The Templar Assassin didn't finish placing the traps on that day. She had to cover a relatively big stretch of the swamp around the house and that took some time. So the two women would head home for the night and the Assassin would resume her task on the next day.

The Crystal Maiden, standing in front of her, a bright smile on her face, looked up at the expressionless Assassin. "I invited Jayne. She said she has never seen snow before."

A soft sigh. "I suspected as much."

"Can we take them today?"

The Templar Assassin glanced at Rikimaru. Then she sighed again. It was only normal that she didn't want to have an assassin in her home but he on the other side wouldn't let his girl go alone with them.

Only a few minutes later they appeared inside a castle that seemed to be made of glass. Or ice. Since it was extremely cold, it was probably the latter. The Templar Assassin, maybe due to her powers, and the Crystal Maiden, since she was the Queen of Ice, didn't freeze, but his girl immediately began to shiver and Rikimaru thought he would, too, sooner or later. But his hosts had clothes nearby, pants, shirts, coats, capes, caps, gloves, even boots. Within minutes they were completely covered with cloth and cosy warm.

"We have a few rooms that are actually heated, since we get visitors relatively often and most of them would freeze all the time otherwise." The Maiden smiled at Jayne. "I'll show you your room first, then I can give you a guide through the castle. I think it is too late to really go outside now, since it'll be dark in a few minutes. We can look from one of the towers, when the sky is clear, the stars and the moon can make the snow glitter, it's really pretty. And tomorrow we can hike through the landscape." She was grinning now. "I have a few games we can play. I'm sure you'll like them."

The castle was really big. Servants were walking around, all smiling when they passed the Maiden.

His girl was totally in awe, she had never seen such a big building and since she had never seen ice, too, it was doubly awesome for her. Not that Rikimaru wasn't impressed, he just tried to hide it a little while he admired everything. The Queen of Ice had created a fine palace for herself. While she showed them around she talked with Jayne the whole time, explaining something here, telling a story about another thing there.

The two assassins trailed behind and suddenly Rikimaru had to smile at the picture they posed. The blond woman and his girl, chatting, while the two assassins followed, not saying a single word. He looked at the Templar Assassin. She seemed changed since the last time he had seen her. Still reserved but not in a talk-to-me-and-I'll-kill-you way. "How long have you been living here?" She blinked, the only sign she was astonished about him talking to her. "A few years."

Rikimaru thought that was the end of the conversation and a few years ago it probably would have been. But after a small pause she continued. "Rylai feels comfortable here and it is big enough to have guests and since I don't really care where we live we stayed here. Of course I made the place more secure than it has been since then."

The Stealth Assassin looked at the Queen of Ice. She said something to Jayne and when his girl laughed, she did, too. "They get along pretty well."

And then something strange happened. The Templar Assassin smiled, her eyes full of warmth as she looked at the Crystal Maiden. It transformed her from an assassin into a normal woman. Rikimaru wondered if it was the same when he smiled at Jayne. "She gets along with everyone. But she really likes Jayne."

"How do you know?" Of course it looked as if she liked his girl but when she got along with everyone he didn't know where the difference would be between getting along and really liking someone.

She shrugged. "I feel it."

That was amazing. First that she admitted that she knew what the blond woman was feeling, which spoke of a deep connection between them, and second that their connection made something like that possible.

They didn't go back to the swamp on the next day, or the day after. The Crystal Maiden asked Jayne to stay for a few days and the girl agreed immediately. Rikimaru still felt uneasy about letting her alone so he stayed, too. On the third day the Templar Assassin left, though, to put all traps around the house in the swamp. She didn't look overly happy to leave the Maiden but the woman just smiled at her and kissed her lightly on the lips before the Assassin went into town to fly to the swamp.

It was a high level of trust towards him and Rikimaru appreciated it. And since he was a little bored in the ice palace, Jayne and Rylai talking and having fun together with him watching them, he decided maybe it was okay to leave her for a while here. And so he ported to the inn.

About two hours later he realized that, for the first time since he had his girl back, he wasn't the least worried about her. He had left her with someone he barely knew, in a place that wasn't his, but he was relaxed nonetheless. As if he knew that the Crystal Maiden would never hurt his girl and that her palace was probably one of the safest places existing.

Smiling, he went for his business. And when he returned, later than usual but more relaxed than he had been for he didn't know how long, his girl was waiting for him, looking tired but unbelievably happy. She hugged him, kissed him, petted him and then told him all she had done the day. She talked and talked, a lightness to her that had been missing since he had rescued her. Seeing her like that was the first step for the Assassin to realize that he shouldn't put her back in the house in the swamp alone. Though she had been living alone her whole life, it seemed it wasn't what his girl wanted or needed now.

And when he woke on the next day, hearing her singing again, he knew that he couldn't put her back into the solitude she had been living in. He opened his eyes and saw her standing near one of the huge windows in the room, looking at the snow outside of the palace, a smile on her lips while she sang a song he had never heard before. It was a song about happiness.

Of course she had been happy before but he suspected it had simply been because she didn't know how different her life could be. In this place, she bloomed. She was even more beautiful than before, so full of life and joy.

Rikimaru realized he had to change something in their relationship now. He would talk to the Crystal Maiden and ask her if Jayne could stay. He would try to negotiate the longest period of time the Queen of Ice would be willing to let her occupy a room. He didn't really know where he fit in in this scenario, but while he looked at his girl he thought that it wasn't what was important.

His own needs and wishes would come only after his girl had everything she wanted and needed to be happy. She would come first, always, and everything else could be worked out.

So when he stood up and stepped behind his girl, hugging her tight, her back pressed against his front, he felt a little bit sad. He didn't really know why but it could be because he hadn't been able to make her that happy and because he didn't know if he would be allowed to stay, even if Jayne was. He shouldn't have been worried, though.

Of course the Crystal Maiden didn't have to be negotiated with. And of course it was no problem for Jayne to stay, as it was no problem for Rikimaru to stay. The Queen of Ice even seemed happy that she had someone with her now, someone who would be with her all the times the Templar Assassin wasn't.

Then the blond woman stormed from the room because she wanted to get suitable quarters for his girl and him when they stayed for an unlimited period of time.

Jayne turned towards Rikimaru, her smile so bright, her whole body radiating pure joy. "Thank you, thank you so much for asking her to let me stay. I would have never thought to ask something like that." Then she hugged him. "I love you so much, and you and I will have so much fun here. And I will have someone for the hours when you are gone and it will all be so much better!"

The Stealth Assassin just had to laugh. "Damn, you are cute." He kissed her on the top of her head. "You want me to stay here with you?" The question sounded light but he thought his whole heart hang on her answer. And he had to ask, because she seemed to be happy enough without him here.

His girl looked up at him, her eyes wide. "What's that for a silly question? Riki, I don't ever want to be without you! If you don't want to stay here, I don't want to stay, either. Is that it? Now that you know I'm safe you will leave me again?" Now she looked hurt. Did she think he wanted to get rid of her like that?

"What?" Rikimaru was stunned. "Jayne, no! The only thing that matters to me is your happiness. You want me to stay, I'll stay. But if you want me to go, I'll go. I just don't want to hang around when you don't need me or want me because you are happy here without me. And the last days you were fine being with the Crystal Maiden. You didn't seem to need me."

She shook her head. "Yes, I am happy here. But I wouldn't be when I didn't know that you were coming to me every day. From the first time you left a present for me, I have been only living for the next time you would be there. Sometimes I thought I could feel you watching me and after the creepiness of it had vanished, I kind of liked it, felt safe and protected by you. When I was with the undead, I never stopped hoping you would get me. And afterwards you were what kept me alive, you where the one who brought me back, who made it possible for me to be like I was before. And now? I want to tell you what I did all day and I want to have fun with you, laugh with you and love you. I want to cuddle with you the whole night and wake up next to you each morning. I need you just as I needed you throughout all those years before. I definitely don't want you to leave." Her voice was very soft now. "But, what is it you want?"

This question was easy to answer. "I want to stay with you, be with you, forever. And I don't care where we are, as long as you like it and are safe. Everything else doesn't matter."

Her smile was everything he could have hoped for. "Then stay with me. I love you, Riki."

"And I love you, Jayne."