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On horseback, Cocidius started to leave the town of Kanar. However, on the outside of town, which was heavily wooded for dozens of miles, there was a Tavern, and as Cocidius passed it, a man called to him from inside the doorway.

"Young man!" He called.

Cocidius kept on riding.

"I said, YOUNG MAN!"

Finally, Cocidius stopped his horse and turned about. "Yes? Can I help you sir?" There was a guilty look of question and concern on his face, as he touched his new dagger once again.

He looked at the man. He was draped in an extravagant suit of armor. Field Plate to be exact. It was a shinning tan color, and there were a few colorful symbols painted on the breast.

"Young man? Would you like to make some money?" The man came closer to Cocidius. A strange look crossed the mans face, as if he knew Cocidius.

Cocidius thought for a moment and asked sternly, "Doing what?"

"Escorting a caravan to the Capital City."

"How much?"

The man was surprised at how direct the boy was. "What do you ask?"

"One gold."

"Gladly son, we’ll give you two!"

'This kid must be young…' The man thought.

"Really?! Wow…" Cocidius's eyes shone at the thought of two gold.

"That’s how much the others are getting paid." The man explained.

Cocidius stepped down from his horse, and led the horse to a rail outside the tavern, just for animals. Akuma hopped out of the saddlebag.

"Mwreow? <Hey Cocidius? What’s up? >" Akuma asked, half asleep.

"Hey Akuma! Check this out! WE get to make two gold for watching over a caravan. Isn’t that cool?" Cocidius bent down to the ground and picked up Akuma and cradled her in his arms. "Oh yes it is," he cooed.

Akuma raked his arm with her back claws, and he dropped her. "<Why are you treating me like a baby? >" Akuma asked in anger.

"<Just play along! If everyone knew that you could talk, you could get stolen!>" Cocidius explained, checking his arm for bleeding.

"<Oh…>"

He threw Akuma on his shoulder, and she almost fell off. He then tied up his horse, and followed the warrior into the tavern.

As they entered, they walked over to a large gathering of people. The tavern was filled with other people too, but this group took up the majority of the space. They also accounted for most of the chatter and noise, too.

Cocidius walked over to a table near the group, and sat down. He scanned the group. There were a lot of fighters, and two other people who were decked out in clothes similar to his own. Most of the fighters were wearing heavy armor, while Cocidius and the other two were wearing chain shirts. The difference was the other two were wearing cloaks with hoods. The girl with the dark brown hair had a plain black cloak on, while the other had beautiful shinning silver hair, and an intricate white robe on. Other colors, including light blues and golds, were striped on the rest of the robe. Now that Cocidius thought about it, he wished that he had bought some kind of cloak.

The man who he had initially talked to seperated from the group and came over to where Cocidius was sitting and pulled up a chair for himself.

"Alright, let me explain why I’ve asked you to join the Royal Escort. You are Cocidius, correct?"

Cocidius sat up strait in his chair suddenly, a look of concern and suspicion in his eyes. "What? Royal Escort?! And how do you know my name?!"

Ignoring his question, he continued. "I am Captain Segrias Fernwood…"

As soon as Cocidius heard that name, he instantly identified the man. He was one of the most decorated soldiers of the Elvanorish Army. The fact that he was a Wood elf was the only thing that kept him from being on a higher rung was that. Cocidius let out a sigh of relief. "Segrias?! As in my father’s old General?" He asked.

Segrias nodded his head. Pain took to his cheerful eyes. "Yes. You’re father was a great man. It’s too bad he died. But, at least he took out a troll before the other took him down."

"Yes, I remember when you came to our door and told us of the news…"

Segrias looked down, and his face was sullen. "Kid, that was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. When I saw your mother’s eyes, how they were crushed absolute by my words, I felt as if I’d been crushed as well." He suddenly looked up and looked into Cocidius’s eyes. "Afterwards, that night had a large impact on me." He looked back down at the table. "Mark my words!" He then slammed the table with his left fist. It made a surprisingly loud thud. "I claimed my revenge, as sour as it was, upon that tribe later that month. I did not know what came over me, but single-handedly, I killed those two trolls!" Cocidius saw an old memory play over in Segrais’s downward-cast eyes. He looked up again suddenly, laughter in his eyes for a moment. "That’s hard to do my lad, if you don't realize that! But," and he lifted his left hand in display and screwed off his chain covered hand, "I did pay dearly for my stupididy, my brashness, my confounded anger!" He revealed (the remenants of) his stump-like wrist to Cocidius. A cylinder of metal was grafted onto his arm, and there was a large hole in the center of the piece of metal. With his right hand, Segrias reached in to his pouch and pulled out a dagger with a screw looking thing for a handle. It was like a normal dagger, but it screwed into the metal stump. After he inserted the knife in to his arm, he now had a knife hand. "This monstrosity is what I got in return. I accidentally killed a man with it, but it’s saved me quite a few times also. So, I bought this," and he picked up the chain hand. He smiled, but Cocidius knew his voice was filled with hurt and annoyance, not happiness. "Crazy Dwarfs," he said. He then looked at Cocidius again. "You see this? Them dwarves call this a ‘mechanical hand’. They gave me this special metal thingy-do for a hand, and when I plug this in, it’s a new working hand. I can move it and everything." He then quickly unscrewed the knife hand, and put in the hand. As soon as it was screwed in, it glowed for a second. Then, he started moving it like it was a normal hand.

"Wow!" Cocidius exclaimed in silent awe.

With a great weight now seemingly lifted from his mind, he looked up again at Cocidius. He quickly sheathed his knife hand, and then put it away. Still digging in his sack, he eventually produced a rolled up paper. He tossed it to Cocidius, and he started to open it. "I was going to come and get you anyway," he explained.

"Huh?"

Segrias looked fondly upon Cocidius. "Just read it kid."

Cocidius opened the scroll and read;

To Cocidius,

We inform you that the Republic of Elvanaresh needs you. You are the direct son of Isiondel, and since you are his son, we inform you that Segrias Fernwood will take you under his wing to train you. After training, you may decide whether you want to stay with his company. We are doing this because we wish you to be part of our force, like your father was.

Signed,

Eileen Swerker

"Wow." Cocidius said weakly. "I didn’t know my father was so well known…"

"Well, you come from a special breed of people my boy…"

Cocidius looked at him strangely and interupted, "…What are you talking about?"

Segrias looked at him and laughed. "Well, if you’ll let me finish my sentince, I was saying that you and your family are of a special breed. I meant that you are all foolishly brave and unique. Sometimes I thought your father had too much of an independence streak in him." He then laughed a deep, throaty laugh. He then stood up and pushed in his chair. "We’re guarding and escorting something very important, needed by the council. The caravan is out back. We will be leaving at sunrise. I will have someone wake you. As for a bed, just go talk to the innkeeper. He will give you a special discount on the cost to stay. Tommorow, you will be serving as a Scout. The other two people without armor are two out of the four scouts. The third is off somewhere, who knows doing what, and you’re the fourth scout. I suggest you go and introduce yourself. The one in the white robe is the captain. See you in the morning." And with a wave, he gracefully turned, his cape swooshing, and walked over to join all the other warriors.

He glanced over at the other scout, and then looked at the captain. She had strikingly silver colored hair. 'Must be from Silvenor.' He thought. She looked quite familiar. She glanced towards him, and they locked eyes. She looked very familiar…

"<Cocidius!>" Akuma’s voice sounded in his head.

Cocidius almost jumped and he broke his stare with the girl, and looked to his shoulder.

"<What’s up?>" Cocidius asked her telepathically, annoyed.

"<So are you going to do this?>"

"Of course." Cocidius whispered.

"<What happened to being a bounty hunter? What are you doing?>" Akuma sounded a little annoyed.

"How long will I live? For as long as I like Akuma, I’ve got plenty of time to do that! I mean, I get to be a scout for a while! This'll be great experience for me!"

"<And you get paid a salary, too.>"

Cocidius nodded his head in agreement, this aspect of the being employed by the army just now occuring to him. "Yeah! I do, don’t I? Well, stay on my shoulder. I’m going to go introduce myself to the other scouts."

As he got up and looked towards the other scouts, he saw that the Silver elf was gone. As he walked over towards the other, darkly clothed girl, he mumbled to himself, "Oh well."

As he approached the shorter Wood elf, she turned towards him and she smiled a cute grin. She almost seemed animal-like to him, but only in the fact that when she smiled, two small, pointed teeth showed. Her ears were also more parallel to her shoulders, sticking out at a 45 degree angle, unlike a normal elf, whose ears stayed closer to their heads. She was a little less than a half a of a foot shorter than him, her long, dark brown hair accentuating her shortness. She was quite attractive, and she seemed to have a dark charm about her. He walked up to her and said, "Hi. I’m Cocidius, the new scout, I guess."

"Well, hi! I’m, uh, oh yeah, Melody Kudachi. It’s really nice to meet you." She put out her hand, and they grasped each others forearms, almost to the elbow, in greeting.

"<Cocidius, I don’t mean to be pre-judgemental or anything, but she sounds kinda ditzy! I mean, listen to that high, whinny, tinny voice she has!"

Cocidius ignored Akuma. "Me too," he replied to Melody. "So, where did the other girl go? I wanted to meet her…"

"Oh my sister? She went to sleep for some reason. She just became tired all of a sudden, and she retired to her room."

"She’s your sister?" Cocidius asked in confusion.

"Yes, in full. Why?"

"We’ll, she seemed to be a Silver elf…"

"She is. We come from Silvernor, far north of here." She confirmed.

"Yeah, I know. But, you’re Wood Elven, am I correct?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Then how are you two…"

"Oh", Melody interuppted, now seeing where he was going. "I’m sorry, I’m not used to being a Wood elf yet. I keep on forgeting…"

"What are you talking about?" Cocidius was very confused.

"You see, yes, I’m a Wood elf now, but I wasn’t always. I slowly transformed into one when I discovered I was, um, ‘different’ lets say." She was smiling now, happy that she had straitened it all out.

A sweat drop formed on Cocidius’s forehead. "That explained nothing."

A look of surprise came across her face. Her cheeks became red from embarrasment. "Oh," she said, "you don’t know what I mean by ‘different’, do you?"

Cocidius, frowning, shook his head side to side.

"Well, I guess I have to spell it out for you huh?" she started.

"Yes, you have to."

"Okay, listen well. I……A…M……A……L…E…S…B…I…A…N…!"

He sat there and put together what she literally spelled out. "You're a what?!?" Cocidius exclaimed.

"Yeah, you see, when an elf, a female elf, finds out she prefers girls, in my case, gets her brain’s screwed right out of her," suddenly, a warm glow comes across Melody’s face as if remembering a past event. "Oh Cocidius, you don’t understand! It was the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my whole life," her voice suddenly became emotional, and her speech also increased in tempo. "I mean, her tounge… So wet…..! And when it was my turn… so messy…so tasty…!"

"Uh, Melody…"Cocidius tried to interupt.

"And then she did me again, and she used this one really smooth piece of wood…"

"…MELODY!!!!" Cocidius’s stomach suddenly felt crampy, and a wave of nausia swept over him.

"I think I have to go calm down…! Oh man, I should go upstairs…"

"WAIT! What’s your sister’s na…?" Asked Cocidius hurridly.

"OH!!! I CAN"T STAND THIS! I’M GOING UP STAIRS!" She then bolted up the steps, panting all the way. Suddenly, two men and a woman got up from their seats and ran upstairs. All three were Wood elves. One man yelled, "I can smell it now…!" as he dissapeared up stairs.

Then, Cocidius heard a muffled conversation, carried out very loudly in one of the rooms.

"Hey! Get off of me!!!"

"Please sis… Hey down below, don’t stop! Ah, there you go… Please sis! Please join us!!!"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?! GET OUT OF MY ROOM YOU HORNY BASTARDS! MELODY! GOTO YOUR OWN DAMN ROOM!"

"Huuuhh… I…I…I’m sorry my sis<pant!pant!>ter, I was just wooondeeiiiiir-ing!!! Ohhhhh yesssss, ohhhh…"

"GET OUT…!!!"

BAM!!! THUMP!!!

"OW!"

"GET OUT!!!" THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! SLAM!!!

"We should go to my room…"

SCURRY! SCURRY! SCURRY! CREAK… SLAM!

And for the rest of the night, Cocidius couldn’t get the horrifying sound of those four people making, *!ahem!* out of his mind. Even after they stopped (probably from exhaustion), he shivered every time he thought he heard elongated squeeking sound. He was now scarred for life.

The next morning, they met in the main room.

"Now, all the scouts," Segrias started. "You will go forward for one hour, and then wait for us to arrive a half an hour later. That way, if anything is encountered, one of you could report back to us. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The female captain said.

And then, Cocidius and Melody, and the male Silver elf moved out ahead of everyone else. But, the unknown sister stayed behind for some reason.

* * *

They mounted their horses, Melody having a hard time walking without wincing from pain.

"Melody? What’s wrong with you?" Asked Cocidius in sick wonder.

Now on her horse, she turned her head toward him, frowning. "I just got a little worked over last night, that’s all." A large smile spread across her face and she gave off a little giggle. "You should of came up there last night too. You would have had fun." She said teasingly, but with enough sultryness to gag a horny Ampy. Her eyes looked him up and down. "You really, really would have had fun. Oh well," she said coyly, and turned her attentions forward.

Cocidius almost gagged. "Melody! That’s disgusting! Let’s get one thing strait, I will never, never do anything with you! Even if I had a bite of the Mrillcar plant, I could still resist your wretched, disgusting desires!!!"

"Ohh, strong words cowboy! You’d better watch what you eat…" she said mischeviously. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a jar with over a dozen Mrillcar plants inside. Cocidius instantly recognized it’s thick, squishy red striped leaves, and it’s tell tale roots that resembled an upside-down Y. She shook the jar, it’s meaty leaves thumping against the glass jar walls. She giggled some more, and pulled out a second jar, filled with a thick, brownish-red, pasty substance. "You see this? This is ground Mrillcar root! Don’t annoy me, or harass me, or I’ll use it!" She laughed again, put the jars away, and slowly moved forward with her horse.

"<What a bitch!!!>" Akuma was growling behind Cocidius’s ear. "<I should turn into my human form! I would kick her ass so fast…>" Realizing her slip, she looked innocently at Cocidius, an innocent smile on her face. All she saw was Cocidius’s angry face looking right into hers.

"You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you…?" Growled Cocidius, still steamed at Melody’s threat.

"<WHAT?!?>" Asked Akuma defesively.

"No, it’s nothing Akuma. I’m just riled at the nerve of that woman!"

"<Oh…>"

"Hey," asked an extremely familiar voice. "What was all that ruckus?"

Surprised, Cocidius turned his horse about to face a beautiful Silver Elf, her bright blue eyes peering out of her white hood, her silvery hair beautifully draped around her thin, beautiful face. Her robe was large, covering her almost entirely. He noticed her thick quarter staff strapped to her back. It was a common weapon for martial artists. She sat smiling at him, wondering what mischief her sister was causing.

Her melodius, sweet voice caught him in surprise. He was still in shock over her beauty. "If she’s threatening you, never mind it. Her words are as hollow as an Avalonian Swamp reed. She wouldn't even hurt even a fly."

It bugged him that she looked so familiar to him, but he couldn't pin her name. "Um, well, uh," Cocidius stammered, trying to compose himself. He finally closed his gaping mouth, and then said, "Well, she sure sounded serious to me…"

She looked off towards where Melody had taken off to, a frown on her face. "She was probably just toying with your mind." She looked back towards him, a smile from ear to ear. "It’s okay!" She said in a false manly voice, pretending to flex her muscles. "I’ll protect you!"

They both laughed, Cocidius more out of nervousness than anything. Something had grabbed hold of Cocidius’s stomach, and he fought to cast it away. He swallowed hard and smiled at her.

"Well, let’s get a move on," she said, making a gentle clicking sound with her tounge. Her horse then started forward. Cocidius gave a gentle kick to his Pipin’s sides, and trotted up next to her.

After a couple moments, Cocidius gathered enough courage to speak to her. "So, uh, what’s your name?"

She looked over at him, almost hidden in shadow from her large hood. She then pulled back her hood to fully reveil her self. Cocidius almost instantly gasped.

"You’re Harmony, aren’t you?!?" Cocidius felt overjoyed once he had identified her. It was good to see her beautiful face again.

"So how has life treated you these years since we’ve seen each other, Cocidius?" He could feel the warmth and hear the giddiness almost in her voice. "I’ve missed you so much!!!"

"Hey, so… so why were you being all secretive? Weren’t you glad at all to see me?"

Her face became red in a flood of color, and she looked strait forward, her eyes down cast, a sheepish grin on her face. "When I saw you, I was almost happy to tears! You don’t know how much I wanted to just to run to you and… um, greet you! I was going to, but after you broke eye contact with me, all my courage came under fire. And suddenly, it was all ashes. I chickened out, and I told Melody that I was tired. I, um, ran upstairs." Her voice became softer and softer out of embarrasment. Then suddenly, she looked at him and said, with a smile on her face, all embarrasment now gone, "But let’s never mind that! We’ve got some serious catching up to do!"

* * *

For the rest of that day, they made small talk, and then eventually started to relax and open up. They talked all the way until they had to break for camp that night. After the main party chose an open clearing adjecent to the trail, the scouts took another small clearing on the opposite side of the trail as their place to camp.

So after their separate camp had been erected, they sat down at the newly made fire, and ate their dinners in silence. As soon as Melody was finished, she dived into her tent. She had claimed last watch.

Cocidius was casually sitting in front of the fire, while Harmony got up from her spot on the other side of the fire, leaned up against a tree closer to Cocidius, and sat down. They both looked at each other, and nervously laughed.

Cocidius scratched his head. "Um, so you really moved to Kanar because of the war in Silvernor?"

"Yeah," she replied.

Embarrased, Cocidius said quietly, "I never knew that there was a war up there."

"We lost our town because of it. I still don’t know why the Mountain Elves attacked us." She shook her head slowly in wonder, her eyes concentrating on nothing.

"I had heard some men a long time ago talking about how the Mountain elves and the Orcs had wanted land up there. But I never thought there was a war over it," offered Cocidius.

She looked up at him. "My parents told me that we almost did lose Silvernor. They said one of the big reasons that we struggled so much was because the Mountain elves teamed up with all the northern Orcish tribes. Eventually, we won though, but my family never went back for some reason. My parents had said that it was too dangerous."

"Really? I heard that you left to become a monk or something…" Something ran across his mind thought, as he said it.

"You did? That’s weird… Oh, wait. I’m sorry!" Her face blushed heavily, but Cocidius didn’t notice it. "Please continue what you were saying."

"Well," he said nervously, rubbing his cold hands. "It’s nothing, really…"

He heard her move and he looked up. She was suddenly in front of him. "No, really! I want to know! What is it?" She gave a warm giggle.

Cocidius felt his face warm, and he felt that it was hard to keep his contact with her eyes, but his eyes were locked on to hers. He didn’t dare look away. "Well, um, <gulp!>, you see, now that I remember it, after you left, I had this dream that a light man, filled with darkness, came to take you to a monistary or something, to teach you the ways of a priestess or some thing." He then started laughing nervously. "That’s pretty off the wall, isnt’t it?"

Akuma, rising from her bed in one of the saddle sacks, jumped off of Cocidius’s horse, and hopped onto his shoulder. Harmony didn’t even notice it.

"No… Well, it’s kinda weird that you dreamt that! Because that’s exactly what happened! Although Terrance was not a bad person, it is true that he came to train me and Melody in the ways of an Althinean Priestess. We gladdly took him up on his offer. While under his study, we learned so much of the outside world, and so many interesting lores too!" Then a sour note of annoyance hit her voice. "And Melody ‘Came out’! That was the worst time of my life!" She then sat back down and crossed her legs. She looked at Cocidius and started complaining. "It turns out that if a girl comes out, and she has a sister, most likely, they will become lovers! You know, for a good portion of my life, I’ve been hit on by ‘different’ Wood elven females! And when she came out, everyone assumed that I had too! It’s like I’m sweet sugar, and they’re the nectar deprived Gnought flies! It’s horrible Cocidius, horrible!"

Sweat drops formed on the back of Cocidius’s and Akuma’s head. "Oh, that really sucks…" Cocidius managed to say.

Happy that Cocidius understood where she was coming from, she sighed in relief. "You know, a lot of men are scared away from me when they find this out." Then, anger rising in her again, she shook her fist in fury, a vein popping near her left knuckle. "And to make it worse, MY SISTER HAS IT TOTALLY SET IN HER MIND THAT SHE’LL MAKE ME HER LOVER! DOESN’T THAT MAKE YOU SICK?!?"

Cocidius and Akuma gave each other quick glances of fright, and then both snapped their heads back to face her, like in attention, and in unison, nodded their heads vigorously.

Still hotter that the sun it’s self, she looked down at her shaking fingers. "WHY! WHY IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY, I COULD JUST…!" She then jumped up, spun on the ball of her left foot to face the tree she was sitting up against, and stepped back into a fighting stance. With lightning speed and great accuracy, she yelled a vicious cry and her fist shot out to hit an apparently weak spot on the tree. There was a loud thunk and an explosion of bark, wood, and splinters.

She sat down quite speedily and faced the fire, her arms crossed on her chest. A slight crack sound was heard from above. "There! I feel so much…" Before she could finish her sentince, from above, a thick, but short branch came down, and struck her on the head. She almost fell over with pain. She then scooped up the chunk of wood, jumped up, and slung it into the open door of Melody’s tent. It struck her with a large thump, and Melody jumped up in fright. She settled back down momentarilly, mumbling, "Hey… Pain goes with sex… right…? Ohhh-yeahh, Harmony, ohhhh-fun…"

Cocidius and Akuma’s eyes were wide with fright. They just sat there, a cool breeze whispering, and the fire roaring in their silence.

Harmony, still breathing hard, turned back to the fire and pulled down her hood to her shoulders. Her hair was flying every where. Quickly, she fixed it.

"Sorry you had to see that Cocidius. I’m usually a very calm and even-tempered person. However," she then looked down at him, her shinning blue eyes piercing his own. "There are only a few things that really pisses me off! Cheating on your lovers, racism, BEING A GAY ELF WHO WANTS MY BODY, and ditzes! And my sister fits almost every thing on the bill! All except racism. Remember all that, okay?" And then, her control came back, the softness and the light in her voice again. "I don’t even know why I put up with her. That’s still a mystery to me."

Then she noticed that Cocidius had been shocked into silence. "I’m sorry…" she started to say, but then, she saw Akuma.

"Oh! It’s so cute!" She hopped over to Cocidius, squatted down, and pulled Akuma off of Cocidius’s shoulder. Akuma struggled to stay with Cocidius, her claws digging into his shoulder.

"OW!!!" Cocidius then jumped in pain. Akuma instantly released her death grip on his shoulder. Rubbing his punctured skin, he thought to Akuma, "<Don’t claw her Akuma. And next time, don’t claw me like that either!>"

As Harmony cuddled with Akuma, she thought back, "<Don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on it.>" However, annoyance was rich in her voice. Cocidius wondered which one she meant.

"So, um, you have Silver hair now? I thought it was brown last I saw you…"

"Oh, you didn't know? I'm silver elven, and when we are children, we have brown hair. But when we get older, it turns to silver. BUT MELODY DIDN’T EVEN GET OLD ENOUGH TO GET SILVER HAIR!" She yelled at the motionless tent.

All of her anger totally dissapated from her voice, she asked, "Oh Cocidius! Where did you get him from?" She lifted Akuma up infront of her face, holding her under her shoulders, making cooing sounds. Akuma just stared dumbfounded and annoyed at Harmony.

"<Geez Cocidius. I guess ditzyness runs in the family…>"

Cocidius looked at Akuma’s torchured face. "She came to me one day while I was bathing." "<Shut up Akuma. I know her, she's nothing like her sister!>"

Harmony continued to hold her under her arm pits and gently shook her. "Oh, it’s a she! Well, she’s so adorable!"

"<Hey!>" Akuma yelled to Cocidius. "<We met just today, remember? You we're bathing just today!>"

"<Yeah, your right,>" Cocidius thought to Akuma. "<Gods, it seems so much longer.>"

"So what’s her name?" She asked Cocidius.

"Akuma, but I use Akuma-chan more often though." He laughed a little at his lie.

"<No you don’t! If you did, she wouldn’t even be able to recognize you!>"

"<What?>"

"<My claws! I would make a terrible mess of your face!>"

"<Sure. But, Akuma-chan sounds cuter,>" Cocidius complained to Akuma.

"<Ah, I see. The cute angle huh? You're pathetic…>"

Harmony seemed to notice their silent conversation. "Hey Cocidius, it’s like you share a psychic bond with your cat or something…"

Cocidius looked at her and smiled. "<Say something to her Akuma.>"

"<What…?!?>" Akuma yelled.

"Actually Harmony, we do share a psychic bond, but I can speak too," Akuma explained to her.

Harmony’s eyes shot wide open. Her head slowly turned towards Cocidius’s. "D… Did you hear that Cocidius?! I think your cat just spoke to me…!"

Cocidius just laughed.

"Just for future reference, refer to me as a Cabbit. I not a cat, or a rabbit, so me and Cocidius came up with the title, ‘Cabbit’. I think it’s appropriate, don’t you?"

"Y… Yeah. Yes, it does, er… is…" Harmony was still in shock.

"Hey, Harmony, could you scratch me on my head and behind my ears? It really itches! All I do is hurt myself when I scratch my own self."

Harmony gave a giggle, and said, "Uh, sure!" She seemed to be warming up again to Akuma.

Cocidius noticed that Harmony's fingernails were long, thin, and blade-like, like an animal’s. He looked upon her joyus face. She seemed to be genuinely enjoying scratching Akuma.

Harmony’s ears were broad and furry, unlike an elfs. She also had two pointed teeth, barely visible behind her top lip. The animal-like look was sort of attractive to Cocidius. He wondered where she had got it from. Maybe she was part Tigrin. He had heard of people who were a small portion Tigrin. Some people clearly had their physical attributes. The teeth, the ears, or even the fur. And sometimes, just the strength. She had all except for extensive hair on her body. At least that's what Cocidius thought. The man in the bar was probably full Tigrin. And then, he thought of his own supernatural strength. He always had abnormal strength, and now that he thought about it, it peaked his curiosity. He felt his teeth, but they seemed normal. He figured that he probably came upon his strength normally. He had never really noticed his strength until some one remarked about it.

"Hey Harmony?" Asked Cocidius.

Almost reluctantly, she looked up from her play with Akuma. "What?" She replied gently.

"Question. Why are your ears funny, and you have those two little teeth that are a lot longer than the others?"

"Oh, I don’t know."

"Do you have a tail?" Cocidius asked.

She looked at him, confused. "No, why?"

"I don’t know. It just peaked my curiosity, that’s all."

"Okay." She then went back to scratching and petting Akuma. A moment later, she looked back up at him. "You know, now that I think of it, my parents weren’t like my sister and I. In fact, I heard my parents once talking about how I had a tail and that they chopped it off. But I thought they meant it metaphorically, because when I was younger, I sometimes had a hard time walking. I used to fall on my face a lot. But, well, naugh! Never mind."

Cocidius felt a little dissapointed that she didn’t want to share with him what she was thinking, but he shrugged it off. Then some thing came to his mind.

"I wonder," he asked himself quietly. He got up and walked over to the tree. He then crouched down into a balanced stance.

"What are you doing?" Asked Harmony. "Don’t punch it! You don’t have the same strength as me!"

Cocidius looked at her. "It’s okay. I’m just checking something out."

"Well, if you hurt something, I have healing spells incase we need them."

"Really? Like what?" Asked Cocidius.

"Well…" Harmony thought off all the spells she had. "Lets see… Well, I can cure anything from a bump on the head, to an exposed compound fracture. In fact, I can repair nerve damage, too."

"Really? Wow, where did you learn that?"

She looked at him questioningly. "I only studied at the Althenean Temple for the last 20 years! She’s our Godess of healing!"

Cocidius cracked an embarrased smile. "I’m sorry, that’s right." Then he refocused on the tree. Then with a yell, he stuck the tree, and a small crack appeared. After the shock had worn off, he then smiled out of accomplishment. "Cool," was all he could mutter. But then, a strange numbness came to his hand. He tried to ignore it. "Well, its nothing like your strength, but still, a normal person couldn't crack a tree, let alone take off a big chunk…" He looked at her.

"True. We should go to bed soon Cocidius." Harmony yawned, her eyes drooping.

"Know that I think of it, I am pretty tired. We’ve had a long day." He looked for a spot to lay down. "See you in the morning." He found a comfy spot that had a lot of cushiony grass. He returned to his horse and took his blanket from his saddle bag. He returned to his spot, all the while Harmony watched him. A hopeful look on her face that he would say goodnight to her or something. Cocidius never saw it. He laid down and prepared to go to sleep. Harmony looked at him for a moment, and then decided to get up and go to bed. But first, she walked over to Cocidius and Akuma, squatted down by him and said, "Listen, I want to apologize for back when we were kids."

"Oh no!" Cocidius said. "That’s okay…"

"No, I really don’t think it is. I’m sorry for just leaving you like that. I’m sorry for leaving you when I broke your nose. I… I… Well, I’m also sorry for not saying goodbye to you at all before I left. I really should of. All though, I ignored you, I… I always thought about… about, um, how sorry I was. So, there. I’m really sorry…"

Cocidius smiled up at her. "Thanks." He sat up, hugged her, and then went back to sleep.

When he pulled away, she strained to remember his touch. To keep it in her mind. She tried to hold on to him as long as she could with out him noticing that she was purposely hanging on to him. And then, after he lay back down, she concentrated on his touch, on his touch and nothing else. It warmed her better than any fire ever could. She hoped that the fire was in Cocidius too, or at least someday it would. She wished that she had not of moved away from it. Because as she looked down upon his angelic face, she suddenly felt cold. A cool breeze came out of no where, and made a goose walk over her grave. The hair on the naip of her neck stood up, and Cocidius felt a warm waterdrop fall to his face. When he struggled back to consciousness to wipe it off as it tickled the hair on his cheek, he opened his eyes and saw nothing but the campfire and Harmony squating solemly on the other side of it. She seemed to be staring off at the distance behind Cocidius. He readily dismissed it as a drop of water that had fallen from a leaf, high in the trees. He groggily wiped it off his cheek. But it was warm…

So that night, Harmony went to sleep in her tent, Cocidius and Akuma keeping watch, laying out on the ground. They all took their turn taking watch. The next morning, the sun lit the sky a reddish-purple, and then later the blindingly bright light of the sun warmed the dew-ridden grass. The next day was beautiful. Any sorrow left behind from the night was now washed away by the soothing rays of the sun.

* * *