The next creature wasn't at home and the one afterwards, the Death Prophet, seemed to be occupied with others things. She gave them a pack of cookies but didn't talk much. As if her mind was elsewhere.

"Okay, that was normal enough." Lanaya was relieved that not all encounters on this day were strange. Especially since the next one wouldn't be.

"I want to visit my sister," Rylai said.

"The Slayer? I thought you hated each other."

The Maiden sighed. "We do. But I haven't seen her in forever and I'm curious. I heard she has a boyfriend. They say he lost a town war for her. And not one of those normal ones, but one of those where one forgets all about the real life and thinks one has been born in the town. Where one doesn't feel like it is only a game to pass the time but where one thinks it's real. And he let her win. Only afterwards did he realize that it wasn't, that it was only a town war." She smiled. "It's kind of sweet. And then, because they were separated after the war, he searched for her. He called every favour in to get information about her whereabouts and he found her. Now they are living together."

When they landed near the house of the Slayer, Lanaya looked around. The landscape wasn't pretty and there were quite a lot of burned trees and stuff. The ground was blackened by soot on more than one place. She knew that the fire woman had a temper and it showed. Poor boyfriend.

Rylai knocked and they waited. A few moments later, a man opened the door. He looked to be human, was tall and heavily muscled. When he saw them, he smiled, which made him look rather gorgeous. If the Assassin liked men she supposed this would be her type. Someone whose smile transformed him into a beautiful, friendly looking, lovable male, which made one want to smile back no matter what, though he was probably rather fierce looking without it.

"Happy Halloween." He announced.

"Trick or Treat!" Rylai was smiling back at him. She had to tilt her head back quite a lot to be able to look into his eyes but that didn't faze her.

"Come on in, I wasn't expecting visitors. I have to put something together, first." He opened the door wider and gestured them in. "Take a seat. You want something to drink?"

"No, thanks. We don't have that much time, we want to visit a lot of creatures today." They both looked around the room. It wasn't very big but it looked comfortable. The man disappeared into what the Assassin assumed was the kitchen. She could hear the rumbling of his voice as he spoke and then, in answer, a woman.

"Rylai!" The Slayer swept into the room. "Sven was right, it is you!" She continued forward and hugged the Maiden. "It has been ages since we last met. How are you?" Rylai was clearly surprised by this greeting but Lanaya smiled underneath her mask.

The man stepped next to her, holding a small bag with sweets. He looked at the two women still hugging. "You should visit some time." His voice was deep and quite, the words only for her ears. "Lina would never say it but she misses her sister. All those things that stood between them were so long ago and she wants to bury them. Rylai has just been untraceable for the last decade." He handed her the sweets.

The Slayer released Rylai but was talking to her now, asking things the ice mage only nodded or shook her head at. She was definitely stunned by this friendly welcome. Lanaya took pity on her. "Rylai, come, we have to get going or we'll never be on time. Slayer, it was nice to meet you. Sorry we have to leave again." She nodded at the man and took the Maidens hand. "Happy Halloween!" Then she pulled Rylai out of the door with her.

"Oh wow," the Maiden breathed as they were almost by the griffon. "Who would have thought that?"

Lanaya smiled again. She would make sure they would visit the two when they had time and when Rylai was a little better prepared for the fact that her sister had changed just as much as she herself had. Through their link the Assassin had known that the Maiden didn't hate her sister anymore and she had suspected that, over the time, the Slayer might have grown to feel the same way. They were sisters after all.