[Lucc]

The festival was still in full swing, and would be for only a few more
days; a fact that Lucc was far too aware of as he walked along side Elenia
- time would have been short enough to see his friends and kin from Jord
even if there had been no murder. Not that much had yet been required of
him since the initial interviews.

He felt the light pressure of Elenia's fingers on his arm as she steered
him towards a shaded bench, and he smiled over at his pretty companion and
friend. Lucc pushed away any dark thoughts and said, "So tell me what
happened when Toby and Marla exchanged presents."

With a her free hand Elenia brushed back a curl of brown hair and laughed.
"No pair could have been more tongue-tied, and both were the colors of
first roses."

"I wished I could have seen it," Lucc said, gesturing Elenia to have a
seat, and once he had joined her he continued, his tone filled with a
weight of regret, "I wished I had been there to see my little Marla take
her first step to being a young lady....."

"Which is why we waited to have the birthday party here," Elenia answered,
refering back to a gathering they had had out Barnabas's old farm for both
Marla (now twelve) and Toby (soon to be eleven); both children had friends
and kin in Montfort that deserved the joy of seeing the youngsters make
another year.

Lucc leaned back and nodded, "I know....Anyway, Toby is a good lad and I
can't think of any better for her to have as her first sweetheart."

"Nor can I," Elenia answered.

Both sat for a long moment, watching lively, always hungry, sparrows
hopping after the myraid of food that festival-goers had dropped. Neither
friend had to speak; there was still a resonance between - of spirit and
of shared experience. Both could remember their own youth (not that long
ago) and another time when Montfort had been peaceful (before the coming
of the Church) - but both knew that while both they, and the city, had
been reborn that neither would ever be as carefree again; though now every
moment of life was crystalline and they could value the laughter of the
children as more precious than diamonds. Toby and Gwion had known danger,
but somehow, someway, had managed to carry innocence with them. Marla,
Skete, and Carr had been winter burnt seeds when they had gone to Jord,
but there - in a warm house and out in a sunlight yard - they had bloomed
again.

"I apologize," Lucc said, "I wanted to be better company. The last time
you saw me I was brooding about what happened to mother, and now I'm
brooding about this trial, though no word has come yet from the court
about how or when it will proceed..."

Elenia turned to look her friend directly, and said, "Stop being silly.
You have no cause to apologize." Even without the bond between them she
would have known Lucc was weighted down by the trial - Serun would have
told her; they had already discussed their concerns for both Lucc and
Elektra. "We were never promised any easy choices," she said, knowing that
Lucc couldn't discuss his testimony, but letting him know she didn't judge
him for raising no hand to stop the murderer's interrogation.

Lucc had opened his mouth to reply when he felt the goosebumps raise on
his arms (an experience he still marveled at and found ironic all at the
same time, having been a ghost once himself), and he looked up to see a
torn face forming in the trees. The fluttering of wings heralded the
flight of the sparrows as the temperature dropped, and the smell of
carrion filled the area around the bench.

"You hurt him....." Denlira wailed, "You let them hurtttttttt my
Fillip......"

"I really wish Morrighu had come for the festival," Lucc said, "Maybe she
could get through to her."

Elenia studied the ghostly, mutilated face that floated down towards them,
and asked, "Has Yals said anything about trying to help her like we did
Uralia? I doubt that Uralia was much saner and we did get her safely sent
on."

"I've already talked to him about it," Lucc said, "But he can't even get
her to see reason....."

His comment was cut off by Denlira's shriek of fustration.

"....His theory is that Uralia wanted free of the darkness - she wanted to
have a way to go on, but Denlira doesn't."

"You didn't stop them.....!!!!" Denlira wailed - her face only inches from
their's, and the stench so thick no carnal house could have smelt worse.
Then she backed off - her horrible visage twisted in puzzlement at the
pair's lack of fear.

"LooookkloookLoookk!!" she screamed at Elenia.

"I am," Elenia said softly, "And I see a soul badly hurt." While she had
learned that enemies and allies sometimes interchanged, particularly when
survival demanded, she never could understand protecting, or forgiving,
someone who had hurt you that badly. No, never. For though this new body
did not remember in nerve and scar Elenia still could remember a
stinking cell ....And she could also remember the icy gladness, the
release, she had felt when Morrigu had told her that Colonel Garcia had
been killed. And that he died as a traitor to the Republica he had
worshipped.

But she had been told that Denlira would hear no ill of Fillip, her
murderer, and choose her words carefully, "There is nothing left for you
in the mortal realm. You need to go on and rest - it is time."

"I can't leavvvve my Fillip!!!!!!!" Denlira shrieked one more time before
vanishing.

With a soft sigh Elenia sat back, and tightened her clasp on Lucc's hand.
::I don't blame you at all,:: she sent, ::I would have not stayed a hand
raised against that man.::