Cursing at his carelessness, he saw Silver whirling around, prepared to fight. Just as he wanted to step forward, Silver exclaimed something and walked past his hiding place and grabbed someone from behind the tree. Amazed, Variante stayed where he was. He exchanged puzzled looks with Mika. Who was that? There was a scuffle and Silver dragged out a young male rogue.

"Let me go!" he struggled as he tried to free himself from Silver's unyielding grasp. Silver ignored him and continued dragging him towards the campsite. Watching the whole scenario in silence, Mika decided to step forward before anything else is to happen. Motioning her mate to do the same, she stepped forward and said, "There you are! We were searching all over for you!"

Silver whirled around with surprise, his wand ready to strike. Seeing that it was only Mika and Variante, he relaxed his grip on his wand and waved at them, saying, "Hey, Mika! Sorry for leaving camp till now. Did I break anymore rules?" Mika rolled her eyes and looked at Variante. He was looking strangely at the young blacksmith beside Silver. "Variante, remember your manners! It's not nice to stare like that," she admonished. Tearing his eyes away from her, he looked at Mika sheepishly.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to stare, but you look somewhat familiar to me...Have we met?" he asked the young blacksmith politely. She looked at him closely and shook her head, "Sorry, no. I don't think so."

Meantime, Silver was cross-examining the rogue rapidly. "What were you doing, sneaking up on us?" he demanded. The rogue kept silent and stared beyond the woods, refusing to make any eye contact. Once again, Variante felt as if he knew that rogue. What is going on here? It's like I know everyone present here even though I haven't seen him or her before, he wondered.

Suddenly, he felt rather faint and sat down abruptly. The others didn't notice this as they were to busy firing questions to the silent rogue. Ooh, my head... he moaned silently, as the world around him was beginning to spin and swirl. Before he knew what was happening, he fell into a deep faint...

"Leo, LEO! Wake up!"

Variante rubbed his eyes sleepily and started with surprise. Where am I? He wondered, looking around him. It seemed to him that he was in a room filled with toys. "Eh, what am I doing here? And what am I wearing?" he exclaimed to himself as he realized he was wearing an odd-looking costume. "Hmm, it looks almost as if...I'm a novice again," he said disbelievingly.

"LEO! For the last time, WAKE UP!" came a voice from outside as someone hammered onto his door. Variante jumped out from bed almost immediately at the sound of that voice. "Who in the name of King Midgard is that?" he muttered angrily as he rubbed his ears. That voice was deafening. Slowly, he walked towards the door and opened it.

"Finally! I thought you were going to sleep for the whole day! Come on, you still have your chores to do. Spit spot, hurry up!" exclaimed an irate middle-aged lady. Variante looked around him, feeling even more bewildered. It looked as though he was in some sort of old-fashioned inn. "Huh? What..."he began. Impatiently, she began to push him towards a room, which turned out to be a kitchen. "Now, I want you to clear up the dishes. And this time, make sure it's clean!" she said menacingly. To surprised to speak, he just nodded as he stared at the array of dishes in front of him. I need to clean those up? I'll be dead long before I'm done! He grumbled silently. The stacked up dirty dishes was piled up like a huge mountain in front of him.

But, why am I here? Who am I? Why was that lady calling me Leo? He wondered. He could hear her screaming away nearby and decided to start work. He didn't feel like abusing his ears once more. Working as fast as possible, Variante took a pile of dishes and place them into a large basin filled with soapy water. Unfortunately, he stepped onto a slippery patch and slipped. Uh-oh! He thought in alarm as he fell onto the floor and watched the dishes dancing in the air. As he tried catching them, he knocked his head hard onto the floor and lost consciousness...