the hilt of a weapon made of both obsidian and a white quartz like stone. "My injury has weakened me, and with that my protection over the land withered. I did not curse this land, I love this land and have waited all this time for one to come who might remove the dagger."

Lauren closed her eyes listening to the dragon's tale, its explanation suddenly making sense of so many things. The strands of tiny jewels and decorations, the great temple in the village in the rocks, the mighty edifice that was the Roost. Erindal wasn't a Dragon these people all feared, he was the life giving protector they all worshipped. Loved like a father, like a great provider. When he had given his life to save the dagger that he had been entrusted with, the safety of the land, and the life he brought to it had gone too. There was no great curse, Tamwithril had just been reclaimed by the wild when there was nothing to keep that wild at bay, no great 'dragon spirit' to protect and keep it.

"Erindal." Lauren looked into red eyes and took a steadying breath. "I'll be honest with you." She pushed her hand through her hair. "I'm still not a doctor of dragons." She smiled slightly. "And that dagger..." Her eyes darted down to the black and white hilt that protruded from the scaled breast. "If I remove it, and heal you, I'll be taking it with me." She underlined the facts. "I need it to save my Source from a great evil in my land."

"Of course you would, you are the Echo, it is for you that I have protected it." The great Dragon continued to appraise her softly. "I should have known it was you when you came armed only with the dagger of the Source, no other has dared set foot in my Roost without the power of weapon or magick."

"Well I'm not sure that was foresight so much as stupidity but..." Lauren rolled her eyes slightly. "If I heal you, can you repair the damage to the basin? Can you bring life to Tamwithril again?"

"Aye Echo, it is all I have wished to do for a thousand years." As it looked at her a slightly greenish tear slid down out of its left eye, underlining how much pain the 'curse' had brought to the noble creature.

"Then let's do this." Lauren tossed her hair back over her shoulder and moved up closer to the wounded dragon, able now to see clear the large infected wound that the legendary dagger had caused to the great beast. "You might have to bear with me for a while, you're my first dragon." She smiled slightly awkwardly as she drew a deep slightly shaking breath.

"Draw what strength you need from this holy place Echo, hear the voices of the dwarfs and elves, sprites and fairies, they built this temple for me in love and now that the land may once again be healed, hear how their voices try to sing again." The Dragon held its body so that Lauren could do as she wished.

Placing her left hand over the infected scales directly around the dagger's hilt, Lauren breathed in and focused, letting her head tip back slightly. She felt her back arch and lock as vivid purple lines began to spread in spider web like strands out from her finger tips and palm, over and under the dragon's opalescent scales. Her eyes flashed a bright shade of violet as the web spread across the whole of its enormous body, pulsing and throbbing in rhythm with the beat of Lauren's heart. Around its body the colour varied in intensity, from bright to pale threads, barely noticeable through its scales.

The highest shine of colour came from the area directly below and around Lauren's hand, the pulse so bright that had Lauren actually been looking at the dragon's body she would have had to have shielded her eyes, but the blonde's violet eyes were looking up at the vaulted ceiling, her eyelid's fluttering rapidly as the rhythm of the throbbing began to increase.

Moving her other hand slowly, Lauren closed her long fingers around the hilt of the Gemini dagger and very slow, millimetre by millimetre she began to pull it backwards. All the while keeping her left hand pressed against warm scales, keeping the flow of healing energy and power constant, even though she wasn't sure how on earth she was managing to do this. After all healing Lobi tapped her out, pulling Tamsin back from the brink and nearly wiped her completely.

It was as she thought about it, began to doubt this was even possible that Lauren felt her hand began to slip, as if she was suddenly aware that there was no way she could have the power to heal a creature fifty times the size of her. A creature that she didn't even really know anything about physically.

"Hear their voices, feel the love."

Was it Erindal that reminded her, or was it someone else? Lauren didn't know where the voice came from or how they came to her. Nor did she know how she heard the other voices, hundreds of them, literally coming in chorus to fill her ears.

"Long live the Source and the Echo!" Came the triumphant cries. "Power to their beautiful hands."

Distracted but at the same time uplifted Lauren pressed her hand back harder against textured scales focusing on the medical basics, on fundamental facts of wound treatment, infection dissipation and tissue healing, all the while inching out the highly ornate but lethal looking Gemini dagger from its painful resting place.

"And so it is done!"

This time she knew it was Erindal that spoke, though the Dragon's voice was much louder, much stronger and higher, as if it came from above her. Blinking rapidly Lauren literally pulled both hands back away from the Dragon's body, in a reflex dropping the dagger from her hand, making it clatter loudly on the obsidian floor.

"She who is the only Doctor of Dragons, she who is the only one to resonate from the Source and back again, she for whom the Gemini Dagger was made." Erindal rose up completely onto its back legs, its white wings spreading out wide to touch the far corners of the room. "The saviour of Tamwithril... blessings to you Echo, I am but your humble servant." In what was probably the most graceful move Lauren could imagine from a creature so big, he bowed his head down so that it touched the ground just behind the dagger at her feet, its wings still spread out wide tilted to show her that across the back of each was rays of yellow much like those of the sun.

"Oh." Lauren made the small sound as she looked up at the seemingly larger beast. "To quote Kenzi, Holy Shit balls." She opened her mouth to say something else but stopped. "I should get that." She pointed at the floor where the Gemini dagger lay in all its glory.

The long knife looked more like a short sword than a dagger, its long thin blade being at least a foot and a half long some how formed its whole length as a blend of the two colours that it started off as, only its cross guard was a single colour, oddly enough that being brilliant purple.

Lauren could have sworn that Erindal snorted a sort of dragon laugh at her comment as she bent down and picked up the legendary weapon.

"Come, there is much to speak of and much to do." The white dragon made a move to step forward towards the entrance of the Roost.

-x-

The heavy 'clunk' sound of the large slab of obsidian that formed the first step of the long bridge across the chasm broke Dyson from what had been an accidental slumber. The tall wolf literally snapped awake, his hand going straight to the sword on his back, his other hand pushing back on the small pillar he was leaned against to help him push up from the floor. Slightly dazed from his nap it took him a second or two to work out where the noise had come from, but when he worked it out he reacted with a quick angry grow. Somewhat uselessly throwing himself on the floor and flailing out with his hand as the second obsidian plate that like the first suddenly just seemed to sink into nothingness.

"NO!" He screamed, instantly waking the others who had like him fallen into a restless sleep. "LAUREN!" He yelled into the orange light of the coming dusk. "LAUREN!" He screamed louder still, scrambling back up to his feet as the third block slid away.

Sigba was the first to appear by his side, the scowl on his face hard and as unhappy as Dyson's.

"I say we head around the ring." He pointed to the impossible rocky mountain tops.

"It can't be done." Raril shook his head, grabbing hold of his friend's arm to stop the hammer blow that Sigba was about to connect against the side of the closest pedestal in order to start creating a pathway.

"We should-na let her go." Sigba ripped his arm out of Raril's grip and stomped off to look at how impossible such a journey would indeed be as in the distance each of the plates in the bridge disappeared one by one.

"She is the Echo, she will succeed in all the prophecy asks of her." Lobi watched the others with a gentle shake of his head. "Sometimes all we can do is wait, and believe."

"It's not a prophecy, it's a story!." Dyson walked over to the younger Dwarf, his voice tight. "It's just a story." He repeated looking back at the ever disappearing bridge. "Her name is Lauren, she's just a human, a doctor..." He paced back to the cliff edge and looked out towards the Roost. "Oh God Bo..." He dropped his head. "What have I done." He shook his head over and over.

"Cub, do you not believe? Even now, after all you have seen?" Lobi moved over to his side, even as the other warriors seemed to back away from him. "She is the Echo, her coming foretold in our land for a thousand years. Do you have faith in nothing but your blade?"

Dyson pulled his eyes away from the distant Roost and looked at the fair haired Dwarf.

"I..." The wolf looked down. Didn't he? There was once a time when he believed in something, he believed in it so much he was willing to sacrifice it all to save that thing. And this, this wasn't even the real test. If he didn't find faith here, now, then...

The wolf's breathing stopped for a moment as he lifted his head up a little. A short laugh barking out of his throat.

"You saw that stone beast flatten me, you watched as she brought life back into my body..." Lobi's eyes stared into his the moment they came up to meet. "Could your Doctor, your human Lauren do that?"

"All this time I thought this was about her." The wolf shook his head and huffed another laugh and wet his lips. "It never was." He drew in a deep breath. "She is the Echo, all this..." He looked around at the obsidian perch they occupied. "This insane quest, hasn't made her anything. She is it, the instant she became Bo's resonant, she became all that she need to be." He smiled more as he seemed to become more and more illuminated to his own revelation. "It was for me." He laughed openly now. "It was to make me realize that she is not what she once was, but she is what we need. Oh Lobi." Dyson turned to him and pulled him into a hard hug. "You may be the wisest of us all."

Over at the far side of the platform Sigba watched the odd little scene unfolding with a hard scowl, silently he made his way closer to Raril.

"I think the Cub's breathing a little too much mountain air." He hissed to his leader. "We should watch him carefully, or consider tying down, I'd hate the Echo to come back and we'd lost him."

"That would be awkward, she does seem quite fond of him some of the time." Raril gave a soft nod. "Keep yer rope handy, if he makes any untoward movements on Mr. Lobi or to the cliff, we grab him."

-x-