A snort woke Arie. It was dark in the stable other than the faint glow from the lanterns that hung by the doors. The smell of horse and hay filled her nose and she instantly relaxed into the safety of the smell. SandStorm was still standing between her and the stall entrance. He snorted again warning her that someone was nearby.

"Hey now, none of that. I know you know where she is."

Arie was still so groggy that it couldn't recognize the voice.

"Come on, I know yer smart 'nough to know what I'm sayin. Where is she?"

Your herd mate is here. The one who likes knives.

"Twitchy?"

"Thank Gods kid. I was startin to get worried when I couldn't find ya anywhere in here."

"Sorry, I fell asleep." She yawned wide.

Twitchy forced a chuckle. "Some place to sleep. Ya have yer own guard."

She watched Twitchy in the gloom. He wouldn't meet her eyes for a longer than a second or two. Even in the darkness she could see her mentor was pale and there was a slight tremble to his hands. Something that usually only happened when he was in crowds.

"What's wrong?"

"I spoke with Lord about what I found."

Even in her sleep addled brain she knew exactly what Twitchy was referring to. The fact that Twitchy had gone to the lord before talking to her meant that it was bad. Bad enough that her mentor had wanted to delay telling her as long as possible.

"What did you find?" Already her heart was twisted and her gut seemed to have a lead weight in it.

Twitchy took a deep breath. "Arie this wasn't your fault."

"Spit it out." She snarled at him. The thief didn't look too bothered by her tone.

"There were a handful of people poisoned. They are at the clinic. None of them were as bad as Edith was." He licked his lips. "But this goes way beyond the poison."

"What do you mean?"

"A couple months after the-," he shuffled his feet and dropped his gaze muttering, 'fire' under his breath. This time Arie winced too. He sighed. "Theres an rash of arsons."

"How many?"

"Dozens."

Arie blinked. It was all she could do. Someone had burned dozens of properties to get back at her or even more sickeningly, to help her. Then she looked back at her adoptive father's eyes and her stomach dropped as she read that it was worse than she was even beginning to consider.

"Who died?"

"Arie this wasn't yer fault." He repeated, and he believed that, she could tell. But Arie herself wasn't so certain.

With a resigned sigh Twitchy asked, "You remember Joel?"

Arie stiffened. Yes, she remembered him and his unkind words. His gentle wife, Mary whose fingers could weave the delicate patterns, and their son Nelson who was going to follow his father in his footsteps. Just barely able to walk and already he followed where ever his father went. The child had eyes only for his father.

"There was a fire at the forge. Joel survived."

There was a but, Arie could hear it.

"His wife and son weren't so lucky."

She took a deep breath and still didn't feel like she got any air into her constricted lungs. "Mary and Nelson?" Her mind went instantly to another fire that had taken the lives of children. It was like someone had slipped a serrated knife into her heart.

Twitchy only stared at her. There was more. She could see it in his eyes. There was still so much more. A hole was opening up inside of her and all she wanted to do was scream and rage against her helplessness.

"Who else?" Her voice sounded impossibly quiet and broken even to her own ears.

For a minute it looked like Twitchy might not answer. But then he admitted, "The baker's mill burned."

"Tesh." Another painful twist of the knife to her heart.

"The fishermen who attacked you previously. Their boat burned at sea."

"Keon, Leaf, and Lukin." They had lost their father.

"The spice merchant who wouldn't sell to Anna."

"Geralt." A devote man who gave a coin to one of the slum beggars every other day.

"Kid, stop. This is killin ya." There was actual panic in Twitchy's eyes. She hadn't seen him this unsettled since he had seen her when she had been recovering from her burns.

The knife in her heart twisted again. Her knees wobbled beneath her threatening to send her crashing to the stone floor. Twitchy lurched forward and pulled her out of the stall. She wasn't even sure how he had managed it. All she knew was that he had her crushed against his chest and she was silently weeping. He held her while she sobbed and hiccupped. It wasn't until much later that she realized he was humming an old lullaby that mothers the world over sang to their hurting children. Her tears dried slowly, too slowly.

"We will stop em, kid. I swear it."

"Yeah." Arie sniffed. "Sorry. I know I'm being silly."

There was pained look on Twitchy's face. "You are yer mother's daughter. And I am proud of ya kiddo."

Now it was Arie's turn to chuckle, though hers was a little watery. "I guess."

"No, you are. An' I couldn't be prouder of ya. She'd be proud too."

Arie ducked her head and nodded.

"Come on'. Let's get somethin ta eat. Then you should have a bath." He wrinkled his nose at her and smile quirked at the edge of his lips.

This time he got a true laugh from her. "Are you sayin I smell?"

"Like a sweaty dung covered horse and week-old hay."

Excuse you! SandStorm didn't not appreciate the comment.

"SandStorm is offended."

"As he should be. I can't believe ya forced your smelly self on his proper sensibilities."

This time the stallion whined, unmistakable laughter. Arie glowered at the two of them.

"Har, har."

Twitchy moved so he had one arm over her shoulders and pulled her along. There were no guards by the stable doors, but there were two standing by the gate keeping watch. Neither noticed her or Twitchy go into the castle. Not very secure if they hadn't even noticed the two of them. Her mentor sensed where her thoughts were going.

"The boy, Avery has been keepin an eye on ya. He was on the stable roof."

Arie snorted. "I noticed he had slipped in. He came to speak with me during one of my practices." She tried to control her annoyance with Avery.

Twitchy was watching her intently. "How'd ya feel if he was assigned to be one of yer protectors?"

"I think I'm better with a knife than he is." But thought of Avery following her more than usual rubbed her the wrong way.

"You best most regular folk with a knife kid. Has he made ya feel uncomfortable?" There was censure to the thief's voice that made Arie very sure that her next words could get Avery on the wrong side of a blade.

"Nothing like that. But he's pushy and I wanna snap at him to back off. I'm not broken any more." She felt Twitchy flinch at the reminder of what happened to her. "Sorry."

"It's o'k. But you could live with em as a guard?"

She about shrug and agree until she really thought about her mentor's words. One of her guards. "Who all are planning to saddle me with?"

Now the thief chuckled. "The knights Nealon and Kel. And the standard-bearer, Lerant." When he said the last name Arie could feel Twitchy's intense gaze. She could also feel the rush of warmth to her cheeks which she knew the scones in the hall would light up like a beacon for Twitchy.

"You do like em, don't ya?"

"So what if I do?"

Twitchy looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not going to hurt em."

Now she raised her eyebrow at him.

"Well, not badly."

Arie growled at him and he laughed outright.

"I saw the charm you gave em."

There was no denying the blush that painted Arie's face from her crown all the way down her neck. She looked at the ground. If anything, she should have been surprised her mentor hadn't noticed sooner. "So?"

"You've never taken an interest. Not with men nor women. Not even yer smiling friend who's been yer shadow fer years. Thought he'd wear ya down. Do ya see yourself in em, the standard-bearer?"

Arie considered her mentor's question seriously. "No," she told him as they turned another corner. "I think when he looks at me, it's just me. Not my magic, not my mother, not my past or my hurts. Just me. And he likes it. All of it."

Twitchy nodded and pushed open the door to the kitchen. A couple of maids were banking the fires and cleaning, but they paid the two of them no mind as they bustled about their work. Twitchy snatched a few small of meat pies before the cook could clean them. He handed two to Arie and kept one for him. She bit into the crust and was surprised that the center was still warm. The savory juices started to drip down her chin and she was forced to lick and slurp up the gravy before it could splatter her and her clothes. Beside her Twitchy was stifling a chuckle in his own meat pie.

"Very lady-like," he snickered.

She gave him a very rude gesture around her food. And was rewarded when he choked mid laugh. Twitchy coughed a few times. One of the cooks looked at him sternly.

"It's rude to speak with food in your mouth."

Twitchy had the grace to look sheepish and properly cowed.

Arie noticed that the other maids seemed to have taken notice of them. Two of the younger girls were whispering in hushed tones and glancing at her. There wasn't the usual suspicion in the way they conversed. The older of the two; a dark-haired woman with dark brown eyes that seemed familiar, came up to her.

"Umm, excuse me, are you Arie?"

Arie stiffened, unsure of where this was going. She had the fight the urge to look at Twitchy for support. "Uh, yes. Why?" She tired not to wince when she asked why.

The woman's face transformed into a beautiful smile, which was a first for Arie. "I'm Yasmine. Nadia's sister. I wanted to thank you for stepping in for my sister. She said you flew to her side when she was scared and saved her."

Relief nearly cracked open Arie's chest. Something good had come from this wretched day. She hadn't wanted to search out the servant girl on the off chance someone would think to punish her for what happened with her mistress. Then Arie had completely forgotten about Nadia.

"She's okay?"

Yasmine nodded. "She was shook up at first, but think she is much better. Especially now that the Lady is on the mend." Then she tucked a small cloth bag into Arie's pocket. "I put a little charm on the soap. It should bring you a little good luck and kinder dreams." Before Arie could say anything, Yasmine turned back to her companion and both of them fled the kitchen back to their work.

"If those girls bother you send em away. They like to chat." The cook who had chastised Twitchy earlier was watching them. She paused then added. "Though her soaps are little wonders. Yasmine doesn't usually give them up for free."

Arie nodded and fingered the pouch with her clean hand. "I'll use it wisely." She thought about what Twitchy had said about her smelling. After such a dung pile of day, some good luck might not be so bad. Especially if she could avoid the nightmares that were certain to come. Her and Twitchy finished their dinner in relative quiet after that.

He escorted Arie back up to her room. She couldn't even summon the energy to protest her need of an escort. They made it to her room without meeting anyone along the way. A small mercy. It wasn't until Arie was safely back in her room that she was startled. Jess squealed her name and all but tackled her.

"Where's ya go?"

Arie patted the girl's head. "I'm sorry. Someone needed my help."

"Neal was here." Kel was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her calm face had her emotions tucked away, but Arie could feel exhaustion coming off of her. "We had a long chat, but there were some things that he wasn't willing to say."

"I appreciate that." Arie waddled over to her bed, all she could manage with Jess still clinging to her. She sat down on her bed facing the lady knight. "Where to begin?"

Kel shrugged. Saint like patience had been a blessing to this knight. "Where ever you want."

Arie sighed. She started with her mother. She explained her relationship with Lord Imrah, though she couldn't really fill in the details of why her mother left. Arie kept her suspicions to herself. Then she gave the general gist of her life growing up in the port. Once she got to her mother's death, she tried to gloss over it. Arie had spent too much time dwelling on her mother anyway. Kel allowed it without comment, which Arie was grateful for. But then they came to the night of her attack. Arie stuttered through the account of it while trying so desperately hard not to look to closely at the memories. She took a few moments to collect herself before continuing to explain what she had found with Edith, what she had suspected. Then she explained what Twitchy had told her. All through out her story Kel remained smoothed faced and asked no questions. The knight seemed to realize that Arie couldn't do more than a surface level look at everything that had happened to her at the moment. But once she was done the knight nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

She nodded again. "Well, I volunteered to work a clinic during war, and I'm certainly not do anything useful here. So, I think I definitely want to go with you know."

"But you don't have the Gift."

She shrugged. "I can do other things. Empty bedpans, carry things, clean sheets. I hear it's hectic there anyone. I doubt you guys will turn down help." She watched Arie's face. "I was part of the King's Own for a while. There was a lot of cleaning involved."

A smile quirked up Arie's lips. "I'm sure of that."