FSE

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Continued from A winter's night...

For a time, she slept peacefully, and it seemed that the sickness had left her at last. For a month, she grew strong and wished everyday to see Cerule's outline in the snow outside, yet everyday, he didn't show. Besides that, her studies became easier and magic came to her with an ease she had not had before. Everyone knew that she had been changed somehow during that blizzard. However, she also grew quieter and more insular since then, seeming to not want to associate with other members of the school.

Yet, despite her successes, she began to hear some disturbing things. Whispers in crowds around her, whispers of revenge for the death of the boy she had killed in self defense. She looked around each time she heard it, but she couldn't see the speakers. They were always just part of the crowd. She began to notice dark looks being cast in her direction, but she did not know who it was who was glaring. These strange occurrences grew in number until she began to believe that her encounter with the Tigriss had somehow sharpened her senses and she began to fear those around her. Finally, she could not stand it any longer. Late one night, she looked out the window on the snow-covered night and began to speak.

"Cerule, I don't know if you can hear me, but I really need your help." She said into the silence of her room. Nothing but silence greeted her as she stood still in anticipation. She didn't know what she had expected to happen, but she felt her heart fall when nothing did. No sounds accompanied the sound of her heart beating and her breath flowing from her lips. She sighed deeply and lay down in her bed to sleep...

* * *

When she awoke the next morning, she sat up in bed and looked around the room. She started when she noticed a dark figure crouched in the corner. She was about to cry out, when she saw two bright aquamarine points within the figure's hood. She smiled unconsciously instead and got out of the bed, unabashed at her visitor seeing her in her sleeping clothes. Cerule rose from where he crouched and pushed back his hood. She saw him smile at her and she felt the odd comforting feeling well inside again.

"I didn't think you had heard me." She said, walking towards him.

"You have to give me time," He stated, "I'm fast, but not quite that fast."

"I'm glad you came as quick as you did," She said, "Things are bad. I think that a group of other students are going to try and kill me."

"What makes you think that?" he asked her, scanning the room with his sharp eyes.

She swiftly described what she had heard and sensed. He nodded slowly and closed his eyes. She saw his ears shift slightly and she knew he was listening.

"You were right to suspect." He stated, his eyes opening, "They are planning to come after you soon."

"What can I do?" she asked, desperation plain in her gaze.

"Revenge is a coward's tool of jealousy." He said, "They can act plenty brave when just facing you. I would like to see how they would react with a bodyguard at your side."

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at him quizzically. "What bodyguard?"

"I will come with you and watch over you until this threat has passed." He explained.

"How do you propose walking around the school with me?" She asked, still not understanding, "You are a Tigriss, and the other students will be likely to kill you if they see you."

He smiled and pulled the hood up over his face again and then put his arms inside the folds of his cloak. When he was like that, no one would be able to identify what he was. "I will be a mystery that they cannot fathom." He said, and she grinned as she realized he didn't look anything more than human when dressed so.

The next morning, she left her room with the cloaked mystery beside her. She still heard the whispers around her, but they seemed to be surprised that she had someone with her. In every class, he stayed against the wall near to her, completely silent and unidentifiable. Every so often, people would try to see beneath the veil of the cloak, but all failed. A few tried to see beneath it with a scrying spell, but all they saw was a solid void. He obviously had some sort of enchantment that prevented it. All that could be seen was an occasional flash of aquamarine inside his hood.

After a few days, rumors abounded about this strange bodyguard and his purpose for being there. However, the whispers did not stop and it became apparent that the group of boys that was planning to attack her were not dissuaded by Cerule's presence. Late one night, a few nights after he arrived, Cerule was standing next to the wall, listening. Jessica continued her work, confident that he was on guard for her. Suddenly, Cerule spoke.

"Here they come." He stated and Jessica quickly stood up, backing away from the door. She prepared to cast a defensive spell, but she didn't get a chance. The door to her chamber shuddered as one of the boys heaved his shoulder into it. It shuddered violently once more and Jessica raised her hands, the words of a spell on the tip of her tongue. Suddenly, the door shattered inward and the gang of boys hurried inside. Jessica shouted words in magic and flaming darts sprung from her fingertips, drilling into the chests of the lead three. They went down screaming and the acrid stink of burning flesh filled the room. However, before she could get another word out, they grabbed her and forced her against the wall. Their ringleader came forward and spoke.

"So, thought you could stop us did you?" He said, a sneer curling his lip upward. "Like you stopped my brother?" She snarled at him and he slapped her across her face with the back of his hand. Then, while she tried to struggle free without success, he forced his lips against hers, forcing a kiss on her. She bit down hard on his lip and he cried out in pain, blood dripping from his lip. As he raised his hand to strike her once more, a shadow moved behind the group and she smiled to herself.

"Like it rough do you?" He sneered, eagerness overriding sense.

He was surprised to see defiance filling her eyes as she spoke again "Now!!" The single word echoed in the room as she shouted it.

With that, there was the sound of cloth rustling and his friends turned to see a bright white and blue streak lancing at them. Cerule struck with the force of a thunderbolt, claws extended from his paws. The first of the boys fell with his throat slashed. In an instant, Cerule was a whirlwind of slashing claws and tearing teeth. Soon, every member of the gang except for their leader lay dead. The leader had scrambled to his feet, trying to fight this mad creature, but he now was pinned two feet above the floor against the wall by Cerule's mighty arm. Cerule had one paw gripping his robes, and the other had its claws out and against his throat.

Jessica walked sedately over to where Cerule waited.

"Now, it is time to teach you about manners." She said, posting her hands to her hips.

"What are you talking about?!" He asked, "and what are you doing with this Tig..." his voice was cut off by Cerule's claws digging through the outer layer of his skin at his neck.

"You are listening now, not talking." Cerule stated, stopping just short of drawing blood.

"You see, you never try to take something like that without asking." She said, "And if the other person isn't willing, then you leave her alone. Both you and your brother need to learn that lesson."

With that, she struck his gut with her fist as hard as she could. He gasped as he felt it, but then she struck him again, this time between the legs. He gasped again and his voice left him. Her anger satisfied, she stepped back, letting Cerule deal with him.

"Now, you have twice tried to commit an act that is unforgivable." He stated, leisurely dragging his claws through the skin of his neck as if pondering what a fitting punishment was; still short of drawing blood, but leaving great tears in the flesh. The boy's eyes grew wide as he felt his skin tear under the warrior's claws. "Once you might have lived after being stopped, but twice? The only penalty severe enough for such an offense is death." With that, Cerule pulled his claws out of his captive's skin and bit down hard, his massive teeth tearing easily through the flesh of his captive's throat. But, before the boy could feel the pain of the bite, Cerule jerked his head, snapping his neck.

He dropped the body and turned around. Tears were welling up in Jessica's eyes and he put a paw on her shoulder. She sobbed bitterly and huddled close to his warm side. He put his arms around her and held her to him. For the first time, she realized just how warm and comforting he was. She cherished every moment that she was so close to him. She sobbed again, but she felt her pain ebbing away in his welcome embrace.

"Its alright, they can't hurt you any longer." he said softly, rubbing a hand along her back. She continued to sob, but with each pass of his hand, she felt the terror and pain ebb away until they had vanished. When she had composed herself, Cerule let her go and moved over to the wash basin. He washed out his mouth and cleaned off his claws, staining the water with the blood of her assailants.

She turned her back on her protector and sank down to her knees, shuddering with cold and shock, the memories that Cerule had suppressed surging back into her mind. Tears still flowed unchecked down her face and she sobbed once. She shivered violently and felt terribly alone all of a sudden. Suddenly, she felt finely woven silk settle around her shoulders and she looked up through blurred eyes to find Cerule placing his cloak around her shoulders. She pulled the cloak close around her and accidentally brushed Cerule's hand. The electric shudder she had felt before ran through her and she quivered. She found herself thankful that it would appear to be more shock and not revulsion.

She heard footsteps coming down the corridor and the shouts of students. She whirled around to warn Cerule, only to find that he had vanished. She was still gazing around when Arch magus Scolor strode through the door, followed quickly by several advanced students and teachers.

"Adept Starweaver, what is going on here?" He asked, looking at the bloody carnage that filled the room. Her only answer was to sob in grief. The arch mage looked at the bodies of the students and his face grew grave. "I should have known these would have been trouble."

Kneeling beside her, he put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He smiled slightly and helped her to her feet, guiding her away from the bloody scene. The others that had come with him looked at the bodies in shock, and whispers broke out among them that she could hear through her tears.

She shuddered and followed the Arch mage to the medical wing. After being placed in a bed, the arch mage left her. All night, she tried to think of the horrors of the fight, trying to drown out the traitorous voice that spoke such dreadful things, but all she could think of was how Cerule had saved her. She could not figure it out. It was almost as if she knew the voice was right, no matter what the rest of her said. With this troubling conclusion in her mind, she drifted off to sleep in the dark medical ward...

* * *

She began to have a nightmare once more. The painful memories filled her sight again and she shuddered in her sleep, moaning slightly once more. Suddenly, a quiet tune filled her ears. It was the sound of a wooden flute and it calmed her instantly, driving the images away. She felt warm and comfortable and she began to rise towards wakefulness. When her eyes opened, the medical wing was dark with the night, but she sensed the presence of someone nearby. The sound of a flute being played quietly filled her ears still and she looked for the source. Suddenly, high up in the rafters of the cavernous ceiling, she spied a pair of Aquamarine eyes in the darkness above her.

The eyes flared for a moment and she saw Cerule lounging on his side on a beam not more than six inches across, fifty feet in the air, a carved flute against his lips. He paused in his playing and lowered the flute. She saw his sad smile as he saw that she was awake. He waved to her and then raised the flute once more and began a new song. The song reminded her somehow of the home she had left behind when she came to the school. She felt a profound feeling of peace enter her and she fell asleep once more...

* * *

The next day, she awoke to find the medical wing empty and still. Looking up at the rafters, she saw Cerule crouching on a lower beam nearby, the flute still in his hands. When he sensed her awakening, he dropped off the beam, landing in absolute silence beside her bed. He straightened and she sat up in the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a whisper, looking at her in concern.

"Thanks to you, I am alright." She answered, matching his quiet voice. "I can never repay the debt that I owe you."

"Nonsense." He said, shaking his beautiful head, "You saved my life, I saved yours. We are even."

She shook her head, looking at her savior with great gratitude in her eyes. "You took away my pain. For that, I can never repay you."

"I didn't take away your pain." He said sadly, one of his ears twitching slightly, "I simply borrowed it for a while. However, I can help you get rid of the pain forever."

"How?" She asked eagerly.

"You have such pains because you have kept the memories buried inside your mind." He said, kneeling beside her bed, "If you keep horrors bottled inside, they tear you apart when you cannot defend against them. The only way to release the pain is to let the memories out." He took her hand in his wonderfully warm palm and she did not make an attempt to pull away. "If you tell me about the memories that are tearing you up, I will prevent the pain from growing inside you."

"Alright." She said and she took a deep breath, then she described all the painful memories that she had, but this time, the pain did not appear. Instead, she felt peaceful after it. When she had finished, Cerule nodded.

"There," he said, "Your pain will not bother you any more." He looked as if he was about to say more, but one of his ears twitched and angled towards the door. Smiling sadly at being interrupted, he leapt up and caught the beam with his paws and vanished into the shadows atop it. Looking back at the corridor outside that he had listened to, she finally heard the sound of footsteps. As she lay there in bed, Arch mage Scolor appeared in the doorway and made his way to her bedside.

"How are you today?" he asked, a faint smile crinkling his old features.

"I am well." She said, and she realized that she meant it this time.

"You look better." He said, and then the smile faded. He leaned in and spoke quietly now so as to not be overheard. "I have cast scrying spells in your chamber and I know that it was not you who killed them. I know it was that bodyguard of yours and I also know that he cannot be a normal human. It is time for truth between us."

"You are right sir." She said and she saw a shadow shift above her. "Cerule, come down please." The arch mage looked up to see a bright blur drop from the rafters and land with out a sound in the middle of the room a few feet away. When Cerule straightened up once more, he faced the arch mage without fear. The archmage raised his staff in alarm to cast a spell, but suddenly, he found someone between him and his target. Jessica Starweaver, his most gifted student, stood in front of the Tigriss, arms spread out to the side and glaring at him.

The archmage paused in the middle of his spell, surprised by her reaction. He lowered his staff and looked at her in surprise. She spoke with a defiance and energy that he had not seen in her before and he felt surprise that she had such fire in her.

"How can you try to kill something you do not know?" She demanded, glaring. "I have known Cerule for months now and he has never harmed me. Ever. He has had plenty of time to do so. He gave me peace from the horrors that plagued my mind and you were willing to take all that away?"

He stared at her incredulously, shocked at the audacity of her statement. "You harbored a morph in your chambers for all these months?"

She shook her head and spoke quieter. "Months ago, during the long blizzard, he came to the doors of the school badly wounded. He was wearing a cloak and I thought that he was a human at first. But when I saw what he really was, I did not feel revulsion and disgust. I only felt the need to help him. He did not need to come back, but he did when I asked for his help."

"Wounded?" The arch magus asked, thinking that he had been wounded in the fighting in the war. "You mean wounded by human warriors?"

"No." She said, "His own kind."

"What?" he asked, completely stunned and unprepared for that answer.

"He is an outcast in their society," She explained, "Something to be hunted down and killed simply because his fur is white and he resists the aggressive tendencies of his kind."

"What do you mean?" he asked, staring at her in wonder, and he was surprised when she took a scroll from a pouch and handed it to him. He had never read this scroll even once, but he knew it was a secret when he read it. His eyes grew wide when he read what it contained and the scroll dropped to the floor from his suddenly nerveless fingers. He suddenly realized exactly what had happened. The other arch mage, the other head of the school had been breeding hatred since he came here. The mysterious fire in the scroll room that had started without explanation had been started by him or his followers. He understood now. Looking at the mysterious warrior, he suddenly nodded, offering the warrior his hand. Cerule took his hand hesitantly, looking suspiciously at the old mage.

"I must apologize for my behavior." He said, shaking the warrior's hand warmly. "I was unaware that you could be good. The possibility never occurred to me and for that I am sorry."

"It is alright sir, believe me, I understand." He answered. "I must commend you, it is extremely rare to find a human so willing to accept someone like me."

The two nodded to each other and Jessica smiled.

"What will we do now?" She asked, looking between the two of them.

"I must go to confront Arch magus Crasus." He said, "He has been breeding needless hate here since he arrived and it was he who tried to destroy this scroll with fire. Neither of you can stand against his power, so I must go alone. Wait for me to return here." With that, the venerable old mage walked out of the room, the heavy thunk of his staff echoing in the confines of the room. Cerule looked concerned, and Jessica regarded him carefully.

"I think that the arch magus is in more danger than he thinks." He explained, reaching into the folds of his uniform.

"Why, he is the most powerful wizard in the world; that is why he teaches here." She said, looking him in the eye.

"Yes, but sorcery takes much effort, and I found this on a man who tried to bar my passage into the school earlier." He said, taking a curved, black bladed dagger with a strange, cruciform mark burned into the leather wrapped handle, from beneath his clothing and laid it down on the table next to her bed. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment before looking at Cerule once more.

"What is it?" she asked, turning the dagger over in her hands.

"That mark on the handle is the mark of the Scio Assassin order." Cerule answered, "I have run into them several times in my life. They follow no law except their own and they hunt down and kill people seemingly without rhyme or reason, morphic and human alike. I can hear several of them moving in this school right now, and I believe that there are several more that are being silent."

"How on earth can you tell that?" she asked, replacing the dagger onto the end table.

"They wear a unique type of boot that no one else wears, not to mention that they step very lightly, moving with near, but not total, silence with each step." Cerule explained, crossing his arms inside his sleeves.

"You can hear all that?" She asked, impressed.

"Yes, it is amazing what you can hear when you learn to truly listen." He stated, then a frown creased his face and he shook his head. "Your Arch magus is walking into a trap. The assassins are standing in a room a few floors up where someone bearing a staff keeps pacing back and forth; if we are going to help him, we need to hurry."

"Lets go then." Jessica said, leaping to her feet and swirling her borrowed cloak around her shoulders. She started to rush to the doors out of the medical wing when Cerule grabbed her arm gently.

"There's a faster way." He said, and looked up at the beams that led to wide windows up high. Without a word, he put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She instinctively put her arms around his shoulders and he leapt upward, easily catching a beam with his free paw. He swung forward and onto the beam, then, maintaining perfect balance, he raced along its length and leapt to another, higher beam. Jessica clung to him tightly as he climbed to the height of the windows in this fashion, seemingly with great ease. Then, he pushed open one of the windows and stepped through onto the snowy rampart. Jessica had only just felt the bite of cold when her companion crouched, then she actually felt his leg muscles tense and suddenly they were flying. She felt a weightless sensation for a brief instant, then Cerule's paws touched stone again.

Looking around for an instant, she found that his leap had carried them fifty feet through the air and onto the ramparts outside the room where Crasus waited. She saw Scolor enter the chamber and the nearest assassin ready a weapon. She started to say something, but Cerule was already in action. She swiftly shielded herself with the edge of Cerule's cloak as he lunged through the nearby window pane, shattering it and spraying fragments everywhere. She lowered the cloak edge and looked into the room. She watched in amazement when the bright blur that was Cerule landed on the back of one assassin, breaking something vital. The assassin crumpled, but Cerule was already gone, shooting forward and hitting a second. The man collapsed, and then the bright flashes of magic lit the chamber, obscuring him from sight.

When her sight cleared, she saw Scolor on the ground, with Crasus standing over him, staff ready. She wanted to do something to help and, before she knew what she was doing, she had stretched her hand towards Crasus, the words of a spell she had never learned tumbling from her lips. As the last syllable tumbled free from her, lightning bolts seared from her fingertips, striking the exposed back of the evil wizard. He writhed in agony as electricity flowed through him, the bolts wreathing him and setting his clothing afire. Then, she slipped into the room, hopping onto a high beam and negotiating the distance to a stone pillar. Wrapping her arms around it, she slid to the ground. When she touched the stone floor below, she heard Scolor speak.

"You have caused too much hatred to live anymore, Crasus." He said venomously and then he raised his staff, bright light shining from its tip. At the same moment that the bright light was at its brightest, she heard the unmistakable twang of a bowstring. Time slowed down as she saw the crossbow bolt from the last assassin shoot with blinding speed towards Scolor. At the last moment, a shape intercepted the bolt before it reached Scolor and suddenly shot forward towards the last assassin. Time returned to normal swiftly. There was a scream, a sickening crack, and an odd gurgle from where the streak had gone and the fight was over. Jessica raced to where Scolor knelt, leaning heavily on his staff.

"Are you alright?" She asked, helping the mage to rise to his feet.

"Yes, I am alright, thanks to your friend." He said and Jessica's heart leapt to her throat. Cerule!! She thought, turning and running towards the shadowed corner of the chamber where he had gone. She felt a feeling of intense relief as she saw him walk around the pillar that obscured it, red blood staining the left leg of his trousers black. He dispassionately discarded the bloody crossbow bolt and walked forward, limping slightly. She felt such a sense of relief that he was alive that she could not control herself any longer. She raced forward and trapped Cerule in a warm hug, tears streaming from her eyes.

She felt Cerule return her hug slowly and she looked up at him. He looked totally surprised by her reaction and seemed to not know what to do. She whispered to him so that Scolor wouldn't hear.

"Cerule, there is so much that I want to tell you." She said, refusing to let him go. "I was so worried that you were dead..." her words tumbled from her once more and she did not try to stop them. "I don't care what you say, I don't want you to leave me again."

"I won't then." he said, returning her warm hug. Scolor cleared his throat after a moment and Jessica stepped back from Cerule, blushing fiercely. Cerule chuckled nervously and she looked up to see the pale skin under his white fur turning bright pink. 'Now what did that mean?' She thought to herself. Scolor strode forward, his staff tapping on the stone floor with each step.

"Cerule." He said and the tigriss looked at him. "You have proven your quality to be the very highest. As long as I am the Archmage of this school, you are welcome here."

Cerule bowed to the arch mage and the three of them strode from the room...

* * *

The next day, all the students had been gathered together in the largest hall of the school. The Arch Magus had read the scroll to the rest of the students and then had introduced Cerule. There were rumblings of surprise and shock through out the hall when he tossed the hood of his cloak back, but when Scolor explained all that he had done, they quieted to be replaced by curious whispers. The students had been dismissed and a few of the more open minded individuals had introduced themselves to the tall warrior before leaving. Scolor had assigned Cerule a suite of chambers to use while he was at the school, and he soon became a familiar sight.

After a few weeks the other students had finally overcome their suspicion of him and he could often be found teaching students during breaks survival skills, herb lore, and even magic. Very soon many students considered him a friend and a teacher, though no one considered him a threat any longer. At the same time, Jessica, her fears no longer bottled within, progressed swiftly in her studies, becoming the most advanced student in less than a month. During that time, not a day went by when she and Cerule hadn't spent some time together. As the shock of seeing him still alive after the fight with the Scio faded away, she had found it suddenly very difficult to voice all that she had wanted to tell the mysterious warrior, but he never pressed her to tell him.

She always got the feeling that he knew that she would tell him when she was ready. For the remainder of winter, the two of them became good friends and she felt, for the first time since her village had been destroyed, safe. It seemed to her that just knowing that he was nearby made her feel safer than all the magic in the world could have. She could see from the look in his eyes that he was happy at the school. She thought that it was because it was the one place in the world that he belonged. However, as the winter blizzards turned first to sleet, then to cold rain, she began to see a faint change come over him. Fully four months since he had first appeared in that blizzard on that fateful night, Jessica came looking for him because she had some incredible news.

She found his chambers standing empty, and for the briefest instant, she feared that he had vanished once more. However, the instincts that had awoken in her since he had healed her for the first time guided her up through the floors of the school to the topmost floor of a tower. Pausing at the top of the staircase, she listened and her ears caught a few notes from Cerule's flute. Smiling to herself, she walked quietly to the open doorway leading out onto the ramparts. A fine misty rain was falling and she walked out into it to find Cerule sitting on the edge of a rampart, his legs hanging out over thin air, the flute to his lips. He was playing a slow tune that seemed almost mournful to her ears.

He stopped playing as she approached, and greeted her without turning around. She walked up and leaned on the rampart beside where he sat. He tucked his flute back into its hiding place at his lower back and looked over at her. He smiled when he saw what she was wearing, and she blushed slightly. She was no longer wearing the blue robe of a student, instead, she wore the grey robe of a mage. Not only that, but she wore a reversible cloak almost exactly like the one that he himself wore.

"Congratulations." He said, then turned back towards the wilderness that abutted the school grounds. She could see the expression on his face and it surprised her. It was a look of longing. It faded quickly, but she felt compelled to ask him about it.

"What is it Cerule?" She asked, looking on him with concern.

"Oh, its nothing I suppose." He said with a wistful sigh. "Its just I miss the wilderness. It doesn't make sense because I am accepted here. It is just that..." his voice trailed off and she knew that he was having trouble finding the words.

"You miss the freedom of the life you lived before this." She finished for him. He nodded slowly and she understood. He, who had lived his whole life with freedom, disliked being cooped up in one spot for so long. "Well, you needn't miss it any longer. If you want, you can leave again."

"No." he said, his voice even and she looked at him with surprise for a moment as he continued. "I promised I would never leave you, and I won't."

"You don't understand." She said, putting her hand on his shoulder in a friendly fashion. "I have graduated and I am ready to leave this school. If you don't mind, I was actually planning to travel with you." At this, he turned to her, and for the first time since he had arrived she saw genuine surprise on his furred face. He stared at her for a few minutes as if to see whether she was joking or not. When it became clear to him that she was saying this with complete seriousness he spoke.

"You do realize what this could mean for you, don't you?" He asked her. "I am constantly in danger when I wander. Many devote their entire lives to hunting my kind."

"I know all that." She said, "But, I have felt since I first saw you that we were connected somehow. How, I still don't know. And yet, I feel that I need to come with you for some reason."

"I have felt that since I first saw you as well, but I still worry about you." He said, standing up and hopping off the rampart to stand beside her. "As much as I agree with you, I worry that you will be hurt, and I couldn't bear that."

"Since you healed my mind for the first time, I have learned so much magic that I will be able to defend myself quite ably." She stated, "You don't need to worry about me, and you won't be breaking your promise to stay with me."

"Well, if that is truly what you wish, then I welcome your companionship." He said and she embraced him. This time, he returned her hug at the same time. Finally, as if the feel of his warm body so close to her had removed some sort of barrier, she finally told him the one thing that she had been trying to tell him since the first time he had touched her bare skin.

"Cerule?" She whispered as they remained embraced, she looked up to see his eyes lock to her own. "This is going to sound silly, but, do you remember when I shuddered when you touched me?" He nodded and she continued. "I shuddered from pleasure, not from revulsion." She was surprised to see his sad smile return.

"I know." He said, regarding her with curiosity, "I could tell from the way your heart sped up when I touched you, and the color that came to your skin."

"Then why...?" She began and trailed off when he continued.

"Why did I feel sorrow?" He finished for her and she nodded. "I felt sorrow because we couldn't be together, even if you were to come with me. Some things in this world are never meant to happen. I felt sorrow because I would never be able to express my feelings towards you."

"Well, since we are alone..." She said, her heart starting to beat faster with

anticipation.

He smiled and began to speak in a whisper, his voice carrying not further than her ears in the rain. "From the moment I first saw you clearly, I thought that you were beautiful. More than that, I thought you were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. My heart became heavy with sorrow in the knowledge that you would never know; that I would never live to see you again. I could feel that I was close to death when I came here, and I thought that, since you were human, you would not let me live through the first night. I cannot tell you how joyful I felt when I awoke to find you still here. You were sleeping in your chair by the fire and the last thought I had before I slept again, was that even if I would die in the next moment, I would die happy having seen something so beautiful before the end. When my mind had cleared, I knew that I had to leave to prevent harm coming to you. Every moment I was away from the school, my heart burned with a hope beyond all hope; that you would call on me. Since I have gotten to know you, I found that you have a great heart and spirit to match your beauty. And still, I had sorrow knowing that you might never know. And, now that I have said it, I can only hope that you will forgive the foolishness of my words."

"No." She said, tears of happiness falling from her eyes as she spoke. "There is nothing to forgive. I have thought almost the same thing since I first saw you after the bath. I never wish to leave your company." They remained embraced for a time before Cerule spoke again.

"Jessica." He said and she pulled back from him a little to look into his eyes. "I want you to promise me something."

"What is it?" She asked, worried now.

"I am forever being hunted, I will most likely never be free from it. Several times in my life, as short as it has been, I have been poised on the edge of death." He said and she nodded her understanding. "I want you to promise me, that if I am slain, you will not seek revenge for me. You must promise me that you will run, keeping yourself safe and alive. I could never forgive myself if you were harmed on my account."

"I don't know if that is something I can promise." She said, answering truthfully. Her voice failed slightly as she spoke, "I don't want to answer now. Just hold me." Cerule put his arms around her and held her to him, shielding her from the rain with his body. She realized, that there in his arms, she felt entirely safe, as though nothing could touch her. The two stood on the high rampart in each other's arms, hidden from prying eyes like ghosts in the fine rain...