When Troy went into the parlor, he wasn't too thrilled about having to spend time with Anah, given her behavior when he arrived. He couldn't blame her for being irritable, but he wished she was a little less irritable. Then again, her mood seemed to swing in only two different directions—irritability and lethargy, with occasional flickers of being normal.

His attitude changed when he thought about Moffitt's own irritability. Troy could tell from the way Anah was laying on the table in the parlor that she had heard every word. He sighed before reaching over to touch Anah's back. She turned to face him, but kept her head on the table.

It would have been easy for Troy to tell her, "Moffitt's just being moody and he'll apologize eventually," or "He didn't mean anything he said," but both of those statements just felt… empty. So, Troy said nothing.

"Did I do something wrong?" Anah asked.

"No," Troy said.

Anah became quiet. "If I am just going to be a burden, I will not make Moffitt choose. I will stay behind when he and Jules go looking for the island."

"You're not a burden. A lot has gone wrong all at once. That's all."

More silence, before Anah asked, "Would it have been easier for me to just… go back to the temple?"

"No, and don't you ever start thinking that."

Neither of them said anything more until after Moffitt left the house. Dietrich came into the parlor, looking first at Anah, then over at Troy before saying, "I am not sure how long Moffitt will be gone, but at least we know he will not run into trouble with the magpies."

"Yeah, there's that," Troy said. He stood up. "I think we should talk alone for a moment."

Dietrich nodded before leading Troy out to the kitchen.

"Outside. Way out of earshot for her."

Dietrich looked a tad confused before opening the front door. They sat in the grass by the walkway, and took advantage of being outside by taking their cigarettes out.

Troy offered his lighter to Dietrich. "I don't think I'll ever understand how you're still so calm and collected about this."

Dietrich shrugged. "I suppose it comes with being in a similar position before."

Troy figured if anyone could understand how Anah was feeling, it was Dietrich. "I'm… a bit concerned about Anah. She said something that I really don't like." He sighed, trying not to dance around the subject. "She asked if things would've been easier if she had just gone back to the temple."

"Easier in terms of what? Did she provide any context?"

"No, but it sounds like… everything. Her injuries. Moffitt. She even said she feels like a burden."

"Moffitt is under a lot of stress. I believe him when he said that if things were different, he would be spending time with Anah." Dietrich exhaled a breath of smoke into the passing breeze. "I did not say this to him when we talked, but I have a feeling there is more to this than just him not wanting to be indecisive. I think he is more afraid of making the wrong decision and feeling guilty for it."

"And that seems to be all he feels. Guilty. Guilty all the time." Troy glanced up at the sky, noticing wide patches of clouds passing through and blocking the sun. "I told Anah on the day she got hurt, I noticed Moffitt's little problem when we first met. I thought something was off about how quick he apologized, but at the time, I dismissed it as him just wanting to take responsibility. And then it happened again. And again. And again. You get the picture. I didn't know what to do."

"I can say from experience that having combat fatigue on top of that does not help."

"No, it doesn't. Not in the slightest." Troy turned to Dietrich. "You've managed to control both your combat fatigue and your depression. How?"

"I would not say I have managed to 'control it.' I have managed to adjust my outlook on life, which has resulted more in… everything having less control over me, I would say."

"I guess that's a better way to put it." Troy thought while continuing to work through his cigarette. "Moffitt needs help. Anah needs help. We have only three days and three nights to do it."

"In Moffitt's case, it will take a lot longer, but I think we will be able to get something started. Hopefully," Dietrich said. He became quiet while thinking and working his cigarette around his mouth. He then took it out. "Moffitt's problems stem from years ago. We know that, but we do not know every little factor. I highly doubt it was one incident. It was likely several things." Dietrich looked at Troy. "Who would know better than anyone what may have happened all those years ago?"

"His parents?"

"Exactly. I think we should pay them a visit."

"Okay. We'll wait for Hitch and Tully to get here, then go."

"We should also think about how to help Vanora."

"Should that be any of our business? I feel like that's something she and Moffitt need to resolve together. That, and I don't know how to help her. I can understand why she doesn't want to get in Jules's way. I wouldn't want to get in Antheia's way. I'm just happy that Antheia's happy." Troy paused, a heavy feeling sinking in his chest. "I don't know, maybe I don't understand because Antheia's… not even mine."

"Why should that make any difference?" Dietrich asked. "You still love her as if she were yours, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you yourself just said that you are happy because your daughter is happy. I do remember the struggles you and Shauna had with getting Antheia adjusted to a new environment, one where she is actually being cared for instead of just being given the bare minimum all the time. How she is now is drastically different. After everything, I can see how the simple thing of just seeing Antheia happy would be enough for you to be happy as well." Dietrich looked over his shoulder in the direction of the backyard, then back to Troy. "Every parent and child's relationship is unique. What Vanora and Jules have is different from you and Antheia."

"That just sounds like all the more reason I can't give Vanora any advice."

"On the contrary, you might have good advice."

"Are you feeling okay? You never think I have good advice."

Dietrich sighed. "You are an outsider to her and Jules's relationship, with your own unique perspectives on life and the world around you. Listen to her and think about what she tells you. Who knows? Maybe you can offer something of value. Moffitt has gone to the university for the same reason, to get someone else's thoughts on his situation."

"Okay. Maybe. I'll think about it." Troy looked at his half-spent cigarette. "I guess we should finish up so we'll be ready to go by the time Hitch and Tully get here."

"Patience, Troy. Nicholas is retired, remember? He is most likely home. Besides, we have a bit of time. Try to enjoy it while we have it."

Troy resisted the urge to just finish his cigarette and go inside. Instead, he tried to take it slower. He had seen Dietrich take his time with just one, while Troy would go through two or three in the same period. It wasn't something he was used to doing, but he gave it a shot anyway, while looking around at the British countryside surrounding them as well.

There was quiet for a few minutes. Dietrich looked very content, while Troy had a feeling he needed to stop thinking about how to take his time and just do it. But, he didn't really know how, and so he kept thinking about it. Eventually, Troy let out a heavy sigh. "See, this is why I won't be able to retire. I'm not going to know what to do with myself."

"I think you will learn in time what it means to truly rest."

"Maybe." Troy drew his knees up, and looked at Dietrich. "Did Anah tell you about what I did while you guys were gone?"

"No." Dietrich gave him a somewhat confused look. "What did you do?"

"How to explain it… I might have summoned a bunch of jackal spirit-things to chase off some magpies that surrounded the house. I don't really know how to describe it. I tried thinking about the psychic orb thing, and then I was in a really dark, empty place. All these jackals came over to me, and one of them asked for a command. At first I thought it was stupid, but then I told them to go get rid of the magpies around the house just to see what would happen. And it worked."

Dietrich nodded as he listened, then remained quiet for a few moments. "After all these years, you finally figure out what your gift is."

"Can we really call it that? It happened by accident."

"Maybe it was an accident, or maybe not. We know you need to quiet your mind to use the psychic orb. Perhaps that was all you needed to access the jackal side of you."

"Maybe. I already told Anah that I want help learning how to control it."

"Color me surprised. I would have thought you would not want this at all."

"If this is what it's going to take to protect Jules when we go deal with the magpies, then I need to learn how to use it properly."

"As far as using it goes, I cannot help you. Quieting you mind, however… I might be able to help you."

"No one can just quiet their mind on command," Troy said. He paused to think, then gave a quizzical look to Dietrich. "Can they?"

"In your case, I think the trick will be less about quieting your mind and more about focusing on one particular act. Blocking out all other distractions so you can interact directly with these jackals. In a way, you already know how to do that. You tend to become so focused on one particular task—your raids on my convoys, for example—that you ignore or forget everything else. Why? Because that was something you cared about, something you were dedicated to completing. The same logic can be applied to communicating with the jackals. You need to care about it, and care about it deeply."

"I'm trying. It still feels—"

"Strange and silly?"

"Yeah."

"And yet you have known Anah and Moffitt for over twenty years now. You have watched their abilities at work."

"Yeah. Watching Anah wasn't nearly as weird as watching Moffitt. I think it was because we all knew from the start that she wasn't normal. With Moffitt… he seemed normal when we met. Something felt off, but he was still mostly normal. Mostly. Then we meet Anah and suddenly we find out that he's immune to all forms of snake venom, can talk to them, and if he gets mad enough, completely control them. Seeing him with wild snakes was really weird at first, and it was something I hoped I never had to deal with."

"Then you find out you are the jackal in my prophecy."

"Yep, and I wanted nothing to do with it, both the jackal and the prophecy."

"No matter how much you tried to run, though, it would always follow. Now, here we are, and you are facing the reality of what you were always meant to have."

"How come this wasn't a thing back when your prophecy was still in play?"

Dietrich shrugged. "I have no idea. However… even if you could not completely access your gift, your connection to jackals still played a role. Remember the one that led us to water, long before either of us knew about the prophecy?"

"Yeah."

"Had we not followed that jackal, we both would have died. The connection was there, and that was all we needed."

"Yeah." Troy noticed that he had finished his cigarette. "I don't know what more to really say or think about when it comes to being the jackal. I've given up on fighting it, but now I don't know what to do next."

"I would suggest talking to Anah. Maybe focusing on this will help while we try to help Moffitt." Dietrich was quiet for a moment. "How about this—I will talk with Moffitt's parents while you talk with Anah."

"Sure, we can do that." Troy went to stand, but noticed Dietrich remaining where he was. "You don't have to wait for Tully and Hitch now. You can go whenever you want."

"Exactly. It is a lovely day. I will go soon, but for now, I am going to enjoy all that is around me. You can go if you wish, though."

Troy stood, but he barely got three steps away when something made him pause. One part of him wondered if it was a good idea to have left Anah alone. His mind was already racing in a manner similar to the period of time after Dietrich's attempted suicide, when he was determined to prevent something like that from happening again. He highly doubted Anah would try to send herself back to Tunisia, but he knew he wouldn't want to be alone if he ever felt like a burden.

Maybe it was best to sit and think, try to come up with something meaningful to say to Anah. Troy sat back down next to Dietrich, and felt the rushing sensation in his head gradually slow down.

Moffitt was glad to see Dr. Millington was in the laboratory that day, but as much as he was hoping to talk to Millington about his problems, Moffitt quickly became distracted by the fact that Millington had a teal clipboard in his hands. That clipboard in particular was reserved for keeping track of snake eggs. "Good morning, Millington," Moffitt said. "Have eggs been laid today?"

"That's what I'm looking for right now," Millington replied. "Nothing yet. Although…" He paused in front of a large tank. "You should've laid yours by now, Purslane."

Purslane was a coastal taipan imported from Australia shortly after the production of taipan antivenom began in the previous decade. Her name came from the red color of her scales, which, according to Millington, resembled the flower of the same name. She was far less temperamental than most members of her species. This would be her first clutch of eggs—if they ever came.

Millington pulled off Purslane's hiding box with a hook. "Did you… No. Damn."

"No eggs?" Moffitt asked.

"None." Millington sighed, looking at the taipan. "You certainly look ready to lay."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Moffitt said. "In my experience, a pregnant lady doesn't like anyone commenting on her appearance. I nearly had my head torn off for that, and all I said was, 'You look nice today, Vanora.' She told me she felt horrid and that I wasn't being helpful by simply telling her that she looked nice. I said, 'Well, what do you want me to say?'" Moffitt shrugged. "She couldn't give me a straight answer."

"As much as I hate doing this, I'd like to make sure Purslane's not retaining the eggs. Could you take her out, please?"

"I can."

Millington watched as Moffitt carefully lifted the snake up and out of her tank. "So, what brings you by the university today? Have you found Jules?"

"We did, thank goodness, and he's alright. We know where we have to go to get the silver sword and the sharpening stone to defeat the magpies. It's a place called the Island of Blue Adders. It's been lost to public knowledge for centuries."

"Island of Blue Adders… sounds quite fascinating. I've seen some very blue adders while looking for them out in the countryside. Not very common, but they are among the prettiest snakes I've ever seen."

Moffitt had most of the lower half of Purslane's body supported on his arm. "We spoke to a group of ravens, and they told us to take a few days to rest before we headed out to find the island. Today is the first of those days, and already it's… not going well. Jules wants to spend time with his girlfriend. Vanora wants to spend time with Jules, but she doesn't want to make him feel like he has to choose between his family and his girlfriend. I'm encountering a similar issue with Anah. Part of me wants to let her come with us on the trip to the island, and another part of me is worried about her reinjuring herself. Troy and Dietrich offered some solutions, but I got so tired of feeling indecisive that I… sort of snapped and said Anah wasn't coming with us, no matter what."

"How long until you go searching for this island?" Millington asked.

"Three days."

"Snakes are difficult when it comes to healing. Some will recover from injuries quite quickly. Others take what feels like forever. Anah is different considering she received a dose of sterilized vampire blood, which should shorten the healing process. How has she been? It's been, what, about a week since she was injured?"

"She was lethargic, as one would expect after surgery, but she's perked up a little since then. Her powers are still a bit weak. She's had to take the painkiller a couple of times. She tries to do things around the house, even though she shouldn't. I've also noticed she's a bit… clingier than usual."

"No one likes to be alone when they're recovering from something that awful."

"No. I do understand that." Moffitt tried not to sink too deep in his own memories. He picked up Purslane's front half and looked her in the eye while connecting with her consciousness. "What can we do to help you?"

"You can tell your friend to stop fussing," Purslane replied. "The eggs will come when they damn well want to."

Moffitt looked at Millington. "She says she wants you to stop fussing and that 'the eggs will come when they damn well want to.'"

"That's a bit rude, but if that's what she wants, I'll stop checking for a couple of days," Millington replied. "Alright, you can put her back."

Moffitt stood to return the taipan to her tank. "I was wondering if perhaps you had some advice on what to do."

"About Anah?"

"About everything."

"Well, I have a feeling that I'm probably not the only person who's told you to relax."

"That's partly why I'm here. As Dietrich put it, 'play with the snakes.' He's right; it does help."

"Go ahead. Take out whoever you want, and let me think for a moment."

Moffitt wandered around the room for a moment before defaulting to Zeresh. He took the spitting cobra out of her tank and set her on a table, letting her explore his hands and arms. She started climbing up his arm to get to his head and shoulders, looping once around his neck before resting her head on top of his.

"I'm not sure there's much I can offer in terms of how to help your wife," Millington said. "It is incredible to think that Jules is nearly grown up now. I still recall the day you came in and told me that you were going to be a father. You were terrified, too."

"I was. I still am, which is strange because everyone always tells me how good of a job I've done with Jules, including you."

"Because you have. You, Vanora, Anah, all your friends from the war. Jules has the best foundation anyone could have ever asked for." Millington opened another tank, and a smile crossed his face. "Well, would you look at that—our smallest Indian cobra laid eggs."

"Which one? Cinnamon?" Moffitt asked.

"Yes."

Moffitt stood from the table with Zeresh still on him, and walked over to the tank where a speckled brown snake was coiled around a pile of eggs. "Good grief, she laid a lot."

"I'm guessing thirty, but we won't know until we take Cinnamon off of them."

Moffitt was gentle with uncoiling the little Indian cobra from her eggs, then helped Millington separate the eggs themselves to place in a small tub for incubation. It was still too early in the cobras' development for him to sense their consciousnesses. Within a couple of months, he would. That was always an exciting moment, getting to feel the first flickers of a baby snake's personality.

"We have twenty-seven good eggs, and three infertile ones," Millington said. "Impressive."

"Yes, especially for someone as small as Cinnamon." Moffitt looked down at the very tired cobra on the table. His thoughts turned to Anah, and his smile faded.

Cinnamon was returned to her tank once it was cleaned, and given a freshly-thawed mouse. Moffitt followed Millington to another part of the lab where other clutches of eggs were being incubated. A label was written out for Cinnamon's eggs before they were set on a shelf alongside other Indian cobra eggs. Millington then turned to Moffitt. "Exciting, isn't it?"

Moffitt nodded. "Always is."

"You don't seem very excited."

"Sorry. I'm thinking about Anah. I… feel like I've been horrible to her. First, there was feeling like I had to choose between her and Jules, now… now this. We don't know what to expect on the island. There could be something that results in Anah getting hurt more, or worse."

"I'm no expert when it comes to magic. All I know is what you're capable of. An island comprised entirely of adders sounds like something you should be able to handle easily."

"It's not the adders I'm worried about. It's whatever the magpies throw at us. They could send another gargoyle or some other creature. Anah's in no condition to defend herself."

Millington was quiet for a moment. "Who all will be going?"

"Myself and Jules."

"Would it make you feel better if someone else came along?"

"I'd like for as few people to be placed in danger as possible."

"I'm volunteering. If something were to happen to Anah, I can stabilize her as best I can before we can get her back here."

Moffitt really wanted to argue against it, but figured having someone like Millington would be better than nothing. "Have you ever shot skeet before?"

"It's been a few years, but I know a place west of Cambridge that offers it."

"Alright. We can go together and practice before we leave."

"That sounds like a plan."

Moffitt noticed Zeresh had fallen asleep on his shoulders. "Is there anything you need done today?"

"Apart from cage-cleaning, not really."

"I can do that if you'd like."

"That would be a big help. Thank you."

"Not a problem. Let me know if you need anything, though." After getting his cleaning supplies, Moffitt was completely alone in the section of the lab that housed their elapids. He took care of Zeresh's tank first since she was already out—naturally, he put her beloved branch back where she liked it.

"You and Millington seem to be the only people capable of doing things the right way," Zeresh said.

Moffitt decided to take that as a compliment, but his mind was mostly elsewhere. He was glad something of a solution for Anah was coming together, but it felt like there were still more problems than solutions.

Jules pulled a large book out from the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases in the parlor. "I think this is it," he said, opening it. Inside the front cover were the words "Baby Pictures," in handwriting that Jules recognized as his mother's. He sat next to Antheia, and held the book open on his lap. "Alright—of course, this first one is from the day I was born."

"You were massive," Antheia said.

"Everyone says that."

"It's true! Holy crap. Aww, look at Anah all curled up with you."

"Dad said she wouldn't stop cooing and making baby talk at me when she saw me. Most of these have her in them. Apparently I tried sucking on the tip of her tail when I was a baby, but she would give me a pacifier instead."

"Doesn't she have a barbed scale or something like that on the end of her tail? That would've hurt."

"She does, so, yes, it's a good thing that she didn't let me do that." Jules turned the page. "There's Dad holding me when I was about a month old."

"You've definitely inherited his smile. Also… you're only a month old here?"

"Yeah. I know. I was not a small baby."

"You were still cute, though."

Jules tried not to blush, and moved on to the next picture. "Here's me hugging Anah."

"Never thought a snake could look so happy."

"Dad once mentioned that Anah had been at her happiest when I was a baby. He thinks it's because she's going to be there for my entire life. I have very vague memories of her being the only one above me, and it was never scary. Maybe it was the sound of her voice, or just the fact that she never seemed threatening."

"Apart from the horses, you never had other animals growing up, did you?"

"No. I think I've mentioned to you before that Dad really dislikes dogs. I remember coming home once from school and saying that all the other boys had dogs, and he said, 'Absolutely not. Dogs are a lot of work, they're malodorous, unhygienic, and would torment Anah.'"

"Sounds like he wouldn't like Mahogany all that much."

"He didn't seem to mind Mahogany when we were at your house getting the shotguns. Who knows? He might just really dislike dogs in particular." Jules turned the page. "My first Christmas. All four of us together." He noticed Antheia's smile fading in the corner of his eye. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just thinking about… how I don't have any pictures apart from ones taken after I was adopted."

"Can I ask you something, if… if it's alright?"

"Sure."

"Was there no one else who could've took you in?"

"I'm not sure. I was too young to remember, but no one did. No grandparents, no aunts or uncles. No one. Either they were gone themselves or something happened to prevent them from having custody. That's okay. I like where I am now. I wouldn't have met you otherwise."

"Yeah. At least you're making new memories now. Better ones, too." Jules glanced down at the photo album. "This doesn't upset you, does it?"

"No. I wanted to see them, after all."

"Alright." Jules was about to explain another picture when he noticed his mother entering the room.

"Good morning, Jules, Antheia." Vanora stood by the coffee table. "Jules, did you eat breakfast at all?"

Jules hadn't even realized he never had breakfast that morning. "Not… yet."

Vanora sighed before pointing to the door. "March yourself right into the kitchen and eat. Right now. It's after nine o'clock. You're not doing this again tomorrow."

"Troy agreed to—"

"Troy's not your father, and he's a bad influence."

"I'm also standing right here," Troy said from out in the kitchen.

Vanora shook her head, and kept pointing at the doorway. "Right now, Jules."

Jules looked at Antheia and shrugged before setting the photo album on the table and standing. He was more confused by his mother than anything, and gave her a somewhat concerned glance as he stood to go in the kitchen. She said nothing to him or Troy as she went past them to go outside, which only made Jules more confused, and a little worried. He turned to Troy as he opened the refrigerator. "Can I say that was odd?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah. Odd."

"What's wrong with her?"

Troy didn't respond at first. He looked down at his coffee mug, then sighed. "It's not my place to say."

Antheia came out of the parlor. "What the hell was that about?"

"Take it easy, Antheia," Troy said. "Don't. Just… let it go, okay?"

Jules didn't say anything to either of them while putting his breakfast together. He missed Anah's cooking, but felt it would be rude to say that, given that Anah was still recovering from her surgery.

It had been strange to see Anah so beat-up when he returned home the previous day. He got a glimpse of how bad her injuries were when he spotted his father changing Anah's bandages in the bathroom last night. First was the awful gash on the left side of her head, then the neater incision on the same side, but further down on her body, a few inches from where her tail began. She wasn't very interested in interacting with anyone, and she had been quiet when she came into Jules' room that night. All she said was that his parents wanted some privacy, so Jules let her stay.

There were pictures of him asleep in his crib with a stuffed animal, and sometimes Anah was in place of the stuffed animal if it was being washed. He had long outgrown toys, but was okay with Anah joining him. She would often sleep in his room whenever he was sick, doing her best to be a reassuring presence. She had no problem with staying up and talking with him if he needed it.

Seeing her so worn out and in such rough shape was strange, and the last thing Jules wanted to do was making things worse, physically or emotionally. So, he said nothing. He was capable of making his own food, though he didn't have much of an appetite. After setting his dish on the table, he looked at Troy. "Do you know where Anah is?"

"Your parents' bedroom," Troy replied.

"Thanks." Jules left his food, and went over to the bedroom door. He opened it slowly and peered inside to see a serpentine shape under his father's bathrobe. He went into the room and lifted the robe to reveal Anah. She recoiled until she saw who had come in. She relaxed and approached Jules, who knelt by the bed and gently touched her head.

"Do you need something, dear?" she asked.

"No, not really. I came to see how you were doing."

"I could be better, but I also could be worse." Anah rested her head on Jules's arm. "You should be out enjoying time with Antheia, dear."

"I will in a moment." Jules kept stroking the snake. "I wish I could help you how you helped me whenever I wasn't feeling well."

"Just being here is enough. That is all I want."

"You'd rather have Dad, though."

"That is true. I would. But, I am not going to refuse help from anyone offering it." Anah pulled herself up to nuzzle Jules's cheek. "You do not have to worry too much about me. I will be alright. Things will get back to the way they should be in time."