Later

Peter caught Timmy as he was wondering up the hall towards his room with a stricken look on his face. "Timmy can I talk to you?" asked Peter kindly.

"Sure," said Timmy and Peter led the way towards the observatory.

Peter sat down in one of the woven chairs and Timmy sat opposite him.

Peter gathered his thought and then spoke, "First off, I want you to know that Maya and I as well as everybody else love you very much and would canvass the neighborhood if you even thought about running away. Just because Maya and me are going to have another baby doesn't mean you and your sister matter any less. Look I know you were worried that we would throw you out, but we won't do that for we love you."

Timmy seemed to consider Peter's words and then nodded sharply once. How Peter had known what he had been thinking about doing he had no idea, but he was glad that Peter had taken the time to sit him down and talk some sense into his skull for he still remembered what it was like to live on the street and he wouldn't go back to it unless there was no other choice.

Besides he had come to love the Scotts and he knew his sister loved them—she was especially close to Peter.

"All right," Timmy finally agreed, not at all reluctantly.

"Good," said Peter, giving Timmy a hug.

~~~Beyond Revenge~~~

A few months later Peter felt almost like there was—trouble in the air—not precisely trouble, but pain and worry. Peter could practically taste it in the back of his throat. He didn't share his feeling with Maya for at this point it was an undefinable feeling nothing more. But trouble was coming or was already here. This he knew with a certainty that practically bordered on the mystical.

Peter was so worried that he confided his fears to Peter Almsley and his friend offered to guard him if he wanted to try and find the source of these worries—for to ignore these worries was a sure path to trouble and even death.

Peter agreed and told Maya that he and Almsley had something to discuss and he'd be home later.

Maya had not been aware of her husband's worry, but also knowing he would tell her when and if he got something solid.

"Ready twin?" asked Almsley, seriously.

"Yes," Peter replied.

Almsley seemed to nod and then raised his hands and started to build a shield. In seconds he was done for he had used the electrical wiring for the energy and wiring carried magical currents just as well if not better than anything else.

"Ready," Almsley told him.

Peter nodded and sat down legs crossed and closed his eyes. In seconds his spirit self or as the Egyptian called it the ka was detached from his body and heading towards were he sensed the trouble to be. In seconds his soul self was hovering over one of the misty streets of London.

The feeling drew him onward and finally he landed at the end of a cul-de-sac and at the beginning of an alley between two houses. He saw a man lying in the alley between the two houses as if in pain. Peter knelt on insubstantial knees in the fog covered street and examined the man who was laying in one of the little spaces between houses at the end of a cal-du-sac. The man was unconscious, but the weird thing was that Peter wasn't completely sure that the man was human. For one thing he had pointed ears and also he was throwing off massive amounts of some kind of magical power that he didn't recognize. It wasn't elemental magic as he knew it; it was—different—but still powerful.

The man finally opened his eyes as if sensing someone else's presence—the eyes were slitted like a cat's Peter noticed—and stared at him as if he could see Peter in his spirit form. He has magic, Peter reminded himself; some people with magic could see the unseen.

"Who are you?" asked the man in heavily accented English wincing in pain as he spoke. The man—or whatever he was had long blond hair and what Peter thought was green eyes that were shaped like a cats, but other than that he looked human, but as Peter well knew looks could be deceiving. As for the accent it sounded faintly Irish, but not modern Irish, more like ancient Irish. He was tall at least six feet—although he might be off by a couple of inches—and he was slender as well.

Peter Scott, said Peter, in thought. For his soul form could not actually speak. I sensed your distress all the way across London.

"Ah," said the man, in understanding. "My name is Keighvin Silverhair. I'm afraid I ran afoul of some trouble and now I am dying and I don't think there is anything you can do."

Were you shot? asked Peter.

"Yes," said Keighvin. "And with Cold Iron no less."

Cold Iron? asked Peter, curiously.

Keighvin studied him. The shadow or soul of the man kneeling over him had a wrinkled face. It was as if he had spent a lot of time on the sea. For seaman tended to have commonality of feature because they spent so much time outside on the deck of a ship in the wind and rain. The only distinguishing feature were a pair of deep blue eyes that seemed to have hints of green reflected in them, and the lines around his mouth and eyes seemed to say that he smiled and laughed a lot.

Keighvin studied him for a moment longer then slowly nodded as if to himself. "I think I can trust you so I will tell you a secret. As I said my name is Keighvin Silverhair and I am what; is known as a Sidhe or elves if you prefer. We live in a place we call Underhill mostly to get away from Cold Iron for it is called the deathmetal by our kind. To us it is as deadly as the deadliest poison to a human. If there is a healer nearby it is possible to save our lives, but I came to London alone and even if the other Sidhe of Underhill knew where I was, most wouldn't come; anywhere near such a big city as London mostly because of all the Cold Iron. Some of us have worked up a kind of resistance to Cold Iron and I am one of those, but unfortunately there are limits and I have just reached mine."

Peter seemed to consider this then said, I know a healer who might be able to help you, but in order to do so I will have to head back to my physical body and get her. We could be back in an hour or so.

"And how do I know I can trust this healer?" asked Keighvin.

Peter took no offense and replied simply with a smile that crinkled the corner of his eyes and mouth and reached all the way to his eyes, Because she is my wife Maya and also what is known as an Earth Master. Earth Magic is natural healing magic if you know anything at all about the four elemental magics. Besides, you have to trust someone sometime.

"True and I will definitely die without her aid," said Keighvin grimacing in pain as he spoke. "All right go get her and I will be awaiting when you return."

Peter seemed to nod then he vanished as if swallowed and appeared hovering over his body. He slowly merged with it and opened his eyes.

"Find the trouble?" asked Almsley as soon as Peter opened his eyes.

"Yes," said Peter. "If you want to come along I'll explain on the way."

"To where?" asked Almsley.

"To my place," said Peter.

Almsley nodded, took down his shields and headed outside to call a cab.

"So?" asked Almsley no more than ten minutes later as soon as they were safely in the cab.

Peter quietly told him what he had found and that they were going to get his wife to help if she could. Almsley was silent for a long minute then quietly quoted that line from Shakespeare, "There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio then are dreamt of in our philosophy."

"Precisely," said Peter. "Just because we've never met an elf or a Sidhe before now doesn't mean they don't exist."

They arrived at Peter's house and Almsley told him that he would wait with the cab while he went and fetched Maya.

"Peter you're home," said a very pregnant Maya, as soon as he unlocked the door.

"Yes," said Peter. "Sorry I'm late, but I need your help with something."

"Of course," said Maya. "What?"

And Peter explained what he had found and that they needed to get to him as soon as possible.

Maya only nodded and didn't ask questions. She simply grabbed her medical bag and followed Peter out the door after informing Gupta that they might be home late and also that they might be bringing home a patient. Of course, it really depended on how hurt he was as to whether or not he was to be brought here to the where she had her surgery. At the surgery Norrey could keep an eye on him for she stayed there now except when Maya needed her for something or she was taking cooking lessons from Gopal. Norrey was still very much a part of their family and always would be just like Lord Peter Almsley would always be a part of it as well. After all Peter called him friend and brother and that was no small thing.

~~~Beyond Revenge~~~

A few minutes later they arrived for Peter had made sure to get street addresses before he left to go back to his physical form. Peter got out of the cab and headed over the other side and helped his wife to the ground. He then disappeared into the fog, Maya and Almsley following.

The man—Sidhe, Peter corrected himself was still lying in the alley between two houses semi-conscious. He was in quite a bit of pain and very weak, but alive.

"Ah so you've returned," said a weak voice. "And this time in solid form I see."

"And with help just like I promised," said Peter. "Meet my wife Maya and this is a very good friend of mine Lord Peter Almsley."

"A pleasure old chap," said Almsley.

"Think you could shield us twin?" asked Peter. "While Maya sees where the bullet is?"

Almsley nodded and turned away. He would have to build shields from scratch for there was no electrical wiring for it to go through. Finally, they were up and he had threaded Maya's "I am not here" spell through it.

Maya kneeled over the weakly moving form, her very pregnant belly sticking out.

"Nice work, Twin," Peter approved, still leaning over the weakly moving form of Keighvin.

"How is he?" Peter asked Maya.

Maya sighed, "He'll be okay I think. I've removed the bullets, but the problem is I don't know much about elven physiology. The good about it is that the physiology seems pretty close to human—except the heart is down here," said Maya pointing to the middle of the chest instead of the left side. "There's some kind of poison in his blood or at least what am assuming is poison."

"You don't know?" asked Peter.

Maya shook her head "Just like his physiology his blood is different. He has different combinations of cells then us. So whatever I do, do is going to take a lot of guesswork."

Maya fell silent again and she and Peter worked as a team to herd what they thought was poison out of the blood although it was mostly Peter the body being ninety percent water—that at least seemed the same.

Keighvin was unconscious by this point. "I think he's well enough to be moved," said Maya, more than half an hour later. "This is really all I can do here. The street is not exactly the cleanest place to be working."

Peter nodded and he and Almsley lifted the tall form between him gently to the awaiting cab.

~~~Beyond Revenge~~~

Hours later Keighvin awoke to find himself in a bed covered in a light sheet. Peter was sitting by his bedside in a chair fast asleep his head leaned back at an angle the told Keighvin that he would probably have a crick in his neck when he awoke

The man known as Peter opened his blue eyes with hints of green to stare into Keighvin's green ones.

"You're awake," said Peter, his voice rough with tiredness.

"Aye," said Keighvin "And I certainly feel better. Whatever your wife did it seems to have done the trick."

"You're still not completely well," Peter warned. "Apparently, even your kind need time to heal."

"Aye; depending on the injury of course some injuries can't be healed in a day even with magic," said Keighvin his Irish accent seeming especially strong.

You're lucky you survived at all," Peter told him. "By the time we got to you, you were very near death. Your people apparently have remarkable recuperating powers."

"Aye, and I owe you and your wife and your friend more then I can ever repay."

Peter shook his head. "You owe us nothing. We're just glad we could help."

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you how come I've never heard of elemental magic before this?" asked Keighvin.

Peter considered his words then slowly spoke. "Elemental Masters tend to keep it very private. For even the most inoffensive of us tend to make enemies. Also, most people wouldn't believe magic exists in any case, but for those that can and will believe we have to be very careful because the careless Elemental Master is very likely a dead one."

"So what exactly is elemental magic?"

"People are generally made up of four equal parts of Earth, Fire, Air and Water. It is when a person has more of one element then another that that person can work magic. I'm water and so is Lord Almsley, but Maya is Earth. Of course each element has its own corresponding creatures. Undines are water, Salamanders are fire, Sylphs are air and Gnomes are earth. We tend to handle a lot of the magical emergencies that come up from time to time and also train apprentices when we find them."

Keighvin seemed to consider this for a long moment. "So all the different elements have different things you can do with that element?"

"Yes," said Peter. "A great example of that is when I was teaching Maya how to build shields. I already had mine in place and when hers finally met mine they didn't blend together seamlessly like they would have if they had both been water or both been earth."

"So you taught Maya how to use her power?" asked Keighvin with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a long story, but because I'm water so I could only teach her the basics. I had to find her another Earth Master to teach her the rest. The only problem with that is that most Earth Master's avoid cities as a rule. They tend to prefer the country. You get some rest we can talk more in the morning."

Peter rose yawning and headed for the door opening and closing it behind him.

"How's he doing?" asked Maya quietly as Peter entered their bedroom.

"Still weak, but conscious and coherent," Peter told her.

"Good," said Maya, closing her eyes again. Peter undressed and lay down beside her almost instantly asleep.

~~~Beyond Revenge~~~

The next morning, Maya and Peter were up at their normal time despite the late night. Maya got dressed and immediately headed to check on her patient.

"Good morning," Maya greeted Keighvin seeing that he was awake. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better lass," Keighvin admitted.

"Well, you've certainly recuperated pretty fast for someone so near death, less then twenty-four hours ago."

"Aye lass," said Keighvin. "Sidhe can heal pretty quickly as I was telling your husband last night depending on the injury. I wanted to thank you for helping me," he added. "Without you, I probably would have died. You and your husband are very rare among the humans I've met. Most humans I've met wouldn't have cared less. If they had found me at all they would have just walked on by."

Maya sighed. "I know, but if there's one thing I've learned after my father was murdered it is to help people, because you'll make more friends that way then enemies and because it is the right thing to do. Besides, my mother always taught me too help people for the sake of the deed itself and for no other reward then that. She had magic like mine. When I was younger, she refused to teach me saying that my magic was of my father's land not hers. My father was English you see. I did not know at the time that she was hiding us from her twin sister who had taken up with Kali Durga the goddess of death and she had already tried to kill both my parents shortly after I was born.

"I moved to England after my father was killed by a kraut—a snake no bigger than this," said Maya, holding her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. "There poison is even more deadly than a cobra's. I knew I was running from something, though I did not know from what. I figured I would be safe among my father's people. In India, I was really considered a nonentity in any case, because I'm only half-caste. No one would teach magic to someone like me because to most Hindus I didn't exist. Gupta, Gopal, Sumi and their four children came with me for they had been my mother's servants as well as her friends. I would have had to lock them in prison to keep them from coming with me into exile. Shortly after I got here after no more than a few months I met Peter..."

Before Keighvin could respond to Maya's story they both heard Peter's gruff voice coming down the hall. Peter appeared in the doorway and looked at his wife and asked, "How is our patient doing this morning?"

Maya smiled, "Fine, he's a lot better than any of us has any right to expect."

Keighvin spoke up and said, "As I said, before that has to do with the way we are made and this is one of the ways we differ from humans."

"Anyway Gupta sent me up here to tell you that breakfast is ready," said Peter. "He rung the gong but apparently you didn't hear it."

Maya nodded and said to Keighvin, "We'll bring you some breakfast. Is there anything you would prefer?"

"Just no chocolate, nothing with caffeine in it," said Keighvin. When they looked at him he explained, "Caffeine is deadly to our folks. It sends us into what we call dreaming and eventually death. Anything else will be fine."

Maya and Peter both nodded walking downstairs together arm in arm.

~~~Beyond Revenge~~~