There were somethings Hera Fyre could not forget, and somethings she could never forgive.

With the breeze at her back she stood on the roof top of the inn. She slid her bow, Morthond across her back and looked out to the city. Waiting on the edge was her strong suit. She had been waiting for days, for any news. Now back in the city she had returned to her old fold and the ways she had almost forgotten.

The day was warm and thus she needed no jacket. She had daggers along her belt,and there was no sign of her commonly seen double blades. Walking along the roof top she scanned the near by street below and the roof tops that spanded beyond. Like a hunter who sought prey. Seeing nothing,sensing nothing Hera walked to the edge of the roof and jumpped down to the street below.

What was it about this city? The eb and flow of it. Hera cast her eyes off towards the place she knew she would end up sooner or later. Tucked away in tot he cliffs beyond. Sanctuary.

Looking back a the inn Hera shrugged. It would be quite within. Shifting on a heel she turned and headed up the porch steps and to the door which she opened with ease before heading in to the commong room.

She was uneasy sitting around Edhel Ndor. Waiting for battle. She wasn;t the only one, she ahd seen the lovely lupine within the city as well. Jade had her own tasks at hand. Hera wanted to keep busy until more word came.

She idly touched the necklace at her neck and gazed around the inn as she walked in. glance around was given. A smirk as she knew it would be quiet. Walking towards the bar, she decied on something to drink would suit her before she headed out to see old friends.

Slipping through the break in the bar and heading right to the cooler Hera opened it and dug out the first cold item she found. It wouldnt have mattered to her if it was soda or beer. Popping the cap off on the side of the bar, cyan eyes took in the commons before she took a sip. Root Beer. Just as well.

Drowning ones sorrows never helped. But a good hard whiskey never hurt. Not tonight. No tonight shed have a bit of a sugar rush then go pick off riff raff down on the docks or head for the darker side of the west end.

This was healing. This was her style of healing.

The moment she sensed the mage Hera was headed back to Edhel Ndor.
It made sense that Shea would go there. How many times would that place be her spot? There at the base of the great GreenStone mountains, Shea should have died. More than once.

Now the mage sat there looking very small indeed and wrecked beyond all measure. Hera could almost feel the pain, the loss, it bled from Shea like a wound.

"It is a gift, not a curse." Hera spoke. When Shea's eyes opened, that cast of silver glance with no pupil. Hera felt the power. Shea seemed almost surprised to see the assassin.

Hera crossed over and sat beside Shea. Knowing the mage was trying to find a way to heal. But coming up short. The lupine was there then, in the wood. It made sense that Jade would find the mage as well. Maybe now was the moment Shea needed.

"Life is a gift, is that what you mean?" Shea smirked at Hera. And Hera saw that look in those silver eyes, as if Hera was insane, talking of life as a gift, for she who took life with a flare of fire. But it was never truly easy.

"It can be. You bare many wounds, ones that have healed from flesh and bone. But ones far deeper. Your not alone in this. We bare the weight as well. I know it was not your intent that we do, but it was the will of the power, the will of some god or goddess."

"I am not ready. I said that I was. That I was ready for all this, the power and the pain. That I was ready to give it up, to recall it all and let it go."

"We may never be ready." Jade looked over to Shea then to Hera. They shared a sisterhood, deeper than blood now.

"But we are here. We stand together. Women of a new alliance. The realms left will not fall, and we will not forsake our friends, what's left of our family."

"Looking at them.." Shea looked to the trees. " At our children, reminds me so..."

Jade nodded. "I understand that."

"It is no easier for me, but somehow it is. To let him be dead, gone." It was easier to let her son be gone, dead. To not think on him or the loss.

"The memories are like knives." Shea hung her head.

"Then do what we must do." The voice was Radella's. The elder stood beyond the three of them. "We bare the wounds of those who do not know what was. Our children can not. I have spoken with Salice and Shay. They do not bare the weight that we do. Salice does not recall any of it, nor Shay. They shall be fine. Even with the losses they bared. But we who recall live with it, in the faces of our children. They bare his eyes, or his hair color. They bare a memory. There is a place they could go. I could tell the other women about it as well, have many if not all the children go. A place where they will learn and be taught, where their gifts will be nurtured and brought to bare. They would be safe there. The very young could stay here, or go as well."

There was a moment. A pause. A mothers thought of sending her child away that gripped like cold fingers on the heart. But Hera knew she would do it, with out pause if the choice was hers.

"I'll do it." Jade spoke. "They need it, they need to be children. As I love them so. They need to go."

"Will Salice send Dalryn and Lona?" Hera asked Radella. The Queen recalled none of what they did, but it would be good for the other children to go.

"The Queen thinks on it now, though she knows nothing of the man she lost nor the child she lost with him. Shay also considers sending Kaleigh. Your son and Mila think on sending Amaleigh and Adaron. I am sending my twins. They have gifts, gifts that will grow. And in time. We shall be able to put behind us what was. We all will love again. Some of us very deeply."

Shea nodded. "Do it."

Radella nodded. "I shall tell the others. And help prepare the children for the journey." Radella was gone then.

Shea took a deep breath. It was a breath of a woman on the edge, stepping back.

Jade wrapped her arm about the mages shoulders. Hera leaned in a bit closer. She did not have to make the same choice, hers had been made for her.

"It will be better." Jade offered. "You should go home Shea, see your sisters, your son."


Shea nodded. "Yes, I know. I do not feel as if I am the same woman I was when we all set out for war."

"We are not the same." Hera said softly. "Blood and death change you. Jade and I know that better than most. But you can rise above it, we all can. It will take time. Much time even. But it can and will be done."

Shea offered them a slight smile.

"Go on." Hera looked to the woods.

Shea nodded and was gone in the next moment.


"Would you send him a way if he was still here?" Jade asked Hera now that they sat alone.

"With out pause." Hera rose to her feet. "I'm headed back to the city."

"I am going to help the girls pack." Jade rose slowly.

"Its the right way Jade. For all of us." Hera turned and jogged off in to the wood.

Change. It was something Hera knew well enough.

She could roll with the punches. Her life had demanded it.

Now things were back to what they were, or as close as they would get.
They had all hung on to hope and it had turned out well. Shea was back,and as alive as the rest of them. Even if Hera knew the woman was forever changed.

They all were. In the time where they had waited, things had shifted.
Hera had been able to forget, even if she never really could. Maybe part of that was thanks to Liam.

Liam Sebastian. A man not unlike many she had known through time. But nothing like them also. He hailed from the same side of the world as she did The Shores of Haloisi. But he was human. That didn't discount him one bit in her eyes.

He was a sight. Six feet two inches tall. Built the able warrior. He had nice arms, a man who could work metal in the forges fires if it so suited him. He had a confidence about him that bordered on cocky.

His hair was a dark sandy brown,longer than she might have normally liked. His eyes were pale sky blue, and they burned bright. He enjoyed going barefoot, and knew a thing or three about foot combat. Maybe that was why he'd fallen in with The Scathachian's. Maybe it was for another reason. One Hera knew well but didn't let herself linger on. He was the man who could play any role that suited him, but the one that seemed to fit best was hero. Maybe not a white hat, but a hero indeed.

She knew his skills. She'd seen them now a few times. Battle skills and that foot combat that he seemed to enjoy with relish. The kind of relish she'd only seen in one other. His family was gone, and his history had built him up. He had joined up with The Band of Brothers. he bore their mark and still had allies in the fold. Fin Roberts was one. One who'd joined their merry little band.

He'd ended up in Rhydin and stayed. Now fighting the fight. Like the rest of them.

She wasn't sure what they were. No matter if she shared his bed or he hers. They had a connection. One deeper than just blood on bone. They had allies in common and enemies as well.

It wasn't love. It was more than lust though. He enjoyed women. And she wouldn't be tied down ever again.

She sat alone now on the outskirts of the tow shed sworn long ago to help protect. She could see it a blaze with ease. She was far from the hero, no matter if her cause was heroic. She'd killed men, women and children in her time, and would do so again. Once and assassin always an assassin, no matter how she appeared to have changed. No matter her alliances. In a different time ina different city, she might have been the enemy.

Meeting Liam had been a night she wouldn't forget. Nor would she soon forget all they had shared so far.

She had been told her place was with Edhel Ndor and Rhydin. That her fate lie between them both. She spent time between them both. She had a new place in Edhel Ndor and had found a little loft in Rhydin a place to stay a way from her normal room at The Sanctuary. She'd been welcomed back in to the fold with out question. But then one could always count on Issy. If there was a fight to be fought the woman knew Hera would gladly be in the thick of it.

What had she said about Liam.. oh yes, that he was an old ally, that he knew their styles and took to it well. Hera had seen him, mid fight, mid foot smother. And could say she'd never seen anything like it.

He might have been the hero. But he took down enemies as well as any of the ladies of the order did. better even with those large tan feet. He relished in it. He knew her sorted history. Yet they had something. Something in the bedroom and out of it.

Hera wasn't sure what yet. Maybe she didn't care. Maybe she was enjoying the ride on the wind of change.

(rated M+ for mature readers only)






Hera was drenched in sweat. Dripping with it. Her body cried out for her to stop, for a moments rest and peace. but she pushed it on, pushed it harder, faster.

Even warriors had to train. And Hera Fyre could be very serious about it.
Thankfully The Scathachian Sanctuary had everything a training warrior could want. Hera punched her way through her emotions. There was a place she knew she could always return to. At the end of all things it would still stand, as it had for so long.


Hera had her way of healing. She stayed two weeks. And now she was back in Rhydin. Sweat dripping down her body. It slicked over her bare arms and legs, it pooled at her bare feet.

Jade had gone out at dawn. And Hera had been in the training room since that time. She'd stretched, kicked, punched, rolled, boxed, fought shadows, spared, lifted ,pushed, run laps, shed lost count of how many reps she had done. Her legs burned, her arms cried out for rest, she'd guzzled down bottles of water. She'd lit the place up, though not literally. She'd been alone for most of the early morning. Only a few passers by. then more sisters had come n for their daily training. Some watched her go.

Others offered a good sparing partner. Now Hera lay on the floor ending her work out with one last long lean stretch. She rose to her feet and padded from the room, feeling loose and limber. She tossed a two fingered wave to Phin as they passed in the hall way.

One very long hot shower later Hera toweled off her hair and dressed for the day. the midday light played through her and Jades bedroom windows. Hera pulled on her intimates then her black pants and socks, then her boots. She rooted through her shared closet with Jade and pulled out a dark green button down shirt. It was light cotton and perfect for the night. She tossed it over her head.

She pulled back her still damp hair. Slid her belts on, with their already sheathed daggers. Slid two more daggers in her boots then looked to her swords. Sheathed carefully placed. She and Jade had a small armory going in the room with all their assorted weapons. Tonight Hera would leave her double blades here. She opted for daggers and knives. She wanted to be light and quick. Hera Fyre didn?t need weapons, she was one but she liked them. The feeling of a blade in her hand, the weight of it. The way it cut through flesh to bone.

She left the room the way she always did through the hall and out the side exit. Away from the place that was going to become home for her once more.

The sun was dipping lower and she made her way through the city. Paroling. Looking for trouble. Wanting to cause some. As she crossed away from the marketplace she had a feeling that she was being watched. Looking around she saw nothing but the normal passers by. the people going home or going out for the night. A few Rhydin Guards. Nothing out of place.

"Hey Sparky!" The voice came from above her and behind. Looking up over her left shoulder she saw Liam. He stood on a terrace of one of the lofts that rose there behind her. He leaned on the terrace railing smirking at her. He wore loose pants and nothing else. His chest bare to the setting sun.

She sighed. She had been hoping to avoid seeing him. Oh he had been on her mind.

Oh she could just flip him off and ignore him. Go on her way. But something made her stand there and look at him. He was hard to ignore. He looked down at her, looking deadly and lovely all at once in black and green. "I have some news I wanted to share with you. Wanna come up?"

She could call up and ask why he didn?t just come down. But she just moved towards the loft and made her way up. She arrived at his door, and it was open.

He moved out of the what she assumed was his bedroom pulling a t shirt over his head. "Come on in." Hera moved in to the room. It was neat, like pin neat. It didn?t appear to be what she assumed she would walk in which was a bachelor pad. The floor was wood, the walls were beige. There was a nice slate gray couch and a ratty looking arm chair. There were books stacked up on the floor and lining one wall. A wide window that looked out to the city with its drapes pulled. The kitchen dinning area flowed off to the left beyond where Liam stood. He had come through a propped open wooden door that she figured led to his bedroom.

"Nice." Looking over the living space. He grinned at her, "thanks, you want anything? I have a few choice drinks."

"Na, you said you had info?"

He nodded. Just like her to be all business. He looked at her dressed for the night, light though. No double blades. All daggers and knives. But looking at her again, he knew she didn't need them. Hell he knew her power he had felt it. He had held it in his hands. He looked at her, dressed for duty. But he could see her naked on top of him. Ridding him like a stallion. Bathed in that warm glow, her body a warming flame. He could see it all, the whole little party the four of them had. It wasn't something he was bound to forget.

He was willing to admit he had always had a little thing for Issy. The woman was damn hot. His mind had stayed on Hera. Her lips, her body. Her fire. Oh he'd felt heat before. A man who worked with metal knew the heat of a forge, but Hera's fire was so much more potent.

She had left her mark on him. Little burn marks on his chest and back. As he took a moment looking at her he recalled just how she had felt. The warmth, the heat. The way she tasted, like liquid white chocolate. He could still taste her.

Hera eyed him as he looked at her. As a rule she didn't sleep around. She had one lover. One only and now well. She had something else she could add to the things she had done. Hell who knew, it could happen again. She likely wouldn?t say no.


"So I did some digging on your elusive assassin. She's new to town, but in it deep. I tried to poke around for her and found a lot of blood. She's in it deep, sheathed herself tight with the dark side."

He went on about what he had found. Little things he'd been able to dig up. But then he noticed she just stood there starring at him. "Hera?" He waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Hera." Her eyes settled to his, cyan back lit with fire.

"Everything okay, you spaced out there." Her eyes stayed on his, and he saw them flare to life with fire. Then her lips were on his, her hands around his neck. He thought for a moment of pushing her away, but then he pulled her close and returned that heated kiss.

God he wanted just this since she stepped in to the room. He had been thinking about her. He'd bugged Issy about it. And shed sent him off on duty.. Fin had brushed him off with " When she gets back to town, pin her to a wall and well." He winked. Liam knew Fin wasn?t just thinking of Hera, he was thinking of Jade.

Now Hera was there within his grasp. And fuck duty all to hell. He wanted her, there and now. When the kiss was broken he saw she had moved them back in to his bedroom. Hera eyed him then the room. Pin neat as well. "Not what I expected."


"Old habits die hard." She broke away and walked towards the open terrace doors. He wanted to push her to the wall and take her, wanted to pin her to his bed and feel her heat against his skin. "So I was thinking we could team up and patrol for your assassin.. see if she comes out of the wood work." He spoke to her back.

She just stood with her back to him. "Aren't you ever tired of all work?" She turned back to him. She'd undone her shirt, and Liam looked at her. The setting sun at her back. That green shirt undone showing she wore green lace under it. She took a step forward and undid her belts and let them drop, daggers and knives with them. She toed out of her boots and socks all in one move. She crossed to him dropping her shirt as she moved.

She looked damn sexy in those tight black pants and that green bra. She moved up close to him and pressed her very warm hands to his chest. "Tell me you don't want me." She tugged at his shirt and pulled it off. "Tell me to stop."

He didn?t stop her, he grinned and when his shirt hit the floor he pulled her close molding his hands to her find rear. "To hell with work." His mouth lowered to her neck. Her felt her hands surround him go in to his hair. When his eyes met her again her lips toyed with his, then with his ear. "I am going to tell you everything I plan to do to you." She began to whisper. Her hands moving as she spoke. They were warm against his back and chest. Hot as they moved over his waist. Her breath in his ear. The image she painted with words got a rise out of him.

Her fingers made quick work of his pants and what he wore under them. Liam groaned and closed his eyes when he felt her hand slide around him. Then with a push of her hand on his chest he was back on the bed. She looked at him. Ready, willing and poised. But she wasn't going to let him have it easy.

She climbed up on the bed and stood up above him. He looked up to her. "Issy said you had a few sister groupies." He nodded and watched her. She lifted her left foot up and ran it up his bare leg. She was perfectly balanced even standing on his bed. Her foot rose up over his leg and her toes graced his length. He swallowed, knowing one wrong move could bring pain rather than pleasure. But her foot didn?t linger there, it moved up over his chest.

"Its a good thing you like strong women." Her foot wiggled closer to his face. He knew what was bound to be coming, but he didn?t fight it. He was too turned on to dare fight her. She lifted her foot up over his lips. "Want?" She gave her toes a wiggle. But before he could answer her toes were gracing his lips, then wiggling in to his mouth.

He took them in and didn?t fight it. He gripped the bed and reached up to run his fingers over that foot. Hera smirked down at him. "You like?" He answered with a lick and suck of her toes. Hera smirked as he seemed to be taking it all quite well.

"Such an able mouth." She ran her hands over her bra, cupping her own breasts. "Too bad its so busy." She unhooked the bra and let it fall. He watched with her toes in his mouth as she caressed her own body. He wanted what she had under her fingers in his mouth. But he settled for her powerful foot. Sucking on those toes.

She smirked down at him. When he licked at her foot as it pressed down she ran her hands down to the waist of her tight pants. "An able tongue. I can still feel it.." He watched swallowing as her fingers slid under the tight cloth of her pants. He knew where they delved.

She brought them out after a few moments passed after he had a good suck and lick of that foot. She with drew her hand from herself and her foot from his mouth. She licked off her own fingers and stood there above him. She smirked and lowered herself to straddle his waist when he went to grab at her she pushed him down hard with a flare of fire. "Stay."


She ran her fire flickering hands over his arms, leaving little spots of warmth and heat. Down his chest. Where her lips followed leaving long hot marks. Her warm fingers found him again, and he fought against the urge to leave his playing bound back state. Hera looked up at him as her fingers toyed and teased. Hilt to tip and back again. And when her lips and tongue found him he knew she reveled in the fact that she made him moan.

He felt like he was on fire as her very capable mouth did a number on him. He felt like he was going to loose it. She didn?t stop, she kept going and he couldn't fight it he reached down and fisted a hand through her hair. He had unleashed this upon himself. He felt her move felt her hand push his arm back and opened his eyes to look up in to her own which were ringed in flame.

"Hera.." She looked down at him and took his lips. Pressing her own to his. He felt her sink on top him, pushing him inside all the way to the hilt. He hadn?t even noticed she had lost her pants. He reared up against her grabbing on.

The full moon light danced over her form. The time had gone by, filled with passion and need. Desire and many many peaks. He had lost count of how man times he had pushed her to the edge and over. His body was hot, his bedroom felt like it had been set a blaze. There were in fact little burn marks on his bed now. But so far Hera hadn?t set the place on fire. She had ridden him till the moon had risen and past. Now with the moon higher he had her on her back. The moon light played over her form as he moved over her.

The clock on the nightstand read one am. God they had been going at it a long time. But he couldn't stop. He wanted to feel her reach that perfect peak. He wanted her to keep moaning his name. Which she had many times now. He wanted her to forget every lover she ever had, and think only of him.

Gods he had some stamina. For a mortal. And by goddess his hands felt good, his lips, he fit so well in to her. He pushed her to a peak and held her there before pushing her over it. He knew what to say and how to say it. How to move. When to hold back and when to push her hard. He was standing up well to her heat and fire. He had burns, his bed would be a ruined mess but he hadn?t seemed to mind when her fingers hot as freshly forged iron ran down his back.

In fact he had only taken her harder, faster. She had noticed the sun was gone, and the moon had risen. But other than that she had no clue what time it was. And didn?t much care. His lips found her own, her neck, her breasts, they feasted on her. They sought out the spots that made her turn to jelly.

Her body rose to meet his her arms were locked about him, those long strong legs. They were both dripping with sweat and heat. The air was mingled with their combined scent. He moaned in to her ear when her felt her climax again and again. "Liam.." Her voice was heavy. He felt her body tighten. "Don't stop." She clung to him.

He pushed on. The moon light played over her full form when at last he felt her come to Her final peak. It was a glorious rush of warmth and heat. Of fire. When they had both been played to the end he rolled to the side and felt as if all the bones in his body had gone to liquid.

He looked over at Hera bathed in moon glow and glowing from that inner fire. Both spent. Both laying there like causalities of war.

A man could forget many things.

But to forget the love and passon of a woman. Well Liam hoped he would be dead before he ever forgot that.

He enjoyed women. Enjoyed their company. He enjoyed them as friends and allies as much as lovers. They were at times different and sometime difficult. But they were also lovely,sexy, beautiful,complex. He didnt like simple women. Or as a rule he didnt. They were fun for a bit, but they lacked the spark he liked in his long term friends,allies and lovers.

He'd had his share of all. Many had come and gone from his life. But there were two now in it. Teo very different, but also very much alike.

He wasnt going to play them against eachother,nor saya thing of his past with the one to the other. That was just a short easy way to get your self in trouble.

The one on his mind now was a fire brand. He'd known heat, a man who could mold metal understood it. But she had a fire he had never felt. She was what his plas would call his usuall type. Strong,sexy and dangerous.

A man had his standards. Some might say they were alike. A kin ina battle that likely wouldnt end well. But he knew they would be wrong. They were different, very different. While they were both loyal warriors, and at times bound by duty and friendship. She was a killer, and he was a hero. Now he would never come out and say he was a hero. But he knew he was cut from that cloth.

They had come from the same soil. Borna nd bred in the same place on the sea. But they had led very different lives. She at a young age had joined up with a band of powerful assassins, while he had gone out to sea, then joined up with a band of brothers. She has killed with out remorse. He had taken life, but never had taken any pleasure in it.

She was once and always Haloisi Akh'Velahr. He was once and always one of few, The Band of Brothers. If they had met long ago, they would have been eneimes. Now ehre in this city they were allies.

Chuckling running his hand through his damp hair he knew they were more than allies. He didnt fall in to bed with every woman he knew. He was a manof taste. He enjoyed women, but very few had he known.
That was the reason she was on his mind now.

That night. Just one. But he wasnt going to forget it.