GO BACK! To thoes who have this story bookmarked I added chapter 3 Set Adrift…Again before this chapter. Sorry about the confusion!

Chapter Four:

Of Reasoning and Resolution

Wolfram sat staring into the warm golden glow of the evening fire, attempting to digest what he'd learned over the course of the evening. A large part of his mind could not come to terms with the notion that he was, indeed, no-longer in his own country—his own world for that matter. He tried denying what his eyes and ears told him but the small voice in the back of mind kept a running tally of things that should not be. The very fact that the fire he now sat in front of was feeding off of small bluish grey stones and had an eerie purple glow to it was unsettling enough. "Is this what Yuuri felt like on his first visit to Shin Makoku?" a small corner of his mind wondered, but he pushed the thought away a buried it along with a small feeling of what he would not acknowledge as guilt.

"Careful, if you frown for too long you'll get wrinkled before you time." Wolfram, startled by the sudden intrusion into his introspection, turned too quickly and slid off the log he was using as a seat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Tie-Tay apologized as she sat across from him.

"It's ok, I was just thinking." Wolfram righted himself and dusted off his pants in hopes that his companion couldn't see his blush of embarrassment, or at least wouldn't comment. "I have a question, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead and ask, though I can't guarantee an answer."

"How can the fire be burning off of those rocks? In my home land rocks don't burn, they just get hot and crack or melt."

"Well I guess rocks every where have that in common. You see those aren't really rocks."

"They're not? What are they then?"

"As far as I can tell? Fossilized fish crap."

Wolfram nearly chocked on his tea and desperately thanked the graces that be that his dinner had been cooked over honest to goodness wood instead of… His stomach turned. "You have got to be kidding me. Is that even possible? I would think that the, er… stuff would, well, wash away." Some how he couldn't quite reconcile himself with the absurdity of the topic.

"You would think so but you can collect it all along most shores in these parts and it makes for good heat. Not so good for cooking with though, unless you happen to like that particularly fishy flavor. No me. Before I came to this world I refused to even eat fish. Irony is devastating."

Looking out over the expanse of marsh land, Wolfram couldn't agree more. "I see what you mean. I my self am horrendously susceptible to sea sickness. Row boats turn me green and on a ship I am nearly incapacitated. To find that I must travel by boat if I wish to leave this sodden land mass is disheartening."

Tie-Tay covered a chuckle with her had as she observed the forlorn look that crossed her companions face. "Cheer up! You'll find your water legs soon enough."

"I wish I could believe you but I've just spent the greater part of a week crossing the Great Southern Ocean in a small ship during the beginning of the storm season. If I have not got sea legs by now I don't see what hope there is."

Tie-Tay looked at him speculatively for a moment before her countenance cleared. "I'm sure we can find something to ease the journey and you do not have to remain with us when we reach the next settlement if you do not wish to, although you are more than welcome to stay with us."

"Why?" Wolfram looked at her with honest bewilderment.

"Why what?"

"Why would you invite me, a complete stranger who you know nothing about to join you? I would only be a burden on you! You would be wise to drop me on the nearest dry land and have done with me."

"Are you some sort of dangerous deviant or something, running from the law of in your own land?"

"No, of course not! I'm-"

"Then why would I leave you stranded somewhere dangerous and unfamiliar? I could never face the memories of those who took me in when I first came, alone and unprepared. We are all stranded here under situations not of our own violation, but perhaps our making. It may be that only in each other we may find answers that, should we go it alone, would remain hidden form us. I am content, for now, to guide those that fall in my path and strive to understand that which for so long I was blind to until my time to go home has come."

"Are you so sure? Sure that we aren't just dumped here because we are an inconvenience to someone?" Wolfram thought with bitter irony. Had Yuuri sent him here? Could he have tapped the power of the Maou and sent him hurtling to another world far from home out of spite? For all he knew, Yuuri was sitting in that warm inn with Conrad and Yozak, safe from the raging storm and content in the knowledge that he would never again have to deal with with the bothersome von Bielefeld. "Don't be stupid," he chided himself. "Yuuri, the original wimp, doesn't have it in him to reprimand a servant much less carry off something of this magnitude."

"They say that this is a place to learn a great lesson, one that will lead us to the defining moment of our lives. I see in my self a great change since I first found myself lying in a stinking marsh so far from my comforts and luxuries, but it is not enough. I now find myself sorely lacking and I know that am not yet ready to take up the path I must walk once I return home."

Wolfram was silent with contemplation. What path was it that he was walking as a noble of Shin Makoku? As the Maoh's future consort? Wolfram winced as he remembered the petty argument at the inn. "With what I am now, can I truly say I'm ready for what lays ahead? Do I think of the kingdom's welfare of my own happiness first?" Wolfram asked himself. "It would have been so much better it Yuuri had decided not to stay. He has ruined everything by coming to Shin Makoku!" he raged quietly, not allowing himself to consider his own part in the situation he had found himself.

"I think it would be best to seek our rest for the night." Tie-Tay decided that what ever thoughts were whirling around in his head they'd only serve to confuse and dishearten him more and sought to give him the time he needed in honest healing sleep. "The children will wake early tomorrow anticipating our arrival at the settlement and they will be excited. It's best to have as much rest as possible under the circumstances." Tie-Tay stood, grimacing as she stretched away the kinks of sitting to long. "I'm assuming that you would prefer to sleep off the boat?"

"Yes please, as long as you think there's no harm."

"No worries. This little spit of land is quite safe, for one night at least. We don't have a tent but the shade tarp we set up earlier should give enough shelter and it's a warm night. I'll get you a bed roll."

Wolfram leaned back on his elbows and gazed up into the clear night sky. How different it looked. There was not a single constellation he recognized, further cementing the fact that he was indeed in another land. He suddenly felt very alone. This is what Yuuri felt a small part of his mind thought only he got kidnapped his first day, not taken in and shown kindness. Wolfram pushed the thought away and banked the fire for the night before laying out the bedding Tie-Tay had returned with. At least this was something that was familiar, sleeping out; his experience as a soldier allowing him to fall back on his training. Bidding Tie-Tay good night he removed his boots and crawled between the coarse blankest and turned his face away from the strange fire and unfamiliar night sky and thought of home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Warm. Soft.

Wolfram came to instant alertness and froze, the last dregs of a dream evaporating. There was something in his bed. Cautiously pealing down the flap of blanket covering his head, Wolfram peered towards his feet. It moved. Suddenly he was staring into the largest luminous violet eyes he'd ever seen looking back at him with mild irritation at being awoken before burrowing back down and curling around his feet.

"What 'cha look'en at?" piped a young voice.

"SHH!" Wolfram hissed. "There is something in my bedding and I don't want to be bitten."

"Really?" Coel eyed the sleeping arrangement with interest. "Here, I'll kill it for you."

Wolfram stared, body frozen and eye's wide as Coel hefted a piece of last night's leftover kindling and took aim. "Wha- No! Stop! I'm still—" he leaped out of the way, gathering his blanket to his chest and scowled at the child.

"What's going on over here," asked Tie-Tay as she came striding up.

"He said something crawled into his bed and I was just trying to scare it away but he went all nuts en' jumping around when I went to beat out his blanket for him," explained Coel, discreetly dropping his makeshift club behind him.

"I was still in IT!" groused Wolfram, still clutching the covers to his chest, standing on the edge of his thin sleeping mat. "And I did not 'go nuts'! Anyone who's in the way of a swinging object and does not want to be hit moves."

"Well it's gone now so I'll just go see if Jess and Kaja are awake." Wolfram watched openmouthed as the young boy sauntered away.

"You'll have to forgive Coel. He's suspicious of you and is acting out in order to gauge your response. He really is a good kid."

"That may be but I don't appreciate being bludgeoned first thing in the morning."

Tie-Tay laughed. "You may have a point there, but don't be too hard on him. Once he's made up his mind about you he'll be your staunchest friend."

"And if he decides he doesn't like me?"

"He will, given time. Mean while it seems your night time guest has made his get away and left you unharmed."

"Yes, thankfully. I'm not sure I'm ready for—" he froze. Slowly, Wolfram lowered his head until he was looking at the bundle in his arms. Bright eyes stared back. Crap. I'm stranded on a foreign world full of strange things and I'm holding a wild, potentially dangerous, animal in my arms and it's… purring…" He raised his eyes to meat Tie-Tay's bemused expression.

"I can already tell you're going to be a magnet for trouble," she sighed, examining the creature. It blinked lazily at her before burrowing its head down and grunted contentedly. Wolfram almost dropped the bundle. "Don't worry; it's only a baby failten. Give it to me and I'll deal with it."

Wolfram hesitated. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Kill it."

"KILL IT! But it's a baby, you said so your self. Why kill it?"

"Because its an orphan and will die anyway. A failten kit would never be left on its own unless the mother was dead. It would be a mercy rather than letting it starve to death."

"But it's a baby and its… cut." He stroked the soft fur and the purring intensified. It felt like rabbit fur.

"Cute…" Tie-Tay looked at him closely "Yes, I suppose it is, but that's not the point. I do not have the time to raise a creature like that so unless you want it to starve to death—"

"I'll take care of it."

"You."

"Yes, me. I may not look very old to you but I've seen and done my share in the world and I know some about taking care of babies. You just tell me what to do and I'll do the rest."

"I don't know. It's no something to take lightly."

"I'm not taking this lightly. It's very serious. I just don't like to see small innocent things destroyed. Please? I know I'm just a guest but I'll pull my weight and help with anything I can."

Tie-Tay sighed dramatically and threw her hands into the air. "Fine! But its your responsibility and you are going to have to keep it fed and clean and content. Baby failten are very demanding and need constant care. I'll help with what I can but you will do the work."

"Thank you," he smiled brightly. Turning to gather his things that lay around the cold fire pit, he missed the small satisfied smile on the woman's lips.

"Here, let me grab your stuff since you've got your hands full as it is." She gathered the small bundle of odds and ends left over from the night before and rolled them up in the tarp to be dealt with later. "Here, keep still and hold out your foot. I brought you a pair of shoes instead of those tall boots of yours. They'll work better on the boat deck." It took a little hopping and shuffling but she managed to shove his feet into the sturdy, flexible soled shoes without dumping him on his ass. "Now, lets get all this on board and shove off. We'll have breakfast after we get underway and I'll show you what you need to know about your little pet there."

Wolfram groaned at the thought of the day spent on the water but followed nonetheless. It was going to be a long day.