Disclaimer: If I owned these characters I probably wouldn't even know what is. Do they have the Internet in Australia? Oh, probably. The short and short of it is, I don't. Own these characters, that is.

A/N: Yes, LaughingAstarael, very mature. –manages to keep a straight face—

The pavingstones under their feet were now scattered loosely with the Charter marks that had been proliferous before; soon they would die out altogether and the path would be only a beaten dirt track. But for now, the sun was high in the sky and they had stopped for lunch.

Lirael offered a cinnamon cake to Nick, who took it and inspected it.

"Is this quite edible?" he ventured to ask.

"Um." She swallowed. "Usually." That thought led her to when she had first given one to her half-nephew, Sameth, and then to him giving it to the Dog... Her eyes teared again, and she pretended the tears weren't there, taking a large mouthful of cinnamon cake to prevent any awkward questions.

"I see." Nick nibbled on the edge, and his expression changed from skeptical to thoughtful. "I say, this is good!"

Lirael managed a sort of half-smile from around her next bite of cinnamon cake. "The Clayr make it. It's sort of a specialty."

For a few minutes there was no noise but the biting, chewing and swallowing of cinnamon cake. Then Lirael was done. She brushed her hands off and stood. "We'd better be off, while the sun still shines. The Dead are least active at noon, and Free Magic.... well, it's a little bit discouraged." With those encouraging words, she swung her pack onto her shoulders. Nick stood, too, with a regretful glance at the rest of his cinnamon cake. He slipped it into his own pack, then slung it on and scrambled up.

"Ready," he said, adjusting the way the pack hung on his shoulders. He looked up and smiled, and Lirael smiled back.

"Good." She started them off at a faster pace than that of the easy morning; if they wanted to get to a village before dark, they'd need to go faster—plus, they were leaving the protection of the Charter Mark-ed path.

Nick strode behind and came up behind Lirael quickly, walking just behind her. After a few minutes he ventured to ask, "Wouldn't it be faster if we rode?"

Lirael glanced back at him and half-smiled, apologetically. "I can't ride."

"Oh."

There was an uneasy silence for a while. Lirael suddenly stopped; Nick nearly ran into her. The cause of Lirael's sudden stop was immediately apparent; a small white cat was fishing in the Ratterlin, delicate claws extended. Lirael glanced at the cat's throat, but there was no collar; nor was there a bell. Then she grinned—her guess at what Yrael would be doing once freed was correct. Fishing in a stream somewhere—though the Ratterlin wasn't precisely a stream as such.

Nick stepped backwards, trying not to step on Lirael's toes or anything and also to place where he had seen that cat before. Yrael looked around, tail twitching in irritation. His expression didn't change when he saw Lirael; if possible, his face became even more annoyed. Yrael turned back around to dart one paw in the water and drag a fish out that was nearly as big as himself.

Lirael took a few steps past the cat, seeing that Yrael probably wasn't going to attack her. But Yrael's face turned and looked up at her appraisingly.

"Hello, Abhorsen-in-Waiting," he mewed, and looked past her at Nick. He rubbed a paw over his nose and said in a weary voice, "We meet again, Nicholas Sayre. You aren't even able to die properly."

Now he had placed him. "You saved my life last time," Nick reminded him.

"Of course, of course. So did the Horrible Hound or whatever she was calling herself then." Yrael cocked his head to look at Nick, half-smiling. "And I was still in the service of the Abhorsens, then."

Nick blinked a bit at this, pondering what Yrael meant. Then it came to him. He flushed, embarrassed. He'd told Lirael most of what Kibeth had said to him in Death just before she sent him back, but not that bit... Nick found himself glaring at Yrael; the cat sat down nonchalantly and began to wash himself.

Lirael watched Nick, brow creased. "What does he mean?" she asked Nick.

"Oh!" He'd nearly forgotten she was there. "I—I don't know," he lied.

Yrael stopped licking his paw for long enough to say, "Wrong." He looked up at Lirael. "I wouldn't suppose you had some sardines, would you?"

"No," Lirael said, trying to keep her voice calm. "Besides, you have a big fish right there." She pointed to the fish Yrael had caught.

He glanced at it, then away, and pointedly began to wash again. "I shall tell you what you mean," he said slyly, "only if you give me... three tins of sardines."

"But we're going to Belisaere—there aren't any sardines there!" exclaimed Lirael.

"Yes, there are. Prince Sameth keeps them in his tower workroom."

"And you haven't raided them yet?" Lirael said skeptically.

"No. He keeps the door locked." Primly, Yrael once more began to wash.

"Why should that stop you—you're the Eighth Bright Shiner, by the Charter!"

Yrael, who had closed his eyes, opened one a slit and peered out of it at Lirael. "No," he said. "Not by the Charter. Outside of the Charter, perhaps. Not by it." To all appearances, the small white cat went to sleep. A moment later, though, the same eye slitted open and Yrael said, "Put me in your pack. If you give me sardines, I might tell you what I was talking about. Or maybe not," he added smugly.

Lirael sighed, exasperated. She slung her pack off her back and scooped the cat up, placing him inside and adjusting the weight accordingly across her shoulders as she swung it back on. Then she looked at Nick, who was staring sheepishly at the ground.

"We haven't got all day, Charter help us!" she snapped, then wished she hadn't. "Sorry, Nick."

Nick stood up, sighing as well. "I wish he wasn't coming with us," he muttered.

"If I don't, he'll probably magic himself into my pack and demand more sardines for having to do magic," Lirael said. "Yrael's like that."

Nick shrugged. "You've known him for longer than I have." Figuring that this was as close as they would get to agreement, Lirael nodded in reply and started down the path again.

A/N: Yusyus, wunnerful Yrael is here... hehehe. Sorreh for the short-ish chapter, if it is short-ish, that is. The main event was Mogget/Yrael coming in as a character... yay! Go Yrael! -waves around pompoms- Ooh. Plus! I want to rename my story, but I dunne know what to rename it. So if you have an idea for a title... tell me in a review! Yusyus.