"What happened to the girl after that, mama?" Lugh asked, curious. Nino kissed his forehead.

"She and her brothers lived long, happy lives and never had to worry about fairies or monsters ever again," she said softly, smiling at her little boy.

"That's boring," Rei shook his head. "They should've had more adventures. They should've fought a dragon!"

"A dragon, hmm?" Nino chuckled. "Rar! I'm a dragon, come to take you away and eat you!"

Nino pounced on an embarrassed Rei, who protested as other children giggled in the background.

"Moooom," he groaned as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his brow too.

"You grow up too fast, Rei," Nino complained, ruffling his hair as she sat up and released him. "You'll be a full-grown man by the time I get back!"

Rei shrunk back in the bed, dejectedly. Nino frowned as Lugh did the same.

"Why won't you tell us where you're going?" Lugh asked sadly. "Mama? Can't we go with you?"

"No, my loves," their mother replied, somberly. "Bern is in civil unrest, what with the King and all. I have to go alone. I'll be back in no time, I swear, with a special surprise for you both."

Rei and Lugh nodded, leaning back in the bed. Nino had to bite back tears as she stood up. Her hands wrung at the fabric of her tattered old dress.

"I love you two," she said, preparing to turn around and leave without her flesh and blood. "Be good for Father Lucius."

"We will," they chorused.

"Love you, mama," Lugh murmured, curling up next to his brother.

Nino blew them a kiss and then walked down the aisle of beds, swallowing her misgivings. Lucius was waiting for her by the door. His hair, normally loose, was bound up in a tight braid for sleep.

"That was an interesting story," he said when the two of them stood parting at the door, with a touch of a smile in his voice. In his hand he held a candlestick, with a thick, squat candle lit in the center. "Is any of it true?"

Nino glanced over her shoulder at him, putting up her hood against the cold. She seemed to be thinking, and a strange expression passed over her girlish features.

"No," she lied. "Not at all."

Nino Reed stepped out of the candlelight disappeared into the dark streets of Araphen's capital en route to Bern. She never came back.

..0..

This story is dedicated to the following people: Becki for creatingthe Scouring, Rai for helping me manage it,Shea-chan for hitting me whenever necessary, Polaris for telling me the original beginning was boring, everybody who is NOT leaving me to go to college, everyone who IS, Harufor not complaining when I kicked her off the computer to work on it, Greg for complaining when I did, everybody at the Scouring and/or RoM for, y'know, NOT killing me, all the folks at Blazing Writers (joinjoinjoinjoinjoin), and of course, Mabsy and Kess for needing to be fed and for bringing me presents of dead mice and birds.

With love,

Meelu the Bold. The end.