Jasper's speech... o' = of; t' = the; 'n = than; y'see = you see; 'a = have or of; an' = and. Did I affect a southern drawl during the read through to make sure it would sound right? Yes.

Eclipse, Chapter 11

"The same thing that happened to your hand, Bella," Jasper responded quietly. "Repeated a thousand times. Our venom is the only thing that leaves a scar."

Bella was horrified as she shifted forward a little more. "Why?" she whispered. If not for the exaggerated movement of her lips as she sounded out the word, Carys would have missed it.

"I didn't have quite the same... Upbringing as my adopted siblings here." He tipped his head. "My beginning was something else entirely," he said, his tone hardening as he reached the end.

Bella's jaw dropped and she stared at him with a mixture of mute fascination and continued horror.

Carys wondered if she'd looked the same when he'd first told her. It was more than likely - he'd been somewhat blunter in the delivery, a result of a short-lived disagreement about just how bad the Volturi were.

Disagreement was perhaps a strong word for it - they'd both been far too polite and excited in their speech to suggest it had been an argument - but he'd launched a partial defence of the Volturi. They'd ended the worst of the wars in the South, he'd explained, they had his gratitude and respect for that part at least.

"You understand," Jasper said, continuing to address Bella, "there are places in our world where a vampire's life span is measured in weeks rather'n centuries."

Bella frowned a little.

"Rather than," he enunciated.

Carys doubted that was the cause of Bella's confusion, let alone her expression, but Jasper went on, bowing his head ever so slightly as he took a step back and raised his hands. It made him look and sound like a university lecturer, she thought fondly.

"To understand it, you have to look at the world from a different perspective. You have to imagine the way it looks to the powerful, the greedy... The perpetually thirsty."

Making a half-turn, he paused. "Y'see, there're places in this world that're more desirable to our kind than others. Places where we can be less restrained," he gestured lightly as he spoke, "and still avoid detection.

"Picture, for instance, a map o' the western hemisphere. On it, every human life as a small red dot. The thicker the red, the more easily we - well, those who exist this way - can feed without attractin' notice."

Coffee? Carlisle mouthed when Carys caught his eye. She crinkled her nose and nodded, and he headed off into the kitchen.

Bella, for one, was hooked on Jasper's every word. Edward was carefully watching her reactions. Alice sank down onto the floor in front of Esme, a slightly faraway look in her eyes. Rosalie sat down and picked up a newspaper. Emmett selected an armchair and began writing furiously, his pen flying across the pages of a notebook.

It wasn't that they weren't interested in Jasper's story, simply that they'd all heard it before - and so had the luxury of their attention wandering a little as he brought Bella up to speed before they returned to the subject at hand.

"Not that the covens in the South care much for what the humans notice or do not," Jasper said. "It's the Volturi that keep 'em in check. They're the only ones the southern covens fear. If not for the Volturi, the rest of us would be quickly exposed.

"The North is, by comparison, very civilised. Vampires here are, as much of the world, nomads, who interact with humans unsuspectingly - day or night.

"It's a different world in the South, y'see. Immortals there are nocturnal creatures on the whole. They spend the day plottin' their next move or anticipating their enemy's. That's 'cause it has been war in the South, constant war for centuries, with never one moment o' truce. The covens there barely note the existence o' humans, except as soldiers notice a herda cows by the wayside - food for the takin'. They only hide from the notice of the herd 'cause o' the Volturi."

"But what are they fighting for?" Bella asked.

Jasper flashed a brief, humourless smile. "Remember the map with the red dots?"

Bella nodded.

"They fight for control o' the thickest red."

Bella shuddered.

"Y'see, it occurred to someone once that, if he were the only vampire in, let's say Mexico City, well then, he could feed every night, twice, three times, and no one would ever even notice. He plotted ways to get rid o' the competition.

"Others had the same idea. Some came up with more effective tactics than others.

"But the most effective tactic was invented by a fairly young vampire name'a Benito. The first anyone ever hearda him, he came down from somewhere north o' Dallas and massacred the two small covens sharin' the area near Houston. Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan'a allies that claimed Monterrey in northern Mexico. Again, he won."

Wary, Bella interrupted again. "How did he win?"

"Benito had created an army o' newborn vampires. He was the very first one to think of it, and, in the beginning, he was nigh on unstoppable. Very young vampires are volatile, wild, and almost impossible to control.

"One newborn can be reasoned with, taught to restrain themself, but ten, fifteen together are a nightmare. They'll turn on each other as easily as on the enemy you point them at. Benito had to keep making more as they fought amongst themselves, and as the covens he decimated took more than half his force down before they lost.

"Y'see, though newborns're dangerous, they are still possible to defeat if you know what you're doin'. They're incredibly powerful physically, for the first year or so, and if they're allowed to bring strength to bear they can crush an older vampire with ease. But they are slaves to their instincts, and thus predictable. Usually, they have no skill in fightin', only muscle and ferocity. And in this case, overwhelming numbers."

"The vampires in southern Mexico realised what was coming for 'em, and they did the only thing they could think of to counteract Benito. They made armies of their own...

"All hell broke loose - and I mean that more literally than you can ever possibly imagine. We immortals have our histories, too, and this particular war will ne'er be forgotten. O'course, it was not a good time to be human in Mexico, either."

Bella was, from Carys' view, at risk of shivering, the rate at which she seemed to shudder.

"When the body count reached epidemic proportions - in fact, your histories blame a disease for the population slump - the Volturi finally stepped in. The entire Guard came together and sought out every newborn in the bottom half o' North America. Benito was entrenched in Puebla, building his army as quickly as he could in order to take on the prize - Mexico City. The Volturi started with him, then moved on to the rest.

"Anyone found with the newborns was executed immediately, and, since e'ryone was tryna protect themselves from Benito, Mexico was emptied of vampires for a time.

"The Volturi were cleaning house for almost a year. This was another chapter of our history that will always be remembered, though there were very few witnesses left to speak o' what it was like. I spoke to someone once who had, from a distance, watched what happened when they visited Culiacán." Jasper's expression changed as he said the name. His marble skin tightened around his eyes and mouth, and he barely suppressed a shudder of terror.

"It was enough that the fever for conquest did not spread from the South," he said after a moment. "The rest o' the world stayed sane.

"But when the Volturi went back t'Italy, the survivors were quick to stake their claims in the South.

"It didn't take long before covens began to dispute again. There was a lotta bad blood, if you'll forgive the expression. Vendettas abounded. The idea o' newborns was already there, and some were not able to resist. However, the Volturi had not been forgotten, and the southern covens were more careful this time.

"Newborns were selected from the human pool with more care, and given more trainin'. They were used circumspectly, and the humans remained, for the most part, oblivious. Their creators gave the Volturi no reason to return.

"The wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. E'ry now and then, someone would go too far, speculation would begin in the human newspapers, and the Volturi would return and clean out the city. But they let the others, the careful ones, continue..."

"That's how you were changed," Bella whispered as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Yes," Jasper agreed as he checked to make sure Carys was still listening. She was, and so he took a deep breath and continued. "When I was human, I lived in Houston, Texas. I was almost seventeen years old when I joined the Confederate Army in eighteen-sixty-one. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enough to get away with it."

"The Confederate army?" Carys queried softly, matter-of-factly. "As in the ones fighting for enslaving people?" Her brows rose high.

"I believed we were fightin' for our way o' life. I was... I cannot defend myself or my leanin' as it were."

Carys glowered but maintained her tone. It was not without effort. "Did you own enslaved people, or just fight for your right to? Is that why you didn't tell me about your human life? Because I'm mi-"

"I didn't tell you 'cause I was afraid o' your reaction."

"That reaction being the sudden realisation one of my best friends was a-" Carys cut off at the sound of Bella's gasp. One look found the teenager round-eyed and surprised - as if it hadn't occurred to her that there was anything wrong with what Jasper had said. "We should talk about this later."

"We will," Jasper agreed with a heartbroken frown. "I-I should..."

"Go on. I think it would be better to hear the sordid details," Carys muttered under her breath.

"Go on," Bella echoed with great interest, not having heard the end of Carys' statement.

"If you're sure?" They nodded - with differing degrees of enthusiasm - and so he did as he was bid, albeit with great hesitancy and frequent pauses. "My military career was short-lived, but very promising... People always... They liked me, listened to what I had to say... My father said it was charisma... O'course, now I know it was probably something more."

"Like Carys?" Bella breathed. "Is that why you two..." She looked, with sparkling intrigue, to Carys. "Are you going to have the same power as Jasper?"

Carys opened and closed her mouth, too frustrated to find the words to explain.

"No." Jasper shook his head. "Vampires do not have the same powers as one another. It's a... Quirk o' our nature, I s'pose. Carys' abilities are still undefined - more so than mine were, but she has great potential, and yes, there are similarities. Carys works in a much more... Complicated and subtle manner I've yet to fully understand, myself."

"Hmm," Carys said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. Her smile was more of a pained grimace.

Jasper wheezed softly - a strangely smooth, bass-pitched sound. Carys' eyes flared, belying her surprise. Vampires didn't wheeze. Jasper kept a wary eye on her as he spoke.

"I... I advanced quickly through the ranks, promoted over older, more experienced men."

"More experienced slavers," Carys muttered.

When Jasper spoke again, he'd been further jolted out of his reverie. His speech changed a little, the strength of his Southern accent lessening by degrees. Though he focused on Bella, he glanced at Carys once or twice a sentence, as if fearful she might get up and leave.

He was right to think it. She wanted to do just that; she felt sick to her stomach. Carlisle's return, the coffee he handed her, and his hand rubbing the side of her waist as he pressed his face to her hair were the only things that stopped her.

She couldn't be annoyed at Carlisle for not telling her. He'd offered once and she'd been happy to wait until Jasper was ready.

"By the first battle of Galveston - well, it was more of a skirmish, really - I was the youngest major in Texas, not even acknowledging my real age," Jasper was saying. "I was placed in charge of evacuating the women and children from the city when the Union's mortar boats reached the harbour.

"It took a day to prepare them, and then I left with the first column of civilians to convey them to Houston.

"I remember that one night very clearly...

"We reached the city after dark. I stayed just long enough to make sure the entire party was safely situated, then I got myself a fresh horse and I headed back t'Galveston. There wasn't time to rest."

He stared off into space now, his words drawing out and slowing as he once again drifted back to a time when he had no need to temper the strength or speed to fit in as Rosalie Hale's twin brother.

He took a deep breath, his hands twisting and clasping behind his back. His stance widened just a little, his chin lifting a fraction.

This was where he'd started previously - though when he told it to Carys, it was outside an unnamed city, at an unnamed date, in the midst of an unnamed war.

"Just a mile outside the city, I found three women on foot. I assumed they were stragglers and dismounted at once to offer them aid. But, when I could see their faces in the dim light o' the moon, I was stunned into silence. They were, without question, the three most beautiful women I had ever seen.

"They seemed young, all'a them, younger than my nineteen years. I knew they were not lost members of our party. I woulda remembered seeing these three.

"'He's speechless,' the tallest girl said in a lovely, delicate voice - it was like wind chimes. She had fair hair, and her skin was snow white.

"There was one blonder still, her skin just as chalky. Her face was like an angel's. She leaned toward me with half-closed eyes and inhaled deeply.

"'Mmm,' she sighed. 'Lovely.'

"The small one, a tiny brunette with a hint'a olive to her skin, put her hand on the girl's arm and spoke quickly. Her voice was too soft and musical to be sharp, but that seemed t'be the way she intended it.

"'Concentrate, Nettie,' she said.

"I'd always had a good sense o' how people related to each other, and it was immediately clear that the brunette was somehow in charge o' the others. If they'd been military, I would have said that she outranked 'em.

"'He looks right - young, strong, an officer...' The brunette paused, and I tried - unsuccessfully - to speak. 'And there's something more... Do you sense it?' she asked the other two. 'He's... Compelling.'

"'Oh, yes,' Nettie quickly agreed, leaning toward me again.

"'Patience,' the brunette cautioned her. 'I want to keep this one.'

"Nettie frowned; she seemed annoyed.

"'You'd better do it, Maria,' the taller blonde spoke again. 'If he's important to you. I kill them twice as often as I keep them.'

"'Yes, I'll do it,' Maria agreed. 'I really do like this one. Take Nettie away, will you? I don't want to have to protect my back while I'm trying to focus.'

"My hair was standing up on the back of my neck, though I didn't understand the meaning o' anything the beautiful creatures were sayin'. My instincts told me there was danger, that the angel had meant it when she spoke'a killin', but my judgment overruled my instincts. I had not been taught to fear women, but to protect 'em.

"'Let's hunt,' Nettie agreed enthusiastically, reaching for the tall girl's hand. They wheeled - so gracefully - and sprinted toward the city. They seemed to almost take flight, they were so fast - their white dresses blew out behind them like wings. I blinked in amazement, and they were gone.

"I turned to stare at Maria, who was watching me curiously.

"I'd never been superstitious in my life. Until that second, I'd never believed in ghosts or any other such nonsense. Suddenly, I was unsure.

"'What is your name, soldier?' Maria asked me.

"'Major Jasper Whitlock, ma'am,' I stammered, unable to be impolite to a female, even if she was a ghost.

"'I truly hope you survive, Jasper,' she said in her gentle voice. 'I have a good feeling about you.'

"She took a step closer, and inclined her head as if she were to kiss me. I stood frozen in place, though my instincts were screaming at me to run." Jasper paused. Though he continued to stare into the past, there was no doubt he could tell how wound up Edward was becoming. "A few days later, I was introduced to my new life.

"Their names were Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. They hadn't been together long - Maria had rounded up the other two - all three survivors o' recently lost battles. Theirs was a partnership o' convenience. Maria wanted revenge, and she wanted her territories back. The others were eager to increase their... Herd lands, I suppose you could say. They were puttin' together an army, and going about it more carefully than was usual.

"It was Maria's idea. She wanted a superior army, so she sought out specific humans who had potential. Then she gave us much more attention, more trainin' than anyone else had bothered with. She taught us to fight, and she taught us to be invisible t'the humans. When we did well, we were rewarded..."

Jasper paused. His fingers twitched, and, when he continued, he'd skipped over the subject of Maria's rewards.

To the victor the spoils. Maria had meted them out carefully - the humans and the areas where the mere foot soldiers were allowed to hunt. If they did well, their reward involved the thing they craved above all else - blood. And lots of it.

Bella heard none of this horrifying truth.

Instead, he told her of Maria's haste. She knew too well how much time she had before the newborns' strength began to wane. Jasper joined a band of six. Within weeks, she'd added four more - all men, all soldiers as was her want.

Infighting was rife, and Jasper - quicker and better skilled at combat - prevailed. Maria's displeasure at replacing the dead was far outweighed by her pride at having chosen one with his abilities, and he was allowed to feed more often; the blood made him stronger than the others, and the cycle continued.

Jasper lifted a hand and brushed his hair back from his face on one side.

"Maria was a good judge o' character. She decided to put me in charge o' the others - as if I were bein' promoted, y'see. It suited my nature exactly. The casualties went down dramatically, and our numbers swelled to hover around twenty.

"This was considerable for the cautious times we lived in. My ability, as yet undefined, to control the emotional atmosphere around me was vitally effective. We soon began to work together in a way that newborn vampires had ne'er cooperated b'fore-uh, never cooperated before.

"Even Maria, Nettie, and Lucy were able to work together more easily."

"Maria grew quite fond o' me - she began to depend upon me. And, in some ways, I worshipped the ground she walked on. I had no idea that any other life was possible. Maria told us this was the way things were, and we believed.

"She asked me to tell her when my brothers and I were ready to fight, and I was eager to prove myself. I pulled together an army o' twenty-three in the end - twenty-three unbelievably strong new vampires, organized and skilled as no others before. Maria was ecstatic.

"We crept down toward Monterrey, her former home, and she unleashed us upon her enemies. They had only nine newborns at the time, and a pair o' older vampires controllin' 'em. We took 'em down more easily than Maria could believe, losing only four in the process. It was an unheard-of margin o' victory.

"And we were well trained. We did it without attracting notice. The city changed hands without any human being aware.

"Success made Maria greedy. It wasn't long before she began to eye other cities. That first year, she extended her control to cover most o' Texas and northern Mexico. Then the others came from the South to dislodge her..." He brushed two fingers along the faint pattern of scars on his arm. "The fightin' was intense. Many began to worry that the Volturi would return.

"Of the original twenty-three, I was the only one to survive the first eighteen months," he said. "We both won and lost. Nettie and Lucy turned on Maria eventually - but even that, we won.

"Maria and I were able to hold on to Monterrey. It quieted a little, though the wars continued. The idea o' conquest was dying out; it was mostly vengeance an' feuding now. So many had lost their partners, and that is something our kind does not forgive...

"Maria and I always kept a dozen or so newborns ready. They meant little to us - they were pawns, disposable pawns. When they outgrew their usefulness, we did dispose o' them. My life continued in the same violent pattern and the years passed. I was sick of it all for a very long time before anything changed...

"Decades later, I developed a friendship with a newborn who'd remained useful and survived his first three years, against the odds. Name'a Peter. I liked Peter; he was..., civilized - I suppose that's the right word. He didn't enjoy the fight, though he was good at it.

"He was assigned to deal with the newborns - babysit 'em, you could say. It was a full-time job.

"And then it was time t' purge again. The newborns were outgrowing their strength; they were due t'be replaced. Peter was supposed to help me dispose o' them. We took 'em aside individually, y'see, one by one... It was always a ver' long night. This time, he tried to convince me that a few had potential, but Maria had instructed that we get rid o' them all. I told him no.

"We were about halfway through, and I could feel that it was taking a great toll on Peter. I was trying to decide whether or not I should send him away and finish up myself as I called out the next victim. To my surprise, he was suddenly angry, furious. I braced for whatever his mood might foreshadow - he was a good fighter, but he was never a match for me.

"The newborn I'd summoned was just past her year mark. Name'a Charlotte. His feelings changed when she came into view; they gave 'im away. He yelled for her to run, and he bolted after her. I could've pursued 'em, but I didn't. I felt... Averse to destroyin' 'im.

"Maria was irritated with me for that...

"Five years later, Peter snuck back for me. He picked a good day to arrive.

"Maria was mystified by my ever-deteriorating frame o' mind. She'd never felt a moment's depression, and I wondered why I was different. I began to notice a change in her emotions when she was near me. Sometimes there was fear, and malice - the same feelin's that had given me advance warning when Nettie and Lucy struck. I was preparing myself to destroy my only ally, the core o' my existence, when Peter returned.

"Peter told me about his new life with Charlotte, told me about options I'd never dreamed I had. In five years, they'd never had a fight, though they'd met many others in the North.

"In one conversation, he had me convinced. I was ready t'go, and somewhat relieved I wouldn't have to kill Maria. I had been her companion for as many years as Carl-isle and Edward've been together, yet the bond between us was nowhere near as strong. When you live for the fight, for the blood, the relationships you form are tenuous and easily broken. I walked away without a backward glance.

"I travelled with Peter and Charlotte for a few years, getting the feel o' this new, more peaceful world. But the depression didn't fade. I didn't understand what was wrong with me, until Peter noticed that it was always worse after I had hunted.

"I contemplated that. In so many years o' slaughter and carnage, I'd lost nearly all my humanity. I was undeniably a nightmare, a monster of the grisliest kind. Yet each time I found another human victim, I would feel a faint prick of remembrance for that other life. Watchin' their eyes widen in wonder at my beauty, I could see Maria an' the others in my head, what they had looked like to me the last night that I was Jasper Whitlock. It was stronger for me - this borrowed memory - than it was for anyone else, 'cause I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed 'em.

He brought himself back from the painful memories just enough to look down at Bella once again.

"You've experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Bella, but I wonder if you realise how the feelings in a room affect me. I live every day in a climate o' emotion. For the first century of my life, I lived in a world of bloodthirsty vengeance. Hate was my constant companion. It eased some when I left Maria, but I still had to feel the horror and fear o' my prey and the thirst'a the three of us.

"It began to be too much to bear.

"The depression got worse, and I wandered from Peter an' Charlotte. Civilized as they were, they didn't feel the same aversion I was beginning to feel. They only wanted peace from the fight. I was so wearied by killing - killing anyone, vampire an' human alike.

"Yet I had to keep killing. What choice did I have? I tried to kill less often, but I would get too thirsty and I would give in. After a century o' instant gratification, I found self-discipline..., challenging. I still haven't perfected that."

Jasper's face suddenly lost its bleak, ravaged tiredness and smoothed into a peaceful smile that lit his features.

"I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day - somethin' I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice 'em, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a tad.

"She was there - expectin' me, naturally," he explained with a brief chuckle. "She hopped down from the high stool at the counter as soon as I walked in and came directly toward me.

"It shocked me. I was not sure if she meant to attack. That's the only interpretation o' her behaviour my past had to offer. But she was smiling. And the emotions that were emanating from her were like nothing I'd ever felt before.

"'You've kept me waiting a long time,' she said."

"And you ducked your head, like a good Southern gentleman, and said, 'I'm sorry, ma'am.'" Alice laughed at the memory - a tinkling, happy, emotional sound as she danced to his side.

Jasper smiled down at her and slowly took her hand. "You held out your hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense o' what I was doin'. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope."

Carys turned away to wipe away the moisture escaping her eyes to run a path down over her cheeks.

It was difficult - no matter what she felt about his human life, not to be moved by the flash of light at the end of a second life that was heartbreaking and violent at best.

As much as she wished his earlier words had cut off her reaction to his pain, hearing it again when her emotions had been heightened did the opposite.

"Care?" Jasper exclaimed, surprised to see and sense what she was feeling. "Esme!" he added fondly, glancing past her. "Oh, Rose!"

Carys and Esme sank in their seats, turning their faces further away. Rosalie stiffened and glared, stalking to the other end of the room.

"Oh, shut up," she snapped. With similar venom, she sat down again, shook out her paper, and quickly turned the page.

When Jasper spoke next, a grin lifted his words. "Is e'reybody-"

"Yes," Esme announced, "It's Alice's turn, isn't it?"

Alice winked at Esme then stared up at Jasper as if there hadn't been an interruption. "I was just relieved," she said. "I thought you were never going to show up."

They smiled softly at each other for a long moment, and then Jasper looked at Bella again, cutting Carys' line of sight to his expression.

"Alice told me what she'd seen o' Carlisle and his family," he said softly - almost reverentially. "I could hardly believe that such an existence was possible. But Alice made me optimistic. So we went to find 'em."

"Scared the hell out of them, too," Edward said, glancing from Bella's face just long enough to roll his eyes. "Emmett and I were away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak-" he nudged Alice playfully "-who greets everyone by name, knows everything about us, and wants to know which room she can move into."

Alice and Jasper laughed in unison.

"When I got home, all my things were in the garage," Edward went on.

Alice grinned mischievously. "Your room had the best view," she said with a nonchalant shrug. "I suppose Carlisle simply loved me better than you."

Emmett laughed louder than them all. The booming sound cut off suddenly, drawing Bella's attention. "Carlisle loves everyone," he countered, "you were simply the tiniest vampire he'd ever met. Thought you were a foundling child he'd have to take in before the wind blew you away-"

"No, he did not!" retorted Alice, all but stamping her foot.

He met her eye, opened his mouth, and - knowing what was coming - she giggled before he'd had a chance to speak. Smirking, he fell back to laughing - along with the others.

Bella, watching the expressions of each of their faces, said, "That's a nice story."

Carys caught Carlisle's eye and saw her question reflected there. It was reflected in the expressions of the others when she turned back to the room.

"I mean the last part," Bella explained hotly, a dark red splashing across her cheeks. "The happy ending with Alice."

"Ah." Jasper nodded, smiling gently. "Alice has made all the difference. This is a climate I enjoy. Peaceful."

A/N: has anyone else noticed Jasper's type is tiny brunettes? I was going to cut down more of Jasper's story (and I've removed parts, edited the speech, cut down one part, added new information, etc, etc) but in the end it was 8000 words anyway, so I just left more of his speech and cut it to two chapters.

Thank you to: BMBMDooDoo- Doo- Doo- Doo (Thank you!), TheLadyO, Momochan77, chellekathrynnn, KEZZ 1, Ella (I loved this review so much! Thank you! I think the more she gets reminded of what things are like as a vampire and how much time she has left, Bella will change her tune as she did in the books. It's almost as if she's voicing her want to be changed because she knows no one will agree at this stage... Like it's one of those things you offer to do just to keep up appearances? I don't know... I'm being hard on her perhaps. We'll have Jasper and Carys next chapter!), souverian, CarlaPA, Backlinedeyes, derniermom, Jane (thank you so much!), mariananininha, Ghostwriter71, Adela, RachelKaze, and jhaenox for your reviews!