Enepril was two days away, even with the shortcut over the deserts Vash insisted on taking. We made camp for the night by a large outcropping of rocks. Turned out that he had been there before. He produced a couple bottles of liquor from a cool hiding spot underneath a flat rock. He knew where fire starting material was hidden in the cracks and even a few cans of ancient tomato soup.

We combined some rations for a pot of chili, built a fire and sat quietly around as the pot bubbled and spat.

"…Can I get an answer?"

"An answer?"

"To the question I asked earlier."

"Which one?"

"How many kids does your brother have?

Vash handed me the bottle. I took a swig, while he waited. "There are 6 kids in all. Three sets of twins. Unfortunately for his wife, they had to be born 10 years apart from each other."

Three births, ten years apart each. Even if you started early, that would put you in your Early 50's "She must have a great sense of humor or strong body."

"She had both, I guess. At least until the last set killed her."

I didn't know what to say. 'Sorry' seemed inappropriate. I didn't even know the woman.

The food was done that point, and we quietly busied ourselves with dishing out food and eating in silence.

"He… my brother… was scared to take her to a doctor. Even then he believed that they would kidnap her, take her and the kids away for testing. After each birth, it took her months to get back on her feet again." He said, "Even when it was hurting Meryl, he couldn't trust the rest of them."

Sen had been screaming in LR town that his mother would not taint him.

"Wait… his wife was human?"

"Oh yeah. Trust me; there haven't any fertile females of our kind on this planet. At least outside of the plants. We've both looked for them, believe me."

"But it doesn't seem like any member of your family seems to want to stoop so low as to consider us Humans sentient life… present company excepted, of course."

"I think, at first, he was trying to get back at me. I mean, I wasn't around when it happened… you see, she had a crush on me at first, and because I didn't like her like that, I avoided it for the longest time. I think I could have gotten her to ignore me, after a while, despite her obligations to Bernardelli. But after we settled into the house near December I thought I would have to… I was pretty sure there would have been a confrontation."

I thought for a second, trying to place it all. I thought Bernardelli could have been a clue, but they had been around since planet fall. "What happened?"

"I had to go on a business trip with Milly, she was a mutual friend of ours, and I asked Meryl to stay behind and take care of my brother. He was… badly injured, and I thought it would be a few months before he was self-sufficient. When I got back, it was obvious something had happened between the two of them. When we were alone, he told me that if I ever tried to touch her, he'd break every bone in my body. Later... well, let's just say there was an incident. They decide to move into a nearby house together after that."

"Strange Happily Ever After situation that, eh?"

"Not really. Just after the Sen and Nim were born, Meryl left in the middle of the night, without a word. He found her weeks later, dragged her back kicking and screaming, and locked her in a closet until she would talk to him again. It wasn't what you'd think of as a happy marriage. At least not at first."

We lapsed into silence.

"But I do think they were well matched when it came down to it. My brother is… well… my brother. And Meryl was really bitchy."

"Shouldn't speak poor of the dead."

"I know… But I mean REALLY bitchy…"

Laughing, I passed the bottle back to him. I studied the stars above us for a few seconds, marveling at the way the booze made them splinter and glow, then asked, "Why didn't you want her?"

"Hmm?" he asked, finished his swallow.

"Your brother's wife, why didn't you try dating her for a while if you realized she was making puppy dog eyes at you?"

"She was nice… when she wanted to be. But she… well, she just wasn't my type, I guess."

"Who was your type?" I asked, hoping I already knew the answer.

He didn't give it to me, of course. Just smiled the one smile that couldn't touch the pain in his eyes.

"Do you remember Milly?" he asked instead.

"Hmm?"

"Milly." He said. "She and Wolfwood were… well, they were close. Good friends, I guess you could say."

The way he said 'close' told me more than any memory could. I heard jealousy there, plain as the winds blowing across the desert outside. There was shame in that jealousy, the way you were ashamed at the funeral when you knew the corpse and were glad they were dead.

I reached in my bag and felt around a bit before I found the old color copy I had made of that photo, fading at the creases. I smoothed it flat on a nearby stone, and passed it over to Vash. "She there?

He took it with a touch of wonder and a smile twitched at the corner of him mouth. "I forgot you had this."

"Is she there?"

He looked over the paper a second longer, and then held it up, letting me look at it at a distance. He wasn't going to give me this one, was he? I thought about the way Father Leon told me the Buddists chose their Llamas and looked both girls over. It was a flip of the coin, really, but somehow I didn't have to try and decide.

"The tall one."

Vash blinked at me, and then nodded, with a grin. He handed the paper back to me and I looked it over again, as I lay back on my bedroll. "I don't remember her… but I'll tell you when I do, OK?"

"OK." He passed me the bottle back one more time and I sat up just to take the last swallow. I lay back down and watched the little patterns that the light made on the rocks above us. "Fires in the desert…" I heard myself say. "If they get too big it all turns to glass…"

Vash seemed to go silent for a second, as I bobbed in and out of consciousness. I must have said something important. It made absolutely no sense, but then it didn't.

"Yeah… that last fire was a pretty big one." Vash said.

I no longer had any idea what I was saying. Vash was talking to me again, right? Always a good thing. I was just on the verge of figuring out what it was, when it was suddenly morning.