The festivities lasted deep into the night. Finally, everyone who hadn't already passed out from too much mead, began to drift off to sleep Chance and Jake returned to their tent near the command pavilion. Jake passed out almost immediately. Chance however was still somewhat restless and couldn't get to sleep easily. After a while, he noticed a shadow move past the outside of the tent. Slowly, silently, he got up and moved to the opening, peering outside. It was Elena, moving quickly and quietly through the camp. No-one else was to be seen and she was obviously not wanting to be noticed herself in the way that she moved. Curious, Chance carefully followed after her. Jake opened one eye as his friend slipped out, gave a slight smile, then drifted back off into an even deeper sleep.

Elena knew the forest, even in the blackness of night. She moved swiftly through the trees and the ever thickening undergrowth, hardly making a sound. It was all Chance could do to keep up without being noticed. The cliff loomed to the left and the she-kat changed her course toward it. The thick vegetation changed to mostly ferns and moss-covered boulders. A narrow crevasse cut into the cliff, leading down a slippery, moss-covered slope. Chance was forced to put even more distance between himself and Elena to prevent her from noticing she was being followed. At length, Chance could hear a soft gurgling sound, like bubbling water. A creek perhaps? As he rounded a large boulder he froze and stared down at the sight before him with amazement. Hidden deep in the crevasse of the cliff was a small spring. And from the steam and lush plantlife, it was obviously a hot spring. The nearly full moon shone directly down, illuminating the small area. But it wasn't the spring that was the most surprising part. He kneeled down behind the boulder and watched as Elena, standing at the sandy shore of the spring, removed the majority of her clothing, and placed them on a rock, with the talisman on top of the pile. Then, now wearing next to nothing, she carefully stepped into the water and waded out into it's center.

'Wow... she is beautiful!' He also noticed something else. On her right arm, going from the shoulder down to her elbow, was a tattoo. It appeared to be a dragon, it's tail wrapped about her arm, with insect-like wings. 'Dragonfly...' He remembered that she had told him it was her call-sign. Chance couldn't help himself, he had to get a closer look. Carefully, he climbed down the narrow path toward the spring, doing his best to remain hidden in the dark shadows. All of a sudden a damp rock beneath his paw gave way and he slipped, tumbling down the path and crashing through a few bushes near the edge of the spring. Knowing she couldn't possibly have missed that, and expecting her to be quite angry, he swiftly got up and moved to hide behind the last bush that he had just crashed through. Looking back toward the spring, he saw no sign of Elena. "What the...?"

Suddenly, something hit him from behind, throwing him forward. Instinctively he turned, narrowly avoiding another hit. In the darkness of the underbrush, he could barely see anything. He grappled with his shadowed opponent, and would almost have sworn he was fighting Jake, so agile and athletic the shadowed form was. Just when he thought he might have the upper hand, something hit his legs and knocked him off his paws. Before he could move, the feel of cold steel touched his throat. A blade, the tip of a spear, rested against his neck, held by the shadowed figure.

"Chance?" It was Elena's voice. The shadow blurred, and her face materialized from the darkness.

"Ummm... yes?"

"What are...? How did you...? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, well, I saw a shadow pass by my tent and though it was kinda strange for the leader of an army to be sneaking out of camp after everyone else was asleep." It was mostly true.

"So, you followed me?"

"Well... yes."

She shook her head, clearly confused about something. Chance's heart was pounding. From the adrenaline rush of the scuffle, from the sharp blade against his neck, and from the fact that the beautiful she-kat was still standing over him. But he couldn't understand why it was only her head he could see, the rest of her was completely dark as if she were made of shadows.

"Umm... would you mind letting me up?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry." She stepped back, lifting the spear out of the way. There was another shimmer, and then her whole body appeared from the shadows. She was clad in a black body-suit, only her head, hands, paws, and tail exposed.

'How did she possibly put that on that fast?'

Elena reached out her free hand to help him up.

"How did you follow me without my noticing? I mean, the talisman always warns me if anyone comes into this alcove. Or for that matter, if I'm followed at all. But it didn't? Not with you? I don't understand..."

He shrugged. "No clue. Don't know much about magic. All I know is that pendant of yours seems to choose who it wants to help." He couldn't help a smile. "Maybe it didn't want you to know I was following you."

"Uh huh. Well then..." Turning, she calmly walked back towards the water, dropping the spear, which disintegrated into a black mist, then vanished, before ever touching the ground. More magic.

"Hey, umm... what's with the ninja suit?"

She looked back over her shoulder and smiled. "It's a Shadow Cloak." She reached to her chest, as if she were unfastening something, then made the motion of tossing a cloak from her shoulders. The black suit lifted away from her body, changing into a single piece of black cloth, then turned into mist and vanished in the same way that the spear did. Again she was clad only in a black thong and black "top" that was little more than a strap of silk around her chest with a silver fastener at the front. Chance just starred. He didn't know what to think or say.

Elena stepped back into the water and waded out until the water was up to her neck. She then turned back to Chance and smiled. "Well, are you going to join me? Or just stand there and stare?"

"Huh?" At first he didn't think she was serious. But then decided 'What the Hell...' He took a step towards the water, then stopped. "How deep is it?"

Elena noticed a touch of concern in his voice at the question. "Not too deep, only about eight feet in one area. You can touch bottom in most of it." She paused a moment. "You... can't swim?"

He sighed. "Not exactly. I only did once, but I really wasn't even thinking about what I was doing. My partner's life was on the line."

A slight smirk. "Don't worry. Like I said, it's not too deep. And if anything happens, I'm an excellent swimmer." She gave a slight playful smile at the last remark.

Another moment's pause, then he gave up and stripped down to his boxers. Stepping forward, he hesitated at the water's edge. Then, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he stepped in, finding it was pleasantly warm. He continued into the pool, wading out until the water was up to his chest.

"You see?"

"So how often do you come here?"

"At least once a week. These waters have a power in them. They can heal both the body and mind."

"Nice." He didn't care for magic, but there was certainly some truth to her story about the spring. Despite the long days of working to repair the Turbokat, he was already starting to feel the soreness and tension in his muscles melt away just from being in the warm water. He even felt calmer, more relaxed, but he attributed that simply to Elena's presence. He noticed that he always felt a bit calmer when he was around her. "How did you find this place, anyway?"

"The talisman led me here. One evening, on a full moon, I felt it's power pulling at me. I followed the pull and it guided me here."

"I see. So... tomorrow night... Once we defeat this Shade Kat, do you really think you can send Jake and me home? Back to our own world?"

She nodded, a bit solemnly.

"What's wrong?"

"Tomorrow..." She hesitated a moment. "This is a war, and hopefully the final battle of it. There is a strong chance I might not survive. That most of my people won't"

"I'd rather nothing happen to you, though. Jake and I will do our best to help and to make sure causalities stay as small as possible."

"I thank you. Though, if anything does happen to me, give the talismans to my sorcerer, Mau. He should be able to use them to send the two of you back home to your world."

"So, we've got a back-up plan. But I'd still rather nothing happen to you."

She gave him a soft smile. Then something flashed in her emerald eyes, and the smile became a dark grin. He'd seen it earlier, during the game of shields, and knew she was plotting something. All of a sudden, she dove, her body twisting at the surface then vanishing into the dark waters. Her paws came up last and she brought them down hard, sending a splash of water straight at Chance. He shook his head, shaking the water from his hair and fur. She surfaced a short distance to his left and giggled.

"Oh yeah?" He shoved both hands forward, sending a large wave pouring over her. Elena gasped and turned her head just as the wave hit her, not having enough time to dive down out of the way. Shaking the water away from her eyes and off her bangs, she gave him a dark, but playful grin, her ears laid back. The water fight was on. Then, what started as splashing turned into a full blown water wrestling match. Chance however, unused to being mostly submerged in water, was at a complete disadvantage. The water's friction slowed him down considerably, while Elena could move with the speed and grace of a dolphin. At one point she swung a leg under him while at the same time jumping on his shoulders. Chance went under and she held him there for about four seconds before letting him up again and quickly moving several feet away, out of his range. He came up coughing hard, spitting out water. He appeared to have swallowed quite a bit. Elena was suddenly concerned. She moved closer. Too close.

"Chance? Are you okay?"

He cut his eyes narrowly at her. "Yep!" He lunged forward before she could get back out of range, and grabbed her, spinning her around and pinning her to him. "Gotcha!"

She struggled for a moment then they both burst into laughter. He released his grip and she turned around to face him. Their laughter stopped as their eyes met. Both kats stood there silent and still for several moments, then Chance gently leaned forward and kissed her softly. He expected a hard slap, but was pleasantly surprised to find his kiss returned. She leaned into him and the kiss became deeper, more passionate. Chance then realized that she seemed to want him, as much as he wanted her. Nearby, resting atop Elena's pile of clothes, the talisman glowed faintly with a soft warm light...

-

For those of you who might be interested, sketches of Elena may be found here:
full body - .?fbid=172431212800988&set=a.172431159467660.39323.100001023321153
more detailed head shot - .?fbid=172431336134309&set=a.172431159467660.39323.100001023321153