Chapter 2

Dinner came with everyone seated around a large table, talking and laughing.

"Well, well, well, what have we here," said Cloud teasingly as she looked at Ronin. "The Great General Ronin actually laughs, this really is a special occasion." She received a glare from Ronin, but she returned the glare with a smug look.

"So Cloud, why don't you want to Emily's trusty steed," Nod teased Cloud. She glared at him harshly and pulled a knife out of her boot.

"I will through this at you," she threatened right back. Chuck laughed and Cloud looked at him.

"You know if Joe were here he would tease you about that every free second he got," Chuck said with a sad smile. Cloud smiled to but her eyes were sad.

"Yeah, you couldn't do anything embarrassing in front of Joe, cause he wouldn't let you live without teasing you about it," she said. They both chuckled at the memory.

"Who's Joe," Ben asked. The whole table became quiet when he did. All of the adults knew about Joe, but the kids didn't. They sometimes heard Chuck and Cloud talking about him, but they were never told who he was.

"Well," Chuck began, "he was Cloud's older brother."

"What do you mean was," Ben asked. Ronin saw Cloud flinch, and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Joe… isn't… alive anymore," Chuck said hesitantly. "Some Boggans made him… not alive anymore." With that Cloud got up and walked out of the house.

"Was it something I said," Ben asked sadly.

"No baby, it's just that this is a very… painful topic for Cloud to talk about," M.K. said gently stroking Ben's hair. After that dinner was eaten in silence, and there were often glances at the door as if they expected Cloud to walk through it at any moment. After dinner M.K. put the kids to bed. Emily waited until her mom turned off the lights, and walked back downstairs to open the window and slip out. There was a place in a tree nearby that Cloud would sometimes go to look at the stars, and Emily was sure that that was where she was. Sure enough there she was.

"Hey kiddo, shouldn't you be in bed," Cloud said half teasingly.

"I wanted to make sure that you were alright," Emily said going over and sitting down besides Cloud.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but thank you for being concerned," Cloud said smiling. Emily smiled back and looked up at the stars.

"Are there any figures up there tonight that you can show me," Emily asked. Cloud laughed and said, "You mean constellations? There sure are. You see those three stars up there in a row?" She looked over at Emily who nodded. "They make up a part of a constellation called Orion, and those three stars are Orion's belt. Now if you look over at that cluster of stars there, that is Orion's bow."

"Orion has a bow, so he is like a Leafman," said Emily excitedly. Cloud laughed.

"Yeah, I guess he is like a Leafman. Anyway, Orion has his bow aimed at a nasty beast called a Minotaur, whose name is Taurus."

"I knew he was a Leafman, because he is protecting people from a nasty beast, just like the Leafmen protect the forest and the Jinn from the Boggans," said Emily with a yawn.

"Right, he's just like a Leafman," said Cloud a bit sarcastically. Emily was now leaning on her trying not to fall asleep. So Cloud scooped her up and carried her back to the house. She slipped in through the window and put the sleeping girl in her bed. She then went back out the window and closed it as she did so. Then she went down to the front door and went inside.

"Hey are you ok," said Max worriedly running up to her.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said. Max pulled her close and hugged her.

"Where on earth were you all this time, and what the heck were you doing," he asked.

"Oh you know, went deep into the forest, punched a tree, then I went stargazing. I would have come back sooner but I like to let all of my anger out on inanimate objects rather than people," she said with a half-smile.

"Well I wish you would have let someone know before you just went off by yourself," said M.K.

"I'm sorry, next time I will let someone know that I'm going deep in the forest to punch a tree because I'm upset," she said teasingly.

"I'm not kidding," said M.K. crossing her arms.

"I know I know, I'm sorry that I made you all worry," she said.

"That's better," said M.K. with a smile.

"Although I have to admit it is fun getting on your nerves sometimes M.K.," Cloud teased.