Author's Note: All right. I know I fail at life, for waiting this long to update it. I got out of the mood for it, and was going to stop writing it and delete it. But I recently re-read Ironside, and then I got a review, and someone else favorite the story. So, I felt like I was letting everyone down, and then I got a big inspiration kick. I won't let it go so long again.

Kaye stepped forward warily, unsure of herself, or Ethine. It was impossible to read the silver eyes, which were focused on her with such an intense rage, and a few other emotions she couldn't quite place. She had the feeling that if Roiben wasn't nearby, Ethine might have killed her already. Taking a deep, breath, she spoke, finally, to answer Ethine's challenge.

"I knew you wanted me here. That was the plan, wasn't it? To get me out of the Hill of Termites? Mission accomplished, Ethine. Now let Kate go." Her voice wasn't as strong as she would have liked, and it was hard to keep herself from flying into a rage that would have included a lot of swear words.

But that wouldn't have shaken Ethine's cool calm, and so Kaye tried to draw on that and get some of her own coolness. She tried to ignore Kate's pleading eyes, and the feral grin Talathain was giving her. But there was one thing she couldn't just let go, one thing that she would never forgive Ethine for.

"Why torture souls with the tree, Ethine?" Kaye said, her voice a bare whisper. "Don't you remember the day Roiben won the Seelie Court, and you called us all monsters?"

"The girl who spoke that day is dead!" Ethine snapped, and Talathain moved forward an inch, as if preparing to strike. Shalini, who had been silent and motionless throughout this, put a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Is she really?" Kaye said, her voice taunting. "Because I still see traces of her in you. You might like to think you destroyed her, but you haven't."

"Shut up!" Ethine screamed, and gave Talathain a pointed look. "YOU made my brother a monster, pixie! You were the one that made him so he would never return to the Seelie Court. If you had simply stayed out of the way, Roiben would be here, with me, as Silariel's lover!"

The words stung, but Kaye kept on her feet, trying to think like a pixie. "Roiben didn't love Silariel anymore, Ethine. She made him what he is, not me." Her voice was low, and she couldn't think of a witty jibe to piss the other faerie off.

"No! For all we know, you knew you were a pixie all along, and plotted with Nicnevin so you could get the crown," Ethine hissed.

That was too much. Kaye stepped forward, putting her face in Ethine's. Talathain moved forward as well, but a small hiss from Shalini sent him back a pace. Kaye grinned at Ethine's angered, but slightly afraid face. "You think you know everything, don't you Ethine? Well, right now, you know nothing, and I doubt you ever will. You know nothing about me. Don't you dare accuse me of plotting with Nicnevin."

Ethine's grin was cool and forbidding. "But Kaye, I know more about you than you do."

The way she said it made Kaye's blood run cold. "What do you mean by that?" she asked warily, glancing back at Shalini, whose face was carefully emotionless.

"I know your name." Ethine said, and Kaye felt like her world had been shattered.

XXX

Valerie Russell sat on the swing set, smoking a cigarette, watching the smoke get carried away by the wind. Her chin length hair blew into her face, and she swore softly. Her heart wasn't really in it. With a sigh, she let her thoughts wander, again, to the forbidden wonderings she'd denied herself for a few weeks now.

Where is he? Is he hurt? Or doesn't he love me anymore?

The thought of Ravus no longer loving her stung. But if he didn't, surely he would have had the courtesy to tell her? So she didn't have to sit out here on the swings all the time, waiting for him to come. His former words came back to haunt her.

Gone in one faerie sigh…

I can hold my breath.

"You're doing a shitty hob holding your breath," she muttered to no one.

"Talking to yourself is never a good sign," she heard someone call, and she half turned in the swing to see Ruth coming towards her.

"You mom said you were out here again," she explained, handing Val a cup of coffee.



"Have you heard anything from him?" Vale asked miserably, sipping the coffee, which was surprisingly good. She looked at the label and realized it was Starbucks. They hardly ever got decent coffee. Ruth must have known how low she was feeling.

"I haven't gotten anything off the Acorn Express, same as you." Ruth said. "I wish I had, just so I could write back and tell him what an asshole he's being."

Val shot a glare at her best friend. "Ravus is not an asshole." She said quietly.

"I'd like to know what he is then," Ruth said, giggling, "Because he's doing a tremendous job of acting like an asshole for not being one."

Val sighed. Ruth was right. And she wasn't really irritated. Ravus was actually beginning to piss her off, because she was miserable and sick of being miserable. It was nearly like when Tom…She shied away from that thought. No, there was no way in hell her mom was fucking Ravus.

"What's that little smirk for?" Ruth asked, her eye quizzical.

"Just thinking about the look on mom's face if she tried to steal this boyfriend." Val said, finally able to laugh freely.

But her thoughts were still troubled. She wasn't going to feel all right until Ravus came back. She had a terrible sense of foreboding. A raven cawed overhead, and she jumped. Ruthe laughed, but the hairs on the back on Val's neck were standing up.

No, this was simply bad all around…