A/N: My apologies for the delay. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

The Sylvari ended up sleeping for most of the day and the next night, exhausted as they were from the trip and the unfamiliar temperatures. When finally the new morning dawned, Caithe woke with the chirping of the few birds that lived in this harsh climate.

She climbed out of bed, careful not to rouse her partner, and sat at the windowsill. She gazed outside, where the snow was slowly being illuminated by the rising sun. It was still grey, but soon it would shine white again. The sky overhead was clearer than it had been in days. Small ice crystals had formed at the corners of the window, and Caithe felt the cold creeping in, even through the glass.

She folded her hands around her knees and rested her chin on them. The events of the last days had dulled the memories of the fight she'd had with Faolain. Yet now she had time to think about it, Caithe noticed that it stung her.

She chewed her cheek in thought, as she relived the last moments of the suffering minotaur. Faolain pulling her back, that coldness in her eyes, that had not been there before. Ventari's tablet.

The Tablet had always held unconditional truths to Caithe. To think that it wasn't, that it need not be that, scared her. She caught herself fearing that Faolain might use it against her again, and scolded herself for it.

It must have been the cold, the journey, the-

'You are awake,' came a soft voice from the bed. Faolain sat up, yawning, setting her back against the big pillows. Caithe looked up slowly, her gaze lingering on Faolain. Then she nodded.

'What troubles you?' Faolain read her effortlessly. The shiver that it caused to run up Caithe's spine only added to her feeling of guilt. She closed her eyes, sighed, then got up and sat on her knees on the bed, across from Faolain.

'I must know,' Caithe stated, drawing the attention of her partner. Their eyes met for a moment, then Caithe continued.

'Faolain, do you or do you not follow Ventari's Tablet?' Her eyes bore into Faolain's. For a moment, they were interlocked in a stare, fierce from Caithe's side, calculating from the other's. Then Faolain looked away, shaking her head lightly.

'I do, Caithe,' she took a small moment to breathe, 'but sometimes I cannot help but wonder. Yes, Ventari's Tablet is one way, but there are more to consider,' she gestured lightly with one hand, 'like the ways of the humans or the Norn, for example. I'm not saying we should adopt their ideology, but is it wrong to be interested in them?' Caithe pondered that for a moment.

'It feels wrong to me,' she said, finally, 'because our way of thinking is such a large part of who we are. As a people.' Faolain seemed displeased at this answer. Slowly Caithe continued her sentence. 'But I guess..we can study them. Even though I'm sure the Pale Tree has treasured the Tablet for a reason.' Faolain laid back in her pillows.

'One may hope. But I don't trust anyone blindly if not you, Caithe,' Caithe raised her eyebrows at this, 'and the Pale Tree is rooted in the Grove. We are here, we are exploring this vast world before us. Maybe the Tablet does not apply to every situation everywhere. And if that is so, we need to be prepared.'

'It will, if you just want it to,' Caithe retorted, slightly offended. After a short moment, Faolain got up from the bed and threw on her dress over her head. Then she turned her back with the opened bodice towards Caithe.

'Be a dear and lace me up, would you?' she asked, her voice velvety and seductive once more. Caithe complied, pulling the fine laces tight and knotting them neatly.

They did not speak of the matter again.

.

Caithe and Faolain were about to leave the inn when a deep, feminine voice halted them.

'Going out, darlings?' The Sylvari looked over their shoulders to see the innkeeper, bent over one of the wooden tables, cleaning it roughly with a very worn rag. Caithe nodded excitedly.

'We are going to see the city, and outside,' she answered, one hand still on the door. The innkeeper laughed.

'Like that?' Caithe and Faolain looked at each other, a little confused.

'Yes?' Faolain tried, carefully. The innkeeper laughed again and put down her filthy rag. She gestured them to follow her, and they went into one of the backrooms, normally off-limits for guests.

'I thought so. I made you two something, because you are a great attraction. Even when you're not downstairs I get double my normal customers. So take it, it's a gift.' She produced a thick hide stack from a cabinet. She split it and handed each Sylvari one half. On further inspection, they happened to be thick wolfskin mantles, with the water-resistant hide on the outside, and the warm fur as lining. The capes had hoods and draped perfectly over the Sylvari's shoulders.

'They are children's size, but they fit you better than I thought,' the Norn smiled warmly. Faolain's eyes glistened, and even Caithe was impressed with the neatness of the stitching and the quality of the workmanship put into these mantles.

'Thank you so much,' cried Faolain, Caithe falling into much the same. The Norn wouldn't have any of it.

'Don't thank me. I should be thankful- the longer you two don't freeze out there, the more customers I get. Now, off with you, I have plenty to do.' The Sylvari kept thanking her until she forcefully ushered them out the door. The mantles kept them a lot warmer, and Caithe felt excited to be out here, adventuring again. Faolain ran a few steps into the snow, playfully twirling around, her cape dancing around her.

Caithe smiled, and grabbed her hand as they climbed the hill towards the city centre.

.

The Centre of Hoelbrak was huge. It was like a giant boulevard made of wood, suspended on the steep hill. Large banners of cloth covered parts of the boulevard against snow and cold, and in the middle two huge stairs led up to another floor. If you walked between the stairs towards the back of the boulevard, you could see an immensely tall double door, easily three Norn high, which formed the entrance to the Great Lodge. Caithe and Faolain stood at the side edge of the boulevard, staring wide eyed at the sheer size of it all.

As they began walking over the boulevard, looking at the many craft stations settled there and checking out the merchandiser's wares, they constantly had to dodge the towering Norn in fear of getting trampled. It was more than once that they got shoved out of the way with an offhand grunt, or almost squashed between the hordes of Norn. The Norn simply didn't seem to notice them.

Caithe wore her hood against the cold, and so somehow understood the Norn mistaking her for a child, as they could not see her face. It made the situation no less unpleasant though. Caithe pulled Faolain away from the stands to relative safety. She felt Faolain was annoyed, as well. They continued walking, looking at the stalls from a distance now.

In the corner of her eye Caithe saw the faint glittering of metal. As she turned to look at it, Hoelbrak was made of wood, not metal, she noticed it was jewelry of some sorts, lying at one of the support beams a few metres away. It caught the rays of the sun and reflected it in shining blue and purple. Caithe walked towards it and picked it up, weighing the trinket in the palm of her hand. It was heavier than she'd expected.

As she opened her hand to look at it, she found it to be a small golden locket, delicately ornamented. She tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Suddenly Faolain took it from Caithe and looked at the locket up close.

'Where did you get this?' She asked, pleasantly intrigued by the fine piece of jewelry.

'I found it, right there,' Caithe answered, not sure if she wanted to take the locket back from Faolain. She reached out to grab it, but Faolain moved out of the way.

'One moment. I want to look at it,' she mumbled, and Caithe crossed her arms affrontedly. Frankly, she wanted it back. Then a noise shifted her thoughts away from the locket and she looked over her shoulder to see what had startled her. On the unsheltered balcony of the boulevard two Norn men stood facing each other, each one shouting, slamming his fists against his chest and shoving the other. A noisy crowd quickly gathered on either side of the brawler, cheering them on and throwing oil on their fires of rage.

Faolain was holding the pendant up to the light now, murmuring to herself, her back turned towards the fight. Caithe kept an eye on the brawl behind them, dangerously close now. The men had charged at each other and with a few well-placed blows they were both spitting blood. Neither seemed to find that discouraging, to Caithe's surprise. They attacked each other with even more ferocious enthusiasm than before.

Then Faolain placed the pendant back in the palm of her hand, tapped it once, and it clicked open. It was empty. She looked disappointed.

'Nothing... Sometimes these contain a spell of some sorts-'

Caithe interrupted her by grabbing her lover's shoulder, trying to get Faolain's attention without taking her eyes off the brawl. She wanted to get out of here.

'Faolain, we have to go-' Faolain turned and opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by her own gasp as Caithe suddenly pulled her to the side. One of the fighting Norn was slammed towards them, flying several metres through the air and landing next to the Sylvari. They scrambled backwards, astonished by the sight of the bleeding Norn still trying to stand up after being kicked across the boulevard. Caithe looked at Faolain's face, who was staring with dropped jaw at the fallen Norn, and grinned. She had not even noticed the brawl taking place.

'Do they do this more often?' Faolain asked, softly, her tone exasperated. The Norn had completely regained his footing now and shouted drunkenly at his opponent, before charging in again and getting hit in the stomach. The sound he made sounded nothing short of alien.

'Apparently,' Caithe grinned, 'and that man could have bodyslammed you if it were not for me.'

'I can always count on you, thankfully,' Faolain smiled, then handed Caithe back the locket. 'Here, you can have it back.' Caithe looked at it once, then feigned a pout.

'You got it open? Ah, thorns. I wanted to see what was inside,' Caithe contemplated throwing the locket back on the ground, but then placed it back in Faolain's hand.

'You get rid of it.' The Norns had attacked each other again, still cheered on by a quickly growing audience. The cheers of names almost drowned out the sounds of battle. Caithe sat up and tried to see what was happening trough the mass of people, and didn't notice Faolain quietly slipping the locket into the bodice of her dress.

The bellowing voice of a woman suddenly pierced the noise of the Norn crowd. 'Are you all mad? Fighting at the Traders' Common? Have you no honour? Take this duel outside!'

'Let's get out of here, before they get mad at us too,' Caithe said, and Faolain nodded. They tried to get up and run inconspicuously, away from the fight, towards the entrance of the Great Lodge. Before they entered the large double doors that led inside, Caithe looked back, a quick glance, just once. A Norn woman had split the two brawlers up, holding them from attacking each other again with her outstretched arms. Her hair, in a long braid sweeping behind her, was blazing red, like fire. At her heels a dark wolf, as tall as the Sylvari, growled at whoever dared approach her.

Caithe held her breath for a moment as she gazed at her, then turned and followed Faolain inside. The door slammed behind them, the vibrations still noticeable for several seconds after.

.

The Great Lodge was relatively quiet, even though it was crowded. Norn sat, grouped together, speaking with hushed voices. On the upper floors Norn could find rest from their endless hunt. On the lowest floor, straight across from the doors, a giant crystal stood mounted to a pedestal. Caithe recognized it as the tooth of Jormag, that one of the ancient Norn heroes smacked from the Dragon's beak itself. Knut and Ron had told her all about it.

Faolain slowly lowered her hood and looked around. The great wooden hall stretched out like a giant cave. They walked in, settling themselves at one of the tables.

Caithe sighed, a little tired from all the commotion. She felt Faolain's hand on hers on the table.

'The world truly is,' Caithe hesitated, 'fascinating. But very tiresome at times.' Faolain smiled at her.

'It's worth the effort, in the end.'

'Do you think it will be?' Caithe asked, more because she wanted hear what Faolain would answer, than out of insecurity. Faolain gave her hand a short, loving squeeze.

'Every day shapes us more into what we were meant to be. We follow a path, with nothing but a cryptic Dream to guide us.' She thought for a moment. 'And more than that, we have each other.' Caithe looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Faolain averted her gaze, idly tracing the many marks and damages in the wooden table.

'If you think about what makes us unique,' she then mused, 'then a large part of what makes me, is you. I differ from our brothers and sisters through my love for you.' She looked up and gently stroked Caithe's cheek. 'And so do you differ from them through your love for me.' Caithe smiled, grasping the hand on her cheek softly, so that they now held both hands.

'Our Dream also shapes us, from the very beginning. You can't discard that as unimportant.' She grinned. Faolain chuckled in response.

'Importance is just a matter of perspective,' she said. Her words lingered for a moment.

'Faolain,' Caithe said, her voice low, almost a whisper, 'what exactly did you dream?' Faolain opened her mouth to answer, hesitated, then closed it again. Caithe reassuringly held her hands tighter, trying to urge her on.

'I'm not sure where to start,' Faolain said, averting her gaze, only fueling Caithe's curiosity. Caithe nodded, then decided to help her.

'I'll start, then. In my dream, I.. I battled a great evil.' Caithe looked at Faolain, and was pleased to see the other met her gaze, and listened. 'An Elder Dragon.' Faolain's eyes widened for a moment.

'By yourself?'

'Yes.' Caithe said. 'That would never work, though. But I must fight it.' After a short silence, she added, 'Somehow.'

Faolain smiled at her. 'I will be by your side.' Caithe smiled back.

'Tell me about your Dream, Faolain.' Caithe asked, and Faolain nodded.

'I sought,' she began, voice soft, 'I sought for-'

A gnarly, high-pitched male voice interrupted them.

'Why, my ladies.' Both Sylvari looked up to see who stood at their table. Big, yellow eyes looked back at them.

'What an exquisite coincidence to meet you again here!' Gixx said.

.

Not much later Gixx had pulled up a chair and settled himself with them. His tormented human companion still did everything he asked, and later turned out to be his pupil. Apparently being a servant was part of the learning process. Caithe decided not to question it, for politeness sake.

'So, how did you ladies end up in Hoelbrak?' He asked them, taking a small sip of his drink.

'We travelled with Minister Whitebear and his friend,' Caithe answered, 'but we arrived only a few days ago. We met some ...distractions, along the way.' Faolain just sat with her hands folded neatly on the table, listening to the conversation going on.

'Ah! You went by foot? That must have been quite the trip!'

'Yes, it was great!' Caithe smiled. Gixx raised his eyebrows at her.

'You could have just gone by gate, though. Have you ever travelled though the asura gates?' When both Sylvari shook their heads, a smile appeared on Gixx face as he started to explain.

'Well, the gates are an asura invention. Basically what we do is just change the influx of particles on both sides to warp the fabric of space and time, to make an interdimensional gate, which means one can travel thousands of miles within a single step.'

'Sounds logical.' Caithe answered. 'I would love to see that!' Gixx stared at her for a moment.

'I've never met a non-asura that understood the workings of the gates before,' he said slowly, trying if she was jesting him or not.

'Oh, I'm not sure if I know what all these things are,' Caithe smiled, 'but the way you explained it, sounded like it made sense.'

'It does.' Gixx sniffed.

'Well, then I understand.' Caithe concluded. Faolain chuckled behind her hand, then straightened out her face again into her polite smile.

'So, magister Gixx,' she began, 'you are from Rata Sum, correct?'

'That is indeed correct, miss.'

'Is there a gate to Rata Sum? I would love to see your hometown, and if we can travel by gate, we'll have two interesting experiences at once,' she smiled lightly, her tone friendly, but somehow it had a very slight undertone, in which it became clear that she would not like a negative answer. Gixx stroked his chin in thought.

'There is indeed a gate to Rata Sum. We'd have to go via Lion's Arch, hmm,' he thought for a moment, then smiled. 'Well. It just so happens that I need to return to Rata Sum as well, so if you'd let me, I'd gladly show you around. I just need to finish my business here first, for the Durmand Priory,' he nodded, more to himself than to them. Caithe clapped her hands.

'We would very much appreciate that, magister!'

'What business for the Durmand Priory, if I may ask?' Faolain added sweetly. Gixx smirked, and shook his head.

'I'm afraid that information is confidential, miss,' he said, with a slight air of arrogance. Caithe could have sworn she saw Faolain frown the slightest bit, but she recovered in an instant.

'I understand,' she said, then raised her hand to look at her nails. Gixx snickered, then turned to Caithe again.

'Shall we say, we travel in a day's time? It should be plenty of time for me, and then you ladies have time to get packed and finish anything else you still wanted to do?' Caithe glanced at Faolain, who nodded with a smile, and then she turned to Gixx.

'Tomorrow sounds perfect to me.'

'It's a deal then.' Gixx nudged his quiet human companion, who quickly rummaged around in his pockets and gave Gixx a pen and a small notebook. He scribbled down 'R.S.; 24 hours', then greeted the Sylvari politely, and took his leave. Caithe watched him go, wobbling quickly on his little legs.

Faolain sighed contentedly.

'It'll be a nice change from the cold,' she said, stroking Caithe's hand.

'I don't mind the cold so much,' Caithe answered with a smile. Faolain idly plucked at the seam of her wolfskin mantle.

'I guess not,' she mused, 'and I will miss wearing these..' Caithe chuckled at that.

'You really have taken a liking to clothing,' she said, teasingly. Faolain looked away. Caithe could have sworn she was blushing.

.

Gixx frowned, deep in thought as he walked away. In a day's time he'd return to Rata Sum. Now that the ladies would travel with him, he'd need to confront Kudu immediately. He'd sent him letters quite often, but all had gone unanswered. It only deepened his suspicions.

If Kudu had indeed acquired an unfortunate relative of them, it could have grave consequences. Gixx did not know how many Sylvari there were, where they had come from, how they came to be. He would find answers to all this in due time. But Kudu... Kudu might have gone too far with his curiosity already. If anything, it could escalate and lead to war.

How would the Sylvari react if Kudu had killed one of their race? Would they just replace the fallen one? Would they want revenge? He shook his head.

This was all speculation, of course. Perhaps Kudu had indeed acquired some mutated Jungle Wurm and gotten himself killed by now. It would be his own fault for taking on things that were too big for him.

Gixx grinned at the thought, yet in the back of his mind, he felt uneasy. He beckoned his human companion and walked towards his guestroom, where he had his notes. He'd have a lot to think about tonight.