(Mabry Aldaran: Mabry Slemmons; Diego Storn: Jim Caccamo; Rafael Lindir: Laura Lulli;

Regis di Asturien: Reijo Perlman; Myria Lanart: Julie Stampzinski;

Congratulatia Ridenow y Elhalyn: Marcello Bellavista)

Still positively charged by her dream and subsequent meeting with Jorik, Congratulatia rushed to her rooms. It was time she killed off Mabry with her astringent tea.

An hour later, she knocked at the Aldarans' quarters of Comyn Castle, accompanied by her multi-named maid carrying a tray. Congratulatia was wearing black velvet with blue laces and had made herself up in order to look menacing.

She soon learned that the Lady of Aldaran was nowhere to be found.

Initially, she blamed the manservant and ordered him to conduct a thorough research, then she took out her matrix and concentrated on Mabry. Thanks to her precognizing ability, she realized the harlot of Aldaran would soon be meeting with her former regent. She regained her composure and left.

Alone in her bed chambers, she grabbed a brush and hurled at a wall, shrieking: "ACCURSED HARLOT!!!"

She opened her fan and started fanning herself softly. "You have managed to escape my just retribution, you harlot. But I WILL have my revenge."

Soon, she was knocking at dom Regis Di Asturien's doors.

As soon as the lord appeared, she said: "I am so sorry for coming here uninvited, vai dom, but I must denounce a despicable fact which has just occurred. The Lady of Aldaran left this castle and soon, real soon, she will meet face to face with her former regent, that ... oh... Diego... Drogo... Duilio... well, you know. In a refuge, but I cannot give you the details, unfortunately. My laran told me no more."

She was most certain that Dom Di Asturien would have her apprehended and led to a place where Congratulatia could properly harm her. Even though she was showing a preoccupied façade, she was smiling inside already tasting her revenge against the accursed harlot of Aldaran...

Returning to her rooms, Myria sent notes to those who would be going with her to Neskaya, telling them that their departure would be delayed a few hours. But since the Aldaran group was in Comyn Castle, she decided to stop by there and tell them herself.

Regis di Asturien welcomed her into the Aldaran apartments. "Hello, Dom Regis! I was hoping to speak to you and Dom Rafael for a few minutes."

"Rafe isn't here, but I always have time to talk to you, Domna," Regis said, suppressing his annoyance about his co-regent's absence, and his suspicions as to what was keeping Rafael busy.

Myria decided to tell only part of the story. "I just came from visiting a girl with a bad case of threshold sickness, and I'll want to see her again tomorrow, so we won't be leaving for Neskaya until about the fourth hour tomorrow morning. I hope this won't inconvenience Damisela Mabry and the rest of your party."

Regis thought about the note he had found. "Well, actually, Domna, there's a small problem... It looks like Mabry has fleed." He handed a note to Myria.

Myria read the note the regent handed her with mixed feelings of anger, worry, and frustration. Why, she asked herself, had she agreed to accept the Aldaran brat in her tower?

"Do you think she has skill to do that?" asked Regis

"I have no idea... but she may have the potential, so we'd better be careful." The Keeper answered.

"If we are in the mood to be reasonable...she is the one who is not. She only wants everybody to obey her childish whims. However, there might be a solution. Domna Congratulatia just stormed in and told she had had a vision Mabry was going to meet Diego. So even if it weren't safe to track her, he may be tracked..."

"That would be useful if we knew where Diego was," said Myria drily, "funny, I thought she and Diego couldn't stand each other. And she may try to fry anyone who attempts to contact her, but there's more than one way to fight a fire... if she has a matrix, I can find its location using the screens at Comyn Tower. That will help us pin down her location.

"We can't commit all our resources to chasing down one child, even if she is the heir to a domain," Myria continued. "I must return to my tower. And your duty is to the domain of Aldaran rather than to its future ruler. I suggest that you travel as planned to Caer Donn. If anything should happen to Mabry when she is on her own, you would have to take charge of Aldaran." Regis turned pale at the mention of the possibility of something happening to Mabry. "Where do you stand on the question of ransoming prisoners? What about hostages?" Regis did not answer. "Rafael should be the one to follow her trail, he knows her better, and he's younger than you and probably in better shape.

Some hours before, in the Sweetshop:

A smile crossed Rafael's face and he gently gave her one last kiss. "Alright my love. I will meet you here again tomorrow. What time?"

"Is three hours after dawn alright with you? I'm sure that I'll be able to get away for a while then."

"Sure. I'll see you then," Rafe replied and walked off.

As soon as he reached Comyn Castle, his mind cleared, and he began to feel uncomfortable.

What was wrong now? Was he only feeling guilty for forgetting his regency duties with Eliadha? Or was something bad going on?

He knocked at the door of the Aldaran Apartments, and prepared himself for uncle Regis' *nice* questions....but to his surprise, the manservant told him that nobody was in the rooms, neither Lord Regis, nor Lady Mabry.

Puzzled, he said to himself that maybe he had been away for too long a time, and went to search for his uncle.

As he walked in the deserted corridors (where was everyone?), it came to his mind that Regis could be talking to Lady Myria, in order to arrange the departure to Neskaya, so he headed for the Keeper's rooms.

He was about to knock at the door, when he heard the Keeper's voice:

"....Rafael should be the one to follow her trail, he knows her better, and he's younger than you and probably in better shape."

Rafe's heart skipped a beat...Mabry!! It must be Mabry!

*Oh, Aldones...look at what I've done!! If only...yes, if only what! Oh, well, stop worrying for nothing, you blockhead! Go in and let them tell you what has happened!* He bravely knocked, and entered.

Regis was so pale and worried that he didn't even talked to Rafael, while the Lady Myria, cold as a Keeper must be, briefly explained to the young Regent the latest events, including the note from Mabry.

If he had had any doubts, Rafe was now convinced that all of this was his fault.

He didn't comment, almost, anyway. He just looked at Regis, straight in his eyes, and said:

"I will leave tomorrow morning, about three hours after dawn" *After I greeted Eliadha properly...I don't want to miss this date like I miss the last one* Rafe sighed, heading for his rooms *I'll explain her everything, and then let her go for good, if she wishes so.*

Rafe bowed both to Myria and his uncle, and headed for the Aldaran Apartments, to pack his belongings for the long journey that was waiting for him.

"She truly is still a foolish little girl. She obviously does not care about Aldaran, or anything but herself. And it left to us to look after that little brat!" said Regis.

Then he bowed to Myria and left the room. He didn't sleep well that night.

Due probably to his young age and healty body..and also to the tiring afternoon he had spent with a certain Amazon <beg>, Rafe managed to have a good night of sleep despite he was worrying for Mabry...

And he also wake up earlier then he had thought to, in order to meet Eliadha outside the Guildhouse.

When she came out of the big wooden door, he was already waiting for her. He was nonchalantly leaning against the wall of a building on the other side of the street.

Do you want to read more about their parting?

Myria muttered to herself as she headed for the Tower, located in the old section of the Castle. **Here I thought Mabry was becoming more mature... I was going to suggest to the Council that she should be confirmed in the position, with Regis and Rafael as advisors rather than regents... I don't know *what* the Council will say when they hear about this... what if they decide she's renounced her claim to the domain by running off like this?**

Most of the circle had left the tower, but the mechanic on duty told her about the aborted plan to interfere with the loggers in the Yellow Forest. **Bloody-minded laranzu from the Age of Chaos,** she thought, **This fellow would have been glad to kill the workers for their employer's mistake... and how was the employer to know that the chieri lived in the forest seeing how secretive they are?**

But she said nothing of her thoughts, merely saying that she needed to use the relay screens; the mechanic was glad to acquiesce to this. First she spoke to Dom Aidan in Tramontana. She quickly acquainted him with the situation, and asked him to send a message to Castle Aldaran.

"Mabry's matrix is monitored on the screen at your tower, right? Can you check on its status?" With the positional monitoring-screen he was able to find approximately how far from Thendara, and in which direction, it seemed to be located. Myria wrote the information down for Rafe, asking him to form a search party on the morrow.

Next she contacted her own tower. Lynira Hastur was at the relays, but she asked the girl to rouse Marco Alton, the senior mechanic.

"Do you remember the stolen matrix that Ian was working on?" she asked.

An unnecessary question; no one who had been in the tower during that incident had forgotten a single detail.

The pattern for the matrix that had been made in the tower was still recorded, and Marco was quickly able to confirm that the matrix was now keyed to someone, and also that it was located in Thendara, confirming what Myria had been sure of.

**I suppose the matrix will be safe with Marja,** she thought. **She's going to Dalereuth, and they'll be able to protect her.**

Marco wanted more details about the girl who might be the traitor's daughter, but Myria told him the full story would have to wait for her homecoming.

Later that night, Myria sent a note to Rafe telling him her estimation of where Mabry was, based on what she learned from the matrix screen.

She also addressed a letter to Mabry, hoping that Rafael will be able to give it to her.

Rafe tried not to let his feelings show on his face, but he knew from the strange looks he got from passers-by that the hurt he felt was clearly visible. He hadn't wanted to leave the love of his life now that he had found her, but he had a too high sense of duty to ignore the tasks laid upon him.

Steeling himself, he made his way back to Comyn Castle to fetch his horse. He had decided to also take along a spare horse, for if he switched horses regularly, he would be able to make much better time than Mabry had been able to. Rafe had thought about taking along some armsmen, but had decided against it. They would only slow him down, and he had a feeling that the sooner he found Mabry, the better it would be.

When Rafe had woken up that morning, a message from the Neskaya Keeper was waiting for him. She had sent him an estimation of Mabry's whereabouts and had also sent along a letter addressed to Mabry. Rafe was curious as to what the Keeper might have to say to his ward, but it never crossed his mind to open the letter.

Having retrieved the horses, Rafe swiftly made his way through Thendara and left the city, heading in the direction that Mabry was supposed to have fled.

Being alone on the road, his horse the only living being to talk to, had left to Rafe too much free time to think about his life.

He rode through the country, distractedly looking at the landscape, letting the horse choose the pace, while his mind wandered.

Eliadha...what was she doing now? Was she thinking of him? Yes, probably.

He hated to admit that she was right, that there was no future for the two of them...but he had sincerely thought that something could have come, after his duties were completed, and so her training at Dalereuth.

Well...life goes as it wants, and not the way we would like it to go, and nothung was fixed, aside from birth, and next winter snow, so....who could tell?

Maybe he would see Eli again. He was definitely going to try and see her again.

For some reason, anyway, these thoughts didn't help his mood to get better.

The other thing was that he was feeling guilty.

Mabry wouldn't have gone away, probably, if he had payed more attention to her...

How could he be so stupid! He should have known...his brothers, and his little sisters...they could have done the same thing dozen of times, if he hadn't been always present! Instead, he had been there for them... always putting other people before himself, and not caring about this.

And now...look! The first time he had thought about himself, the first time something great had happened just to HIM....this.

He was feeling so guilty...maybe he shouldn't have fallen for Eliadha.

But as he thought back about the blonde Amazon, once again, about her gorgeous body, and her sweetest kisses...he decided that he didn't regret at all having met her.

He had been riding for some four hours, by now, and he decided that he needed some rest. He saw a shelter in the distance, and hurried the horse to reach it.

He opened the door and scanned the semi-dark room to decide what he had to do first: wood for the fire? Water to drink and cook?

As he approached to the fireplace he noticed the traces of a recent fire..and some envelopes of Mabry's favourite chocolate.

He nearly jump with joy, and shouted to himself: "Yes!! I'm on the right way!!"

Rafe spent the night in the shelter, in order to recover from the riding day, and to organize the chase to his bratty lady.

He was so worried for her that he still wasn't able to be mad at her for not having gone to Neskaya. And once again he told to himself that much of this wouldn't have probably happened if he had paid more attention.

After a good night of sleep (he didn't remember shelters to be so comfortable), Rafe woke up with a piercing thought in his mind...what if he had tried to search her with her laran?

He had been trained at home, for a while...and he was accustomed to think about himself like almost mind-blind, but still...

Rafe remembered of Daniella, his father's leronis, telling him "...of course, if you care for someone, you can always catch some glimps of ...her, I suppose!" Daniella had gently laughed in her trainee's face, knowing how much the kid Rafe had always liked his female little friends.

Rafe smiled at his memories. He remembered also how he had been able to 'feel' Eliadha with his laran...and sighed.

"Right, then. Let's have a try" he concentrated on his matrix and...

...Mabry!! with a man he wasn't able to recognize..but Mabry seemed to know him well...and a little dog. A tower...

A terrible headache prevented Rafe from seeing more. Nevertheless, the young regent was happy.

The only tower easy to reach with the road he had beagun to follow was...

Corandolis!

He rested just a little, in order to free his head from the pain, then he saddled his horse, and took the road again.

Now that Rafe knew where he was directed, his trip got faster and faster.

He knew what to look for...chocolate envelopes, dog footprints and hair...and after 5 days of hard riding, he got to see Corandolis shape in the distance.

"Thank to Aldones" he sighed "I can't believe that I've made it..."

Rafael spurred his horse to the tower, and reached it in a couple of hours.

The white stones of Corandolis shone bright into the red sun, and Rafe stood for a moment, admiring.

Then he saw the big wooden door. It was open. A far barking came from inside.

*What if..." Rafe thought.

Quickly, he got near the door, listened for a while, and entered.

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