I know you all hate A/N at the beginning of chapters so I'll make this short. I'm very appalled at myself for putting this chapter off for so long- It's been sitting on my desktop for the past, what?, two months? I thought that with me going on summer vacation I'd have hours and hours to write all I wanted, but apparently everybody chose this summer to decide to hang out with me (not that I'm complaining!). So hopefully I can get back to writing soon because everyone's going off to camp and/or taking summer classes at Palomar (like I should be doing -_-).

Sorry if this chapter seems rushed... It's four in the morning and I wanted to get this done before I hibernated for a week after going to the Eclipse premire. I'm not a 'stay up all night to see a movie I could see a week from now at a reasonable time and then come home at four in the morning' type of person. :|

PS! Thank you wonderful reviewers! I love you and you are the reason I get off my lazy arse to write because I'm filled with guilt about not updating! Hugs and kisses to all of you!

Enjoy!

I awoke to the sound of a door slamming and heavy footsteps. "What am I supposed to do with her?" I heard a voice say.

"I don't know," the other voice snapped back. "Wash her or something, she smells terrible."

I growled in the back of my throat. They were talking about me.

"Oh, lovely, now you've woken her up. Shoo, shoo! Go down and eat and I'll fix her up."

The other person scoffed and I heard the creaking of a door. "I was planning on doing that whether you agreed to take care of her or not, woman." And then the door slammed again.

There was a 'cluck-cluck' and then I felt hands running over my arms and my face. "Well, he was right, dear… you do smell awfully ripe."

I scrunched my eyebrows, eyes still closed. "Say now…" I mumbled through the cotton in my mouth, offended.

I cracked my eyes open and as my vision came into focus I met the gentle crinkled eyes of an old woman. She stood over me smiling, skin wrinkly but with a healthy pink glow and gray hair bundled up onto the top of her head. She took my hand and patted it.

"I mean no offense, of course."

For some reason I felt graced by her presence and by her smiling face. Before I meant to I was smiling back at her. "Of course… none taken."

She began pulling me up and I shifted so my legs were hanging over the side of the bed. Then stopped, confused. "Where am I?" I asked, suddenly very wary. I noticed with relief that my hands were no longer tied, but where the rope had rubbed against my skin there were now angry looking red bracelets of inflamed flesh. I rubbed them gently and looked back up at the woman as she spoke.

"In the Good Man's Inn in Thebes." Said the woman, surprising me by pulling me up onto my feet. She began to lead me into a smaller room connected by an archway where she sat me down on a stool and began pumping water into a large basin.

I stood right back up and took the pump from her frail looking arms, still intent on minding my manners, and began to pump the warm water. "How long have I been here?"

She smiled and watched me work, patting her forehead with the back of her hand as the room began to warm up. "Your company arrived only a few moments before you woke." She sat down on the stool and fanned herself. "Lovely bunch of men they are." She said, and I did a double take. Only when I saw the look on her face did I begin pumping the water again- she was being sarcastic.

I water had almost filled the basin and I stopped pumping, resting my arms for a moment. "Quite." I said tartly.

The old woman chuckled and, seeing that I was done, hobbled over to me and began undressing me, much to my inner horror. I was terribly self-conscious of myself, and even the thought of being seen by an elderly woman made me shy back and run for cover. But I stood and let her, and she took my tunic in her arms and clucked again, shaking her head.

"I'll have to patch this up." She turned and went for the archway to the other room. "Please take your time bathing, there are soaps and salts on the table. Ring the bell in the bedroom if you need any thing else." She smiled and backed out into the bedroom and out of view.

I stepped into the tub and melted into the water with a contented sigh. I must have sat for ten minutes, letting the water settle over me, small waves rolling from one end of the tub to the other before I reached over to get to work.

I took a handful of the salts, sniffed them, and then smeared the jasmine smelling rocks on my head. I began to rub them in, enjoying the feeling of the dirt falling from my head. I dunked my head under the water and then continued to scrub my hair from the roots to the tips until it shone. Then I took the bar of soap, and after inspecting it found that it smelled of sweet cream, and began to lather it onto my skin. There was a washcloth on the table too, and I took that and scrubbed myself until my brown skin began turning red. Then I dunked my whole body under the water and splashed out of the tub, bringing about half the water with me onto the floor by my feet.

I had my back to the archway and didn't even notice the presence behind me until said person exclaimed loudly.

I squealed and spun around, grabbing a towel off the table and wrapping it around me as quickly as I could.

Galen stood in the archway, a blush red as roses across her face and a hand over her eyes. "I-I'm sorry!" She said, clearly just as embarrassed as I was. "I thought you had a towel on and I didn't think to knock-"

"It's alright, you just surprised me is all…" I mumbled, cutting off her long and increasingly awkward apology. I was just glad it wasn't one of the men.

"Sorry." She said meekly, and tilted her head to the side slightly. "Can I, um, open my eyes now?"

I smiled and wrapped the towel more tightly around me, "yes."

Galen removed her hand from her face and smiled sweetly back at me. "I brought you some dinner."

My stomach rumbled. "Really?"

She laughed and flipped her hair over one shoulder. "Yes, it's on the bed."

I had to restrain myself from throwing the towel over my shoulder and sprinting out to the bedroom to eat. I didn't realize how hungry I really was until I walked out into the bedroom, with Galen trailing me, and saw the tray of steaming meat and vegetables.

I looked back a Galen for permission and she nodded her head. "Go ahead."

I sat down on the bed and began to eat the food. In about ten minutes I was done, and my stomach felt like a rock in my body. But I was full, and therefore content. I put the tray back down and sighed, smiling up at Galen. "Thank you."

She smiled, "of course."

There was silence in the room again and I folded my hands over my lap. "Oh!" I looked up at Galen who was just beginning to settle down on the other end of the bed. "I'm in need of some clothing… Do you have anything I could wear?"

Galen stood back up and nodded. "Sure, they're only shirts, though. They'll cover you but not as much as your dress… Is that fine?"

I crinkled my forehead. 'She thinks my drapery is a dress?' There was barely enough fabric on my tunic to be a tunic, much less a dress. "Um, yes, thank you, that will be fine." I looked at the shirt she was wearing. It was short.. Very short, but I could handle it. Plus she had tied it artfully with a lavender colored belt. I'd have to ask her if she had any more.

She went to a closet I hadn't noticed before and pulled her pack from it. She brought it over to the bed and began digging through it. Finally with a victorious smug she pulled out a sand colored shirt and before I had to ask, another belt like hers, only dark blue. "Here you are," she said, handing me the clothes.

I thanked her and walked to the bathroom to change. I dried my body off and brought the fabric to my face, smelling them first. They smelled like sweat and I wrinkled my nose but shrugged and thanked the gods that I even had something to wear.

I threw on the shirt, becoming concerned when, even with a lot of stretching, it only came down to the middle of my thigh. I tied the belt around my waist loosely so the fabric wouldn't ride up and used the towel to dry my hair. When I was done I walked back out into the bedroom.

Galen smiled as she looked me over. "A little short… But it looks very becoming on you."

I sighed and sat down on the bed next to her. "I don't know how you wear this. Doesn't it… show? I mean, show your… well-"

Galen cut me off with a good-natured laugh and put one hand on top of mine. "You're not very good at conversing when you're flustered. I wear men's undergarments, because I work. I don't think you'll need them, Darius won't be making you work, least not very much."

The thought of wearing men's clothing was a bit disturbing to me, but to each his own. Before I could open my mouth to reply Galen began bombarding me with questions.

"Where are you from?" She asked, tilting her head to one side.

"A small village outside of Idku, on the cliffs of the ocean." I had a flash back of a few days ago when Darius first found me and winced.

Galen looked slightly ashamed and I assumed that she had a part in the destruction of my home. "Tell me about yourself- what we were talking about when we stopped to rest the other day."

I looked down at the bed and noticed that Galen's hand was still on top of mine. "My father told me that he and my mother were going through a horrible time. There was a pack of wolves that came into the village at night and destroyed everything. All our livestock was killed, they dug up our gardens and carried off anyone who was foolish enough to venture out at night. On the night I was born, so I am told, the wolves walked right up to our house and sat outside. My father said he was terrified that they knew my mother was giving birth and were waiting until I was born to storm into the house and gobble us all up. But he said they just sat there, with their backs turned to the house, like they were guarding it. And then he said when I was born they howled and howled like the moon was falling down.

My mother wanted to name me something that would protect me from evil because she thought I was going to be a wolf demon or some sort, but luckily my father was a writer, and therefore more poetically inclined, and decided to name me wolf."

Galen scrutinized me quietly. "And what about the ear twitch?"

"Just a weird quirk, I suppose. Same with the sleeplessness. It's just something about how bright the moon is when it's full. I like to watch it." I kept my eyes on her face, trying to see whether she believed me. It was a long shot- the story, even to me, sounded made up. I would call my father out as a liar if the whole town didn't vouch for him.

"Interesting…" she said, a smile replacing the tight look on her face. "You know, Lykaios, there are things that happen in this world that are relatively unexplainable. And usually the people those things happen to turn out to be great people."

I smiled. "So you're saying I could be great? That story's harder to believe than mine."

Her face twisted up and she gave me a look. "I can see it. You're going to be someone great. It's in your eyes."

I scoffed. "Oh stop it, you're flattering me."

We both laughed, and then the room was filled with silence. I was waiting for her to ask me another question, but the look on her face told me that she had something else on her mind.

"Lykaios… I think I should tell you something." Galen began, the tone in her voice had changed and I sensed that what she was about to say was important.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning closer to her.

"It's about your village, why Darius destroyed it." Her eyes shifted downwards and she wouldn't look at me. "He's a little weird. He came to Euripholes one day and told him not to ask questions, just to do as he said and he'd pay is all twice our weight in money. I was never officially told anything, but I heard bits and pieces of why they did it. I heard that Darius is trying to start a war of some sort. He's not human, Lykaios, and I don't know why he didn't kill you when he had the chance, but you need to be careful. Very, very careful-"

There was a great boom as the door was kicked open, and in the archway stood none other then Darius.

I shrunk back as I felt the anger roll of him. His eyes were narrowed into slits and were trained on Galen. There was a fierce aura surrounding him and I instantly felt sorry for Galen, whose eyes met his evenly, despite her hand that had begun to shake on top of mine.

"Galen" Darius spoke, voice ragged, "you need to leave now."

Galen squeezed my hand and stood, eyes still staring back into his, as she began walking towards him. I thought he was going to hit her, but he stepped aside and let her pass. I heard her footsteps go down the hall and down a flight of stairs, and then she was gone, and I was alone with the beast.

He stepped into the room, then, with a glint of something in his eyes that I couldn't catch he stepped back out into the hallway, doorknob in hand. His face turned into a sneer and he slammed the door closed.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and clutched at my heart through the think fabric of Galen's shirt. I didn't know what had just happened, or what was going to happen, but I was glad that he hadn't stayed in the room with me.

I got up and walked into the bathroom, grabbing hold of the rope that the old maid servant had said would bring her to the room. I had a plan formulating in my head. I have to get out of here.

So... I know there wasn't much Darius action in this chapter... but it's coming. Don't worry. :] As always, please review! Constructive criticism welcome (for those of you who have nothing nice to say..)(Totally just kidding... don't hate me...) xD