"I hear our beloved leader is planning to take out a bunch of other towns," a brown haired fury with almond eyes said sarcastically, spooning food into her mouth.

"That woman needs a knife to the throat," the fury next to her responded, gripping her spoon hard enough to bend it.

Tara and Erin walked through the meal hall, smelling the roast lamb that permeated the air. Tara's mouth watered and she swallowed hard enough to be heard.

     The information had started passing along at an alarming rate, judging from all the extended interaction between furies who had never once sat near each other. Tara smiled as she listened into the conversations of the groups of angered furies and went to go sit down at her favorite table in the corner. Erin plastered a proud look to her face and followed.

     Furies leaned in towards one another, speaking in hushed tones, showing concern and hatred. Their voices took precedence over the sounds of spoons hitting against bowls and tabletops. Tara closed her eyes and took it all in with a deep breath.

"Do you hear that?" Tara asked.

"Yea, but what now?"

"My dear Erin," Tara bit into a chunk of cheese, "by tonight we'll have plenty of furies to bring this place down," she smiled.

Erin looked down into her lap, her smile vanished quickly behind an unidentifiable look.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked.

"If we do this there won't be furies anymore, and then what?" Erin continued staring down, listening to the excessive chewing of Tara while twiddling her thumbs together.

"Not having furies around anymore will be a good thing," she mumbled through a full mouth.

"But where do we go? I don't know anything else but this. And what will happen if people know the furies won't be there to ensure safety?"

     Tara stopped chewing suddenly and looked into Erin's uncertain eyes, "one day at a time, ok?" Erin nodded and took a breath before shaking it off and reaching for a piece of the roast lamb in front of her.

"Tara! Erin!" Nearly half of the hall's guests looked up their plate with a lifted eyebrow at Gwen, who ran quickly over to their table. Tara sat, giving Gwen a dirty look.

"Tara! Erin!" She reached them, clearly winded, holding a piece of paper in one hand. It looked like a small perfect square, with crinkled marks from the tight grip she must have held. Tara puffed up her cheeks as she looked at Gwen's right hand and exhaled.

"What's wrong?" Erin asked, confused from the sudden stern look.

"Gwen brought us an assignment.."

Erin felt tears build up in her eyes as well as panic, "does that mean--," she began inhaling fast and with no discerning pattern.

"We need to follow orders now until we can see who we have by tomorrow," the regret in Tara's eyes didn't make Erin feel better. Gwen stood beside the table, saddened, as she pushed the small parchment to Tara.

"See what women will fight with us while we're gone, Gwen. We need to do that tonight," Tara grabbed the paper and tucked it in her pocket without even a small glance at the name written on it.

"I'll do what I can," Gwen replied. Tara gave her a quick nod before Gwen turned on her heels and walked with a lowered head out of the hall and back to Dia's quarters.

Erin brought her hands up to her eyes, dropping her elbows onto the hard table with a loud bang,"I can't do it again, Tara," she said sobbing and shaking her head back and forth.

"You won't have to," Tara brought her hand up to Erin's and pulled them away from her covered face. Her blue eyes looked like miniature oceans from the salty tears that built up in them,"leave it to me, ok?"

Erin dried her eyes, and looked to Tara,"thank you," she smiled, looking red and puffy and but slightly more relieved.

~*~

"What the hell?! Can't a man sleep like a normal fella?" Twill scoffed.

"We need to go to Lethra tonight," Tara said leaning into the cart, "and just so you know... Normal men don't sleep in carts next to their mules." Her smile dripped with sarcasm. Twill rolled around in the old hay of his cart, not fully awake.

"Don't ya walk there all the time? Leave me be ya she--"

Cold water hit his wiry gray hair and torso, soaking him to the bones. He shook on impact and sat up quickly to see Tara standing there with a huge grin and an empty bucket.

"What did I say about name calling?"

Twill looked at Tara in her dark eyes then looked down to his shirt, nearly see-through with his chest hair visible to the world. He muttered vulgarities to himself as he stepped out and walked around to the driver's seat and sat down with a loud groan. Tara sat on the bench next to him trying to stifle laughter from the look on Twill's face while Erin hopped in the back.

"Thanks so much, Twill," Tara said grinning ear to ear. The old man waved a hand with agitation at Tara as he attempted to coax a half sleeping Sylvie into moving.

~*~

"How is this going to work?" The Talion fury asked.

"We need to make sure everyone is ready for tomorrow night," Gwen stated as she paced the hall in front of the Talion furies' bedrooms. "We strike as soon as the moon is as its highest. We take out the loyal furies then work our way up to Dia, where she will be without any backup."

"This won't be easy--" one of the furies said.

Another chimed in, "she is a cold blooded killer. Her skills are not of this world."

"But we'll have the numbers on our side," Gwen added. The five furies stared back and forth at one another with a silence understanding.

"So then what do we do now?" A short plump fury asked.

"Pass on the message. Go to each room and get a feel for each fury you come across. If they are at the same level we are then inform of tomorrow night. We'll meet by the fortress gate." Everyone nodded at Gwen, who turned to walk back down the hall.

"Gwen!" One of them yelled. Gwen turned to look back in their direction. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes.. Tell them to be heavily armed," she smiled.