Jollyrancher-j2k: lol, I like Kallisto too! Thankee for reviewing! Maked me so happy inside.

Some Random Reviewer: I love Thom, he makes me so giggly. I'm a LotR junkie too!

Eth: I'm writing I'm writing!

Cede: I wasn't planning on introducing the Lioness for several chapters…writing the Lioness makes me squirmy…scariness it is…

Pussin Boots: Thankyou kindly…

Pengin: Oooh, you used the word enticing, very motivating

Cylobaby: Kallisto's pretty? Hmm…I hadn't noticed.

Cherryfaerie: I would be crazy too, Morgan might too, you never know…You're such a feminist, voicing your opinions, gosh…faminazi!

FanFictionFantom: I know I'm grand! everyonewatchastheauthorgetsabighead

Razzle-dazzle-me: I wrote nothing in Ukraine! Lol, I didn't have time, I wrote this while I was 'writing' my history paper…uh huh uh huh…I know it's beautiful! Lol, well, decent anyways, I'm not sure about Thom in this chappie, he seems a little silly….

Atsuibelulah: cool name, Scandal? Maybe….ya never know… love ya Morgan!

A/N: Well, Ukraine was fantastic, I didn't want to leave, the people are wonderful and full of love and kindness, I'm trying to remember were I'm going with this, but, yeah, I think this chapter will be at least decent, I'm not sure where I was going with the she's running away with him thing, but we'll see…

Chapter Three: Unwanted Beauty: In Which there is a Fever, and an Appearance of an Old Friend

He had taken her back into the castle, through a hole in the castle wall that she couldn't see until he held her hand. "Isn't that a tad, hmm, dangerous?" She had asked him and he had only smiled at her.

"You couldn't see it until you knew it was there, and very few people know it's there, and Idon't think thatthey going to tell anyone" Then through the castle's system of tunnels, some of them known by servants, others hadn't been used for decades, but Thom knew they were there, and now Morgan did. "You can use these whenever you need to, just don't tell anyone." Was his warning, and she knew that she would heed it.

"I wouldn't have anyone to tell." She said as they emerged into someone's living quarters from behind a tapestry, Kallisto coughed several times and he looked at her worriedly. "It's only the dust." She said with a smile, but it was obvious that he didn't believe her.

"Uh huh, sit by the fire, I'll find something for you to change into." He said, she nodded and glumly headed for the couch as he disappeared into another room. He was right, she was freezing and would soon have a lovely chest cold and perhaps a fever. This is what my mothers 'love' has driven me to, staying with strange men I don't know without her knowledge or consent. She laid down, resting her head on the inside of her arm and soaked up the warmth that the fire gave her.

Thom returned, bearing a woolen tunic and a pair of thick hose. "These will be too big, but it's the best I can do until we find something more manageable." He said, handing her the clothes, "I'll be back in a few minutes with tea." He said while blushing, he then fled the room. Morgan laughed to herself once she thought he was out of earshot. Such a bashful fellow, she thought as she changed. Remember, he's still a man, he's still a threat, even if he seems to be a genuine, bashful, timid in some respects, nice guy, don't fall for him, don't.

"It might already be too late." She whispered.

--:--

Their prophecies had come true; Kallisto was curled into a ball, as close to the fire as her clothing was permitting. Her limbs shook, her teeth chattered and even though she was about to light herself on fire she was freezing- and Thom was worried, it had been hours since the fever had set in and it hadn't broken, it hadn't gone higher in the last two hours, but it hadn't broken. He was a trickster, a practical mage, in some cases a fighting mage, not a healer- So he had called in the troops, well, he had called in Neal, but that was the same thing wasn't it?

--:--

"So who is she?" Neal asked, his green eyes glittering, with much amusement and a little annoyance at being woke at such an early hour, but mostly he just thought the whole thing was funny, at least now that he was fully awake.

"Her name is Morgan" He paused, "Kallisto, I mean." Neal laughed and looked at him, both puzzled and amused.

"Which is it?"

"Kallisto, she just reminds me of Morgan le Fey from the-" He began, waving his hands as he spoke, quite like Neal had in his exuberant youth.

"Arthurian tales, I know Thom." He said with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

"And I know that too, but that's not the point!" He shrieked. "The point is that Kallisto is just a fancy name her mother gave her, Morgan is what she deserves to be called needs to be called, but besides that she has a god-cursed fever and you have to come fix her!" He yelled, waving his hands in the air, quite like a madman.

"I know Thom, I know, here we are, I'll see what I can do." Neal said with a chuckle. The men entered the room, and Neal had been expecting a homely looking girl, brown hair, blue eyes, the normal thing one would expect for a girl who had been picked up out of the woods. "Gods man, you could have warned me!" Neal cried as he rolled her onto her back.

"About what?" Thom asked, completely oblivious. Neal cleared his throat and raised and eyebrow. "What?" Cried Thom, completely exasperated.

"Well, she's quite stunning, even feverish." Neal said with a laugh before he sank into a meditative state.

"Oh that." Thom muttered as he sank down into a chair to wait. "Why is the rest of the world obsessed with that?"

--:--

It was hot, so bloody hot. Worse than the summer her mother had made them suffer through in Carthak. She felt as though she was burning, fire was consuming her, it was in her blood, pumping through her body, filling her with the eternal flame that was both death and life.

And then there was cold, bone chilling, lake freezing cold. And she was sure that she was going to die of hypothermia. That she was going to freeze, death was overtaking her, like her mothers frigid words, hands like ice, voice like a snowstorm, judgmental eyes like the very heart of winter.

Sometimes she only felt like she was floating on an ocean of warmth, and then it was either too warm or too cold again. She hated the mish-moshy feeling of it all. It was enough to make a girl crazy.

--:--

Thom sat up and Neal flopped over onto his back. "I've done what I can, the rest is up to her, but it shouldn't be long." He said, rubbing his eyes.

"What do you mean? You didn't fix it all?" Thom asked as his violet eyes grew wide and wild.

"I burned the fever away, but if she doesn't try to wake and get better, she won't. It's a choice." Neal explained slowly, this girl made Thom a little crazy in the head.

"Oh." Thom said. "Then I guess we wait."

"You wait, I am going home to my lovely wife and children. Talk to her that usually helps." Neal said as he got up to go, groaning as he went.

"Getting old my friend?" Thom teased.

"Shut up, young buck."

And so he waited, her skin cooled, her muscles relaxed. He started a fire in the bedroom and carefully moved her to the bed, and himself to a more comfortable chair.

A/N: So what did you think? Love me?- hate me? And how did I do with the whole, run away with me thing? Hmm? Be truthful!