Loud rapping on the window woke Kyle.  Opening his eyes he was greeted by a Michigan State Trooper.  The mans round hat covered in plastic and he had night stick in his hand, which made Kyle blink rapidly.  He felt thick and slow for some reason.

"Open the window, Son!"  The officer said loudly.

Opening the window Kyle could only say in a hoarse voice, "What did I do, Officer?"

"Looks like your overtired and went to sleep right here.  Have you been  drinking, Son?"

"No Sir!"  Kyle said straightening up.  He was not a fan of police but he believed in giving respect where it was due.  "I have been driving for hours and the snow had me going really slow.  I didn't mean to."

It sounded silly and forced but the officer smiled and told Kyle to be careful and maybe get a room.  Kyle thanked him and told him that he planned on it.

As the Trooper walked away Kyle began to look around.  The snow still blew and he could see every flake as it flew past his open window.  The smell of the cold hit him, reminding him of his childhood for some reason.

The smell inside his truck hit him next.  It smelled of garbage and dirt and dust.  Then he smelled her.  Like spring roses and lilacs blooming all at once.

"Are you well, Wizard Kyle?"  Llandra said coming out from under his coat.  "I thought it best to hide and dry off while you slept.  Then the man came to the window and I stayed hidden."

Watching her he began to blink furiously.  He could now see small light tendrils coming off of her like the rays of the sun.  He knew somehow that it was her magic he was seeing.

"Your magic is beautiful."  Kyle blurted without meaning too.

Llandra's eyes went wide and she sucked in a quiet breath.  Burrowing back into the coat and hiding was her only response.

Not sure why she was acting so wierd he smiled and drove to a motel.  It was a not great one but he was out of work again.  Money was not a huge issue but Martin controlled most of it and watched every penny.

Getting a ground floor room as far from the front as he could he gave up sixty dollars and tipped an extra twenty cash for a room in the back, facing a large forest.

Had to lie and say that his girlfriend did not want to hear the freeway.  The front desk girl just gave him relaxed-bitch-face and said nothing as she palmed the twenty.  She smelled of cigarettes and bad hair dye.

They were not the only ones checking in.  An old lady and her teen grandson were unloading their car near the stairs right by the room Kyle had paid extra for .  Kyle watched them but they were into thier own world.

"Say, Llandra, can you make your wings invisible or something?" 

She had come out of the coat and had grown full sized once more.  The tendrils were mostly gone so Kyle figured that it must use power to become small.

"No.  Why?"  She asked innocently.

"Well if ya haven't noticed there are no others like you and this world is not to used to a winged fairy running around." 

"Oh."  Was all she could respond with.

"Don't worry, maybe they won't notice."  Kyle tried to make light of it.

When the grandma and teen boy took their things up the stairs Kyle rushed around the truck and opened the door for her.  They headed for the room but halted when the teen yelled down from the second floor.

"Love the costume!  Wish I was cosplaying right now."  He called out joyfully.

Kyle waved at him and tried to pull Llandra under the balcony.  Standing still she watched the teen walk away.

"He's deathly ill.  Is he seeking a Wizard to heal him?"  She seemed truly concerned.

University of Michigan hospital was a few hours south so that might be where they were off to and got caught by the storm.

"Maybe."  Was all Kyle could say.  He had caught a whiff of something sickly and deathlike in the wind.

From the thick forest behind the motel they both turned when they heard a tree cracking and falling over.  An eery feeling came over Kyle and he tried to force himself to see into the darkness of the woods.

Llandra began backing from the trees and he felt her begin to quiver in his arms.  Seeing nothing they both went to the room door and quickly went inside.

"They followed me, I just know it." She was peeking out the thick and rough orange curtains.

Figuring it was the ones who had taken the others Kyle thought it might be time to ask why she was being chased and to get some answers.

"Who is trying to stop you, Llandra?"  Kyle pulled her from the window as he asked her.  Peeking out himself his eye fell on one patch of darkness within the trees.  When something in the darkness moved slightly he closed the curtain fast. 

"Things in the Mother Tree have been worsening since the council began to listen to one who calls herself Vaneety."  Kyle laughed a low chuckle at that.  "It's not funny at all, Kyle."

"Your right, but her name is funny.  Sounds like vanity."

"What is this word and what does it mean?"

"Vanity means that you are full of yourself and like attention."

"That fits her exactly!"  Llandra yelled out and jumped up.  "She is always playing with her hair and wearing her cloths open too far.  Then she is bouncing all around for all the males to see her...well...everything!"

Kyle had to laugh watching Llandra walk back and forth in the small hotel space, bouncing HER everything.  She was not fat but some would call it thick, or curvy.  Kyle's mom would have called her hips 'child bearing hips'.   To him she looked like a real belly dancer from the East.

"My mother spoke out against, Vaneety, but she was told politely that she was one individual and that the group had spoken." 

"What did your father have to say?"

"He is gone for a summer to help the neighboring Mother Tree with some problems they were having."  She said sounding sad.

"Sounds to me like it was planned."  Kyle walked to the window.  Something was bothering him all of a sudden and he could not place it.  "Your father leaves for a long time and this, Vaneety, shows up."

Pulling the curtain aside his eye went straight to the dark spot he had watched earlier.  Nothing moved at first so he was going to go back to Llandra.

Every exposed hair on his body stood on end.  Emerging from the deep shadows was the biggest human he had ever seen in person.  Still out of the parking lot lights Kyle could not get a good description of the being but he just knew it was watching him.
Letting him know that it knew exactly where he was.

Letting go of the curtain he sat in the cheap chair by the window.  "There's someone out there in the trees watching this room.  Their huge in size and height.  Is that one of the protectors trying to stop you?"

Llandra just nodded.  "I need to release water, where do I do this?"

Pointing to the tiny bathroom he followed and had to help her in.  Her wings folded neatly and he got the door closed behind her.

"If you want to wash off the shower looks like it just lifts to get water running.  Towels are above your head and soap and shampoo are right there."  Kyle called through the door.

"What is shampoo?"  She called back.

"Look for a small white bottle that says shampoo, spelled s..h..a.."

"I know what an 's' word is, Wizard Kyle.  I have it in my hand now." 

Smiling he washed his own hands in the sink and went back to the window.  He sensed that the guardians were still out there but no longer in a threatening mode.  Must realize that a fight here would not be good.

For some reason Kyle could sense that there were four of them somewhere out there.  Every since he woke from the nap his senses have been electric feeling.

Uncomfortably, he was able to feel Llandra in the other room.  She was scared but happy.  It was an odd mix of emotion but it fit her. 

Closing his eyes he opened up all his other senses.  His mother had called it feeling the air.  In a rush Kyle could feel every living thing within a hundred yards of him.

The teen was sick and it was bad.  Cancer he thought.  The grandma slept but the boy was awake with worry.

The four guardians had spread out but had moved deeper into the tree line.  Kyle could sense that they were not human and were emotionless.  That bothered him cause now he did not know what they were.

His attention drifted to Llandra and he had to pull back into himself quickly.  She was thinking about him and when their thoughts met they merged for just a split second.  He saw himself in those thoughts.

Not sure what to do he went outside.  A door above him opened and the teen came outside as well. 

Going to the truck Kyle grabbed a tea and took a big pull of the bottle.  The teen was watching him from the railing. 

"Got anymore tea, man?"  The young man called down.

"Come on down, I've got another." Kyle called up.  "It's not too cold but the best brand I've ever drank."

Running down to him with a speed only the young could have, Kyle had to smile.

"Thanks man, she said I'm not allowed store bought junk but I miss tea for some reason."  He said walking up to Kyle.  "I'm Josh."

Josh's hand was out and Kyle took it.  Feeling the sickness up close and in the flesh made Kyle nearly retch.  The smell was worse this close.

"I'm Kyle, Josh.  You sick?"  Kyle asked letting go of the long figured young man.

"Yup.  Got cancer, Kyle.  Pretty bad I'm told."  The bluntness of youth was always refreshing to Kyle.

Picking up the bottle of tea Kyle froze for a full minute.  When he was frozen all he could think about was destroying the cancer in this really nice and upbeat kid.

"You alright dude?"  Josh asked after a bit.

Moving again, Kyle said, "Thought I heard a wolf howling.  Love wolves and look for them whenever I come this way."  It was a lie but the only one he had.  He had no idea why he had froze up and felt the tea grow ice cold in his hand.

"Cool!" Josh said and took the bottle of tea.  "Never had one that claimed pure leaf before.  Is it good?"

"Best I've had Josh, best store bought anyway."

"Cool.  Hey its real cold, thought you said it wasn't gonna be?"

Kyle shrugged.  Why was it cold he thought.  "That pretty girlfriend of yours has the best wings I've ever seen and I go to Uma con every year!"
Josh said talking a really big swig.

"Yup.  She's trying them out to make sure they stay on and don't mess up."  Kyle hated to lie but the truth would be far hard to explain.

Finishing the tea quickly Josh yawned a big yawn.  "Thanks again man and hope she wins.  I'm feeling beat all of a sudden so good night."

Watching Josh run back upstairs Kyle was struck with the realization that neither of them had put more on then flannels.  The snow had ceased but it was still cold.  Yet neither had felt it.

Heading back into the room as Llandra came out of the bathroom Kyle stopped and stared.  Her long hair was curling from the humidity in the shower and she had a thinner robe on that must have been under the heavy one.

"Yes, Wizard Kyle?  Something wrong?"  She said self-consciously.

"Everythings great.  Feeling better?"  Was all he could force from his now dry mouth.

"Alive and ready to sleep.  The Oaken will wait till we are alone to attack so I think we are safe for now."  Then she climbed into the single bed closest to the bathroom.  Kyle quickly went into the other but he thought sleep would be tough with her right there.

For some reason he felt drained now and sleep did sound good.  Almost out he was surprised when Llandra said in tired voice, "You did good by healing that boy.  He will still have some of the black thing in him but now he is no longer at deaths calling.  Thank you, Kyle."

They both went silent and soon fell fast asleep.  Dreaming shared dreams without even knowing it they slept better than either had in many years.