Turning to Miranda he said "I wish that you go to the healers. Tell those idiots to prepare the herbs I same herbs I gave to you earlier into a tea. Then you drink it then sleep. When you awaken you may help with the refugees. When I return your questions will be answered. THose that need to be." He then reached out with his mind to Temeraire. ....... "We are needed my winged friend." Temeraire reached into Braum's mind and said "Look up and extend your arm." A shadow passed over Braum as he raised is arm, Temeraire clutched his arm in one of her talons lifting him off the ground. Braum climbed up her leg, clutching her scales and climbed onto her back, as she banked and rose higher into the air turning out towards the village.

Miranda had never in her life met a man so infuruating. Her green eyes flashed at him as he took off with his dragon and she turned and stormed, the best she could, back to the healers, telling them what Braum had told her to tell them.

Once they'd prepared the tea, she drank it and settled down on the cot. She tried to think about how she was going to talk to Kryton but her thoughts kept drifting to Braum.

~For an older man, he is nice on the eyes, but his demeanor needs work, the arrogant ass.~

That was her last thought as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

As Erik watched the scene before him he felt his heart ache for Shiloh. He didn’t want her to go through this yet now, she was feeling the worst pain she would ever know. His face was hard as stone unwilling to let any emotion fill his features. He knew if he did, he would lose himself to the bottomless pit of emotions that threatened to swallow him up.

As Shiloh’s father called him over, Erik knelt next to him and took his bloodied hand in his own. Grasping the mans weakening grip, Erik felt the lump form in his throat and he swallowed several times to make it go down. As he heard Jason’s raspy words, Erik once more fought back the emotions that threatened to over take him. He couldn’t do this now. He had to stay strong, for Shiloh’s sake. But he heard Jason loud and clear and his words settled deep into the young mans soul. While he wasn’t sure how he as going to handle this, he knew he’d find a way. Somehow.

Like Shiloh, Erik caught the last part of his words. ‘so much like her true father’. While he knew the truth, after what happened with Kryton at the encampment, Erik merely nodded to the man and tried to give him peace before he passed on to the next life. His voice soft and soothing as though he were speaking to an infant, Erik let his eyes settle on Jason’s fading gaze.

”She will be safe with me, Lord DragonStarr. Fear not for her safety for I will protect her with my very life.”

Erik let go of Jason’s hand then and slowly stood up beside Shiloh once more. He heard her father try and explain the truth to her only to die before he could finish. Erik bowed his head and said a silent prayer to the Gods asking them to welcome Jason with open arms to the after life and reunite him with his wife.

Giving Shiloh a few minutes to cry over Jason’s now still form, Erik slowly reached down to pull her to her feet. Shiloh fought him like a she cat and Erik let her hit, kick and punch him all she wanted. In the end, he won and he pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her and letting her weep into his chest, holding her up with his strength. His hands stroked her hair and he spoke soothingly into her ear to try and calm her down.

He felt her grief as though it were his own. He knew what it was like to lose a parent and that grief never left you, it merely stayed buried until the next time it was reawakened. And right now, it was raging like a mad bull.

Looking over at Kryton, Erik saw the elder mans face streaked with tears. Something he’d never witnessed from the man before. If there was any doubt in Erik’s mind about whom Shiloh’s father was, it was erased when he saw Kryton’s reaction. As Erik looked around, he saw the devastation the Red Headed Lizonians wrought and felt his blood boil. These beasts would pay for what they’ve done, he vowed silently. But first, they had to clean up the mess and build funeral pyres for the dead.

Picking Shiloh up and carrying her over to Mina, he set her down on the ground near the dragon’s bowed head. Kneeling down to brush the hair from Shiloh’s face, he wiped the tear stains from her cheek with his thumbs and spoke softly to her.

“Stay here, with Mina. We’ll take care of the village. I’ll come get you when it’s time, Shi.”

Erik saw the far off look in her eyes and knew she was in shock. She was limp and near lifeless as she sat there, leaning up against Mina’s shoulder. The dragon wrapped her front legs around Shiloh in a protective gesture and laid her head next to the young woman. Human emotions were not unlike her own and she knew what it was to grieve for a loved one.

A few hours later, Erik returned to get Shiloh. His shirt was stained with blood and dirt. A perfect V shape formed in the front and back of his tunic showing the sweat he’d worked up. His unruly blond hair was smudged with dirt and wet from sweating. Mina lifted her head so Erik could get to Shiloh and Erik knelt down to take Shiloh by the hand and help her to her feet. Shiloh was numb now, Erik knew, and walked along without hesitation to where ever he guided her.

Erik stopped before several pyres that had been constructed for the dead. Jason’s pyre was in front of all the others and he was dressed in his finest battle gear. His sword rested in his hands and laid on his body with the end pointing at his feet. The blood had been washed away from his body and he looked as though he were sleeping. But even in her numb state, Shiloh knew her father was dead.

As Shiloh walked up to bid her final farewell to her father, Erik stayed behind her with his head bowed. When she was done, she fell into another fit of silent sobs as she laid her head on Jason’s shoulder. Erik walked up behind her and gently drew her away from the man before walking her over to Kryton who reached out to take her in his embrace as well.

Erik picked up a torch and walked to the end of the pyre and held the torch to the dry wood. He did the same on both sides and at the head of the pyre. Once he lit Jason’s pyre, several other riders lit the others behind Jason’s. As the flames engulfed the dead, Erik tossed the torch onto Jason’s burning body and walked back over to take Shiloh from Kryton. By now, the hour was growing late and the sun would be setting shortly. They had to get back to the encampment and soon soon.

Shiloh couldn't seem to stop the tears, they just kept falling. She didn't even find it strange when Kryton pulled her into his own arms. She simply wanted to go back to not feeling. It was easier that way.

As she sat on Mina, in front of Erik, Shiloh couldn't stop the dark chasm that seemed to growing inside of her. Both parents were gone, both in the same way, both dying in her arms. Erik didn't want her, not the way she wanted him, and Sampson seemed to have chosen Erik over her. Even her best friend, Sheala was gone, one of the other riders having found her body next to her father's. What survivors would have been left had been taken.

Once they reached the compound, Shiloh let Erik help her off of Mina and guide her to her room, where she walked over to her bed and lay down. She didn't notice when Erik helped her sit up to remove her weapons belt nor did she notice when he removed her boots and covered her with a blanket.

She lay there, staring at nothing and yet everything, her mind a whirl of memories that wouldn't stop coming. When sleep did come, it was filled with blood and screams and both of her parents always out of reach as she raced to catch up to them, only to watch blood pour out of their bodies and stain her hands.

Shiloh would wake screaming and crying more than once that night.

Each time Shiloh awoke screaming, Erik was right there. He knew what the night was going to be like for her. While he never woke screaming, he would wake with terrors he could never seem to shake. When she awoke the last time closest to dawn, he took it upon himself to run a tub full of the warmest water he could run without scalding her. While it may not be proper, he cast properness aside and stripped her of her stained clothes then picked her up and carried her to the tub and sat her down in the soothing water.

Taking the time to wash her hair and sponge off her body the best he could, he talked to her in that same soothing voice he used back at the village. If circumstances were different, he would have enjoyed discovering her nude body and finding all the places she loved to be touched, even when she didn’t know them yet herself, but now was not the time. Even if he were a rake he wouldn’t have been able to bring himself to take advantage of her. When the water was getting cool he helped her out of the tub, dried her off and slipped the soft night shirt over her head.

This was the way things went with them for the next few days. Erik never left her room unless it was to get a quick bath himself. Night after night and day after day he took care of all of her needs making sure she was bathed and fed even if it meant suffering her wrath. He was her punching bag, the person she spit venomous words at and the shoulder she cried on, literally. And he took it all. Gladly.

Kryton stopped by to check on her a few times and each time Erik could see the pain in his eyes to see his daughter in the throws of a grief so deep she wasn’t the same young, vibrant woman she was when she first came to the encampment. He would try to give Erik words of encouragement but they both knew there were none he could give. Erik was watching Shiloh go down the same path his own mother was going down and he felt helpless.

Exhausted beyond words, Erik sat beside Shiloh’s bed the morning of the fifth day and when she laid there, looking at the wall as she rested on her side with her back to him, Erik felt his shoulders begin to tremble. He was loosing this battle of emotions and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His pained voice spoke softly to her hoping he could somehow reach through the thick fog that trapped her mind and get her to realize she still had a life to live. With him.

”Shi…..you have to come back. Please. Don’t let this take you away from me. Please. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you. I thought I was doing the right thing by pushing you away. Your father….he….he said I wasn’t cursed. But yet….I can see you….drifting away. You can’t Shi. You just can’t. I don’t know what I’ll do if….if you leave me. Please….I don’t…..don’t want to be alone anymore. I realize now what your father meant when he called you my gift. You made me feel alive again….and….I don’t want to lose that. Please….Shi….don’t go.”

There was a pause before Erik’s voice, in an anguished whisper, spoke again before he bowed his head and buried his face in his hands.

”I love you, Shi…”

Erik's words slowly sunk into Shiloh, sifting through the grief until they finally reached where her soul lay huddled, trying to escape the grief. "I love you Shi."

Shiloh blinked a couple of times, hoping and praying that she wasn't imagining those words, for if she was, she would curl up and die.

Slowly, as if coming out of a deep sleep, Shiloh rolled over, her gray eyes, while missing their spark of vitality, looked into his blue ones.

"Please....don't say those words unless you mean them, Erik. I couldn't take that."

When he repeated the words, Shiloh felt tears coming again, only this time, while they were tears of sadness for what she'd lost, they were also of joy for what Erik had said.

Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around Erik's waist, holding onto him tightly, weeping into his chest, repeating the words over and over again.

"I love you, Erik.......I love you."

The walls had been torn down that kept Erik’s heart sheltered away form those around him. As Shiloh turned to look at him and he let his gaze settle on hers he repeated the words he’d just confessed to her. He saw the glimmer of hope in her gray depths and in that moment he knew he never wanted to be without her ever again.

When Shiloh wrapped her arms around him and began to weep repeating her words of love as well, Erik felt tears sting his own eyes and try as he might, he couldn’t blink them away. The damn had burst and soon Erik’s own tears mingled with Shiloh’s.

After a time, their tears ceased and exhaustion overtook their drained hearts, minds and bodies. Erik didn’t have the strength to get up and walk to his room, not that he wanted to anyway, so he laid down on the bed with Shiloh, making sure she was under the blankets and he was on top of them.

Settling down with Shiloh curled up next to him, Erik finally drifted off to sleep so soundly nothing could have awakened him. And it didn’t. Erik and Shiloh both slept until dawn of the next day. When the sun drifted into the window and peeked in on both of them, it found them still laying in the same position they had fallen asleep in. Shiloh’s head resting on Erik’s right shoulder and Erik’s right arms wrapped around her back while his left arm wrapped around her right arm.

Even before he opened his eyes, Erik furrowed his brows. How dare the day interrupt his sleep. And why was his right arm so numb. When he tried to move it and he felt the dead weight on it, she snapped his eyes opened and looked down to see Shiloh’s head resting on his shoulder. He’d done it. He’d confessed his love for her and she for him. He should be elated but instead he felt terrified. What happens now? He’d never been in love before.

Unwilling to move for fear of waking her up, Erik remained very still and looking at the ceiling. They’d work through this. There was simply no other way to do it. If they cared this deeply for each other, then they could work through the bumps in the road they were surely bound to face. Right? What if the bump was more like a mountain? Or what if she woke up this morning and turned on him with her grief stricken wrath like she had the past few mornings retracting what she’d said? Surely she wouldn’t do that. Would she?

His left hand reached up and stroked her hair. No. He was letting unfounded fears rule his mind and he couldn’t let that happen. He had to take things slowly with her. She was still grieving for her father and after the things Erik had put her through since he’d met her, there would be no rushing of anything from them. It simply HAD to be that way. Not only for Shiloh, but for him as well.

Shilon woke to the feel of Erik's hand stroking her hair, a contented sigh escaping her lips as she snuggled in closer, not wanting to wake from the first good sleep she'd had since the attack on her village and the death of her father.

Finally, she opened her eyes, her gray ones still holding sadness but now there was hope and happiness as well in the depths. She looked up at Erik, unsure as to what to do now.

"Did you mean it, Erik? Did you mean what you said?"

Gods, she hoped he didn't recant it now, not when her heart was beginning to find it's wings again. After everything that had happened since they'd found each other, she was leery of trusting his admission of love, afraid that she'd simply heard what she'd been dreaming of hearing.

Erik’s light blue eyes held Shiloh’s gray gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Finally he nodded his head and looked more shy than anything. Definitely uncertain and perhaps even a little apprehensive, but he didn’t back down from what he’d told her.

”Yes….I did mean it Shi. I do love you. While that terrifies the hell out of me, I won’t deny it anymore. Not after seeing you start to wither away like my mother did. I just couldn’t….bear it. Not again. I knew I had to face the fact and in doing so I had to take the chance of letting you in close. And now that I have, I’m scared to death something will happen to you just like it did the others and if it did….”

He couldn’t finish the sentence. Instead, Erik clenched his jaw tight and flexed the muscle in his lower jaw as he looked to Shiloh’s hand as it rested on his chest. Covering her hand with his own, he didn’t say anything else. Not that he cold right now anyway.

Laying her other hand on the side of his cheek, Shiloh smiled gently up at him.

"Then I would suggest, Erik, that you make sure I am trained and trained well so that nothing does happen to me. And so you know, I am just as scared and elated at the same time."

She layed her head back on his chest, listening to his heart beat strongly in his muscular chest, her eyes closed.

"What now, Erik. Where do we go from here for I have no clue."

She was just as scared as he was and just as terrified at the thought of losing him now that they were together. Then, her brows furrowed together as she remembered something her father had said to her. Tilting her head back, she looked up into Erik's face, confusion in her eyes.

"What do you think my father meant when he said that I was so much like my true father? And what was he trying to say before he.....before he died........when he said that 'he wasn't'. Wasn't what?"

Shiloh saw instantly that Erik knew what her father had been trying to say before his face went blank.

"What is it, Erik? Please, you must tell me."

Erik was at a loss as to what to do. It wasn't his place to tell her but did he even have the right to send her to Kryton and would Kryton tell? Would she even be able to handle the news so soon on the heels of her father's death?

Miranda had spent her days since the attack doing whatever she could to help the riders and aids, which wasn't much considering there weren't any refugees. She was hoping that things would calm down enough so that she could speak to Kryton, but he had his hands full with the rider Erik and his aide Shiloh. She was in bad shape with her grief and Miranda felt for the girl. She knew that Shiloh would now have to grow up and face the horrors of the world without either of her parents to cushion the the blows. It was something she herself had had to go through not long ago. Even though she was younger than Shiloh, her eyes showed that she'd seen much, much more than Shiloh.

Seeing Braum walking around, barking orders, she quickly made her way to him, grabbing his arm and before he could protest, pulled him to the rear of one of the buildings.

"I want answers, Braum and I am demanding them. Now, how do you know about the Varden, the area around here, and me?"

Serena stood up on the hillside, watching the goings on in the rider compound. The thick trees hid her well, as long as she didn't move too fast or too much. The attack on the village had gone well and had apparantly delayed in her niece giving Kryton her message from the Varden. Her smile showed white, even teeth but it didn't reach her green eyes. It was as cold as her heart.

She looked down at the Lizonian sitting next to her feet. His red head bowed to her in submission. She knew she had to be careful when dealing with these creations of the wizards for they were smarter and more agile than the greenish/blue skinned Lizonians.

"I will enter the compound later today. If I play my cards correctly, I will draw Miranda out by day's end, so make sure you and the others are ready. She must not live to deliver her message or return to the Varden."

The red headed Lizonian smiled, showing sharp, serrated teeth.

"Assssss you wisssshh, misssstressss."

Pulling her hood over her head, Serena headed down the hill, towards the compound. Once there, she stopped when she heard a guard call out for her to halt and identify herself.

"I am Serena McKellar, aunt to Miranda McKellar. I have grave news of her mother."

Serena slid her hood back, showing her dark red hair, green eyes, her face that of an angel. The guard, after consulting with his fellow guard, nodded his head to her and had the gates opened enough to allow her to pass.

It had been five days since the attack on the village and Braum and Temeraire had left the compound. Temeraire bugled a mighty roar as they swooped low over the compound, she spireled upwards in a tight corkscrew then spread her wings ahd seemed to hang suspened three thousand feet above the center of the compound. Braum heard the sound of an intake of air, felt Temeraire's lung expand beneath him , she the roared again, exhaled and shot a finger of flame a thousand feet towards the ground. She lazily rolled onto her back, tucking he wings tight to her side and plummeted towards the ground. Five hundred feet above the earth she spread he wings again, leveled off, flapped slolwy twice flying over the compund and executed a slow barrel roll. Dropping one wing she seemed to pivot an a wing tip spinning back around flaired her wings and landed gently in the center of the compound.

Braum touched he mind withe his and sain "Show Off." She retuned the connection and said to him "Yes and you loved it." Braum laughed and Temeraire hummed a low bass note deep in her chest. As he scratched under a small scale behind her ear. Braum untied a course woven bag from one of Teneraires spikes and stepped down onto her foreleg then to the ground. He was dusty and dried blood stained his cloak, streaks of soot and dirt covered his face as he strode to Erick and Shilo's quarters. Ascending the two steps he pounded on the door, then opened the bag and turned it upside down. A soild thump could be heard as the Red Head of a Lizonian fell out onto the floor of the smal porch infront of their door. Braum then desended the steps and was acosted by Miranda. Holding up his hand he said "And you will have the answers I wish to give you. ..... But not right this instant. First Teneraire and I are going to bathe, then we are going to eat and then I am going to give a report to Kryton. ......... Then Miranda of the Varden we shall talk." Braum then calmly walked towards Kryton's office.

Serena walked along, observing the compound, keeping mental notes inside her head. When she saw Braum, she recognized him for what he was, a rider of old and one to steer clear of. Keeping to the shadows, she watched as Miranda grabbed Braum and the two exchanged words only for Braum to walk away from her. Clearly the girl was vexed from the look on her face, but she nodded to Braum out of respect and went into the stables.

This was where Serena found her, grooming a beautiful steed, a look of longing on her nieces face. She quickly to the side of the stables, waiting and listening.

"Ms. Miranda, excuse me, but the head guard sent me to tell you that your aunt has arrived with dire news of your mother."

Miranda stopped grooming the horse, looking puzzled. She knew of no aunt but the news of her mother brought worry to her expressive green eyes.

Coming into the stable doorway, Serena flashed her beautiful smile at both of them.

"And here I am. Oh, Miranda, I haven't seen you since you were a babe. Look at how you've grown and so beautiful as well. Just like your mother."

Miranda looked completely puzzled and leery of this strange woman, the young guard having caught on to Miranda's uneasiness gave himself more room to maneuver just in case.

Serena caught this subtle movement but didn't let on that she'd noticed as she kept on smiling at Miranda.

"You wouldn't remember me, child. You were but a toddler when I had to leave home, but I thought of you and my sister, your mother, often. I just came from her village and was so sorry to hear about your father. Your mother loved him dearly."

Miranda studied the beautiful redhead standing before her, who looked so much like her own mother and wondered if what she saw was real.

"I don't mean to be rude, m'lady, but is there any way you can prove you are who you say you are?"

Serena chuckled, having expected no less.

"But of course. When you but 4 years old, you had a favorite toy. A stuffed dragon that you called Herman. He was a rainbow dragon and you would sleep with him every night."

Miranda's face lightened with a smile when she knew that this woman had to be her aunt for her to know such a thing, especially his name.

"I am you Aunt Serena, your mother's sister. I have grave news for you Miranda, news that will break your heart. While I was visiting you mother, she became very ill and even with my knowledge of herbs I could not save her. I am sorry, Miranda, but she passed away 10 days ago."

Miranda couldn't believe what she was being told. Her mother couldn't be dead. She was healthy the last the time she'd seen her, but that had been how long ago? A year, maybe longer. Leaning up against the horse, she felt the hot wetness of tears as they ran down her face.

Serena came around to her, wrapping a supportive arm around the grief stricken girl, speaking soothing words to her.

"I have brought something with me that your mother wanted you to have, Miranda. It is waiting outside the gates. Will you come with me to collect it when you are ready to do so?"

Miranda nodded her head, turning away from Serena, laying her head on the horse's side. Satin's death stilled weighed heavy in her heart and now her mother. What was this world coming to. First Satin, then Shiloh's father, no her own mother, all within the span of a couple of weeks.

She looked over to Serena, seeing nothing but the compassion of her long lost aunt in her face.

"Give me a few moments and I will come with you. There is enough daylight left that it will be safe. Can you tell me what it is or why you didn't bring it with you to the compound?"

Serena waved her hand in the air, chanting low in her throat, her eyes turning black, casting a spell over Miranda so that the girl would follow without questions. She coudn't risk anything spoiling this. Seeing the blank look come into Miranda's green eyes she smiled before drawing a poisoned dagger and throwing with skill to lodge into the young guard's throat, silencing his scream. Once he was dead, she drug him to the far stall, covering him with straw. As she led Miranda out of the stables, she steered Miranda towards the gates, talking to her as if they were catching up on old times. Once to the gates, she smiled to the guards, telling them that they were going to collect her things so that she could stay with her niece. The guards smiled at the beguiliing woman, opening the gates and letting the two women pass, warning them to be back before nightfall.

"Oh, don't worry, good knights. We wouldn't dream of being out after dark. Not with those nasty Lizonians lurking around."

She led Miranda away from the compound, heading towards where the lizonians were waiting.

Shiloh heard the thump while Erik was bathing and stepped out of their adjoining rooms to open the door. She was still filled with grief and where there was joy of life, now the horrors of the world had begun to show in her gray eyes, but there was also the spark of love shining in them now, and the Gods willing, that would grow to push back the horrors she'd already witnessed, where even though they were few compared to most, they still had a profound effect on her.

The smell assaulted her first, it was horrid, the smell of something moldy and full of mildew. Looking down, she saw the head of one of the red headed Lizonians. Covering her mouth with her hand to keep from retching, she didn't know whether to vomit or dance a jig at seeing at least one dead red headed Lizonian. Looking around, she saw noone walking away and couldn't tell who would have left it there.

Closing the door, she headed back to their rooms, just in time to see Erik get out of the bathing chamber. Her heart sped up and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. Once she had herself back under control, she told Erik what was on the front porch to the dorms before she herself when to bathe and clean up to head out to the training area.