(Lorina n'ha Katiya: Mabry Slemmons; Leisha n'ha Ursula: Laura Lulli; Marcello Ridenow: Marcello Bellavista; Damon Rockraven: Carmelo Massimo Tidona)

A shadowy figure deposited a chest on the Renunciates' doorway, rang the bell and fled like she had been bitten by a tarantula. Muffed child's cries could be heard coming from the chest...

It was late, and Lorina was about to leave her position, by the door and get some sleep, when the bell rang for the fourth time that day. She sighed.

It had been a busy day. Most days the housebound Amazon at the door gets one, maybe two at most, and none of them are very interesting.

Lorina opened the door. To her suprise, there was no one there, but a small basket on the doorstep. She knelt down to get a closer look. Light blue eyes stared up at her from an innocent little face.

"Hello, there," Lorina said, reaching out with her laran to see if the child was alright. The child was sleepy but otherwise, alright. She picked up something else, too. Something alien, that definitely didn't belong in the cradle. It was some kind of animal. Well, her laran was Ridenow, not MacAran, so she had no idea what it was - still, better safe than sorry.

It might be a rabid mouse.

Lorina considered the problem. "Got it!" she ran to the for-once empty kitchen, and got out the thickest oven mitts they have - they was insulated with almost two inches of some bendable, unmeltable, to-her-knowledge-untearable Terran plastic.

Lorina slowly removed the blanket, which covered the baby. She found herself staring at a small snake with a diamond-shaped head, and nasty red eyes.

Trusting to the oven mitts, Lorina grabbed at the creature- trying to grab it on the neck, right by the head, so it couldn't turn and bite her. She didn't want to leave the thing in the baby's basket one second longer.

She held the snake, squeezing at it's throat as tight as she could.

"Leisha!" she screeched. "Someone left a baby on the porch! And a snake! I think it's poisonous!"

Someone knocked again at the door, and since noone else seemed to go and open the door, Lorina went, still holding the snake.

It was a maidservant, bringing a message for Lorina n'ha Katiya, from her half sister Emelda Lanart-Hastur.

"I'm kind of busy right now, could you read it out loud?"

"I'm sorry, domna, I can't read."

"My correct form of address is mestra. Well, if you can't read, hold it, here so I can see it."

She held the message in front of her.

"It would help if you took it out of the envelope."

"Oh! I'm sorry, domna, I mean, mestra."

"Very good, but now you need to unfold it."

"Oops!"

"Alright, now turn it rightside up. No, not that way, the other way. Good! Now, hold it like that."

Lorina scanned the message.

"Tell, Domna Emelda, that when I became a renunciate, I gave up all obligations to her or father, and that I'm too busy handling snakes and saving babies to come to Comyn Castle at her whim, even if I was allowed to or inclined to."

The girl seemed shocked. "But, mestra, I can't say that!"

"Yes, you can, and you will, now go!"

She scurried off, near tears for fear of how Domna Emelda would react to Lorina's ridiculously rude reply.

Leisha wondered what all that mess was about.

Why Lorina was screaming like crazy? Leisha hated being disturbed when she was having her badly needed rest.

She decided to go downstairs anyway, to see what was happening.

But a bad surprise was waiting for her...she just shrieked:

"AAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!!! I HATE reptiles!!"

and fainted on the stairs.

Lorina sighed with irritation. She couldn't do anything for Leisha, not while she was holding the snake, and there was hardly anyone else in the guildhouse. The only thing to do, was to stand there holding the snake until Leisha regained her consciousness, and helped her figure out what to do with it.

Lorina prepared myself for a long wait. The baby wailed. "It's going to be a long night." she muttered to no one in particular.

*Why am I sleeping on the floor?? It's so damned cold!!* Leisha woke up massaging her back and trying in the meanwhile to figure out why the hell she had been lying on the floor. She caught a sort of memory of a big snake holded by young Lorina, and shook her head. She should have known...too much chocolate in the late evening had always caused her nightmares.

As she scanned the room, still trying to understand where she was exactly in the guildhouse, she saw Lorina, a weary expression on her face, holding something with both hands.

Leisha went suddenly out of breath, and everything became clear in her mind: that was why she was lying on the floor! It hadn't been a nightmare!!!

She was about to scream and faint once again, when Lorina spoke:

"Now, Leisha dear, wait a minute. I need your help. So: first you sit down, second you take your breath ...Avarra, you're going to die soon, if you don't breath! your face has a nice shade of blue, right now!...and third...don't be silly!! It hasn't killed me yet, so you don't have to fear, at least for now!"

Leisha shook her head again, and a bit of anger start to rise. How did the baby dare to speak to her this way? The Guildhouse was no more able to teach respect to its housebound Amazons!

Anyway, she was sort of right, and Leisha wasn't so stupid not to admit that this was true. So she sat, she breathed, and asked: "So: what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, either find some MacAran, who can control this snake, or get the Terran animal control people. I can't hold this snake forever. And maybe find someone to deal with the baby. Or, if you prefer, I could do that, and you could hold the snake..."

"What?? Are you kidding??" Leisha shrieked. "I'll go out and look for someone. Too bad that Daimary has already left to Dalereuth..." she muttered.

"Anyway, the baby's problem can be easily solved: there's that Amazon, the one who's living with her free mate, at the moment...Alina, that's it!! I believe it was no more than six month ago that she gave birth to her daughter, and I think she will help us with the poor little thing."

So said, Leisha lifted the baby from the cradle and cuddled him a bit. Then she turned to Lorina and said: "And, of course, you don't need to hold that...<shudder> thing...for ever. Go in the kitchen and ask Melinda for one of those boxes in which the chicken are usually transported. I think it should work, since they have a lid you can close."

Lorina seemed annoyed by not having thought to this before, but nodded.

"Are you going to look for someone to take care of the snake as well?"

"Of course, I am, chiya. See you later" Answered Leisha.

Leisha exited the Guildhouse, in the night, and headed for Alina's house.

The Renunciate didn't seemed too disturbed by the time and the kind of request Leisha was making to her...the baby was really delightful, and Alina seemed happy to hold him. She said also that probably Gavin wasn't going to mind at all having another child around.

Relieved, Leisha greeted her friend, and thought as quick as she could about who could help her with the <shudder> snake.

Then an evil grin appeared on her face...actually she did knew a man that loved animals! Too bad he was in Serrais right now. Well, that could be easily arranged...yes. She was going to gather some pieces of information about snake feeding, and then have it delivered to dear Marcello.

Back in the Guildhouse, Leisha was no more sleepy, in spite of the late hour.

She looked for Lorina, and found her in her room, reading.

"Where did you put that <shudder> thing?" Leisha asked.

Lorina didn't even lift her eyes from the book, and gestured absentmindedly

"Just where you told me to put it. It's in the strangers' room, now. I thought you may not appreciate if I put it the box in your room"

Leisha felt the sudden need to strangle that insolent girl, but restrained.

"Then I thank you very much. Have a nice sleep, Lorina n'ha Katiya" she hissed.

Some cold water in her face, and a nice cup of Melinda's special herb tea did wonder on Leisha's mood. She was now ready for a very complete research through the Guildhouse library.

It took her only half an hour to find what she was looking for: "The complete book of animal care". Jaelle must have took this from Terra for sure...

There was all she needed to know about those <shudder> reptiles. They ate mice.

She was going to give the snake a lot of mice.

The morning after, just before going to her shop, she scanned all the mousetraps of the Guildhouse, and found 6 fat mice. The <shudder> thing was going to have some very nice meals.

With Lorina's help, she poured the mice into the snake box, closed it with nails, and send Melinda to Thendara for someone to deliver the box to Serrais.

She couldn't send it with UGS (United Guildhouses Service), the best Renunciates' deliveries company, as Marcello would have thought immediately of an Amazon as the sender.

Soon, Melinda was back with Roman the "Postman", and she gave him precise instruction about where and when the box had to be brought: at Serrais, as soon as possible. She also attached a letter do dear Marcello.

"I thought you might like this

L. "

She breathed deeply, satisfied. And she headed for the Sweetshop.

The package which Marcello had foresaw arriving had finally arrived at Serrais.

He had already prepared the chimney with an abundant dose of fuel. He doused some fuel over the package, too, and set it aflame in the chimney.

It didn't take a lot of time before everything was ashes.

He was so afraid of the package's content that he handled it with gloves and refused to read the note accompanying it. He was sure it was something as venomous as the snake coming from the mouth of that [censored].

He discovered himself feeling a sort of pervert admiration towards Diego-dear. That man was [censored], but his mind was extremely active. He was sure that under different circumstances he would have never fallen for Marcello's ruse back in Thendara; his weakened state had number his mind, that was a given. He was also sure that under different circumstances Diego-dear could have been a really good friend who could have stimulated Marcello's mind.

Oh, he did stimulate Marcello's mind all right, but in a totally different way. He was too dangerous and had to be dealt with once and for all.

He went to his studio and started writing.

The following morning, at the Sweetshop:

The man had been waiting for a long time when Leisha arrived at the sweetshop.

As soon as she started opening the door, he silently reached her and grabbed her from the back, putting a hand on her mouth so that she couldn't scream.

He didn't thought about putting the other hand on his own mouth, and it was too bad, since he had a hard time trying not to scream when the renunciate bit the first one.

Leisha didn't waste time trying to look at the villain, she just run inside the shop and tried to lock the door after her, but the man put a foot between the door and the wall, and she could only go inside the room and search for something to defend herself. Too bad hers was a sweet shop and there were not many things that could be used as weapons.

The man slammed the door open and scanned the room, but couldn't find Leisha. Anyway he knew she had to be there, it was just a matter of time to find her and do the job he had been paid for.

He took a dagger from a slot in his belt and approached the shelves, without looking at all at the sweets. He noticed something moving and turned around, but there was only another small shelf... a shelf that was... moving?

He jumped just in time to avoid the falling piece of furniture... so that renunciate was going to fight after all. Well, so much the better.

She cannot be far away considering that she had just pushed the shelf, so he looked where the shelf was... and a big flying pie landed right on his face.

"You should have come later - said Leisha - I'd have gifted you with a hot one."

The man wiped his face with the back of his free hand. He was no longer going to kill that lass slowly, he wanted her dead in that very moment.

He took a deep breath and... screamed!

Something had just hit his wrist... very hard indeed... forcing him to let go of the dagger. He quickly turned and saw Leisha with an angry look on her face, holding a huge wooden rolling-pin.

"OK, that's too much now!" he shouted, and suddenly he was pointing a blaster towards the renunciate. She quickly threw the tool at him, and while he was trying to avoid it, and only succeeding in being hit on the head, she slipped in the street and locked the door from the outside.

The man was enraged. He blasted the door, opened it with a kick and run after Leisha, but he just bumped into a man wearing a black cloack.

Leisha only saw the newcomer from the back. He had black hair and black clothes... was there any chance it may be...?

The man turned a little, and she was suddenly disappointed. It was Damon.

Before the villain could react, he had took hold of his wrist and forced him to drop the weapon. Nobody except the villain himself could hear Damon whispering "It's me. Good work. Now run, I'll follow and give you the rest of the money."

Damon punched the man, he jumped back and then started to run away.

Damon followed him to a dark alley, then he handed him a purse. "Don't worry, you've made a good work even though you didn't kill her. - he said - Take this, you deserve it."

The man took the money, but as soon as his hand touched it, a painful look appeared on his face. He wanted to withdraw his hand, but he couldn't, just as if it was someway glued to the purse. His eyes become white, a smell of burned flesh filled the street. Eventually Damon stopped broadcasting electricity, and in that moment the man felt down, lifeless.

"You really deserved this, you idiot." muttered Damon while searching the corpse to find the money he had given him the day before. He found it and quickly run back to the sweet shop.

He approached Leisha, who was still outside. The whole killing hadn't took him more than a minute or two.

"I've lost him, but we'll call the guards and they will find him. Are you OK mestra? I came here to thank you for your help in finding my brother, and to tell you that he's sorry for he didn't meet you before leaving. It seems I've chosen the best moment. I know you usually don't need help, but it looked like that man was going to blast you, and there was little you could do, am I wrong?"

"No you... you're not. " Leisha answered. Indeed she had been really unprepared for such an aggression, and she had also had an awful night due to the snake in the cradle. She almost fainted in Damon arms, and couldn't see the evil grin on his face.

Damon led Leisha inside the shop, looking around in search for something. He finally seemed to find what he needed.

"Stay here mestra. I'll close the door, I think is not time to serve customers

right now, and then I'll bring you a cup of tea, I'm sure you need it." he didn't wait for an answer and disappeared into the kitchen.

Some minutes later he was there again, with a hot cup of tea in each hand.

He stared at Leisha while she was drinking the tea, and barely sipped his own.

"I've just known my brother, but he has to be a stupid man if he left you without even coming to say goodbye. I wouldn't even leave if I were him."

Leisha felt a sting in her heart, but didn't even raise her eyes from the tea she was sipping. She had been trying hard not to think about the mysterious guy that had somehow stolen her heart. In some way, deep in her soul, she knew that he had been sincere to her, and that he did care, if not love her. Nevertheless, the thought of Cormel Rockraven made her heart ache. But Damon could barely hear the hesitation in her voice, when she answered. "Well, he had his reason for what he did, truly." *Not that I'm given to know them, of course* she concluded just for herself. The conversation might as well have ended then, so Damon thought it better to set another subject.

"I wonder why that man was here. I'm sure he meant to kill you, but such persons are too coward to try again once they have failed, and besides the guards will find him soon, I'll talk to them as soon as I'm sure you're okay. But I can't understand his reason. Do you have any enemy mestra?"

Leisha considered the question for a while.

"Not that I know, actually" she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I mean, there's Marcello" Leisha muttered, mostly to herself "but he wouldn't waste his precious time on little Leishit, very likely...maybe someone of the Commercial Town. I should have tripped on someone's feet, when I was looking for that Lenni..." and she wondered what had happenedto dom Damien Elhalyn.

Damon nodded. That renunciate was... how to say it?... interesting. He didn't want her to be killed, and besides Allart wanted her dead, which was another good reason to let her alive.

After a while he finished his tea and stood up.

"I will go to the guards now, I want them to find that man as soon as possible. If I were you I won't stay here today mestra. I don't think you are any longer in danger, but I can see in your eays thet you really need to rest. I will pay a visit to you here tomorrow, if you don't mind."

He bowed, and this gesture reminded Cormel once again to Leisha, who for the first time thought that the man might actually be Cormel's brother, then he walked away.

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