A/N: Hi! I actually haven't reread the book yet- shh, don't tell! But I really felt like just sitting down and pounding out a chapter. You know those feelings, when you just need to ~write? That's where I am right now. It was asked in a review (thanks for reviewing guys, just to say that you're glad I'm coming back! It made me feel very special =]) if I'd be rewriting the chapters- I don't think so. Not a lot of plot happened in that, so I think I'll keep those as it is, and then just keep on adding on with these. Thanks!

Also, I haven't actually sat down to write a story in quite a while. So consider this my warm up chapter. =]

Last time: 'Trust a snake to attack just because a trusting back is turned'. I shuddered.

I did not come back from Mourner's Rock until the next morning had come. The sun rose under my watchful eyes, and it wasn't until it was high noon that I turned my back to the pyre, now cold, and rose, my demi-form wings pushing out of my back. I flew, pretending not to notice the shapes of my guards taking flight behind me. Vaguely, I felt badly for having them sit for hours while I sat in front of an ashen rock, but that couldn't be helped now.

My wings beat smoothly, in powerful thrusts. I was still distant, still feeling the stinging power of detachment. It didn't matter that I was going to inherit a kingdom dying from war, it didn't matter that the enemy was lying in my bed, safe and sound while my last brother had just been wiped from this world. It didn't matter to me that I should be upset, that I should be crying and screaming and swearing. I was royalty, I was heir, and I was cold.

Within two miles, my wings were screaming. My wing beats slowed while my back was twisted into knots from sitting so still for so long. My eyelids sagged; I was so tired. I had been taking care of Gregory for so long. I had to watch him every minute, in case he got worse. He had to get better. He had to. People died in war, not lying on a soft bed! I couldn't take my eyes off of him, not for one instant. If he died while I was off doing something else, the serpiente would never forgive me. I would never forgive me.

"Or maybe you're just afraid," a voice whispered silkily in my ear. "Maybe you're afraid to stop watching him. Maybe you're just terrified you're going to become that trusting back."

I pushed that back to the outskirts of my mind. That couldn't happen. I could have let Gregory die, and surely my kindness would be repaid? We had spoken. I had given him water, I had given him food and medicine and respect. I feared him, yes, but maybe he'd show me mercy. He could go back to his people and tell them that the only reason he had survived was due to the kindness of the heir, the soon to be Tuuli Thea. He wouldn't attack me. He couldn't. That would be going against nature itself. You don't attack someone who helps you. You can't attack someone who shows you kindness!

I didn't notice that I had drooped dangerously low to the treetops. My sight was blurry, and I didn't even realize that I had been fading in and out of consciousness until I heard Rei yell to the other guards. As I hit the canopy and spun out of control, the last thing I saw was Rei's as he caught me, his face contorted into panic.

I awoke to screaming. I bolted up, my hand going for the blade in my belt. My mind reeled, and a wave of nausea forced me back down. My eyes darted around. There was some type of commotion outside, in the hallway. I heard yelling, and footsteps banging around. I tried to get up again, and this time I barely sat up before a hand forced me back down again. I looked up, terrified, into the face of Gregory Cobriana. His face was upturned in a vicious smile as he pushed me back onto the bed and raised a knife. I screamed just as his evil grin turned into a different face, blending into the features I knew so well, and as his knife came down to plunge into my stomach, it was rather a hand that swooped down to grab mine, and his face had morphed into Rei's.

"Dani, are you all right?" he asked me, eyes wide and worried. His hands were clasping mine, and that malicious grin that had been staring me down a moment earlier was a look of desperation. "You've been asleep for hours, tossing and turning." He paused, looking at me, taking in my wild eyes and ragged breath. I tried to calm myself, but to no avail. Adrenaline was still racing through my veins, and Andreios must have stood there for five minutes, quietly stroking my hand while I got myself under control.

Finally, my breathing slowed, and I was able to relax the death grip I had on his hand. "What's happening?" I asked him haltingly, as my wits returned to me. "I thought I heard screaming." I listened hard, but there was no more commotion happening outside of this room. Not wanting to tempt fate, I didn't try to sit up again, but rather lifted my head a few inches and gazed around the room. It was my bedroom, exactly as I had left it the previous day. My skirt was crumpled up on the floor, my pillows piled up in the corner so Gregory could sleep—

"Where's Gregory?" I demanded. Rei looked at me, and something flashed in his eyes. I had no time to analyze it, for in an instant it disappeared behind his well worn avian reserve. A smooth mask replaced his frantic worry, and he reported to me as he would a solider to the heir: "He was taken away to a better suited room. You were ill, and it was decided that you should be the one staying in your own bedroom." There was a faint accusatory tone playing around the edges of his words.

I nodded and slumped back down onto the pillows. "Where is this 'better suited room'?" I asked carelessly. If truth be told, I was still reeling from that horrible –day dream? Nightmare? Hallucination?— that I had had earlier. I could still see the glint of the metal, the callous look on Gregory's face, and I still remembered the cold feeling of sticky blood spreading across my stomach.

But I couldn't let on to that. If Andreios knew about my fears, he'd kill Gregory without a second thought. I was the only reason this serpiente prince was still alive. I took a deep breath, trying to swallow any doubt I had. My eyes flickered back to my guard's face. "You said I've been asleep? What – what happened?"

"You passed out, on the way back from Mourner's Rock." He spoke so matter-of-factly, as if he hadn't even been worried. I noticed, with a jolt, that his hands were still clasping mine. My eyes widened. His hands weren't soft, not at all. They were rough as they stroked my fingers, his hands bearing the touch of a thousand battles. But these same hands that had sent so many serpiente to their deaths were now holding mine.

Sheer reflex pulled my hands out of his. He looked down on me, startled for the slightest instant before he turned his head away from mine, instead helping me sit up. His hands slid underneath the pillows, propping them up, and I noticed that his hands did not touch my bare skin again. I wanted to apologize; I wanted to ask him to hold my hand again. I needed the reassurance that everything would be all right. I needed to be told, to be comforted, and I had to know that this wasn't a mistake. I wished he would just do it again, without asking, because I couldn't answer him with a yes, but I wouldn't dream of answering with a no, either.

It didn't matter, anyway. I was heir, and he was my guard, and we were avian. Him holding my hand was nothing but a calming presence while I was trying to get a hold of myself. Now that I had recovered, we could go on with our lives. Our strong, sharp, and secluded avian lives.

"Why did I pass out?" I asked him formally, now that I was propped into a sitting position. The nausea threatened to come back, but I beat it down. Swallowing a few times, I looked around the room again. "And what was that noise? I heard—" I swallowed again, and pressed on. "I thought I heard fighting."

Andreios followed my gaze to the door and the now silent hallway that was beyond it. "There was, Shardae." he answered me, sighing slightly. "There is … discomfort, among the people, about there being a Cobriana in the Keep." He placed a delicate emphasis on the words, and I watched him carefully. Rei would never go against my orders, but I knew he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Gregory is he felt it was necessary. "The public feels that you have been placed under his spell," he continued. "And the noises you heard was a group of sparrows, trying to come up here to … liberate you."

I looked at him in horror. My own people were turning against me? The last thing I needed was a revolt on my hands, not while there was a war to juggle and the throne almost vacant. "Is this a commonly held belief?" I asked breathlessly. This was horrible news.

"Not at all, Shardae," Rei responded, seeming relieved to give me a sliver of good news. "Most people do not believe the rumors that there is a serpent in the Keep, and those who do are seen as mad. The only people who know are most loyal to you, and we wouldn't breathe a word." He gazed at me earnestly. I knew he was loyal; he would never have to convince me of that.

I sat up a little straighter, measuring how ill I felt. The wave of nausea that had been pushing me back had now subsided to a little tug, just a pull on the back of my head. I noted that I wasn't dressed in the light brown dress that I had worn yesterday (the day before? I had no way of knowing how long I had been asleep), but instead a soft blue shift and lambskin night pants. I was dressed for bed, and that was no way to go Gregory.

Pushing myself out of bed, I stumbled a little bit on the rug underneath my feet. Andreios caught me at once, but the moment I was steady, he let me go, almost jumping away from me. I did not bother focusing on that, but rather on my reflection on my wall-side mirror.

"Please call someone in to help me get dressed, Andreios," I commanded. I didn't think I could handle the lacing and tying without some form of aid.

He bowed and murmured some type of affirmation. Rei turned and walked to the farside of the room, leaving me to clutch my dresser top for support. "Oh, and, Dani?" Rei turned away from the door and addressed me, his hand on the doorknob. "Betsy and the other healers ran tests. It wasn't poison that caused you to pass out. Believe me, we checked."

And like that, he was out of my room an in the hallway, closing the door quietly after him.

A/N: also, this is purely set in Hawksong. Anything that is canon in the other four books is not canon in this fic. So, for example- any relationships, any grudges, any character plots or changes in personality, anything of that sort? If it happens in anything that is not Hawksong, it is not going to be honored in this fic. Example- let's say X and Y get married in Falcondance. X and Y may still get married in this fic, or X and Z may start a relationship, while Y dies a lonely old spinster. I'm not honoring anything from the sequels as factual in this fic.

Ahaha, also, that doesn't mean that this is a romantic fic, either, just because I used marriage as an example. I really haven't decided if this is going to have any type of romantic plot in it. At the moment, I'm leaning towards yes, but I still have no idea. I want to try to make this fic come to life after a good 4 years, so I don't have anything set in stone yet. =] Thanks for reading! (and there ends my atrociously long a/n.)

p.s.- this writing isn't the best, I know. This really was a warm up chapter. =] bear with me. Okay, now it's over.