As promised, here's the continuation! I've been creative, so I'm "rewarding" myself by posting this. Disclaimers and such still applies. Entering flashback mode in three… two… one…

Part two

Griffith glanced up from the book he was currently studying at Judeau's furtive knock on the half-open door.

"Yes?"

The scout commander stepped into the room, pulling his hat off of his blond head and fiddling somewhat restlessly with its hem.

"Sorry to bother you, Griffith, it's just that... Caska should have been back about two hours ago, and the storm is getting worse..."

Griffith's smooth brow furrowed for an instant and he threw a quick glance out the window, at the whirling snow and darkened sky.

"That's right," he muttered with slight surprise in his voice, "I would have expected her back by now. I wonder what's keeping her, she's usually not one to dawdle... Are you sure she's not back yet?"

Judeau nodded, a tad impatiently.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I'm damn sure, his internal voice added acidly. Don't you think she would have come straight to you, if she'd come back? It was your message she was taking to Windham!

It was a bit of an internal struggle not to let his irritation bleed through in his voice or demeanour, but Judeau bit down hard and managed it. He was just so terribly worried right now, but snapping at his commander was not going to make things any better.

Griffith still gave him a quick, unreadable frown before tucking a bookmark between the pages he had been reading and closing the book with a soft thud. Resting his fingertips against each other before his face, Griffith thoughtfully gazed up at Judeau.

"I'm sure she's alright," he mused quietly. "She's a very capable woman."

Judeau shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, sure, but..."

"...But nonetheless," Griffith calmly interrupted, "it's better to be on the safe side, isn't it?"

The scout commander shifted again, carefully shutting up while the white-haired man rose from the desk and walked over to the window.

"I'm afraid, what with the storm and the very real risk of Tudor troops in the area, that I can hardly spare any men for a search party." He paused briefly, then half-turned back towards the blond scout. "Do you think you could handle this by yourself, Judeau?"

Judeau hesitated for only an instant before nodding decisively.

"Yes, Sir. I'll leave right away."

Griffith smiled in the most peculiar way. It was that sort of smile that, like sunlight sparkling on the surface of a pond, somehow both distracted from and emphasised the dark, unknown depths beneath it.

Once again, Judeau got the distinct feeling that his Commander knew a hell of a lot more than he reasonably should, and he fought off the insane impulse to blush.

Griffith walked up to him and confidently placed a pale hand on his shoulder.

"If something would have happened to her, Judeau, there is no one I trust more to bring her back to me in one piece, than you."

Judeau didn't really know how to respond to that, so he just smiled and resisted an urge to clear his throat. Griffith's smile suddenly lit up, losing all traces of subtly hidden knowledge, and he patted Judeau's shoulder encouragingly.

"I expect you both to be back before midnight. Report to me the moment you return, okay?"

Judeau happily saluted, relieved and anxious to be on his way.

"Yes, Sir!"

o

That neither of them would be back at the small castle that served as winter camp for the Hawks before midnight, had become increasingly clearer to Judeau from the moment he'd found Caska's horse, lying dead in the snow.

Whether she had been detained at Windham or decided to try to beat the snowstorm, or something else entirely, she had apparently tried to cut across the open fields instead of sticking to the road, and she had been riding hard. In the whirling snow neither rider nor horse had had a chance to notice the trench, and the poor beast had broken both front legs in what must have been a ghastly headlong tumble.

At that point, Judeau had almost panicked - but a quick inspection of the carcass made it clear that Caska had not been too damaged in the accident: Someone had ended the horse's misery with a swift and effective stab. After this, she must have decided to continue on foot and Judeau had done his best to create a reasonable search pattern, hoping fervently that he would find her safe and warm in some kind of shelter.

But when he did find her she was lying face down in a snow drift, almost entirely covered in that cold, deadly blanket. Then he had panicked, but in a strangely controlled manner: Though his heart had been racing so fast and so hard that it physically shook him, he'd still known precisely what to do. There was just no way that Caska would survive the at least hour-long ride back to the castle (provided she was, indeed, still alive at all - but he really couldn't afford such thoughts right then), so Griffith would have to wait. Caska needed to be brought to shelter, and fast - but where?

Lifting Caska's limp body and holding her closely pressed against himself, as if he could share his warmth with her that way, Judeau desperately looked around for some kind of landmark, anything that would help him decide which way to go. And through the whirling snow, he glimpsed a shape that struck a chord of reminiscence. The dead tree, gnarled and twisted in an almost unnatural way... his mind's eye travelled ahead, beyond the grey old tree, across a long-neglected field to an abandoned, burnt down homestead - and then, veering a bit to the northwest of there...

The old barn!

Aaand the rest you know. What happens after THAT, though, will have to wait until the next issue. Don't forget to feed the plotbunnies!

RR:

Bengali: Thank you, that's what I was aiming for. I hope it fulfils your expectations… and don't worry, the next HaP chapter is on the way. I been creative, lately!

Lizalou: As always, I am grateful for your comments! I love knowing people's reactions as they read… Hey, it's HARD to build a plausible Jud/Cas without somehow acknowledging the Him-issue. It's too obvious to just ignore. (…coughcough)

Pissy Abyssinian: I've been wanting to thank you for your lovely comments on my other stories! Always nice to meet a fellow Judeau-fan. :)I am writing HaP, right alongside this one! Don't worry, I won't give up on it.

Warlord Harrsk: Hmm… (sniffs around the new person) You sound dwarfish. I like. But if you're gonna be reading my stuff, I'm afraid you're gonna have to be patient. Here's to hoping you don't have to snap! And thank you:)

Arashi: As always, lovely. :)I'm doing pretty fine, thank you… I'm still jealous of you, mostly for all the reasons mentioned in your profile, but I really appreciate your patience with me. I'm such a scatterbrain… but now I finally have my own computer, and that helps in every way. Oh, and thank you for commenting! I hope this chapter helped straighten out some question marks, and I hope you liked it.