The stars had come up some hours earlier; Rosalyn had her head on Illisaith's shoulder to gaze at them. He thought she was finally warming up to him, and he was very proud of that. He thought he doing pretty well for someone who didn't actually know the difference between love and hate.

"You know," she said quietly. "I'm kind of surprised you haven't, like, changed your name or something."

"Why does that surprise you?" Illisaith asked curiously.

"Because Stan gave it to you, and I think you hate him more than I do."

He laughed quietly and looked her as she raised her head again. "Yeah, but I kind of like it. It's ironic."

Rosalyn adopted an expression of amused confusion. "It's ironic? What does it mean?"

Illisaith lifted an eyebrow, but she seemed perfectly sincere. "You really don't know? Eh…I guess it is kind of an old word. It means something like, 'one of a kind'."

Rosalyn stared at him, trying to figure out whether or not he was joking. "Are you kidding?" she asked slowly. "He named you…" she broke off and started laughing.

"One of a kind," Illisaith confirmed with a nod.

"That's pathetic. I mean, of him. Oh, man…" She trailed off again in favor of quiet snickering.

"Hey, I like my name," Illisaith objected. He was sulking in that teasing way he had, but there was a dangerous glint in his eye.

Rosalyn forced herself to stop laughing before he could decide to become violent, and shook her head. "No, it's a great name," she soothed. "I really, really like your name. I'm just laughing at Stan."

Illisaith sulked for a moment longer, then grinned. "Oh, well, I'm all for that," he announced happily. The glint was gone, but he still sobered far too quickly. "Tell me about him…"

"Stan?" Rosalyn asked. "I thought you knew all about him."

Stan's reflection shrugged. "I know how he thinks and feels. I can tell you anything you want about his personality and mental state. But I don't know…what he is, I guess. I know who he is, but not what. What's he done? Why is he the way he is?"

It was Rosalyn's turn to shrug. "Well, I can't tell you why, but I can tell you what he's done."

She began her narrative with her first meeting with Great Evil King Stan. She told Illisaith all about how he had first possessed her shadow, and how insulting he had been about it. She told him how she had left that encounter with a pink shadow and been practically ostracized for it. As she spoke, those old feelings of anger sparked again, every bit as potent as they had been when she first felt them.

Illisaith did not move or react in slightest as Rosalyn recited the story of how Ari had met Stan as it was told to her. He remained still and quiet as she told him about the adventure they had started, the friends they had acquired, the things they had learned, and finally, the battle they had won.

He was silent for a long time afterward. His face was unreadable, and Rosalyn let her hand stray toward her rapier. He didn't seem to notice, but he never seemed to. At last, he roused himself slightly and said quietly, "Why?"

"Huh?" Rosalyn asked as he turned to face her. "Why what?"

He seemed to be searching for something, but Rosalyn had the feeling that it was the sort of thing he wouldn't find outside his own mind. He shook his head; he was honestly bewildered. "Why…all of that?" he clarified. "He's evil; why would he do something good?"

"You know, I've been asking myself that question for a full year. What would you have done?"

Illisaith shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "I can't tell anymore. I think I would have helped, but then, I started to enjoy helping in Rashelo. I don't think he-"

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of thousands of tiny bells ringing in chaotic and disharmonic unison. A small sun threw itself at Illisaith, nearly knocking him over, and flitted around frantically, ringing and squealing.

"What?" he asked. "Star, that's too…would you calm down? That's too bright. Good! Now, slow down. What about Ari?"

"Stupid kid got himself bit by a vampire," Stan yelled, coming down the steps. Rosalyn was there even before he finished speaking.

"He's not going to become one now, is he?" she asked worriedly as she checked what was left of the bites.

"Do you think he'd still be alive if he'd turned on me?" Stan pointed out in his most condescending tone. "Can't you shut up her up?" he demanded of Illisaith.

"I am trying," the Image yelled back. "Do you mind?" Star continued to chatter at a speed that would have made squirrel envious as she flitted back and forth between Illisaith and Ari. "She seems to think this is all her fault. Mind explaining that?"

"She could have stopped the attack," Stan obliged. "She could have saved him. She was too busy worrying about not hurting the vampire."

Her chiming changed to a harsher tone and her eyes became angry.

"She says if you hadn't been so busy drawing out the fight, it wouldn't have happened in the first place," Illisaith translated.

"It doesn't matter who's fault this is," Rosalyn exclaimed. "Let's just get him to the hospital in Madril. He's not going to…die before we get there, is he?"

Stan didn't answer; he just started walking again. Behind him, Star put her light out and sank to the ground. "It wasn't your fault," Rosalyn whispered as she hastened after Stan.

Star chirped something very quietly. Illisaith took her by the arm and pulled her up. "No, it wasn't. Even you can't see the future."

Star had no answer for that.

Star and Illisaith went back to the Mirage while Stan and Rosalyn took Ari to the hospital on the second level. It was only a few hours between Tenel and Madril, fortunately, but Stan was growing increasingly concerned. He didn't think Ari was going to turn, but he should have been starting to recover by now. He shared this with Rosalyn, who, predictably, started to come up with all the logical reasons why Ari was still fine, really he was. Normally, Stan didn't like listening to her babble; today, it almost made him feel a little better.

The two of them stood in the hall outside Ari's room and spoke with the doctor. "So, you were in…"

"The Diablerie," Stan finished from between gritted teeth.

The doctor nodded condescendingly. "And you say he was…?"

"Bitten by a vampire."

The doctor clearly had no idea of the danger he was currently facing should he continue to patronize the angry Shadow Demon. "And he has no wounds because…"

"Star healed him," Rosalyn answered this time. Stan had started grinding his teeth.

The doctor nodded again and sighed. "Yes, and that's your little friend made of light…."

"How many times do we have to go through this?" Stan yelled. Rosalyn hissed at him to shut up or at least keep it down. He ignored her. "Do you really need to know all this to go find out what's wrong with him?"

"Oh, we know that, already," the doctor assured him. "He has lost a great deal of blood. What we need to know is how?"

"He got bit by a vampire!"

"Stan, keep it down!"

The doctor "ahem"ed slightly and nodded. "Yes, well, I hope you'll forgive me if I don't believe in vampires and demons and such."

Rosalyn cringed, but Stan actually stopped and looked at the doctor as though he had gone insane. There was the tiniest of moments during which Rosalyn allowed herself to hope that the demon would be too stunned by the man's stupidity to become enraged. The he shouted, "What do you mean you don't believe in demons? You're looking at one, you simpleton! I should-"

"Stanley, shut up!" Rosalyn yelled at last. In a much quieter voice, she said, "We are in a hospital. Keep you voice down." Stan went quiet, but it more likely that he was just too angry to speak than that he agreed. As the doctor opened his mouth to say something that would probably get him incinerated, Rosalyn quickly asked, "Can we at least go see him?"

The doctor closed his mouth, gave Stan a last dubious look, then nodded tersely and motioned them inside. He clearly wasn't happy about this, but he couldn't keep them out without a better reason than he had.

Ari's room was white and smelled of disinfectant. Stan gave an exaggerated shudder. "This place is worse than that damned bottle," he said, closing the door.

Rosalyn walked over to the unconscious boy and took his hand; it was ice cold. "He's not going to die, is he?"

"Of course not," Stan answered. The hostility in his voice made Rosalyn jump slightly.

"No, right," she stammered. "You're right. He'll be fine, and he'll be wondering why we were all so worried."

"Exactly." He glanced around. "This place is so…clinical…"

Rosalyn chuckled slightly. "That's kind of the idea, Stan."

"Well, it's a stupid one." He paced around and finally came to a stop by the window. It had a very lovely view of a brick wall. Stan scoffed. "What's the point?"

"Well, the other building may not have been there when this one was built. Do you always have to be belligerent?"

Stan nodded. "Of course."

Rosalyn decided that this conversation had gone plenty far enough. She wasn't in the mood to argue right now, and she could tell that Stan wasn't either. He seemed to be trying to pick a fight with her purely out of habit. Or maybe, it was just his way of trying to make things seem normal.

But that couldn't be. Trying to make things seem normal was a very human way of coping, and Stan wasn't human. He could sort of pass for one if a person didn't look too closely, but he wasn't. Humans didn't have yellow eyes or pointed ears. They didn't give off an aura of cold darkness. Stan didn't care; he was only concerned that he might have to find a new slave. Wasn't he?

Stan drummed his fingers on the wall and stared out the window. It was a very human gesture. He sighed and started pacing again. That, too, was very human. Extremely human. Disturbingly human.

"Stan, you're human," Rosalyn blurted out.

Stan froze and looked at her blankly. "What?"

She held her hand over her mouth and started laughing. "You're human!" she repeated.

Stan drew himself up and glared at her. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are! You've been here so long, you're human!"

"I am not human, you brainless cow! Do I look human to you?"

"You mean aside from the eyes and ears?"

"I am not human!"

"You are, too! You've been in the human world for three hundred years, and now you're becoming human!" She shook her head, amazed that she hadn't noticed sooner. "And not only are you human, you care about someone besides yourself." She gestured triumphantly towards Ari.

"Don't insult me, or I'll make you regret it, woman," he responded scathingly. He wanted to laugh at her, but he was too angry. He knew she was right. He had been in the human world for so long that he'd picked up a far too many of their habits.

He crossed his arms and turned away to stare at the door; he could still hear her laughing, but at least he didn't have to look at her anymore. He grinned suddenly and, without turning, said, "Some Hero you are. Here's this poor boy suffering, and you're sitting there laughing at me."

It got the desired effect. Rosalyn stopped laughing. Stan turned to find her holding Ari's hand, again, and talking softly to him. He couldn't hear what she was saying, and he didn't really want to. He left the two of them alone.

Rosalyn took note of Stan's leave, and didn't try to go after him. She wasn't in the mood to care, and she knew exactly where he was, anyway. She continued to talk at Ari, not really paying much attention to what she was saying. Her mind was on what Stan had said.

She knew he'd only been trying to get her to shut up, but that remark had hit home. She had let Ari go into danger with a known Evil King for a companion. Granted, Star had been there, but that was no excuse. As far as Rosalyn was concerned, this was all her fault. She let her commentary drop and closed her eyes as a tear threatened to fall.

The door creaked open and a nurse poked her head in to check on Ari. She smiled slightly when she saw that Rosalyn had fallen asleep in her chair, and quietly pulled the door closed again.