It Could Be Worse 2nd Season

by Sulia Serafine

The hits keep on coming and all your favorites are back again! set in a futuristic universe Complete

7. A Letter To You

It Could Be Worse (2nd Season)

Episode 7: A Letter To You

By Sulia Serafine

[A Protector of the Small fanfic set in an alternate universe; all credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me. Any other copyrighted things that don't belong to me in here in fact belong to other very businesslike people. Could you believe that? I guess that's why I'm broke.

Oh, one more thing: BAD LANGUAGE (I. E. cursing, swearing…). You have been warned!

E-mail me at silverwlng@aol.com okay? And you know the drill: titles or subjects of emails are fanfiction.net, s.serafine, or icbw. Thanks!

*** To answer Lady's question from last time, I was so busy that my colleagues and I have yet to revamp the site. It's all taken down now, and we're trying to find a better free host than Yahoo Geocities, if you get my meaning. If anyone can help by telling me of other great... FREE hosts, then by all means, please tell me! The pictures will most likely be up whenever I get the chance to work. Knowing high school, that may be long in coming. *sigh*

*** As for another person's question, a picture from the aforementioned site of the DJPF officers themselves has them wearing their Hyperion Bands. It would be nice to see them again, but remember: this is only a possibility given I have a chance to work. Thanks.

*** Hear ye! Hear ye! By popular demand, I'm still accepting people into the mailing list! That means I let you know when the episode is done, or I FINALLY get a part of my website up! Email me with the subject titled as ICBW Mailing list. If you want, I can put your additional email addresses in there, too. Never can be too sure, right?]

The next day, all the news shows on the halo-screen talked about was the incident at Mithran United. All the citizens of Tusaine and their mothers were talking madly about how close they were to death. Investigations were in full swing, and in-between people like Keladry were being bumped around from place to place while doing little odd jobs for the even higher-ups who were in reality, just as clueless as she was. She had to admit, it was better than doing grunt work like the Second and Third Classes.

Once the helicopter had left, a final sweep of the bank had been made to assure the public of its safety. The mayor of Tusaine promptly ordered all new security systems for any institution servicing the whole city. This included all banks, post offices, and delivery services. Daine had come home that evening, muttering about the migraine she had at the office all day, helping the mayor with funding for such a decree.

The helicopter had been able to drop the bomb in the middle of a deserted area with little-to-none wildlife and departed again before the timer reached zero. A bit of turbulence had been reported as the explosion's force rippled through the air in waves for miles around. Keladry didn't want to picture herself anywhere near an explosion that powerful.

The helicopter pilot and those of the bomb squad who had come along were all safe. The news crews ambushed them upon their return, drilling each of them for details. Channel 47 indeed got the full report before Flyndon did, which pissed the Chief off to no visible extent.

Keladry had found it in her best interests to avoid Flyndon, Raoul, and Buri all that morning. The three seemed ready to snap at anything or anyone close by. Chaos, chaos everywhere and not a single suspect in custody.

She glanced over her shoulder when she could hear someone belting out the chorus to a popular song on the radio. It turned out to be Neal's God-brother, Dom. She suspected that Raoul had already taken out his frustration on his Riders via lecture, yet Dom didn't appear like a man who'd currently let apprehended suspects slip through his fingers or like a man who'd been in a thrilling car chase either.

"Good morning!" Dom greeted, dragging out the first word as he waltzed up to her designated cubicle.

Officers like her usually didn't have any office space at all at the station. They remained home until their duties were assigned. After a few weeks, Flyndon had decided to designate one cubicle for her to share with the other First Class officers that were left in the T District after the drafting for the Immortals Expedition. Hardly anyone ever showed up at the space, except to receive new orders or do boring paperwork.

Which was, in fact, exactly what Kel was doing. "Good morning," she said sleepily to the cheery upbeat Rider. She looked him up and down. "Oh, but I'm guessing you've had your coffee."

He nodded vigorously. "Should I get you a cup?"

"No, I'm fine," she said. "I've just got some things on my mind."

"Ah. I see." He glanced over her shoulder to look at the computer monitor. "Filing a report for an attempted robbery? But I thought you were working that bomb scene all yesterday."

Keladry thought briefly of the purse-snatcher's bloodied face and her own gloves fists pummeling the flesh. "Um, not all yesterday. I did manage to bag a guy who wasn't connected to the whole shebang."

Dom dared to lean farther over her shoulder to read the monitor. A picture window popped up on screen, displaying a mug shot taken of the injured man when he was finally conscious. "Whoa! The guy's beaten to a bloody pulp!"

Keladry bristled involuntarily, feeling shame edge its way into her frame of mind. "He did resist arrest!"

He grimaced melodramatically. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Dom, don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked, hoping he would leave. She was close to taking her frustration out on him, too.

"Not really, 'Killer'." His eyes lit up at a realization. "Hey! Killer... Kel-er... Kel..." He continued to find other embarrassing associations of her name until she elbowed him in the stomach. He nearly spilled his mug of coffee on her and set it down, rubbing his abdomen. She returned to her work while Dom stood by and acknowledged the people passing him and greeting him.

Keladry was about to submit the report when her pager went off. The shrill beeping was very loud. She couldn't help but wonder how for the latter of her career, she was able to leave the volume muted... but now had it on full blast. She quickly pressed the enter button on the keyboard and lifted her wrist to eye level to read the message as well as turn the volume down. Dom, back to sipping his coffee, once again challenged her personal space by leaning over and reading the tiny pager screen.

A familiar grin graced his features. "Who is Liam?"

"Dom, I really think you have to be somewhere else right now," Keladry said through gritted teeth.

He froze for a whole five seconds, weighing his options while considering her tone of voice, before slowly straightening up and taking a few steps back. He sipped his coffee again. "Oh drat. I promised to show Qasim this new... computer program." He began to nod his head. "Yup. A whole new... thing. It does... cool stuff. Uh, so, I should go. As in, now. Meaning, I'll just mosey on up--"

"Dom."

"Right. Bye." He smiled apologetically and trotted away at a slightly fast pace. Keladry rolled her eyes. Too bad Neal and Dom weren't related by blood. It would explain a lot about their sometime similar behavior. Except Neal doesn't drink coffee, and he hates computers. He'd much rather be chasing after women rather than do Dom's line of work. She returned her attention to the message on her pager.

Liam, the man from the pool hall? This ought to be interesting. She swiveled around in her chair and faced a Communications-Screen, which she was nervous about activating. She pressed a red button that prepared the machine for a transmission, and then thought the better of it. She switched the visual camera off so that he could only hear her voice, whether he had a COM-screen or not.

The phone rang two times before someone answered. It was her one-time acquaintance.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Liam? It's Kel."

"Oh, hello, Miss Kel!"

"Just 'Kel' is fine," she replied, a laughing lilt in her voice to calm her nerves. His suave voice did nothing but triple her anxiety. "You wanted to talk or something? You paged me."

"Yes, that. I was hoping that you perhaps would consent to have lunch with me. That is, if you don't have any other plans..." he trailed off hopefully.

"Uh..." Keladry mentally ran through her schedule for the next couple of hours. Lunch was clear, unless her friends planned on springing a free lunch on her at the last second. Maybe it was a wise idea to be free for lunch that day. Flyn or Buri might come looking for her to do some work. That was definitely important.

After all, who else in the building would gladly pass up a meal for an exciting romp through downtown Tusaine on some dangerous job? Well, besides Raoul anyway.

"I'm not sure, Liam." Hey, there is a very good chance I might be called to work!

He made a clucking sound with his tongue. "Uncertainty doesn't become you. Try again..."

Boy, is he persistent. She reddened at his response. She scattered a few plastic sheets of printed information on the desk so it sounded like she was looking through lots of papers. Sounding busy was half the battle. "You know, I think I can meet you for lunch after all."

He laughed over the transmission. She wondered if he knew she was faking it. "Superb. There's this quaint place on Breezeway Boulevard. We'll eat some excellent salad and baklava."

"Appetizer then dessert?"

"I'm an unconventional man, if you must know. The main course can magically appear later, if you like. I also do kiddy shows. You know, pull rabbits out of hats and the like." His voice was smooth with a sense of purpose. Maybe he did voice-overs in commercials. That would account for it. Maybe he was a relative of Faleron's. The two men always sounded like they could talk a vegetarian into eating a steak.

He has a subtle sense of humor to go with the elegant charm. I bet he's a heartbreaker. He dressed the other night like he was escaping some high-rise office building. That ought to mean something. Maybe he works in a law firm. Lawyers are good. Very good. What the heck? Why not?

"Sounds like lunch."

"I'll see you at noon then. Bye." Click.

Keladry tapped the button on the corner of the screen and began reorganizing the sheets of plastic that she'd moved around. She let out a deep breath and cleared her throat. That wasn't so bad. It's simply lunch with someone I hardly now. At least it's in public. She paused. That might be bad. What if someone sees me?

She shook her head and reprimanded herself. Who cares? Whoever sees me will know that I actually have a life now! I'm not the anti-social workaholic of old! That... that girl in Tortall who went to the Academy? That girl who had to get bribed by Neal and Owen to go have fun with them? She doesn't exist. Nobody cares that she's gone. They like the Kel that they see now. And it's staying that way.

The next ten minutes were spent trying to look as occupied and busy as possible, so that her behavior didn't betray any abnormality. It was just another day in the life of Keladry Mindelan, workaholic and striving perfectionist extraordinaire.

~~

Cleon yawned and stretched his arms over his head. On the screen facing him, Faleron wrinkled his nose in disapproval of the view he was getting of the redhead's tonsils.

"I'm bored out of my mind. Everybody's busy or not answering their pagers. Where do you want to eat lunch, man?"

His best friend winced. "Sorry, chap. Fianola already asked me if she could take me out to lunch at some Greek place she found on Breezeway."

"Oh?" Cleon started, interested perked. "Shouldn't you be the one taking her out to lunch? Not the other way?"

"Hey! I don't want to go, but I don't have anything else scheduled ahead and it would be rude to refuse. My teachers always taught me that." An obvious blush was blazing across the shorter man's cheeks. "She really isn't my type. You know that."

"Dude, since I know that there is not a great abundance of chicks who dig pinstriped shirts, poker, and professional ex-thieves with a lack of height, I say you don't have a type." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at him. "Have your fun. Just don't forget to tell me the details."

Despite the implied lasciviousness, Faleron seemed to calm down and straighten up. "I never knew you to be one so eager for gossip."

"Ah, but you do." He chuckled, which quickly ended in groaning.

"What now?"

"If you're not free for lunch, then there's no one left to hang out with!"

Faleron started drumming his fingers on his desk. "You can always visit Neal. He's much better now, so I heard from Roald."

"Roald's been to see him?"

"Babysitting the guy, himself, yesterday. Dom had to work if you'd forgotten already and he didn't want to leave his little God-brother all by his lonesome self."

That made sense. Cleon could just imagine all the indignation that the older officer was receiving by being confined to his apartment to get so much unnecessary rest. At least he got waited on by one of his friends. Roald doing his dishes, serving him his meals, wheeling him around in that wheelchair...The doctor still had over-cautious orders to keep him confined to the wheelchair until that very night when the doctor would come in and check the healing limbs. Being ejected from a vehicle at over 50 miles per hour did that to a person.

Oh, to have a nurse. Albeit, Cleon considered, it would have been better if one of his lady friends had played nurse to him. Maybe Lalasa or Yuki checking Neal's temperature while wearing a cute nurse outfit with the short skirt, the stockings, and the white pumps... Giving Neal a sponge bath. Letting Neal sponge-bathe them. It sounded as corny as those pointless adult videos in the shadowed section of a movie rental store, but it was always possible in Cleon's imagination.

"What in the world are you grinning like that for?" Faleron regarded him suspiciously.

"Er, nothing. So I guess I'll see Neal for lunch." He muttered under his breath, "That lucky bastard."

"Excuse me?'

Cleon smiled. "Nothing."

~~

Roald did his best to stay awake at the desk. On that particular day, Daine had no choice but to work at her office downtown, and thus, her assistants followed. Faleron had just gotten off the COM-screen with Cleon, he supposed. There were very few people that Faleron associated himself with on his own free will. If the poker-player made calls, they were either to Kel or Cleon. That was that. Elsewhere, he could see Daine talking to a few representatives from the city about some new amendment to the law that she'd had her hand in.

He ought to know what that law was. After all, politics was in his blood. He should have been keeping tabs on recent events. But the point was, he didn't want to and he'd much rather do little menial tasks for his wonderful employer or study the self-instructional book on native Sarainian language that he'd picked up on a whim the other day. Life was pleasant, and there was no need to plan ahead.

"Hi."

He looked up to see his girlfriend standing awkwardly with her hands behind her back. She rocked frontward and backward on the balls of her feet, unable to keep still. Roald paused, wondering if they were still on speaking terms. He decided that he wanted a peaceful morning without arguing, so the best thing was to remain civil. "Bon vestera."

"Huh?"

"Sarainian for 'good morning'," he explained, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He clapped the book shut and set it down on the desk.

She smiled briefly. "Oh." She coughed. "Strange how foreign languages always sound nicer than our own. I bet Sarainians think that Common English is a more beautiful sounding language compared to theirs."

He nodded. "I seem to have a knack for other languages. Maybe I could make money off of it. You know, work for Ms. Sarrasri and be a translator." He hoped his sarcasm would bring about some effect from her. This meek and humble Lalasa he saw before him just didn't seem right. "You know?"

Lalasa looked like she'd been slapped. She lowered her gaze to the floor, too embarrassed to say anything. Roald felt horrible. If he'd known that he'd get a response that guilty, he wouldn't have said it.

"So, what's up? How are you?"

What a dull conversation this is turning out to be. I shouldn't have to ask my own girlfriend how she is. I should be able to tell just exactly how she is. The fact that I'm reduced to asking this stupid question makes me wonder if we're going to split up.

"I've been evaluating the last couple of days, Roald, and I know we can settle this without splitting up."

Surprised that she had practically read his mind, Roald coughed and stood up so they could be eye to eye. Not knowing what to do with his hands, he placed them in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders as he sighed. "Well! Um, you want to go somewhere more private to talk about this? I think we've been lectured by Daine about personal matters in public."

Lalasa agreed, not skipping a beat. "Yes, yes. Let's do that."

They picked up their coats and informed one of the lesser secretaries that they were going outside for a breath of fresh air. The male secretary, a skinny man with no respect for anyone, just rolled his eyes. He resumed his conversation with another man on COM-screen without giving them any further attention.

As soon as the door from the main entrance closed behind them, Lalasa began talking.

"I'm sorry for everything, Roald. It's okay if you want to stick with the life we have now. I'd totally understand if you never wanted to bring up the subject ever again."

What in the world brought on this whole entire bout of guilt? She was yelling her head off at me merely yesterday.

They selected a random direction and began walking, mindful of other pedestrians and vehicles. Roald chose to remain silent while the Carthakian woman poured out her innermost thoughts.

"It shouldn't matter. We have a roof over our heads; we have stable jobs. We make enough to put aside money for retirement." She sighed. "I'm just so used to being free from all this stuff. You know, because I spent all my life going back and forth from my father, to Uncle Thom, to any one of his associates whom I was entrusted to... When I see how your past is compared to mine, I just feel like I've cut your potential in half by holding you to the life we lead now."

They had come to the riverside boardwalks. Roald led her to a bench and sat down, patting the space beside him. She scurried over and seated herself quickly, smiling as brightly as possible at him. It was a pained effort, he could tell.

She opened her mouth to speak again, but he put a finger to his lips and motioned to the commotion in front of them. The usual crowd of shoppers and walkers milled about the boardwalk. There were acrobats and jugglers with their hats open to catch Nobles and Coppers. The occasional cyclist sped by, expertly weaving through the loose throng of people. A man selling popcorn yelled over the dull roar of people.

"Roald..."

"Shh. Look at this. The merchants and performers here probably make less money than we do, seeing as we're Council employed. But they're happy." He turned to her, meeting her confused eyes with his enlightened ones. "All I want to be is happy where I am. No big future. The bigger you are, the harder you fall, anyway. That's what they always say, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly. "I guess so."

"Good. So, no more talk about what we're going to do for the rest of our lives?"

"For the rest of our lives? You think we--"

"We won't discuss that just yet," he cut her off before crystalline images of diamond rings and gold wedding bands started coursing through her brain. His wallet certainly didn't appreciate the idea.

Though his jittery outlook on the future silenced her, Lalasa smiled genuinely and laid her head down on his shoulder. He responded by wrapping an arm around her. They stayed in those positions for a few minutes, glad that the whole dilemma was over. Roald glanced at her curiously.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"What made you so remorseful this morning?"

She blushed, but turned her face so he couldn't see. "Well, you see, there was this talk show on the holo-screen and all the guests were couples. They were like us, and they were arguing that the other was dragging them down. It was horrible. The security guards had to restrain them."

"Ouch. I'm glad we didn't get that far."

Lalasa sat up. "Why don't we go to Breezeway for lunch? They have some nice places there for us to eat at."

"Sure. Lead the way."

~~~

Conflicting thoughts and concerns dueled within Keladry's head for nearly ten minutes. She sat on the metal bench in the locker room of the DJPF station, wondering what she should actually wear to the 'lunch date'. She could show up in her casual uniform if she wanted to intimidate him, a little voice in her said sarcastically. Not that she wanted to. She sighed and settled for a pair of khaki pants and a nice button down light blue shirt.

"Breezeway Boulevard. Where is that?" she asked the empty air, though she knew she would receive no answer.

It didn't matter. The navigator in her car could do all the work. Keladry calmed her slowly mounting fears as best she could as she finally put most of belongings back into the tall and narrow metal locker. She picked up her jacket and kicked the locker door shut behind her. The electronic lock beeped as it barred the locker again. It was strange how she focused on mere details going around her to avoid the big nerve-racking picture.

She had a date.

Well, it wasn't a trip to the movies. It wasn't dinner. It wasn't... her riding in his car, where he would inevitably walk her to her doorstep and kiss her. This was lunch. And it was so impossibly adult and non-confrontational of their non-existent relationship that she was frustrated for feeling anything but relaxed.

Acquaintance, her mind screamed. Acquaintance!

"It is just lunch."

A woman looked up as she walked past. Keladry chastised herself for voicing her thoughts and proceeded down the long hall to the elevator. She saw Dom talking to a woman at the front desk when she reached the bottom floor. He flashed her a knowing grin and waved. She turned away, embarrassed.

She didn't drive the squad car to Breezeway Boulevard. It would be obvious to him that she was an officer. And she wouldn't go on her motorcycle. That was still at the garage at home. She'd still have to get into a taxi from the station to her apartment building. Liam didn't need to know such things about yet. She caught a taxi and spent her short time there in the backseat, wringing her hands.

"Where to, Miss?" the driver asked as he started the meter and pulled away from the curb.

"Breezeway Boulevard." She stopped there when she couldn't think of the restaurant's name. "Some Greek place. I forget."

"Oh, you mean the Alpheus."

The Alpheus. It sounds very classical. She looked down at herself and wondered if she was underdressed. If Lalasa were present, the Carthakian woman would be so pleased to hear Keladry finally acting like a normal young woman. The very idea made Keladry sick. She didn't want to be worried about these things. She was worried enough as it was with her job.

A few more minutes later, she stepped outside of the taxi and paid the driver.

"Hope you like the food. I heard it's the best!" he called to her before driving off, back into the flow of ground vehicle traffic. A hover car nearby honked at the swerve the taxi driver almost made into the hover lanes. Kel shook her head and walked toward the door.

There were artificial vines wrapped around two marble columns just inside the door. She looked up at the little plaster statues of ancient gods and marveled at the artistry. Light flooded the room due to the high skylights from above. There was a stairway leading to a higher level where people could dine and look down on other people as well.

The place seemed crowded during lunchtime, full of businessmen and women eating and laughing. There were even some normal people inside, wearing jeans and sneakers. Keladry felt instantly better. She was glad that Liam had made the choice.

Where was he anyway?

She glanced about her. She walked up to a velvet rope, where a woman was standing behind a tiny podium. The woman stopped doodling on a notebook and looked up. She was dressed in a white dress with some Greek toga-like influences.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"I'm looking for a friend. We're supposed to meet here."

"Name please?"

"Keladry M--" she stopped when she realized that she never told Liam her last name.

The woman gasped. "Oh, right this way! Mr. Irons has been waiting for you at his usual table."

Mr. Irons? Liam Irons, huh? He has a usual table. So he comes here often. So... the people know him here. He can't be a creepy psychopathic killer or anything. He's a regular in a popular Greek restaurant. How normal is that? Well, not the Greek part anyway. He's a regular in a clean-cut establishment.

Keladry followed the woman around tables and people. They went deep into the restaurant, towards the corner. The second level above their heads just barely wound around so they got a bit of the noon sunshine from the skylights.

She inadvertently held her breath when she saw Liam. He wore a white dress shirt and a loosened blue tie about his neck, just as he had when she had met him in the pool hall. His gray suit jacket was draped on his chair. He immediately stood to greet her.

The other woman who had led Keladry there backed away, bowing her head to Liam, who acknowledged her for a brief second with a nod of his head. He took Keladry's hand and kissed it, just as he had two nights before. Such a gentleman like him would make normal women swoon. It, despite her efforts to be calm and levelheaded, nevertheless charmed her.

"We meet again," he said in an ambiguous tone and held out her chair for her.

"It's nice to see you," Keladry returned lamely. She seated herself and scooted the chair in. He likewise sat. She tried to shake off her jitters and relax. Liam didn't make it easy. His gaze bore into her like a drill.

"I hope you didn't mind the last minute invitation to lunch. I was thinking about you and how we had such a good time the other night. I usually don't babble about sports." His speech was so crisp and elegant, even when he wasn't trying. Oh, but Faleron would be jealous.

She shrugged nervously. "Neither do I. But it was fun. I mean-- I had fun."

"As did I."

She glanced around. "So, you come here often? That woman said this was your usual table."

He nodded and leaned back in his chair. "I'm fond of the food and the setting. My colleagues and I usually come here for lunch."

Keladry leaned forward on her elbows. "What do you do, anyhow?" She noticed her arms and removed her elbows from the table quickly. Etiquette was never much her strongpoint, compared to martial arts. She laid her hands in her lap. "You must be very successful. You certainly act the part. Er, I didn't mean it negatively."

"Of course not," he chuckled. He sipped water from a flawlessly clean glass. "I... am a trader of sorts. Distribution and redistribution of... various things. I even collect on debts, like the IRS, sometimes." He shook his head. "It's a boring job, but it pays the bills and the bonds between coworkers are the best I'd ever hope for."

"Lots of friends, hmm?"

He laughed. "Yes. Lots. We'd... kill for one another, you might say."

She forced a laugh. It was a strange joke to make, but he obviously thought it was amusing. A waiter came by, greeting Liam with a familiar attitude. Her lunch date ordered for the both of them. Indeed, as he had teased on the phone, he ordered only appetizers and dessert.

"We can eat a full main course in some other place than this, on another day. But not now. Never now," he said to her after the waiter had left. She wondered at his confusing words, but she shook it off. He played the mysterious and charming stranger well, though some of his qualities merely confused her.

She didn't know why she couldn't relax. He was being so casual in front of her. They were talking about things. There wasn't any silence, words flowed naturally, and she hadn't made a fool of herself yet.

"So what do you do?" he asked. "I like you as the mysterious beauty, but it gets better when we're familiar."

Keladry froze. Should she tell him? One thing led to another. If he really was a psychopath, he could look up her apartment and try to kill her in her sleep. But she lived among other officers, so maybe he wouldn't. The thought seemed ridiculous anyhow. She was First Class. She could take any stalker on and make them wish that they'd never been born.

Tell him. Why not? He just told me about his job. You're such a wimp, Keladry.

"I'm a DJPF Officer."

Liam's eyes widened. "Really? What, second class?"

She blushed. "Uh, first."

"I would never have believed that I had the luck to get a young and beautiful First Class Officer of the DJPF to go to lunch with me!" he exclaimed. "Well! If I weren't honored enough already! Say, were you at Mithran yesterday?"

Keladry stiffened. "Unfortunately." She noticed his frown. "Not that I didn't want to work. It's just very... unfortunate that things like that happen so that people like me must be there." She paused. "I'd rather be a useless officer in a world of peace than a famous one in a world of anarchy."

"Well spoken."

"Thanks."

He tapped his finger on his chin. "And also- unfortunately- the world will always be filled with some chaos. If there weren't the Bad, we'd all go soft. One day, something bad would happen and we'd be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Wouldn't you agree?"

She blinked rapidly after hearing his simile, but nodded despite the vivid picture painted in her mind. "Yeah. I see what you mean."

~~

Faleron looked around skeptically as he entered between the Greek columns and vines. He very much would have liked to talk his way out of coming there. There was no doubt in his mind that his powers of persuasion could have dissuaded Fianola from picking that restaurant, but he saw how her face lit up when she talked about it.

She's a sweet girl. Everyone likes her. But... but I'd better let her down softly. She's just not-- She doesn't deserve someone like me. It was a mistake to have spent time with her. I misled her into thinking that we might... be more than just friends.

"Hey, Hat Boy. Hats off! You know better than that!" the youngest Rider giggled and snatched his hat from his head. He smiled at her fondly and let her lead the way inside.

The Alpheus was an impressive restaurant. Faleron now felt sorry that he'd misjudged the place before he'd taken more than a step inside. The food was the clincher. If his meal was tasty, he might consider coming here again. Whether or not he would come again with Fianola was indefinite, but he would not dwell on the thought just yet.

"Why don't we go upstairs? We can watch everyone from up there." Fianola grabbed his hand and pulled him along after her up the stairs, which were also lined with Greek vine covered columns. The grapes almost looked real enough to pluck off and eat. He was tempted to do so, but decided better on it.

They were able to secure a table in the back of the restaurant. It still received a lot of sunlight and fresh air. But it overlooked very few tables now that it was toward the back. They could, however, see the kitchen door, so they would know when their food was on its way.

Faleron moved to hold out his date's chair, but she simply took the other chair and sat. Faleron shrugged and sat down in the chair meant for her. He took his hat from her and brushed it off. "So what's good to eat here, Fia?"

She picked up a menu from between the salt and peppershakers already set on the table. "You like seafood? Or maybe a big deli style sandwich?"

"I thought you said this place was Greek."

"It is. They just have some other additional foods, too."

"Oh."

He stifled a yawn and looked over the rail at the people below. It looks like this is a popular spot for desk and cubicle people to go on their lunch break. Good for them. He nearly grimaced when he realized that he was now a member of that crowd.

A familiar head of light brown hair and baby blue clothing caught his eye. He leaned out a bit further. Then he pulled back when his forehead met the rail. Was that who he thought he saw? It was! Keladry Mindelan, his good friend and upholder of the law, was seated across from a man that he had never seen before.

They seemed to be chatting about something they both shared an interest in. Both of them were smiling. Faleron frowned and shook his head. Keladry didn't grace people with her presence unless they were members of her tight knit circle of friends. The first few times the Riders had dragged her into their social gatherings, Keladry had been terribly nervous. So how could she attend an informal lunch with a man that he had never met?

"'What a change is here', " he quoted under his breath.

"Huh?"

Faleron looked back up and met Fianola's eyes. "Nothing."

They ordered their food. While waiting, Fianola talked about random things while Faleron listened and commented every now and then to assure her of his attention. He knew he had to get around to snuffing out Fianola's quest for his consent of a relationship, but he was guiltily more intrigued by Keladry's date down below. His gaze fell over the rail every few minutes. When he finally saw Keladry stand and head toward the Ladies Room, he also stood.

"Um, I must go to the restroom. If the food arrives, go ahead and start eating. I'll be back soon."

Before she could reply, he headed toward the stairs and quickly descended. If there had been a smooth rail, he would have slid down. It would no doubt be fun, but the chance of hitting someone when he reached the bottom of the stairs was too risky.

Faleron nonchalantly stood behind a randomly placed column, hiding himself from Keladry as she walked past. He glanced at his watch and yawned, pretending to be waiting for someone. When he saw her travel out of range, he headed toward her table.

A sensible voice inside him told him to mind his own business. But he'd already evaluated all his actions and consequences within a split second, as he was prone to do when under pressure. He really wanted to meet and talk to this man. This man was different, whoever he was.

His pace slowed as he came within fifteen feet of the man. He commanded his heartbeat to likewise calm down so he could be as professional and emotionless as possible.

"Good afternoon, Sir," he greeted Liam.

Liam narrowed his eyes. He sipped from his glass. "Do I know you?"

Faleron seated himself without invitation. If the other man was annoyed, he did not show it. He merely sipped again. "No, but you do know my friend, Keladry Mindelan."

Liam laughed mildly. "Ah. Another stone or pebble in my shoe, are you?"

"And what do you mean by that, Sir?"

"Oh, nothing, good Sir. I merely make reference to the fact that this is the second time that my good intentions have been doubted on behalf of Miss Kel's welfare."

Faleron folded his arms. The attitude and presence with which this man spoke was too like his own manipulative style that he was honestly starting to feel a bit of fear. The former thief steeled his heart and sharpened his wits. He would not let this man see that it had gotten to him.

"May I ask your name, Sir?"

"Liam Irons. And you?" The edge of his mouth curled into a smirk. "Or shall I ask Kel?"

"Totally unnecessary, my good man. You may call me Faleron."

"Faleron?" His eyebrows rose slightly. A new shine glowed in his dark eyes. "I... I knew a man by the name of Faleron. Acted like he wore a crown sometimes."

The former thief's blood ran cold. He used all his will to keep his body from shuddering and thus betraying his uneasiness. "Did you?"

"A most polite chap. I do believe the three of us would have gotten along very well."

No one manipulates me in my own conversations. I've done this longer than I can remember.

Faleron shrugged. "If it comforts you to think so, I would let you think that, Mr. Irons. Did you always live in Tusaine?"

"No."

"Uh-huh," he nodded.

"But neither did you."

Faleron could hardly believe it. He knew right away that something was terribly amiss. He didn't know what it was, but it was wrong. It felt so wrong. He hated to think that he might just be like Joren, suspicious for no good reason. But by his stars, Faleron could not extricate himself from the scrutiny that Liam was placing him under. It was supposed to be the other way around. And yet...

"Enjoy your meal." There was nothing else he could say. Liam already knew that he'd caught Faleron. He'd caught him like no one had caught Faleron in a very long time. The shorter man stood and brushed off invisible crumbs from his shirt. The two men engaged in a staring contest as a means of parting. Faleron could not recall at that moment having ever faced a man with such an impenetrable mask, save for Joren. Except... Joren faced people but always used his crudeness to shield his hidden wounds. So without practice, Faleron did not know how to read Liam.

This has never happened to me before. What does it mean?

~~

"I thought you said we weren't going anywhere fancy," Roald protested.

"This place isn't fancy. We can walk in, no reservations needed. It's a place where people eat lunch and spend the afternoon talking. What, do you want to go somewhere fancy?" she asked. "Because you know, I can just as easily drop by a boutique and buy a dress for a nice formal restaurant and have lunch right now."

Roald shook his head. "No, no. This is fine. I was expecting something a bit more... cheap."

"Oh please. You never buy anything. You have plenty of spending money."

He snorted. "I do too buy things. I just don't shop as much as you do."

She turned to him and leaned in close. "Oh? And what do you buy?"

He grinned. "I was considering buying something for you, but since you claim that I don't buy things, I suppose I don't have anything at all for you."

"You're such a tease," she giggled and looped her arm with his. It was especially funny since she knew that Roald was anything but a tease. "Come on. I think I see an empty table in back."

She, like Fianola had earlier, dragged the object of her affection through the busy room and to a table near the back. It was freshly cleaned off because she could still smell the disinfectant spray. She sat down and immediately picked up the menu.

"If there are any weird things on this menu, we'll just have to try them out. I was always up for a culinary adventure."

Roald frowned. "Um... if you say so." But I don't think my taste buds will like adventure as much as yours.

She started humming a song, bright and cheerful. Roald was so glad they'd had that talk earlier. Lalasa was visibly starting to act like her old self again. And he was starting to take the more passive and submissive nature again. Sure it wasn't always great letting her choose everything, but making decisions was one of the things that drove him away from his parents' idea of a future.

He looked past his girlfriend and spied a familiar man. Roald could have sworn he'd seen him somewhere before. Perhaps he'd seen him in the pool hall. Yes! The pool hall. Chocolate brown hair that fuzzed in the front if he didn't smooth it back with something... constantly confident eyes that switched from green to hazel in different lights... slightly tanned skin and a little scar on the left of his jaw. The man's posture was perfect. He carried himself like a man worthier than all the gold in the country. But he also carried himself like one who would grovel at the feet of another given the opportunity to climb hierarchies.

Roald had seen such men work for his father, or others in the Federation and Council. He didn't like those types of people. They weren't to be trusted.

"Roald! Are you paying attention?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry. What were you saying?"

Lalasa glared at him. "I was asking you what you wanted to eat."

Roald glanced at the menu distractedly. "You wanted the uh... culi-whatever adventure. Why don't order for the both of us."

She shrugged. "Okay. You asked for it."

He knew his stomach would be regretting this later, but at that moment he didn't care. While Lalasa was peering at the menu, Keladry walked by. She seated herself across the man whom Roald did not know.

"Darling..."

"Yes?" Lalasa answered without looking up.

"Um, did Keladry tell you about any new friends she made?"

This time, the Carthakian woman did look up. "No. I have no idea of what you're talking about." She followed his gaze. "Oooohhh! That is so cute! She has a date!"

"'Lasa, don't look! She'll see us," he whispered urgently. She rolled her eyes and turned back around in her seat.

"Well, maybe we should go then. We'll want to give the two their privacy."

Roald's mind scrambled for a reason to stay. "But I was looking forward to what you were going to order for me."

"Really?"

"Yes," he lied. I was actually looking forward to seeing this man over here give me a legitimate reason to hate him. I'm acting paranoid, but this man gives me such a bad feeling!

Lalasa, completely clueless still, agreed to staying and ordered food for the both of them. Above head, they heard a familiar voice cry out.

"Bleh! You mean to tell me that these are really made of--- mmmmpphhh!"

The couple exchanged confused glances.

"You know, that sounded a bit like Faleron."

She nodded. "But I've never known him to have an outburst like that."

"Mmmmpppph!"

They looked up. They couldn't see anyone past the rail, but they knew there was a man up there with someone else's hand clamped over his mouth. Roald had to make a decision. He could leave Kel and her date alone, or he could find out whom this man was and appease his worried mind.

Keladry's a big girl. She can take care of herself.

Well...

Um...

Nah. If Neal were here, he'd be butting in. I mean, Kel never goes on dates. It's like the planets all aligning or something. It's like something that happens once every ten thousand years. This could be an omen. The world might be coming to an end.

Roald blinked.

Okay, I have been spending way too much time with Cleon.

"Hon, I'm going to the Men's Room. Go ahead and order the food, would you?"

"Sure."

He got up and walked swiftly away in the direction of the restrooms. Luckily, that was also the same direction as the stairs. Roald glanced over his shoulder one last time at his girlfriend and went up the stairs. He kept his eyes open and alert for a familiar face.

He spotted Faleron's hat on a table. Then he saw Fianola eating her meal at the same table. There was no Faleron to be found. He did not know the Rider well enough to talk to her. He'd planned on consulting with the former thief, who was simply nowhere to be found.

Defeated, he went back downstairs and entered the Men's Room.

"Ugh..." he could hear a familiar voice groan from the first stall to his left. A toilet flushed and out came Faleron, rubbing his mouth. The shorter man looked a bit clammier than usual.

"Faleron?"

"Huh? Oh, Roald. What are you doing here?"

He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm having lunch with Lalasa. You're here with Fianola, right? I saw her outside."

Faleron walked over to a sink and proceeded to rinse out his mouth. "I suppose you could say that. I'm trying to-" He stopped. "Never mind." He splashed his face with water and braced both arms on either side of the sink. "I shouldn't have eaten that."

Roald grimaced. I hope Lalasa doesn't order whatever he had.

"Hey, um... I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Kel's here with-"

"A guy that we've never seen before? I know. I talked to him while Kel was in the restroom."

"Oh, you did? Well?"

Faleron walked two sinks down toward Roald and activated the hand dryer. He reached forward and twisted the nozzle so the air blew straight up to his face. Roald stood back, since the air was ruffling his neatly combed hair.

"Fal?"

"Oh, sorry." He stepped back and started talking louder over the noise of the hand dryer. "The guy is nearly one hundred percent creepy. I wasn't able to read him."

"Read him?"

"Yes! I read people, okay?" he snapped. "Sorry. It's just that it's been a while since I couldn't read somebody. You have to be able to read somebody to be the Poker King of the World."

Roald looked around impatiently. "Well, what do you think we should do about this guy? I remember him from the pool hall. He was sitting at the bar watching the baseball game with Kel."

Faleron blinked. "Oh, so that's where they met, hmm? It's not the greatest place to pick up a guy, but Kel isn't a conventional person, is she?"

"She doesn't pick up guys, period. You know that."

"Yes, I do."

"So what do we do?"

Faleron rubbed his chin. The hand dryer turned off automatically. He began to speak at normal volume. "We'll go back to our tables and spy on them. I have a view from above."

"And I have table near them, slightly blocked by a column."

"Can you hear them?"

Roald shrugged. "Probably."

"Alright, alright. We can work with this. I'll come back downstairs in a few minutes. I'll tell Fia that I still feel a bit sick. You pretend to get sick and meet me at the bottom of the stairs, got it?"

"So I have to eavesdrop," his partner in crime clarified.

"More or less. Roald, we have to do this. We know that there's something wrong with this guy. Sometimes all it takes is instinct! Keladry is our friend and we'll be damned if we let anything happen to her while she trusts this guy." He rested one hand on the other man's shoulder. "I wouldn't underestimate this man. He knows things."

The Vice President's son frowned. "What sorts of things?"

The other swallowed, feeling his dry throat uncomfortably balk by the action. "I think he knows who I am."

"Well, of course. You just went up to him. He probably recognizes you from the pool hall."

Faleron put his other hand on Roald's other shoulder and shook him in a bout of frustration. "No! Not that! I'm talking about Faleron King, leader of the Street Pirates in Rogue's Bay!" He growled. "I told him my first name. Then, he made this damned hint with a… crown… like my last name, King. You see? He knows who the hell I am!"

Roald removed his friend's hands from his body and glanced over his shoulder again. "Calm down, would you? Someone will hear!" He paused. "I never knew you had a gang. I just knew you were a thief and that they arrested you in Rogue's Bay."

"Yeah, well, now you know. I have no idea where my buddies went after I was caught saving Morrison's and the rest of their hides, but... it doesn't matter! That bastard out there knows about me. He can tell at any time. You know, they never cleared it up. Keladry and Joren, that is. They left my case half open half shut so that no one would try to hunt me down, but my name isn't cleared up as of yet. I'm still on this odd parole of sorts. " He shook one finger. "All it takes is one bugger like him to go up to the DJPF and tell them an outrageous lie to throw my sorry ass in jail, Roald! No trial, no anything! Just jail!" Faleron backed away, sheen of sweat about to form on his skin from anxiety. "I can't go into any jail cell again. I'll go insane. I will. I really will."

"That's not going to happen."

"How do you know? Do you have a criminal record, Roald? Do you? Well, I suppose not!"

Roald sighed. The emotional distress came off his friend in distinct ripples of aura that traveled through the air until Roald felt them himself. "Come on, Fal. The girls are waiting for us. I'll meet you back again in ten to fifteen minutes. Hopefully they'll spend a lot of time talking after they finish lunch. That ought to give us enough time to observe him."

He started toward the swinging door of the rest room. Faleron leaned back on the sink, his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey, Roald? I'm sorry for yelling like that."

"It's okay. I know it's tough. I'd probably react the same way if I were in your position." He put one hand on the door. "So come on. You got a pretty girl out there waiting for you to spend time with her."

"Oh, but that isn't as great as it looks either," Faleron chuckled as they left the restroom.

"And why is that?"

"I'm not myself with her. The usual cynical me? I have to hide him so I don't offend her."

Roald stopped in front of the stairs. "Well then, she'll be good for you. People can change. You can change."

Faleron bit his lip. "Maybe I like the way I am, even if it does nothing but cause me trouble."

"Whatever works."

~~

"You okay? You need help?"

"No, I got it. I'm not a cripple you know." Neal stretched out his legs in front of him as he leaned on the side of a building. "Ah. That feels better." He shoved off from the wall. "Okay. I'm good. Let's go inside."

Cleon scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe we should have stayed at your place, Dude. Are you sure you want to go spy on Fal and Fia?"

"It was your suggestion, man. Besides, we have to give the man a hard time. Don't we always?"

"Yeah. I hope this was the place he was talking bout. The Alpheus?"

"It's the only Greek place in the T District."

They entered. Cleon touched the vines encircling the plaster columns. "Hey! These are real! Well, whaddya know... Want a grape, Neal?"

"I say we try to find Fal and Fia." Neal rested his hands on his hips. He looked up. "There's another floor of tables. Why don't we go up there? We can easily watch the rest of the place."

Cleon grinned. "Hey, we can drop grapes on them from there."

Neal wrinkled his nose. "Whatever. I need a glass of water."

"What for?"

"I have a pain killer I have to take. It's coupled with this seltzer thing."

"Whoa, don't those things make you sleepy?"

The older man nodded as they walked towards the stairs. "Yeah, but I'm always in the infirmary for one thing or another.  A lifetime of them has made me a bit resistant. They don't make me as drowsy as they used to. I guess I've built up an immunity."

~~

Lalasa put down her fork. She had just dropped a dark sauce covered piece of meat on her lap. "I'm going to the restroom, Sweetie. This stain might take a while, so you just go ahead and eat, okay?"

"Okay," Roald replied and continued eating his food. The food was slightly strange, but it would be completely fine with him until he knew what was in it.

He returned to listening in on Keladry and Liam. So far, they were talking about her job and her life. Every now and then, Liam inserted a fact of his own, but it was very hard to pin down. The man never gave a straight answer. Men who never give straight answers are always hiding things.

Roald sighed and glanced at his watch. Now was the perfect opportunity to meet with Faleron, but he had to wait just a bit longer. Faleron would most likely need more time to sneak away.

~~

"Ooh. Grapes everywhere. Now I'm very hungry. Maybe we can give Faleron a hard time later."

Neal shook his head as he painfully lifted his legs higher going up the stairs. "No, no. You thought it up, now we're going to do it. We didn't just come here for the food. Food would be nice, but a glass of water for my medication would be better."

They took the nearest empty table next to the rail. Before they could pick up a menu, a woman came by with a platter of drinks. She smiled congenially at both of them and set the platter down on the table.

"Just water, thanks."

"Here you are, Sir." She placed the glass in front of Neal. Cleon shook his head when she offered him a glass. The waitress departed. Cleon gazed after her.

"I wonder what Kalasin would look like if she wore a toga dress like that."

"Oh, but you'd better hope Roald never hears you say that."

"Give me a break, Neal. He's not here. He's not a mile within here. I can say it."

"If you want to..." Neal glanced out over the rail. "Hmm," he said as he shook his pills around his hand like he would dice. "Keladry's here with some guy we've never seen. I wonder who he is."

Cleon stood up, knocking over his chair and leaning over the table. "No way! Let me see!"

Neal, with his arm trapped between Cleon and the rail, tried to yank his hand back. "You idiot! Move! You're going to make me drop my meds!"

The redhead leaned out a tiny bit further, ignoring the arm that was pinned between his shoulder and the iron wrought rail. He squinted as he looked for Keladry. "Hey! You're right! There she is. What are the odds of that? I wonder if Faleron has already been to see them. I mean, maybe he hasn't even gotten here yet. Maybe we walked right past him."

(A few yards away, Faleron sunk in his chair a bit more, hiding his face behind his napkin and his spoon. Fianola stared at him with concern.

"Are you still sick?"

Faleron peeked from behind his napkin at Cleon and Neal, two tables away. He shrugged and nodded his head. "Oh, uh, just a bit. Heheh...")

Neal used all his strength and shoved Cleon back with his one arm. In doing so, he loosened his grip around his seltzers and they dropped below. He gasped. "You made me drop them!"

Cleon moved to look over the rail, but Neal yanked him back by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't look! If they hit someone, we'll get in trouble! Aw, man, and those were good for like five doses! You made me drop them all. You know what? Just pretend it never happened. I think I should have one spare in a pills case." He reached into his pants pocket and fished around for the tiny case.

"I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay. We'll forget it ever happened."

~~

Roald continued to stare at Liam and read his lips. The volume in the restaurant had rose somewhat, and now he couldn't hear the other two's conversation. It was an awful thing, what he was doing. Eavesdropping was rude and an invasion of privacy. But he reasoned that it was all in Keladry's best interests. And Faleron's. After all, Liam may really have known who Faleron truly was. And the anguish that the former thief had exhibited in the bathroom was enough to convince Roald that what he was doing was right.

He was so focused on the task at hand and the restaurant was so loud, that he didn't hear the plops of foreign things landing in his glass and fizzing. He frowned and after a few seconds, reached for the glass to drink. The food was great, in its own way, but he wanted the aftertaste out of his mouth.

He drank the water, wondering if it was supposed to taste like dishwater.

"Ugh. Eating that food has affected my tongue. No wonder Faleron really got sick. Oh well. Bottom's up." He emptied the whole glass and set it down. He reached forward for his napkin and found himself yawning as he did so.

"That's odd," he commented to himself. "I slept very well last night. I wonder why I'm starting to get tired." He accidentally dropped his hand on a fork. "Hey, that hardly hurt. Hmm. My senses are strange, too. Maybe I'm working too hard." He rapidly blinked his eyes. "In any case, I should ask Lalasa to drive home."

Five minutes later, his head dropped onto the table in blissful sleep.

~~

Faleron sat up when Neal and Cleon became engrossed with whatever they were watching over the rail. He could care less. He had to see what Keladry and Liam were doing. He put down his napkin and spoon and scooted his chair over.

"Feeling better now?"

Faleron turned to his lunch date. "Uh, not really. I think I'll go down to the bathroom and splash some water on my face. I'm so sorry about this."

"It's okay. If I'd known your stomach was so sensitive, I wouldn't have ordered it."

Yes, yes. That's right. Just go ahead and think I'm a sensitive wimp. That's probably what you were thinking, me being the short and intelligent one, hmm? He shook his head. He couldn't believe he actually thought that. That was exactly the reason why he shouldn't be involved with her. He was one million mean remarks, all bottled into one.

He stood up and stared over the rail. Liam and Keladry were still talking, though they had finished their food. Only salad and dessert? That was terribly unusual. Who ordered only salad and dessert?

Roald, Roald, where are you?

He spotted his friend with his head down on the table and his arms hanging off the arm rests on his chair like useless limbs. Oh damn! He's unconscious! Did that bastard slip something into his drink? I've got to get down there!

Faleron proceeded to the stairs in a calm fashion. Cleon and Neal weren't looking in his direction still, thank goodness for that. He ran down the stairs and almost bumped into a bus boy heading to the kitchen. He called an apology over his shoulder and slowed to a jog.

He glanced around him as he approached Roald's slumbering form.

"Psst. Roald. Wake up!"

He patted his friend's cheek. "Hey, wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He felt for a pulse. "At least you're not dead." He shook him by the shoulder. "Roald? Roald? Roald Jasson, wake up right now!"

"Excuse me, Sir. Do you need some help?" a waitress asked.

The inwardly panicking man evaluated several different phrases he could say that wouldn't get him in trouble. A split second later, he answered, "No, no. My friend was burning the midnight oil, you might say, and he's still very tired. I'll just take him to the bathroom and splash some water on his face. Thank you. Here's money for the bill. I hope that covers it."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Thank you for dining at the Alpheus. Just come get me if you need anything."

"I will, thank you." He smiled and laughed nervously. When she was gone, he placed his hands under Roald's arms and hauled him up. He put one arm around his neck and supported the rest of his friend by the waist. "Come on. Walk with me, Roald. That's it."

"Uuuggghhh," Roald groaned as he started to come to.

"Come on... This way."

They stumbled to the bathroom. Faleron got Roald seated up on top of the counter. Then he cupped his hands under a faucet, waiting for the sensors to turn it on. When it did, he filled his hands with water and splashed it into Roald's face.

"Ah!" Roald cried as his eyes fully opened and he sputtered the water that had gotten into his mouth. "What... What? Why am I so tired?" Even after being doused with water, he leaned back on the mirror and closed his eyes again.

"Don't go to sleep! Wake up! Tell me what happened!" Faleron urged.

Roald shrugged weakly. He sniffed. "I... I was listening to them like you said. And," he yawned. "I wanted to get the taste out of my mouth from the food. So I drank my whole glass of water. Man, that stuff tastes like dishwater. Must be my affected taste buds."

"Roald, I ate the food and drank the water. It doesn't taste like dishwater."

"Well maybe they got lazy back there and ran my glass under a faucet."

Faleron rubbed his chin. "It must be Liam. He must have dropped something into your drink when you least expected it. You're downstairs where he is. He could guess if you were spying on him, not like if he were looking for me. He would have had a hard time looking for me." He pounded his left fist into his right palm. "What if he saw Cleon and Neal looking over the rail? He could target them, too, just for looking at him! I've got to get out there..."

"Mmm..."

"Um... you just stay here. Okay?"

"Mmm..."

"I'll take that as a yes."

~~

Neal growled. "This stupid case won't open." He shook it. "I can hear about five of my spares in here. And I can't even open the case!"

Cleon held out his hand. "Let me try it."

"Oh, no. You already made me drop my others."

"Hey, Dude! You said that we'd forget about that."

Neal rolled his eyes. "Fine. Try. See if you can."

He handed the redhead the tiny pills case. Immediately, the sharpshooter set to work at opening them. He strained under the pressure. The lid of the case was really stuck. "Aw man! Who manufactured these things? They're so hard to open! What are they, childproofed?"

"In our case, yes."

"But that should mean that adults can open them, right? Man!" He felt the lid give way. Before he knew what was going on, the pills were propelled out of the case and into the air. Cleon shot up to his feet and tried to reach for them before they flew into the air any farther. He missed.

Neal yanked him down a second time before any other angry restaurant patrons realized that they were being pelted by his meds. Cleon shamefully sat down again, offering an apologetic smile. Neal simply glared at him and leaned on his elbow.

"Well. There we go. I'll be feeling some great pain today." He shook his head. "I'm going to the bathroom. You stay here."

"No way, Dude! You might trip down the stairs and break your neck or something. Look, I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz..."

"That I won't disagree with."

"Come on, let me help you."

"No, no. Cleon, I think you've helped enough." He stood up and stretched one leg, then the other, before beginning to walk. Despite his protests, Cleon accompanied him down the stairs and to the bathroom.

They argued the whole entire time, and Neal ended up yelling at him.

"How can Faleron stand to have you around?!"

Cleon shrugged. "I don't know. He just does." A smile appeared on his face, remembering the tests and trials of his friendship with the shorter man. "Maybe we should leave after this. I don't want to bother him when he's out with Fianola. He'd be mad at me."

From where Faleron was standing behind a column right next to the bathroom door, he also smiled. He'd barely had enough time to dive behind there when he saw the two men come down the stairs. At least he knew he could count on his best friend like no other.

He went up the stairs and back to his table. Fianola was standing up and putting on her jacket.

"I'm sorry, Fal. Raoul just called me in to work. I might have to go out of town for a while."

He watched her try to smooth down he curly hair and straighten her appearance. She seemed sorry to go. Amazingly, he was sorry to see her leave, too. One thought stood out in his mind. If she's going to be gone for so long, you need to tell her before she goes. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, doesn't it? You don't need her heart to grow any fonder of you! Bad! Very Bad! Just keep on thinking of those six years difference and your stupid attitude, Fal! She'll eventually grow sick of your attitude, when she finally discovers it!

"Um, Fia?"

She grinned. "Yeah?"

He glanced over his shoulder at the stairs. If Cleon could put up with him, then why couldn't Fia? He fought with Cleon, so he could fight with Fia. No relationship was squeaky clean. Roald and Lalasa had recently proven that to him. There would always be complications. Always. So...

"Nothing. It's nothing," he told her.

She nodded. "Okay. I guess this is... see you later, then." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was short, but enough for him to feel how soft her face was, and breathe in her scent. It was a natural high. "Bye, Fal. I'll be sure to call."

"Bye," he said quietly, and watched her walk away.

She smells like apples picked right off the tree.

"Apples. I like apples," he smirked. "Apples are great. They're great."

A song was playing somewhere, just for him. Even though it happened to float over the radio from downstairs, picked by some radio disc jockey, Faleron would never deny that the song was playing just for him. It was a light tune, with some soft guitar. He grinned and headed back downstairs.

~~

Keladry and Liam gazed up at the statue of an ancient Greek god that they were musing about.

"The gods were one big family. Lots of intermarriage."

"Eww."

"I know."

She laughed. "Why was that anyway?"

"The people of different cities wanted to be united in a way, so they claimed that you could trace all your local gods back to the big guy in charge. In this case, and at this specific period of history, it was Zeus. They made up which were children of Zeus, and how they were all connected by making this god the father of that goddess or that one having married that one, then also marrying that one."

"Oh." Keladry looked back down at the table and picked up her glass. Strange. I don't remember it having a tiny bubble. Indeed, there was a tiny bubble near the surface of the water. She shrugged. Water had bubbles sometimes, if you shook your glass up. She and Liam had been talking for so long about random things that she was thirsty.

"Hmm... What time is it?"

"About 2:00 PM."

"Oh, wow. We've been talking for that long?"

"I suppose so. Time flies when you're having fun, right?"

"Yeah."

She blinked her eyes, suddenly a bit watery. She yawned into her hand. "Hmm... I can't believe I'm tired."

Liam leaned forward a tiny bit. "It doesn't surprise me. You were working at Mithran yesterday during that whole crisis with the bomb. You must be tired, whether you think you are or not."

"You think so?"

"Yeah." He seemed to be considering something. "Did you drive here?"

She yawned again. "Nope."

He stood up. "Well, I'm not trusting you to any taxi driver. You could fall asleep on the way and he could take advantage of that."

She laughed and leaned on her elbow. "How so?"

Liam picked up his jacket and put it on. "He could drive around a couple of extra miles, finally wake you up, and charge you for the whole trip."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm serious!"

He offered her his hand. She narrowed her eyes at him in mock suspicion. Her date merely grinned and offered her his other hand as well. She allowed him to haul her up and lead her outside. They left money on the table and Liam handed a tip to the woman who had seated Keladry when they reached the front entrance.

They walked outside and started down the sidewalk.

"Do you have a car?"

"I do."

"So we're not taking a taxi?"

"No. I can't stand them."

She rubbed her eyes. "How do I know that you won't take advantage of me in my drowsy state?"

Liam stopped. Keladry turned around to face him. "Well, Keladry. I'll ask you now. Do you trust me? If you don't, I'll call a taxi and we'll ride to your place that way. If you do, I will be nothing short of a gentleman."

"You just said you hated taxis."

"Yes, I believe I did."

"And you'd still accompany me in one even if I said that I didn't trust you."

Liam shrugged. "I do believe that was the offer."

Keladry gnawed on the inside of her cheek. He looked sincere enough. "Okay then. Lead the way, driver."

~~

"Roald?" Lalasa frowned. She stood beside the table where she and Roald had been eating, but there was no sign of him. The plates had even been cleared off in her absence.

"Miss, may I help you?"

"Yes, have you seen my boyfriend? He and I were seated here, eating lunch not too long ago. I just went to the bathroom and he's... he's not here anymore..."

The woman shook her head. "That's impossible, Miss. Two men were seated here. One became tired, so I believe they left."

Lalasa snorted. "Yeah, right! My boyfriend and I were at this table. And if you don't tell me where he is, I'll do something drastic!"

"Miss! Please lower your tone! There were two men at this table, and they're gone now. I never saw you in my life, so how am I to know that you're just trying to get out of paying a bill at another table? I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere! Where is Roald?"

"Ma'am, please come with us."

Lalasa gasped as another man took her by the arm and led her away. The waitress followed.

"I can't believe this! Roald! Roald, where are you? Roald!"

~~

"Roald! Oh man!"

Cleon had his hands on the sides of his head, completely shocked at the sight before him. Neal leaned forward and tapped Roald on the shoulder.

"Oooohhh..."

"Is he okay? What is he doing here? What's wrong with him?"

"I'm... I'm here with... 'Lasa...."

Cleon went to the door and peered out. He couldn't spot Lalasa anywhere. He went back to Roald's side and shook his head. "I don't see her anywhere. And you think that if Roald was sick, that Lalasa would be waiting just outside the bathroom door or something."

Neal frowned. He drummed his fingers on the counter. "Roald? Roald, can you hear me?"

Roald yawned. "Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Go away, Neal. I'm dreaming you up. I have to be. I'm practically asleep."

"Oh, great, Cleon. I think Roald is high."

"No!"

"Well, look at him." He leaned forward and lifted Roald's eyelid. "Pupils dilated and his skin is looking a bit pale. I say he feels a bit warm, don't you think?"

The redhead shrugged. His eyes were as wide as saucers. "I... I don't know. Your father is a doctor, right?"

"Well how else do I know what to check?" Neal retorted. In reality, he didn't know if Roald was drugged or maybe just sleepy as he claimed, but Neal wasn't about to take any chances.

"Oh shit! This is so bad! How did he get here? What do you think happened?"

At that moment, Faleron waltzed in, a smile on his face. "Oh, hello, fellas! What are you doing here?"

"Faleron! We think Roald has been drugged!"

"Oh, yes, of course he is. Keladry's date drugged him."

Cleon stared at his best friend, wondering why and how the former thief in front of him could speak of it so calmly. Neal gaped with his mouth open.

"Oh, don't tell me you're high, too."

"Why do you say that?" Faleron laughed.

Cleon threw his arms up into the air. "Dude! How can you act so happy when Roald is here nearly passed out?"

"Maybe if you just walked out into the group of tables again, you'd see Kel and her date talking. And you can ask Liam Irons all about why Roald is like this."

"Why would Kel's date drug Roald?" Neal asked.

"Because we know that he's evil."

"No way! Kel wouldn't date someone evil," Cleon protested.

"How do you know?"

"Because Kel is smarter than that."

"Well, what if he tricked her?"

"Why would he trick her?"

"Because he's evil?"

"How do we know he's evil?"

"Because he tricked her!"

"Well how do we know--?"

Neal groaned. "Just shut up, the both of you! Get Roald. We have to get him to a doctor or something."

Cleon and Faleron each took one of Roald's arms and slung it over their shoulders. Roald was barely able to lift one foot in front of another, but he did. Neal limped behind them, out into the main entrance of the restaurant.

There was a bit of screaming going on from the manager's office. A woman exited and saw them.

"I'm sorry about the loudness. I do hope your friend feels better, Sir."

"Thank you very much. Neal, tip her."

"Huh?"

"Just do it."

Neal fished into his pocket and handed the waitress a tip. She curtsied for them and waved as they walked out. Another scream came from the office behind her. The waitress rolled her eyes and went back inside.

~~

Keladry snuggled into the comfortable passenger seat of Liam's black hover car. It was classy, but not too classy. A Styrofoam cup was in a tiny cup-holder, brown trace of liquid inside indicating that it had been coffee. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep the smell of the leather interior and pine air freshener.

"So where do you live?"

She opened her eyes. "Keep going straight on this street until you see the Goodwell's Gas Station. Make a left there and keep going until you see an apartment complex that has the word 'Government Property' on its sign."

"An address would have been just as useful. There is a navigation system in here."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Go ahead an close your eyes."

She did. She wanted to stay awake so that she could listen to the world around her. All she heard was the sound of the car as it stopped and went. She could hear her own breathing, and the rustling of her clothing. But that was all. She had nothing to fear in his car. Nothing.

She dreamed of a broad space of bare concrete in the middle of the city. She was standing, watching her friends interact with one another. Except they weren't her friends. They were animals of different species.

Lalasa was a singing nightingale and Roald was a faithful dog. Cleon was a small monkey with red fur, messing with a sleeping fox, which she assumed was Faleron. Neal was a cat whose tail swished back and forth as he watched everything, and trotting pass him was a jackal with Joren's blue eyes.

A silver furred wolf met Joren halfway and started to growl low in its throat. Keladry could not place a name with this wolf, but it frightened her. Lalasa the nightingale twittered in alarm and Roald barked at it, while making a stand in front of his nightingale. Cleon jumped up and down, waving a fist at the wolf while Faleron calmly watched, his dark eyes glittering with anticipation. Neal hissed and his tail swished back even faster than before.

But Joren didn't do anything. The jackal laid down on his stomach with his ears flattened against his head and he whined while the wolf hovered over him, his teeth bared.

And then the wolf snapped forward and there was blood from the jackal, seeping into the concrete. Keladry simply stood there, wondering why Joren wouldn't fight back. It didn't make any sense. Of all people, he was most sure to fight anything.

And yet this silver wolf...

The wolf retreated from the injured jackal, and lied down before a Bengal Tiger that appeared out of nowhere. The wolf rolled onto his back and bared his belly submissively to the tiger, which swiped at it and walked past. The tiger stopped in front of Joren and lied down beside the injured animal. The tiger nudged it with his nose and lowered his head.

And then there was nothing else.

Keladry was asleep when the car came to a complete stop, the car touched down on the ground, and the engine was turned off. Liam touched her gently on the shoulder. She stirred.

"We're here."

Keladry blinked her eyes a few times and sat up. "Oh. Right." She reached for the door handle and slowly opened the car door. "Thank you."

"I'd better walk you up," Liam said and got out as well. He met her on the other side and helped her out of his car. He shut the door behind him and offered her his arm. She was too tired to protest, and besides, he was warm.

They went up to her apartment. Keladry fiddled with her pager ID and unlocked the door. She turned around to face Liam again. "Thank you so much for lunch."

"No, thank you. I hope I wasn't a bore."

"Of course not. I had a great time."

"Really? Perhaps we can go for dinner some time in the near future."

"I'd love to," she found herself replying before she could stop to think about it.

He smiled. "Wonderful. Now get some sleep. You're obviously more tired than you let on."

Keladry bit her lip. She watched him take three steps before she called out again. "Liam?"

"Yes?" He turned around.

"This may be a stupid question, but I was reminded of something by, um... never mind."

He walked back toward her again. "No, seriously. Go ahead and ask. I'm all ears."

She sighed. "Well, if you were an, um, animal, what animal would you be?"

Liam chuckled. "Interesting question. I'd have to say... a wolf. Definitely a wolf. The whole strong and deadly predator type thing. I suppose it's one of those testosterone-induced answers that just comes to a man without his wanting it to."

"I see. Well, thanks again. I'll see you later."

"Yes, later. Goodbye, Keladry." He reached down and lifted her hand to his lips. He bowed his head to her and retreated.

The elevator opened at the end of the hall. Joren exited from it, and immediately caught sight of Liam. Joren looked past him and glared long and hard at Keladry. She felt guilty for some unknown reason and cringed.

Joren stopped in the middle of the hall. Liam came within two feet of him and also stopped.

"Ah, Stone is it? From the pool hall? We never had a proper introduction. My name is Liam Irons. I was just escorting Kel back here from lunch. You know, lunch? That meal in between breakfast and dinner?"

Joren scowled. "Don't insult me so, Mr. Irons. I know what lunch is."

"It wasn't meant as an insult, Mr. Stone. You just had this terribly serious look on your face and I wanted to make a joke. I'm sorry if I offended." Liam glanced over his shoulder and threw a smile at Keladry. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

"Don't come back here again."

Liam smirked. "I don't believe the decision is yours to make."

Joren shot him one last dirty look before shoving past. Liam chuckled to himself, and entered the elevator. He waved to Kel from the end of the hall just before the metallic doors slid closed. When the blonde special operative came within speaking range, Keladry confronted him.

"Why don't you just leave him alone, okay Stone? He didn't do anything to you."

"You are such an idiot, Mindelan."

"What?"

"Don't come running to me when you get in trouble. I won't be there."

She closed the door behind her and went into her kitchen. She'd never heard of stranger things come out of her partner's mouth. The nerve of him, berating her as if she'd been the one who'd gone off the deep end! She wouldn't expect any better behavior from him. He was always being a First Class jerk to her and everyone around her. To Hell if he was haunted by his past, there was excuse for only half of his actions!

"Asshole," she muttered.

A black box on the corner of her kitchen counter began beeping. She tapped the green button on it and read the message screen.

"I have mail?"

She jogged over to her couch and picked up her portable database. She opened a tiny compartment on the side of the database and unwound a cable from it. She plugged it into the black box and downloaded her new mail.

"I wonder who it's from."

When the download was complete, she disconnected the cable and put it back in its compartment. Then she took the database with her to the bedroom and began reading the screen.

~~

Dear Kel,

            I know it's been a long time, and I never call nor send you anything, but it's hard to find a spare moment up here to do anything of my own. You wouldn't believe how busy they keep all of us! We are a bunch of First Class and Second Class officers gathered from various places around Mithros, hundreds of miles away from home, on an expedition in the Roof of the World.

Oh, but it's like nothing you could have ever imagined up here. Though it is cold, there have been the strangest hot spots on our journey. In one place that Major Brant (my commanding officer) called Altwin, there was snow for miles around, and yet next to a mountain there was a cold waterfall accompanied by green trees and grass. We could step inside this circle of warmth and feel the green grass with our fingers. We could touch the stones, which were lukewarm. There was wildlife living there as well. It was an oasis in a frozen desert.

There are three main groups. There are the scouts. That's the group that I'm in. We scout out territory, figure out ways to get around obstacles, and stick our necks out for everyone else. Then there are the enforcers. Those are the guys in charge of protecting everyone. We squeak for help and they come running. Many of them travel back and forth from their group to ours. We always have a band of enforcers around. Then the majority of the scientists and the Immortals bring up the rear. A few from every Immortal species travel with us while the rest of them are at our base. Normally, this letter would be censored because of such information, but since this passes from one First Class officer to another, I pulled some strings.

How is everyone there in Tusaine? Yes, I know you're in Tusaine. How else would this reach you? Yesterday, I attempted to send you mail but your mail slot didn't exist anymore. I was able to contact Commissioner Wyldon. Boy, was he surprised to hear from me. I asked why your slot didn't exist anymore (I was even worried enough to suspect that you were no longer in service to the DJPF). He told me that you had transferred to Tusaine along with the others. So I looked up your new mail slot and the rest is history.

Is Neal behaving himself? Somehow, I have reason to believe his cheeks have been slapped a few more times since I've been away. Those poor women. We need to put a leash on him. Not kidding. Send him my best wishes. And tell him to lay off the clubs! (Haha)

I know that I'm not too familiar with your other new friends. Cleon Kennan, Lalasa Isran, and the others. But tell them hello for me anyway. Maybe they'll remember me from the banquet. The guy with the curly black hair who said the word 'jolly' one too many times. Well, I can't help it. Life IS jolly!

Are you still partners with that jerk, Joren Stone? I'm sorry if you still are. Has he changed at all? Have you two gotten to know each other at all? Have you even made a peace treaty?! In any case, don't take his crap. I know you, Kel. You can take him on. I'll be rooting for you.

And lastly, Happy Birthday, Kel. I know I'm a tiny bit late, but Happy 21st Birthday. I wanted to get you a gift, but I'm not allowed to send anything. Not that there's anything here to send. Always remember that you have a friend in me. There are few who could boast of such a loyal friend as I who would take the time out of his busy adventure in the unknown to wish a friend- miles and miles away- good tidings on her birthday. May you remain as good and honest as you always have been and may you receive all that you wish for, no matter what it happens to be.

What time is it? I must file a report on a recent situation I was involved in. I'll tell you about it. Though I warn you, it might not be all that comprehensible...

~~~

A few days earlier:

I am out of my assigned tent trying to find my fellow 'tent mates' (since obviously I do not have a room and I therefore cannot have roommates). Major Brant has just ordered us to get our gear and get ready to pack up. There are three to four people to a tent, and we also operate and go out on scouting missions with one or two other tents as our group. It's a whole James Bond & co. deal, but a very sweet deal at that. There aren't really any enemies up here except nature, so stealth is usually taking a back seat. I like that.

Anyway, my tent mates! Aiden came from Carthak. He is an awesome guy to have survived that city. Aiden is naturally cool, for lack of better words. If we had gone to the same Academy, I bet he would have been the guy whom everyone knew and said 'hi' to, but was just too nervous to talk to because he looked so untouchably… cool. He has coal black hair, cut very short. It spikes without gel but looks like it has gel, a pretty strange thing to see. His eyes are like coal too, set on an angular, but pleasing tan face. He's tall like Neal, but he's really serious about his work and seems like a true blue honest guy. I don't think he's had very much fun in his life though. He's a momma's boy, to be blunt. Aiden reminds me of Keladry in that perspective. Crown teases him often about it. I don't know how Aiden could remain so pure like that, even after having worked in Carthak for so long. But ah well. Doesn't matter.

Peg and Crown both come from small suburbs around Tortall. Peg and Crown Sparrows are cousins. They're like me. They want to find adventure. Peg's very sweet. Of course, Peg isn't a tent mate because she's a girl, but she and another one of her tent mates scouts with us. She's only Second Class, but she is remarkably bright. If there's anyone you need to find a way of getting somewhere you normally wouldn't be able to get to, she can think one up. Why, we were stuck on this ledge one time and… I won't digress. Crown is a funny guy. He's about my height. Crown's the First Class officer. He and his cousin both have dirty blond hair cut to their shoulders, but Crown ties his back. They look like surfers at first glance, to be honest. Actually, they were surfers. They still do that on their vacations. But vacations are few and far in between for people like us.

Aiden and Crown are both several years older than I am—Six and five, respectively. It takes some people years to get the status, and they took their time. Yes, unlike me… Neal and Keladry dragged me up there, or should I just say… Keladry? It's fine. I'm happy for the status. It's given me a lot of things so early in my life. I'm very happy.

I think that the hotspot that the scouts are currently camped in has been named Roget. I have no idea how they think up these names, but hey. Whatever floats their boat. The hotspot itself is twenty miles north of Quetzn, where Group B currently is. Our group, the Scouts, the risk-takers, the kamikazes, the... you get the idea. Well, we pave the way for them through the sleet and snow. And here we are.

Roget is a mile circumference of a great green circle. There's grass beneath your feet that gets greener and fresher as you head toward the center. There's also a fountain and a pool of water in the middle. The water is warm. You could take a nice hot bath in there and be perfectly content for a week. The trees are typically of the evergreen kind. I suppose that's how they survive the other cold conditions that seep into the edge of the hotspot. Winter animals with white furs occasionally graze in this circle of paradise. But they never stay long. Predators like to visit this place, too.

When we found our first hotspot, Aiden was sent with another scout to retrieve a scientist from Group C and check out what was going on. The scientist was some sort of geologist. He did some tests and claimed that there was low-pressure steam rising up through the bottom of the pools of water. The cold of the north chilled it as fast as the steam warmed it, so a constant equilibrium of temperature was created in that general area.

I honestly don't understand it. Does this mean that a volcano could have sprouted here? Steam from deep within the earth sounds a lot like fault lines and magma shooting up from a dormant volcano.

The camp itself is a network of tents, set up in a grid-like fashion. Every time we set down and pitch camp, the same order and arrangement of personnel is kept so that we're more efficient. I'm always on the Northern side. This is the coldest side, at the edge of the camp. Ugh. The mess tent is near the center, as is Major Brant's tent. I wonder why.

Our tents aren't too big. They're low to the ground and an almost pure white color so that we blend in with the snow. The insides of the tents are the normal camouflage green, as is our uniforms for when we explore the more tree-littered hotspots. We can turn the tents inside out, so to speak, to suit our environment. Other times, we have these snow colored uniforms. Our travel gear is the same.

Anyway, I'm out looking for tent mates. Everyone else around me has a different more general objective stuck on his or her minds. They look for a huge hypothesized hotspot somewhere past the mountains. That's where the Immortals want to go. And if they want to go there- aw, shoot- I'm not one for disappointing them.

I find Crown at the mess tent.

"Hey, Owen. What's shakin'?"

The man has some strange lingo.

"Oh, everything's jolly."

"Jolly, huh?"

I mean, compared to mine, anyway.

"Where's Peg?"

"Nature called, I think. She's got to do some other things, too. We heard Major Brant order everyone to ship up and ship out." He eats a bread roll while we sit down at a collapsible table.

I drum my fingers on the table. "Where's Aiden?"

"Uh... I think he's getting the laundry done. Yes. Yes, he is. I saw him carrying his laundry bag a half an hour ago." He finishes his bread roll. "So did you already pack your stuff?"

"Yeah. I was waiting for the rest of you so we could take down the tent together."

Crown looks at his pager. "It's only seven in the morning. We can collapse the tent in half an hour when Peg and Aiden are found. Let's go pack."

I think of everyone here, Crown is my closest new friend. He's got a casual way of doing everything. His favorite phrase is 'no biggie'. Naturally, Major Brant claims all his headaches are Crown's doing. But though he is funny at times, he even gives me a headache. The person who best puts up with him is surprisingly not me, but Aiden. Once again, the coolness that is Aiden.

"Jesslaw! Sparrows! What is Sergeant's location?" Major Brant calls.

Aiden Sergeant. His last name is Sergeant. Oh, but I pity him in his Academy years. The grouchy Drill Sergeant of his Academy had to differ from when he was being addressed and when Aiden was being addressed, so I think he just called Aiden 'Maggot', or something similar.

Major Brant is not as bad as I make him sound. Okay, that's a lie. He's in his early thirties, but still looks and acts and young as a new officer who's only been in the service for about three years. Major Brant is the poster boy for the DJPF Reserve Corps. No kidding. He's six feet tall with a muscular (but not bulky) build, tanned skin, strong chin, and a voice that reminds you of boot camp (whether you ever went to one or not). His cap is often times tipped down over his face so you can never see his eyebrows. It would be nicer never to see his eyes.

Major Brant marches up to Crown and me in his usual camouflage uniform and huge black army boots. We automatically salute. It's not something we were trained to do in our Academy days. When you're a normal officer of any class, you don't have to salute whenever you see a superior officer. When they address you in a formal way, yes you must. But casually, you don't.

It doesn't matter to Brant. You could be getting out of the wash tent trying to hold a towel around your waist. But if Brant walked by, you'd as hell better drop that towel and salute. Now that I've met Major Brant, I can honestly say that I want to hug Commissioner Wyldon and sob like a baby.

"Sir! We believe Sergeant is at the wash tent by the stream, doing his laundry," Crown answers. Brant raises an eyebrow. Crown catches himself and adds, "Sir!"

He nods and directs his gaze to me. Ah! What do those people on the wild animal encounters show always say? Never look them in the eyes! Avoid his eyes... avoid his eyes... Ack! I met his eyes.

"Something wrong, Jesslaw?"

"Sir, no, Sir." The eyes! The eyes tell all! Aaahhhh! I'm going to go blind!

"Jesslaw, are you sure?"

Eyes... my poor eyes...

"Sir, everything is tip-top, Sir!"

He turns his back. "Get out of here. I wanted all the tents in your section down yesterday!"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Crown and I reply in unison.

"And help the personnel at the mess tent disassemble at 800 hours!"

We reply the same three words again. Oh, but I should have known what I was getting myself into when I volunteered for this expedition. I mean, even the enforcers in Group B don't have guys as tough as Brant in them. And I bet Group C has square dances every Saturday night, wherever they've pitched camp! Of course, I have no factual evidence, but sometimes you have to go on faith. Ahem.

I wonder why Brant is in charge of our contingent of scouts anyway. I mean, isn't he more fitted for the B's? He treats us as if were in the same stupid platoons of the reserve corps.

"We'd better get Aiden. Come on," Crown says and jogs ahead of me. I follow him, wondering if Aiden had been nice enough to get our laundry as well as his. After all, he was a momma's boy. That might stand for some good favors when it comes to chores.

I rub my hands together. The further toward the borders of the hotspot you go, the colder it becomes. "Brrr... Isn't there a shorter way around?"

"Morning traffic," Crown replies, meaning the dozens of people going about their morning duties. The better thing to do is to find a non-populated path and just run the length of it. It gets your blood flowing anyway, and that keeps you warmer.

"Aw, man!" Crown groans. "I left my gloves at the mess tent! No biggie, though. Look, I'll catch up with you later. Just meet me at the tent after you get Aiden, okay?"

"Sure."

He jogs away, almost tripping over a tent stake that he couldn't see in the tall grass. Brant had wanted to mow some of the grass down for the temporary camp, but a scientist insisted that they were messing with the environment enough already. Yes. You could say that we are infesting this environment with our human cooties.

I turn around and begin walking again. I look up at the sky, trying to find something interesting to hold my attention. Of course, the sky is gray. There are no clouds. Just a dull lifeless gray that made my eyes hurt after a few moments because of its sheer dullness. I wish that something would happen soon. If not, I'll go out of my mind with boredom. I mean, that was the point of this whole trip for me, wasn't it? Adventure? Excitement?

Well, gee, it doesn't get any more exciting than this, huh?

I'm so depressed over my current situation that I fail to see other people traversing around me—or coming straight at me.

"Oof!"

I stumble back a step when my shoulder smacks hard into someone else's right shoulder, facing him. The girl I collided with is on her butt, wincing from the fall. I feel immediately guilty.

"Wow.  Running into you is like running into a brick wall."

And immediately flattered. Whoa, Owen. Stop with the blushing! Help the girl up, you idiot.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you. Are you alright?" I ask while offering my hand. She takes it and yanks herself up. The girl, woman I should say, is about the same height as me. She looks very exotic. Maybe she's Pure Yamani origin. Her almond-shaped eyes, tanned skin, and inky black hair are good indications. I can't tell her body type under her bulky uniform clothing. It doesn't matter. That's what those people on the talk shows are always saying, right? It's the personality that counts.

Oh, but she's beautiful no matter what's supposed to count.

…I wonder why I've never seen her before.

"I'm fine," she replies. She starts to brush herself off. "I think we'll both be watching where we're going next time, eh?"

"Definitely." She starts to walk off but I call out. "Hey! What's your name? Are you from Group B?"

The girl stares at me first, as if caught off guard by me, or maybe something right behind me. Hey—maybe she's stunned by my handsomeness like I am with her beauty. It's possible.

Oh, stop laughing.

"Um, yes, actually. They just changed out the last group of B's that was here before you all pick up and move away again." She gains more confidence as she continues to speak and re-approach me. She thrusts her hand toward me. "My name is Jealousani. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Owen," I reply. So, it's glove to glove. She has a nice firm handshake. Sign of good character, right? "So… Maybe we can meet up later at the mess tent after we're done moving camp. You know, just to get acquainted." Oh, I am so lame. She's never going to agree to that. Argh! Can you say Loser?

She considers it. "Hmm. Sure. Next time would be, like, for supper, right? I'll be there. A girl's got to eat. We'll meet up."

That was too easy. Maybe she's confused by my approach. Girls who think a guy is immediately hitting on her aren't always equally attracted. I've seen Neal get swatted down one too many times for moving too fast. I'll be subtle. Really, I will. We'll start off as friends. "It's not a… a date, just so you know. This is just, um, a…"

"Friendly, welcome-to-the-group thing? Yeah, I figured."

Heheh… Wow. Pretty and witty. I like. I like.

She shrugs her shoulders and starts walking away. "It was great meeting you. I'll see you at dinner then."

She honors me with the sight of her smile, her perfectly white, perfectly straight and even teeth. Oh, man. She's such a Betty; I can't even begin to tell you. I'm sure if Neal were here, he'd be swooning over her. I wish he were here. I need his advice. Cute girl at ten o'clock! Go, go, go! What were the chances of me seeing someone like her in a place like this?

"Owen? Yo, Jesslaw! Snap out of it! People are walking, here!"

What? I throw a glance over my shoulder to discover Crown's younger cousin, Peg. She's my age; I'm not the youngest out of this whole group, thank goodness. She reminds me of a little sister. I guess it's because Crown and I are becoming good friends and Crown treats her like a little sister. I mean, she's not that younger than me, but she's got that youthful aura around her.

"Oh, hey Peg. I didn't see you there."

She brushes back a golden strand from her forehead. "Of course you didn't. What were you gawking at, anyway?"

I point in the direction Jealousani had left. "I just made a new acquaintance, if you must know. A real beauty. Clever, too."

She blinks and nods slowly. "Oh. Okay." Before she lets the thought take up her mind, she punches me in the shoulder. "Come on, Aiden told me to find you and yell at you to hurry up to the tent. While you were obviously off in Lala land, standing here for who knows how long, they both made it back before you."

Ouch, that hurt. Don't act like a wimp, Owen. I rub my shoulder a bit and shrug. Funny. It didn't seem that long to me. I guess time goes by really quickly when you have something worthy to think about. "Well, thanks, Peg. I'll go meet them right now."

"See you." She jogs away, more abrupt than usual. I wonder what's wrong with her. She usually lingers around to crack some awful jokes with me. We have this running gag with ducks. Don't ask.

Later in the day, after we have picked up camp and moved a few miles to a colder hotspot (which remained classified as a hotspot for its grass and tree growth), I find myself still daydreaming about a particular Yamani girl and her award-winning smile. Even when I smack my hand with a tent pole, the pain doesn't bother me as much, because I've got something else to occupy my time. Crown seems to catch on to my weird behavior because he throws sly smirks my way when he can. If Neal can't be here to tease me, then I suppose Crown can have the job.

We finish setting up our tent. Aiden, having shed a layer of clothing in heat of our work, wipes the sweat off his brow and looks to me with stern eyes. "What's going on with you today? You look like you're somewhere far away."

"This girl just transferred from Group B. She's so great. I'm having supper with her, so is that okay with you guys?"

"Sure. No biggie. We can live without you. It's not like you're the reason we eat supper, you know," Crown laughs.

Aiden isn't as easy going as Crown. He stretches his arms while he speaks. "Well, you move fast. You just met her? So how come we haven't heard of a new transfer?"

"Please, man. They don't announce these things like the blue-light special at a Wal-Mart. I mean, she is a blue-light special, in a way, but you know. I'd like to think I'm the only guy right now who's going to have a chance with her."

"Uh-huh. I don't have a good feeling about this."

I can't believe it. I put my hands on my hips and stare at my older friend. "Aiden! Give me a break! She's just a girl, not an assassin!" I don't continue farther, for I am immediately reminded of the Immortals habitat and that female spy, KJ. Beautiful and deadly. Oh, but that's not in this case. Why should I even worry? "She's really nice, and I'd appreciate it if you were happy for my luck."

Aiden sighs. "Alright. But I still don't like the feeling of this."

"You don't like the feeling of anything," Crown retorts.

"Shut up," he replies. Aiden turns back to me. "Have your fun. But snap out of daydreaming for now and start putting your stuff in the tent. Crown and I are here sweating amidst a flaky white landscape and you barely look winded."

"Ya bum!" Crown adds sarcastically, giving me the evil eye. Aiden looks over his shoulder to glare daggers once again at the surfer and crouches down to identify his pack among ours. We haul our belongings into the tent and take care of the rest of our chores before we clean up to go to supper. Crown begins telling a story that everyone has heard a few times over, but no one chooses to stop him. Aiden even cracks a smile.

By the time he gets to the part about the man in the hat, we're standing in line for food and I am scanning the thin crowd of fellow scouts for Jealousani. Maybe she forgot. If I were her and some weird stranger entreated me to supper, I would probably forget about it, too. I'm such an idiot. Why did I even bother? I'll just get my food and sit with Aiden, Crown, and Peg.

"So where's your dream girl, man?" Crown asks. He fills up his tray with as much food as he is allowed. Even though Aiden and I aren't as hungry, we fill up our trays anyway for Crown's leeching benefit.

I scan the group of men and women in front of me. "I don't see her yet. Not everyone's here, you know."

We get drinks and find a small bench to sit down on. In a few minutes, Peg and a tent mate of hers join us. They drag up an even smaller bench and sit down. They chatter on as they seat themselves, and Crown joins in on the conversation. Aiden remains silent and eats his meal.

"So, Owen, what's with you? You lost something?" Peg asks me. "You look like you lost something."

A flash of perfectly black hair and a beautifully structured face catch my eye. I stand up immediately, careful not to spill my tray. My friends instantly fix their gazes on me. Peg stands up. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, no. I just…"

"He just saw his dream girl, obviously. Go woo her like the heartbreaker you are, Owen," Crown drawled. He made a shooing gesture with his hands. He dismisses me without another thought and discovers there is no more food on his plate. He smiles slyly at Aiden before snatching a piece of food from the other man's tray. Aiden doesn't seem to notice. He is still staring at me.

I smile because Jealousani sees me. She waves for me to come over. "Sorry, guys. I'll catch up with you later."

Peg steps back so I can move past. She sits down on her bench slowly.

"Later," she calls weakly to my retreating back. I wave and hurry over with my tray to the other side of the clearing. The young woman I had met before on that morning's collision greets me with a pearly smile.

Life doesn't get any jollier than this.

"Hi! Guess what!" she says as she sits down with her tray in her lap. She pats the space beside me, inviting me to sit down. It's a small bench, so I try not to get too close to no avail. My arm is up against hers, and I try to lean away out of gentlemanly courtesy. She does not notice.

"What's up?"

"I get to go scouting tomorrow, even though the rest of the B's are staying behind here at camp. Do you want to come with me?" She nudges me with her elbow and pouts prettily. At this close a range, I can't help but notice that her beautiful lips parted a tiny sliver, warmth is radiating off her body, and her bright eyes twinkle…

My nose tingles. Whoa! I've never had a nosebleed in my life! Don't tell me I'm…

"Owen? Owen!"

"Ah! Sorry."

"Do you want to go or not?"

"I'd love you."

"Huh?"

AAAHHHH!

"I said I'd love to."

Phew. That was too close. Thankfully, if she has heard the first response, she's choosing to ignore it. I don't think I would have been able to yank myself out of that mess. She'd probably think I was a stalker or something. I mean… We just met. I know this is pretty unusual for a guy, especially one in the 'service' like I am. But I really think that when you meet the right person, it sort of clicks. Just like that.

"You seem very content just staring at me like that. What's on your mind?"

This is your chance, Owen. Don't be a loser. "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

She regards me curiously. "Maybe. Depends. Do you?"

"Certainly."

My heart is going to burst out of my chest. Why did I have to go and blurt that out?! She's going to laugh. I just know it.

"Hmm. You're a sweetheart." She leans forward and kisses me on the cheek. "But it's late and a little too heavy a topic to talk about just now. We'll try again tomorrow, eh?" She stands up and dumps her trash from her tray.

"Tomorrow, you mean, when we go scouting?"

"Yup! You just got to love adventure!"

Adventure? Did she say she was looking for adventure? The woman is not only the most beautiful specimen of the female gender that I've ever seen, she's sassy and clever… she's independent, that I'm sure of if she made it as a DJPF officer… and for the love of God, she likes adventure! I like adventure!

In a dreamy daze, I dump my trash as well and set the tray down on its rightful stack. Everyone else is preparing to get last minute orders for the next morning, but I already know that I have a free day tomorrow. A free day would be the perfect opportunity to go scouting with her tomorrow. Yes. Absolutely perfect!

How in the world will I be able to sleep? I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am! Not even Major Brant could spoil this moment! I feel like I'm floating in midair. My head is so light and airy. Is this what love feels like? No wonder Neal spends most of his time falling in love. Okay, so maybe it's not as intense for him. He is a little fickle to ever stick to any one great love. But oh… oh, oh, oh…

A hand waves itself in front of my face, trying to snap me out of my trance. I don't even mind. I'm too busy imagining my perfect future. Yeah, we would continue seeing each other during the expedition. Afterwards, she would transfer to my district back home and we'd continue to date. I'd propose under a starry sky and we'd get married in the summertime. She could do all the fancy wedding planning. I don't care for that. And then we could spend the rest of our lives together. Kids, even.

Yeah. It sounds a little crazy, but what about love isn't crazy?

"Yup. He's a goner," Crown says to Peg as they and Aiden observe me.

Peg slaps the back of my head. "Wake up! Everyone's heading off to bed. You might want to sleep, too."

"Ouch! Give me a break, Peg!"

"Well I would if you weren't acting like a stupid schoolboy fawning over the new girl."

Do I sense a tone of bitterness here? "Calm down, Peg. Don't get so mad. I'm getting to bed. Come on, guys."

"Is my dear coz jealous?" Crown teases Peg behind my turned back.

Jealous? But it's Peg. Peg is just my friend. That's the way things are supposed to be. She growls and stomps off, joining her tent mates for lights out. I bet Crown is just joking. He does crazy things like that. Yes. Yes, of course. It's just a harmless joke.

"Leave her alone, Crown. Let's go." The oldest member of our trio grabs him by the collar and drags him behind me. 

~~

"Hey, what are you doing up so early? We don't even have duties today," Aiden yawns as he sits up on his bedroll. He sleeps in the middle of us three, with Crown happily snoring on the other side from me. I pull another layer over of head and look around my pack for my gloves.

"I'm going scouting with Jealousani."

"Is that her name, huh? Well, be careful. And leave your pager on. Better yet, bring a walkie-talkie."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Stop acting like my mother."

Aiden narrows his eyes. "Maybe I wouldn't have to if you'd start seeing straight. We're in a whole new frontier, Owen. There's always going to be time to flirt with girls, but not in this environment."

"What the hell…? Why are you guys up?" Crown moans from his bedroll. He turns on his side and kicks Aiden to demand some attention. Aiden swats him away.

"Owen's volunteered to scout with his dream girl."

"Oh? Is that all? Then can you two shut up so I can sleep?"

"Yeah, we will." Aiden replies but his steely gaze is directed at me. "Owen, page us at the first sign of trouble." Before Crown protests that we still haven't stopped talking, Aiden yanks the covers over the other man's head and gives me a warning look. He settles back into his bedroll, but his eyes never leave me while I remain inside the tent.

I know Aiden is a great guy. He's responsible and trustworthy. Like I've said many times before, untouchably cool. But being Mr. Perfect like him really does annoy me sometimes. His portrayal of an overbearing parent just happens to top the list at this moment. I'm convinced now that he's Keladry's long lost twin. Their personalities are matched down to the last scolding.

Jealousani and I meet at the edge of camp. She seems to be wearing fewer layers than I am. I become cold faster than other people, so I don't think much more of it. She beckons me to approach and grabs my hand.

"Well, come on! A whole new frontier awaits!"

That's not the only thing that waits. I can't help but grin at the prospect of getting closer to her. Where has this woman been all my life?

~~

"Oh, wow. Is that a cave over there?"

I squint my eyes in the blinding white snow. "I believe it is." Glancing around, I realize that we've gone farther than we should have from camp. "You know, since you're new to mapping out land and stuff, maybe we should head in a few hundred feet, eh? I mean, I can handle it, but since this whole trip is to get you prepared—"

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Owen. Don't you want to find adventure?"

She already knows my weak spot. To add to this, she pouts in that incredibly sexy way that she does and takes her hand in mine. I sigh, realizing that over the last twenty-four hours, I've just about lost my whole heart to her. Jealousani begins to walk backwards while leading me.

"We won't be too long. After the cave, we'll turn back. I promise."

"If you say so."

I feel the snow sloshing underneath my feet as we lift our legs high and forward. You could barely tell there was a cave there at all, the way the snow piled at the entrance. I was glad that the snow wasn't coming down on our heads, but some strange intuition told me that it would soon enough. I'd better make sure that we leave in a few minutes.

We duck to enter the cave. The first thing we notice is the rise in temperature.

"Is it just me, or is it warmer than outside?"

"Could be a mini-hotspot or something," I mutter, looking around. I reach into my pack and get my flashlight. Whew! It is a little warm in here. Without thinking, I automatically shrug off my outer jacket and drape it over my shoulder. Jealousani does the same.

"I should probably page Aiden. He must be wondering what's taking us so long."

"Oh, do you have to do that now? Come on, we haven't found anything yet."

"But…"

"No 'buts'. Let's keep looking, okay?"

Ah well. I can deal with the 'foster parent' that is Aiden Sergeant when we get back. I glance at my watch and sigh. It was getting a bit late for the two of us to be out. We really should head back in.

She walks ahead a few steps, shining her own flashlight further into the cave. "Hey! I think I hear running water."

"Melting snow?" I wonder to myself. "The hotspot could melt the snow and create some sort of water source, I suppose. We should go back and report." I try to reach for her arm, but she twists away.

"Well, we have to go see it first, don't we? I mean, what if it isn't running water at all? Come on, Owen. Let's have a look!" her tone changes to an impatient one. I have to admit, she does have a point. I know, I know. I barely know this girl, but I'm letting her boss me around like we've been together forever. She just makes it so easy to do what she says…

"Owen? Come on!"

"Oh, okay." I sigh and trudge after her. I watch the ground in front of me, making sure we don't trip in anything. She keeps her flashlight pointed above to make sure our heads don't bump into anything. We walk for a few minutes very slowly. We duck three times through little portals that led to even larger cavern chambers. The number of stalactites and stalagmites is amazing. This place must truly be ancient.

I see trickling water running down the stalactites and forming pools of water. The lowness of the water requires me to crouch down. I remove my gloves and dip the fingers of my left hand into the pool. The water was mostly cool, just like freshly melted snow. The snow above the cave could melt from the rising heat of the hotspot, then seep through the rock until it came in here.

That meant that the water had to empty out somewhere down here. Otherwise this cavern would have been flooded ages ago.

"I think I see an underground river! Owen, get over here!"

I stand up, almost tripping over a rock formation behind me. I swing my beam of light in an arc around me. She's not here? Oh shit! Where is she? Oh, crap. This is bad. This is very bad…

"Owen! Down here!"

Eh? "I can't see you! Where are you?"

"Over here!"

I follow the voice. A rocky portal, just like many we've passed through, leads to an even bigger chamber. Unfortunately, it's practically a straight drop down from there. I brace myself against the sides and shine my flashlight downwards. I'd better not drop it. This is my only one.

A sigh of relief escapes my lips when I see her waving from the bottom. She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts. "Shine the light over there!" She points.

Ye Gods. There is an underground river. It looks inky black from where I am, but considering that this is a cave and there is no light, it's probably clearer than I think it is. The river is about ten feet wide, and moving slowly west. While I gape, she shouts a second time.

 "Do you have any stationary lights we could put around?"

"No, I don't… Wait. Yeah, yeah I do!" I grin when I realize that I do happen to have a few. "Let me climb down first. Can you shine your flashlight in my path?"

"Sure!"

"Okay, give me a second." I pull back from the edge and out of her view. Now I definitely have to page someone. I pull my sleeve back to look at the mechanism on my wrist.

Aiden's already paged me. Oh, how surprising. Not.

" 'Everyone else has already given their mid-day reports and is heading back. Where the hell are you?' Huh. It's later than I thought it was."

I quickly type something back, reading along the lines of:  "Found an underground river. She wants to see where it leads. Do I ever interfere when you're trying to get close to girl?"

I press send and pull my sleeve back over the pager. I put my flashlight into the breast pocket of one my many layers and look for the light that Jealousani's shining for me. I wonder how she got down there with no light to guide her… I tighten the straps of my pack on my back and start down the ledge, hoping that I don't fall.

That's it; steady, Owen. Don't look down. Just feel the rocks under you. Take your time. I can't fall. Of course I can't fall. I've got luck on my side. The proof is there! I've landed a spot in a very important expedition in the Roof of the World. I have Jealousani, waiting for me at the bottom. Of course I have luck! I'm not going to faaaaAAHHH!!

"Crap!" I scream as I lose my footing. My hand shoots out and grabs the first solid thing it lands on.

Unfortunately, this rock comes loose and I feel my arms and legs moving about aimlessly, doing the Scooby-Doo motions as I fall backwards. Though I'm falling, I feel weightless, and I inadvertently try to enjoy the weightless feeling before I land smack into the ground and die…

"Oof!" The wind rushes out of me as I land on the ground butt first. Ow. I tell you… Ow. Ow! Aaaawww… I hiss in pain and roll onto my belly, trying to assuage my poor posterior by rubbing it. Ow! For crying out loud, that's the best thing you could have done, Owen! Make a fool out of yourself in front of the potential girlfriend! You're such a loser, Owen!

The indignity of it all clouds the fact that I was not that far from the bottom when I fell. I could have died, but I didn't. I'm more worried about what she saw than my profound luck. Well… I am glad! I'm glad that I got embarrassed instead of killed! Looks like today will be etched in my memory for quite some time.

"Are you okay?" she asks, bending over me with her flashlight. I groan and roll onto my back.

"My poor butt."

She starts giggling. "Aw. Poor baby. Come on. Let's get you up." She offers her hand to me and I take it. She pulls me up without too much effort and helps to brush me off. "Are you sure you're okay?"

My bottom is still aching, but maybe it will get better by the time we're out of here. I'm tempted to go outside and sit on the snow. That would be wonderful. "I'm fine. I should have been more careful." I take off my pack and rummage through it. "I have a few lights in here. They just glow, not like a flashlight. There is no direct beam of light, just a glow."

"That's fine," she replies. I hand her cylindrical disks that look like oversized hockey pucks. She feels along the edge and turns them on. The area around us is now lit up with the soft glow of the lights. "We'll leave one here and keep the rest until we go further down."

"You sure you don't want to turn back? We've found the water. We can go straight back and return tomorrow with more people."

She shakes her head resolutely. "No way. Let's go now."

I trudge after her, wondering if this could qualify for the worst first date in the history of time. The only good thing about it is Jealousani. The problem is, I'm having a hard time keeping that in mind while my sore bottom sends up jolts of pain every time I move too much. I could have had an injury from falling. I could have died. I'm in the middle of nowhere at the Roof of the World.

My mind chooses to reiterate all these facts until this day is over. I'm lucky, but mostly unlucky.

"Come on, what's taking you so long?" Jealousani calls impatiently from a few feet away. I start to jog.

"I really think we should turn back."

"What happened to finding adventure, huh?"

"Oh, I already had my adventure. Flying through the air and landing on my butt was quite the adventure." Wow. I must sound like a real wimp right now. Argh! I don't care! I want to go back. This isn't fun anymore.

I want to go back to my tent and fall asleep listening to my three friends bicker over the most stupid things known to man. I wouldn't mind getting a few chores from Major Brant right now if it meant getting out of this damn place. We walk for what seems like forever, the sound of the slowly moving river the only thing filling my ears.

You would think that this would have been the greatest day of my life. I mean, Jealousani…

"Oh. My. God."

I look up, pointing my flashlight at where she stood in front of me.

"What is it?"

"Don't you see it? Look!"

We had arrived at the end of the river, where a large pool of water formed. It seemed to go deeper from there and probably emptied out some other place. Ah well. Finding the end of the line for the water seemed like a complete bust. There are many, many ledges and fallen stalagmites in this cavern that spirals up to a stalactite-covered ceiling. Jealousani sets down the disks of light down at random points on the ground until everything is lit up with a soft eerie glow.

"This place is pretty, I guess." What else am I supposed to say? Jeez, she looks really happy.

"Oh, give me a break, Owen! Just look right there!" She took my chin in her hand and moved my face until I was staring at a particularly large ledge. "What does that look like to you?"

I shrug. There are points of shine and glitter in the rocky walls. It is hard to tell, even with the glow of lights. "Um… gold, I guess. It's probably not…" I stop when I catch Jealousani's eye. "Oh, you don't think that it's really…"

A sly smile alights her face. I have a gut feeling that something bad is about to happen. We really ought to head back. I don't want to get stuck out here by nightfall. I start to turn and walk. "We should go back and report it then. Come on. Let's go."

"Oh, Owen. You think they are going to believe us without some proof?" Jealousani begins to climb the ledge. I groan and follow her.

"Get down from there! It's dangerous!"

"Come up and get me!"

I suddenly see how Aiden can get so mad at Crown and me now. This is terrible! I'm so worried… Oh, wow. I should just stand here and wait to catch her. I've fallen once. She could fall. Please, please don't let her fall… Phew. She made it. I start to climb after her, ignoring my urge to climb back down and stay by the riverbank. I press my body up against the rocks. I am not willing to fall a second time.

"Hurry, Owen. I don't have any equipment to get a little chip of this out. You have something we can use, right?"

"Yeah, I think I have something that will work," I say with clenched teeth. The weight of the pack on my back reminds me of the pick I carry. I know-- what the hell am I doing with a pick? Well, there are a lot of situations where the darn thing comes in handy. It ought to be enough to dig out a tiny piece of whatever Fools' Gold is up there at the ledge.

I finally reach the top. As soon as I get there, I take off my pack and set it down. Jealousani watches me stretch my arms and legs.

"This is so awesome. Gold!"

"It's probably fake. Fools' Gold, Jealousani."

"No, trust me. It's real gold. I know my stuff. Do you know how much is here? I'll have to rig a pulley thing with rope over that rock over there. We can lower it down. You see?"

Knows her stuff? How the hell does she know stuff like this? She's in the DJPF! Since when were we judges of real and fake gold? I shrug it off and retrieve the pick from my pack. She takes it from me. "What else do you have with you?" she asks. "We can get a lot by ourselves and bring it back with us."

"Um, I have some flares, rope like you mentioned, a hunting knife, some odds and ends. It's pretty regulatory stuff."

"You have a gun?"

"Well, I'm just a scout. We usually don't need them, considering the lack of animal life out here to defend ourselves from."

She takes a swing at the rock. A chip of shiny gold pops up into the air. She expertly catches it in the palm of her hand. "I forgot mine."

"Forgot yours? But, you're with the B's. How could you forget?"

"I just forgot. They didn't let me bring as much in my pack as I thought they would."

I curiously reach for her pack. It's smaller than mine. Hmm. It's not even the type that they usually give us scouts. I suppose it's from her group, back wherever they are. Funny, I thought all the groups had the same gear. Ah, once again, more evidence to my naivety.

"What are you doing?" she asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Just want to see what they did let you bring."

She lowers her hands from the wall. "Later. Why don't you make your report now? We'll head back, I swear."

She smiles at me. My heart melts. I really like this girl. Hey! She wants me to report in. She's not as crazy as I thought she was about all of this. We get to leave, finally! I pull back my sleeve and begin to type a simple message. When I press the send button, it begins to beep. I read the status message.

"Aw, this is great. I have to go further out of the cave. I can't get a signal from in here." I start toward the ledge. "You stay here, I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I climb back down with my flashlight. The glow of the circular disks still lights up the chamber, but I'd rather have the flashlight with me when I went down the long natural tunnel with the river. I try several times to send a message as I'm retracing our footsteps back to the opening of the cave. My pager continues to beep and flash the status message I'd read before.

Then it stopped beeping.

"Yes!"

Beep. Beep.

Aw, man. I sigh and resume my walk on the riverbank, trying to get a signal. Awkwardly, I hold my wrist over my head, hoping for any sort of reception at all. Confound my luck!

I hear some noise behind me. What is that? I look over my shoulder and—

Something heavy hits the back of my head. It's an explosion of pain. I feel like my skull has been cracked open. It probably is. Am I going to die? This isn't anything like the ledge. I can feel the severity of the pain this time! I drop my flashlight on the ground. My head feels dizzy and faint, as well as throbbing with excruciating pain as I fall forward.

Everything goes black.

~~

When I awake, the first thing I am aware of is my headache. It feels like a full-blown migraine. It would make sense if someone had a jackhammer to my head. Yes, because that is exactly what it feels like. I groan. My body moves as if to roll over onto my stomach. I could push myself up from there.

I can't move.

Wait, my limbs just feel like lead. Of course I can move. Let's see now. Just… Just… no, wait. I really can't move. I can feel my fingers and my toes, but why can't I move?

A disk of light is activated and set down on the ground. My eyes adjust to the new light and I attempt to determine what is keeping me from moving.

Rope? What's my rope doing tied around my wrists and ankles? My hands are behind my back! And what's that huge rock doing, tied to my ankles? Can't someone tell me what the hell is going on here? I cough as I speak. My throat is so dry. "J… Jealousani?"

"Right here, baby."

A light disk is activated in the darkness. I can see her now, kneeling beside me. She reaches forward and strokes my cheek tenderly. I wince in pain. "Help me!"

"Why would I help you?"

…What?

She laughed now, shaking her head as she stood up. "Owen, think. I'm the only person within miles. Who else do you think tied you up?"

Oh my God, oh my God… "But why?"

Her tongue made a clucking sound. "Tsk, tsk. You didn't even bother to check my references with anyone, did you? Oh, I guess you were too 'moonstruck', eh?"

I try not to think of the insignificant fact that it was morning when we met and that the movie Moonstruck really sucked in my opinion, but otherwise, my attention is focused on her treachery and my stupidity. I really hadn't thought of checking out her background! When you're in love—especially in love at first sight—you don't check your dream girl's permanent record to find out if she has any psychotic tendencies! You're supposed to just let everything flow.

Flow. Like a river. Like the one that I followed beside her. The river came to a freaking end, though, didn't it? I can't believe this is happening! She was supposed to be the greatest thing that ever happened to me within a span of two days! How come Neal never picks up psychotic chicks? Why me?!

"That… that still doesn't answer my question. How could you do this? Why?" I choke out.

Jealousani rolls her eyes and idly circles around my prone form. "We always thought that there was gold at the Roof the World. We'd heard myths. But there was no way we could pull in the resources to go up North by ourselves without being detected and without eventually starving to death. So, I was slated to infiltrate." She struck a pose with one hand on her hip and the other way over her head. "Ta da! Here I am. Seductive, mysterious, and totally successful at out-witting your sorry candy ass."

And to think, I'd imagined having children with this woman.

She continues. "So, here's the deal. I kill you. I get the gold. I map the location of the cave." She began counting off her fingers. "Bury the entrance with snow until I reconnoiter with my people, who are also infiltrating your baggage group and stealing supplies to live off of. We wait until your people have moved out of range. Take the gold. Become filthy stinking rich."

"You'll never get away with this!"

Original, Owen. Really original.

"Hmm," she sits down by my feet and pats my shoes. "But I am." And with that, she braces her feet against the rock connected to my ankles and kicks off with all her strength.  Before I can even scream, I'm sent over the edge. The edge. That means…

The river.

"Ah!" I scream before my mouth fills with water. I cough and sputter, expelling what water I can from my lips. The heavy rock drags my feet down. My first impulse is to scrunch up into a tiny ball so I can hope to untie my ankles.  The thing is, my arms are behind my back. I can't bend back enough to reach. Damn my inflexibility! It's going to be the death of me!

I can feel the bottom. The rock has hit the bottom. I'm going to die. Oh God I'm going to die.

Panic seizes me.  I have to get out of these ropes! I don't want to die just yet! There are so many things I want to do! I can't believe this is it! It can't be! I try to shoot upward, to break free of the ropes. My body straightens as I reach up. Hopefully, this is up. I can't tell. It's too dark.

How appropriate. I'll slip into the darkness from the darkness. Or maybe there will be light after this.

Air rushes into my lungs. How is that possible?

Oh, thank Heaven! The surface! My head's above water! The river is shallow! I gasp and suck in the air like there were no tomorrow. Which might have been the case if I had not stretched my body up to reach the surface. I can see light now. The steady glow of the light disks allows me to see the slowly moving water around me. It ripples and reflects back black.

"Damn it!" I hear Jealousani curse from my left. She waits to see if I swim or kick, or do anything at all. All I can do is stretch my neck and gasp for breath. I cough what water was left in my throat.

She watches me intently, probably considering other ways to kill me. Her eyes, which had seemed so attractive to me the night before, now only show the cruelty of her nature. Her mouth was set in a half snarl, frustrated that I hadn't drowned.

"The water level is rising," she noted in a singsong voice. "It's the melted snow! And the knots I made in the ropes are strong. I don't have to do a thing after all. You'll die on your own. When the water rises over your head, you'll drown!" She clapped happily. "I do love a good ending."

"You bitch!" I scream. It is too damn ironic that I called her my dream girl but minutes before. Why do these bad things keep happening to me? What did I do to deserve them? My anger toward my luck and her vents itself through my struggles. "You greedy gold digger! I can't believe you'd even kill to get your stupid gold!"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. You betcha. You know, if I were you, Owen, I'd spend my last few minutes of life trying to make peace with yourself or whatever. You are going to die!"

"I hate you!" I cry rather pathetically.

"Ouch. That hurt," she fakes offense. "Honestly, you are so lame. I can't believe I had to fake all that stuff for the last two days. A complete annoyance."

I am the world's biggest chump. No, I am the universe's biggest chump. If there are multiple dimensions, then I am the biggest chump of all of them! Argh! How could I be so stupid! I'm never going to fall in love ever again! The woman would probably just screw me over one way or another!

Oh, man. That's only if I get out of here. I can't just drown here! A whole entire life of this… and… and that… and it all ends just here? The water will rise over my head, I'll try to hold my breath as long as I can, the pain will be too great, and I'll just inhale the water, to die? This, for the lack of better words, sucks! I don't want to die!

In the midst of my panicked thoughts, I notice Jealousani slink away to mine her precious gold. That bitch. I hope she rots in hell. If there is a hell. Am I going to hell? No, no. Why would I go to hell? I've spent a lifetime doing good deeds. Okay, okay. So I don't have the right to say whether or not I'm going to hell or heaven. I won't talk about it.

The water is starting to feel colder. Maybe I've been in here too long. It's been a while since Jealousani left. All I can think about is what death is going to feel like. The moment before you die. Is it a realization? Does my life flash in front of my eyes?

I'm so scared. I'm not ready to go yet.

The water. It's so cold. Oh, man. The water's risen to my lips. I have to stretch my neck even more to keep my nose above water. I can't do this for much longer! Someone, anyone, help me! Please, if there is a God, strike Jealousani with some sort of guilt! Make her let me go! I can't do this! I just can't!

It never ceases to amaze me that whenever someone says they can't do something, they are never given the choice to refuse. I refuse to die, but I'm not allowed to say no. I just have to die.

The water is rising to my nostrils now. Stretch your neck, Owen. Damn it! Stretch your damn neck! Kick with your feet if it propels you up any more! I have to break free of this damn rope!

Shit, shit, shit… I've never cursed so much in my life… But I suppose I'm a little tense. I mean… Heheh… the water… Oh, crap, the waters at my nose now! Hold your breath, Owen. Hold your breath. There's still a chance that she'll come back and let ya go. Damn it, Owen! Hold your freaking breath!

My lungs. My chest. It hurts so much. I can't hold my breath any longer. I shut my eyes tight against the darkness of the water. I must be strong. Hold it in, Owen. Hold it in. This is your life. This is all that's left of your life.

My life. My waste of a life.

~~

Someone's lifting the rock underneath me. I can feel my body instinctively float upward. Am I going to make it? Before I even reach the surface, my body gives out. I breathe in some water. As soon as the semi-cold air blows across my wet face again, I cough and sputter. I can feel someone grabbing my head and trying to keep it above water.

"Keep his head up!" I hear a familiar voice whisper fiercely.

"Toss me the knife!"

Who is that? Who's there on the shore? What's holding my feet up?

Don't worry about it. Just breathe.

Whoever had their hands on my head now left me. I can barely register in my oxygen-deprived brain that he's dove under water.  In a matter of seconds, another person reaches the surface. He replaces the other by grasping my shoulders and trying to keep my head up.

"Owen, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

I open my eyes. My blurry vision can barely make out the outline of the man's face. It sounds like Aiden though. But that's impossible. He's miles away, isn't he? "Yeah, I hear you," I mumble, finding a pain in my throat where I had choked on water. "Get me the hell out of here."

"He's okay," Aiden called to shore. The person there whoops joyfully.

Peg. That's Peg. I can see her grin. She looks around. "There is more light ahead. I'm going down the river to check it out."

"No," I gasp out. "Jealousani…"

"Is she in trouble?" Aiden asks darkly. It's too late. Peg is gone. Someone has to warn her that Jealousani's the bad guy! Er, bad girl.

Could things possibly get any worse? "No, she's the one who—"

Aiden growls. "I knew it. I knew it!"

Before I can warn him not to tell me the "don't-say-I-didn't-warn-you" speech, I feel the rope around my ankles loosen. I kick my feet furiously while Crown pops up for a breath of air. He sputters a bit as well, and dives back down to cut my wrists loose. Aiden continues to hold me up while my arms are incapacitated.

"Go help Peg!" I tell Aiden as I feel the tight binding around my wrists come off. Crown surfaces.

A loud gunshot sounds in the distance. We three freeze exactly where we were, staring in the direction the loud noise came from. Aiden is the first to snap out of it. He swims over the side and hauls himself out of the river. Crown swims with me, helping me get out as well.

"Please tell me she has a gun," Crown groans, referring to Peg.

"I'm pretty sure neither Jealousani nor I had one," I answer. "But Peg…"

"Peg isn't particularly handy with a gun in the darkness," her cousin confesses.

Crap.

"Go, go, go!" I yell. We run at top speed with just their flashlights lighting the way. "How the hell did you guys get here anyway?" I ask as we run. "It should have taken you just as much time as it took me!"

"Crown stole the company's snowmobiles after your first message."

"Only because Aiden here was going ballistic!"

"I didn't ask you to steal those! Major Brant is going to kill us when we get back."

"Not if we get the gold," I cut in. "Jealousani's a gold digger! Her people have infiltrated Group C and she found a large ore of gold in here! That's why she tried to kill me!"

Crown winced in imaginary pain. "Ouch, man. I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"Yeah, well, that makes the two of us then."

We slow down as we reach the large chamber. I don't hear either of the girls at the top of the ledge. This is scary.  I move forward, whispering for Crown to get the gold. Indeed, in the time I was slowly drowning, Jealousani had rigged a pulley system over another ledge and had been about to lower a bulging knapsack of gold when Peg probably surprised her.

Aiden and I stealthily climb the ledge on one side while Crown went up another way. We silently pray that Jealousani is not waiting up there to blow our heads off. I reach the top first. I take a deep breath and throw myself up over the edge.

A gun clicks, as it is being cocked and pointed in my direction. I feel my chest muscles tighten like I'm going to have a heart attack. Peg sighs when she sees it is only I and turns her gun back to the bleeding form of Jealousani. She's shot in the leg, I see. Well serves her right! After trying to kill me, that greedy bitch deserves it! Ha!

"Are you okay?" Peg asks me.

"Dandy," I reply. "Hey, Peg? Sorry about all this. I shouldn't have trusted her so fast. Or else none of us would be in this mess."

"Hey, it's better that we got involved instead of someone else in our group. He probably wouldn't have had the friends to help him out." She smiles at me so forgivingly. For some reason, I see her in a totally different light. How come I never noticed that Peg was this… wonderful before? It's some kind of wonderful. I can't describe it.

Whoa, Owen. Down, boy. This one around, take your time. You don't want to foul things up, do you?

"Peg?"

"Yeah?"

"When we get back, would you mind if you and I just hung out for dinner. You know, just… us?"

Her excitement is apparent in the way her eyes lit up, but she tries to play it off. "That sounds okay."

"Okay," I nod back.

"Yeah. Okay."

The only other person watching rolls his eyes. Aiden walks over to Jealousani, who knows she is beaten. She allows him to check her wound, knowing that trying to subdue him would only lead her to greater pain. After all, she was just a gold digger. Aiden was practically a one-man army. With that, she silently seethes. I would too if I were a greedy gold digger foiled by a handful of unorthodox DJPF officers.

Crown is now on the ledge as well. He inspects the large sack filled with gold. "Wow. This is a lot of gold. I mean… wow."

"Wow, huh?" Aiden comments, adding onto Crown's astounded one-word stupor. He begins dressing the wound where Jealousani was shot in the leg.

Peg and I laugh. From somewhere behind me, I hear a growl. An animal growl.

"What the hell is that?" I hear Peg squeak.

"Oh wonderful," I hear Aiden mutter.

I turn around and come face to face with a beast that I'd never seen before. Peg ducks behind me. I stand, completely frozen to the spot. The animal before me looked like a wolf on steroids. No kidding. It was as tall as my waist and had emphasized and over-grown jaws. Probably used to snap at huge prey. Its snowy white color was flecked with dirt and water it probably got from bounding up the side of the ledge.

"And you didn't warn us?" I hiss at Aiden.

"I didn't see it!" he hissed back.

Stay still, Owen. Stay completely still. Uh-oh. White Fang here has his teeth bared. Not good. This is just like out of the frying pan and into the fire. I can deal with Jealousani, but this? This?

"Here boy!"

Oh, hell. Crown, you idiot.

I turn around. Crown has one arm intertwined with the rope and the other holding out a large amount of meat rations. The rest of us stare at him, including Jealousani. He is a mad man.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aiden asks.

"The scientists warned us that we'd probably run into hostile new species up here. I always go prepared!" he says, rather cheerfully for someone who just made himself bait.

The wolf creature doesn't seem impressed. I think he's hungrier for Crown's limb than his food offering. I slowly back away with Peg still right behind me. Crown continues to wave his hands and draw attention to him. I can see Aiden out of the corner of my eyes, cursing under his breath.

"He's not coming fast enough," Crown mumbles and picks up a rock.

Oh, no. No, no, no. Crown, you idiot.

He throws the rock at the wolf. It hits the creature square between the eyes. I can't tell you enough right now how much I want to be anywhere but here.  It automatically growls and snaps its jaws. Peg cries out as the monster charges her cousin at full speed.  I hold my breath. I don't know what else to do. I know I can't wrestle that thing, nor stop it.

Crown grins as the wolf nears. Before I know what's happening, Crown runs and leaps from the ledge, swinging on the rope. The wolf-creature blindly jumps, believing it can snap its jaws tight around the nimble man's body as it swings up. I can hear someone yell—I think it is Peg again.

"Woo hook!" Crown whoops as the wolf misses by a few inches and plummets down to the pool below.

I can't believe that just happened.

The death-defying friend before me loops his leg around the rope and puts most of his weight on that leg as he peers down. He tucks a lock of blond hair behind his small ears and laughs. "Well would you imagine that? The big thing can't swim!"

How the hell can he laugh so carelessly?

"Crown, are you okay?" Aiden shouts, running up to the edge of the ledge. Jealousani is forgotten for the moment. It isn't like she can go anywhere. Peg and I likewise run to Aiden's side and watch Crown swing back in forth in mid-air.

"That was fun. You guys should try it," he answers. When he sees how shocked and worried all three of us are, he tones down his cheeriness and begins to get serious. "Hey, it did work, didn't it?"

"You could have been killed, you… you dummy!" Aiden shouts, even louder than before. I'd never seen Aiden get upset before. I suppose it's because I almost died. And Peg could have died when she went after Jealousani. And Crown could have died just then as well. It's good to know that Aiden isn't so stoic and perfect that he actually shows distress like this. It shows that he cares.

Crown, now properly scolded, starts swinging the rope with his weight, trying to get back to the ledge. When he gets within range, Aiden grabs the rope and pulls him in. Crown untangles his arm and leg from the rope and drops down gracefully onto the ledge again. Peg hugs him first, and then punches him in the shoulder. She yells at him for worrying her so much. She complains that he's the only family she can actually tolerate.

I pull Peg away so she doesn't overwhelm her cousin. I suggest to her that we ought to page for help and a medic for our prisoner, who still sits frumpily neglected with her gunshot wound.

"Hey, we got gold, and we can warn Group C that their baggage people have been infiltrated with gold diggers."

"I still doubt that Major Brant lets us off the hook for stealing the snowmobiles."

I tap her nose with my finger. "Hey, he's the least of our worries now. I have something else on my mind."

"Oh, is that right?" she replies teasingly.

"Uh-huh."

She moves closer. Over my shoulder, I can hear Jealousani snort. I push her out of my thoughts and likewise move closer to Peg.

"If you ever do that again, I'll… I'll…"

Aaaawww! Why do there have to be so many interruptions?

I look past Peg at Aiden and Crown. Aiden certainly does seem more flustered than usual. Hell, I've never seen him flustered, period. He voices his stress and worries at the younger man, who takes it all in stride. In fact, Crown puts a hand on Aiden's shoulder and squeezes.

"I'm fine. Okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"I just said I was, didn't I?"

"Damn it! Why can't you just be… be…"

"Be what?" he asks.

They stare at each other for a lengthy amount of time. An abnormally long time. A really abnormally long amount of time. I frown. I wonder what's wrong with them.

"Peg?" I ask. She hadn't even turned to look as I had.

"Owen."

"Um… Why are Crown and Aiden acting weird?"

"Owen. Think. Think really hard."

I blink. And then:

Oh.

Oh.

She puts one finger under my chin and pushes my jaw up so my gaping mouth closes. "Hey, didn't you say you had something else on your mind?"

I laugh nervously. "Oh yeah."

She tilts her face up and closes her eyes, waiting expectantly. He leans in for the win… and score! Owen Jesslaw on the most interesting, if not luckiest, day of his life.

~~

…So as you see, Kel, fate works in really weird ways. I'm not sure if I'm lucky or not. I mean, I don't think it matters any more. I'm having a jolly good time. As soon as I get back, Peg and I will take a vacation and you can meet her. She's a great girl. I think you'll like her. As for the issue with my tent mates Crown and Aiden. Well, let's just say sharing a tent with them is bound to be a load of laughs now that it's all out in the open.

Take care!

Love always,

Owen

~~

 Kel laughed. That had been one of the more interesting anecdotes she'd ever read. She looked forward to seeing Owen again and meeting his new girlfriend. They sounded absolutely perfect for each other. She missed him so much. After all, they spent the most troublesome years of life together: the school years.

She had the right mind to call Neal up and reminisce. But he was probably tired and he needed rest. He was just about ready to go off the painkillers and be back at work. Dom certainly expressed his growing weariness of tending to his God Brother's needs. And Kel was certain that Wyldon had been given too big a break from Neal's service.

There was nothing to do after that. She'd read her mail. Her dishes were washed. Her house was clean. She had already done all the work at the station that she'd needed to. If something came up, Flyndon would page her and have her deal with it. But until then, her time was free to do what she wished.

She was actually very surprised that she hadn't fallen asleep during the reading of Owen's mail. The excitement of receiving a letter from one of her dearest friends had been caffeine to her body. She needed to burn off the extra energy now.

The practice mats she kept were rolled up in the closet. There was enough room on her living room for to do crunches and similar exercises. There was not, however, room enough for her to practice any fighting moves, like her instructors at the Academy had taught her. She wished there was room, but no.

I can take the mats to the bottom level of the garage and practice there. No one would see.

With her mind set on that, Keladry changed into a sleeveless white T-shirt, and a pair of sweat pants. Her rattiest old sneakers were begging to be used from the corner of her closet, so she put those on, too. She carried the rolled up mats under one arm and left her apartment. A message at her buzzer would say she was in the garage if anyone needed to find her.

Downstairs, in the lower level of the garage, Keladry was much more at peace with herself than she had been all day. There was something about losing yourself in the physical motions that just took away all thought, and nourished her with instinct. It hurt—the training, but pushing past barriers of pain made it feel non-existent after a while. You just worked harder and harder, so that by the time you stopped, you felt ten times better than you ever imagined you could.

After half an hour, she was already winded. She'd forgotten how intense the workouts used to be. She had sorely missed doing them everyday, like she had when she was in the Academy. She missed Eda Bell and Hakuin Seastone from Tortall. They always had her winded in ten minutes. Well, Eda did. Hakuin liked to slack off now and then. He was better than he let on, though.

She leaned against a garage support made of concrete. She was glad there were very few cars that day on the bottom level. She preferred it if no one came down to see her. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm, feeling sticky and sweaty all over. She bet she smelled, too. It didn't matter. She'd had a good workout, and was blissfully tired enough to curl up in comforters and sleep like she had originally planned.

She took a moment to consider Owen's letter. Obviously, looks could be deceiving.  Jealousani had turned out to be someone completely different than Owen had thought.  It was so easy to trust someone, but what if that person betrayed you in the end? Was it worth trusting someone else?

Keladry knew that it would be hard to just stop trusting. Your heart turned cold and cruel. She'd seen it happen before.

"Hey, Mindelan. I'm borrowing your bike."

Speak of the Devil, she thought. She turned to face Joren. He wore his usual black T-shirt and jeans. She was very sure that he didn't own anything of color unless it was blood red. It reminded her of Batman for some reason. She shrugged off the thought as Cleon's influence and pushed off the concrete she was leaning against.

"Where's yours?"

"Under some work."

When isn't it under some work?

"Oh. Okay."

He approached her. "So what are you doing down here? Aerobics?"

Her hair stood on end. Did he just call my fighting arts aerobics? Oh, he's going down. "No, actually, I'm not. I'm training. So I can kick the butts of people like you."

"Like you could," Joren scoffed.

Keladry folded her arms across her chest. "That sounds like a challenge. I accept."

This time, her partner laughed. He nodded, scratching the back of his neck. "This was certainly the last thing I expected to hear today." He stretched his arms behind his head. "But if you insist, Mindelan. Sure, why not."

After the last year of wishing, Keladry could finally show him just who he'd been messing with. He wasn't low enough to try and distract her the same embarrassing (although breathtaking) way he normally did. Not here, not now. He thought he was such a bad ass. Well, he was about to see how wrong he was about that.

She walked onto the mat. By the time she turned around again, not only had he taken his place on the mat, he'd also tossed his removed T-shirt to the side. He reminded her briefly of marble statues from ancient times. His skin was almost as pale as the marble. The only flaws were the many scars, shades darker in their odd tissue formations.  When she lifted her eyebrows in a questioning expression, he merely smirked.

"Don't be flattered, Mindelan. I have somewhere to be after this and I'd rather not get your sweat on my clothing." His gaze swept once over her whole figure. She self-consciously looked down at herself. Sweat had indeed soaked through her shirt and had formed a spot in the middle of her back and on the front right under her sports bra.

She took her stance as well, positioning her feet the way she had been taught. She calmed her anxious heart and tried to obtain a state of peace. She needed focus. Yes, lots of concentration was needed while her opponent was distracting her with his body.

I bet the jerk is doing it intentionally. Don't lower yourself to his level.

"Are you ready?" he asked impatiently.

I've been ready. I'm going to get back at you for every bad thing you've ever done to me.

 "Bring it on."

She waited for him to move but one inch forward before she darted in his direction, faster than him. She threw two well-placed punches, one at his abdomen, the other aiming for his chin. He seemed to be choosing to block some blows rather than others, because he held up his arms over his face to block, but absorbed the hit to his abdomen. She didn't know what his strategy was, but she wasn't about to give him a chance to use it.

Keladry eyed his shoulder suspiciously. He no longer wore the large bandages, but just a large adhesive bandage over it with some medical tape to keep it in place.  While she continued to execute other attacks, she noticed that he didn't move like he was injured there. That bothered her. She wanted to find a weak spot in him and hit it with a hammer, figuratively speaking.

She did a roundhouse kick, which he blocked and even caught her ankle in. She put her hands on the mat and kicked with both feet instead, shaking him off with damage done to his wrists. Then she flipped back to a standing position. They began pacing in a circle, trying to keep moving at all times.

"I'm waiting."

"Oh, shut up!" she yelled and attacked him with another barrage of punches and kicks.  He blocked most, and other blows found their mark, causing him to stumble back. She relished in the feeling that he had only landed one punch to her cheek the whole entire time.

Why does he take that defensive position anyway? She thought that he pitied her, but then considering his personality, she counted the possibility out. It would be so much easier if he would attack first. She could exert less energy by using his momentum to hurt him. Keladry, in a sudden surge of resentment, struck him in the chest hard and fast.

Joren exhaled sharply as he absorbed the hit and moved out of range again. He fixed his gaze on her; through every motion each of them took, his eyes were glued to hers as if he could read her thoughts that way. Keladry wouldn't let her guard down. He wouldn't intimidate her. She wouldn't let that happen. Too many years of practice and too many months of insult would refuse to let that happen.

The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of flesh impacting on flesh, panting, and sounds of someone grimacing in pain. Keladry threw everything she had at him. She could see he was starting to cave in, and she certainly hammered away at the proverbial cracks of his defensive wall. He continued to block most of her hits, but refrained from attacking her himself. He didn't seem to be fast enough to attack at all. Keladry was faster.  She'd trained her whole life to be faster.

Remember what Eda and Hakuin went over with you. Knock him out before he even knows what's going on.

She growled softly after he successfully remained standing after a hard high kick she'd given him. "What the hell is with you?"

"You never heard of stamina?"

His 'stamina' isn't human. He should be down for the count by now! First, the resilience of his body is superhuman, then this? Does that quality also extend to his endurance too then?

She clenched her fists tighter and tried to take deeper breaths. After lengthy consideration, she decided to use desperate methods. She charged and tackled him with the intent of pinning him underneath her. She was successful in that venture, though her sore muscles strained in the effort. She straddled his stomach but dug her heels into his thighs, and then caught both his wrists by his sides. He grimaced as his head hit the mat.

"I guess this means I've won," she said triumphantly. A rush of pure goodness swept through her. All her work had paid off. She couldn't care less what happened the next day, or the day after that. Her victory could be rubbed in his face for the rest of eternity. She wanted to hang a banner on the front of the building that said "Joren Stone Loses" and celebrate for years on end. The triumph was exquisite.

He didn't seem to mind his loss. He looked a bit bruised and tired, but not necessarily disappointed. Seeing his apathetic expression took away some of the pleasure of her win. If he hadn't been breathing hard, she would have accused him of throwing the fight. Though, she couldn't find any reasons that he'd want to throw the fight.

"You seem a little confused, Mindelan. You did win."

"Yeah. I know."

"Well, can I get your fat ass off of me?"

She released his wrists and folded her arms across her chest. She took the insult calmly. "You know what? It doesn't even matter what you say now. Because I've won."

"Yeah, that's been made quite clear."

"I. Beat. You." She emphasized each word by poking him in the chest with her finger.

"Alright, you've said that already."

"You're mad, aren't you?" she asked with a grin.

He laughed. "No. Definitely no."

She frowned. Why would he be so happy then?

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt anything!"

Kel froze. Her heart nearly skipped a beat. She gulped before turning her head to look at the new arrival over her shoulder. A familiar man stood in front of the stairway, holding up his hands in apology. She groaned inwardly.

"Ulliver?"

The SWAT team major stepped backwards and put his hand on the rail. "Hey! It's okay. I was going to borrow Murphy's car, but I can go up one level and borrow someone else's."

She cursed. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Oh, honey. That hurts," Joren said from beneath her, a sadistic smile on his face. Keladry looked down and realized that his hands and crept up to her hips to make a very compromising position. Not to mention, his shirt was still discarded.

"I'll be going now," Ulliver laughed nervously and ran at full speed back up the steps. Keladry closed her eyes and tried very hard not to scream. He had actually shown some interest in her the last time they met in the halls of the apartment complex. She had hoped to see him again for coffee, since he'd broken up with his girlfriend and had even been less sarcastic than when they were at Mithran United when they met this morning.

She heard a clucking sound of a tongue. "Tsk, tsk. Are we blushing Mindelan? Or are you still celebrating your victory?"

"You're such an asshole!" she yelled at him.

"You know, I kind of like this position. All sweaty and breathing hard, too."

Her mouth dropped open. "You are so perverted!"

She tried to get up, but his grip on her hips didn't allow her to. "Please. You know you love it when I fuck with your mind."

"You wish."

"Oh I don't have to. I think our last few encounters already prove my point."

She crossed her arms once again over her chest. "Well it doesn't matter because I won today."

"Ha! You wish!" Before she could react, he flipped them over and pinned her down, holding her hands above her head. She cried out in shock and outrage, but he didn't budge. She now knew that he'd been conserving all his energy by taking a defensive position during their brawl.

Keladry blew her bangs out of her face and glared up at her captor. She bit back a snarl. "Why me? Why always me?"

Joren leaned down and licked a salty bead of sweat off her collarbone. She shivered involuntarily. How did he think to do these things to her? It just didn't make sense how someone like him could flip moods back and forth so quickly. To answer her question, he continued to talk as he glided his lips across her neck.

"Three reasons. One, you're not as prissy and hopeless as some brainless females in this pathetic world. Two," he punctuated this reason by snickering, "Though you've got the 'independent woman' thing going on, you would never," a light nibble, "ever," another snicker, "tell anyone and get me in trouble. You're a wimp that way, Mindelan. Too bad, so sad."

He released her wrists and sat up, smiling maliciously. She leaned on her elbows, flustered and pissed off.

"The third, you asshole?"

"I need something to vent the boredom. Up until now, I'd find new ways to work on the bike. Now, there's not much left for the Black Knight." He began tracing patterns on her abdomen. "You're fun to mess with. You know that."

She groaned. "I liked you better when you never spoke to anyone and just locked yourself in the garage all the time. Can't we go back to that?"

He dipped forward and caught her mouth in his own, forcing her lips open so his tongue could slide in. She remained absolutely still so as not to give him the satisfaction of her response. She was simply too angry with him to succumb to his mind games, which were becoming more and more frequent—she noticed.

He stopped when he noticed it wasn't working. He got up and retrieved his shirt, tugging it back over his head and fitting his arms through the sleeves. Keladry, all of a sudden overcome by depression and listlessness, stayed lying down on the mat, staring at the ceiling. Joren rolled his eyes, mouthing the word 'weirdo' though she couldn't see.

"You did win today, you know."

"Wooptie freakin' doo."

He snorted. "You've got problems, Mindelan."

"So do you."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Um… nope, I'd tell you that you were a complete bastard, but you do already know that." She turned to regard him with bored half-lidded eyes. He shrugged.

"At least I'm not late for an emergency contact by Flyndon."

She lifted her head. "Huh?"

"Pager."

She looked at her wrist. "Oh crap!"

~~

Author: So, here we are, months later. I'm so very sorry I took so long. You must understand that school sucks very much for me right now. Not to mention that my JV boat is in a slump right now. Haven't medalled all season. I have a feeling it will take another three years to complete ICBW through its four planned seasons. At the pace I'm going, maybe five. Would you guys be there? Even after Kel's quartet ends?

I didn't want a Joren/Kel scene this episode, but considering that I'd deprived you for months, I ought to have fueled the monthly Joren/Kel fix. So, tell me what you think. My e-mail is at top. Until next time! Remember to rrreevvviiieewww!