A/N: o0 I haven't read "The Creature in the Case" yet as I live in the USA, not the UK, so I probably won't get to read it for a while... so if I make any large errors, could those of you who've read it please tell me. Thanks.
Sameth splashed water over his face to rinse off the soap he'd just applied. He jumped at the light knock on his door. "Come in," he called, taking a towel off its hook to rub at his face with.
The door creaked open, but no one said anything. Sameth glanced in the mirror that hung on the wall above the basin of water and saw his friend Nick. "What's wrong?" he asked, turning to face Nick.
"Nothing--look, there's something I have to tell you," Nick said, stepping inside.
"Okay," Sameth said, leaning against the basin, tossing and catching the towel. "Go ahead," he said, when Nick didn't begin for several moments.
"Well--you know back last year, when you all thought I was dead? When Orannis--when Orannis was almost free?"
"Yes," Sam said, cautiously.
"I--I think I was dead, then. I was in a river, and there was this dog, she was about this big, tan and black--"
"The Dog," Sameth said, nodding. "She's Kibeth. She brought you back?"
"That's what she said. And she said--she said something about you making her that hand, like she already knew that was going to happen, and then--" Nick glanced at the floor, flushing.
"What?"
"She said that there were other injuries, or something like that, that had different cures, and she just i looked /i at me," Nick said in a rush. "I got... I got the impression she thought I was going to marry Lirael."
For a moment Sameth stared at his friend incredulously; then he laughed. He laughed for a good minute, while Nick stood helplessly, framed in the doorway.
"You're kidding," Sameth said, still laughing a little. "You're--you're serious," he said, finally catching the expression on Nick's face.
Nick nodded slowly.
"You and Lirael," Sameth said slowly. He shook his head. "So that's why you've been jumpy around her." A pause; then he added, "Mogget knows, doesn't he? Yrael, that is. I keep forgetting."
"Forgetting what?" said Yrael's voice, and a small white cat head poked around the doorframe. "Hopefully not my sardines, Prince Sameth."
Sameth glanced at Nick, who nodded. Sameth shook his head once more, still incredulous.
"Come on, Yrael," he said finally. "Let's go find you some sardines."
A/N: Hopefully this part should clear up some of the confusion that there was about exactly what Nick's secret was... I had fun writing it, too. Teehee, poor Nick.