I better get more than one review for *this* chapter. *goes off to cry that no one loves her anymore*

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Anne followed that vague feeling of Ace's direction, wandering through halls and rooms and corridors until she found herself in a large room. Dust lingered in the air, motes dancing in light from the high windows like the sparkles after a magic spell. The beams of light were illuminated by the particles suspended in the air, the afternoon sun slanting in at a shallow angle to splash upon the far walls. To someone with a little more time and a little less anger it might have looked pretty. Anne hardly even noticed it.

Ace was sitting in the middle of the room, back to the door. Perhaps forty feet separated her from those who had come to stop her, a distance more of perception than dimension. If Ace was concerned by the intrusion she gave no outward sign, continuing to pet her hound, stroking the soft fur of its head and rolling the soft fur on his ears between her fingers.

Anne entered the room only far enough to allow everyone else to file in after her. She waited for a minute to see if the girl would acknowledge their presence but grew tired of the waiting game she was playing. Striding forward a couple paces, she left behind those who had followed her in. She stopped when she was twenty feet from Ace and stood with her feet spread apart slightly wider than her shoulders, keeping her balance loose and even while planting herself firmly on the ground.

"We need to talk," she said firmly after crossing her arms. Unconsciously she threw her head back a bit, raising her chin and staring down her nose at the person who still had the gall to ignore her. Her control of her temper began to slip even further and she firmed her grip on her emotions. If she had the time or the inclination, she would have checked to see if her temper was rising in response to the emotions of those around her.

Ace, however, responded as cool as ice. If she were angry she gave no easy sign. "Hello, whore," she said conversationally, not turning or publicly taking her attention from her dog.

Anne was too much of a professional to let that comment rock her, but the pain of it flared deep in her heart before she could control the feeling. "Ace, what you're planning to do is wrong."

"Eavesdropping in my mind?" The tone was haughty, but tired.

"Making sure that you were still ok."

"Whatever." Ace shrugged gracefully, a slick motion on shoulders and wrists, then stood in one smooth move, legs untangling from beneath her. She moved with the ethereal grace that all the plants possessed, a knowledge of muscle and function and aptitude that exceeded human norms. For all of the grace of her motions, Anne nearly cringed when she saw her.

The precisely groomed woman was gone, replaced by one whose hair needed brushing, whose face was in dire need of a wash, and who still wore the clothes that she had run out in. Her cheeks had thinned out a bit, showing the lack of food that had plagued her. Despite outward appearances, fire flashed as brightly in Ace's eyes as it did in Anne's. Her weeks of deprivation had only served to hone her spirit.

Or the lack of a decent meal was driving her a bit batty, Anne allowed. The stray thought flickered a smile across Anne's lips, and Ace responded with a frown, guessing incorrectly at the source of amusement. There was no water in this building and the substance was too precious for her to easily steal. How easy was it for Anne to stand there and laugh at her for being dirty. Anne, who worked for the worst group of humans on the planet, worked for those who only wanted to see them all dead.

The hypocrite.

She felt her dog stand at her heel. Untrained in the forms that humans considered appropriate for his kind, still he stood by her in readiness to protect. She could feel his anger, both as an emotion she could sense and in the shakes that rolled under his skin. She rested her hand on his head, holding him back without words, without even looking at him. This was not his fight, but like dumb beasts throughout history he would join it anyway.

"So, I get a visit. What brings you down here? If it were just concern for my welfare I would expect to have seen you before now." She shrugged again. "But I guess you were too busy for that, screwing Knives and all." She didn't spare the man a glance, didn't look at anyone but Anne. All her energies were bent on eliminating that spark of humor that twinkled and laughed at her. As she watched it began to die, so she continued. "How quickly his attentions shifted. From you, to me, to you again. For now. I mean, how fickle can you be?" She sighed theatrically. "Just a man after all, and we all know how easily their attentions wander."

"This isn't about Knives," said Anne. She refused to be baited.

"No? Then it must be about your pet humans. How much do they pay you to do their research, to make plants superfluous, to make it easy for them to kill us all? Is it enough to pay for all our lives, enough to let you sleep well at night in your fickle lover's arms? Is it enough to repay my torture at their hands, mine and all the brothers and sisters that we are never going to get to know?"

"I'm working for a future."

"Of course you are. Whose? Those humans behind you seem entirely too pleased by your willingness to kill me."

"They think you're a brat."

"Am I?" Ace shrugged again, unconcerned by the information. "Much fun as this little talk is, I don't think that's what you came down here for."

"I came to make you stop. To change your mind."

"You came to kill me. You're the pet hound of your December masters, running the course they want you to. Just like mine." With that last statement she lifted her hand from the head of the dog beside her. With his launch at the evil one threatening his pack, the battle was begun.