Sabriel made her way to the observatory quietly. She wanted to be by her self for a little while. She had to clear her head and get her self together. She loved the company of Touchstone but with him around it was hard for her to think and sort things right in her head. When she got there she found a fire blazing nicely in the hearth.

She got some parchment and ink out before she sat down at the dragon desk. She planned to write down her thoughts on the situation at hand, mostly how to cope with her father's death and where to go from now. She sat down and just started to write. Soon her random words became sentences, and sentences became paragraphs. Those paragraphs soon became pages full on both sides. He fingers were splattered with ink. All of a sudden she hit a writer's block and just sat back in her chair and heaved a great sigh.

"Who am I?" she asked out loud.

"You are the Abhorson, Sabriel. The heir of your father." A small voice said some where under the table. Mogget jumped up on to the table and sulked over to her, and sat just inches away from her small pile of papers. Sabriel looked at him wondering about every thing and nothing all at the same time.

Mogget's green eyes were focused unblinkingly on Sabriel's face. "You are the mistress of this house, and the only one to keep the dead, well, dead." He stated plainly and calmly. "We need you, here, in the Old Kingdom. Touchstone needs you, and the living depends on you. A big task I know but you are the only one to fill those boots. You'll get used to the weight of the load soon enough." Mogget's voice was half purr half his normal voice. His words were oddly comforting to Sabriel's troubled mind.

"Thank you Mogget. Where is Touchstone? Do you know?"

"He's down in his room by the fire thinking. He looks miserable."

"Do you think he would join me up here?"

"I don't know. I'll go find out." And with that he was gone out the door. Sabriel felt strangely lonesome and in need of some affection. About two minutes later a knock was heard at the door. Absent mindedly she told them to come in. The door opened and Touchstone walked in.

"You called for me, Sabriel?" She nodded.

"I just needed some company. Would you sit with me by the fire?"

"I would be honored." With this he came and sat down on the carpet in front of the fireplace, where a fire blazed. Sabriel got up and joined him. With out thinking she leaned on his shoulder. A smile graced his lips, he was afraid that he had made her uncomfortable earlier that day when he mended her leg. Together they stared in to the flames, both longing to cuddle with the other, but feared to do so for it might seem to forward.

About half an hour later Sabriel moved closer to him, claiming that she was cold. (Yeah right) Touchstone put his arm around her slender figure and drew her closer to him. She looked up at him and caught his lips with hers. He deepened the kiss and let his hand wonder over her back. Gently he leaned in, and Sabriel was soon lying down on the thick rug.

For a second Touchstone broke the kiss to look in to her eyes and smile. He kissed her again, her hands were working their way in to his tunic. With some tugging her hands were over his firm chest. She broke the kiss and got his shirt off. He threw it off and out of the way. Sabriel admired his firm, muscular chest. His hand was soon tracing up her inner thigh. She gasped when his semi warm hand found her under garment. She nodded to him, and his hand pushed the cloth aside. His fingers found their way to her bush.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." A voice said not far from Sabriel's ear, "but I just thought I'd let you both know that I'm going to spend the rest of the night in front of a fireplace." Sabriel looked at him in exasperation.

'Great just what I needed! He ruined the whole moment. Stupid cat' she thought bitterly to her self. Touchstone slowly drew away and put his tunic back on. 'NO! Touchstone! Ugh! Damn! We almost.he almost.we were so close!' Mogget looked at her curiously, and if cats could smirk he would be. Sabriel sat up on her elbow and glared daggers at the small white cat her skirt half way to her knees. "Thank you for letting us know Mogget. That way if we need you we can be sure to check the oh.twenty or so fireplaces in the house!" The cat shrugged and slinked off.

"I should um.get ready for bed." Disappointment flooded Sabriel's eyes.

"But.but. ok fine. I should go to bed too." An awkward silence filled the room. Touchstone shifted uncomfortably under Sabriel's stare. Suddenly Sabriel realized that she was staring and quickly looked away as a blush invaded her face. Touchstone took this moment to offer his hand to help her up. He cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Would you like a hand up, mila-Sabriel?" She nodded and grabbed his hand. Gently he pulled her up. She was careful not to put to much weight on her bad leg. When he started to walk away she hobbled slowly behind him. If Sabriel learned anything from the PE classes at Wyverly it was to fake a limp. Touchstone looked back to find Sabriel struggling to walk. With out saying anything he came back to her and swooped her up in to his strong arms.

A smile twinged at the corners of her mouth. 'Score!' She thought in triumph. If she couldn't finish the moment they had started to share then she might as well take advantage of her gimpy state. Touchstone was so warm and his scent was so comforting. She could stay in his arms forever. Similar thoughts filled Touchstone's mind. He brought her to her room and left her there. Leaving her to the care of her chamber's sendings.

~*~*~*~ FWAH HA HA! The chap is now over!! Are you happy? I bet not, because you'll want me to write the next chapter for you. All the work I do you u and you're STILL not happy.oh well. I bet u thought this chappy was going to be a lemon! In next chaps it might not be a lemon lemon but as lemony as its going to get. ^.~ Ja Ne Lady C.