AN: If I delay any longer the natives might get restless. I'm not thrilled with the way this chapter came out, but oh well. My beta didn't exactly have the best advice either. Please keep the reviews coming!

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Chapter Fourteen: Rel'Tor'Ke, Sherlock Holmes.

Daria was in motion before she was even aware of moving. She was in the air and diving into the chasm before Holmes and Moriarty had disappeared below the edge of the path, a shrill shriek escaping her beak.

Impaired as her vision was by the spray thrown up by the Falls, she had to spend a precious moment looking for Holmes. The detective's distinctive coat caught her eye, prompting her to course-correct and angle slightly to her right. Daria drew even with him.

She snatched him from the air, one taloned hand gripping around Holmes's upper arm, her other arm catching him under the torso. Daria unfurled her wings with a snap and her burden grunted as he was suddenly hauled into a vector drastically different from the one he'd just been traveling. He wriggled slightly in her grip, apparently surprised at being plucked out of the air.

"Ssstop sssquirming!" Daria hissed curtly, now making for the cliff she'd used for her earlier vigil. "Unlessss you really want me to drop you!"

Holmes obediently went limp, giving her a chance to get a more secure grip on him.

The Tau'ka was panting by the time she managed to get back to the top of the cliff. Holmes was heavier than he looked. She dropped him the short way to the ground and backwinged to a landing, her wings kicking up a small storm of dust and dead leaves.

He scrambled to his feet, looking somewhat shaken as he brushed the airborne dirt from his jacket. "Well, I must say that I am glad you repay your debts so promptly, Miss Nelson."

Without missing a beat, she replied, "You'rre welcome, Mrr. Holmess. I am imprressed." One ear twitched idly. "May I assk what gave me away?"

"It was not as simple as most deductions I usually face," the detective admitted. "But the fact that lately I seem to be constantly followed by creatures with the same color eyes as your own was a deciding factor. But I have said it before, 'when all other possibilities have been eliminated, what remains, however improbable, must be the truth."" He shrugged. "I must admit that I am curious as to how you pull off that rather unique trick of yours."

She shrugged her wings. "Verry carefully." The Council would not be thrilled with her, but with someone as perceptive as Sherlock Holmes, keeping something secret was a rather moot point. The man was frighteningly intelligent.

And it never hurts for a human to take a Tau'ka down a notch or two. Shows we aren't perfect, and that helps keep us on our toes.

"And the comment about the pharraoh eagle-owl?" she asked.

"You left a feather behind when you borrowed that file."

"Ah."

A moment of silence.

"Thank you, Miss Nelson."

Now both ears pricked forward as thoughts came together in her mind.. "You had that planned," she accused. "That entire confrrontation with Morriarrty."

Holmes nodded. "Although I had not planned to make a trip over the side of the cliff. But it is just as well that everyone will believe I am dead. It will make the rest of my job far easier."

Daria stared at him, not certain she had heard correctly. She blinked slowly. "You are going to make everyone think you are dead," she said.

"Yes."

"Even yourrr besst frriend."

"You seem to be catching on, Miss Nelson." Holmes's tone was a bit acidic. "Unfortunately, the deception is necessary. Watson is quite unable to keep a secret of this magnitude." The detective sighed. "Should the remains of Moriarty's organization get wind of the fact that I still live, all of my work will come to nothing. If Watson remains in the dark, he can spread word of my demise. Those I am after will grow careless in my supposed 'absence'."

Daria clenched her talons, digging gouges into the dirt. Professionally, she couldn't fault Holmes's logic. She knew the value of misinformation, and had used such tactics before. But she wasn't comfortable with the idea of lying to one's closest friend.

Vader would know if I were dead, she thought.

"Watsson iss a poorr actorr," she agreed reluctantly.

"And I can count on you to be discreet?"

The Tau'ka simply gave him a Look. Holmes smiled, unphazed by the predatory stare. "Of course, you are a spy."

"Yourr ssecret iss ssafe with me."

For a moment, Daria thought she heard noises over the roar of the Falls. She turned her head in the direction of the chasm, listening hard. Had those been voices?

No, she thought. Just the ambient sounds of Earth's countryside that I'm not used to.

"Problem, Miss Nelson?"

She shook her head, the fading light reflecting off the metallic stripes in her crest. "What do you plan to do now?"

"I plan to go to Rosenlaui and begin my hunt, Miss Nelson. That is all you need to know."

The tone of Holmes's retort stung a little, but Daria shrugged it off. "Verry well then. Rel'tor'ke, Mister Holmes." She turned to leave, but paused at the edge of the cliff. "And if you happen to come across the Black Hawks before I do-" She grinned fiercely. "Tell them that Darria Noclaf is coming for them."

The gryfalcon took to the sky.