"I thought you'd be..." He made a sweeping gesture that indicated the length of my body. When I didn't respond, he made a rather clear indicator that my rather average bustline was the point of contention. "They always say he in the old stories." He took a deep swig of his beer, left something for the barkeep who had been grumbling beneath her breath ever since Vern made his exit, and then grabbed my arm in order to drag me out of the bar.

"Best we not keep here," he whispered in my ear. Then he saw Nadine. "Oh love, of course she came along with a chaperone. What a treat." As shabby and run down as his appearance may have been, he did not hesitate to offer Nadine his best charming smile, complete with a wide range of beer-tinged teeth. I tried to keep in mind that dental hygiene is probably not up to snuff in this seemingly archaic world and that his set of teeth probably weren't in bad shape considering.

"Sir Nevermot, will you give chase?" she asked, his flirtations zooming right past her and not leaving even a tinge of red on her cheeks.

"Well I..." He looked from Nadine to me, then back again. "Shouldn't we be going? If I'm getting this right, we shouldn't be discussing this in a tavern."

I did marvel at Zane's rather unhindered ease at accepting whatever it was he was accepting. He seemed to understand that he was an aspect, or at least a part of something greater, and he seemed to understand it had to do with Breydar since he was so keen on secrecy. Yet, neither myself nor Nadine had said anything to ascertain that for him. Instead he made assumptions with confidence and they appeared to be spot on.

In response to Zane's points, Nadine headed to the door without a word and Zane took a few gleeful — and possibly alcohol fueled — steps, so that we were outside in the brisk evening air with no one, but the rumbles from within the tavern to keep us company.

"Will you give chase?" asked Nadine again the moment the door to the tavern swung closed.

"If you are asking if I will chase my lord and master, then yes," with this he turned and took a knee before me, "I'll follow you as your humble knight."

"This is easier than I thought it would be," I said, looking to Nadine while Zane took my hand and kissed the top of it with mock reverie. "I thought...well I don't know what I thought. Maybe that there'd be explanations, unwillingness to pick up and leave. I mean you'll be abandoning your post." I looked back down at the ragged soldier, who looked past me with tired eyes.

"Oh that's right," said Zane as he rose back up. "Terrible that." He scrunched his nose and furrowed his brow, but the lack of concern was more than apparent.

"Will you give chase?" I admired Nadine's persistence. She didn't sound angry and she didn't sound frustrated. She simply posed the question with a flat apathetic tone.

"Serving my lord is more important than serving a human king. We should go. You looked packed and I have nothing but enough gold for tomorrow's libations. So I'm ready."

"You're not serving me, right? I mean we're like the same person, right?"

"Well, my seriously uneducated darling — shame Nadine has not been filling you in," he looked at Nadine and gave her a pout which failed to break her stony facade, then he continued, "a muscle can do little without the blood that runs through it. I am but one of your muscles, which, I sadly must admit, needs some exercise. But, you see, now that you are here, I suddenly see it all so clearly. Your touch is like magic, you silenced..." At this he stopped and shook his head. "You zapped my brain and now I'm just...I'm just filled with, uh, knowledge."

"Is that what's supposed to happen or is this because he's wisdom?" I asked, looking to Nadine.

"We at the temple know very little of what is to come, but he, once drunk, has many ideas that he will share. None with base in readings. All from his own head."

"You are wisdom, aren't you?" I asked. "Does that mean you hold all of Brey..."

"Shh—" Zane leapt forward and threw a hand over my mouth, a rather unpleasant action that seemed to be common in this world. "Ears, ears are everywhere and they tend not to perk up unless key words are said. You should probably be careful with certain pronouns." He kept his hand on my mouth until I gave a nod.

"You know my question, what's your answer?" I started to understand Nadine's stony persistence when addressing him. The lanky man had a nervous energy to him that bounced him around and kept his hands moving. It was hard to tell just how old he was since he just vibrated with this tension. He looked too shabby to be a young man, but he seemed to have the maturity level of one.

"Well, I suppose..." He ran a hand through his hair, forgetting he had it tied back. So he pulled his hand away and a few more strands freed themselves from the tie.

"I take it back, I guess you're fear, aren't you?"

"How dare you commit me to such a base emotion," he growled.

"Then answer my question. And," I looked to Nadine, "answer hers."

"Well," again he hesitated and I felt my own urge to turn back into the tavern and have a drink. I wondered if they had vodka in this world. Then, as if reading my mind, he answered, "why is it that you drink?"

"Come again?" I asked, a bit taken aback that he brought up alcohol just as I was yearning for a nice hard shot.

"You drink to dull the frustrations, right? You must have a trigger. What is it? Losing control over a situation or perhaps a person, or do you simply loathe human interaction in general?" That nervous energy had left and as I looked into his eyes, I saw a sturdier, stronger man behind his gaze.

"What do you know about me?" I said, a bite of hostility in my voice.

"I know more than you want me to, including the fact that you are just one part to making me whole again. That the other is a woman who is stuck here because of some malice on your part. You see, I am wisdom. I've always known something about who I was. Perhaps the others simply don't feel whole, but I knew I wasn't and I knew that somehow it was because of who we are. I know what we must do to be one and I know how to do it. I always have in some way or another. Can you imagine how many of my previous incarnations went insane because they could not bear being on the tip of an iceberg but unable to make sense of this noise?"

"No," I muttered.

"That's the thing though. I do know. I can feel them. I can feel everyone. I can't read their minds, but I have the ability to read their body language, their tone of voice, and all the little nuances that say everything their lips aren't. You and I aren't that different. We both drink to drown out the noise of those around us."

"And," I said with a hard swallow, "what about now?" My throat felt tight and my words struggled to get out. At some point he had drawn closer to me and the rest of the world had fallen away. I wasn't even sure if Nadine was still there.

"And now," he said with a smile, "one part of me has returned and the rampant stimuli flooding the world has suddenly become...organized." With this he pulled away and looked around, while a hand absent-mindedly reached for his hair and again, it simply ends up pulling more strands free. "I can't explain it. It's all there, but somehow I now am able to take them a bit in stride. Though I know that with the other half, I can make all this practically vanish." He then looks back at me. "Did that answer your question?"

I swallowed and then looked to Nadine. "I suppose so. It may be a question that can't be answered in one night."

"No probably not," he said with a laugh.

"However, you didn't answer hers," I said, pointing to Nadine.

Zane then looked to Nadine's placid, innocent face with a groan. "Why'd you have to be the heart? If you were the mind we'd simply leave."

With that he kicked the dirt road and then trudged down the street. I looked to Nadine, uncertain what exactly his answer was, but, finally, my young, little mentor had a smile on her face.