Kes headed back towards the ÔDove, musing over what she'd witnessed. Her eyes swept the shadows and she walked in the well-lit center of the road, hand still clutching her dagger. She pushed her hair impatiently out of her blue eyes and entered the rickety old inn. Despite the late hour, the common room was still packed with thieves and other riffraff, but Kester could not find her father in the crush of people. She sank down into a splintery chair in one of the room's shadowy corners and buried her face in her hands, still tallying up what she knew.

Something didn't fit. Ercole threatens Char with a knife and says something about revenge... Says he'll catch him unawares, so they must know each other, but- no! Da says Ercole's been here, in Corus, since he was my age! Char looks like he's my age, so he wouldn't have been alive before Ercole came here... How does he know him?!? And why? Why would he turn now, and threaten someone Da said to leave alone? It doesn't fit! She banged her fist on the table in frustration, stood, and marched resolutely up the narrow stairway. Knocking on her father's door, she called, "It's me, Da; can I come in?"

"Sure." He called.

She opened the door, shut it firmly behind her, and entered the well-lit, sparsely furnished workroom of her father.

Marek frowned. "What's wrong? You look puzzled."

Kester sighed and told her father everything. His face grew pale as she spoke.

"So I don't get it. " She concluded. "I feel like I'm missin' somethin' big, or important- somethin' I need to know t' understand this."

"I don't understand..." Marek murmured. "Why would Ercole do that? Are you sure it was him?"

"Am I yer daughter or not?" She snapped. "O' course I'm sure!"

It was Marek's turn to sigh. "I know, Kes. I'm grasping at straws. It can't be true!"

"Well, it is."

He stood. "Do you know where Ercole is now?"

She shook her head. "He ran off down Spinner's Alley when I came."

Marek groaned. "Then I'll have to look for him. He met his daughter's eyes. "Kessie? Thank for telling me this."

She nodded. "Good luck. I should get home, before Mum worries."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I'm home!" She called, entering the tenement where she and her mother lived.

"Good. Now help me fold the laundry." Anci called.

Kes complied. Lifting a skirt from the wicker basket on the floor, she asked casually, "Mum? What do you know about Ercole?"

Anci's eye's, as blue as her daughter's, rested on her sharply. "Why?"

"He's been acting all strange and saying things that confuse me."

Anci raised one eyebrow. "Well... I know he drifted here from Rinn when he was about your age. He got mixed up in the Rogue and has been here ever since. That help?"

Kester grinned wryly. "Not really, but thanks."

"I don't really know anything else. Ask your father; they're better friends. Now," she said, placing a blouse in the shelf in the closet. "It's late. To bed."

"Yes, Mother Dearest." Kes said with an impish smile. "See you in the morning."

Note from IRW: Rose insists that this is a cliffie. I say she's mad, but whatever sinks your submarine, right?