"What do you mean you love him?!" Tara rolled her eyes and threw her arms about.

Erin sat next to Damien sheepishly looking in his direction. Gwen sat on the floor against the door still nervous about what the plan would wind up being.

"You just met him!" Tara cried.

"So?"

"I love her too, Tara," Damien wrapped an arm around Erin and placed her head on his shoulder. He began nuzzling against her hair, and grinned at the softness against his skin.Erin smiled and placed her nose against his shirt, inhaling deeply and swooning at the scent while Damien placed a hand on her thigh causing her to blush. Gwen attempted to look away from the two lovesick pups and began playing with the leather laces on her vest with as much noise as she could produce.

"Don't tell me you two--"

Erin giggled and Damien brought a hand up to cover his face, embarrassed about sharing personal business with the other two women in the room.

"Erin! The first none who isn't ancient comes around and you just hop on?! What is wrong with you?!"

"Um, hello... I'm clearly in the room," Damien mumbled.

Gwen cleared her throat, waiting to get the attention of a shocked and irritated Tara, "we have more important things to discuss right now."

"You're right, Gwen," Tara said facing Erin and Damien, still snuggled up with one another on the cot. Tara went ahead and explained the terrible plot that Gwen had overheard in Dia's room. With each word spoken Damien remained attentive but expressionless--Erin, on the other hand seemed to have the color drain from her face. She stared at Tara wide eyed with her jaw dropped.

"What are we supposed to do?" Erin asked.

The four of them sat quietly for a few minutes. Erin twiddled her hair while leaning her head on a statue like Damien, and Tara dazed off into an unknown direction, shaking her leg violently against the floor.

Gwen smiled and stood up,"I think I have an idea." The others turned their attention to Gwen to listen closely to a plan that would hopefully keep their whereabouts secret.

"So this is what we're going to do..."

~*~

Knock knock knock

"Who is it?!" Dia yelled.

"It's Tara, ma'am."

"Come in, but make it quick! I have things to do, girl."

Tara's lip twitched. Of course Dia had things to do--things like killing off thousands of people all for the sake of more fancy dresses and jeweled utensils. The thought made Tara sick, but she needed to keep her composure to be the least bit convincing. The door opened with a small creak to reveal Dia, wrapped in a sheer robe with a glittering short dress beneath it. Before her sat the man she had almost broke her back trying to get here, sitting comfortably against an armchair with a cup of wine in one hand. Tara lingered for a moment, taking it all in.

"Well? What is it?" Dia asked, annoyed at having to inquire.

"There might be a problem. I didn't get to explain what happened last night, but we had to end a life," Tara lowered her head.

"And? What is the problem?"

"We couldn't get the body along with the other two men we had to bring back last night."

"WHAT?!" Dia yelled. Both Tara and Tomas flinched at the volume of her scream. She walked over towards Tara and looked down upon her lowered head,"this is unacceptable."

"There wasn't enough of us for the amount of weight--," Tara looked over at Tomas,"that we had to carry." Dia laughed loudly.

"I suppose I can understand that," she walked back to her armchair, and gently sat down, "Mr. Hilder is quite a large--specimen?" Tomas shrank into his chair, his round cheeks turning red.

"We hid the remains, but I need to go retrieve them. I'm just worried that there will be more issues that arise, like there were last night," Tara said, keeping a straight face pointed in the direction of Dia.

"I see no problem with that," Dia poured more wine into her goblet,"as always take Erin and you might as well take Gwen. I won't be needing her tonight since I'll be discussing some issues with Mr. Hilder."

"Thank you, ma'am," Tara bowed her head. She began to make her way towards the door when--

"Oh, Tara. I also need you to do something else for me while you're in Lethra."

"What's that, ma'am?"

Dia smiled and crossed a leg over the other,"the room where you took Mr. Hilder from has a chest below the cot. Bring it back with you."

"How do three of us carry a chest and a body all the way back to the fortress?"

She sat there playing with her bangles, contemplating a moment before she had an epiphany cross her face, "take that cart you managed to get us last night. Station it outside town. Now get out!" Dia shooed Tara with her hand and proceeded to ignore her as she smiled at Tomas and offered him more wine, but Dia wasn't the only one smiling. Tara walked out the door with the shadow of her hood covering the biggest grin she'd ever had.

     ~*~

     "Why was that so simple?" Tara asked Gwen. They began to walk down the spiral stairs with both Erin and Damien keeping close behind them, both of them still unable to keep their hands off one another.

     "Dia isn't very bright. All you have to do is keep inching her towards what you want--nonchalantly of course--and eventually you can do things the way you want. She doesn't think anything of it."

     "Wow..just wow," Tara replied.

     Each floor had a large amount of furies and nones running back and forth almost frantically, and the further they descended the stairs the harder it became to keep their pace consistent. Fury after none kept bumping against them, oblivious to anyone except themselves. The dinner rush had began, and while leaving during it would be simple, trying to get the exit would be worse. At the floor for the nones' quarters, Tara spotted Mabel.

     "Mabel!" The older woman stopped in her tracks and rerouted her destination to Tara, carrying a large basket overflowing with fresh made bread. Her hair stuck to her face and the exhaustion was apparent through her eyes.

     "Mabel, the new none from last night. Where did they put him?"

"The old fella with the mouth?"

"Yes, that would definitely be him," Gwen said.

"He's in repairs, last door on the left. Is that all you need ladies?" Mabel questioned, trying to get a better grip on her basket. Erin eyed the bread, salivating at the crusty exterior and the steam that rose up from it. Mabel noticed and took two loaves out and wrapped it in a cloth from her apron before handing it to Erin,"Take these, you look starved."

"Thanks so much Mabel," Erin said clutching to soft warmth. Mabel nodded with a smile before heading back in her original direction.

     The four of them cantered down the hall looking at the etchings on each door until they found the row of carved blacksmith hammers and followed it to the very last one on the left side. Damien knocked softly on the door.

     "Who the hell is it?" Twill yelled.

     "Twill! It's Damien!"

      The door opened to Twill and his gigantic head of hair, spilling out in different lengths throughout his head. At first glance he smiled at seeing Damien, then he looked behind him, spotting the three women and grimaced.

     "Why'd ya bring these devils to my room?"

     "Feel like going for a little ride?" Damien asked. Twill raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a moment.

     "I ain't got nothing better to do so why the hell not," Twill walked back in his room to go grab his hat but quickly turned around to face his guests again. He pointed a finger at Tara, "I'm not taking no  shit from ya, ya hear?" Gwen nudged an elbow at Tara repeatedly until she sighed loudly in defeat.

     "Fine! Let's just go already!"