A/N: My computer seriously went KABLOOIE. Many apologies for this taking so long. If Danica is OCC, never forget to tell me! I'm basing her talking to Gregory after her first speaking to Zane, so that's why her avian reserve isn't as upfront.

Disclaimer: If I owned this series, I would have never of had the imagination to make it and we wouldn't be disputing disclaimers. As it is, it was written, so I don't own it.

Last time: I asked him about his life, his childhood, anything I could to make him concentrate on something else.

The pain had become too much for him to speak; Libba prodding in and out of the wound. I looked at her fast moving hands, almost positive she didn't need to pull that tightly. She noticed my gaze and her force lessened.

Ignoring the reasons behind her vigor, I observed the guards by my bed, watching blankly the scene playing out on my bed. I was sitting, legs folded under me, on my oak chest, while a serpiente was being tended –if not painfully- by two small avian nurses in a brisk, no-nonsense attitude. If it wasn't so ironic, I would have laughed.

At that moment, I heard someone, a quiet shuffle in the hallway. I turned my head to find my mother standing, almost in disgust, in the doorway. I rose to greet her, and she turned, ushering me into the hallway. I cast my gaze to the bed; Betsy was shoving some herb down his throat. I recognized it as an anesthetic. I followed my mother.

"Your brother's vigil will be tonight," she said, no catch in her voice, no bump of emotion to reveal what I knew to be brewing under the surface: pain, sadness, grief, and anger at me. I held all these emotions myself; my mother must be as well. I bowed my head slightly, to acknowledge her words.

"Mourner's Rock," she continued. "I expect you to be there."

That stung. How could she think that I wouldn't attend my own brother's pyre? I saw her gaze flicker to my door, and I understood at once; she thought I would be too concerned with Gregory. "I can assure you I will attend," I said.

My mother nodded coolly and replied, "Fly with grace." Her dismissal sent her off onto other businesses in other hallways, while I went back to my own room.

I strode in to see my guards at tension, Libba and Betsy backing away from the bed slowly, cautiously. I looked around and saw Gregory, new bindings on his wound, lying where I had left him. But he was… changing. I stiffened, my natural instincts screaming. He wasn't shapeshifting, but it was almost as if something was brewing under his skin, turning black and deep-blue, then back to fleshy human pink. My heart started racing, but I forced myself to make the movements towards the bed, my feathers prickling. He was breathing more heavily, and Betsy said, not a bit of fear entering her practical tone, "I do believe some of the herbs we gave him made his body shift into a demi-form."

So that's what that was? I could see the skin along his entire body almost quivering with different colors, as if he couldn't decide to stay in human form or not.

"Shardae, you must leave." Karl said, almost anxiously.

"No," I said. "I don't think he's doing it on purpose." Indeed, his face was twisted. He was still feeling the pain, despite the painkiller given earlier.

"Despite that, you need to leave. He could lose control; we aren't even sure what he's doing." It was Rei who chimed in that time.

"No," I said more forcefully. "You have allowed me to walk the battlefields. Allow me to stay in my own chambers."

They bowed their heads respectfully, but did not lose their stiffness. They were prepared.

Libba and Betsy were inching out of the room, then Libba broke all pretences and scurried away, almost tripping. Betsy followed.

Gregory kept changing for a quarter of an hour, and it was difficult for me to look at him. His eyes were closed, so I didn't need to worry about the famed Cobriana eyes. They were sure to be menacing, capable of what they weren't when he was acting… kind? Polite? Thankful, even? Those weren't words one would apply to a serpiente.

I waited it out, clutching my legs to my chest. Swords never left my guards hands. It was when the shifting had been over for quite a while that he woke up.

I heard him stir, and I snapped out of my position. I was stiff from sitting the same way for so long. He groaned, and my guards tensed even more, if that was possible. I wasn't prepared for what he would say; what he would think. In the few sentences he had been talking to me, not explaining things to me, his moods changed swiftly, without warning.

"Were you trying to poison me that time?" he asked good-naturedly, sitting up. That was a mistake. He fell back onto the bed and then looked around, almost in amusement, at the pillows that now surrounded him. "'Posse I can't even move now," he murmured.

"Are you in pain?" I asked anxiously, leaning towards him, hands fluttering, waiting for a command.

"No," he said, grinning again. "Whatever you gave me, it worked. No idea what it did before it worked, but it did."

I blinked a few times, confused. He sounded so mischievous, almost like a small child, not someone who was just in pain.

"Rei, Karl," I said. "Leave." My tone was cool, detached. Regal. They left without hesitation, but still grudgingly. They didn't want me near Gregory. I honestly couldn't blame them.

"Aren't you worried the wounded solider will somehow find a way off this bed to attack you?" He asked, humor twinkling in his eyes. Not sadistic humor, but I could see a true curiosity behind his question.

"No," I answered truthfully. I wasn't, not anymore. "I'm relying on the fact that you can't move."

He looked almost bewildered for a moment, surprised at my answer's snark, and then he laughed –there was no other word for it—heartily, then clutched his stomach in pain.

"Are you all right?" I asked, eyes wide, not sure what I could do.

He nodded, face twisted, and I waited anxiously for the pain to subside. It did after a few moments, and he said, "You're rather ironic. I wasn't expecting that.'

"Really, do you have to jump from topic to topic so often?" I asked, my worry fading away. I was almost annoyed; I had hoped the pain reliever would last longer than that.

He looked confused again, and then regained a slight… sparkle. "Yes, I do. It's almost worth it, hearing what you'll say in response. I take it you've never spoken to a serpiente before." He laughed, quieter this time, trying not to hurt his stomach.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" I asked. "So you all flip subjects?"

"Yes."

"Maybe there's something in the water," I muttered under my breath.

"I heard that."

"Did you now? Is that another of your powers, hearing things and switching subjects?"

"They very well could be. I don't think I'm authorized to tell you that though. I could lose them."

"Well, gods forbid that happens." I was surprised at the retorts coming out of my own mouth; bantering with a snake.

Gregory opened his mouth to respond, when I said, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" The one-liners just kept coming.

"Oh no," he said, "I'm well rested. How long was I asleep?"

"On and off, two days," I said, watching him. He hadn't moved, but the amusement in his voice had faded slightly as he spoke on. Although he tried to hide it, he was still tired.

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"Did it seem like a shorter time to you?"

"Well, no," he mussed, thinking. "But I remember little bits. I remember the battlefield… you carrying me… you have a lovely voice, by the way… I remember waking up while you were sewing up my wound, but I fell unconscious soon after… and then waking up and talking to you. And then those people came, because you yelled. And then I was asleep again."

"You don't remember?" I asked, thinking of him as his skin changed color like flowing ink.

"Remember what?" he said, confusion coloring his tone. I wasn't used to people revealing their emotions. It seemed to be something that was catching.

"Well," I said, almost gingerly. Just thinking of it scared me. "You were in pain… and you became blue. Your skin, I mean. And black. And you were shifting the colors." My heart started pounding faster.

He sort of smirked, an apologetic look in his eyes, but a bewildering expression on his mouth. I didn't understand what it meant. "My snake-skin. I don't remember changing. I'm sorry I frightened you and your guards."

"'S okay," I murmured. "But you honestly don't remember?" It seemed so shocking; I could never grow my wings in my sleep for a quarter of an hour and just not remember.

"No," he said simply, as if this explained everything.

"Has it ever happened before?" I pressed.

"I don't think so."

"You're not helping. I'm trying to figure out if I've hurt you with avian cures!"

He shrugged, one of the few things that didn't cause him pain. "Don't think so. We're pretty much the same, really. We both descend from humans, so we both have the same basic needs."

He said it so casually. My mind whirled.

"Well… alright then," I said, not sure what to make of this.

His eyes drooped a bit, and I said, "Sure you aren't tired?"

"Positive," he said, although his eyes lost the spark they had possessed before. And then he had fallen asleep.

Read, review, have fun, and I swear it won't take as long to update next time!