Fall was coming; VeeJay could smell it on the air as fruit and grain started to ripen toward harvesting. Usually this was her favorite time of year, with the days beginning to get cooler and the snap on the breeze at night. This year, right now ? she barely even noticed the turn of the seasons. It had been just over two weeks since the night Roland had been bitten, infected with the bear. Even if Roland had been of a mind to hide what happened, they never had the chance.

Armand had sent out a search party just before dawn, when the horses in the stables failed to calm down and a check of their room showed that both Roland and Vidya were absent. It wasn?t surprising for one or the other of them to be gone, but both at once, on such a strange night? So the tavern-keeper had gathered together what men he could and started looking.

It had been sheer good chance that the search party arrived at the hollow where bear and fox had bedded down at the same time as the sun did. Good chance, because disturbing the bear almost surely would have lead to deaths. Ill fortune, because it meant the search party had witnessed Roland?s first involuntary change back to human form, and Vee?s more controlled shift moments later. One man had turned and fled without a word, and during the entire trip back to Armand?s Tavern (with Roland and Vidya wearing what clothing could be borrowed) the members of the search party had been crossing themselves and muttering covert prayers.

The closer they had gotten to the Tavern, the more Roland had withdrawn into himself. When they arrived back at the complex, he had gone to the stables and tried to calm his horse. The stallion had panicked at the bear-scent and lashed out, leaving Roland with a hoof-print on his shoulder that faded away within half an hour. Since then, Vidya hadn?t been able to coax more than a handful of words from the young knight.

Now he spent most of his time reading old books, all of them ancient Catholic texts, in near-total silence. Vee?s bubbly, optimistic nature was subdued, and her worry was killing her normally voracious appetite. Cheekbones and collarbones were starting to show a little more sharply, despite Armand?s constant urgings to eat more. That was one point of light ? even after he found out what Vidya was, what Roland had become, Armand didn?t treat them any differently.

And after the first few days of fear and prayers, neither did the others who lived nearby. It surprised VeeJay, so she asked one of them why, and she was even more taken aback by the man?s simple answer. ?Well, it were Roland who saved my family, m?moiselle. And he?s being a Warrior of God. So God must have a reason.? And the farmer had shrugged and gone back to his dealing with Armand.

But even that hadn?t been enough to pull Roland from his depression. Now Vee sat on a sun-heated rock wall with her arms pulled tight around her knees, watching the procession of people towards the local church, and she felt cold and very much alone.

The church bells could call the anguished knight from his bed and even out under the sunny sky, but not into the stone chapel whose threshold he felt he would never cross again. His feet moved quietly over the grass because it was his habit, the old routines still strong among the new ones now forming. His hand moved to her shoulder, but he could not stand to look anyone in the eye, not even her... not yet. He breathed in the smell of autumn, meaning something different to him already, different from what it meant two short weeks ago.

As the last of the worshippers entered the church, a priest jogged to catch up and be on time for his own service. As he passed within twenty yards of the sun-soaked rock, he saw both Vidya, and Roland. His steps could not help but slow, and the man who could not have been much older than Roland himself stopped and made the sign of the cross - not for himself, but for the knight, a blessing. Then he hurried along into the church, and the wooden doors shut with an echoing thud.

"...I think it is time, Vidya," Roland murmured.

It had been impossible not to hear Roland?s quiet steps approaching. Hope springs eternal, and one of VeeJay?s hands freed from its lock-grip around her knee to reach up, to cover the warm touch on her shoulder. She looked up with the blinding smile that hadn?t been seen for weeks; thrilled to have him volunteering speech again. Even if the words baffled her. ?Time??

Roland nodded. "I should speak with Father Barnabas. It is the choice of the Church, what the fate of my soul shall be..." The words were difficult for him; the pain showed in his face, and he squeezed her shoulder. "Whatever happens to me, Vidya... I am lucky to have you with me."

His lips quirked towards a smile for just a moment, and his eyes cast off, searching the horizon and whatever thoughts lay there. It was likely his words were done for the day... but it was progress.


((With the collaboration of Roland's player - thanks!))

The port cities of the Barony never slept. As minor centers of cross-realms trade, local departure times had little bearing on local arrival times -- ships left Teobern at eleven p.m. and arrived a half day later in Vrashne at four in the afternoon. Late at night sailors moved cargo up and down planks, hoisted them between ships and warehouses with arcane-electric cranes that clanked and hummed, and the waterfront residents kept strange schedules accordingly.

Late-night workers had just as much potential as paying customers. For many that were new to the city it was a surreal experience, but Roland was growing used to the twilight.

Since Arctos' blood had taken up residence in his veins, Roland had kept a much different schedule. The twilight was his new companion, a provider of solace instead of the strange ally he'd always avoided before the change. He stood on one corner of the roof of a low warehouse, his sword twisted around to rest in his lap. He watched a beaten old ship with men in little more than rags... clean-shaven men who, to the sensitive nose, did not smell like street gutters and syphilis. The sailors looked at him frequently as they worked, and their stares did not deter the knight in the least.

Harbors were always a confusing muddle of scents for Vidya ? though less so here in the Barony than in Boston. At least here, there were no harsh scents of gasoline and diesel to mask everything else. So by closing her yellow-green eyes and concentrating, she could pick out the fresh soap beneath the filthy rags, and the sweet copper scent where one of those clean-shaven sailors had nicked himself with a razor. The lowering dusk was far more comfortable to her than daylight ? but then, she?d always been nocturnal, unlike Roland.

Twisting her head, she craned her neck back until she could see the darker outline, the silhouette of Roland?s head all she could see from this angle. The shadows of the narrow alley next to the warehouse hid her from all but the sharpest eyes ? and since those sailors smelled utterly human, she wasn?t worried about their other senses. But she wasn?t sure exactly why she was here, either, and so she?d elected to stay in the darkness.

Roland spoke very quietly, only a murmur of Vidya's name, and then fell silent again. He was calling her up to him, at the same time that he retreated ever so slightly from his corner. Giving him room to maneuver, and her room to hide near him. The crew returned to their work, with their attention on their surroundings far more than anything else.

The quiet murmur sounded clear as a bell beneath the hauling of ropes and cargo on the ship. Between the rapidly-closing darkness and Roland?s move back, farther from view of the sailors, VeeJay decided ? just this once ? to have a bit of fun.

White teeth flashed with her sudden, too-wide grin, and she stepped back to the opposite wall of the alley. Using it as a brace, she crouched and then leapt up, vertically. Her nails lengthened, hard and sharp, into claws that gave her grip on the gutter additional purchase as she swung up and over the edge of the roof. Her worn-down Converse barely made a sound when they landed on the wooden surface, and she had to throw one of her hands over her mouth to stifle the gleeful chortle.

As hard as it was getting used to his talents -- he could not yet transform at will, and his animalistic anger still required prayer and meditation and long exercise throughout the day -- Vidya's laughter brought a smile to his lips. "You have been watching them?" he whispered to her, the voice shared between hunters already settled into their cover with wary prey in sight. Barely more than a breath.

Wild black curls bobbed in their ponytail restraint when Vidya nodded. The near-silent words quelled her laughter, and highlighted the feral green undertones of her gaze. ?They know how to sail, but they?re too clean.? Her voice was just as soft, not even quite a whisper. ?And?? she paused, frowned, trying to define the differences between what she was seeing and what she expected. ?They?re paying too much attention to the docks and not enough to their work ? the one over there, with the scar? He just nearly tied off that line to the wrong anchor.?

"...Perhaps we should allow women into the Order after all," Roland teased her gently, and nodded to her observations. "We think they are spies or saboteurs from one of our competitors in cross-realms trade... They either hail from the Thrycene Consortium, or the Halban Empire. But as long as they are being watched... they will not do what they intended. They will finish with their cargo and leave."

After biting her lip to kill another bubble of laughter at Roland?s tease, Vee flashed her wide grin instead. ?Thanks awfully, but I?ll pass.? Tilting her head, she padded forward a step or two, just enough to get a better look down at the wharf. The smile faded away while she thought over hiss observation. ?So you were letting them know they?re being watched? do you want them to just leave, or do you want to catch them in the act?? She looked back over her shoulder at him curiously.

"This time, we will let them leave. If this is the Consortium's doing, or the acts of anyone else... well, it is not so bad if we fine or jail them, or seize their cargo. If it is the Empire..." He shifted his hand on the hilt of his sword and narrowed his eyes at the ship. "It could be enough to start a war. So we warn them like this, and hope they will not try again."

?Politics.? VeeJay made a face as she turned back around and returned to Roland?s side. With his hand on his sword and watchful poise, she didn?t lean against him as she might have otherwise. She did however reach up to brush back a stray lock of hair from the side of his face. ?How much longer do you have to stay here watching them??

Roland smiled, a sly little curl at the corners of his mouth, and raised a hand to her; the captain was watching him from the deck of his ship, motionless, and finally scowled and gave a rude gesture, then turned to bark orders to the others in something more or less similar to English. "Until now. And it is good we did not ensnare or raid them... They are Halban, more than likely in the direct service of the Empire."

This time she didn?t bother to hold back her laugh, since the captain was obviously aware of their presence on the roof. ?Is your work always so much fun?? Yellow-gold humor shimmered in her eyes before she looked back at the ship ? now a swarm of activity after the captain?s barked commands. ?Bet they try again next time. Smell how angry he is?? Then, in one of those hummingbird-quick changes of topic, she grinned at Roland again. ?I?m starving. Food??

"If we are swift, we can make it onto the next ale truck to Armand's." Roland smiled at her, watching her face for a moment... Little moments like that said so much. He remained a man with grave concerns, but a man with happiness, recovering his purpose. Then he set off away from her across the roof --

His run had changed, not only faster but lower to the ground, a hunter's dash. He slipped over the railing at the end of the warehouse and leapt to the ground far below.

That was something Vidya wasn?t used to, yet ? Roland being able to outrun her. She followed in his wake, landing on the pavement a fraction after he did. As Roland regained his balance and purpose, his mood lightening, her natural effervescence was returning. She laughed again, just for the sheer joy of it. ?Race you? Loser has to give over dessert to the winner??

"As they say..." Roland eyed her up and down -- his youthful... well, friskiness, was returning to him also. "Catch me if you can."