"Boy's, its time to go." Everyone looked at her as if she were insane.

"What did you say?!" Puma stood up.

"You heard me losers. Let's go. Come on Palou, get up." She walked over to him.

"He's dead." Albain said slowly.

Valamora's eyes closed and a tear trickled down her cheek, "Pick him up Aaron, you too Erin. Be careful with him." She walked off with the twins carrying Palou.

Puma was crying as he followed the corpse of his dead cousin. The dark elves didn't seem very evil now, not even Valamora. Durk collected the dark elf's things and walked over to Lielay. He bowed to her again. "Some day we will meet again and no blood shall be shed." With that he ran after the others.

They watched Durk and the others walk into the horizon and vanish. Joy was with Kanoldar trying to wash out the blood that was soaked into his bright elven hair. For, once, there wasn't an air element to mess things up. Snappy was now standing and he hobbled over to Lielay's side. She sat down and a blue light enveloped the little lion, and his wounds closed and some of his ribs were back in place. Lielay lay back on the grass and watched the setting sun.

Albain walked over to Kanoldar and helped heal him with a spell. Joy sat next to him and stroked Nightingale's head. Kanoldar smiled at her and Joy's cheeks grew red, she smiled back. Mirk went around collecting dropped weapons and supplies. He was cradling something small in his hand. He had a distant look in his eyes. Finally he walked over to Lielay.

"She gave it back." He said to her.

"Who and what?" Lielay sat up.

"Valamora gave me my horn back." He took a deep breath.

Lielay peered over and looked into Mirk's hand, in the middle of his palm was his missing horn. She looked him in the eyes and smiled deeply. She then patted him on the shoulder and stood up. Mirk closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. His hand tightened on his horn as the darkness took over their campsite.

*****

The sun overhead burned the necks of the travelers. Lielay, Albain, and Mirk moved through High Hold Pass returning to Freeport. So far, they had no encounters with the gnolls or the orcs that infested the Pass. Kanoldar, as he said, went to Qeynos, now accompanied by Joy. The two had fallen in love and wanted to travel with each other; Lielay was happy for the two. Mirk now had his horn on a chain that hung around his neck that he held every other minute. Snappy was in Albain's arms playing with his tail; Albain now had no problem with Snappy.

"Since we're passing through Freeport, shall we check up on Aubrey?" Albain asked Lielay.

"I don't mind." She rubbed her burnt neck.

The day wore on and the three decided to spend the night in the Pass at one of the inns. Without even glancing at the inn's name, they walked inside. Lielay walked up to the counter and asked for some rooms. The man behind the counter pointed up the stairs and told them to ask for room up there since he was busy. Up the stairs, Lielay asked for two rooms. She paid the man and threw Mirk the key to the room that he would share with Albain.

"Now if you don't mind I don't want to be disturbed tonight." Lielay told the two as she leaned in their doorframe.

"Sure thing Lie." Albain told her as she walked out of their room.

"Ssso what do you want to do." Mirk already had changed out of his blood stained robes into some plain black ones.

"Let's go see what the bar's like." Albain smiled and walked out the door. He too already had changed into clean clothes.

*****

Lielay was sitting on the floor in her room looking through her packs for the picture. She threw clothes and blankets around. Supplies littered the floor around her. She found the picture and clutched it to her chest. She lay on the floor crying until Snappy limped over and nuzzled her face. She put an arm around him and cried herself to sleep.

*****

Albain and Mirk sat downstairs at the bar drinking. Mirk fiddled with his horn as he just stared at his pale drink. Albain had plenty of empty tankards in front of him and he was acting strange. He had a goofy expression on his face and he swayed in his chair. As people passed, Albain would wave aimlessly and chuckle to himself. Mirk tired to ignore the wood elf's behavior, but could not resist laughing at him. A half-elf barmaid came to collect his glasses. Albain stared at her and his eyes followed her around the bar while she worked. He smiled and got up. Mirk looked at him dumbfounded, pulled him back into his chair, and slapped the back of his head.

Albain glared at him. "What was that for!"

"That'sss not Lielay."

"I know that! I don't always have to be with Lielay all the time."

Mirk was shocked and angry, "You've had way to much too drink."

"How do you know? Huh? I'm a grown man, I can make my own decisions." Albain barked.

"Fine. I'll let you alone. I'm going back to the room." He stood up and threw the bartender some coins. "Don't do anything you'll regret later." Mirk disappeared up the stairs. Albain stood up, straightened his clothes, and swayed over to the half-elf.

*****

The dim light shimmered over his eyes. Albain put his hands to his head and groaned. He had a terrible headache. He rolled over and opened his eyes; he gasped. Beside him in the bed lay the half-elf barmaid; she was still sleeping. Albain groaned again. "Gods tell me this didn't happen." He cursed under his breath.

Quickly he got up and pulled on his clothes. With one more glace at the half-elf, he left. He was still in the tavern, he noticed as he went up the stairs and opened the room he supposedly shared with Mirk. Quietly he crept to his bed, trying not to wake Mirk.

Te iksar sat up and glared him down. "Where have you been?"

Thinking fast Albain hatched a plan, "I got my own room because I didn't want you to yell at me the whole night."

Mirk eyed him, "You were with that half-elf, weren't you?" he got up and put on his robes.

"Of course not! Why would I do that to Lielay? I love her. Never." Albain bellowed at Mirk.

Mirk snorted, picked up his bags, and left the room. The door was still open and Albain stood there speechless. He kicked the side of his bed and threw his cloak off. Lielay came in the room dragging her bags behind her. Snappy's head was poking out of one; he looked at Albain and raised his lips to a smile.

"Good morning." She smiled.

"What do you mean by that?" Albain jumped.

"What's into you? You sleep right?" she crossed to him.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well." He flinched as she put her hand on his arm.

"We'll be leaving soon. Gather your things and meet us downstairs." Lielay looked strangely at him and left.

Lielay and Mirk waited near the doors for Albain to come down. The two joked and laughed at Snappy in his bag. Albain came down and hurried them out of the tavern. Mirk eyed him from behind Lielay's back. Albain lowered his head and didn't look at Mirk again. The trio left the pass and into Kithicor. It only took them a couple hours to pass safely through the dense forest. The sun was much brighter in the Commonlands and there was more activity.

"Lielay, why are we going to Kelethin again?" Mirk asked.

"For my brother's wedding." She smiled.

When they reached Freeport it was dark, but still light enough to see. Albain led the other two through back streets and alleys to Aubrey's house. When they got there no one answered the door. So, the three decided to go check the bars for him since they knew Aubrey liked his drinks. They found him after only their second try. He was sitting playing cards with three other people. Aubrey looked up and his eye caught Lielay and Albain; he jumped up and ran to them.

"You two are here again? Nice to see you!" he hugged Lielay and shook Albain's hand.

"Aubrey this is Mirk." Lielay introduced the two.

"Pleasssure to meet you." Mirk bowed his head shook Aubrey's hand.

"Come, come join my table and meet some of my friends." The four sat down. "Everyone this is Lielay, Albain, and Mirk." He pointed each one out.

A young human male leaned over the table and shook their hands, "Tio Maphire's the name, and right now, card playing is my game." He smiled.

"I'm Harmony." A fair-haired half-elf who sat next to Tio said.

"And I'm Sam." Another human male grunted.

"Lets get the game started!" Tio said as he smoothed back his short jet- black hair.

They all started a game of cards that lasted well into the night. Laughter arose from their table on occasion, but mostly they were too involved with their game. After the game ended, Aubrey invited Albain, Mirk, and Lielay to stay at his house for the night before they caught the boat to Kelethin. As soon as they got to Aubrey's house, Mirk pulled Albain aside.

"I know you ssslept with that barmaid in the Passssss, you can't deny it. If you ever do a ssstupid thing like that again I'll tell Lielay everything. I'm not telling her thisss time becaussse I want you to have a sssecond chance with her."

"I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing."

"Watch yourssself." Mirk left him.

Morning came all to soon for Albain. He felt like he hadn't had any sleep. Aubrey walked with them to the docks, he said his good-byes and vanished back into the city. They were on the boat, and were waiting for the crewmembers to finish loading the cargo. This boat was much slower then the one Caleb and Lielay took to reach Freeport. It took four days to reach Butcher Block, the whole time Mirk emptied him stomach over the side of the ship. Once there, Lielay inhaled deeply and started her way to Kelethin. Mirk became more nervous as they came closer to Kelethin. He gripped his horn and swung it back and forth. Two hours later, they stepped onto the lift to Kelethin after explaining to the guards about Mirk.

"Lielay you're here!" Joshua said as he opened the door to the Liltreehuggr house.

"Yes." She smiled weakly.

"Where's Caleb?" he peered around her only to see Albain and Mirk.

"Joshua I have really bad news." She pushed him inside and shut the door in Albain's face.

"Well, how do you like that." Albain said to Mirk.

"You dessserve more then that for what you did." Mirk sneered.

"Are you going to hold this grudge against me forever?"

"I don't know. I thought I could trust you before, but now.."

Lielay sat Joshua down in a chair, "What happened?" he had on a stern face.

"Caleb was kidnapped," she inhaled deeply, "he escaped, but ran into the Commonlands and wa-was. killed by a lion." She let the tears fall down her face.

"I just knew something bad would happen. Gods." he pounded his fists into the wall. Snappy jumped out of his bag and rubbed Lielay's legs. Joshua stared at him, "And you have a lion as a pet after one killed your one and only son!" he shouted loudly.

"Snappy is different! He wasn't the lion that killed Caleb! Snappy was miles away from where is happened!" Lielay picked up the cub and held him tightly in her arms.

Joshua took a deep breath, "It's not your fault Lie." He hugged Lielay and patted Snappy's head.

Later that day, Birria came over looking rounder in the middle from the last time Lielay saw her. Birria didn't blame Lielay either for Caleb's death. Birria changed the subject to keep Lielay from crying. She started going on and on about what her ceremony was going to be like. Birria and Joshua's wedding was in a couple weeks and Birria was ecstatic about it. When Marcus was told about Caleb, he took it very hard; Caleb was his best friend and playmate. Birria got him to play with other young ones to keep his mind off of Caleb.

Mirk was now known throughout Kelethin and he was allowed to walk freely. When he would pass elves, they would get excited and bombard him with questions. Little elves would follow him in awe and run away when he stopped and eyed them. Mirk would always laugh under his breath and twitch his tail to amuse them if they stayed.

Albain was keeping mostly to himself; he would sit on the balcony and mutter things. Sometimes he had a lost look in his eyes, but they always came back. One day, he left for a couple of hours and came back smiling. He walked into Lielay's room and waited for her to come. After awhile she did. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked.

"Yes now I am." He kissed her.

"Good. I was getting worried about you. For the whole week you were depressed and talking to yourself all the time."

"I have something for you." He smiled.

"You do?" Lielay grinned.

"Yes. A surprise." He walked behind her. He slid a chain over Lielay's head and clasped it together. He walked Lielay to the mirror and grinned, "You like?"

Lielay stared in amazement at the beautiful black pearl necklace Albain had placed around her neck. The golden chain sparkled in the sunlight and the pearl and the silver charm that it was attached to glistened. The charm was a sword entwined with leaves and embedded with tiny diamonds. It was so small Lielay had to pull the charm closer to her face to see it.

"What does the symbol charm represent?" she turned to him.

"My family crest."

"It's beautiful!" she kissed him.

"I'm glad you like it." He kissed her forehead.

Birria left the doorway, smiling, and crossed to Joshua. She told him about the present Albain gave to Lielay. "You were spying on them?" he asked.

"Well, I was talking to Lielay when she went into her room, but them I saw Albain waiting for her so I didn't go in." Birria laughed.

"I'm glad those two are happy." Joshua took Birria's hand.

Birria smiled to him, "I have a feeling that Albain is going to give her that ring that was by his bag soon too." Joshua raised his eyebrows at her.