Of Claws and Totems

Chapter 28

Family

Blackheart hugged his siblings for a long time before releasing them. It felt so good to have found his family again; he almost didn't want to let them go. He turned and found Kalara standing somewhat awkwardly off to the side. He could smell a mix of emotions coming from her: happiness, sadness, and a little bit of jealousy.

Kalara had watched silently as Blackheart was reunited with part of his family. She knew the pangs of familial loss all too well. She felt a small pang of jealousy that she viciously squashed at the fact that Blackheart at least had the opportunity to get his family back. Her parents were long since buried and she had no idea what would happen with her sister. They were on their way to find her, but whether or not she would be coming back with them was another story. She was so lost in thought that she almost jumped as Blackheart took her hand and pulled her closer to him. She felt his arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her in close to stand beside him. The feeling of having him close instantly comforted her. She was always amazed by the calming effect his presence had.

"Jonie and Wayne, I want you to meet Kalara, my… girlfriend." He hesitated only a moment before saying that. Kalara was so much more than a girlfriend or some simple crush, but he wasn't honestly sure how to put that into words, at least not yet. He did notice that all of the previous sour emotions he had sensed, jealousy and sadness, were instantly replaced by happiness.

Kalara noticed it was the first time that either of his siblings had truly looked at her. She couldn't blame them though, seeing as how he had only moments before been a huge worgen dispatching their would-be attackers and was now their long lost brother. With that kind of distraction, she perfectly understood them not noticing her. Jonie, for the most part, took it all in stride with a quiet, "Pleased to meet you." Her eyes got big, sure, and she had a sort of slack jawed sense of wonder going on as she took in Kalara, but nothing out of the ordinary for a human who didn't often have interactions with draenei.

Wayne, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She felt Blackheart shaking against her and doing a poor job of holding back his laughter. His poor brother barely managed to stammer out a "Hey" and just before going completely slack jawed before he realized he was staring at her. He snapped his mouth shut and suddenly found something very interesting to examine in the ground at his feet. Even in the darkness she thought she could see his cheeks turning red. His sister punched him on the shoulder lightly. "Smooth," she said sarcastically.

"Let's not stand around in this dark alley any longer than is necessary. Wayne, why don't you lead the way home?" Blackheart's brother managed to pull himself together enough to carefully step over the unconscious thug nearest him and head up the alley. The rest of the group followed suit and, after a few minutes of navigating the streets, they came to a small house near the edge of the walled in city.

It was a single story home, looking much like the one that Blackheart had grown up in. It looked like it had three bedrooms, but it was hard to tell from just looking at the front. There was a very small patch of yard in front where a few herbs and vegetables were growing, and a more sizeable lot for a backyard. Most noticeable, to Blackheart at least, were the smells coming from the house. He could smell fresh baked bread, likely to have just come out of the oven, emanating from the house. More than anything his mother's baking reminded him of home.

Before he stepped up on the porch he stopped his siblings for a moment. "Why don't you two go on in and… I don't know… prepare Mom for me coming in. I'm not sure what to tell her, really…"

Jonie smiled and hugged him once more. "Don't worry, we'll think of something." She entered the house, nearly dragging her brother who was still staring at Kalara, though he was trying better to hide it.

Kalara could feel Blackheart tense beside her. She knew that he'd been waiting for a long time for this moment and she thought she could understand his trepidation at returning like this. She gave his arm a squeeze asking, "You ok?"

Blackheart took a few moments to answer her question before turning to look at her. It wasn't very often that she saw him like this… in fact it had only happened once or twice. It was a look of pure vulnerability. She could hear it in his voice when he responded, "I… I don't know what to say."

Kalara wrapped her arms around his neck, gently pulling him down to look her in the eyes. "I can't tell you what to say." She said softly. "What I can tell you is that all you need to worry about is saying what comes from your heart. It's pretty big, so I think you'll do alright." After a moment he smiled at her and nodded. She pulled him down for a soft kiss before saying, "Just remember, I love you and I'm right here beside you."

Blackheart hugged her as he heard footsteps approaching the door, easily lifting her off the ground for a few seconds. He could tell from her scent and soft sigh that she had never been bothered by it and seemed to like it. Once again the thought of just how insanely lucky he was to have her crossed his mind. The door slowly opened and Wayne beckoned them in.

As he stood up on the porch, Kalara holding tightly to his arm, he heard his mother's voice for the first time in what seemed like years. "What do you mean I need to sit down?" she asked in an exasperated tone. He almost stopped there but Kalara nudged him forward and he walked into the little house.

He stopped again when he saw his mother. She seemed to have aged considerably since he saw her last, but he supposed that losing a husband, and then a son, would do that to a woman. She was halfway out of the chair when she saw him and Kalara and as their eyes finally met she fell back into the seat, stunned. She let out a small gasp and covered her mouth with her hand before looking quickly back and forth between Wayne and Jonie, just to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Blackheart had tried to come up with something to say, but nothing seemed to work right, so he settled on, "Hi mom."

The sound of his voice seemed to trigger her motor skills again and she nearly leapt from her chair towards her long lost son. She slowed as she got near him and reached out a hand tentatively, as if she still wasn't sure he was real. Blackheart gently took her hand in his and that was enough for her. She wrapped him in a hug, already starting to soak his shirt with tears. "Kaleth… my son… you're home."

After a minute she regained her composure and took a step back looking at her son. She reached up and gingerly touched the small section of his ear that was missing, as well as the scars on his neck from the worgen bite.

"How?" She merely asked, but Blackheart knew she wasn't talking about his scars.

"It's a long story, and one that I've wanted to share with all of you for a very long time."

Once done with her motherly inspection to make sure he was still whole after all this time, she hugged him once again and stepped back, noticing Kalara for the first time. Angie's eyes widened a little bit at when she truly looked her. Not only did her son just return home but he'd also brought a lovely looking draenei with him. She didn't quite have the quiver out of her voice when she asked, "And who is this?"

Blackheart took Kalara's hand before saying, "Mom, I'd like to introduce you to someone who is incredibly special to me. This is Kalara. Kalara, this is my mother Angie."

Kalara saw that, while Blackheart mostly favored his father (as best as she could remember from her trip to the spirit world) he definitely had features of his mother in him. Blackheart had his father's eyes but he definitely had his mother's smile. Kalara bowed slightly saying, "I'm honored to finally meet you Mrs. Bishop."

Angie wasted no time hugging Kalara's neck, which surprised the draenei, before saying, "Please call me Angie. If you're special to Kaleth that means you're special to me as well." She turned back to look at Kaleth. "I'm assuming she plays a part in your story?"

Angie didn't miss the look in her son's eyes as he glanced over at Kalara. That was all the confirmation she needed to know what 'incredibly special' meant. Without looking away from the draenei, Blackheart said, "She is the reason I've made it this far."

Kalara scoffed slightly at this. "I'm sure you would have made it back here without my help."

Angie looked back and forth between the two before taking Blackheart's side. "Well, I'd very much like to hear how you brought my son back, Kalara."

Kalara smiled at Blackheart's mother before they all sat down at the table. Blackheart finally looked around and took in his surroundings. Most of the furnishings from his old home were here, the wood stove that heated the place up in the winter, his mother's bread oven, a pie cabinet that he remembered hearing that his grandparents had given to his parents as a wedding gift. There were a few small potted flowers to give the place some life and some scent. The kitchen table they sat at was from the old place as well, seating eight people it was possibly the largest object in the room. He could remember the neighbors visiting often to sample his mother's cooking.

His family, Kalara included, looked at Blackheart expectantly when they all were seated. He took a few moments to collect his thoughts before he began. "I suppose I'll start from where you last saw me and go from there. My last deployment was sent up to Ashenvale, into Howling Vale to investigate some strange disappearances in the area. Normally the night elves would have done this, but there had been a few human disappearances as well so we were sent…"

Blackheart fully launched into his tale then. Over the next couple of hours, he went over the details of the worgen attack, his flight to Azuremyst, his memory loss, meeting and subsequent saving of Kalara. He talked of the battle with the blood elves, though he tried to keep violence out of his story. From the looks on Wayne's and Jonie's faces they would pester him for details later. His mother always seemed to get slightly pale whenever he talked about something that put him in mortal danger. He talked of helping Kalara to become a full on shaman, the saving of the elementals and Miakoda. He noticed their eyes widen at the mention of rescuing a Tauren, but he knew if they thought that that might be the strange part of his story then they were in for a ride. He retold it all, only leaving out details that usually involved him being injured in some way. When he reached the part where he had actually died he paused for a few moments before deciding to not stress his mother with that information and just saying that the boat was thrown to shore and they somehow survived and searched for survivors. When he said that he caught a look from his mother, one that he recognized from his youth. He was twenty five years old and still could not lie to her without her knowing. He felt, however, that he was justified in omitting telling his mother that he had actually died, if only for a few minutes. Occasionally Kalara would speak up and insert a part that he had missed, or her own observation on something. Blackheart could smell the relief from her when he omitted the entire part about her attacking him in Darnassus.

It was nearing midnight when he finished up his tale. His family reflected on everything he said while Kalara gripped one of his hands in hers under the table and used the other to slowly trace along the top of his hand. After having to relive some of the bad moments in his retelling, the feel of her finger on his hand was very relaxing. After a few minutes of contemplation, Angie looked up and said, "Well… I guess there's just one last thing for you to show me then."

Blackheart arched and eyebrow in confusion. "What did I leave out?"

"Well, all this talk of you being able to jump into trees and smell things and I still don't know what you look like as a worgen."

Blackheart looked at his mother for a few moments before answering. "Are you certain?"

His mother nodded to him, though he did notice she held her hands together tightly to stop them from trembling. He untangled his hand from Kalara's before standing up and stepping a few feet back from the table. He nodded to his mother before a flash of darkness completely covered his body, obscuring him for a moment before it parted to reveal his large worgen form.

To his mother's credit her only reaction was a slight widening of her eyes. She rose slowly to her feet before coming over to stand in front of him. She could see that his eyes were still an icy blue and his fur seemed to match his hair color. Blackheart bent forward as she reached for his face; eight feet is a long reach from someone under six. She cupped his face in her hand, just as she had when he had been a boy. "At least I won't have to fuss at you about catching a cold now, with all this fur."

Blackheart could only stare at his mother in amazement for a few moments before issuing a deep chuckle. He should have known she would have accepted his other form this readily, but there had been a lingering fear that she would somehow be upset. His brother and sister came over as well, examining him.

His brother motioned to Blackheart's sword which lay in its scabbard, unbuckled and leaning against the wall. "Can you still use a sword like that?"

Blackheart nodded. "Certainly, but I have other weapons I can use as well." He flexed his hands, extending his razor sharp claws slightly before retracting them.

His sister, who had to lean back just to see his face, asked quietly, "Does it… hurt to change?"

Blackheart looked at Kalara and, from the grimace on her face, he could tell that she too was remembering the first time that he had changed. It had definitely been a painful experience, and she had been there to share it with him. Having ones bones rearranged slowly was not pleasant. He noticed a slight smile on her face in short order though. Their memories were obviously moving in the same direction because, while the change had been excruciatingly painful it had also lead to one the best moments of his life: the first time he had kissed Kalara.

His sister looked back and forth between the two, slightly confused. "What?" she asked.

Blackheart shook his head. "Nothing Jonie. To answer your question… it used to hurt. A lot. Kalara was with me the first time and it was… well it was bad. My entire bone structure had to be rearranged. I also somehow lose a finger when I change to a worgen, but it comes back when I'm human." He waved his four fingered hand for emphasis. "I have no idea really how it works, it just does. Now I don't feel a thing." His sister frowned a bit at his mention of it hurting.

Blakcheart heard Kalara yawn, and could see that the others were tired as well. "I believe it's time we all got some sleep." He said, moving to pick up his gear. "We've got a place at the inn where Jonie works, actually, so I believe we'll just head back there." He shifted into his human form and buckled on the rest of his equipment.

He hugged his siblings and his mother goodbye, and she gave him a peck on the cheek before saying, "Well, if you're sure you wouldn't rather stay here… we'll have a huge breakfast in the morning so you better get back here bright and early!" Blackheart smiled to his mother before waving a final goodbye as he and Kalara stepped out into the night.

The walk back to the inn was quiet and uneventful. A comfortable silence had fallen over the two of them as they had left the home. They reached the inn a short while later and were let in after a few soft knocks by a sleep attendant. Once they were in their room, Blackheart took off his equipment and sat down on the bed with a sigh. Kalara sat down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and waited for him to speak. When he didn't say anything for a while Kalara looked up at him, brushing some of his hair aside so she could see his face better. "Are you ok Furball?" she asked quietly.

He smiled at her before answering which elicited a smile of her own in turn... light how she loved his smile. "It felt so strange to be in with my family, but not be in our old home. I think that was the weirdest part. Most of the furniture was there but the… feel of the place was different." After a short pause he shook his head. "Maybe I'm just being crazy."

Kalara idly scratched at the base of Blackheart's neck and he leaned into her touch. Sometimes he really was like a big puppy, but she definitely didn't mind. "I don't think you're crazy. I know it can be hard to see your home left behind and your family move."

He kissed her once before getting up to get ready for bed. "We need to get some shut eye, a huge breakfast like they're going to prepare is definitely something we do not want to miss."

As they laid down, Kalara comfortably snuggled up against Blackheart, they both had their own troubled thoughts to work through. Blackheart felt… out of place. It wasn't that he didn't love his family anymore or that they loved him any less, he knew that wasn't true. He just didn't feel that he belonged here anymore. He had somehow grown apart from this place and, while he knew he'd always be welcome with his mother, this wasn't stopping place for him, and he doubted that he would ever live here again.

Kalara, on the other hand, was thinking thoughts in the opposite direction. She knew she couldn't stay here; she had to find her sister if there was even a remote chance that she was alive. But what of Blackheart? Here his family was, finally reunited after so long. Would he be willing to come with her? Was she willing to take him away from them just after he got them and would he somehow resent her for that? Blackheart must have sensed her worry, he was disturbingly good at that sometimes and pulled her just a little bit closer and kissed the back of her neck. Those two small actions seemed to drain all of the tension out of her and she drifted off to sleep.

When Kalara slowly woke up she noticed a distinct absence of warmth by her side. Blackheart was just coming back into the room. He, of course, had woken up well before dawn out of habit. She thought about grumbling something about waking up at ungodly hours but remembered the promise of an amazing meal to be had. And amazing it was once they had gotten to his family's house. Kalara didn't understand how Angie and Jonie had found the time to cook all of this food. Platters were laid out around the table with biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, bacon, ham, and pancakes. There little containers of syrup, molasses, and a croc of butter with jam. Blackheart was on his third full plate before he even started to slow down, and Kalara definitely understood why. It was all absolutely delicious. It was so good, in fact, that she was putting more on her plate well after she knew she should stop.

Finally able to hold no more, Blackheart eased his plate back and adopted a relaxed sitting position. They all sat in a comfortable silence for a time and talked of little things such as what Wayne and Jonie were doing now and what all had happened since he had been gone before Angie finally got up to start cleaning up. Jonie was up quickly after that to help her and Kalara decided to pitch in as well. After the massive meal, the least she thought she could do for them was to help out.

As Blackheart started to stand and help, his mother looked very pointedly at Wayne before saying to him, "Kaleth, why don't you go out back and help Wayne chop some more wood for us while Kalara helps me out with the dishes, hmm? Winter will get here soon and you can never have too much firewood."

Kalara could tell from her tone of voice, and Blackheart's reaction, that it was less of a request and more of a command. Blackheart eased his plate down and looked at Kalara before nodding and heading out into the back yard with his brother. Kalara felt some trepidation at being at being in the house with Blackheart's mother, but she had been completely nice so far. She assumed that Angie wanted to talk with her privately and so she continued what she was doing, carrying the dishes to a wash basin that was near the window looking out to the backyard. As she cleaned she watched Blackheart take large sections of wood and easily hoist them up on the chopping block and then cleanly bring the splitting maul down through them, separating them in one quick motion. He must have done that a lot while living at home, and being seven feet of well-muscled soldier probably didn't hurt either.

Angie moved up next to her, watching Kalara watch her son. She remained quiet for a time as they cleaned before she spoke. "You love him."

Kalara nearly dropped the plate she was holding and she looked over at Angie. Angie was looking at her son chopping wood. As she started to respond she was aware it wasn't a question, but a statement. "Yes I do. Very much." Kalara said, cautiously.

Angie just nodded. "I could tell nearly from the moment you both walked in. I've seen the way you look at him; it's the way I looked at his father. Even without seeing that, just the fact that he introduced you like that in itself is special."

"How so?" Kalara asked, somewhat confused. He had introduced her as special to his mother, but she didn't see why that particularly mattered. Blackheart hadn't talked at all of any past love interests. Then again neither had she… but she didn't really have any for that matter.

"Well because in all the years he lived with us he's never brought anyone else home."

That pulled Kalara up short. He'd never actually brought a girl home? How could that be? He was obviously interested in women, perhaps he'd never had the time? They had to have been interested in him.

"I just don't think he ever found anyone interesting enough to hold his attention. There were girls that vied for his attention, sure, but they gave up in short order, usually. I asked him about it after I had to run one of the more interested ones off from visiting the house every other day. Never a once did he say what I expected to hear. His reasons weren't 'she's not pretty enough' or 'her family is poor' or any of that shallow nonsense. His reasons were always very good, in my opinion. It was all 'she's not interesting' or 'I don't want to be with someone who's not at least as smart as a doorknob'. That was a good one." Angie chuckled to herself as she thought of her son describing one of the more dense women that had tried to get him.

Kalara looked out the window with renewed interest in Blackheart. He was sweating now from the exertion of chopping and had taken his shirt off. She could definitely tell why he'd had so many girls after him and it warmed her heart that she was the only one he had wanted. She realized that she was standing next to his mother and staring intently at his half naked form so she concentrated harder on her dishes.

Angie continued on in silence for another few minutes before quietly saying, "He has just come home… but you will take him from me."

This time Kalara couldn't stop herself and dropped the plate, not even caring to watch as it shattered against the floor. She looked at Blackheart's mother in dismay, not knowing what to think. She stammered for a few moments before she could speak. "I… I would never take him from you."

"So you'll stay here then, live out your days in Theramore?" Angie never raised her voice, nor did she seem angry. She was just quietly talking.

"Well… no I have to leave. I have to find my sister."

"And you don't think he'll follow you?" She asked, finally stopping to look at Kalara. The draenei felt she was pretty good at reading Blackheart's expressions but she couldn't tell at all what his mother was feeling.

"It's… well it's his choice to follow me. I'm not going to make him do it." She stammered again. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind when Angie had sent Blackheart outside. "If he wants to stay then he will stay."

Angie tilted her head to one side, arching an eyebrow that was a near copy of Blackheart's expression. "Don't beat around the bush. If you go, will he follow you?"

Kalara's face fell. She knew the answer, or thought she did anyway. Blackheart had promised to help her find his sister and he never, ever broke his promises. Except about staying out of trouble, but she didn't hold those against him. In a quiet voice she answered, "Yes… he will most likely come with me when I leave."

Angie nodded, though she still was unreadable. "And will you keep him safe?"

Kalara nodded. "I would do anything to protect him, though he seems to spend most of his time saving me." Kalara idly noticed that Jonie was watching the entire conversation, the dish she was drying completely forgotten in her hands.

Angie considered Kalara for a few moments then nodded and turned back to her dishes. Kalara wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking, until she said, "I knew last night that he wouldn't be staying. As much as I would love to have him come back home, his place isn't here any longer. Maybe before his… change he would have been content to live out his days just down the road from me, but even then I think he was destined to do something greater. From what I have seen he's helped a great deal of people, even if it's risky to him to do it. He's turned out to be the man I knew he could be and one I can be proud of. And now he's brought home a woman…," she said turning back to Kalara and studying her for a few minutes before slowly reaching up and cupping her face, the same way she had done to Blackheart the previous evening. "He's brought home a woman who is, as far as I can tell, beautiful, kind, intelligent, and capable; a woman that I can feel proud to have as part of my family. I feel confident in saying that I know you'll do everything you can to love him and keep him safe." Kalara could see Angie's eyes starting to glisten, and she could feel the moisture in her own as well. "I know that you're taking him from me, but I want you to know that you go with my blessing. Just… bring him back every now and again for visits when you're not off saving the world, eh?"

Kalara could hardly believe the blessing she had received, but chose not to question it. Instead she drew Angie into an embrace. It wasn't terribly long before she heard the door swing open and Blackheart hustled into the room, sweeping the room for danger until he spotted Kalara and Angie, as well as the remnants of the plate that he had heard shatter.

Wayne came skidding into the room a few seconds later as Kalara and Angie broke their hug. "What's going on?" He asked. "One minute you're there with the splitting maul and the next I swear there was a cloud of dust behind you, you came running so fast." He looked around at the room before finally noticing the pieces of plate all over the place. "You heard them drop a plate and came running?" He asked incredulously.

Kalara nodded to Blackheart, just a small reassurance that everything was fine, before he answered Wayne. "Well… let's just say my life's been… interesting for a while now and it pays to notice the little things."

"Obviously." He said before he finally noticed strange looks on his mother's and Kalara's faces. Confused, he asked, "What did I miss."

Jonie smirked at him before replying, "Girl stuff, nothing for you two to worry about."

Wayne looked at each of them once more before throwing his hands up in defeat and walking back out of the house. "Women," Blackheart could hear him mutter as he left.

As Blackheart turned to follow his brother, he heard his mother call out to him. "Kaleth, I'd like to speak to you for a moment." As he turned back he was confused by her tone, and her smell. Nervous wasn't an attributed he often associated with his mother.

Kalara watched as Blackheart followed his mother into her room. She wasn't exactly sure what Angie wanted to talk to her son about and Kalara, once again, felt some trepidation during her wait. She was just about tired of feeling like something bad 'might' be about to happen but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Strangely enough, she felt better about fighting off demons or Horde than having to face her lover's mother for any kind of serious talk. It wasn't long before they came back out. Blackheart seemed to be slightly stunned when he came out of the room, but managed to recover himself quickly. She would have to ask him how about it later.

The rest of the day was spent relatively free of serious conversation. Wayne had taken Blackheart and Kalara by the blacksmith where he was apprenticing. Kalara noticed that Blackheart had relaxed visibly when Wayne had decided not to join the military. She couldn't blame him considering the fates of Blackheart's father, as well as Blackheart himself. Wayne was apparently quite handy with a hammer, according to the smith at least, and was quickly on his way to getting out of the apprentice status. His mother showed him off to the bakery she worked at, easily fulfilling the role of a doting parent with her long lost son.

Now that they were in a mainly human populated town, Kalara started to notice the other women who were Blackheart's age staring at him slightly longer than they should have for just any stranger. She felt her jealousy rise slightly each time they passed by. Blackheart, his nose leading the way, immediately noticed and took Kalara's hand for the rest of the journey. That warded off most of the stares, plus it made her happy. A win/win in Kalara's book.

As the sun started to dip below the horizon the group made their way back to his family's house. Angie started preparing the evening meal and Kalara happily assisted while Blackheart spent more time with his siblings, finding himself suddenly in the role of relationship and life advice guru for them. There was an occasional burst of laughter from the worgen which always made Kalara smile.

Once the meal had been served, and finished, they sat in relative silence for a few minutes. Blackheart sighed quietly before looking at his family. "Mom, Wayne, Jonie… as much as I would like to stay I'm going to be leaving tomorrow."

His mother nodded without a word, but his siblings objected immediately. "You can't leave, you just got here!" and "I haven't even had a chance to make anything at the smithy for you yet!"

"I know I just returned but remember me telling you about Kalara's sister? Well she's still out there and we still need to find her. Her sister has been gone for longer than I have. I promise though that once we sort that out I'll come back for an extended visit, ok?"

Jonie already had tears in her eyes and Wayne looked to be fighting them. His sister came around the table and hugged him fiercely for a few minutes and soon her brother joined in. His mother finally came over and gave him a hug and kissed his cheek before letting him go again. Angie and Jonie hugged Kalara as well. Blackheart, not being one for overlong goodbyes, left after that and headed back for the inn.

Like the previous night, they returned to the inn in relative silence, but this time it wasn't quite as comfortable as the last. Kalara was seemed to be brooding for each step of the way from Blackheart's house to their room. Blackheart sat down on the bed but noticed that Kalara remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest with an unpleasant frown on her face.

Blackheart watched Kalara for a few more unpleasant moments before he decided she wasn't going to be the first one to speak. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She took a few moments to respond, seeming on the verge of speaking multiple times before she finally did manage to voice her thoughts and she did so without looking at him. "I can't ask you to come with me any further."

Blackheart was more than a little stunned. Of all the things he thought she would say, that wasn't one of them.

"I can't ask you to just leave your family now that you've found them and come traipsing across the world with me. Something could happen to you, something that I can't fix, and they might not ever see you again." She stuttered slightly at the thought of something else bad happening to Blackheart, but she knew with where she was headed it was a very real possibility.

She felt Blackheart move to stand in front of her and tried to look away but couldn't resist when he gently tipped her chin up so he could look at her and she was once again lost in his deep blue eyes. His next words were soft and reassuring.

"Yes, I did find my family after being away from them, but that doesn't suddenly mean I'm going to let you go alone off on a dangerous journey."

"But what about your family? Don't you care about them?" Kalara responded.

"Of course I care about them. I love my family and would love to be able to stay here for a lot longer, just to catch up with them on what all has happened since I've been away."

"Well why don't you?"

"Because I made a promise to you to find your sister."

As much as she wanted Blackheart with her, she couldn't stand the thought of taking him from his family again. "To hell with your promise! How can you just abandon them?" Kalara didn't know where her anger was coming from, but she couldn't seem to shut her mouth and stem the flow. "Don't you know how important having family is? Regardless of whatever promise you made to me, how can you think of leaving your mother and your siblings behind? You've barely even seen them, and I for one am not going to be responsible for taking you away from you family and your home." She had tears in her eyes now and managed to break away from Blackheart, turning her back to him for a short while.

She heard Blackheart harrumph behind her before she heard him whisper, "She was right, as always." Before she had a chance to question it she felt his hands on her shoulders. "Kalara, do you love me?" he asked.

"Of course I do! That's why I can't –"

Blackheart cut her off by turning her around to face him and putting a finger to her lips. "And you're worried about taking me away from my family and home?"

She nodded, unable to talk because of his finger.

"Then, as it is, I only see one solution."

This was it, she decided, where Blackheart would finally come to his senses even if she didn't want him to. She thought back to when she had first told him of how her family had died, how she was alone, and how he had told her that he was there for her. Her time with him had been wonderful. Fraught with peril, yes, but it had been amazing nonetheless, but now… now it seemed like it would come to an end... and then Blackheart did something that she never saw coming.

Blackheart pulled her to him and kissed her passionately and she was unable to resist returning the gesture. Once their lips finally parted he rested his forehead on hers, looked into her eyes, and said, "Kalara, I love you. I love you with every fiber of my being. I've never known anyone like you and I never will. It's been said that home is where the heart is. Well, you have my heart. It's yours, forever if you wish it to be." He paused long enough to pull something out of his pocket. It was silk wrapped bundle, very small, and when he revealed what it was she gasped. Carefully wrapped in the silk was a silver ring with a small diamond in it. The diamond was set in such a way that it looked as if the ring had been pried apart and the diamond set into the separate sections, but the ring was one single piece. "My father gave this to my mother many years ago… and now I'm giving it to you. Kalara… I love you and I want you to be mine, forever. Marry me, so that I can spend my life with you and will never have to be apart from my family, or my home, again. Will you marry me?"

A torrent of relief washed through Kalara then, followed quickly by happiness. The tears once again sprang to her eyes, but this time they were tears of happiness and joy. It took her a few moments before she could find her voice to say yes. Kalara threw her arms around Blackheart and held him tightly for a few minutes before he eased her back and placed the ring on her finger. It was, to both of their surprises, a perfect fit.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, "I want nothing more than to spend the rest of our lives together." She began kissing him then, softly at first, then more passionately as she let her emotions flow free. She pushed Blackheart down onto the bed before climbing on him and raining more kisses down on him. They both lost their clothing and Kalara stretched, and watched, as Blackheart took in and appreciated what he was seeing. She was no longer embarrassed by him seeing her like that… in fact she was beginning to enjoy it. She leaned over and whispered in his hear, "I want you."

Blackheart paused for a moment before looking her in the eyes. He used what little self-control he had left to ask, "Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life." She responded. Blackheart willingly obliged.

Hours later as they lay together just enjoying one another's presence. Once Blackheart had finally fallen asleep, Kalara was awake for a few minutes longer, thoroughly enjoying his warmth. She thought about all that had happened that day and how lucky, and happy, she felt to be next to him. She knew now, more than ever, that no matter what troubles came her way she would never have to face them alone again.