A/N: Heyla all! Sorry about the long update- I've had a busy week. Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo and I'm already falling behind. If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is... go to and sign up! Hurry! The days are already sliding by! Anyway... my daily goal is 2000 words and I only have like 500 and only have like fifteen minutes before I need to go to bed... Well, I'll stop complaing and start being grateful. Thanks to:
kalirafirestorm, shadowstalker, Dragonsdaughter1, and Fireblade K'Chona for reviewing! hugs

However, by the next day, I had a sneaking suspicion fate had pulled the rug from beneath my feet once again. The day before had passed slowly, Teryl had gotten up to do household chores and Dash engaged Yael in conversation every once and a while, but no one really did anything, but it was winter so that wasn't odd. And I was pretty much ignored. Come evening, some quilts were laid out on the floor and before I knew it Yael was snoring in his bed and Teryl I assumed was in the loft and Dash was nowhere to be seen. Had he gone home?

I shrugged and simply crawled into the quilts. The light was dimming as the fire dimmed, and I felt for once at peace. It reminded me of the nights before Midwinter, when you knew the next morning you'd wake to find presents in your stocking. But those memories were from long ago, and I found myself longing from the Companion's Stables, and the rich grass of the field.

Looking up at the rafters of the house, I saw a few feathers tucked up in the thatch. I couldn't tell from what bird they were from, but they were large, and black. No doubt some trophy from a good hunt, and I fell asleep dreaming of Companions and Heralds hunting down turkeys in the royal forest outside of Haven.

My twisted world twisted a little tighter in the morning. I woke to Teryl, peering down at me with her brown eyes, calculating and a bit amused as she sat by my head. It startled me at first, and I tried to bolt, but instead I ended up get tangled up in the blankets with legs that weren't the right length and eyes that didn't see things right. Teryl laughed.

"Sleep well?" she asked in her light, amused voice.

I nodded, catching my breath and pulled myself from the blankets. It was a bit chilly, but the fire was already going again and I could feel it seeping new warmth into the room.

"You dreamed of white horses," she said and then stood up, going into the kitchen to start breakfast I presumed.

It was all I could to do to just stare at her, my eyes bulging like a fishes at her retreating back. What was she, some sort of thought senser? I tested my shields, to make sure they were still functioning properly- if there was anyone Gifted in this home I didn't wanted them picking up from me anymore than they had to- yet if she was dreaming my dreams then I was already being read, wasn't I?

With a shiver I stood up, deciding I'd really have to leave this house before something else happened, despite the snow outside. I could find an Inn if it came down to it, and way stations, although rarer here, were still around and free for me to use.

But then another thought occurred to me, and I sat down, placing my back purposefully away from Teryl, and then gently reached out to probe her, but to my relief and yet somewhat disappointment, I found her Gift free. Maybe her intuition was just that, intuition. Yet it still itched me, the things she had said, and the sooner I could get away the better.

"Ah, you're up," I heard Yael's gruff voice comment as a whoosh of cold air swept through the house.

I looked back and there he stood, Dash hovering behind him, both bundled up and covered in snow. I grinned and stood up, rubbing my arms and liking the fire even more now that I'd felt today's cold air.

"Why don't you climb back into those toasty clothes and come help with feeding the animals?" Yael suggested and I gladly nodded. The least I could do was lend a hand, and I was grateful that I was finally being put to use.

Within moments I was back into the ill fitting clothes Julianne had given me, warm and dry all the way through now and then I was out into the cold, the wind blowing around my snow white hair so that I pulled my scarf tighter around my head and face.

I noticed Dash watching me carefully but chose to ignore him, and followed Yael to the barn across a part kicked part shoveled path through the snow. The barn was warmer inside, if only because there was no wind, and it smelt strongly of cows and hay.

Dash climbed up into the loft and tossed down a few bales of hay, revealing a strength that wouldn't have been obvious from his lean frame. Yael motioned to me and I picked up the bales, piling them in a corner and then pulling off the strings so it could break into neat flakes which, once more at Yael's direction, tossed into the pens of cows.

"We already mucked them out," Yael commented, and sure enough, the straw inside the pens was fresh and fluffy and didn't stink of the manure cows pumped out like beer from a barrel on a holiday.

When hay was given to all the animals he thrust a bucket into my hands and sent me trudging to the well and back, dragging up icy water and lugging it inside to fill up old wooden troughs. Dash was gently grooming Jack and a piebald mare I guessed was named Lucy, by the way he kept murmuring that name to her.

Before I knew it, Yael was leading us back to the house and it was almost noon, and the sun was as high as it could get and I had the sinking feeling I wouldn't be leaving today. Yael almost seemed to expect me to stay- as if I were a farmhand he had hired on, and not a lone albino he found sleeping under the snow after his daughter told him she had a hunch.

This time, I was not as soaked through and it only required me to peel off my outer layer before I reached dryness and I happily kept on most of my clothes as we sat down to a breakfast I had sorely missed- this time with rich creamy milk to go along with a thick whole wheat bread lathered in marmalade and cinnamon.
However young she looked, it seemed Teryl was doing all the housework of a grown woman, and I wondered what had happened to her mother, although it was none of my business and would be quite rude to ask.

After our brunchy breakfast we once more settled into the living room, this time Teryl worked on darning up old clothes instead of knitting new ones, and Dash only sat long enough to stare into the fire a few minutes before up and leaving. Yael and Teryl didn't even bat an eye at this so I, rocking once more uneasily in the rocking chair, didn't say anything either, although I watched him as he left, trying to look as if I wasn't adverse to help but not being nosy either.

"He's going for his birds," Yael commented, looking up from his book- for the first time I found myself surprised that he could read- why hadn't I noticed it before?

I unconsciously looked up at the ceiling when Yael mentioned birds, and he followed my gaze with a grin.

"Vulture feathers," he said, "the ones they've shed."

"Shed?" I echoed, unconsciously pushing my silky hair behind one ear- a movement I had pulled up from a past life when I had kept my hair long, like it was now.

"He keeps about six of them behind the barn," Teryl says, "They're really interesting birds. Their dreams aren't quite like ours but still… interesting. Dash traps animals for them and ages them for them to feed when they can't find food of their own. He should be flying them right now- sending up one to find food, and if it does, he brings out the others to exercise and feed."

What, so now she had animal Mindspeech as well as dream sensing? This was too weird. Trying not to be too obvious, I probed her again. She seemed oblivious, although one so aware of her gifts should be more aware of probing… But once more, all I felt inside her was that of a normal, average girl. Was she shielding them somehow, or suppressing them except at certain moments?

However, as I probed, I noticed something else. She was a pretty good person. Not just averagely good, but she had the makings of a Herald too. I glanced away in surprise, pushing away the expressions that threatened to emerge. Had fate led me here to Choose her?

Then I realized she was expecting a reply and with a slight blush I said, "That's really cool. I've never heard of anyone keeping vultures. Do you like them?"

She nodded quickly, "Jack and Lucy get edgy around them but it's something else from the normal hunting hawks."

"Why vultures?" I asked, now genuinely curious, "Hunting hawks are clear… they hunt. But vultures?"

"It's this idea… Vultures have very good senses of smell, it's how they find the rotting meat. So we figured we'd find some, and teach them to find things by their scent. Lost things, lost people, criminals… dangerous wild animals… anything with a scent. Besides, when the winter's tough, they can usually find something dead, and since it's cold, the meat, even if it's ages old, is still good, kept fine from the cold," Teryl said, her eyes lighting up with excitement, "Vultures are trainable, although they're rather vicious. You'd expect they'd be easier to bond with- since they're group creatures, but they're really nasty sometimes and if they don't like you, they can regurgitate old meat at you."

I grimaced. That was something I wouldn't like to experience, but Teryl didn't seem to really mind. In fact, the idea seemed to amuse and delight her at the same time. I couldn't help but begin to like her- she was an engaging girl, despite her oddities.

"Yeah," Teryl said with a laugh at my expression, "It's not too fun when it's done at you, but I've been around them so long they're pretty much used to me."

"I must admit it, I'm fascinated," I said, rocking a little faster in the chair, and thinking that if this idea of Teryl's really worked, it would probably be something the Crown would be interested in. Just imagine! Being able to find someone or something without the use of detectable magic!

"I can tell," Teryl said with a grin aimed only for me, her hair falling gently over her eyes, then she startled me by saying, "You have the eyes of a Companion."

Why yes. Yes I do, in fact, I thought to myself wryly, but I only said to her, "You're not the first to say that."

"It's true," she said, looking down at her handiwork, "Not the normal blue of a normal person, but a deep, drawing blue that sort of dares to pull you in if you look too closely, that suggests of magic and mystery and a little something more."

I found myself staring at her. The eloquence of her words. It left me speechless. After all, I was a Companion, but I'd never heard our eyes described so poetically! Maybe she should be a Bard and not a Herald!

At that thought I was pulled back to reality and I said, "Thank you. I've never heard it put so nicely."

However- that wasn't the reality I was pulled to, it was a polite dismissal so I could think things through. Like, how the hell was I supposed to Choose her when I wasn't even a Companion? Why couldn't fate have waited for me to get home? I mean, I supposed I could go back to Haven and then trudge all the way back here… I glanced over to the door, where my saddle and bridle lay, gently glowing blue to only my eyes.

Maybe if I could get her to come to Haven with me, then I could Choose her once I was back to my old self… I sighed and leaned back in the creaking chair, and immersed myself so deeply in thought that I nearly jumped from my skin when the door opened and Dash reentered.

He almost chuckled- like I thought I heard him chuckle but when I turned to look his face was serious and I immediately felt as if I'd done something wrong… He had that effect on me, but he merely nodded and pulled off his boots before striding in and sitting down next to Teryl, who scooted over to him and leaning against him while picking up her darning once more. Yes… things were strange here, and I settled myself to a long stay while figuring things out.