Ashley had been in the mood to talk to Cassie the night following the battle. She had wanted to go through and analyse every word she and Jaz had spoken. Cassie wasn't there. Not long after she arrived back in her room, she fell asleep, the day's events having taken their toll on her. She arose late, and when her eyes focused, Cassie was on the stool in front of the mirror gazing aimlessly through the glass. When Ashley sat up, Cassie's eyes snapped back on alert, and she smiled.

"Hey," Ashley yawned. "Where were you last night? I wanted to talk to you."

"You were asleep when I came in, and I didn't want to wake you." Cassie replied. Ashley sat up straighter and looked at Cassie suspiciously.

"When did you come in? You look like you haven't slept all night.

"I came in around nine if you must know, and I didn't sleep. Much." Cassie was looking straight at Ashley's reflection with narrowed eyes.

"Nine at night?"

"Ummmm, sure." Cassie looked down.

"Nine in the morning?! Just where in the hell were you all night?"

"I was talking to Saber all night. We talked. All night." Her face appeared honest, but her cheeks were slowly reddening, and if she were to lift her hair away from her ears, they would have been a dead giveaway. Ashley was looking at Cassie like a mother with a naughty child, her arms folded across her chest.

"MmmmHmmm, and of course you realize that night ends at twelve midnight, which leaves nine hours between last night and when you got back here, so….." She trailed off, waiting for Cassie to explain herself.

"What are you writing my life story? I think I fell asleep at around two, woke up at four, fell back asleep at five, woke up at seven, and finally dragged my ass back here at nine."

"You woke up a lot this morning." Ashley's face was beginning to feel warm too.

"The pillows were lumpy."

"LIAR!" Cassie opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. She put on a faraway look for a second, and smiled. Then she came back, and her face turned so red that it was very nearly the same colour as her dress. "Just hold on a sec," Ashley said calmly. She lifted a pillow to her face, and Cassie could hear the muffled screams. When her face reappeared, she was smiling. A slight glint of insanity in her eye. "I'm okay now. I won't ask you anymore." It was with much relief that Ashley changed the topic. By the time they went down to the victory banquet, Cassie was well informed on Ashley and Jaz's discussion, with Ashley not being totally in the dark about Cassie's escapades either.

To Ashley's relief, Saber wasn't at the table for breakfast. It was bad enough looking at Cassie alone now. They were able to pass the meal with relatively normal conversation. The rest of the day was spent between practicing their instruments, and watching Jaz and Abbe practice their slow motion moves.

Right after lunch, Cassie disappeared again, and Ashley really didn't want to know, so she stayed outside and cheered Jaz on, all the while cursing Cassie's luck that she could have physical contact with the one she loved. After Aiden called it quits, Jaz only smiled at her quickly before going to the back of the castle where she he probably slept. She was slightly hurt that he hadn't at least said goodnight to her, but she supposed that maybe he was tired. Aiden had pushed him pretty hard today. Uncertain, and rather depressed, she went back to her room, where to her surprise, she found Cassie looking equally upset and confused. There was however, no way in hell that Ashley was going to let Cassie disperse her problems first.

"Guess what?" she began. Cassie looked up. Her eyes were dry, but…Oh whatever. As long as she wasn't crying Ashley had nothing to feel guilty about. And she was sick of waiting for a response. "Jaz didn't talk to me once today! I mean, he was probably busy training. Aiden was a lot worse with them than us. But, you'd think he'd have at least said hi to me. He hates me! I know it. I pushed him too hard talking yesterday, and now he's sick of me!" Cassie smiled indulgently, as she always did when Ashley was having one of her moods, and for the next hour or so, she proceeded to soothe her as much as possible without getting her hopes up too much. And Ashley forgot about Cassie's problem as hope swelled within her. Yes, it was possible that Jaz loved her just as much as she loved him. Sweet thoughts wove through her dreams that night. Cassie had no dreams. For the simple reason that she had no sleep. She would have to talk to Ashley eventually. Just keeping her doubts to herself was tearing her up inside. Doubts that had begun to take root the moment Saber had 'healed' her hand.

She finally gave up on sleep and went down to the great hall which was deserted but for a young boy. He couldn't have been more than four or five years old. She made her way over to go and sit by him, but was too shy to say anything. As she sat, he looked up and smiled. 'Adorable,' Cassie thought. Rumpled, but shiny brown hair almost went into his eyes in places, and stuck out in others. He wore a billowy, white shirt that was a bit large for him.

"Hello," he said scooting closer to her. "I like warm bread with honey on it." A bit taken aback by this random statement, Cassie wasn't quite sure how to reply. Luckily, the need to was taken out of her hands when he spoke again. "I'm Arundel. That means one who dwells with eagles. I don't remember what my last name is. I think it means son of the searcher. But I'm not sure." He shrugged, and his loose shirt fell over one shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Cassie." The boy smiled at her answer.

"My uncle talks about you a lot. I think he likes you." Cassie frowned.

"Your uncle?"

"My uncle Saber. His name is the same as mine. His real name anyway. He takes care of me because my mother and father are dead." Cassie didn't really know what to say in response. She never did. Maybe if she changed the subject.

"Well then Arundel, why don't you and I go to the kitchen and see if we can get any bread with honey on it." During later reflection, she changed her negative opinion of little boys.

Not long after they returned to eat their snack, Ashley found them, and demanded that they make another excursion to the kitchen to get her some too. When they finally got back from that, the room was full, and the surviving crude, hairy men were talking animatedly. Little Arundel spotted Saber and went to him to offer up some of his food. Saber lifted the small boy high in the air by way of greeting, and in his delight at soaring through the air, Arundel let go of his bread so he could spread his arms to fly like a bird. And the bread landed honey side down smack in the centre of Saber's face. The hall erupted with hearty laughs, and Arundel's rapturous giggles echoed off the stone walls.

Much the same as before, two figures watched the battle go. Both worried sick. Both trying to catch glimpses that would pronounce those they cared about safe for the time being. Ashley saw Jaz go down, and her scream was almost audible over the rest of those fighting. The echoes could still be heard even as it mingled with those sounding oddly like "GNOP-GNIP!" Ashley recoiled from shock at hearing this. Cassie, seeing that neither Abbe nor Jaz was in immediate danger grew thoughtful.

"I think that's ping-pong spelled backwards. Wow. I wonder if Abbe came up with that," she said to nobody in particular. In her contemplation, she missed the odd scene that ensued, but Ashley saw it quite clearly, and wished she hadn't. Throughout most of it, her face burned with embarrassment. How was she friends with this girl? A strangled yell escaped her as she saw the ball of light from Abbe's gun barely missed Jaz's head.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" She left Cassie to see if Jaz was okay, but she lost him in a swarm of robots. She looked around, and found herself standing next to a much older Knat. She jumped, and flung herself away from him which pretty much ended her up on the ground. Regaining her bearings, she saw that Knat was still pretty close to her, and that Abbe, looking ready to kill had her gun pointed straight at him. Praying that she didn't miss, Ashley tried to move away, but Knat's stringy voice yelling 'retreat' gave her possibly the strangest experience of her life up to that point.

"Have you ever been trampled by thousands of robots, but never felt a thing?" She asked Jaz later that day after Jaz had calmed down somewhat from his adrenaline high. Abbe was having a little more trouble. Cassie had given up on her and gone to find food. Not that Ashley blamed her. Abbe on the other hand didn't really notice if anybody was talking to her. She was firing shot after shot into the ground, kicking random bushes/people, and screaming about how she had been robbed of her proper justice and that she demanded a recount. All this among a stream of swears, some made up words, and many references to llamas, squirrels, and flamingos. After a second of observing this, Jaz answered.

"No. I haven't actually. I'd kill for some Juicy Fruit though." If anybody had been around to watch, they would have seen the stars in her eyes. For no explainable reason, the topic of gum brought them to sunset. And Ashley never went in that evening. Or that night. Or that morning. In fact, after a dream in which the giant orange fish from the Juicy Fruit Commercial pronounced her and Jaz man and wife, she woke up. The bright sunlight smarted her eyes. She squinted and stared around. She was lying on wet, dewy grass. Something warm resting against her back. Some sort of involuntary reflex made her jerk away and roll over at the same time. Her vision focused, and there was Jaz. Asleep. She smiled dewily. How sweet. He had slept in his clothes. He was wearing a white t shirt over which was a blue, plaid button up shirt with some green cargo shorts. His socks were pulled up a little too high, but other than that, he was adorable. Wait a minute. She gazed down at herself. Her penguin goddess pajama shirt, some blue jeans, and not much else. She frowned, and looked back at Jaz. It was like she was seeing him on a computer screen with a few thousand more pixels on it. He was clear, filled in. Ashley's heart leapt into her throat. Not wanting to wake him, she reached out, and touched a strand of his hair. And she felt it! Grinning stupidly, she got up, and brushed herself off. She turned, and there was Aiden, smiling just as broadly.

"Welcome back."