COOKIE!!!!! ::snatches cookie and hugs it, stroking it lovingly:: My precious...

Um. I blame peroxide?

Okay, time for a random poll: Who loves Joren?

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Keladry watched the man's retreating back in shock. The name "Joren of Stone Mountain" had hit her with the force of a two-ton mallet. It bounced around in her head, echoing darkly, speaking of a forbidden and forgotten thing. Joren...she had not seen him since he was a squire...since that time of cruel gods.

She had thought she had locked those thoughts away. But they broke through their stone barrier like a tidal wave, roaring loudly in her ears. The name...it brought back so many memories. Memories that should have been dead.

Frenn. Arden.

Joren.

"Mithros," she whispered. "I've fallen into the same trap I did five years ago."

She never allowed herself to get personal or sentimental over assignments or missions. She killed without feeling, as a rule. No tears, no heartbreak. When King Jonathan sent her on a spy mission, she kept her distance. No friends, no bonds. But this...this hit below the belt. She had not seen Joren since that day on the Mageskull. The adventure they had tied them together in unimaginable ways. Their destinies were entwined like ropes of fate.

Those ropes threatened to strangle her.

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These ropes were strangling him.

Joren of Stone Mountain howled indignantly behind his gag. Most of his skin was pink and raw from where the coarse ties had cut it harshly.

His current location was somewhere in a pitch-black room on board that odd ship. Bound and gagged as he was, he was unable to explore even the small confines of the room unless he rolled around, and the captain of the Black Bandits would never stoop so low as to roll around like a bloody commoner.

Joren swore softly, his wrists straining against the cords, the inserted pressure causing his blue blood vessels to stand stark against his arm. After a couple minutes he gave up, going breathlessly limp against the wall.

A nasty and noisy pang reminded him of his hunger. No human contact had been made since he was kidnapped by that sinister child of shadows. Damn her.

"This is so humiliating," he grumbled. Not to mention slightly intimidating and creepy.

When the gloomy silence began to ride his nerves, he quietly and expertly withdrew inside himself, to the safe haven he had formed over the years, to visit the sympathetic creature inside him.

I see it takes a kidnapping for you to visit me, eh?

Sor-

Sorry? Is that what you were going to say? 'Cause sorry doesn't cut it, pal. I'm your friggin conscience and you haven't the gall to visit me once in a while?

Look, Connie-

Stop calling me Connie. I know I sound like a girl, but I'm not. I'm sexless.

Whatever. I really would prefer not to argue right now. In case you have not quite yet noticed, I am bound and gagged on an unknown ship. I really need some support right now.

You think that you can waltz right in here and I'll immediately forgive you?!

It's my head!

Good point.

Thank you. Okay, here goes: it'll be okay.

...And?

What else do you want me to say?

Well, more than that, I can tell you right now!

Joren smirked when he felt Conscience roll its eyes.

Please. Spare me.

Gah! You're so infuriating.

I'm your conscience! I live in your head!

Ack!

Okay, okay. I bet Kris or Morgan has already formed a search party of some sort. Maybe even a spy or something like that.

Spy. The word reminded him of green-hazel eyes and soft hair...

Stop it, Joren. This time Conscience spoke sharply. Don't do this to yourself. Forget what you saw...forget what you lived...

Those were his words to live by. Live today and anticipate tomorrow. Never dwell on the yesterdays. More than often the yesterdays were painful.

A horrible thought struck him. If he stayed in here, he would remember...the memories...he would lose the precious sanity he had left.

"I've got to get out of here," he whispered.

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"I've got him, Master."

The ash-blond man stroked the child's thick red hair thoughtfully. "Good girl, Jahani. Is he on his way?"

"Yes, Master," Jehani replied, eager to please. "He's on the Black Lady, bound and gagged."

"I want him alive," he reminded her warningly.

She curtsied cutely in her frilly pink dress. "I know, Master. He will be. I will let nothing harm him."

"Easier said than done," he murmured darkly.

Jehani tilted her head. "Master?"

"The one person I respect – and even, to some extent, fear – has been notified. Knowing her, she will set out immediately. I need you to speed up, Jehani. She's quick, and if you don't hurry she will catch him."

"Is she Gifted, then?"

"Not at all," he said cheerily. "But she will have companions. She will not be alive. She wasn't then, she will not be now."

Jehani curtsied once more. "By your leave, Master, I shall return to the ship."

He waved his hand in dismissal, his thoughts already wandering. There was no sound at all; she was suddenly gone, disappearing into then air.

He clenched his fists tightly.

You can run, Mindelan. But you can't hide.

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I'm going to be putting up an AU future-fic soon. (Yes, with lots of yummy Joren!) I didn't even like AU fics until I read Sulia Serafine's ICBW...now I am obsessed! JOREN! HOT OFFICER GUY! MORE!

Any of you reviewers know any good AU fics? Don't try Sulia Serafine (I've already read hers) or The Blind Assassin (--::secretly wishes she would hurry the fuck up and update::).