Norah grimaced; of course Domick would follow her instead of staying with his friends. He had followed her when she had fled from him after the kiss, why would she assume that this time would be any different? Honestly, she had thought that the heat might have given him pause since he wasn't exactly in the best of shape when she had left him to get lunch... but clearly she had been wrong about how much the weather was affecting him, for he stood before them as solid as ever. She gave her son's shoulder a squeeze. "Marcus, why don't you go find Mudd?"

"All the way back at the front of Faire?" He whined.

She couldn't blame him for being grumpy about it, especially not after she had practically dragged him back here against his will. "There's always your dad."

"Mudd is fine." The boy pushed past the harper. "See you Domick!"

Domick nodded at him, but kept his eyes on Norah. "You lied about the performance. If there had been any changes to the schedule, Jal would have told us first thing this morning."

She stuck her chin up defiantly. "Plans could have changed. Something last minute could have come up."

"Aye," Domick conceded. "But while you may be a beautiful dancer, you are a lousy actor and an especially horrible liar. You don't do gigs anymore than I do. Did you honestly expect me to fall for that nonsense?"

He had a point. She could have handled that a lot better, just as she could have handled most of her life better. She could have told the truth, said she was taking Marcus so he could have some time alone, rather than lie about a fictitious performance. She plucked at her coin belt. "I thought you would want to spend time with your friends."

"I do. I would much rather spend time with them than deal with this." He gestured vaguely. "Why is it any time you're confronted with something, your choice is to run?"

"I don't-"

"Oh, but you do. You ran from Harris any time he tried to talk to you about your son. You ran from me when I kissed you. Now this? Are you so determined to end things first before you can get hurt?"

She flushed and dropped the coin belt, choosing to cross her arms over her chest instead. His words had hit a little too close to home. "You forget I started this, whatever this is, between us. I didn't run."

"It's something we both chose. But despite that, you still act as if you're walking around on eggshells, expecting the other boot to drop. You keep me at arms length-"

"Look if this is about the lack of ..." She glanced outside the door to the tent, glad that the rest of the troupe was nowhere in sight. "Y'know-"

"This is more than that! While I would love nothing more than to bed you should the opportunity arise, I am not some addlepated journeyman who only wants to see a pair of tits. I have done without many a time and I can continue to do so." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "You still at times treat me as if I am the student, teaching me constantly regardless of if I want it or not. I admit that I do have much to learn about this world, but I feel as if I know nothing about you. All I know is what is in front of me, that you dance, you say you can't sing even though you can, you have a son, and you do far more for your Aunt and that idiot Mudd than you are paid to do. And while that might not have bothered me in the past, I do not want to treat you like Harris."

"Oh." Sadly, that was pretty much it really now that she thought about it. Her life outside the confines of the Faire and her son was pretty much non existent. She had no hobbies besides dancing. She hadn't watched TV or a movie that someone else wasn't watching first in God knew how long, and except for brushing up on the Dragonrider novels in an attempt to figure out who Domick was, or was claiming to be, she hadn't read much either.

Before she could respond though, he was trucking along on his quest to name all her faults. "Last but not least, it's become clear that you don't believe anything I tell you about me."

"Because it's not possible!"

"And yet, here are my 'friends' as you call them. If it wasn't possible, if this was all a lie, or the conjurings of an injured mind, would they be here? Would their firelizards be here?"

"They could be cosplayers!" She knew that was wrong though; no amount of clever animatronics could simulate breathing. But she would rather cling to what she knew than consider the evidence that had been slowly adding up ever since his arrival.

"Or it could be the truth as I was telling you all along." He ran a hand through his hair, brushing away droplets of sweat. "Why can't you accept this?"

"What if I never can?" He rocked backwards on his feet at that, and she continued to lash out blindly. It was stupid really, because nothing he had said or done indicated he wanted to end things, and yet the words spilled from her mouth anyways, proving his earlier words right; She would rather run or push him away rather than face the alternative. "Maybe you should go back to them. If that is Menolly, she's very pretty-"

"She's my student." His voice became low and dangerous, letting her know she had crossed a boundary that she shouldn't have gone near. "And even if I were that type of man, which you know I am not, she has never had eyes for me."

"Whatever."

"Norah..."

"Look, it's been fun, but-"

"Stop."

"Why? You've made it very clear that despite whatever attraction we may have for each other, we are not compatible. I will never believe you, and I'm not interesting enough apparently, so maybe you should just go already."

Domick froze. "You think I'm leaving?"

"Aren't you?" After all, everyone left eventually. The only ones who stuck around year after year were Mudd, Aunt Bliss, and herself. Aunt Bliss owned the place so it wasn't like she could just up and leave, and Mudd was retired and perfectly happy spending the rest of his life here. And Norah knew that her options outside of Pembroke were minimal at best. Now that Harris would be paying child support, things might be better, but after so long did she really want to leave? The thought of being stuck in a city or at a desk job felt claustrophobic. "You don't belong here. Everyone stares at you and thinks you're crazy or making things up - even I don't believe you when you talk about Pern. Then there's your music - you put everyone, and I do mean everyone, to shame with your playing and how you can just come up with little ditties on the spot. You can play any instrument you pick up. The world is your oyster."

He grimaced. "You have a point. I don't belong here. I should return with them - to where I have a purpose - but..."

"What?"

"I hadn't made a decision yet."

"Why not?"

"Because of you."

It was the cheesiest line Norah had ever heard, but her stomach flip flopped as scores of butterflies took flight through her veins. "You can't base your future on someone you've barely known a couple of months, especially if you don't feel like you know them at all."

He winced again at that. "I shouldn't have said that."

"You were right. I'm nothing outside of this Faire and my job here."

A third cringe crossed his face. He grabbed her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. "I was wrong. I should not have made you feel like you were lacking. You are truly a wonderful person to put up with all you do. And that is enough. More than enough. I'm as bad as Harris. Or this dragon of a mother you have that everyone seems to love to complain about."

"I feel like that's an insult to dragons."

"Your Wherry of a mother then." He sighed. "I told you I was no good at these things. I don't know where my future lies. But regardless of what it holds, regardless of what this is, I can't imagine it without you by my side. You've always been there - teaching me, supporting me, frustrating and annoying me to no end - but always there ever since I first woke up in this strange world. The future, whether it be here or on Pern, would be extremely lonely and boring without your presence."

Norah opened her mouth to reply, but it suddenly occurred to her that despite how heavily he was sweating, his hand was clammy against hers. Despite the shade the tent offered, he was squinting at her, and the grimace from earlier hadn't ever left his face. "Domick. Sit down."

The harper frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Sit down now. Before you go down."

Only her warning came too late, because Domick had already collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Groaning in frustration, Norah did her best to move him into a more comfortable position and felt for his pulse. She knew he was probably just suffering from heat exhaustion, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully it was sure and strong against her fingertip. She quickly loosened his shirt and doublet, then dumped some water over the clothes Bahija and Jinan used to keep the flies away from lunch. Once they were properly soaked, she draped them over his wrists and forehead, but the harper didn't stir. "Shit."

She poked her head out of the tent opening but security was nowhere to be seen. Then her eye caught sight of the nearest Ale Stand. They carried walkie talkies. She could use that to call first aide to get Domick help. However, when she reached the stand, it turned out that their walkie talkie had run out of battery due to one of the employees using it to flirt with another at a different stand on the other side of faire.

"You couldn't just use your phone like a normal person?" Norah growled. "Those are for emergencies only!"

The employee flushed and muttered an apology. Norah waved her hand and left them to be dealt with by the stand mistress - a very stout no nonsense woman. She didn't envy the scolding they were about to get, but they had screwed up pretty badly. Afterall, what if there had been a fire? Or someone had a heart attack?

Since she was out of luck at the ale stand, that left the guard. Norah groaned again, but rolled her shoulders back and marched into their camp. "Where's Harris?"

Hammer leered at her. "Why? Decided that maybe you too should give it a shot after all?"

"Stow it." Harris growled as he stepped out of a tent. He glared at the other man until Hammer flushed and looked at the ground. "What's up?"

Norah jerked her thumb at the troupe's tent. "Domick went down and the Ale Stand's walkie talkie is out of commission. Think you can help?"

"Why don't you call 911?"

"His first trip to the hospital was less than stellar. I don't want to traumatize him again."

Hammer snorted. "So? Just tell him to put on his big boy underwear and deal."

"I said stow it." Harris crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you need me for?"

"If we can get him to first aid, I'm sure Dunne can work some magic or something." She knew the Faire's EMT had a stash of saline drips that he sometimes broke out if he had partied too hard the night before. She didn't know how legal that was, but maybe it could help Domick get back on his feet - or at least get him coherent enough to consent to a hospital.

Her ex sighed, "Fine. Lead on."