With a chuckle the moon elf sat himself down amongst the tall grasses, the sward coming up high above his shoulders over which long red hair was allowed to flow free. Golden eyes stared out at the waters, watching them crash noisily on the cliff below. He closed his eyes now, folding his legs out beneath him, a long robe of sapphire silk wrapping around his boots at the bottom. His pale hand reached up, and Aelin unfastened the brooch at the top of the robe, opening it up to let the breeze wash over his slender chest. The moon elf preferred it out here where he could concentrate on things; think them over. Di�thang, the man that was his father, cared so much for Naliana�elis as he had trained her and even now Aelin knew that Elis was the favored child of his father. His mother had been there for him as he had grown, he remembered fondly the way she combed his hair with her fingers as though the auburn color she shared with him made him prized to her, but Aelin saw no logic in that; both his sisters had similar colored hair. Aelin�uial bought a hand to his hair, letting the knotless strands trail between his fingertips.

Aelin had learnt all that his mother could teach him with a thirsty knowledge, knowing as he grew with every passing tenday that his strengths, his innate powers did also. But a point had come, he knew, that he had surpassed his mother; all she told him he had already known, and that which he didn�t he picked up with the same ease that Elis lifted the shadows. He had become stronger than his own mother; his father and his sisters too were below him. Whilst his father taught Elis to embrace the empty forms of the dark, Aelin�uial had been lifting tables and disintegrating armoires. Aelin had accepted that nobody understood him anymore; how could they? He was a psionic with a grasp of his art that none of his family could even begin to comprehend. Indeed, the only person that understood Aelin�uial Eil�deth was Aelin�uial Eil�deth.

A pebble flew through the air, seemingly with a will of its own, stopping in midair just a few inches from where Aelin sat, the air about the small object rippling with energy. The auburn-headed moon elf watched it for a moment, as a second similarly sized pebble from the riverbank joined it. These were joined now by a third, and a fourth. Aelin�uial didn�t even flinch as more and more pebbles lifted themselves from the floor and joined the others in forming a circle around the moon elf, carrying with them an eeriness that would send many a commonfolk screaming to the hills in frenzied panic. They always feared what they did not understand; he had learnt that the hard way on more than one occasion. When about six stones had formed the circle, it began to rotate around him, the speed picking up gradually. Within a moment, a spinning ring of pebbles was soaring around the motionless figure. A small smile crept up one side of Aelin�s lips.

With the sound of splashing water, something began to submerge from the water. Live objects, two at a time; the fishes began to hover in the air over the river, suspended by unseen hands that held them aloft. Within a few moments there were six, all lined up in midair directly in front of Aelin�uial, just a little way ahead where the river lay, their slimy bodies flapping frantically to return to the water that gave them life. The grin remained on the moon elf�s face as the six rotating pebbles flew through the air, each one striking a fish and knocking it out of the air and onto the bank, limp and dead. Not one stone missed its target, not one fish returned to the rushing waters to which they had, moments ago, squirmed to achieve. With a dry snicker, Aelin�uial rose from his position in the grass, sapphire robe still opened and blowing around him in the breeze, and he moved forwards, collecting the fish by sailing them through the air to his open arms, one by one. Deciding that even he, with his appetite, could not eat this many fish alone, the moon elf turned and made a slow return to his home; a return that had been, from the start, undesired but inevitable.

* * *

�Naliana�elis, I asked you to bring back some elderberries two hours ago! Why are you still here?!�

The youngest daughter of Ar�thilmus Eil�deth gave her mother a scathing look that would have sent a dire wolf running with its tail between its legs; Elis was fortunate to have her reflexes so finely tuned, else she would not have avoided the swing her mother made in her direction. She heard her mother�s voice clearly in her head then, though Ar�thilmus� lips remained pursued in concentration as she struggled desperately to beat the stain from an old dress. �Don�t pull that face to me, young lady. You�ll never be too old to take a slap from your mother.� With a smirk so strongly resembling her father�s, Naliana�elis turned away, her black gown swirling around her as she did. The girl melted into the shadows just in time to be replaced by another, similar in features yet with a wisdom in her golden eyes that the former had not possessed, as she stormed into the room like a woman crazed.

�Mother, the temple has those items you ordered of them; the gowns, however, have been delayed� apparently, father says he intends to �speak� with the tailor about that; oh, and we are going to Lakil�s grave this eve, remember you promised; when�s the meal ready? Oh, and we still can�t find Aelin, he�ll miss it if he doesn�t hurry��

�I know, Aza�lihnlia, I know� and so does he. Stop your fussing.�

Aza stopped mid-sentence and looked to her mother, to Ar�thilmus, who simply smiled and nodded before turning back hastily to the dress. Why was it Di�thang had a knack for choosing muddy places to let his lust be unleashed on her? She�d never stop him, of course, but her dresses, blouses, gowns, even her undergarments never came off better for it. Still, that was the least of her worries whilst a meal still needed preparing�

�Di�thang!�

Her cry echoed around the long kitchen, reverberating off red slate walls, and for a moment there was a pause, soundless save for the splashing of water beneath the hands of the mother of three. Then, without warning, the shadow of the stove rose suddenly from the ground where the sunlight streaming in through the window did cast it, and from the rising darkness materialized a figure, just a footstep from where Ar�thilmus stood. Unaware of the presence, Ar�thilmus continued her chore, as the moon elf stepped up behind her, his golden eyes glistening, his dark leathers practically blending into the shadow from which he appeared. Ar�thilmus felt the breath on the back of her neck and flinched, but only momentarily.

�Damnit Di�thang, don�t do that!�

�We�d have thought-� he began, in his usual monotonous tone that always carried with it a sense of cynicism.

�That I would be used to it, yes yes, I know the routine,� his wife interrupted his apparently predictable reply, �my order from the temple has arrived. Find Aelin for me, and tell your daughter to do as she is told.�

He gave a small chuckle but without reply he was out of sight again, swallowed by the shadows in such a manner that an onlooker would wonder which had used which for its bidding. Ar�thilmus pulled her hands from the water, leaving the robes to soak, and dried them off, calling over her shoulder to the air.

�And you won�t be �speaking� with anybody, thank you!�

There was no response from the enigmatic husband but she knew he had heard her. Quickly moving to the stove where the pastries were already cooking, she let free some steam and then raised them off the flame, muttering to herself just as she was joined in the room by Elis, looking just as unpleased as she had mere moments ago.

�Why can�t Aza do it?�

Ar�thilmus looked slowly to Elis and shook her head slowly. No further explanation was needed. The youngest daughter turned away, knowing the lack of benefits that arguing with her mother would reap her. Her father was always so much easier to worm her way from. She moved to the door, throwing a black satin scarf around herself but before she could even reach for the handle, the wooden door was thrown open by an unseen force, moving almost on a will of its own. Elis rolled her eyes and stepped aside as, just a moment later her younger brother strode into the room, his sapphire robe billowing around him. He moved to the counter without a word and dropped a roll of leather down in front of his mother, who had watched him enter. The leather unrolled naturally, revealing the limp forms of fish, still sparkling, staring up from the counter, no life remaining in their lidless eyes. Ar�thilmus looked to the unexpected gift and then to Aelin�uial as he folded his arms, the smallest hint of a smile touching just one corner of his lips.

�I knew Elis wouldn�t fetch the food in time.�

He turned away just in time to miss the amused smirk on his mother�s lip, but he knew it was there all the same. Elis just gave a snort and put both hands on her hips, watching him with an apparent lack of dignity. Aelin�uial moved to the opposite counter, tugging his silk robes from his shoulders and tossing them neatly down on the side, rotating one shoulder and then the next. Naliana�elis made a tutting noise against the top of her mouth, but her brother ignored her, running a hand through his auburn hair.

�Ah, we see the prodigal son returns.�

The monotonic voice came from somewhere unseen in the room, and the only one who could pinpoint his location was Elis, but all three knew that Di�thang was, again, near by. Aelin let the teasing remark, as always, pass through him. He felt his mother staring at him, and turned instead to her as she spoke out loud, almost to herself.

�There�s not going to be enough fish.. hm, I�ll go without��

She turned back to the fish and took up a knife from one of the many holders lining the red slate walls. Instantly a pair of pale hands materialized from nowhere onto her shoulders, though to Naliana�elis her father had put his arms around her, draping his hands on her collarbone, his flowing white hair loose of its usual hair-band suddenly. Di�thang murmured softly against her quivering ear.

�You are not going without, as neither are we.�

Ar�thilmus gave a frown which completely contrasted the amused smirk on her youngest daughter�s lips, and she paused in her task, but knew that arguing with him was only a waste of her precious time. She gave a nod instead, tilting her pointed ear against where she knew his lips to be. Aelin�uial folded his arms and leant back on the counter looking completely passive, his eyes flickering to Naliana�elis as he predicted, correctly, her cutting in on the conversation. �I�m not going without, either, mother.�

�Going without what?�

Azalihn�lia had returned to the room, seemingly in something of a hurry. Aelin turned slowly to her but she barely even acknowledged him, or any of them, in the room. In just a single sentence, Elis filled her older sister in on what she had missed.

�There�s not enough food��

This seemed to put a stop to Aza�s movement across the length of the kitchen, and she looked across to her mother, who seemed quiet occupied with cutting the fish and nuzzling her jaw against thin air. �Mum, I haven�t eaten all day� and I�m going out by sun-down, I can�t go without�!�

With a small snort, Aelin�uial returned his silks to his shoulders and walked out without a word and owing only to assumption, the door obligingly slamming itself roughly as he passed through, shaking the frame and hinges.

* * *

The back of the inn was rarely used by those wanting a quiet drink to themselves, nor those seeking a joyful banter with friends, and it didn�t take newcomers long to fall into the trend of avoiding the shadowy corners of the public house. The bartender was well aware of the sorts of characters that did their dealings in the darkness where scarcely their faces could be seen, yet he either permitted the acts or knew better than to break them up. It was here, sat notably without a drink to speak of, that the cowled figure waited, a dark robe wrapped around its form, the shadows of the hood making the face indistinguishable. The figure had waited, but the waiting was now over as the company arrived. The auburn-haired moon elf had not even bothered with the customary hood to hide his handsome features, golden eyes squinting through the darkness which his elven darkvision aided him in penetrating. Removing his sapphire robes and letting them lay over the back of the chair, Aelin�uial took a seat opposite his enigmatic cohort. Neither of the two gave greeting.

�You decided to cave, at last?�

Aelin�uial gave a confident laugh as his reply, bringing a momentary hush from neighboring tables. He waited until the attention refocused itself from them before he spoke up, reducing his own voice to a whisper.

�I am Aelin�uial Eil�deth, I cave for no man, you hear?�

The figure waved the comment off with a hand belonging to a sleeve far too big to fit the wrist, and the hushed voice returned from beneath the hood

�You�re brave to give your name so freely. Now you hear; You arrange for him to be in the place we allocated, at the time we allocated, and we�ll do the rest. Then the gold�s yours, and only then.�

Aelin gave a small, nonchalant shrug, leaning back on the chair so that it stood only on the two back legs, some unseen force keeping him from toppling to the floor.

�I�m not interested in the gold� but I won�t say no. I�ve got it under control.�

A half grin crossed his lips and he returned the robe to his shoulders, standing from the table without raising his eyes from the hooded, seated figure in the darkness. The figure quickly spoke up before the moon elf could excuse himself from his presence.

�And you�re sure Di�thang suspects absolutely nothing of any of this?�

Aelin�uial stopped and without turning back around he began to shake his head in a patronizing way, a small tut escaping his parted lips. Casually, and in his own time, he dusted off his robes, before returning his golden attention to his hooded accomplice.

�When I say I have everything under control, everything is under control. It�s as simple as that. Now, did that register this time, or would you like me to repeat it for you again?�

A simple look into the simple mind said he didn�t need to. Gathering his robes around him in a swirl of sapphire color, Aelin�uial left the inn and his dark ally behind, receiving more than one glance on his way out.