The Woodward Academy, Year 8

Chapter 7: December

"What the hell is this?" Vivian whispered in awed wonder and confusion.

Before the troop was a large clearing, at least two thousand feet across.  In the very center of the clearing stood a small building.  It had a window on only one side, and was about the size of a walk-in closet.

The clearing was also unusual, as there was no vegetation growing in it at all.  Not a blade of grass, not a dandelion.  There were some indications of previous plants and even trees, but everything had been razed down to ground level.

"What the fuck happened here?" David wondered quietly.

"You think the weres have a new weapon?"

"This isn't recent," David said.  He pointed to some fallen trees.  "See those?  They were damaged, but healed.  They fell over long after the damage was done.  How are they not decaying?  That's the question.  What is this place?"

Vivian shrugged.  David looked at Giendia, but she, too, shrugged.

"You two wait here, and keep your weapons ready.  I'm gonna check out the building.  This wasn't done recently, but it doesn't mean the weres aren't hiding nearby to use it, so stay alert."

David ran in a crouch across the thousand feet of empty space, and then pressed his back tight against the small building.  He looked back toward the girls, then around at the other trees.  He saw no movement.

Sliding along the wall of the building, he went all the way around it, checking the edge of the clearing for signs of danger.  He found nothing.

Finally David turned his attention to the building itself.  He looked in through the window and saw a shape, but it was too dark inside to figure out exactly what it was.  He waved to the girls to tell them to stay put, and then he slowly opened the door to the building.

With the door open, David could clearly see that what was inside was a person.

Or was it?

What was before him was completely immobile.  There were no twitches, no blinks, no movement of any kind.  David waved his hand in front of the man's face, but got no reaction at all.

"You alive, buddy?" David asked.  He got no reaction.  He slowly reached forward to try to shake the man's shoulder.

As David's hand got within three inches of the man's body, a force shoved it away so powerfully that David was spun around and nearly lost his balance.

"Yikes," David said.  He was now very intrigued.  Was that field a protection?  A side-effect?  Part of the curse that had apparently been set upon this man?

I wonder if I can get through in ghost form.

David faded to his ethereal, visible self, and reached out again.  He was even more tentative now, as he hadn't enjoyed his last contact with the repulsion field.  He let out a breath as his hand made contact with the man's shoulder.  The body wasn't so much stiff as completely petrified.  There was no give at all; David might as well have been trying to shake a mountain.

Is that it?  Has he been petrified?  God, that would suck, to be petrified and then just left here...  Well, then again, when I was petrified, I didn't even know it, so I guess it wouldn't be that bad, but still, I should see if there's a way to get him out of this.

David tried to perform the counter-curse for the petrification spell he knew.  It didn't do any good, but that didn't mean anything, really.  David couldn't do the petrification spell, so there was no guarantee he was able to do the counter to it, either.  He went to the door and waved the other two over.

"What the hell?" Vivian said once again.

"Try to un-petrify him," David ordered.

"Um... are you sure that's a good idea?  I mean, he's standing in the middle of this big dead area.  What if he did all this damage, and he was petrified to stop him from doing more?"

David paused for a second, then said, "Don't you think, though, if that was the case, someone would have put up a warning sign?"

Vivian couldn't really dispute that point.  She cast the counter-curse, but nothing happened.

"He's not petrified... at least, not in a normal way.  That counter-curse is supposed to work on a whole set of hexes."

David nodded.  "What do you think?"

"I've got no idea.  Giendia?  You ever heard of something like this?"

"No.  This is the kind of thing we centaurs would normally shy away from."

David nodded.  "Well, I only have one other trick I can try.  Let's hope it doesn't get me hurt like it did the last time."

"What're you going to do?" Vivian asked worriedly.

"I'm going to try to possess him.  Even if I can't wake him up that way, maybe I'll get more information."

David stepped over to the man and faded to invisibility.  He lined himself up as perfectly as he could.  The man was standing as if he had been casting a spell; his hand was outstretched, his mouth was open, and his feet were spread wide, as if to help control his balance.  David had to work to mimic the posture.

Once he was ready, he forced himself to solid form.  His body rebounded, and his mind entered the new body.

And he found himself alone.

What the fuck?

David could see Vivian and Giendia staring at him.  He tried to move the man's body.  This was difficult for him to do under the best of circumstances, according to some experiments he had conducted with Olissa's help, but right now, it was completely impossible for him to move an inch.  The body might as well have been a statue, for all the movement he could get out of it.  And it had the same intellect, as well: none at all.

David pulled out of the body and returned to his own, so he could talk to the others.

"There's no one home," David said.

"Huh?" Giendia asked.

"There's no... presence in there.  No mind.  That's just a shell.  I don't know where his... well, his spirit, I guess... has gone, but it's not in there anywhere."

"He's a zombie?"

"Don't they have to be dead?"

"Yes..."

"That body's not dead.  Look at him; he's still got normal coloration.  Whatever happened to leave him like this, he wasn't dead when it happened.  I'm not sure he's dead now."

"What, then?" Vivian asked.

"Beats the fuck out of me.  He's obviously not dangerous to us, so I say we don't worry about it, and get on with things.  We've got to keep track of those motherfucking raptors."

The reason Troop 42 was even in the field was that Btlt. DeSantis wanted them to find a way to neutralize the were-condors that had been helping to coordinate the Vrudenan forces during battle.  The Callamandians had nothing similar, and so it was giving the weres a hell of an advantage.

"Come on," David said.  He closed the door to the shack and led them across the clearing, toward the raptors' camp, which they had located the day before.  They'd had to leave it to observe the day's battle, in hopes of finding a way to knock out the were-condors.  David had been able to knock out the were-vultures easily enough in earlier battles, but these bastards were far tougher, and they knew how to get out of his containment field somehow.  He hoped an idea would come to him, but so far, nothing had.

Once they arrived at their observation point outside the camp, the three settled into place, and watched.

 Troop 42 was returning from observing another battle, and they were passing near the strange clearing with the small building.

"What's that?" Giendia asked, cupping her hand to her ear.  David listened closely, and he heard a snort, and a shuffling sound.  He waved the girls to cover, and then he pulled his sword.  Moving silently forward, David reached the edge of the clearing.  He almost relaxed, but realized that something must be wrong; the pegasus he saw before him was dragging its wings on the ground.

David signaled to the other two to close in, and he moved out into the clearing, keeping his sword at the ready.  This could, after all, be a Vrudenan trap.  The pegasus watched David carefully as he moved quickly around the clearing, searching for hidden troops or other traps.  Once he was satisfied there were none, he put away his sword.  He waved to the others to remain where they were; there was no point in frightening the peg any more than she already was.

Moving so that he was in front of her and slightly to one side, David moved slowly toward the peg.  She snorted in concern, but didn't back away from him.

"What's the matter, girl?" David asked quietly to the peg.  She snorted in distress.

"Will you let me look you over?  Maybe I can help.  I have a pegasus friend back home.  She looks a little like you, except without the pretty blaze on your forehead."

The peg remained still as David finally reached her side.  Once there, the problem was eminently obvious.  The rotting flesh was literally drooping off the root of her wing.  The stench was vile, and the look of it nearly brought up David's lunch.

"Oh, god," David murmured.  He coughed a couple times, and then tried to strengthen himself.

"Looks like you've got some wing rot there," David said, trying to keep his voice calm and uplifting.  "I have a treatment for that, but, I've got to warn you, it's gonna sting like hell while it's on you... and it's probably going to hurt even worse when I press it into the wound.  Do you want me to try?"

The pegasus didn't hesitate, but nodded immediately.

"I'm going to call my friends to help me treat you.  They won't hurt you, I promise."

David waved the others in.  The peg startled slightly at the appearance of Giendia, but David patted her gently on the neck, and she settled.

"Don't... get any closer," David said when they were still a good thirty feet away.  "You don't want to see it, and you don't want to smell it.  I'm going to need some help preparing the poultice to put on her."

"What's wrong with her?" Giendia asked sympathetically.

"She has wing rot."

"You carry a cure for this around with you?" Vivian asked.

"Wing rot can infect birds, too.  That's why Jailla is still way the hell over there.  Besides, I have a partnered pegasus back home, who has already had wing rot once.  I don't want her to have to go through this again."

"What do we do?" Vivian asked.

David started conjuring things out of his Conjuring Room, and setting them on the ground.  He set to putting together the poultice.

"Viv, pull out some of that bandage.  About... oh... two feet.  Don't let it touch the ground.  Be warned, it will tickle."

"Tickle?" Giendia asked, surprised.

"It's self-adhering bandage," David explained.  "It has little grabbers built in, to hold it in place.  They grab at anything organic."

"Oh," she said.

In another couple minutes, David had slathered the herbal mixture onto the bandage.  He took the bandage from Vivian and approached the peg.

"I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt.  I have to press it in place pretty hard, so that it will get into the wound."

The peg nodded.  David also saw a look in her eye, and he thought he knew what that was.

"I can't guarantee this will fix you, no.  I'm sorry.  I don't know if we're catching it in time.  This isn't even a cure for the disease, it's just to heal the wound.  I have a cure, but I can't give it to you while your wing is like this.  It would cause problems.  Once we get this wound mostly closed, then I can give you the cure.  Do you understand?"

The peg nodded again.

David took a deep breath, which he immediately regretted, but made the supreme effort not to cough.  He then stepped over and laid the bandage across the gaping flesh wound.

"Fuck, it's almost not big enough," he growled to himself.  "Now comes the painful part," he said to the peg, and then he pushed on the bandage.  This forced the herbs into the wound, and also sealed the bandage against the feathers and skin of the wing, holding everything in place.

The peg whinnied in pain, and shook her head, but she remained otherwise still, allowing David to do what he needed to do.

"I'm sorry," he repeated once he was finished.  He wrapped his arms around the peg's neck and patted her repeatedly.

"Come with us," David said.  "We can't stay in the clearing, it's dangerous.  We'll go a short ways into the trees."

The peg nickered in comprehension, and the four made their way out of the clearing.

"Jailla," David said from a distance of a hundred feet, "Go keep an eye on the raptors.  Keep to cover as much as you can; don't let them spot you.  Let me know if they do anything we need to know about."

Jailla chirped and flew off immediately.  David took a few minutes to set up their camp, and then sat down on a stump.  The peg actually knelt on the ground, her wings draped across the forest floor, her head drooping.

"Is she going to be okay?" Vivian asked nervously.

David just shook his head to ward off the question.  He didn't want to think about it.  He would do what he could, but the peg was so far gone already, he wasn't sure his treatments would work.  He wasn't even sure the cure would work, even if he could administer it at this point.

To distract himself, he set to making dinner.

Two days later, David was staring at the were-raptor camp from a tall tree.  He couldn't get any closer without revealing himself, but he had a good look at the camp from his place among the limbs.  He watched as the weres joked amongst themselves, preparing their evening meal.

Not wanting to watch any more, David climbed down and headed back to their camp.  His mood was dismal, and he trudged slowly, really not wanting to have to face what was waiting at camp.

When he arrived, he saw the pegasus, still kneeling, her head now resting against a tree.  She looked horrible.  The poultice wasn't working; the wound showed no signs of closing.  The peg's condition grew worse almost by the hour.  David had tried everything he knew, but nothing had made enough of a difference to change the outcome.  He had been putting off a necessary decision for a day now, and still he couldn't bring himself to end her misery.

As he stood there, gazing at the peg in sorrow, David's thoughts were dark and loathsome.  Here they were, forced to watch one of his beloved pegs die horribly, and not a thousand yards away, his enemy sat around a warm fire, laughing and telling stories.  It wasn't fair.  It wasn't just.

It wasn't going to continue.

David moved over to the pegasus.  She raised her head slowly to look at him.  There was still intelligence in her gaze, still a warmth to her expression.  It tore out his heart to see her like this.  He knelt next to her.  As she gently nuzzled him, he wrapped his arms around her neck.  For a long time, they didn't move.  Vivian and Giendia watched, but they didn't dare interrupt.  Finally, David pulled back from the peg.

"You know, don't you?" he asked softly.

The peg nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry.  I'm so very sorry.  It... we found you too late.  If we'd met a few days earlier..."

The peg leaned her head over and nuzzled David again, trying to comfort him.  That gesture was like a stab in the heart, because of what he was about to ask.

"I can't save you," he told her, tears forming in his eyes.  "But you can save us, if you're willing.  It will be very painful for you, but it will end your suffering in a way that I simply cannot bring myself to do."

The peg looked at him curiously, as if urging him to explain.

"There is an enemy of my people close by.  They have helped kill many hundreds of my countrymen.  This enemy is vulnerable to your disease.  If you transmit it to them, they will no longer be able to hurt my friends.

"But, you need to understand, if you get close enough to them to make them sick, they will attack you."  David choked on the next words.  "They will kill you.  They will... eat your body.

"And you have to fight back.  If you don't, they'll know you're sick.  I can give you strength for a little while, and I can hide your wound magically.  I wouldn't ask this of you if I had any other options."

The peg sat for a moment, then it nuzzled David once more.  Finally, it tried to rise.  It couldn't make it.

David motioned her to stay put.  He pulled out his wand.  Pointing it at her heart, he inscribed a triangle and muttered, "Stroom-"  David's voice caught in his throat, and he was unable to complete the spell the first time.  Coughing and trying to gather himself, he tried again.

"Stroomstoot," he said, his voice heavy and strained.

A golden light passed from the wand to the peg, and she was instantly on her feet, stamping and shaking her head.

David rose much more slowly.  "This will only last a short while," he told her, his voice under tight control.  "After that, you'll be just as weak as you were a minute ago.  Let me hide your wound."  A heavy duty illusion spell was able to take care of both the look and smell of the wound.  By the time they would be able to taste that it was bad, it would be far too late.

"It's this way," David said.

Vivian looked at him.  "David, this isn't-"

"Please don't make this any harder for me than it already is," David said, his voice hoarse and on the verge of cracking.  "Are you coming with us?"

"I... can't watch that," Vivian said.

David nodded.  "Giendia?"

"I must not watch suicide."

He simply nodded again.  "It's just us, then," he said to the peg.  He kept beside her the entire way, rubbing her neck and shoulder, and speaking softly to her, both thanking her for helping, and apologizing over and over for even asking her to suffer this way.  Finally, they reached the edge of the camp.

"It's about fifty yards that way," David said, motioning.  "I can't go any further with you."  He looked into the peg's eye, and nearly broke down.  "I'm sorry.  I wish I could just let you pass in peace.  You don't deserve this.  But I have a mission, and, as horrible as it is, as unfair as it is, your sacrifice could save thousands of lives."

The peg nuzzled him one last time, and then stepped back.

David looked at her.  "Thank you," he said, tears streaming down his face.  Choking out the words, he said, "I name you Virtue."

The peg nodded in acceptance, and then turned to walk casually toward the were-raptor camp.

David climbed his usual tree, so he could see into the camp.  He couldn't approach closer, or they would smell him, but he would not leave Virtue to face her ordeal alone.  He had to watch.

By the time David was in position, Virtue was entering the clearing.  She reacted as if surprised to see the odd humanoids in their encampment.  The were-condors immediately noticed her, and the nearest lunged at her.  Virtue kicked out, sending the were-condor flying across the clearing.  That enraged the others, and soon weapons were out.

Knives and swords glinted, and energy balls flashed.  The peg's cries and screams echoed through David's soul as he watched, silent and thunderstruck at Virtue's courage, her tenacity, and her endurance.  It took five minutes before they had overwhelmed her and brought her to the ground.  Three more whacks with a sword brought an end to her life.  It wasn't merciful, and it wasn't quick, but at least it was over.

David's vision was too blurred to see exactly what happened next.  By the time his eyes had dried, they were already cutting her body apart.  Thankfully, like werewolves, were-condors preferred their meat raw, which did a very nice job of preserving the disease.

As they feasted, David could no longer watch.  He felt his gorge rising, and so he turned away, climbing down the tree.  The rest was up to fate.

David walked back to camp and sat down, hunched against a tree, staring out into the forest.

Vivian came over and said softly, "David-"

"Let it be, Capadra," he said flatly, his voice as dead as the pegasus. 

Vivian was concerned, but she saw the distant, haunted look in his eyes.  She didn't know exactly what torture he was going through, but she knew that she couldn't help just then.

"Yes, sir," she said softly.  Turning away, she left him to his sorrow.

Two days later, Troop 42 entered the raptor camp to find three-quarters of the detachment lying on the ground, dead already.

"Wha- how did this kill them so fast?  We watched the peg for two days, and she didn't change a whole lot.  Does your poultice make that much difference?"

"Virtue weighed probably 2000, 2500 pounds when she got sick.  These assholes weigh less than a hundred.  They simply didn't have the body mass to absorb the illness.  If, say, Jailla got sick, I'd have about two hours to catch it before it was too late."

The other members of the detachment, those still alive, were writhing on the ground.  Though they were in their humanoid form, the disease was still attacking them.  The area from their shoulder blade, around under their arm, to their pectoral muscle, was rotting off.

"Kill me," one of them pleaded as David walked by.

"No," David said coldly.  "You can die a slow and miserable death, you barbaric fuck."  David kicked him in the side, then moved on.  He observed all the others, making sure there was no one here who was likely to recover.  All of them were clearly past the point of help.

"You're really not going to kill them?" Vivian asked as they left to go back to their own camp.

David looked back at them, then looked at Vivian.  The sheer malice in his gaze was unsettling.

"Mercy is a virtue.  My Virtue is dead."  With that, he walked away.  Vivian looked after him, utterly distraught at the coldness of the statement, and wondering whether the name had been given for the exact purpose of making that comment.  She looked at Giendia, who had a similar look on her own face.

Quickly, the two followed, worried that David might not, in fact, wait for them in his current state.

 "Vocator?" Toni asked, getting David's attention.  "The Batalisto's on the portal for you."

David nodded, and rose from his desk.  It was a short walk to the comm room, and he thanked the soldier in charge of the portal before he sat down.

"You needed me for something, sir?" David asked.

"I'm a bit curious about this letter I received from you.  It is... shall we say unusual, for a member of the army to reject a commendation."

"I will not be rewarded for violating an oath and taking the life of an innocent to benefit myself," David said, almost in a snarl.

Btlt. DeSantis looked confused.  "What oath did you violate?"

"I am a Peg Rider.  Intentionally putting a peg in harm's way is pretty much the worst thing a Peg Rider can do."

"Your report says she volunteered."

"No, she agreed.  She didn't volunteer."

"Splitting hairs..."

"No, sir.  Volunteering is when your commander says, 'I need someone to do this job,' and you're stupid enough to raise your hand or put your foot forward.  I asked Virtue to take on this job specifically.  She trusted me to save her, and what I did was intentionally get her killed.  That is not something I will accept reward for!  I have already tendered my resignation as head of the Peg Riders."

"You related confidential operational information to a non-military group?" DeSantis demanded.

"Don't get your panties in a wad.  I had it vetted by the intelligence team before I sent it."

DeSantis took a deep breath and tried to calm down.  "I will... relate your reluctance to accept the commendation to the chain of command.  There is, however, something else I need you to do."

"Yes, sir?"

"Hiding somewhere near Banacek, there's a traitor we need you to arrest."

"Where the hell is Banacek?"

"On the shore of Lake Sudmer, right at its southern tip.  A file is on its way to you, detailing what we know about the traitor.  Understand, Vocator: we want this bastard alive.  We need to know what he's told them, what he's done."

"Yes, sir.  I'll take Troop 42 with me."

"That'll work.  When you have him in custody, you are to deliver him to the king's Cormatsen residence.  The king wants to handle this matter directly."

"Yes, sir."

"Carry on."

David rose from the chair, thanked the soldier again, and headed back to his office.  The file was actually waiting on his desk.

"That was fast," David said.

"It arrived by swift just after you went to the comm room," Toni said.

David nodded, and picked up the file.  Opening it, he quickly read through it, seeing what the bastard traitor had done that they knew about, and where he might be hiding.  He had glossed over the man's name at first, but now returned to that.  Suddenly, a dark grin of glee crossed his face.

"Christmas comes a little early this year," he said to no one in particular.

"Sir?" Toni asked, having not left the office yet.

David started.  He hadn't realized she was still there.  "Huh?  Oh, nothing.  I'll be out of the office again.  Not sure how long.  Let Dorn know.  I'll be taking Vivian and Giendia with me."

"Yes, sir."

"See you in a few days."

"Good luck."

 "Sir?" Giendia asked quietly.

"Sorry, nobody here by that name," David said.

Giendia blushed.  After a moment, she asked, "David?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you bring me along on this one?  Normally you leave me back with the HQ guard force for these kinds of investigations."

"Your job is to make sure our suspect lives long enough to make it to the king," David said.

"Won't you be able to protect him?" Giendia asked.

"I'm the one you'll be protecting him from," David clarified.

Vivian said, "That sounds like there's more to this than just a traitor.  Has he gotten a lot of people killed?"

"Don't know," David replied.

"Then what's the deal?"

"Our suspect's name is Kyle Copeland.  Mr. Copeland once attended the Woodward Academy of Magical Arts.  During his time at that esteemed college of wizardry, he was tapped to be a member of the very first Discipline Response Team.

"His career with DIRT ended the night he betrayed his teammates, resulting in one of them being nearly killed.  I warned this individual that, should we ever meet again, I would kill him on sight.  At the time I said that, I merely wanted to scare him.  Knowing now that he makes a habit of betrayal... let's just say you should be very protective of our suspect."

"I understand," Giendia replied.

"Of course, first we have to find the cocksucker.  The other reason you're here, of course, is that we're on the edge of the battle zone, and we might run into trouble.  How has your practice been going with the NVGs?"

"I'm getting better, but still nowhere near as good as without them."

"Really?  You can hit a target in the dark?"

Giendia blushed.  "I meant during the day."

"Yeah, well... if you need the NVGs, it won't be during the day, so keep practicing."

"Yes, sir."

David growled lowly.

The day had worn on, and David was growing annoyed.  He wasn't sure if Copeland had been avoiding everyone altogether, or if he was being protected.  That didn't make much sense to David, but he was far too disconcerted to check with divination to see if they were lying.

They had asked all around Banacek, to no avail, and they had moved on to a small village south of Banacek, known as Cavanaugh.  David could tell as soon as he entered the town that the people here weren't likely to be cooperative.  It had the feel of a very clannish place, and the looks they got were decidedly unfriendly.

The three entered a bar, and walked over to the bartender.

"We're looking for this man," David said, holding up a picture of Copeland.  "You seen him?"

The bartender took the most cursory glance at the picture possible.  "Nope."

David turned to the patrons.  The bar was mostly full, even in the middle of the day.  He approached the nearest table.

"Have you seen this man?" David asked.

"Fuck off, pig," the man replied.

David backhanded the man so hard his chair tipped over backward, dumping him out onto the floor.  The man across the table from him started to rise.

"If your ass leaves that chair, you'll be dead five seconds later," David warned.  The look on his face made it quite clear he wasn't bluffing.

The man sat back down.

David reached down and grabbed the smart-mouthed man by the throat and hauled him to his feet.  He then slammed his other fist into the man's solar plexus.  The man stood there, gasping, trying to breathe but unable to.

"In case it's unclear, I don't take kindly to being insulted," David informed the man.  "You want to keep fucking with me, we can do this the fun way.  Please note, you will not live through the fun way.  That's not a problem for me.  This bar is full of people for me to interrogate."

"You think you can take on all of us?" someone in the back said.

"With one hand tied behind my back and blindfolded," David said coldly, and without bothering to look at the man.  He stared at the one in front of him.  "Now, let's try again.  Have you seen this man?"

This time, the man looked at the picture.  He coughed a few times, then said, "He looks familiar, but I don't know him.  He's probably been in here or something."

"See, now if you'd just said that to begin with, you wouldn't have a cracked sternum now.  You might want to see a healer about that."

David turned to the man across the table.  "You seen this man?"

The guy looked at the picture, then over to his friend, who was now leaning on the table, his one hand rubbing his chest.  "I'm like him.  I've seen him around town, but not in the last few days.  I don't know who he is."

"Uh-huh."  David moved on from person to person, asking.  About halfway through, he finally got a different answer.

"That's my idiot brother, Kyle," the woman said.

"Copeland has a sister?" David asked no one.  "He never mentioned you."

"You know Kyle?" she asked.

"My name is David Stroud," David told her.

There were some murmurs in the bar.  Apparently, he had been heard of.

"Holy shit.  You finally going to kill him?"

"Unfortunately not.  The king said I had to bring him in alive."

"I don't think he's gonna like that."

"I don't give a fuck what he likes," David said.

"Well... he's probably going to fight..."

"I sincerely hope so," David said.  "Where can I find him?"

"He's hiding at our father's house, out in the barn.  I'll take you there."

"I don't want to get you in trouble with your family."

The woman snorted.  "I've been in trouble with them since I married my husband against their wishes.  They can go fuck themselves.  Kyle, especially.  What're you arresting him for?"

"Treason."

There were louder murmurs at that.

"Sounds about right.  Asshole raped me when we were younger."

"He raped his own sister?" Vivian asked, shocked.

"We're not blood-kin," she replied.  "We'd been living together all of a week."

"What an ass," Vivian growled.

"Show me where he is," David ordered.

The woman nodded and led them out of the bar.

"What the fuck do you want?" the man demanded.  He was looking at the woman.

David said, "Where is Kyle Copeland?"

"Nowhere you're gonna get to," the man said, brandishing his wand.

"Pop, don't be stupid.  This guy will take you apart," the woman said.

David added, "Kyle Copeland is wanted for treason.  Harboring a fugitive wanted for treason is, itself, treason.  Committing the act of treason right in front of me is a capital offense.  One which I will punish very quickly."

"What the fuck you talking about?" the man said.  Clearly he was on the lower end of the intelligence scale.

"I said get the fuck out of my way or I'm going to kill you," David replied bluntly.  "Your son is wanted by the king, and it is my job to bring him in.  If you interfere with that, I will not hesitate to gut you like a game animal and leave you right here on your living room floor.  I am a Rimohr officer and a combat soldier of the Callamandian Army, and you are in my way.  That is a very dangerous place to be."

"Pop, just stay out of this.  He's not kidding."

"You're gonna help this scum sucking frog-fucker capture your own brother?"

David's hands twitched, but the woman didn't give him time to do anything.

"That fucking douchebag isn't my brother.  He's your wife's son.  You know what he's done to me."

"Now don't go tellin' any of those damned stories again..." the man said.

The woman decked him, and he fell to the ground.

"Um... that's battery," Vivian said quietly to David.

"No, that was justice," David told her.  "I saw no crime committed, and neither did you, Capadra," David warned in a sharp tone.

"No, sir.  No crime," she agreed quickly.

"You want to hit him again?" David asked the woman.

She blushed and hid a grin.  "No... but it felt damned good.  I've been holding that in for five years now."

David nodded.  "Show me where the shithead rapist traitor is hiding."

"It's back this way," she said.  She led them through the house and into the yard.  The yard was huge, with several outbuildings.  The barn was, of course, the largest of them.

"Where's he likely to be in there?"

"There's a small room up in the loft area.  Supposed to be for storing tools, but he turned it into a little bedroom.  It don't look big enough on the outside.  He spelled it."

"Right.  You'd better stay out here.  Giendia, you go in the main door and try to cover us from down there.  Viv, you come with me, and we'll go upstairs."

David climbed the ladder first and then knelt, his wand out and pointed.  After a quick look around, he waved Vivian up the ladder.  She joined him, and knelt as well.  He used hand signals to indicate his plan to her, and she nodded her understanding.

David moved right, to stand in front of the door.  Vivian moved so that she was to one side, able to fire into the room when the door opened.

David was about to kick the door in, when he got an idea.  He pointed his wand at his throat and said quietly, "Sprokwexler."

David stepped up to the door and pounded on it.  When he spoke, it was with Kyle's sister's voice.

"Get your ass out here.  Pop wants to talk to you!"

The door opened almost immediately.  "What the fuck are you do-" Kyle said as he opened the door.  He didn't get it more than a crack before David grabbed the edge of the door and yanked it the rest of the way open.

"You so much as twitch," David said, still in the woman's voice, "and you will never leave that room."

Kyle backed away, his hands up, shaking.  Vivian moved to cover him, while David pointed his wand at himself and said, "Peractus."

"Hands out, you maggot sandwich," David said, now in his normal, if angry and threatening, voice.

Kyle stuck his hands out in front of him immediately.  He was staring at David in terror, waiting for David to blast him into oblivion.

"Oh, don't worry, Kylie.  I'm not going to kill you before you get to see the king."

"My name is Kyle!  I'm no bitch girl!"

"Yet," David replied coldly.  Kyle began to sweat.

Vivian enacted the handcuff hex on Kyle, and David said, "Out."

They walked over to the edge of the loft.  Kyle looked down.

"How do you expect me to climb down the ladder with my hands restrained, you stupid fuck?"

David pushed him off the edge of the loft.

Kyle landed hard, rolling around in pain while David climbed down the ladder.

"I don't," David finally replied as he grabbed Kyle's hair and yanked him to his feet.  Kyle screeched in pain, but David took no notice.

"Giendia, take charge of this asshole.  If he tries to run, shoot him in the knee."

"Sir?"

"You heard me.  This motherfucking sonofabitch is a traitor to the crown, and he will not be allowed to escape.  Since I can't kill him until he sees the king, and since I cannot even pretend that if I have to fire at him, he'll live through it, it is your responsibility to prevent his escape.  Therefore, if he tries to run, you must prevent him from doing so.  The easiest way to do that is to make it impossible for him to walk.

"If you should happen to miss and hit him in the groin, that would be acceptable, as well."

Kyle paled at that announcement.  Giendia just nodded, and gripped her prisoner tightly.

"Ow!  You're hurting me," Kyle whined.

"Good job, Soldier," David told Giendia.  "Let's go."

The four marched out of the barn, to see the entire Copeland family waiting for them.  The sister was on the ground, her nose bloody.

"Where do you think you're takin' him?" one of the men said.

"Wherever I damned well please," David replied bluntly.  "And if a single one of you tries to stop us, I will kill all of you.  Is that understood?"

Another one snorted.  "You think you can take all of us?"

"Asshole, I've fought an entire company of werewolves single-handed, and came out on the other side unscathed.  You people wouldn't even be a light workout.  Now, since I know you don't believe that..."

David moved his hands up and then down and then up again.  A ripple raced along the ground, and every one of the family members was soon on the ground.  Next, David formed an energy ball and blasted it at the house.  In a split second, there was a ten-foot hole running straight through the house.  Anything that had gotten in the way, wasn't there anymore.

"That was my fuckin' house, you cocksucker!" the father snarled.

"That's right.  That's your punishment for harboring a fugitive.  Now, you want me to do the same thing to your family?  Stand in my way again."

David walked over and helped the woman to her feet.  "Which one of them hit you?"

She pointed to one of the bigger men.

David walked over to him.  "So, you like hitting women, do you?"

"What's it to you, pipsqueak?" the man growled.

David moved like lightning.  No one there could follow his moves.  When he was standing still again, the man was lying on the ground with all four of his limbs shattered and his jaw broken.

"I don't like guys who hit defenseless women.  Maybe... you know, if you live, you'll learn something.  Come with us," he said to the woman, who followed along behind them.  The family got out of David's way as he walked, finally understanding the level of danger they were in.

"They going to give you shit after we leave?" David asked the woman.

"My husband and I will leave the area.  We'd been talking about it, anyway, we just hadn't made up our minds."

"I would leave as soon as possible," David said.

"We'll be gone by tonight."

"Is that going to be difficult?  Do you need some help relocating?"

"No, we have the money saved up and everything.  It really was just a matter of needing something to push us into going.  Like I said, we'll be gone by tonight... tomorrow morning at the very latest."

"We'll stick around until your clear, then.  Can't travel to Cormatsen now, anyway; it's too late in the day."

"Okay, thanks.  You need a place to stay?"

"If you wouldn't mind.  It would also make sure that your family cannot retaliate before you go."

"Yeah, good point.  Thanks."

"Thank you.  Finding this asshole would have been a lot harder without your help."

"I'll kill you, Narina!" Kyle seethed.

"I don't think you quite understand the position you're in, jackass," Vivian said.  She didn't like Kyle any more than David did, knowing what he'd done.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyle demanded.

"What that means," David said, "Is that the only way you're going to be alive three days from now is if you have that much information to give to the king.  There is only one sentence for treason, and I will beg the king to let me be your executioner."

Kyle didn't speak another word for the rest of the day.

  "You are not welcome on these grounds," the Supervisor of the House, Chad, snarled upon seeing David at the front door.

"Shove it, asshole," David said, pulling Kyle behind him.

"I will not!  I run this house, and grrkhlhmk!"

Chad was rendered speechless by the presence of David's thumb buried deep into his neck, almost closing off his trachea entirely.  He literally dragged Chad through the house until he found the king's work room.  The two guards there immediately opened the door for David, who walked through it.

The king and an arkigo looked up in surprise.  David, uttering a quick strength spell, tossed Chad halfway across the room.

"Your Majesty, if this... individual... gets in my face again, you are going to be short one company XO."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the king asked, confused.

"It means, sir, that I will be in jail for choking him to death by ripping off his dick and shoving it down his throat."

David thought he saw the king's mouth twitch ever so slightly, but he was fighting it very hard.

"I'd rather you didn't kill my House Supervisor, David.  Replacing him would be annoying."

"Then I would recommend, Your Majesty, that you instruct him to stay out of my sight at all times."

"Point taken," the king said.  "Who is that with you?"

David now threw Kyle onto the ground in front of him.  "This is your traitor, sir.  Kyle Copeland."

"You have interrogated him already?" the arkigo asked.

"To prove his guilt, yes.  To pick his head clean of what he knows and has told the enemy, no."

"You are satisfied he's guilty?" the king asked.

"He doesn't deny it, Your Majesty."

The king's look hardened.  "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" the king asked Kyle.

"Go fuck yourself," Kyle opined.

Kyle was suddenly being lifted into the air, and then found the floor coming up to meet him very, very fast.  Everyone heard something snap when he hit.

"You will respect your king, or your interrogation will have to wait until you recover," David warned him.

 "You're going to kill me anyway, what the fuck do I care?"

"Well...  it can take you a couple minutes to die..." David paused, and then pulled the man up so that their eyes were inches apart, "Or a couple weeks.  Which would you rather?"

Kyle went pale at the thought of being tortured to death.  "You wouldn't!"

"Wanna bet?" David said.  "I still have to pay you back for Chloe, you worthless piece of shit."

"Chloe?" the king asked.

David dropped Kyle - his head thunked rather hard against the floor - and rose.

"Mr. Copeland and I have a history, Your Majesty.  He was responsible for the near death of a close friend and colleague of mine while we were all attending Woodward Academy.  This worthless piece of human flesh was a Clan collaborator."

The king looked at David in surprise.  "I'm shocked he actually survived the trip here."

"I had my troopmates with me to make sure he did."

The king nodded.

"I do have a request to make, Your Majesty."

"Go on."

"When you are finished interrogating him, I wish to be his executioner."

"Are you sure that would be good for you?" the king asked.

"Much better for me than for him," David replied.

The king took a long, hard look at David.  "We'll talk later.  Please remain on the premises for now."

"Yes, sir.  What do you want me to do with this?" he asked, nudging Kyle with his foot.

The king motioned, and two of the guards in the room came over and took control of Kyle.  David ended his handcuff hex, and the guards carried him off.

"By your leave, Majesty," David said.

The king nodded.

David left the work room and wandered around.  He stepped out into the courtyard, and was surprised to find Master Elderwok pruning an eternium plant.

"Master Elderwok," David said in greeting.

"Ah, Paladin Stroud," he replied.  "What brings you here?"

"Business.  Does the king keep you at his side all the time?"

Livelius said, "Mostly.  I have more knowledge of the last war than most, so I can sometimes give some perspective on the Were Nation's historic behavior that is pertinent to the current crisis."

David nodded.  After a moment or two of silence, David asked, "Sir, would you know anything about an odd little shack in the middle of a barren clearing, with the shell of a human inside of it?"

"Located near Clarvinobs?" Livelius asked.

"Yes, sir."

"That would be the Zombie Shed."

"So that body is a zombie?"

"Well, no... not in the traditional sense.  As I'm sure you're aware, a zombie is a reanimated corpse.  The man in the Zombie Shed appears never to have died.  It seems that, somehow, his soul was ripped from his body."

"How?"

"The story goes that the man, whose name has been lost to antiquity, was a hero of the Second Were War.  He was trying to protect the village of Clarvinobs from a were attack.  The weres had developed some kind of super-weapon, and had taken out two other villages with it, in one massive blast each.

"This wizard attempted to block the weapon.  Apparently, his spell and the weapon interacted somehow.  The weapon still went off, and blasted that huge area of devastation.  On the other hand, we have no record of them ever using that weapon again, so it is likely it was destroyed.  The wizard's spell did something else, though... nothing in that circle decays.  That shack was built nine hundred years ago.  It's not spelled for protection; the area protects it.  The man, on the other hand, had his spirit ripped right out of him.  Where it went, no one knows.  It might be a normal ghost, wandering Haven, but a lot of us think something worse happened."

"What do you think happened?" David asked.

"We don't know, we just think it unlikely that the spirit just... left.  Given what happened to the body, any number of horrible things could have happened to the spirit.  Maybe it was destroyed on the spot.  Maybe it was actually somehow ripped out of Haven and it wanders around in Dugerra-"

"That's possible?"

"Not that we actually know of, but people have been spouting wild theories for centuries.  Point is, no one knows who he is, or what really happened to him.  How did you come to ask about this?"

"I saw the shack on one of my missions," David said.

Livelius nodded.  "Well, he's of no threat to anyone, of course.  He's just... there."

"Right.  I was mostly just curious."

"A trait that should be more prized than it is," Livelius said.

"Yes, sir.  I'll leave you to your contemplation.  Have a good day."

"You, too."

The king found David that evening, looking out a window at the garden.  The two men started to wander through the residence.  The king said, "David, I'm afraid I'm going to have to deny your request to execute Mr. Copeland."

"Yes, sir," David replied, his voice sounding slightly disappointed.

"I know that I give you quite a bit of leeway, and I haven't regretted that in the past, but I'm concerned with the level of aggression you seem to be evidencing lately.  Also, your indication to Mr. Copeland that you would be willing to take weeks to kill him is... disturbing."

"Understandable, sir.  Will he at least be executed by someone?"

"Yes.  He's a traitor, and there is only one punishment for treason, as you know."

"Yes, sir.  At least the story has the right ending."

The king walked several paces before he spoke again.  When he did, it was on a different topic.

"I have been told that you have refused a military commendation.  You realize, don't you, that all commendations, philosophically speaking, come from the crown?"

"I apologize, Your Majesty, if you find that offensive.  It does not change my opinion on the matter."

The king grunted.  "I didn't expect that it would.  I also heard that you tendered your resignation from the peg riding guild."

"Not from the guild, Majesty.  Just as its leader."

"Yes, that's what I meant.  I sent them a message earlier.  I told them if they accepted your resignation, I would revoke their charter."

"Sir, that's... erm... I mean, I violated a central tenet of the guild.  I should be removed, if I don't step down voluntarily."

"What you did, you did because I put you in a position where you had to.  You were saving thousands of lives.  Life is balance, David.  Nothing can be wholly black or white.  Even murder isn't always wrong.  In this case, you did the right thing.  As I understand it, the peg was terminally ill, wasn't she?"

"Yes, sir," David said morosely.

"And you did give her a choice."

"Some choice.  Die right now, or die a few hours from now.  Die quickly and painfully, or slowly and painfully."

"Point is, she had the choice.  Ultimately, you didn't put her in harm's way.  You asked her to go, and she agreed.  I'll assume, knowing you as I do, that you didn't hide the truth from her."

"No," David said.

"Then that call is on her head, not yours.  She chose the method of her death, to help a new friend."

"Yes, sir," David said, not believing it, but what else do you say to the king?

"You look tired, David," the king said.

"Doesn't everyone these days, sir?"

"Not like you.  Do you sleep?"

"As much as I ever do.  My fatigue is not physical, Your Majesty."

"Are we pressuring you too hard?  Too many tasks?"

"No, sir.  I have enough help to spread that around."

"It must be something," the king pressed.

"It's not something that can be fixed, Your Majesty.  In fact, given the state of the war, it's something I expect to get worse."

"What is it?" the king insisted.

"Your Majesty, I have... an evil side to me.  That part of my personality is attempting a hostile takeover."

"I know this.  The Queen of Mirelia sent me a missive about it."

"Then you know the problem."

"Why do you expect the problem to get worse?"

"Because we're losing, and soon you're going to have to ask me to do things we both know aren't so great for my sanity."

"I don't want to do that," the king said.

"I don't want you to do it, either," David said.  "But between saving my mental health, and saving the nation, we're both going to come down on the same side.  Any one man can be sacrificed in the service of saving millions."

"Is there anything we can do to help you?"

David smirked.  "You can kick me out of the Army..."

The king chuckled, as he knew that David knew better.

"If I could, I would, but the truth is, we need you.  I need you."

"Yes, sir."

"When was the last time you had a break?"

"Last month, sir.  After retrieving the Rain Crystal, I took about a week."

"Was that relaxing?"

David paused for a long moment, considering the things that had happened that week, then said, "Not particularly."

The king frowned.  "Do you plan on taking leave for Yuletide?"

"I was kind of hoping leave wouldn't be necessary.  I was expecting... or at least hoping for... a holiday cease-fire."

"Don't count on it.  The weres don't celebrate Yuletide as we do."

"Does no one but Callamandia follow this holiday?"

"Oh, you misunderstand.  The weres still celebrate Yuletide, but their entire process is raucous and often bloody.  I can only imagine what they might do next week."

"In that case, I guess I'll be staying at HQ."

"No."

"Sir?"

"No.  You need a break.  A real break.  You need time to recover.  The army has managed to stop this latest push on Bolmont.  They'll need time to recover from that.  Any attack will most likely come in the west.

"You will stay here for tonight.  Tomorrow, you will return to your base.  You will take care of whatever immediate tasks need doing, and then you will go home.  You are not to return to duty until the 8th of January.  This is an official decree, David.  I will file it with your commanding officer.  Take this time to recharge, try to recenter yourself, to relax and forget about the war, if only for a few days.  Try to remember who you are.  You are not a killer, though we have made you kill.  You are a helper, a leader, and a friend, especially to my family.

"And speaking of being a friend of my family, I hear you are very friendly with one of us.  Out of respect for your assistance to me in the past, I have decided not to have you disemboweled for sleeping with my daughter," the king said with a grin.

David went rigid.  "She promised she wouldn't tell you!" David gasped.

"She didn't.  She just made the mistake of thinking that her mother also wouldn't tell me."  The king's voice was amused.  "It's all right, David.  I know you well enough to know that my daughter wasn't some kind of conquest for you."

"More like the other way around, if you want the truth of it, sir," David said without thinking.

"Oh?  Chased after you, did she?"

"From day one," David replied.

The king chuckled.  "My fault, I guess.  I told her you were a good man."  The king turned and faced David fully.  "I wasn't wrong in that.  You are a good man.  I need you to stay that way.  I'm not sure we can beat the weres without you.  I'm quite sure we can't beat the weres and you.  Do whatever you need to, to get your mind straight."

"Yes, sir.  I appreciate the concern."

"Gotta look out for my future son-in-law..." the king joked.

David nearly choked.  "No, sir, we, uh... were never quite that serious..."

"I gathered," the king said warmly.  "But I enjoyed the look on your face immensely."

David couldn't help but chuckle.

The king repeated, "I consider you a friend, David.  I don't want you to be harmed by this madness.  If you reach a point where you honestly, truly believe that you cannot carry on further safely, I want you to tell me, and damn the consequences to the kingdom."

"I'm not sure I can do that, sir."

"Defying your king?"

"No, sir, you've just now given me conflicting orders, and I don't know which takes precedence.  My oath to the country and the military tell me that the nation is more important than I am."

"Hmph.  Maybe so.  But I'm giving you... uh... special permission... to put your well-being at least even with that of the kingdom."

"Thank you, sir.  I will hopefully get things under control before that becomes necessary."

Not that I have any notion where my breaking point is... David fretted to himself.

"Good.  Any progress to note on either the portals or the shield?"

"Vigax Hermany is consolidating the equations for finding portals.  Once that's done, we can work on the equations for the OmniPortal.  As to the shield, I have a new group of people I'm looking for, but I haven't yet pinned down their location."

"Very good.  These tasks... seriously, David, they're not pressuring you too much, are they?"

"Sir, neither the shield nor the portals are any problem for me.  It's not pressure I'm feeling, it's rage.  And that is being fed by the war itself."

The king nodded.  "Okay.  Well, I'll see you in the morning.  You are once again having breakfast with us before you go."

"Yes sir.  Thank you, sir."

"Good night," The king said, and then walked off.

David sighed, and then headed for his assigned room within the house.  When he entered, he discovered it wasn't empty.

"Hey, Christa," David said, warmly but tiredly.

"Hey.  You too pooped for a visitor?"

"No, I'm okay.  Just... a long week already."

Christa nodded.  With that, she started to remove her shirt.

"I'll be quiet so Daddy doesn't hear me," she said with a grin.

"Don't bother," David said.

"You don't want to?" she asked, pouting.

"Of course I want to.  I meant your father knows about us."

"You tol-!  No, you wouldn't have dared to tell him... Mom told him?"

David nodded.

"That little bitch... Whoops.  Well... you still seem to be... er... 'emboweled'..."

David chuckled.  "Wasn't even mad at me.  You must have had some really shitty boyfriends in the past, that a demighost is an acceptable suitor..."

Christa laughed at that.  "Get over here and fuck me," she said, climbing on the bed.

So David did.

 "Good morning, Christa," the queen said.  David had arrived at breakfast fifteen minutes prior.  "You're sleeping in later than usual."

"Wasn't sleeping in.  I was watching the riot outside."

"There's a riot?" David asked, shocked.

"It is an unfortunate, but common, occurrence," the king said.

"What are they rioting about?"

"The war."

"What would they like you to do, surrender?" David said incredulously.

"I have never heard a coherent demand out of any of them.  They just scream and throw things."

"Have you considered that maybe they're not human?" David asked.

"It's been considered, but we have no way to prove it one way or the other."

"And... what do you plan to do about the riot itself?"

"Nothing.  They will eventually get tired of themselves and go away."

"Just to come back tomorrow, or next week," David said.

"What would you like us to do, string them all up by their thumbs?" the queen asked.

"They're committing a crime, Majesty.  You arrest them, try them, and put them in jail.  That's what laws are for: to tell people what they're not allowed to do.  If you allow them to do things that you've told them they're not allowed to do, then why did you write the law in the first place?"

The king frowned.  "It would take some time to get a message to the Rimohr office," he said.

David rose from his chair.  "I am still an active Rimohr officer, Your Majesty.  By your leave, I will deal with this."

"There are several dozen people out there, David," Christa said.

He looked at her, and for once, she understood clearly how dangerous David really was.

He said coldly, "And?"

No one had an answer for that.  As David left the room to go outside, the royal family went to an upper window to watch.

David made his way out a side entrance, which was not being assaulted.  He walked calmly around to the front of the residence, where there were about fifty people pounding on the gates and shouting at the top of their voices.

Pulling his wand, David muttered, "Odrazit!"  Suddenly, the entire crowd was dumped to the ground.  Several were injured when others landed on top of them.  This gave David the opportunity to move between the protesters and the gates.

"Which of you is the leader of this gathering?" David said, raising his voice so he could be heard over the grumbling and groaning.

"I am," a man, perhaps David's age or slightly younger, said.  "What right did you have to attack us?"

"What right did you have to attack the king's residence?" David asked in reply.

"We're tired of being ignored!" he snarled.  The crowd behind him, which was slowly getting to its feet, yelled in agreement.

"Fine.  What is it you want?"

"To talk to the king, not some flunky!" the man demanded.

"You aren't important enough to talk to the king," David replied bluntly.  "You're stuck with me.  What is your complaint?"

"What do you mean, what is my complaint?  We're fighting a goddamned war!"

"And...?" David prompted.

"And what?"

"What do you expect to have changed?  I would like to point out that the Vrudenans started this war.  They invaded first, they declared war first.  There are only two ways for Callamandia to end this war: winning, and surrender.  Now, which one of those is it you're insisting on?"

"We don't believe the propaganda!  The king forced the weres into fighting!"

"How?" David asked.

"What do you mean, how?"

"It's a simple enough question.  What is it that the king supposedly did that caused sixty thousand angry weres to come storming down out of the north and slaughter Callamandian citizens by the hundreds?"

"That hasn't happened!"

"Really," David said coldly.  "Perhaps you'd like to accompany me to the front lines, to see for yourself?"

"What the hell do you know about it?  You're just some damned functionary!"  Though David was dressed in his military uniform, he admitted there were enough staff-types running around that he didn't stand out.

"I am second in command of Scout Company 1," David informed the man.  "I spend a great deal of time at the front.  I lost one of my best friends to this war.  I lost a girlfriend to this war.  Please do not spew bullshit at me by trying to claim they're not dead."

"Ooh, two dead people!  Yeah, like that's worth slaughtering thousands of innocent weres over!"

"If they were innocent, they wouldn't be invading my country," David pointed out.

"Enough of your lies!  End this war!  End this war!"

The entire group started chanting, and they started to press in on David.

David amplified his voice to a painful level, and stated clearly, "You are now in violation of Callamandian law regarding illegal gatherings.  You will disperse immediately, or you will be placed under arrest."

The group merely started chanting louder, and moving even closer to David.

One more "Odrazit!" dumped them back on their asses.

"You are all under arrest.  You will lie face down with your hands on your head.  If you resist at this point, I am authorized to use lethal force.  I am a Rimohr Officer, and you are in violation of the law."

"Ooh, you're gonna use lethal force?" the leader sneered.  "You gonna kill all of us, chump?"

"If that becomes necessary.  But it won't," David said calmly.  His voice grew much colder as he said, "I don't have to kill all of you.  I only need to kill you.  The rest will get the point rather clearly, I imagine."

David stared the man down, and slipped a bit of undead glare into his gaze.  The man shivered, and slowly got down onto the ground, looking back at David, who was clearly sizing him up for slaughter.

Once all of the protesters were prone, David went through and handcuff-hexed all of them.  Once that was done, a coach showed up, with royal guards driving.

"Take these morons down to the local Rimohr office.  I'll be along in a while to fill out the necessary paperwork."

David turned to the gates, which were immediately opened for him.  He soon returned to the dining room.  The royal family had already resumed their seats.

"I've never seen anything like that," the queen said.  "You stared down dozens of people."

"It's not as impressive as it seems, Your Majesty.  Most people in mobs are cowards.  That's why they have to act in mobs; they don't have the guts to do it alone."

"Did you get any useful information out of them?" the king wondered.

"No.  They want the war stopped.  They don't believe the Vrudenans started it.  They think the government is lying.  People like that cannot be reasoned with; if someone is absolutely convinced you are lying to them, then no reasonable discussion is possible, because you can't present them with facts to persuade them to see the truth."

"So how do you convince people like that?" Christa asked.

"You don't.  Either reality itself will eventually slap them upside the head and teach them how stupid they are, or they'll have some kind of epiphany from something... or they will spend the rest of their lives being stupid.  The last is the most likely outcome."

"I do thank you for not shedding any blood on my doorstep," the king said.

"It was close," David admitted.  "If their leader hadn't backed down there at the end, he was dangerously close to finding out how sharp my sword is.  I don't particularly like being called a liar to my face."

The king grunted.

"How would you have justified killing him?" Christa wanted to know.

"If he hadn't backed down, the only other likely action would have been for him to swing on me.  As I'd already identified myself as a Rimohr Officer, he'd have been committing assault on a Rimohr.  If you do that... well... we're supposed to try not to kill you, but..."  David shrugged.  "Also, I'm in uniform, and assaulting a member of the military is nearly as bad as assaulting a Rimohr."

"But you managed to keep your calm," the king pointed out.  "Carry that lesson forward."

"Sir, no offense, but that idiot was an annoyance.  What's waiting for me up north... that's... different."

"Still," the king pressed.  "Learn to treat them the same."

"Do what I can, Your Majesty."

"Good man.  Now, let's eat."

 "Toni, if anything really major comes up, send me a swift, and I'll be in as soon as I can.  I live in Bolmont, so it won't take long."

"Yes, sir.  Have a good Yule, sir."

David smiled at her.  "Thank you."  Waving his hand, a small package appeared.  He handed it to Toni.  "Excuse me for not wrapping it.  Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, sir!" she exclaimed.  Opening it, she found a very fine, very expensive, set of InkyQuills inside.  "Oh, wow.  These are nice.  Thank you," she said with more meaning this time.

David nodded.  He waved his hand again, and produced another small package, which he handed to Jolene, his other clerk.

"Thank you, Vocator," she said.  Jolene was quite a bit older than Toni, and was a career Army officer, as opposed to a conscript like Toni.  David often wondered how much it rankled folks like Jolene to be stuck working for people who'd gotten their ranks virtually instantaneously, when she'd had to work her way up the ladder.

When Jolene opened the package, she found a small box.  Opening it, she found that it was empty.  She looked up at David.

"Place it on the desk, and say, 'stay there."

She did, but still nothing happened.

"Now, ask it for something that you've recently misplaced."

"Where is my blue RubOut?" she asked.

"Now open it."

She opened the box to find her RubOut lying inside.

"How..."

"It's a Sherman Finder Box.  It will conjure inside itself anything you ask for, as long as whatever it is, is close by."

"Do you know how much time I waste every day looking for things I've lost?" she asked him with a smile.

"I hear you out here, cursing the universe, regularly," he said, grinning.  Jolene blushed.  "Not that I care about the time it uses up, but it's also stressing you out, and that's not something you should have to go through."

"Thank you so much, Vocator," she said, a tear coming to her eye.

 "Are you ever going to call me David?" he asked with a grin.

"That would be improper," she replied, wiping her eyes.

"Uh-huh.  Well, I'll see you two in a few weeks.  Have a great Yule."

"You, too," Jolene said.

"Have a great break!" Toni offered.

David made his way down to Ginger's office, and stepped inside.

"Hey, Boss," she said with a grin.  "I thought you were leaving today."

"I am.  I just wanted to check in and see where we were with the portal stuff."

"Well, you have good timing.  I've just finished up organizing all the calculations, so that they can be put to use."

"I don't want to criticize, but why the heck did this take so long?  You've been at this for a couple months."

"Well, first off, there are little details scribbled all over these journals, so I ended up having to re-read them like three times.  Plus, even once I'd gotten all the various pieces, I had to figure out how they interacted.  And then, of course, when you're gone, they often ask me to do things, so that ate up a fair bit of time, too."

"Oh.  Oops.  Sorry about that.  They shouldn't be asking you to do my work."

Ginger shrugged.  "No biggy.  It was all... like, 'maintenance' work, rather than decision-making.  Stuff that someone had to do while you were gone.  I was elected."

"Hmph.  Like I said, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it."

David waved his hand again, and another package appeared.  "Here.  Merry Christmas.  I know, I'm early, and it's not wrapped, but... meh."

Ginger grinned at him, and opened the package.  Inside it was an Everholz Folder, much like the one he'd given Olissa so many years before.  This one was blue leather with gold accents.  Just like Olissa's, it would allow her to organize and carry a huge amount of paperwork, without worry about it ever falling out.

"Wow.  These are expensive.  I... didn't get you anything."

"Well, then!  Give it back!" David said with an obviously faked expression of annoyance.  Ginger blushed crimson, and David chuckled at her.  "Don't worry about getting me anything.  I don't need anything.  Or, at least, the things I do need, you don't have the ability to give me."

"Right," she said, trying to get her blush under control.

"Anyway, I just thought you could use that.  You try to have a good Yuletide, and I'll see you on the 8th."

"Okay.  Have a great holiday."

David headed out of the building, and went to find his troopmates.  He found them playing centaur chess again.

"She explained all the rules to you yet?" David asked Vivian.

"I think she's just making new ones up to fuck with me, at this point," Vivian pouted.

"I would never do such a thing," Giendia said, in a most unconvincing tone.

David chuckled.  "Well, look, I'm heading out now.  I couldn't think what to get either of you for Christmas, so... here," he said, handing each one a slip of parchment.

"What's this?" Vivian asked.

"A three-week pass," he said.  "Troop 42 can't go anywhere without its commanding officer, now can it?  So what's the point in the rest of the troop sitting around on base?"

"I... I can go home?" Giendia asked.

"For three weeks, yes," David said.

Giendia embraced David, nearly crushing him.

"If we weren't in public, I'd suck your dick for this," she murmured in his ear.

David laughed.

Vivian was less enthusiastic.  "I don't really have any reason to go anywhere.  I have no family here..."

"You're welcome to come stay with me," David said.  "Of course, I'll be gone for Yuletide, but the rest of the family will be there."

"Where are you going?" Vivian asked.

"I'm spending it with Zyla and Grace.  I kind of thought they could use the company."

Vivian nodded seriously.  "You wouldn't mind me staying at your place?"

David snorted.

"Okay.  Let me get packed."

"Giendia, you want a ride up to Bolmont?  I'm afraid you'll have to walk the rest of the way..."

"No thank you, David.  I'd just as soon take a nice long run home."

"That's like seventy or eighty miles," David objected.

"I know.  But I've been cooped up here for a while, and even when I'm not, I'm always moving at your pace.  I haven't been able to cut loose and run since we did that thing with the Vrudenan food supply shipment."

"Well, okay..."

"I'll be fine.  It's not like I'm going into enemy territory."

"True.  Well, you have a good holiday.  If you see him, tell Dubnin I said hi."

"I'll see him.  He's stationed very close to home."

"Okay.  Walk with me for a second."

Giendia accompanied him, and the two walked between two buildings, where the space was quite narrow.

David motioned for her to bend down, and she did.  Soon their lips were locked tightly together, their tongues dancing wetly.  They had not coupled frequently during their time in the army - certainly not as much as he had with Vivian - but he still loved kissing her.

When they were finally done, Giendia was blushing strawberry.

"Couldn't go away for three weeks without that," David told her with a grin.

"But now I just want more," she complained.

"Hmph.  Centaurs.  Never happy," David said, then stuck out his tongue.  Giendia giggled.  "When we get back, we'll have some fun."

"Okay!" she said with a smile.  "I'd better get going, though.  I've got a long way to go, and the day's almost half over."

"You sure you don't want a ride to Bolmont?"

"I'm sure.  Have a great Yule, David."

"You, too."

They kissed briefly again, and then Giendia headed off.  She didn't need to pack, of course: she wouldn't be wearing clothes at home.

It didn't take long for Vivian to get her gear together, and soon they were on the road, headed for Bolmont.

"You cleared this pass with the CO, right?" Vivian asked.

"Nope, forged his signature," David said cheerily.  "We'll both be in the stockade when we get back."

"Not funny," Vivian said.

"Was so," David replied.

"Hmph."

 David's arrival home had added a lightness to the spirit in the house.  Everyone just felt better knowing he'd not be off fighting during the holiday.

Which was not to say he didn't have things to do.  He was doing one of them now.  While he had spent a full day at home, relaxing and getting reacquainted with everyone, there was one thing he needed to deal with.

Like the first time, he met Tanya in the Slyther Inn, and they went to a room to talk.  They were joined by JoAnne this time.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing her in on this.  I needed the help."

David shook his head.  "There's no way she could have been involved.  I didn't even meet JoAnne until I started with Sword and Staff class."

"That's what I figured," Tanya told him.

"So, have you found anything?"

"Yes... and no," Tanya said, her look growing confused.

"Care to elaborate?"

"You have to realize, David, that investigating the staff without them finding out is very hard to do."

"I know that."

"I can't just come out and ask questions about... well, anything, really.  But especially about you.  What I've taken to doing is starting conversations by mentioning how much I miss you being around, and seeing where that takes me."

"Not a bad idea, if dishonest..."

"Dishonest, hell," Tanya retorted.  "I do miss having you around.  Especially with the school the way it is right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

JoAnne explained, "The stress of the war is leading to lots of discipline problems.  Fights break out regularly, not because of any organized problem, but just because nerves are frayed."

David nodded.  "I doubt I'd handle that better than you.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't."

Tanya smiled slightly.

"Anyway, so you talk about missing me... has that led anywhere?"

"A couple of people have said things that maybe they shouldn't have, but I've only got bits and pieces.  What I know so far is that something is or was going on concerning your schooling.  Nobody's come right out and said so, but there's been some mention of how they were certainly keeping an eye on you throughout your years there."

David frowned.  "No mention of Levi Dailey?"

"No.  Of course, I can't mention the name, as it would tip people off, if they know something."

"Right," David agreed.

JoAnne asked, "Do you really think they betrayed you to this guy?"

"I don't know what to think.  That's why I'm asking you guys to look."

"Yeah, well... Tanya may be willing to work for free, but if you want my continued help, you'd best get naked fast."

Tanya giggled, and David smirked and began to undo his shirt.

The next few hours were sweaty, loud and very enjoyable.

"You'll have fun with Auntie Janine and Cody," Zyla told Grace.  "They're gonna make a snowman, and you can help."

"Why you not come?" Grace asked.

"Uncle David and I have some chores to do."

"You come to Auntie Janine's after?"

"Sure, if we get done in time."

"'Kay."

Grace gave Zyla a hug, then tried to break David's neck, and headed out the door with Janine.

"Nice of Janine to take Grace for the day," David said.

"It's her turn."

"Turn?"

"Oh, that's right.  You haven't been involved with kids around Yuletide.  Neighborhood parents get together and form a kind of... well, like a club, almost.  One of the things the members of the club do, is they take turns not participating in Yuletide, so that they can watch everybody's kids, the ones who are too young to take part."

"So, Janine is going to be inundated by a couple dozen kids?"

Zyla chuckled.  "Four.  There are only four kids below the age of twelve."

"Twelve is when they start going through the whole thing?"

"Right.  Before that, they're really not able to understand the purpose.  And a lot of them get scared by the Remember Orb.  They don't quite get what's going on."

David nodded.  "I remember my first experience.  It was a bit odd."

Zyla smiled.

There was a long lull in the conversation, where they just sat and listened to the magical chime that Zyla had hung in the living room.  It was like a wind chime, only it required no wind.

Finally, the silence grew too heavy for David.

"So...  I guess we should get this over with..."

"You don't want to do it, either?" Zyla asked, surprised.

"The last year of my life has been nothing to savor.  Most of it is stuff I wish I could forget."

"Me, too," Zyla agreed.

"A couple years ago, a friend and I decided, instead of doing the orb, we'd just sit and reminisce the old-fashioned way.  You know, by talking about stuff."

Zyla smiled slightly.  "I'm not sure we have a lot of good things to talk about, either."

"This is true," David conceded.  "You want to just skip it altogether and go build a snowman?"

Zyla's smile grew a bit larger, but then it was erased and replaced with a frown.

"No.  I'm going to ask you to do something I'm sure you don't want to do."

"Oh?" David asked.

"And I apologize ahead of time for asking, but I need this."

"What is it?"

"I need you to tell me about the day Joe died."

"I told you, he was killed by the Vrudenans."

"I need more than that.  I need you to walk me through it, step by step."

"Zyla, that could get awfully painful..."

"Nothing can really be worse than the things my imagination conjures up at three in the morning when I can't sleep and all I can do is lie there, listening to the silence and hoping for the hurt to stop."  Her eyes were already misty.

David reached over and took Zyla's hand, squeezing gently.  She looked up at him with a smile of gratitude, but it was brief.

"Where do you want me to start?" he asked.

"From the beginning."

David sat for a long moment, trying to work his mind around how to begin.  Finally, he turned to Zyla.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"I'm sure," she replied quietly.

David took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, marshaling his thoughts for what was to come.  When he spoke, his voice was quiet and somewhat lifeless.

"The purpose of the mission was to find the Vrudenan Army.  Our army had lost track of them, and so they sent us in to locate them and report back.

"We wandered through the woods for a couple days before we finally spotted a few Vrudenans.  Just a company's worth, maybe two or three hundred.

"Well, as we watched that day, the number went from two or three hundred to thousands of them.  We knew we had to report in on this immediately; if a unit this size went unchallenged, it would be a disaster."

David's voice gained some life as he talked, but that wasn't a good thing, as his tone grew more troubled.

"I decided to wait for the darkest part of the night to move out.  I was hoping we'd have a better shot at slipping past them if they couldn't see us.  It was pretty stupid thinking on my part.  Weres have excellent hearing, a phenomenal sense of smell, and have better night vision than humans do.  We should have gone during the day; it would have cut down on their advantages."

Zyla didn't say anything as David began to fidget, having to relive this event in his head.  He stood up and paced for a couple moments before he could continue.

"We'd actually made it past the base itself before we got spotted.  It was just some were taking a walk in the woods.  I guess he was a patrolling guard, or something.  In any case, it was just him, just one random guy in the woods."

David returned to his seat as he continued.  "We... killed him as quickly and as quietly as we could.  I tried to use a little psychological warfare on them, but I think it backfired.  I think it just pissed them off."

"What did you do?" Zyla asked.

"Well, to kill the guy, I'd cut off his head with my sword.  I then, kinda, rammed his head onto a stick and stuck it in the ground."

David waited for a reaction from Zyla, but he didn't get one.  After a moment, he continued.

"We moved out as fast as we could quietly, trying to put distance between us and the dead werewolf.  Unfortunately, they found him in one hell of a hurry, and they were after us."

David's voice grew tight as he tried to carry on with the story.  Looking over, he saw Zyla's eyes glistening with tears.  He took a deep breath, and continued.

"We ran for hours.  Through bushes, between trees, over rocks, down dry river beds... anything I could think of to get us more distance between us and them.

"Then..." David's voice cracked, and he had to struggle to regain himself.  "Then we came to a clearing.  It was a big clearing, hundreds of yards wide, and at least a quarter-mile long.  We couldn't turn back, and we couldn't go around it; doing so would have let them catch up with us.  We had to cross it.

David shuddered, and he stood up again, pacing, trying to shake off the horror he still felt.  He finally turned back to Zyla.

"We ran as fast as we could... We... didn't make it..." David said, his voice giving out.

"What happened?" Zyla asked, unable to stop herself, though her tears were flowing freely now.

"We'd gotten... maybe halfway, maybe a little less.  Joe had dropped about thirty feet behind me.  The Vrudenans were firing dozens, hundreds of energy balls at us.  They were whizzing past all over the place.  How they only managed to hit their target four times, I'll never understand.

"We were running, and Joe screamed.  I turned just in time to see him start to fall from the first hit.  As he fell, they hit him three more times."

"No," Zyla cried out, turning herself away from David and curling in on herself.  David moved over and knelt on the couch next to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly as she cried.

After long minutes, Zyla straightened up.  She was still crying, but her sobs had quieted.  With her eyes, she motioned David to sit next to her.

"We can skip the rest," David said somewhat hopefully.  He didn't want to put her through the pain, but truthfully, he didn't want to live through it again, either.

Zyla shook her head.  "No," she said quietly.  She turned and slipped herself onto David's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head against his shoulder.  "Please tell me the rest.  I need to hear it."

"It's only going to hurt more," David objected, really not wanting to carry on.

"I know," she said.  "Please."

David nodded, and he took a shuddering breath.  Both of them were crying openly at this point, tears rolling down both their faces as they each considered the loss of a friend, a partner.

David said quietly, "I put up a shield spell, so that I could... try... something... try to fix him, try to repair the damage, try to... fuck, I don't even know.  I saw those last three shots... I don't know anyone who could have survived them.  I knew that, even then, but I wouldn't admit it...

"I forced him to take a curative potion, but I might as well have given him Pumpkin Ale for all the good it was going to do," David said bitterly.  "I tried, Zyla.  I..." David said, his voice cracking and catching in his throat.

"I know you did," she said quietly, trying to look into his eyes through her own tears.  "I know you wouldn't have given up on him until there was absolutely no hope."

"There was... I should have given him a pain potion instead of that damned curative.  At least then he'd have been a little more at ease."  It was one of David's dirty little secrets, and he would never, ever forgive himself for that mistake.

"You did the best you could," she told him.  Hesitantly, her own voice hoarse now, she asked, "How... how long did it take?"

David struggled to get himself under control.  "Two minutes... three?  Maybe a little longer.  It wasn't much.  Under five minutes, at any rate."

"So he didn't suffer for long."

"No," David confirmed.

"At least there's that," Zyla said quietly.  "Was he able to talk?"

David just nodded.

"What did he say?"

"He asked me to make sure you and Grace were okay.  Then he tried to forgive me for being a fucking moron and getting him killed," David said bitterly.

Zyla sat for a long moment, weeping.  Quietly, she said, "Joe..."  David just held onto her as she wept.  He was feeling as bad now as he ever had, thinking about that day.

After several minutes, when her tears had slowed back to a trickle, Zyla asked, "After he... passed... what happened?"

"I sat."

"With werewolves all around you?" Zyla asked.

"I still had the shield spell up.  They couldn't get to us."

"How long did you sit?"

"I have no idea.  Ten minutes, a half hour?  Two hours?  I really don't know."

"Then what?"

"I... I vaporized Joe's body.  So that the bastards couldn't do anything to it."

"Thank you for that," Zyla said quietly.  David nodded.

"And... what did you do after that?" she prompted.

"I killed," David said coldly.

"How many?" Zyla wondered.

"At least a hundred.  Maybe a few more."

"My god," Zyla said, shocked.  "After... after that, what did you do?"

"I went home."

"They didn't chase you?"

"Zyla, there was nobody left to chase me.  I... killed... everybody," he told her.  She could see the look of hatred, mixed with fear and self-loathing, in his face.

Once David got control of himself, he was able to continue.

"Besides, how do you chase a ghost?" David asked quietly.  "The part of the mission that still pisses me off is that Joe didn't have to die."

"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting back away from him so she could see him, but not letting go of him.

"Apart from my own fuck-ups, Joe should never have been on the mission.  It was a recon mission; I could have gone alone.  They didn't need us to do anything, just to see something.  I could have remained in ghost form and invisible for the entire mission, and there would have been no chance at all of them discovering my presence.  I could have walked right through the middle of their camp, completely unchallenged."

"So... why did Joe go with you?"

"Because Batalisto Von Fucknuts said so," David spat venomously.

"You... um... didn't do anything to him, did you?"

"Not directly, no.  I think my report got him reassigned."

"Would you have?"

"I don't know.  As mad as I was, I was too much in shock at what had happened... I was too afraid of having to tell you that I'd gotten your husband killed...  Telling Grace that her daddy was gone..." he said, his voice cracking again, his own tears flowing anew.

"It wasn't your fault, David," Zyla said supportingly.  "You did your very best.  I am convinced of that.  When you do your best and it doesn't work out... that's not your fault, that's just life."

"No, it was death," David said dully.  With that, Zyla laid her head back down on his shoulder and pulled herself more tightly into him.  The two stayed that way, silently grieving, for a very long time.

 David had taken Zyla and Grace into Bolmont to celebrate the Day of Celebration, and they had had a grand time.  Grace had gotten into a snowball fight with other kids her age, and she'd had a blast.  A musician had set up an ice melodium, and its sound was bright and cheerful, filling the central square with music.

They had returned home when Grace simply had no energy left, and she had gone straight to bed, without even taking a bath.

Zyla found David the next morning in the kitchen.  He had made tea for her, and was currently making cinnamon rolls.

"When did you learn how to bake?" Zyla asked in surprise.

"I have... a special cookbook," David said.  He was referring to the Book of Galen, which had a cookbook as its disguise.

"Well, those smell glorious.  Are they ready?"

"Still a little hot, so be careful," he said, putting two on a plate and setting it in front of her.  He poured himself a glass of milk, then he sat down at the counter with her.

"Do you have any... issues... to take care of today?" he asked.  It was the Day of Redemption: the time for healing wounds and righting wrongs.

Zyla frowned.  "No.  The only thing from this past year that I really regret... I can't fix."

"Oh?" David asked.

Zyla took a sip of her tea, then said, "One of the things that haunts me in the dark hours, is that I never got to say good-bye to Joe properly."

"I don't understand," David said.

"When he left here the last time, to go back to base, I was in the middle of a struggle with Grace.  I was trying to get her to behave, and he didn't want to be late... anyway, he left, and we... I..."

David reached over when he saw the tears in her eyes.  He held her hand gently, rubbing his thumb back and forth to help calm her.

"You have to know, he knew you loved him.  You and Grace were the last thoughts on his mind."

"I know.  I just wish... I just wish it didn't have to have been that way."

David nodded, and simply held her hand.  After a short while, he gently released her hand, and returned to his breakfast.  Zyla took a sip of her tea, then wiped her eyes with her napkin.

After a few more minutes, she asked, "What about you?  Is there anything you need to do today?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure I want to," he said.

"That seems peculiar.  If something's wrong, shouldn't you want to fix it?"

"It's not so much something that's wrong.  It's an apology I have to give to someone, and it's going to be a very painful thing for me to do."

"Well, you know it only gets worse if you keep delaying it.  You don't think you need to apologize to me, do you?"

David smirked.  "I'll be apologizing to you for the rest of your life.  That, I can't get rid of.  No, this is something... else."

"You don't owe me an apology for anything, David."

"Other than screwing up your life," he said quietly.

"You didn't do that.  The Vrudenans did."

"Hmm," David replied.

"In any case, whoever it is you feel you need to apologize to... putting it off isn't going to make you feel better about it."

"I know.  But I honestly don't think making the apology is going to make me feel better, either."

"Oh," she said.  She wasn't sure what to say to that.

"So, until I get that figured out, what should we do with our day?"

"I'm not sure."

"Will Grace be visiting with Janine today?"

"Well, she would be if we had things to do... but since neither of us is going to be busy, I don't see much point, do you?"

"Maybe not.  We could do something fun for her, I suppose..."

"What did you have in mind?"

David twisted up his face in thought for a long moment, then said, "Have you ever ridden a pegasus?"

"No."

"Would you like to?"

"I've never thought about it before.  They're kind of scary, being so big..."

"But the view..."

"You don't think it would scare Grace?" Zyla asked.

"Not as long as we were with her," David said.

"Well, okay, let's give it a try.  Do you think that will take the whole day?"

"No, probably not.  But, you know, Janine's house has four snowmen in its yard.  Yours doesn't have any.  I think that's unfair."

Zyla smiled.  "Well, we can't have that," she said.  "We'll have to fix that right after she has her breakfast."

"Good deal," David said.

They had found plenty of fun things to do, inside and out, and it was mid-afternoon before they got around to the peg rides.  Janine brought the other three children down, and David had given each of them a ride.  He had then given Zyla a ride while Janine kept an eye on Grace and the other children.  Grace got an extra-long ride, because she had enjoyed it so much.  By the time David brought Grace back to the house, she had screamed herself hoarse from excitement, and she was definitely ready for a short nap.

"I'm gonna take Cupcake on a workout flight.  I'll be back in... oh, half-hour or so," David told Zyla.

"You think she still needs exercise?" Zyla asked bemusedly.

David smirked.  "Zyla, what we do on a workout flight would make you lose your lunch.  Right now, Cupcake is bored.  She needs to have some fun."

"Oh," she said, and giggled.  "Okay.  Well, I'll put Grace down for a nap, and start dinner."

David nodded, then he patted Cupcake on the neck.  "Let's go, girl," he said.

Zyla was shocked at how quickly they disappeared into the sky.

"Whee!" Grace croaked, watching them go.  Zyla chuckled at her daughter.

"Come on, Sweetheart.  Time to take a nap."

"'Kay..." Grace said.  She was too tired to argue.

  Zyla was peeling some potatoes at the sink when she saw David and Cupcake landing in the street.  She decided to go out and greet him, and wish Cupcake a good night, since she would be heading back to Pendergrast Manor now.

As Zyla stepped out of the door, she saw David pacing back and forth in front of Cupcake.  Cupcake stood still, watching him.  Curious, Zyla moved closer, but to a spot where she wouldn't be seen.  It wasn't like her to eavesdrop, but she could sense that David was seriously troubled, and she wanted to know what was wrong.

Finally, after more than a minute of pacing, David moved close to Cupcake.  Zyla could see the look on his face, and it was such a look of sadness, she almost revealed herself to go to him and comfort him.  That, however, would not tell her what she wanted to know, so she remained where she was.

"Cupcake...", David started out, his voice already strained and his tone indicated he was struggling to say what he needed to.  "I don't know if you really understand about our festivals and holidays... today is something we call the Day of Redemption.  It's a day when you try to apologize and make up for things you've done wrong to someone.

"I've done something that... something I need you to forgive me for.  But I'll understand if you can't.

"Do you understand, at all, about war?" David asked her.

Cupcake nodded.

"And you know we're fighting one, right now," he continued.

Cupcake nodded again.

"Well, when I was on a mission, I met another pegasus.  I named her Virtue.  Do you remember how you and I met?"

Cupcake nodded once more.

"Virtue was the same way, only much worse off than you were.  Her wing rot was so bad, I... I couldn't fix it.  You... know what that means, right?"

Again, Cupcake nodded.  She nuzzled David softly.

"Cupcake... I..." David's voice caught, and he had to stop for a moment.  He turned away, to look out, down the street, at nothing.  Finally, he turned back to her.

"When I realized... what was going to happen... I..."

Finally, David blurted, "I sent her to be killed by our enemy!"

Cupcake snorted in distress.

"I don't know why... I mean... I know what I told myself... I know what 'logic' I used to make it 'the right thing'... but she didn't deserve that!" David screamed.  "I'm sorry!" David said, and collapsed to his knees on the ground, overwhelmed with the guilt he felt.  His sobs filled the empty street.

Zyla couldn't stop herself at this point.  She went over and knelt beside David.  She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and hugged him tightly.  She waited, holding him, until his sobs had died off somewhat.

Softly, very gently, she said, "Tell us why you did it."

David didn't look up.  He couldn't.  He didn't dare face either of them.  "To fullfill my mission," he spat, his hatred for himself obvious.

"Your mission was to kill a pegasus?" Zyla asked dubiously.  "I have trouble believing that."

"My mission was to find a way to neutralize the were-raptors that were helping coordinate battles for the Vrudenans.  Were-raptors are birds.  They can also get wing rot.  I sent Virtue in there... to infect them.  What they did to that dear, sweet peg..."

Zyla hugged him more tightly.  "You watched?"

"I had to!  I couldn't let her die alone," he sobbed.  "I was in a tree, so the weres wouldn't smell or see me.  I saw... everything.  It was horrible," he finished, his shudder of disgust added to the heaving shudders of his sobbing.

Zyla pulled David gently to his feet.  She held him for a moment, but then she turned to Cupcake.

"It's not my forgiveness he's asking for," she told the pegasus bluntly, staring into her eye.

Cupcake stepped forward, and Zyla stepped away.  Cupcake gently nudged David's cheek, to get him to look up at her.  When he did, she looked him in the eye for a long moment.  Zyla had no idea what was going to happen.

Finally, Cupcake took a few steps backward.  Zyla was about to panic; she thought that Cupcake was going to reject David's apology.

Suddenly, Cupcake reared up on her hind legs.  She tucked her front legs against her body, and her neck arched, her head turned so that she continued to look at David.  She unfurled her wings, curving them slightly forward, toward David.  Holding the pose, she nickered deeply.

After a few more seconds, Cupcake settled back to the ground, and moved forward again.  She bent her head forward, and rested it gently on David's shoulder.  David immediately wrapped his arms around Cupcake's neck and his sobbing increased to the point where his whole body was shaking like a leaf in a tornado.

"Thank you," David said to Cupcake.  "Thank you."

Zyla silently slipped back into the house.  She didn't need to intrude further.

It was a solid half-hour before David came back into the house.  He looked awful, and he immediately headed to the bathroom.  Zyla thought that was extremely odd, until she heard the shower running.  She thought maybe he needed to be alone; it was the one place in the house he knew she wouldn't follow him.

When he was done, he came out to the kitchen and sat at the counter.

Zyla stood across from him and said, "I'm sorry for intruding.  My female curiosity got the best of me."

"Huh?" David asked.

"Outside?  With Cupcake?" she prompted.

"Were you there?" he asked, almost sincerely enough to make her believe him.  She gave him a dirty look.

"I would have told you, but I didn't figure you needed further proof of just how evil I'm becoming."

Zyla reached across and took David's hand.  "David, if what you had done was evil, you would not have just begged Cupcake for forgiveness.  You wouldn't care about what you'd done.  You did an... ugly thing.  But that ugliness isn't you, it's just the thing.  You did what you had to do.  You did what commanders in armies in wars have always been forced to do: make hard decisions that get people killed.  'Evil' would have been infecting a healthy pegasus, just so you could send them in to be killed.  You didn't do that.  You wouldn't do that.  You are not evil.  You are a good man, doing a very hard job, and doing the best that you can.  Sometimes, that's going to mean doing things that don't feel very good, but they still have to be done.

"The truth is, David, this doesn't give me more proof of how evil you are.  This gives me proof that there is still plenty of good inside you.  You carry around all of this... crap... from the war, and yet the death of a single friend still hurts you.  That's humanity, David.  Hang on to it as tight as you can."  She squeezed his hand tight for a moment, then let him go.

"Thanks, Zyla.  I appreciate it.  Even if I'm not entirely sure I believe you."

Zyla smiled softly at him, and then turned to making dinner.

"By the way," she asked after a couple minutes of silence.  "What was that... display... that she did?"

"Rising up on her back legs, you mean?"  David asked.

"Yeah."

"Within the herd, after there's been some kind of trouble... usually a dominance fight, but there are other things that can happen... anyway, after something like that, when everybody's calmed back down and the 'troublemaker', so to speak, is asking to rejoin the herd, the rest of the herd will perform that gesture if they are willing to let things go.

"In other words... it's her way of saying, 'I forgive you.'"

 David was very glad for the Day of Expectation.  It was a more festive atmosphere, and a good balm for his soul, which had taken a fairly heavy beating the day before.

Now it was the Day of Presentation, more commonly known as Christmas.  He had been up for a few hours now, and was making breakfast.  He was currently making homemade hot cocoa.

Zyla made her way out to the kitchen, following the wonderful smell of chocolate.

"Merry Christmas, David," she said as she slipped onto a stool at the counter.

"Merry Christmas," he said.

"What have you conjured up for us today?" she asked with a smile.

"Banana bread, summer sausage with cheese, biscuits and jam, and hot cocoa."

"You're hired," Zyla said with a grin.  David chuckled.  He ladled out a cup for her, and set it on the counter.  He then moved the foods over, so she could take her pick.

 It wasn't too long before Grace made her appearance in the kitchen.

"Morning, Mommy," she said sleepily.

"Good morning, Sweetheart," Zyla said.

Grace walked around the counter so that she could wrap her arms around David's waist.

"Morning, Uncle David," she said.

"Good morning, Gracie," he said brightly.  "Merry Christmas."

She looked up at him, her eyes growing bright.  "It's Christmas?"

"Yep."

"Can we-"

"Not until you eat something, and have some cocoa," he said.

She frowned, but said, "Okay."

David picked her up and put her in a chair that was high enough to reach the counter.  It had arms, so she wouldn't fall off.  He buttered a piece of banana bread for her and cut it in half, then gave it to her, along with a couple of the sausage-and-cheese stacks and a biscuit, on which he spread some apple butter, which was her favorite.  He poured her about a half-cup of cocoa, then added cold milk to it, so she wouldn't burn herself.

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

"You're welcome, Sweetie," David said.  Zyla smiled at David and took a sip of her cocoa.

Breakfast was a rapid affair, which was to be expected, with an anxious child in the room.  Soon they were in the living room, and Grace was bouncing, waiting for someone to tell her she could open a present.

David stacked up her boxes on the floor, and then he said, "Okay, have at it."

Grace squealed with glee, and grabbed a box.  She was tearing into the paper instantly.  David just shook his head in amusement, then grabbed the two remaining gifts under the tree.  One was his, from Zyla.  The other was his gift to her.

He sat down next to Zyla and handed her gift to her.

"Thank you," she said.  David just smiled and nodded.

"Who gets to go first?" he asked.

"You're the guest..."

David snorted.

"Well, then how do you want to decide?"

"Ladies first," David said.

"Oh, fine," she said with a smile.  She was far more sedate in her unwrapping than Grace.

Inside the box, Zyla found a framed image of David, in his military uniform.  At the top of the frame, it had his name.  Across the bottom, it said, "Healthy - Resting".  She looked to David for an explanation.

"It's an AutoCAD," he said.  He grinned because the name was hilarious to him, but knew that Zyla wouldn't get the joke.  "It means Automatic Condition-At-a-Distance.  You've said a few times that you get worried about how I'm doing when you don't hear from me for a while.  I don't like that I'm making you upset, so I found this.  It will tell you how I am, and what I'm doing, at any time."

"So, if you get hurt, it will tell me?"

"Yes."

She looked back at it, and traced her hand across it.  "Thank you," she said quietly.  "I admit, there are times, when you've been gone for a couple weeks, that I find myself just staring at the wall, thinking the worst."

David nodded.  "Now you don't have to.  Just ask the picture."

"Can I be totally honest, though?" she asked.

"Sure."

"I hate this picture of you.  I hate that uniform."

"You can change it, if you have another picture of me.  It was the only one I had handy."

"You wouldn't be upset?"

"I'm not overly fond of that uniform myself.  It hasn't exactly done me any favors."

"No, it hasn't," she said, looking down at it again.  Finally, she set it aside, and looked back at him.  "So.  Your turn."

David looked over at Grace, to see how she was faring.  So far, she'd gotten about half her presents unwrapped, and turned the living room into a disaster area.  He smirked, then opened his own present.

Inside the box was an amulet.  It was roughly circular, with six lobes.  It was black, but with gold around the edge.  In the center was a vivid blue sphere, set deep into the amulet, and held in with a gold setting.  The whole thing was about two inches across.  David pulled it out of the box and held it up to the light, watching it reflect in the stone.  He looked to Zyla.

"Just a decoration, or..."

"It has two jobs," she replied.  "First, it is a protection talisman against hexes.  I was trying to reduce my worry about you, too," she said with a self-effacing grin.

David smiled at her.  "And two?"

"Put it on and hold the amulet in your hand," she said.

David did so, and floating in front of him, he saw a translucent image of Zyla and Grace smiling at him.

"It's to remind you that, no matter how ugly things get out there, there are two people who want you to come home safe... and sane."

David stared at the image for a long moment, and then let his hand drop.  He looked over at Zyla, then leaned over and hugged her.  She hugged him back just as strongly.

"Thanks," he said.

"She sleeping?" Zyla asked.

"Took two full readings of her favorite story, but she's asleep.  Clutching her stuffed drakee, who she has for some reason named Odie."

Zyla chuckled as David set about organizing Grace's presents back under the tree.

"David, I want to tell you, I appreciate you spending Yule with us.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to hold myself together without you here."

David paused in what he was doing and looked over at her.  "I think I've needed your help more in the last few days than you've needed mine," he said gently.

Zyla didn't agree, but she didn't argue the point.  "Still," she said, "it does bother me a little."

"What's that?" David asked.

"Wouldn't you rather be at home, with your loved ones?"

"I've been with a couple of my loved ones," David said quietly.

Zyla blushed, but pushed through.  "But, I mean, wouldn't you rather be there, than having to look after us?"

"No," David said.  "Not really."

"Why not?"

David looked down at the floor for a long moment, then looked back up at her.  "That is... really hard for me to put into words.  Being at home is comfortable... but... I don't actually get much out of that.  I mean, it's better than being at work, given what my current job is, but..." David shrugged.

"Being here, on the other hand," he continued after a second, "makes me feel good.  I'm not really able to tell you just how."

"You'd really rather be here than at home with... what is her name again?"

"Olissa?"

"Yes, her."

"Olissa understands why I'm here and not there," he said, not really answering her question.

Zyla nodded, and sat quietly while David finished arranging the toys.  When he came and sat beside her on the couch, she turned to him.

"If I ask you a question, will you promise to give me a completely honest answer?"

"If I can," he said.

"If Joe had not asked you to look after us..." she started.

David interrupted.  "Joe didn't ask for anything that wasn't going to happen anyway.  No, I'm not here just because Joe asked me to be.  I'm here because you're..." David almost said family, but he had already stepped on that landmine once.  Instead, he finished up with, "...important to me."

There were tears in Zyla's eyes when she said, "Thank you, David."  The two hugged for a long moment.  After they separated, Zyla wiped her eyes, then she said, "Well, I guess I'd better get started on dinner."

"Want some help?"

"You can make dessert," she said.

"My favorite part," he replied with a grin.

 At bedtime, David made the rounds, extinguishing the candles in the house.  Zyla had already gone to her room, and he would be heading to his as soon as he was done.  He took a moment to straighten up, as well; Grace had made a mess with her new toys again before her bedtime.

With everything done, David headed down the hall toward his room, which was across the hall from Zyla's.  When he reached his room, he realized that Zyla was standing in her doorway, waiting for him.  She was wearing a full-length gown, but he still felt a little embarrassed about seeing her that way.  He was wearing pajamas, himself, which he still couldn't get used to, as he normally only wore underwear to sleep in.

He turned to say good-night to Zyla, but noticed a curious expression on her face that he couldn't read.

"Something the matter?" he asked quietly.

Zyla stepped forward, so she was actually now in the hallway with him.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier, about feeling good when you're here, about us being important to you."

She took a deep breath, and continued.  "You're very important to me, too, David.  I..." here, she faltered.  "I don't really know exactly how to say what I'm feeling," she said.  David reached out and put his hands gently on her upper arms in encouragement.

At that, Zyla cocked her head ever so slightly, and her face took on a certain expression.  David didn't know if he was interpreting correctly or not.  He stepped in slightly, and started to lean forward.  As he got closer, he jolted, startled by something.  It took him just a moment to realize that he had been so focused on her face that she had surprised him just by blinking.

Zyla had not moved, and so David continued to lean forward.  In another moment, their lips connected.  David let his hands slip off her arms as she lifted them to wrap around his neck.  He moved his hands to her sides, then slid them around to her back, gingerly holding her against himself.

They remained that way for a long moment, holding each other and kissing.  Finally, Zyla broke their kiss.  David released her immediately as she stepped back, letting his hands slide back onto her sides.  For another moment, she looked into his eyes, and he gazed into hers.

When she moved, Zyla turned away from David.  He was about to let his hands drop, but she took hold of his right hand with hers, and walked into her bedroom.  He followed behind, until she stopped at the bed.  He knew she was about to turn around, but he reached out with his left hand and stopped her.  He stepped up behind her, and she brought his right hand around to rest on her stomach.  He moved his left hand to join it, and he held her against himself once more.

For another long moment, the two remained that way.  No words were spoken, and both of them were sure they could feel the other person's heartbeat, even though David didn't even have one.

Breaking their trance, David reached up and gently tugged loose the tie at the back of Zyla's neck that was holding the gown up.  Once it came loose, he pushed it off her shoulders.  It fell to where her hands rested on her stomach.  She loosened her grip and let it slowly fall to the floor.

Zyla turned now, giving David his first look at her naked body.  He let his eyes slide over her form: her ample breasts, with their pale areolas and erect nipples; her smooth stomach with only the slightest hint of a bulge; her neatly trimmed pubic hair, which highlighted the vee of her legs; her legs themselves, which were smooth and toned.  He moved his gaze back up as slowly as he had let it drop, until he was once again looking into her deep green eyes.  He smiled softly at her, and then he reached up to unfasten his pajama top.

Zyla watched in rapt silence as David removed all of his clothes.  Both of them were now nude.  She moved back to him and wrapped her arms around his chest, resting her head against him.  David slipped his arms around her, holding her to him.  She didn't even really notice how cold he was, only how he was making her feel.

Leaning her head back, she looked into David's eyes, and once again they kissed.  After a few seconds, she slipped her tongue out and ran it across his lip.  He parted his lips, and his tongue slid out to meet its partner.  They French-kissed for a long moment, allowing their passions to rise as they held each other more and more tightly.

David was the one to break the embrace this time.  He gently pushed Zyla back until she was standing at the side of the bed.  He gestured for her to lie down, and she did.  For another moment, he stood, looking down at her, her face lit by the candles in the room, her body highlighted in sensual ways.

David waved his hand, and the door swished shut silently.  Another quick motion, and the privacy field appeared.

Having those details taken care of, David moved onto the bed with Zyla, lying beside her and leaning up on his elbow.  His hand rested gently on her stomach, and he leaned down to kiss her once more.  As they kissed, he slowly moved his hand upward until it was resting on her breast.  Zyla sighed softly as he caressed her flesh.  Their kiss deepened as his hand worked, and soon their tongues were once again slipping wetly against each other.

After a very long moment, David broke their kiss.  He moved downward, planting soft kisses as he went, until his lips surrounded Zyla's nipple.  She moaned quietly as his lips sucked and his tongue slid across it.  He let his fingers slide across her other nipple, and Zyla shivered.

David made sure to give the other nipple equal attention before he moved on, continuing to kiss his way downward, inch by inch, until he had reached the top of Zyla's mound.  Zyla had long since parted her legs, to give him room to do whatever he liked.  Now, he slipped himself down until he was gazing upon her pussy.  It was wet, and her outer lips were parted, waiting for his attention.

David ran his tongue slowly along her pussy lips, from her entrance all the way up to her clit.  Zyla moaned loudly and her hips shuddered from the pleasure of it.  David continued these slow licks, paying attention to her excitement.  When he sensed she was close enough, he moved his tongue directly to her clit and began to massage it.  He gently ran the tip of his tongue all the way around her clit, then slid the side of his tongue against it.

"Oh, god," Zyla moaned as her hips rolled and her body shivered.  She was on the verge of climax.

David kept up his ministrations, licking her smoothly and slowly.  He slipped his hands on top of her thighs and caressed the skin there, sliding up to her belly and back down, his touch light and electric to her senses.

In just a short while, Zyla finally cried out in ecstasy, her body shuddering, and her pussy flooding David's chin with her juices.  David backed off, knowing she might be very sensitive, but continued to caress her with his hands.

As Zyla's orgasm died down, David leaned back, kneeling between her legs and still caressing her thighs and stomach.  Occasionally, he would reach further and let his hands glide tenderly over her breasts.  This caused little shivers of pleasure to run through her, and she would sigh and smile.

David waited patiently while Zyla recovered from her climax.  He enjoyed watching her face as she savored the pleasure.  He enjoyed seeing her body, coated in a sheen of sweat with candlelight glistening off it.  He enjoyed being able to touch her, caress her, make her feel good.

After a few minutes, Zyla recovered enough.  She looked up at David and smiled an invitation to him.  David leaned down over her.  He took his cock in hand and positioned it at her opening.  He pressed forward just hard enough to keep himself in place, and then leaned down until her face filled his vision.  Then, very tenderly, he pushed himself forward, slipping into Zyla's depths in one smooth, slow stroke.

Zyla moaned softly, and closed her eyes as he entered her.  Once he had reached bottom, she opened her eyes and looked into his.  She rippled her pussy along his cock, encouraging him to continue.

David started to rock his hips, sliding in and out of Zyla smoothly.  She felt wonderful, and she conveyed that with her eyes, as the two continued to keep their gazes locked on each other.  Finally, David leaned forward again, and they were kissing once more, their tongues engaged as their hips rolled in unison.

David's pleasure was intense, and he knew he wouldn't last too long.  He started to move faster, but keeping his movements smooth.  It didn't take much before he came, his body shuddering as his ecstasy washed over him.  He didn't stop thrusting, however.  As he felt himself start to soften slightly, he closed his eyes and faded to ghost form and back.

Zyla gasped slightly at the sudden change in sensation.  She didn't know why David had done that, but she got her answer fast enough, as she felt his cock come immediately back to hardness inside of her.

David now slowed his pace back down.  His lips once more engaged Zyla's, and their bodies moved in unison.

For long minutes, the two coupled.  Each one savored the feel of the other against their body, enjoyed the pleasure they were feeling.  Their arousal started to rise, and their movements sped up once again.

As they approached their peaks, they stopped kissing, and focused on what was coming.  Their gazes once again met as they grew closer and closer to completion.

The couple arrived together, crying out in unison as the bliss washed over them.  They moaned and shuddered and shivered together for a long time.

Once he had recovered his senses, David pulled Zyla into his embrace and rolled to the side.  His dick was still inside her, and she was still too lost in happiness to know what was going on.  He rubbed her back softly and waited for her.

When Zyla was finally back in touch with reality, she felt David's arms around her, felt his cock resting against her pussy lips, for it had finally slipped out on its own, and felt his cheek resting against the top of her head.  She absolutely did not want to move.  Ever.

She had to, of course.  She turned her head to look up at him, and the two kissed once more.  This kiss wasn't passion, but felt oh, so good anyway.

"Have I ever told you how incredibly beautiful you are?" David asked quietly.

Zyla blushed crimson.  "No," she said, a soft smile playing across her lips.

"Can I sleep here?" he asked next.

"I want you to," she replied.

David did a fancy bit of conjuring, so that they wouldn't have to move to get under the covers.  They kissed one more time, then David put out the candles, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

 What the fuck did we just do? David thought to himself the next morning.  He was, of course, up well before Zyla.  It was still before sunrise, but he was out in the back yard, pacing back and forth.

How could I do that to Joe?  That's his wife!  "Look after my family, David..." somehow, I don't think this is what he had in mind!  What am I supposed to say if I see him again?  "Hey, David, what you been up to?"  Oh, not much, just making love to your wife...  Yeah, I'm thinking that's not gonna go over well!  You idiot!

David was tormented.  If it had been a "heat of the moment" situation, he could have written it off.  It would have been bad, but they could have gotten through it and gone on with things.  This...

This wasn't heat of the moment, this was, at least to him, something much bigger, somewhat scary, and far more troubling.

Some friend you turned out to be, he thought to himself

For the fiftieth time since he'd gotten up, he asked himself the same question.

Now what?

David had spent three hours pacing the backyard.  He decided to try to distract himself by making breakfast.  He was just pulling the egg casserole out of the oven when Zyla came into the kitchen.

"Morning, David," she said to him.  Her tone was slightly different this morning.

David turned to say good morning to her in return, and their eyes met.  In that moment, both of them felt a lurch of emotions.  David averted his gaze almost immediately, but not as quickly as she did, and he saw her blushing before he finished turning away.

"Uh... oh, good morning," he finally said, remembering what he'd actually turned to face her for.  Casting around for something, anything to say, he came up with, "Breakfast will be done in a few minutes."

"Okay, great," she said.  She slipped into her usual seat at the counter, and David set about making tea for her.

Breakfast was an insanely awkward meal, and the two had a conversation full of half sentences and trailed off comments.  It was clear they were both uneasy about what had happened the night before.  Eye contact was brief and uncomfortable.

Grace's arrival was welcomed by both of them, as it gave them something else to focus on.

Around mid-morning, David went into his room to pack.  It had always been his plan to go back home once Yule was over, but now it seemed an even wiser thing to do.  Before I get myself in even deeper here.  I need time to think about this.

Zyla came into his room as he finished packing.

"Are you leaving now?" she asked quietly.

David looked at her.  She wasn't quite looking at him, but she was looking in his direction.  He walked over to her and put his hands on her upper arms.

That's how this whole thing started, shithead...

He left them there, anyway.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked.

Zyla still didn't look at him.  Instead, she wrapped her arms around him tightly and held on.  "I always want you to stay," she replied.  After a few moments, she let go and leaned back.  She looked into his face for a brief fraction of a second before blushing and looking off to one side.  "But... that wouldn't be fair to Olissa."

Who you've now caused him to cheat on, she thought to herself.  Slut.

"Okay," David said softly.  "Should I come back and visit in a few days?" he asked, not at all sure which answer he dreaded hearing more.

"Yes," she said firmly.  Guilt or no guilt, she didn't dare push him out of her life.

"Okay," he said again.  "I'll see you in a few days, then."

Zyla wrapped her arms around him again, holding him tightly.  He put his arms around her, as well.  After a long while, they both leaned back.  They couldn't look each other in the eye, but, almost as if coerced by some unseen force, they both leaned into the kiss.

They broke the kiss after a short while, and both let go.  Zyla, he could see, was blushing furiously.  He would have been, if he could blush.

You fucking moron...  This is not helping!

"I... should go," David said quietly.

"Okay," she said.  "You'll say good-bye to Grace before you go, right?"

"Of course."

"See you in a few days, David," she said, without looking at him.

"Yeah," he replied, then left the room.  Zyla sank down onto the bed and sat, staring at the wall, until she heard David talking to Grace.

"What the hell did I just do?" she said, her voice quivering.  "Oh, Joe..."

Grace found her crying on the bed ten minutes later.

There was a happy stir when David arrived back at Pendergrast Manor.  Olissa kissed him passionately at the door.  Not to be outdone, Denise nearly wrapped herself around him.  Vivian gave him a kiss, as well.

"Something wrong?" she asked, seeing a certain look in his eyes.

"No, just a little overwhelmed by all the affection," he lied.

"Fine.  Next time I won't kiss you," Vivian said. 

David snorted.  "Yeah.  Right."

Vivian blushed and giggled.

"We held up having Christmas until you got here," Denise told him.  "Let me tell you, trying to keep Gwen away from her presents for an extra day is like trying to fight your way past a tangle tree."

Gwen blushed, and David chuckled.  It felt good to be back in a lighthearted atmosphere.  He did truly enjoy spending time with Zyla, but the current state of affairs-

Now there's a phrase not to use, David thought to himself.

Everyone got on the lift and rode up to the second floor, to get their belated holiday underway.

"Master, are you all right?" Olissa asked.

David had been staring out at the lake for twenty minutes before she'd felt safe asking the question.

"Fine, why do you ask?" David replied in a voice that clearly broadcast that he was lying through his teeth.

"You've been very moody since you came back from Zyla's house.  It's been two days... is something wrong with Zyla?"

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Zyla... David thought to himself.

To Olissa, David said, "No.  There was a... I mean, we had a... situation."

"I don't understand," Olissa admitted.

"I know.  And I'll tell you about it eventually.  But for right now, I really feel like I need to work this one out on my own.  I need to know how I feel, without someone else's ideas getting mixed up in there.  If that makes any sense."

"I guess so," Olissa said.  "Did you have another... well, like the 'family' thing?"

"No, this was nothing like that," David said.  "Really, I'll tell you about it at some point.  Just not right now.  Could you go and make me some lunch?"

"Of course," she said, knowing he was just trying to get her to stop asking questions, but bound to do as he asked.  "What would you like?"

"Surprise me," he said.  "I'll be down in... oh, twenty minutes or so."

"Okay."  Olissa came over next to him.  "Master?" she asked.

David turned to her, the look on his face questioning.

"I love you," she said.

David pulled her to him and kissed her as hard as he ever had.  She responded in kind, and the two remained like that for a long time.  Finally, he let her loose.

"I love you, too, Little One.  Thank you."

Olissa smiled, and then she went to make his lunch.

David returned to looking out at the lake, and sighed.

What the fuck am I doing?