Naidele gasped as Khienro suddenly picked her up and plopped her into the saddle. Then they were all racing away from the mob, the two of them on Khienro's horse, Nakaida and Orindil on his horse, and Aeryn on his own mount. The wall of fire that Naidele had created would keep their pursuers at bay for a little while at least, but she wasn't sure how long. She turned slightly, looking back towards the growing flames. She put a great deal of energy and mental power into feeding the fire so it leapt up even higher. But doing so from such a distance was enough to sap most of her strength. When the task was done, she leaned back against Khienro's chest with a weary sigh. She hoped that she would be able to regain her strength by the time that they had to fight again.

"We need to get out of here. Fast. I just hope Nakaida and Orindil make it out of there," she heard Khienro say outloud. Then in her mind: "Alive."

She gave a start of surprise at hearing his voice in her head once again. How was he doing that? When they were safely away from the mob, they would certainly be discussing this. She decided it was best to leave the subject alone for the time being though.

Naidele looked back behind them and was extremely relieved when she saw that Orindil and Nakaida were also getting away from the mob. Aeryn, too, rode not far behind them. It looked like they were safe... for the moment.

They rode relentlessly for awhile, and the hard ride was taxing on her already exhausted body. But finally, the mob and the light of her fire grew smaller in the distance. She did not fool herself into thinking that they were safe for good or that it would be wise to stop, but she was relieved that their enemies were not right on their heels. "Do you think it would be safe to slow down a little soon?" she asked Khienro softly. She knew it was taking a risk, but she would be able to regain her strength better if they went at a lesser pace. And then maybe she could broach the subject of Khienro's strange new ability with him.

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I'm back!

Khienro, jumped, as his mind was blinded to navigating through the trees as his body raced on adrenaline.

"Oh... Of course. Sorry." He slowed their pace down a bit, and the horse underneath them started to pant, foaming at it's bit. Sighing, Khienro wished the could stop for water in vain. Looking back, he saw Orindil, Nakaida, and Aeryn with visible relief.

"At least we're not in an all out chase." He looked down at Naidele's weary form with concern. "And at least you didn't kill yourself. Don't do that so much. It scares me when your energy suddenly drops close to nothing."

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Glancing at his companions to make certain they would be all right, Orindil dismounted. He walked the vicinity for a bit and found a dry spot between two enormous tree roots. He spread his thick cloak on the nest of leaves before returning to his stallion, where he helped Nakaida dismount. He tenderly carried her over, his silver eyes roving her pallid face the entire time, and nestled her into his cloak. He lingered to stroke back her damp white hair and tuck her in, then rose back to his feet.

Nakaida couldn't see the pained resignation that crossed his elven features when he turned away. He'd been witness to her raw power only moments ago. He played the fool... now and always.

Without further word he slung his bow over his back and stalked away, vanishing into the dense trees to cover their trail.

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Nakaida struggled to retain a grasp on consciousness, images blurring before her eyes. She could faintly feel Orindil's arms about her, his fingers smoothing back her sweat-drenched hair - a sensation that, when withdrawn, made her acutely wish for it back - but it was not until a few hours before dawn that she awoke completely with an impending sense of dread.

Everything was very quiet. The sky in the east was only faintly tinged with light, and the forest still stood in darkness. Nakaida assumed the bundles on the ground were Aeryn, Naidele, Khinero and Orindil. But it had not been any of them that had woken her so suddenly.

A whisper, just a sigh as if on the breeze, made her turn.

There, luminous against the darkness, stood a familiar figure. Nakaida's hands tightened convulsively around the folds of Orindil's cloak - she had a momentary rush of shame upon realizing that it was his - and a tingle crept with horrible slowness down her spine. It was her - down to every strand of white-blond hair, every twitch of the fingers.

Without quite knowing what she was doing Nakaida stood, a hand reaching toward the apparition. Just as their fingers met it vanished, and again the scene around her blurred as if in its departure the spirit had stolen away with some vestige of her strength. She blindly reached out, grasping at a tree to support herself, not knowing quite whether she was awake or dreaming.

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Khienro, awakened by the sound of a slight russling in the leaves, shot up when he realized that someone was moving around in their camp. Seeing Nakaida, he quickly got up and grabbed one of her shoulders,

"Nakaida, what is it?" he tried to use a gentle tone, as he knew she probably wasn't in the best shape, physicaly and mentally.

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Naidele woke to the cold embrace of dawn. She shivered in the chill. She was not used to cold like this. Still, the discomfort had not been enough to keep her from a deep sleep. She had even fallen asleep before she got a chance to speak with Khienro about the ability that had seemed to suddenly manifest in him.

Fighting to get a good grasp on concsciousness, she heard voices. It took her only a moment to realize that it was Khienro and Nakaida. She forced herself up to a sitting position and looked around. She spotted them only a little ways away.

As she got closer to the pair, Naidele became acutely aware that something was terribly wrong. Nakaida was even more pale than usual, and she appeared extremely disoriented, as if she wasn't sure of where she was or what was going on.

"Nakaida...?" she entreated quietly, coming to stand with them. She looked around, only to find that they were the only beings present. She shot Khienro a confused look. "Nakaida?"

Then she thought about how she needed to speak with Khienro. It seemed a small matter beside something possibly being wrong with Nakaida, but she figured she would broach it anyway. She focused her mental ability on projecting her thoughts to him. We need to talk soon, Khienro.

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I'm back!

"It's nothing," murmured Nakaida, vision clearing as she fought back a wave of nausea. For a moment she had thought Khienro was Orindil, and longed again to feel his arms about her - as though that alone could protect her from the bewildering forces seemingly assembled against them. "Go back to bed, I'm fine."

She returned to her niche between the tree roots and again flushed upon realizing it was Orindil's cloak she had lain on. How little she deserved this...how little she deserved him.

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Khienro, who otherwise would have insisted that there was definatly something wrong, jerked his head around to stare at Naidele as if she had just started to speak in gibberish. Making sure that Nakaida was safely back on the ground, he quickly turned and grabbed Naidele by the upper arm and headed deeper into the forest where they could speak quietly without disturbing the others.

"How did you do that? And what in ..." Khienro quickly restrained himself from inserting one of the more rotten pieces of his vocabulary and started over, "What in the world did you want to talk about? How to scare me out of my skin?!" He stared at her, part surprised, part angry, part scared as he spoke. What could be so important that she would speak mentally to him about? With a million thoughts running through his head, Khienro barely realized that his hand had begun to tighten around Naidele's arm.

"What is going on?" He repeated, as if convinced that the question had not yet passed his lips, but only lingered in his mind.

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"You're hurting my arm!" Naidele said, unable to keep the anger out of her voice, as she wrenched her arm out of Khienro's tight grasp. She made a show of rubbing the place on her arm where his hand had been while she glared at him.

"Now," she said when she was satisfied with trying to make him feel guilty. She made an effort to school her emotions, bringing her anger at bay. "I guess I could have let you know that I wanted to talk in a more... conventional way...." She trailed off with a shrug. "But I only wanted to make you realize what we have been doing since last night during the battle." She raised one eyebrow at him, wondering if he would show that he had any inclination that they had been communicating telepathically through the whole encounter the night before.

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I'm back!

Khienro, who now felt quite ahsamed that he had been hurting a lady, who infact was a very powerful being, looked down as a guilty expression flashed across his features before leaving as quickly as it had come.

At the mention of "what they had been doing since the battle last night" Khienros brow furrowed in confusion and he looked suspiciously at Naidele.

"Pray tell... What have we been doing since last night? If you mean me, I can safely say that I have been running on adrenaline. If you mean us though, I dont know what youre talking about." Khienro wracked his brain for a suitable answer for the question, but found nothing, unless he wanted to blurt out a sharp retort, but that did not seem the most appealing, or wise decision at the moment, What, with an angry, glaring keeper of fire standing in front of him. An angry, glaring keeper of fire whom he cared for deeply.

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It was at that moment that Orindil dropped down from a tree ten feet off from Nakaida. He was not in the most agreeable of moods, something to do with falling asleep on watch. That, and the fact that hanging onto a tree bough whilst asleep did not offer the most comfortable of resting positions.

He glanced around quickly, shielding his eyes against the bright sunlight filtering through the forest canopy, and spotted Naidele and Khienro conversing a small distance away. His roaming gaze fell upon Nakaida, and his face softened. "Navhieri is a day's ride away to the north," he said quietly. "Are you all right?"

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Nakaida's eyes followed him, and as he spoke she rose, his cloak in hand. "I'll be fine," she said quietly, attempting to be as reserved as was possible. Disgust rose within her at her sudden aching desire to tell him she wouldn't be fine, everything was falling apart, she couldn't save it. "The sooner we can do what needs doing, the better."

Mutely she held out the cloak, unable to voice the appreciation and shame she felt at using it. He must have been cold.

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Naidele softened her expression, not wanting Khienro to think she was angry with him. She wasn't really. She just tended to react without thinking.

"I am talking about us, Khienro," she told him, "Though it would probably be easier to... show you what I'm talking about rather than tell you. Brace yourself."

Then she took his hand, somehow sensing it would be easier to do what she intended if she was touching him. She looked deeply into his eyes as she tried to project her thoughts to his mind. Khienro, it's me. You didn't realize it, but we've been communicating like this since last night.

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I'm back!

Realization dawned on Khienro's face as he stared at Naidele.

"What? But.... How?" He looked at the ground and silently took Naidele's other hand with his own, subconciously rubbing it with his thumb. But then he suddenly stopped with a sharp intake of breath. Staring back at Naidele, he tried his best to speak mentaly again.

"What did I say?" his mental voice held obvious hesitation.

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Naidele found it comforting to have her hands in Khienro's, so she held onto them. "Really, it was just like you sent your thoughts to me," she replied outloud to his mental question. She knew he could probably hear her voice in his mind also, but she decided to speak outloud instead of solely communicating mentally. "I could hear what you thought in my head. At first I thought I was imagining it or something, but then I realized that it was really you."

She looked up into his eyes helplessly, as if to say that she had no explanation for the odd thing that was happening between them. "Was it the same for you?" she asked after a moment, "Could you hear me... in your mind?"

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Khienro hesistated,

"Well.... I little. I heard a faint whisper from time to time, but it wasn't that clear... Like you, I thought I was imagining it." He looked over at Orindil and Nakaida for a minute, but then stopped and looked back.

"D-do you think that.. Oh nevermind." Khienro didn't want to mention it, but he had a feeling..... Deciding it was best if nothing was held back, he repeated himself, finishing. "Do you think that it has anything to do with... Our relationship?"

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen