"Damek, it's late." Kaden was suddenly so tired that she didn't have enough energy for another encounter with one of the men in her life. Well, recently, Kaden didn't even know that Allan was a part of her life anymore, but seeing as she would have to put up with him for the next few weeks, or months depending on how long it took them to figure the damn thing out, she would have to include him as a part of her life at this time in her life. Of course, that would mean including Damek for the time being, as well, as much as she didn't want to.

"I know it's late, and I'm sorry. But, I really want to talk to you about what's been going on with us." Kaden raised an eyebrow at him, but let him in anyways.

"What about us, Damek? There's nothing going on between us." Damek sat on the bed awkwardly, and he shook his head.

"But, there was something going on between us! There was something great, and we were happy. At least, I thought we were happy. I was. And then, one day, you just didn't talk to me. And you ignored me for days at a time. And whenever I tried to talk to you, you seemed too uninterested, or you just walked away. I'm just so angry, but so confused, and so… so in love with you…" Kaden stopped in her tracks. The whole time Damek had been talking, she had been pacing back and forth, getting ready to tell him that she was going through a hard time and needed time to herself, and that's why she'd been so inattentive. But, this just startled her out of her trance.

"You… what??" She was so caught off guard that she sat down next to Damek on the bed, and stared at him.

"I love you, Kaden. I'm in love with you."

"No. No, no, no, no!" Kaden stood up again, and started to pace. "Damek, this is ridiculous! You can't be in love with me! You don't know me."

"I do know you!" He interrupted.

"You hardly know anything about me!" Kaden looked him straight in the eyes. "Damek, you can't just fall in love with someone after you've known them for a few months. Feelings don't just happen like that. You're too young to know what love is."

"How do you know?" Damek asked, enraged with Kaden's response. "I could know just as much as you do!" Kaden shook her head at him. She didn't know what to say to him. "Kaden, I love you, and it's not something I can change."

"Why did you come here?" She asked abruptly. Damek hesitated.

"I… I came to tell you how I felt. I needed to tell you."

"What did you think would happen?"

"I don't know. I just needed you to know."

"Did you just expect me to love you back, just like that? Did you think that I would feel the same way that you do? Damek, for Gods Sake! We haven't known each other for that long, and we most certainly haven't gotten that close. Of course we're friends, but we're nothing more than that! We're not courting, and we never were! I don't like you the same way that you like me, which I'm sure it's not right. You can't like me this much so suddenly. Trust me; I should know what it's like. And, no, you shouldn't, because I've been through enough in this life to experience everything hurtful and make every mistake and learn from it. I have learned so much in my life, and I've become very wise about it. You're so young. You don't know what life is yet. You don't know the beginning of it!"

Damek just stared at her, his face expressionless. She stared back at him, but she knew her face was distorted and angry.

"You're wrong." Damek said as he sat on the bed, not budging.

"What?"

"You're wrong." He repeated.

"How am I wrong? Damek, I just explained to you why I should be right!" She fought tears as she spoke to him. It wasn't just the fight they were having, or the sudden feelings from him, but the built up anger and hatred towards him that she had held in for weeks. She needed to take them out on someone.

"What about that night?"

"What night? Explain yourself!" Her face by now was red with anger.

"You know what I'm talking about! That night, we did things. It meant something to me. I hoped it meant something to you. You know you remember. Why did you do it?" There was a look on Damek's face Kaden hadn't ever seen before, and it reminded her of someone she didn't want to think about ever again. She had had too many bad experiences from that man, and now that he was dead, she was sad and relieved, but having him come back to life on a face of someone she knew scared her more than she thought it ever could.

"I think you should go." She couldn't hold in the tears any longer. They rolled from her eyes down her cheek, and hit the floor in a soft patter.

"Tell me why you did it!" He almost yelled.

"Just go! Get out of here!!" She screamed. He walked out the door with that all-too-familiar face still haunting her. She slammed the door on his back, and slid down to sit on the floor. Kaden cried for the first time in a long while.

The next morning, Kaden was woken by Bis, who was holding a cup of tea and a muffin made with blueberry and banana. She avoided his gaze as he studied her tear-stained face. She was grateful that he had looked out for her.

"We've all eaten breakfast already." He'd told her when he had come to her room.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"I didn't want to. It sounded like you had a rough night." He smirked, but it was more of a sympathetic smile.

"You heard?" Kaden turned red with embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed. It's alright."

"I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to be so loud, I was just…"

"Don't explain yourself. There's no need to." Bis just sat back in a chair next to Kaden's bed and watched her eat her muffin and drink her tea. Kaden smiled at him as she ate the rest of her muffin.

"There is something I think you'd like to hear about my night, though." As Bis raised an eyebrow, Kaden explained about meeting the falcon in the woods, and almost being able to take it out of the forest. And she especially explained the nodding. "I'm positive it can understand human speech! I was talking to it, only like I always do with all animals. I ask them questions, and just talk to them for comfort. So, as I asked it something, it nodded. And it was the most exhilarating feeling! I couldn't believe that it nodded, so I asked if it could understand what I was saying. And it nodded again!"

"This is even more interesting than I thought it would be…" Bis said reluctantly. "Anything else strange?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't get enough time to talk to it." Kaden finished off her tea, and Bis stood up to get her a pair of breeches and a tunic to wear for the day. "But, I'm planning to talk to it again. I need to ask it a few more questions."

"How are you going to do that?" He asked as he handed the garments to Kaden.

"I have to find the place I saw it last night."

"But, you know, if it can understand human speech, it probably is as smart as a human, and it most likely won't be in that same place just for the fact that you'll come looking for it again."

"I know, but it's the only place I know where to start from." Kaden went behind the changing screen and quickly dressed.

"Ah, I see." Bis cleared his throat. "What are you going to say to it?" Kaden laughed.

"That's what I haven't quite figured out yet. I'm trying to think of some other options." Kaden stepped out from behind the changing screen and started to make the bed.

"What other options are there?" Bis asked, once again.

"Well, the fact that maybe I can't figure this out on my own. If for some reason, the falcon doesn't understand what I'm saying to it, or it just doesn't want to do what we need, or we can't figure out an option that both the falcon and the townspeople agree with, then we'll need to bring in someone who can communicate better than I can."

"And, who might that be?" Kaden smiled mischievously.

"No other than the famous Wildmage." Bis raised his eyebrows. "Well, we all know she talks to animals. And, of course, she would have been better at this job than I am right now. But, King Jonathan didn't assign her to the adventure. So, we'll just have to see what we can do, and if we're restricted at any point, we'll be forced to send a team up to ask her to come help us."
"She's too kind-hearted a person to refuse." Bis smiled at her, and Kaden smiled back. "Come on, we've got some adventuring to do."

A/N: Hope you liked this chappie, too. I know, most of it is all just filler, but not really. That fight had to happen sometime. And, of course, Kaden has to figure out what to do with the Falcon, and Bis is her only friend on the trip so far, so she needed ot talk to him about it all.

Anyways, enough chit-chat. Please R&R!! I hope you loved it. :)

- Abiona Marchand