Chapter 12

Contemplations on the Past

"It's awfully cold," Ron muttered, though Wolfe's hearing allowed him to catch Ron's words as if he'd been standing next to him. "Cast another Warming Charm for us, Hermione. Bloody hell, why couldn't he have done this in the Citadel's maintenance bay, where it's nice and warm?"

Ron and Hermione had slipped away from their family visit to be present at Wolfe's departure, leaving their children in the care of their formidable grandmother.

Ron's muttering had prompted a smile from Wolfe. It was a valid question, with several answers. He'd wanted to be away from the other Rangers' prying eyes, and he'd wanted some time to meditate near the lake, adding the final touches to his mental preparation.

"Ready?" Harry called, turning away from the dark, partially frozen waters of Lake Michigan to face Wolfe. The icy winds didn't ruffle his clothing, and his nose and ears didn't show any signs of exposure to the cold, telling Wolfe that Harry had rendered himself intangible. It was a creative way to escape the wind chill.

Wolfe nodded as he looked at Harry and Ron, who were standing side by side. He experienced a brief moment of envy at their unique bond. It could have turned out differently if his great-great grandfather and the Ranger Prime hadn't forbidden Lei Li to take Harry in and train him early. Had that been the case, he and Harry would have grown up like brothers.

"What are you thinking about?" Heidi asked in a whisper, leaning closer into him.

Wolfe gazed down on Heidi's sad face. Her cheeks were a deep pink, decorated with some frozen tears. Fortunately he'd managed to smooth things over with her the previous evening, for Vesta's reaction upon discovering that he wasn't Matt had gone a long way towards calming Heidi. Unfortunately, Vesta hadn't been upset at all about kissing the wrong guy, and she'd spent the whole evening trying to get him alone for an encore, completely ignoring her date. Needless to say, that hadn't exactly got her on Heidi's good side.

Explaining why he hadn't immediately broken the kiss had also been difficult and awkward, and it had been a good thing that they'd discussed the subject of his incubus heritage the day before the incident. Heidi had been able to interpret his stammered explanation fairly quickly, sparing them both a lot of discomfort.

"I was thinking about the past, and how things could have been different," he said, before leaning down and planting a lingering kiss on her frigid lips. The contact quickly warmed both their lips, and at her insistence they deepened the kiss, finally pouring everything he had into it, aware of the possibility that he might never see her again. Finally, he reluctantly broke the kiss and stared into her eyes. "I love you."

Her eyes filled with tears once more, and she uttered something halfway between a sob and a chuckle. "You've waited an awfully long time to tell me that, but I suppose that makes you who you are."

"Huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, I already knew—you've shown that you loved me by jumping in front of that Killing Curse, but you never said it."

"But if my actions made my feelings clear, why is saying it such a big deal?"

"Honestly, Max, you're even thicker than Ron!" Hermione said exasperatedly. She, Ron, and Harry must have come closer while he and Heidi had been immersed in their kiss. "I suppose actions do matter more than words, but a woman still needs to hear the words every now and then."

Ron grinned, and threw his arm across his wife's shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "Don't be so hard on him, Hermione. He can't help being a man of action. Besides, he didn't have the benefit of your nagging when he was a kid."

Hermione scowled. "I'm sure he would've caught on much more quickly than you."

"So I'm thick." Ron shrugged. "It does have its advantages."

"Oh really? Name one!"

"I never lost my head over an eleven-year-old part-Veela girl. My thickness must've insulated me."

"You never met an eleven-year-old Veela-girl."

"That's not the point—"

"Don't you dare drag Nicolai into this."

"Who said anything about Nicolai?" Ron smirked, crossing his arms and giving Hermione an expectant look.

"You were going to bring it up."

"You don't know that for sure. Funny though, how you immediately connected Nicolai to the age of eleven."

"I … damn!" Hermione's mouth snapped shut as she realised that she'd blindly tumbled into Ron's trap by taking the bait.

Wolfe smirked. Apparently Ron still grabbed every chance he got to remind Hermione of her reaction to Nicolai's pheromones, a little over four years ago.

"Ron playing mind games with Hermione? That's a first! What is the world coming to?" He chuckled. "Too bad I won't be around to see more of this…" He fell silent for a few seconds, and his smirk was replaced by a solemn look. "Ron, Harry, in a few years my boys might get some questions that are far too awkward for them to ask Heidi. They'll need a father figure sometimes, and I'd be very grateful if you cover for me, when you have time."

Ron nodded. "It'll be my pleasure. We'll make the time, if we have to."

"It'll be good practice, in case Ron and I ever have a son," Hermione commented.

"Same thing goes for me and Ginny—well, minus the son part, since we've already got one," Harry added with a subdued smile.

"Thanks," Wolfe said, while he reluctantly pried Heidi's arms off his waist. Now that the time had come, leaving was more difficult than he'd imagined. If Yamato hadn't taken his son, he didn't know whether he'd have had the resolve to go through with it. No, he would have gone through with it. He'd have remembered that leaving Yamato as a loose end had got Galatea and her parents killed.

Harry's smile widened. "Oh, and your transportation is here—it's Ginny," he said, as he turned around and scanned the sky around them, finally fixing his gaze on an empty spot of sky.

That explained why Harry had been aware of the Prowler's approach even before he'd seen it. For the second time in that brief moment, Wolfe envied Harry—who was unaware of his own goofy smile at the anticipation of seeing with his wife—for being able to remain behind with her and the children. He silently cursed Yamato for preventing him from experiencing the same domestic bliss.

Suddenly, just like Harry's magically enhanced eyesight had enabled him to see through the Prowler's invisibility, Wolfe's enhanced hearing picked up the faint tell-tale whistle caused by the craft's quick displacement of air, which the Silencing Charm couldn't completely cover. A few seconds later the Prowler turned visible and landed two dozen yards or so away from them. The bubble cockpit retracted and Ginny reached for something on the back seat, tucking it under her cloak before she climbed out.

Surprisingly, she was wearing normal winter clothing instead of her Ranger uniform, and she was wearing the cloak Heidi had given her for Christmas, at a late exchange of gifts the previous evening, after Matt and Gudrun's Christmas party. Except for the slightly smaller size, it was identical to the one Heidi was wearing right now, the one that Ginny had given her the previous evening. The exchange of identical gifts had been a source of great hilarity.

Ginny strode over to Wolfe and came to a stop at an arm's length. She pulled her cloak aside and brandished the Phoenix Clan Katana he'd inherited from Master Lei, but which he'd given to Harry. "I thought you should take this with you, and Gudrun and I also stocked the Prowler with an assortments of goodies that might come in handy in the Mirror Realm."

Wolfe was speechless. He honestly didn't know what to say, for he'd given the sword to Harry as a gift and he'd certainly never expected to have it back.

Harry merely shrugged as Wolfe glanced at him, hoping to get an explanation. "So thank her! It'll be a big help to you."

"But—"

"I never use it anymore," Harry interrupted him. Besides, I'm sure the sword will enjoy hunting down a man who has stained the Japanese Wizarding Empire's honour."

Wolfe reached forward, tentatively grasping the scabbard, which immediately channelled the sword's warmth as the blade inside recognised Wolfe's touch. He knew that it had a strange sort of sentience as well as an empathic means of communication, and he had a feeling that it heartily concurred with Harry's assessment.

"Thank you, Ginny," Wolfe said, doing his best to keep his voice from wavering and his eyes from misting up as he looked at the people who had grown to become his best friends. Each of them had, at one time or another, been there to set him straight about something, and Harry and Ginny had each saved his life.

"Thank me by finding Yamato quickly so you can come back." She lunged forward and engulfed him in a tight hug, stood on the tips of her toes, and kissed him on the cheek before relinquishing him from the hug. Then she reached into the inside pocket of her cloak and produced a long, sparkling white feather. "It's one of my own—I plucked it earlier. For luck!"

Wolfe accepted the feather and tucked it away. Then Hermione came forward and also gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. Ron and Harry hung back with amused expressions on their faces.

"Would you be terribly disappointed if I don't hug and kiss you?" Ron asked.

"Make that we," Harry added.

Wolfe chuckled. "Not at all."

Ron nodded. "I'm glad we all agree on that one. Good luck, Wolfe."

"Good hunting!" Harry said seriously. "And try to send status reports to Shamballah from time to time, all right?"

Wolfe nodded, before turning on his heel and striding towards the Prowler.

x
"I wish I could've gone with him," Harry muttered wistfully, while he stared at the lake's surface.

"Why didn't you?" Ginny whispered back, finally voicing a thought she'd been harbouring in the back of her mind.

"I knew you'd noticed! But … would you have let me go?" Harry asked, looking incredulous.

Ginny nodded. "I can feel the influence Wolfe's quest exerts on you. I know this will sound very Trelawney-like, but at times it almost seems like you two were meant to grow up like brothers, and that same bond added to the your urge to join him. I wouldn't have stopped you."

"I wouldn't have met Ron and Hermione if I'd grown up with Wolfe."

"I think Professor Dumbledore would have insisted that you receive your magical training at Hogwarts—" Ginny ended her sentence abruptly as another thought occurred to her. "Although … you might be right about meeting Ron and Hermione. If the stories I heard are true, growing up under Lei Li's influence probably would have got you Sorted into Slytherin," she amended with a chuckle. "Anyway, it's pointless to speculate about these things. What I meant to say was that he would've made a good surrogate brother for you."

"Don't sell your family short. They've been a great surrogate family, too."

Ginny shook her head. "Ron's your best mate, and he was like a best mate to you—not a brother. Mum's been sort of a surrogate mum to you, but the rest of us were definitely in the friends category."

"Speaking of your mum, she was also part of the reason I stayed. Imagine the talking-to she'd give me upon my return, if I'd gone with Wolfe. Her yelling would have induced deafness that even Draconian magic wouldn't have fixed." He winked. "Seriously—you, Richie and Holly far outweighed any satisfaction I could've obtained by joining Wolfe. Maybe I would have gone, if I'd known in advance that tracking Yamato down would only take a couple of months at most—but I didn't have that certainty, and I didn't want to risk being away from my family for too long." He opened his arms in invitation, and Ginny stepped into his embrace.

She sighed with contentment. "I'm glad to hear that."

"So, why did you come? Wasn't someone else supposed to fly the Prowler here?"

"Yes, but I wanted to say goodbye to Wolfe myself, and be here to support Heidi after he left. Then there's the katana. It's a weapon of good, and I thought it would make an excellent moral compass that could help keep Wolfe on the right path."

"Yeah, I bet the sword will give him a jolt if too many innocent people are at risk. That was a good idea. I can't believe I didn't think of it myself."

Ginny pulled back and looked Harry in the eyes. "I wouldn't be much of a wife if I can't anticipate the thoughts, needs, and desires that slowly crawl up through your murky male subconscious, would I?"

Harry leaned and down and rewarded her with a toe-curling kiss, the likes of which she hadn't experienced in a long time. It wasn't like their marriage was in a rut, but the degree of familiarity made flying sparks increasingly rare. However there was something going on that had really brought out the passion in Harry, and Ginny wasn't about to complain. In fact, his passion was contagious, and she found herself participating with great enthusiasm.

"Would you two like to return with us to The Burrow for a couple of hours?" Hermione's amused voice asked.

Ginny glanced around, trying to spot Hermione, and noticed that she and Harry were floating eight feet off the ground. Hermione was standing right beneath them.

Harry snorted. "Appear at The Burrow without Molly's precious grandchildren with us?"

"Besides, we've got to be in Nomad Island for the opening of the Umbral Gate," Ginny added.

Hermione grinned. "I forgot about both things. How silly of me."

"That's all right."

Hermione looked away from them and got a sad smile on her face. "You'd better get your feet on terra firma and rescue Ron from Heidi."

Ginny followed Hermione's gaze and say Heidi with her face buried in Ron's chest, while Ron awkwardly patted her on the back. He'd never been very good at comforting distraught women. It would have been a very amusing sight, were Heidi not so distraught. "You're right. Harry?"

Harry flew them over to where Ron and Heidi were standing before gently lowering them to the ground.

Ginny immediately relieved Ron from his sobbing burden and pulled Heidi into an embrace. "It's all right," she whispered soothingly.

"W-What if h-he d-doesn't come back?" Heidi stammered in between sobs.

"I'm sure that he'll find ways to send news of his progress to us. If we don't hear from him for more than a year, I'll go look for him," Harry said.

Ron stepped forward. "You mean we'll go look for him."

Harry didn't reply to Ron's offer, and Ginny sensed the reluctance in his silence, probably due to the thought that he might not be able to guarantee Ron's safety in the Mirror Realm. Ron seemed to realise that too, and from the corner of her eye, Ginny saw her brother's face darken.

"You don't think I'd useful, do you?"

"On the contrary. I realise that your analytic ability is a great asset, but it doesn't weigh up against the mobility I would enjoy without you. Anyway, it isn't like I'd go without any tactical support. I'm sure Nicolai would go with me, and his influence in the Mirror Realm could be very helpful."

Ron's expression brightened up a bit. "Ah … all right."

"Shall we?" Hermione asked Ron, as she linked her arm through his.

"What's the hurry? It's not like Mum will miss us, with half her grandchildren in the house."

"I volunteered us to lend a hand in dealing with the aftermath of Diagon Alley."

"Her-mi-o-ne, we're supposed to be on holiday!" Ron whined.

"We can't not go, Ron. Bill, Fleur and Angelina are helping, and lots of people we know from Hogwarts…"

"People from Hogwarts? Bloody hell!" Harry slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot about Pansy Parkinson."

Ron chuckled. "Don't worry, I didn't. We tagged the fish and threw her back into the ocean. When things have settled down a bit, I'll go back to England to teach her some information gathering techniques. Not that we'll ever use her in a primary role, mind you. She's too dim for that."

"Anyway, we'll be back on the second of January, though you'll probably do a mirror call before then," Hermione interjected. "I think New Year's Eve will be a great time."

"Is the New Year's Eve gathering still on at The Wolfes' Den?" Ginny asked Heidi.

Heidi wiped her tears and nodded.

"Right, so we'll have the unlucky souls who'll have the graveyard shift in Citadel C&C patch us through to The Den," Ron said, using the home's recently adopted abbreviated name.

"Take care, Heidi," Hermione said sympathetically. "It'll be all right."

Heidi sniffed. "I suppose I couldn't hurt to be a bit more positive."

"That's the spirit," Ron with a little too much forced cheerfulness. Then Hermione muttered the trigger word, and they were gone, leaving Harry, Ginny and Heidi on the windswept bank of Lake Michigan.

"Shall we?" Ginny asked.

Harry clutched Ginny's left arm, and Heidi took his right one.

"Gudrun put the Portkey Charm on my boots, and she used an odd trigger phrase. I reckon it's a Muggle thing." Ginny clicked the heels of her shoes together three times. "There's no place like home."

x
The ride through the swirling portal had been fairly bumpy, turning the Prowler over many times and leaving Wolfe slightly nauseous as it broke the surface of what had to be the Dreand Sea. The water droplets ran down the canopy, and soon Wolfe was able to see the distant shoreline, which resembled the one he'd seen when he'd been Phoenix. He manipulated the right controls, and to his relief the Prowler rose out of the sea and began to fly towards the shoreline. Even though various tests performed during the Order's expedition into the Mirror Realm six years ago had shown that almost all artefacts which already had enchantments on them worked normally, he'd been worried that the interference that seemed to plague wands would somehow interfere with some of the craft's many enchantments.

He touched down on a beach and got out of the Prowler to see if he could find tracks that belonged to the craft Yamato had used to travel to the Mirror Realm with, though he didn't expect to find any. It was likely that Yamato's craft could fly, and thus very unlikely that there would be any tracks to follow.

Packed in the cargo compartments he had some drawings Faust had given him, sketches made based on descriptions made by the mer-people. It looked like a miniature version of the ship Maximus had commanded over Agua Caliente and Laketown, and according to the mer-people's description, it had to be about the size of his Prowler. From Maximus's memories, Wolfe knew that the magic powering Yamato's larger ship had been limited in much the same manner as the Prowlers and Cruisers, and he fervently hoped that Yamato hadn't improved on that design, for it would make his search much more difficult.

Wolfe spent the next half hour rummaging through the cargo compartments, taking inventory of the items Ginny and Gudrun had packed. He uncovered a Spinner Slayer that might come in handy, and a repeating crossbow of a new design. There were also several soft packages, and Wolfe found a note folded up under the strings holding the largest one closed. He freed the note and unfolded it, smirking to himself as he read in untidy handwriting: I just know you'll look very cool and very hot at the same time in these. There was no way Ginny would have left a note like that, leaving the other person who had packed the Prowler as the only possible culprit. Not that the bright red imprint of a kiss serving as a signature of sorts hadn't been a dead giveaway.

He chuckled to himself and briefly wondered whether he'd have given in to Gudrun's charms if Master Lei had raised him a little less strictly. She wasn't as beautiful as Galatea had been—few non-Veela women were—but her beauty easily matched Heidi's, even though she was attractive in a different way. Now, as he reflected on it, he found himself uncovering a memory that he must have repressed after Elvira Bonetti's death—an event that had, at the time, prompted him to swear off any possibility of romance in his future life.

He remembered the first time he'd met Gudrun, complaining about the all the drudge-work Captain Yee was making her do. She had stopped in mid-sentence as Astor Clagg led him into the maintenance bay, licked her lips and gave him a look that could make a man's blood boil … in a positive way. For his part, he'd somehow been able to see past the dyed hair and many facial piercings, straight into the blistering hot furnace of sensuality in her soul. Astor's warning about her reputation regarding men, combined with the fact that he didn't cross paths with her for some time afterward, as well as his subsequent meeting with the extremely beautiful Elvira, had made him push the encounter to the back of his mind, where it had remained until today.

It explained why he'd never been bothered if other women flirted with him, but had felt intense discomfort whenever Gudrun did so, during the years of his married life. Finally he had an explanation for his extreme reluctance to kiss her under the mistletoe the previous night. Subconsciously he must have remembered how sorely tempted he'd been at their first encounter, and that memory must have added to the feeling of betrayal towards Galatea and Heidi, not to mention Matt.

Shunting his memories aside for a moment, he opened the packages and took inventory of their contents, before deciding to change into the new outfit right there, even though it was also winter in that part of the Mirror Realm and the temperatures were near freezing. Meditating in extreme temperatures to learn to ignore the discomforts of those extremes had been one of Master Lei's most important lessons, and it served him well as he changed. When he was done, he walked over to a tide pool to check out his reflection, and found a man dressed completely in black staring back at him. A wide-brimmed hat shadowed his eyes, and a cloth mask covered the lower half of his face, both to keep him warm and to make him more difficult to identify, just in case that ever became an issue. A long woollen scarf was looped casually around his neck, and a long dragon-hide duster billowed out behind him, the hem just brushing the tops of highly durable dragon-hide boots—the smooth texture and relatively small scales narrowing the possible donor dragon species down to the Norwegian Ridgeback. The large coat had the added advantage of concealing many of his weapons and field equipment. The inner layers of clothing consisted of a leather waistcoat snugly buckled over a knitted turtleneck sweater that was lightweight without sacrificing warmth. A pair of close-fitting trousers in a durable twill, reinforced with a double layer of fabric to minimise wear and tear, was tucked into the tops of the boots. He looked like the Muggle ideal of a monster hunter, and he did make a quite dashing figure.

Satisfied with his new outfit, Wolfe packed the remaining things up, hopped back into the Prowler and flew farther along the coast, looking for a place to hide the Prowler while he searched for the probably non-existent clues to Yamato's whereabouts. This decision was based on the fact that the Prowler had a limited supply of Conductive Potion, and the less he used the Prowler, the more slowly the potion would degenerate.

Gudrun and Ginny had thoughtfully packed a magical camouflage sheet that mimicked the disillusionment charm, allowing Wolfe to hide the Prowler without tapping into its own reserves that could be used to accomplish invisibility by magic. Still, Wolfe preferred a place that was also inaccessible. He finally found a good spot to hide the craft on a thick natural column that rose out of the sea, separated from the mainland by eons of erosion. It was incredibly steep and hazardous to climb, and was only realistically accessible by air.

After throwing the sheet over the Prowler and securing it to the ground, Wolfe changed into a griffin and took to the air, spending the next few hours gliding over the landscape, away from the area he knew some caretakers dwelled, doing so because he assumed that Yamato had read Pecos Bill's book and would try to steer clear of a bunch of Nalhati who could read his mind and malicious intent. He was about to give up when the sunlight reflecting off a surface attracted his attention to that patch of coastline, and he recognised the area from his memories of Phoenix. It was where he'd spoken to Novoridu—it was the place where Moira had been encased in a purification crystal, and the light reflecting off that crystal had attracted his attention.

The wreck of Yamato's large centipede ship lay half-buried in the sand and it looked like it had been gutted quite extensively. A huge Abraxan winged horse with a howdah-like seating platform strapped to its back was munching on a patch of grass, casually observing five small figures that were climbing onto the hull of the ship. Even from his considerable altitude, his griffon eyes could distinguish them quite clearly, and he immediately saw that they were children. Two of them were human girls, and two others were also immature female humanoids, though they were slightly larger than their human counterparts and they had some feline features. They were probably examples of the Dait cat-girls. He didn't know what species the fifth one was. It had a thick coat of fur and was decidedly less humanoid than the cat girls, looking more like a three-foot-tall hamster that walked on it hind legs. He had a hunch that its kind lived underground

One of the cat-girls spotted him, and they quickly bolted into one of the holes in the hull of the ship. Not a bad decision, since they would have been viable prey if he'd been a real griffin. The Abraxan didn't even stir, knowing that it was far too large to be preyed upon by a griffin. It did keep an eye on him, though.

Wolfe landed on the beach and changed into his natural form, before casually strolling towards the wreck. The Abraxan's ears hand flicked in surprise as Wolfe had changed, and the girls must have seen it too. He spotted five faces momentarily peeking at him from the shadows within the wreck, but they soon ducked away again. He sighed, wondering whether he just ought to leave them be, since he had no idea how he'd communicate with them anyway, even if they knew something about Yamato.

Again some of the faces appeared behind apertures in the hull to peek at him, and again they ducked away after a second, save one. Realising that children might find him a bit sinister-looking, he took off his hat and pulled the mask down off his face, hoping to appear more benign. He also stopped walking towards the ship, keeping a respectful distance. It seemed to work, for soon the other faces appeared again, this time staying visible.

Suddenly, he felt a tendril of thoughts probe his mind. His initial urge was to block it, but the brief contact revealed the mind probing his to be very young and innocent, and with a start he realised that it had to be one of the children. He linked his mind to the probe, and began an exchange of thoughts, convincing the participant in their mental dialogue that he meant them no harm. He inquired about her parents by sending images of families and focussing on the mother, adding the questioning impression. It took several tries, but his contact finally seemed to understand what he was asking, and the image of a woman materialised in his mind's eye; a woman he knew, despite the fact that he'd never met her. It was Carey!

That realisation sent a flood of memories surging across the link towards the mind of his contact, who was excited by Wolfe's reaction and seemed to become more confident. Knowing that Carey could probably help him tremendously, Wolfe drew the location of her dwelling under the purple sky from the memories he'd absorbed from Harry and sent them over to his contact. The reply came as a brief confusion, but soon the contact also recognised the place. Her reply came in the form of the image of another dwelling, under a blue sky, accompanied by sense of it being a correction before the tendril of thought retreated from his mind. Wolfe surmised that this meant that Carey had moved out of the Immortal's Circle.

Then, belatedly, he recalled that Carey was Holly's mother, and that at this point in time, Holly was still living with her. Moments after that epiphany, a small human girl clambered out of one of the holes and slid down the hull, but he didn't see the wild mane of black hair he'd been expecting. Then, as he thought about it, he remembered Ginny having said something about an adopted sister of Holly's, and the fact that, according to Holly, the girl hadn't been like the resident near-humans in the Mirror Realm.

As she came closer, he saw that she was a blooming visage of health. Her dark-brown hair framed a very round, lightly bronzed face with a short nose sprouting out of it, and her lips were fairly full and pouty. The most striking part of her features, however, were her eyes. They were just like his Mind Reading relatives' eyes, making him wonder whether it was a trait common to all Mind Readers. He'd never seen pictures of the Mind Readers Yamato had killed in his experimentations, but it seemed like a reasonable assumption.

The others had climbed out after her, and a pang of regret passed through Wolfe as he immediately recognised Holly even though she was only about seven years old. The fact that he knew how she'd end up, and that he couldn't do anything about it, saddened him immeasurably. The cat-girls approached him slightly more cautiously, and the hamster-like creature—its pelvic area suggesting that it was also female—brought up the rear.

Wolfe and the group of girls faced one another for a minute or so, unsure of what to do next. Then Holly stepped forward and gestured for him to bend down, so he got down on one knee in front of her. She placed her small hands on his temples and rested her forehead against his. He remembered this procedure from Harry's memories, and felt the tingling sensation which told him that she was using the magic required to learn his language.

After the transition was complete, she pulled away and looked at him. "Now I can talk to you."

Wolfe hesitated, unsure of what to tell her. Would he say that he knew Harry? Doing so might make things very complicated.

"Crystal says you know mother. How come?" she asked, as she eyed him curiously. "You are not from here!"

From Harry's memories, Wolfe knew that the fact that she'd never found out what had happened to Harry was what had prompted Holly to go look for him. So telling her that he knew Harry was out of the question. He decided to tell her something that was true, but would leave Harry out of it. "I've been touched by Novoridu—the caretaker of the winds—before he died. Through his magic I got some memories of your mother, just like your magic allows you to speak to me now."

"I was very little when Novoridu died, but I know him a bit, because my mother shared her dreams with me."

"Could you take me to see your mother?"

"She will come get us after she's finished with picking roots and herbs for potions. We always play here when we wait for her, because she says it's too dangerous farther under the purple sky."

"Then I'll wait for her here, with you," Wolfe said. "And while we wait, you can tell me your friends' names."

She turned around and pointed at Crystal. "That is my sister, Crystal. She isn't my sister like Eriya and Naria are sisters"—Holly pointed at each of the cat-girls as she mentioned their names—"because she didn't come out of my mother's womb, but out of that crystal over there." She paused her rattling recitation briefly to point at the gleaming crystal at the other end of the beach, before continuing. "Mother says that a woman who did bad things is trapped in it, and that she's Crystal's mother, and that Crystal was in her womb when she was trapped. But the crystal let Crystal out because she didn't do any bad things herself, and…"

Wolfe's stomach somersaulted as his mind struggled to keep up with the implications of Holly's words. If Moira had been pregnant, there was only one possible father! His shock automatically tuned out the rest of Holly's frenzied speech as his gaze quickly sought out, and settled on Crystal … his daughter … who had inherited the Mind Reading gift. Now, in hindsight, he recognised the round face, small ears, and short nose from the residual self-image he'd seen in Moira's mind. The full lips and lightly tinted skin had come from his paternal grandmother, and were also shared by Jasmine.

The little girl seemed to notice that his attention was on her, and she gave him a sweet smile, revealing a pair of missing teeth, which was perfectly normal at that stage in childhood. Wolfe had no idea where the sudden sentimentality came from, but he couldn't do anything to stop the tears from filling his eyes.

xxx
Author's Note: A special thanks to those who've sacrificed their precious time to give me some feedback over the past few chapters. It helped me a lot. Oh, and what do you guys think of Wolfe's little shock in this chapter? Reviews would be very much appreciated. crawls on knees and grovels
Janus Aran: As you've read in this chapter, you were right about Vesta ovulating. But that wasn't too hard to guess, since the characters spoke about it shortly before the incident.

Gogirl: If you expected Wolfe to be in trouble with Heidi, I'm sorry the end result was so disappointing for you. And no, Vesta is actually only ⅛ Veela, and her entrancing powers are negligible. Look at my answer to the previous reviewer to see where you went wrong.

Lipton: Again, congratulations. Nothing new for you in this chapter, since you've already read it.

StarWest45: I know.

Chloe Black: Glad you did.

Bigdaddy753: Yes he is.

Lady of Masbolle: Belated Happy Birthday to you.

blah29: Hence the chapter title.

Nya: Indeed. More redheads.

lluvatar: DONE

The Keymaker: I'm gathering information for an original novel. I plan to write one at some point, but I still have a very long way to go with regards to mastering English.

Stefanie: Ginny and Heidi never hated each other. They just misunderstood each other.

Elric Magus: You earned it.

Saint Mike: Yeah, It was funny.

Fragarach: Then you must have been happy to find that it didn't damage her relationship.