"I can't leave," Giovanni told the pair with a kind, but sad smile. "I'm too old and sentimental to be leaving Rome for the north. Besides, the two of you will be far too busy with each other and with my grandchildren to be taking care of an old man."

Erik frowned some. "It's all right Master, we'll stay here with you then," the young man promised, looking down to his wife whose brow was furrowed.

Giovanni began to laugh before coughing violently. Now it was Erik's brow that furrowed in concern; that was not a healthy cough. "Go, go. You're both plenty old enough to be on your own," the old man promised them once he caught his breath. "I'll get one of my other daughters to stop in from time to time like they ought to have been doing all along. Poor Gaia, my dear, you've been taking care of me for far too long. I think sometimes you forget that you are my daughter, not my wife," he teased with a smile, and Gaia smiled sadly in return. "You are a wife now though, and you have a husband to take care of. Will you still consider joining the Masonry though, Erik?" The old man asked curiously; the fact he was married tied him to Italy more than Giovanni had thought Erik could be tied anywhere, but he still feared for the boy if something happened and he was forced to travel.

"Of course, Master," Erik promised. "It would be a great honor. I've been studying the histories and everything for months."

The old man nodded, pleased. "I'll see what I can do about having you initiated earlier than January then. It would be best if you two had a place to stay before the winter sets in too firmly. You know how I fret."

Before December had come to a close, Erik was a Freemason and traveling with his wife to Modena, several miles outside of the site of their future home. Erik suddenly called for the carriage driver to stop in the middle of a field, filled with such excitement Gaia couldn't help but be curious in spite of her recent melancholy over abandoning her father. "Erik, what is it?"

"We're here," he told her, and got out of the carriage, moving around to the other side to open Gaia's door a offer her a hand to step down.

"Erik we must be another fifteen or twenty miles outside of the city," she frowned, looking around some. It was when she saw past the carriage to the place Erik had been looking at from his window that she realized what he meant. "…This is the land!"

Gaia looked to the other side of the road, smiling at the sight of a large vineyard and a horribly run down looking brick winery bordering a small forest nearly a mile off the road. "Oh Erik, it's even more beautiful than you drew it!" She gasped. "How much of it is ours?"

"All of it, including the woods and the field across the road from the vineyard. I thought we might put horses over there, and keep growing grapes here," Erik suggested, and Gaia nodded eagerly.

"That's a wonderful idea. I've always wanted horses…" Gaia was met with a kiss by her husband.

"You will have everything you want and more," he promised with a smile. "Are you feeling okay? You've been awfully quiet since we left."

"Just a little under the weather from the travel is all," she promised. "I think I caught Papà's cold. Do you think he's all right?"

"I think he's ecstatic to have the house to himself again," Erik told her confidently. "And I'm sure your sisters will do a fine job caring for him," he added, sensing her unease. "Besides, the doctor is only a few doors down, and they've been having wine more and more frequently to pass the time."

Gaia nodded. "You're right, of course. I'm sure he's fine. I suppose I caught his worry along with his cold," she smiled up to her husband, who met her with a kiss. "You'd better stop that or you'll get sick too."

"I honestly can't remember the last time I was sick, and I can remember every day of my life past early childhood," Gaia's head tipped curiously at that news.

"Really? I wasn't sick often as a girl, this is strange for me. But to never be sick, not even a day?"

"Not even a day, unless you count cracking my head and being shot," Gaia shook her head to indicate that she didn't. "Queer isn't it?"

"Very. Well kiss away then, perhaps I'll catch some of your immunity next," she smiled, moving back to the carriage when Erik opened the door, kissing her as she stopped inside.

When he sat down next to her and urged the driver forward, Gaia rested her head in his lap trying to make the most of the uncomfortable ride. "What makes you think you're getting a cold?" Erik asked her curiously as he stroked her hair. "You sound fine."

"Just a tightness in my chest, and a little light headedness. I suppose it could be nerves and the environment too, couldn't it?" She wondered aloud, and Erik nodded.

"It certainly could be. This is a lot different than you're used to. Maybe it's all the fresh air," he teased some, causing Gaia to smile.

"I'm going to like it here, Erik. I can't wait until it's done!" She exclaimed, turning onto her back to look up at him from his lap. "You're going to make such a name for yourself you'll be able to retire by the time you're thirty, and spend all the time in the world with me. Making wine, drinking wine, making love…" she fantasized with a smile meant only for him.

"A dream come true," he promised, leaning over her to kiss her gently. Gaia managed to fall asleep in her husband's lap in spite of the rough ride. Gaia wasn't the only one of them who had caught her father's worry. While it was only two years ago he had apprenticed under a Gypsy medicine woman, it seemed like an entire lifetime. It was an apprenticeship that had gone unfinished, but still left Erik with a good hunch for when an illness was more than just the common cold… a hunch he felt now. Gaia rarely got sick by her own admittance, but was clearly feeling unwell. She would be better in a few days once they were off the road, he told himself. It was probably just the cold and the dust, and the stress of leaving home. Gaia had never traveled so far in her life, and had never been so far from her father before. Surely it was just stress and dust… or so he told himself.

The apartment in Modena was modest, but lovely enough for a newlywed couple. It came furnished with a large enough bed for all their nightly exertions, and was fully equipped with a moderately sized kitchen, sitting room, and dining room in addition to the bedroom. It was a perfect retreat for the pair of them, safe up on the second floor with a sturdy lock and tight windows.

Gaia slept fitfully that first night, which of course meant Erik didn't sleep at all. At nearly three in the morning she sat bolt upright, drenched in a cold sweat. "Get off!" She shouted tearfully before panicking slightly at the unfamiliar room. Erik sat up and wrapped her in his arms, pulling his wife into his lap where she curled up, shaking slightly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you…"

Erik kissed the top of her head gently but held her firm. "It's fine. Was it Marco?" Gaia shook her head.

"Yes… Erik, I'm not going to have that nightmare forever, am I?" She asked quietly, brow furrowed some before covering her mouth to cough gently.

"It's hard to say." He admitted, unable to lie to her about something so serious. "I hope not. But I'm always going to be here to remind you it's not happening, that it didn't happen." Erik reached over to the bedside table to hand his wife the cup of water he kept there for her in case her cold worsened. Gaia drank deeply, unable to recall water ever tasting so sweet and thirst-quenching.

"Let me change, I'm all sweaty…" she offered, moving to get out of bed but Erik stopped her.

"You need sleep, I don't mind."

"But I don't want to get you –"

Erik silenced his wife with a firm kiss. "I've slept in worse conditions than with a sweaty woman," he promised, teasing her gently as he laid back next to her to hold her tight. "Go to sleep."