–I just can't wait till Solembum gets dragged into this disaster of a story. Maybe then he'll keep the snide remarks to a minimum. He has sworn to write what I dictate verbatim, in the ancient language, so I could say whatever I wished about him and he would have to write it down. Besides, however much he keeps pretending he hates doing this, he is rather persistent about me keeping up with it and he asks a lot of question. That werecat has too much pride to just admit that I am interesting. Anyway, we were at where the guards entered? –

I jumped at the sight of the guards and then tried to look frightened, not a difficult task as I already felt protective of the little boy, and I had put him and his mother into this position anyway.

Thomas clutched at his mother's skirt with wide eyes as he looked at the guards. "Mama. Are they going to hurt me again?" He asked in a terrified voice.

Teresa looked at him and spoke in a carefully neutral voice, hiding her own fear to reassure her child. "Go upstairs, Thomas." She tried to smile. "Why don't you go and play with your blocks, hmm?" He backed up slowly to the doorway and then fled with one last glance at his mother and me. Then, Teresa turned to the men, her hands shaking. "Can I help you? Do you require something from the apothecary?"

The man who seemed to be in charge fingered the hilt of his sword. I waited with watchful eyes, ready to draw if he so much as tried to remove his weapon from its sheath. He turned to me first. "There is no record of another woman living here. Who are you and why are you here?"

I took a moment and then looked at my feet, feigning anxiety and taking a deep breath before looking up. "I am Teresa's sister from Teirm." I spoke in barely more than a whisper, disguising my accent. "Since her husband died, the shop has been difficult to keep up and without a good healer. I know my healing and I am family so I wanted to help. Just got here a few days ago."

The man didn't seem to suspect anything. "Even if you only arrived, must have heard what happened. A group of dragon riders was killed. We are looking for a dark-haired woman with green eyes. She was seen with the group, and she is responsible for the killing of a rider." He frowned. "She is extremely dangerous, beheaded a dragon rider without help. Several people have admitted to seeing her enter this shop."

Teresa's eyes had widened when she heard about the violence, and I knew I had to think of something fast as she was going to be of no help. Hoping my accent was well enough disguised, I set to my task. "Was she averaged height, maybe a bit taller, and spoke with a sort of elvish lilt to her voice?"

"Yes. She was here?" He sounded as if he had not expected to hear anything, probably used to following the rampant rumors to their sources, only to discover some drunken out-of-work fool had spouted it off on the streets without knowing anything of the truth.

"Yeah. She didn't seem like the sort to be a murderer, but then, you never can tell." I said sagely. "I'm glad we all ended up safe."

The guard nodded in agreement and turned to Teresa. She was shaking and staring at me. "Miss, would you tell us what you saw?"

Her fist was covering her mouth and I suddenly felt sorry. I took her and had her sit down. Then I addressed the guards. "She seems to be a bit upset to know that we took in and fed that killer. Her son, you saw him, is very young. If she had wanted to do anything… well, Teresa only just lost her husband and if anything had-"

"Do you know anything else about her?" He cut into my babbling and I hid a smile. He looked bored and had no patience to listen to a commoner's rambling. My eyes flickered to the guard who had taken out a notepad at the beginning to write down all I had told him.

"The name she provided was Meira, but I don't know if it was real. As she left, I don't think I was supposed to hear, she was muttering something about Gilead. That's all I can remember."

He smiled genuinely. "Thank you, miss. You have been very helpful." Without another word, he turned and the other two followed behind him. Relieved, I sank against the wall, closing my eyes. Finally, I was able to take my hand away from my hidden weapons and loosen my tightly clenched muscles. When I finally opened my eyes, Teresa was staring at me.

"You can really think fast on your feet." I nodded wearily, but my mind was suddenly stuck on the image of the rider's head falling to the ground, the noise it made as his body and head fell separately to the dirt, the head rolling away with a trail of blood behind. I sunk to the ground, a wave of nausea forcing me to concentrate on keeping my meal inside me.

"Are you alright?"

I put my head in my hands. "I killed him." I spoke softly. Life is sacred, but I killed. If you had seen... It was terrible." My hands were shaking.

She looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. "I'll be right back." A minute later, she pressed a steaming mug of tea into my hands. "It will help you relax. Drink." For a while I lacked the motivation to take a sip. I deserved to feel as I did and there was no possible way I would be able to ever forget. It didn't taste all that bad. I admitted when I had finally raised it to my lips. Teresa sat in silence as I drained it. When I had finished, she took it. "Better?"

I looked up in surprise and noticed that I did indeed feel better. My stomach had settled and my hands were steady. It was then I realized that I was talking to the owner of an apothecary shop. Of course she would have something that could calm me down. I was an idiot. "Thanks." I said gratefully and stood. "I didn't think they would be here so soon. I'm so glad I was able to change my appearance."

She nodded. "I'm still amazed you managed to make all of that up so quickly. I could barely stand, but you didn't even blink."

I smiled slightly. "That may come from one of my teachers in Ellesméra. She taught me to think fast, but I think the majority of it comes from being caught in trouble a couple times too many. They were only men, but the elf queen…" I smiled. "You have no idea how many times I have had to talk my way out of things. And you cannot lie in the ancient language, so I had to work my way out with carefully worded sentences to twist the meaning. With this language, I can lie." A smile broke over my face. "I feel like I could convince anyone of anything desired if I wished.

Thomas peeked around the corner and his mother smiled at him and crouched, opening her arms to her son. "They're gone now. Everything is alright." With his thumb in his mouth, he went to his mother who picked him up, despite him being over five years old. Teresa looked to me. "You should go out and explore the city a bit. I think I may close the store for the day. I need to brew some more pain potions for the supply closet, it's low, and possibly some sleeping draught as well."

I nodded, glad for the chance to explore the city without worrying where I would sleep or find my next meal. "Is there anything I should know?"

She looked at me with a slight smile. "Use your common sense. Though I might guess anyone who tries to do anything to you might end up worse off than you yourself."

Walking through the door, I took the time to think of my new acquaintances. No, they were my friends. But still, it was obvious that Teresa was wary about me. She trusted that I wouldn't hurt them, but she had not let me see the real her and seemed to keep her son away. Not that I blamed her, but I was determined to win her trust. As I walked, I took the time to think over my short time staying in the city. I had met two humans: a boy and his mother. So far, I liked them. Humans seemed a much less complicated folk than the elves. They said what they meant, not bothering to think over every possible effect of their words.

Not to mention the fact that I could lie. The temptation was great, and I desired to test out this new ability when I had the opportunity.

I wandered into a small shop that sold pottery. I was curious as to what that was so I slipped inside. The small dark room was filled with jars and pots and vats of all sizes along with the plates and cups. I touched one lightly and was surprised at the coolness. Elves didn't use these pots as the humans called them. They used sung wood mostly, but I had seen some glass pieces as well.

"G'day, miss. Can I help you?"

Unnoticed to me, a young man had come out from a back room. I ran my fingers down the side of one of the larger pots, fascinated by it. "These are impressive. I am wondering how these are made." I said.

He looked surprised. "I appreciate your approval. I suppose I could show you the back. Slow time of the day." I followed him through a curtain on a door and walked into a hot room. There was what he called clay everywhere and he showed me a small demonstration, fashioning a small bowl within minutes. "Once you have it like you want it to look, it goes into that kiln there." I looked over at what seemed to be a giant stone oven that was glowing red through the cracks around the opening." He brought me back to the main room and I smiled, thinking over what I had learned.

The young man leaned against the wall casually. "You have an interesting accent." He said, looking at me as I examined more of the work.

"Hmm? Oh, yes."

Where are you from?"

I glanced at the man, slightly amused as I realized what he was up to. "Not from around here." I replied evasively before I realized this wasn't the ancient language. "Teirm." I said. "I got the accent from an uncle who lived a bit too long with the elves. I grew up with him." It was fascinating how easily those words could roll off my tongue. And the man accepted them without as much as a second thought to whether they were true. What power words held in the language of humans. While they could not guide magic, they could guide men.

He smiled. "Do you have a name?"

I was mentally laughing at what Gwendolyn would have said if I had ever asked that question. No, I knew what she would say. "Yes." I answered with a straight face.

"What is it?"

"Well, 'it' is a pronoun used to represent an object or animal." Gwendolyn would have been proud. A faint smile caused my lips to curl.

He looked at me, seemingly trying to decide whether I was crazy or messing with him. "what is your name?"

Finally the right question. "My name is Angela. What is your name?"

"Jorgen Danson."

"Nice to meet you, but I just arrived here. I want to have a look around the city, see what's here."

"Will I see you around?"

"Perhaps."

"Will you tell me where you are staying?"

I was half tempted to give that question the answer it deserved, but decided against it. "The apothecary and healers west of the market square. I'm taking over there as the healer. Maybe I'll see you." I left, smiling to myself. He had been nice, good looking two with his blonde curly hair and brown eyes.

Not paying attention to my surroundings, I bumped into someone. "Hey! Watch where you're going?"

"If I only watch where I am going, wow would I know where I was? Rather, you should have said 'pay attention to your surroundings' or 'watch what is around you.'"

The man shoved me aside, annoyed and angry as he had spilled some sort of liquid, ink it looked like, on the ground. "Think you are funny, girl?" He asked.

–There are times when a witty comment is the best response and can be a great solution to a situation, but unfortunately, I had yet to learn when that was not the case.–

"I was not intending to be funny, sir, but I appreciate that you believe I am. I was merely pointing out your flawed speaking."

"Are you calling me thick?"

"There is nothing to be ashamed of in that. Everyone is entitled to be stupid occasionally. The only problem is that some people abuse the privilege awfully."

"Don't you get smart with me." Unfortunately, I was inexperienced in the ways of humans and did not expect what happened next. A solid fist collided with my jaw, sending searing pain through the bone and leaving me gasping in shock.

The next moment, as his fist was coming toward me a second time, training took over. I took the fist in my hand and twisted his arm, forcing him to kneel on the ground before me. "You do not hit me."

At that moment, two other men came from an alleyway. One drew a knife and I knew I needed to escape. Releasing the man, I stabbed at the men's minds, confusing them for a few seconds while I made my escape. Running down the streets, I heard yells at first, but then they faded until they were nothing.

I continued wandering the streets, exploring all the areas and stopping in many stores. I skipped lunch without much caring, but around dinner, my stomach began to protes the neglect and I began to make my way to Teresa's store. There was a problem though, I had no idea how I had gotten to where I was nor did I know how to get back. Needless to say, it was almost nightfall when I returned.

"Where were you?"

I mumbled something and she raised her eyebrows. "I got lost."

"Oh. I thought maybe something happened. I saved you food." I ate quietly, refusing to touch the food which came from living creatures. She shook her head and went to bottle the potions she had prepared. My life in the city had just begun.

A.N. Okay, so what did everyone think? Just leave a review. While I prefer a constructive comment to help me improve, a single word anonymous review id better than nothing. So leave one? One more thing. If we can get to one hundred reviews, I will dedicate the next chapter to that review number. So go ahead. I dare you.