"Merlin's beard… What did you do? Arthur hisses in shock.

Molly sees what her husband is referring to and her eyes get large. "Put that back…now." She mutters so nobody other than Amanda and Arthur can hear.

Amanda's eyes narrow in defiance.

"Tonks!" Molly calls out. Tonks, her back turned toward Molly, cringes in surprise. Tonks turns around cautiously.

Arthur tries to give the wand back to Amanda so she can be the one to return it, but she folds her arms instead. Molly takes it and hands it over handle first to its rightful master. Tonks is shocked and quickly checks where she keeps her wand to make sure is really gone. She pales when she realizes Molly is holding her wand.

Tonks' hair becomes white, then black, and then red. She takes the wand back and examines it to see if has been harmed. Finding it undamaged, Tonks becomes less agitated. Her hair returns to lavender.

Molly firmly pulls Amanda forward. "She only meant to prevent you from apparating and returning with aurors to prevent the rescue."

Kyra, Alex Raven, and Ceirdwyn glare angrily at Amanda for her transgression. Kyra speaks up. "She gave me her offer to help…and you steal from her? Turn a friend into an enemy? I'll give you a choice… We take a little walk or you give it to her."

"What?" Amanda snorts incredulously.

"You know what." Kyra says coldly.

Molly, Arthur, Ginny, and Michelle watch the interchange in horror.

Amanda's eyes narrow. Kyra continues. "Think about it. Think of your reputation and mine. I think we both know who will be returning." Ginny fidgets.

Tonks is upset about being, indirectly the cause of the altercation. "Wait… No need…"

Putting out a hand to quiet Tonks. "Which is it to be Amanda?" Kyra challenges. Amanda's head goes down in surrender. "Where is it?"

Amanda walks out to her car followed by Kyra with Tonks in tow. "What is…" Tonks starts to whisper, but Kyra silences her with a look and a shake of her head.

Amanda opens the rear of the car and steps back, with wet eyes. Rebecca's sword lies exposed for Tonks to claim. "Open you coat."

"What? Why?" Amanda begs.

"Her choice."

Amanda, head bowed opens her coat revealing the hilt of her sword. "Choose one." Kyra tells Tonks.

"I can't…"

"Take one. She decided to take yours without your permission."

"I know, but…"

"You can do with it whatever you want… after you take one."

Amanda fights to control herself as Tonks looks at her teacher's sword. She fights her emotions as Tonks removes the sword from her coat.

Tonks hold in gingerly. Kyra encourages her. "Get a feel for it. Make it yours."

Tonks adopts the posture she was taught for dueling with her wand. The sword is much heavier, but it has good balance and she quickly develops a feel for it. Tonks senses that using a sword in a fight is up close and personal in a way that a wand is not. Tonks wonders how many may have lost their lives to Amanda with this blade. She feels a revulsion.

Kyra says what Tonks is thinking. "It is not, as was sent in that movie, a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age. It may be beautiful. We may grow attached as it is our only comrade in a fight. But the reality is brutal and ugly."

Amanda closes her coat and stands ashamed, eyes closed not wanting to see. The sound of Tonks movement ceases. "Amanda…" Tonks says gently. Amanda opens her eyes. Tonks hands the sword back. "I'm not going to stop the rescue. We're even. The sword is yours." Tonks looks at Kyra who smiles and nods. Amanda returns her weapon to her coat.

Kyra gestures with a nod toward the driveway and she and Tonks leave Amanda to her thoughts.

Once out of earshot, Kyra says "Good move. A lot of your people would be proud to return with the sword of…what do you people call us…an Old One. You didn't. I think you see what is really going on here."

"You're rescuing a dying muggle…"

"Yeah… But two things can be happening…"

Tonks shakes her head. "I'm not tracking."

"Have you ever been in the Alley when one of us visits?" Tonks shakes her head. "Your people say some… things that are less than kind."

"I've heard that." Tonks replies. In fact, she knows her people say very unkind, even outright hateful, things privately and when they are alone in small groups… things that made her hate and fear people like Kyra. Twenty-for hours earlier she could not have imagined she would ever speak to an Old One.

"My people…same. And while we don't have your powers, most of us are more willing to…"

"…kill" Tonks fills in the word Kyra was trying to avoid saying. Kyra confirms with a nod.

"What is your mission here?" Kyra asks.

"I came to learn why muggles were transported here. Later, I realized I could learn about your people. That didn't go well at first when they were planning to bury me alive... But then I decided to help you…"

"Three things at once." Tonks confirm Kyra's conclusion with a smile.

"What is your second thing?" Tonks asks.

"You haven't figured that out?"

"I have an idea, but it seems too outlandish."

The two continue to walk slowly down the drive way. Kyra pauses. "Try me."

"Our peoples are…meeting each other rather than just being aware of each other. Myths are being exchanged for facts."

"Just so. Well stated."

Kyra grins and observes "If all goes well, in the future, if one of yours and one of mine hate each other, it will be based on fact not prejudices." Kyra giggles. "Much better."

"Why now?" Tonks asks.

Kyra shrugs. "Why not? Sometimes things just align. Is it just chance, or the hand of God? Who is to say? It isn't ours to know. What is ours, is to see it and seize the opportunity."

Tonks gets a lump in her throat. "Do they know?"

"The people in the house? Some, probably suspect. But old ways die hard…and our ways can be older than most…much older. In this case, there were even older ways…"

"What are you saying…or not saying?"

"That my people may find it more difficult to change, but maybe, just maybe a few may recall, or be aware, of a time when your people were not viewed with suspicion."

"Well, that is something mine don't have."

Kyra resumes the stroll. "But yours have other advantages."

"Such as?"

"You aren't in the Game."

"Game?" Tonks asks.

Ignoring the question, Kyra stops again. "Go with them." She walks on.

"Why?"

"I'm not from this area. I've never been where they are going. I don't claim to understand. Alex would never talk about it. But I feel it is important… I don't know why."

"They kept talking about killing me."

"Don't worry about it. They didn't trust you and wanted to cow you. By now they know you returned Amanda's sword. They are growing more comfortable with you."

Kyra begins to stroll back toward the Burrow. Tonks decides to try again. "What is the game? Can I play?"

Kyra seizes Tonks by her coat and lifts her to the tips of her toes. "Never! Never! It is something you do NOT want."

Tonks is stunned. The others had been angry with her, she'd seen nothing like this level of emotion. "I don't understand. Games are fun…"

"Not this one." Kyra lifts Tonks off of her feet. "You asked before why we carry swords. You asked if we die. Well, we die by the sword. A sword often wielded by a friend. You can do a lot of different things with a wand. We can do only one thing with a sword. How many of your friends have you killed?"

Tonks hair turns white and the color drains from her face. "I…I still don't understand. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to understand." Kyra lowers Tonks gently and gets control of herself. "I'm sorry. I just nearly had to fight Amanda to the death. But she and I have a mutual friend…so, it might not have ended there…if I'd won. If I lost, Alex might have gone after her… It never ends…never ends." Kyra lets go of Tonks, smooths her robe, and resumes the walk back toward the Burrow.

"I don't understand what it must be like to be an Old One." Tonks says.

"And I don't understand what it must be like to be a witch. By the way, we don't call ourselves old ones."

"What do you call yourselves?"

"Immortals. Someone a long time ago must have had a sense of irony…"

"Was it worth the risk…to threaten Amanda?"

"It has been said that a beginning is a very delicate time. Stealing your wand could have made everything fall apart. Just as I could allow you to stop the rescue, I could not allow that to go unaddressed."

They walk in silence a short distance before Kyra says. "Amanda isn't evil or anything…a bit amoral…a bit foolish…very impulsive." Kyra laughs at a random thought. "Back before you were born, in 1950, she tried to steal the Stone of Scone because she thought it was a fabulous gem."

"It is a block of sandstone…" Tonks observes.

"She didn't know that… She heard a Scotsman say it was priceless and leapt to a conclusion. Impulsive. She saw her chance, and stole your wand thinking she'd be a hero. She didn't harm it. She chose to give it to one of your people."

Tonks stops. "With all due deference to your ancientness… I can't believe I'm about to say this to someone who is one hundred times my age, but…are you nuts?"

"Huh?"

"You know…crazy…out of your gourd…bats…teched…a couple of twigs short of a broom…a syllable short of a spell…"

Kyra puts up her hand for Tonks to stop. "I know what 'nuts' means in that context."

"My wand chose me when I started school. We are connected. I love it. But I would not want someone to die because of it. Besides, I'm quite capable of getting it back myself." Tonks hands Kyra her wand, steps back and says "Accio wand!"

Kyra feel a hard pull on the wand and instinctively grips it tighter. The wand responds with a burst of heat and Kyra lets go in pain. The wand flies to its mistress and lands handle first into her hand.

"I could have summoned it from anywhere, from anyone who did not have the magical power to block it. Because it is my wand, it would fight to return to me."

"Yeah, I sensed that." Kyra says holding up her still healing hand.

Tonks hands Kyra back her wand, which Kyra takes into her hand lightly expecting to be burnt again. "Just hold it…" Tonks giggles.

Tonks strides off a short distance and with a grin and the sound of a flag flapping in a stiff wind she disappears. Kyra's jaw drops. She stares at the location vacated by Tonks.

"Yoo hoo!" Kyra looks around and spots Tonks waving from a rise in the field a football field away. Kyra tries to process what just occurred.

Suddenly Tonks disappears again. Kyra thinks she caught sight of Tonks being elongated at the moment of her disappearance. Kyra stares at the last place she saw Tonks. "Boo!" Kyra jumps as Tonks pats her on the shoulder then reaches around her to retrieve her wand.

"Surprise… We don't need our wands to apparate. Also, salt…. Some muggles believe it wards off evil spirits. I'm not a spirit, and I'd like to believe I'm not evil." Tonks whispers to Kyra from behind.