Well most have changed. He hasn't seen much change in Grey and he hasn't been around Taren yet. He knows that Taren entered this morning with Grey.

The trees that were planted yesterday have grown overnight from about six feet tall to over ten feet in height and he felt like they are welcoming him. Now he's seriously creeped out. How can trees be welcoming?

He stands outside of the vault waiting for Grey. A message comes over the radio and he can't hear it. He tells them to repeat but it's like his radio died. He's trying to get it to work and hits it against his hand when Grey comes up to him.

"Electronics don't work in here and the effect is spreading. Already the elevators don't work and now it seems that radios aren't working either. Soon all electronic devices will stop working." Grey worries about the computers shutting down and being unable to get the information he needs from them.

"You left your sidearm at camp? Good. Stay here I have to enter first and talk to people. Taren come with me." Grey says, they both have the proper clothing and plan on changing inside.

"This is getting to be a habit with you Grey, being out of uniform during work hours." Taren is only half joking.

"Can't be helped if I want to do my duty." They step forward and Taren's voice changes.

"General, you have returned quickly," the voice says.

"Yes, one of my most trusted men waits outside and would like to come in, but he doesn't have the clothing. I thought it might be better to get permission to enter before bringing him," Grey says dryly.

"You have news, news that distresses you." Taren/voice ignores the request.

"Yes, and I'll talk to you about it after I know if my man has permission to enter. He doesn't have any weapons other than knives." Grey knows that Jeshua likes to carry some knives for in close fighting, not that he gets to do much of that.

"Then he has permission. There will be clothing waiting for him by the springs," Taren/voice says.

"My thanks, I have need to share the news with those we left behind are they still at the springs as well?" Grey asks.

"Of course. We will await your news there," the voice leaves Taren.

"Man, that is freaking weird." Taren says shivering. "I'll go to the springs and wait for you there. Please don't take too long the females are liable to eat me alive for information." Taren is only half joking. Anna is well known for her ability to get information that she wants.

Grey just nods and heads out of the vault. "Jeshua. No comments, you have been granted passage here. Follow me and when I give you clothing similar to this put it on. Anytime you come in here you will wear this clothing or you might not make it out alive. This is no idle threat. Those that guard this place are very territorial. The clothing marks you as a friend. Without it you will be considered an enemy."

"What about the Aelven sir? They entered here, did they have the clothing?"Jeshua would like to go after the Aelven, but the immensity of the forest has him a little intimidated.

"No, I talked with the last surviving members of the Aelven this morning. They won't be long alive either." Grey says shortly. He doesn't like remembering the prince and the way he greeted Ari. He shakes his head. Why is he jealous? He doesn't want her so why should he care if the prince does?

They come to the spring and find Ari asleep by the poolside and Anna nearby. Taren is fending off Anna's questions and looks over to Grey in desperation. "Leave him alone Anna." Grey says. He spies the small bundle of clothes nearby, goes and picks them up.

"Jeshua come behind some bushes and I'll show you how to put this on. Unless of course you'd prefer to change in front of the females?" Grey shrugs. Each to their own. But he's not surprised when Jeshua chooses to go to the bushes.

"The tribunal is on its way here. You were right Anna. I hope you have your lawyers drawing up the paperwork." Grey says after Jeshua changes.

"They're working on it right now. They should be ready this afternoon." Anna says, they are talking softly so as to not wake Ari.

"This tribunal is a bad thing?" The voice says coming from Taren.

"It will try the Chosen for crimes of the Aelven. That's why I wanted the Aelven queen and her court, but I was informed that it wouldn't matter, they'd still kill the Chosen," Grey replies shortly.

"This is not the best thing but not necessarily a bad thing either general." The voice says patiently, "We have talked to you about this."

"Enough! We have talked and I've given you my answer. But the other thing the tribunal can do is stop my people from coming here. Is that a problem?" Grey says shortly.

"General it seems that we have offended. Apologies, there was no offense intended. Stopping your people will be a great irritant, but it will only make things take longer. We are patient." The voice says sighing.

"They won't be here until evening so we will be able to get some here earlier. But tomorrow morning I have a trial of my own to hold and that will need to be witnessed by my men. After that they will be allowed to come and you can test them or whatever it is you wish to do," Grey says shortly.

"As you wish general." The voice says and Taren gives a small bow.

"I wish they'd give a guy some warning before they do that." Taren gripes.

"Grey, you know what they want is the only way." Ari says as she sits up. "The tribunal will know of your reputation and will choose you as my executioner anyway. If you don't someone else will be more than happy to do so. And they won't hesitate to use the implements on me." Ari is calm as she says this but the thoughts of the implements make her sick. "If you won't do this for me than just give me a knife now and I'll take my own life."

"What is she talking about Grey?" Anna asks and the two men listen attentively.

"They want me to take her life." Grey says shortly. "Get dressed Ari we have other things to do today and it's time for lunch."

"Yes, Grey." Ari says dressing by simply pulling a top on that matches the skirt.

"Grey, you can't do it," Anna says horrified.

Taren and Jeshua aren't so sure. "He could, but the question is will he." Taren says in the silence that follows Anna's outburst. Personally he doesn't think he could, but Grey under the right argument not only could he would and not have a problem with it.

Ari finishes getting dressed and doesn't say anything more. Grey is furious once more and she doesn't want any of his anger turned on her.

Grey just takes Ari's arm and pulls her toward the entrance. It hurts, his grip but Ari doesn't dare say anything. Only when she stumbles because she can't keep up does he slow down and then only long enough to pick her up.

"I'm not going to kill you Ari," Grey says angrily.

"Okay. Do me a favor and after the trial leave a knife where I can get at it. I'll slit my throat or something. I won't go back to the torture chamber," Ari says calmly.

Now it's Grey's turn to stumble. "You aren't going to try to get me to change my mind?"

Ari shrugs. "What's the use? Look Grey I know you don't like me. I can deal with that. Hatchi, he's the only one that has ever loved me. And he couldn't do much for me. I'm used to being in the way and taking care of myself. If you feel that you can't take my life that's fine. I'm dead no matter what. The poison even now is killing my body. If there wasn't a pain blocker I'd be all twisted up like a pretzel right now. I don't see much difference between that and the torture chamber. I'd just as soon end my life now. Tomorrow the tribunal will be here. They will expect to stay in the castle. The camp accommodations aren't up to their standards."

Grey comes up to the wheelchair and sets her in it. "So you think I should let them have free run of the castle?" Hell would freeze over before he'd do that.

"Nope. They'd cause all kinds of mischief here. There is a manor house about a mile down the road. Luxury like they aren't used to. Use to belong to the prince actually." Ari gives a small sad smile. "Tell them to stay in the house and not to go wandering about. Hatchi is known for his little games with the slaves. He'd plant booby traps in the grounds and then send the slaves to find something. There were rarely any slaves left a short time later and none ever survived the whole day.

"I'm sure that not all the booby traps have been cleared. Hatchi wouldn't care." Ari stops as she feels the disapproval emanating from Grey.

"I am aware of the kind of person my cousin is Grey. I'm not blind or stupid. There is a reason many of my people were scared of him. A damn good reason my father never went near him without his personal shield on. It is said that the queen also wears a personal shield or at least did.

"I was just afraid that he would also turn his attentions to me. But he never did. The queen used the dances to show me off to potential rapists. Every time she would have Hatchi lead me out to the dance floor, trying to get him to become one of the many."

Ari looks down. "Hatchi is many things Grey, but he didn't rape me. And for that I love him. And in his limited way I think he loved me too." He had volunteered to go on trial instead of her. He knew what they would do and he volunteered. She's just surprised that Grey didn't take him up on the offer.

"Grey, why didn't you take Hatchi up on his offer to stand trial?" Ari asks and when Grey doesn't say anything just keeps pushing the chair Ari stops it with magic.

"I don't know. He is far more appropriate to take to trial. He is well known for the atrocities he's done. But in the end it wouldn't matter anyway, you will still go on trial."

"So? I'm no one, why should you care if I go on trial or not." Ari is really confused now.

"I don't know okay. In the end it won't matter. I think he's giving out a justice far more worthy than you'll receive." Grey says shortly. Ari has to be satisfied with that answer and allows the chair to go forward.

Grey all but throws open the tent door he's so angry. Ari shrinks back as he pushes the chair through. People stare at them until they see Grey's cool gaze then all of a sudden they are too busy eating to pay any attention to them.

"After lunch I need you to show me where the kitchen and store rooms are for the castle." Grey says as they get in line.

"Yes, sir." Ari says, taking the tray he hands her. She takes the food she's given without any fuss. When Grey takes them over to a table she sits her tray on the table and starts to eat. She doesn't want him to say anything to her right now, but she can't help the tears that start to fall. She doesn't say anything just chokes down the food.

Grey sighs and sets down his fork. "I'm not angry at you Ari."

Ari shrugs and sets her own fork down, she can't stomach any more food. "I'm done general. If you take me to the castle I'll show you what I can."

"Hatchi knew who you were when we spoke to him. You terrified the Aelven, the only human that gave them even a modicum of fear. I've heard even my father talk about you with respect and no little fear. The stories abound general." Ari says no longer comfortable calling him Grey like he told her to earlier.

"All stories aren't true." Grey replies easily. He has perhaps as much blood on his hands as her cousin does.

"But all stories have their beginnings in truth. It takes a lot to scare an Aelven. You had them so scared they ran away. They haven't done that in recorded memory. They don't like running, it shows weakness to them. That's why I was allowed to run from them, it showed I was weak." Ari says. Grey doesn't say anything and just picks up their trays and takes care of them.

It's not until they are halfway up to the castle that Grey speaks again. "I have a reputation that I have rightly earned Ari. Much like your cousin, my hands are covered in blood. But, I didn't go out looking to kill. The blood on my hands comes mostly from defending."

"I notice you say mostly general, I'm glad you didn't try to tell me all. The stories that had the Aelven most scared aren't ones where you were defending but hunting. You are more than a little like them," Ari states.

Grey is angry at the comparison at first then he thinks about it. To be fair he has to admit to the truth of her statement.

"You are a person of keen perception Ari." There was something her cousin had said earlier about intelligence.

"Why didn't the queen use your talents more? That was foolish of her," Grey muses aloud.

"I told you that the queen was jealous of my mother earlier. And although she didn't use my talents other members of the defense team did. Don't you wonder just how I knew to disarm the bomb and missile launch? Not even my father knew that." Ari says that as if Grey is slow.

"That was one of the things I should have interrogated you for." That Grey hadn't really interrogated her doesn't seem to bother him much.

"All you have to do is ask me. I designed the program and the console. In your world I'd have multiple degrees in engineering, software design and weaponry. I don't have military training but I've studied tactics on my own. You are an excellent leader general." Ari leaves it at that.

"But? There is a but in there." Grey feels a little chagrined. These are things he would have learned had he taken the time to interrogate her.

"You have associated too deeply with the thinking of the Aelven. You should have taken a step back. Had I been in charge of the defense there would have been a different outcome. Had I cared. Personally I think the destruction of the Aelven has been too long in coming. I couldn't lower the shield until the Aelven were gone but I did as soon as I could. Don't you think it was too easy to get past everything? It was I who turned off half the defenses before the shields..."

Grey interrupts her. "You? You took down the defenses?" He's more than incredulous.

Ari shakes her head. "I lowered them. Had I taken them down completely things would have gotten ugly. There's a fail safe in the system that would have activated sending missiles out."

"Then the nuclear bomb threat was just that an empty threat?" Grey says incredulous.

Ari rolls her eyes. "It was a very real threat general. One that is permanently out of the equation now."

Grey is having a hard time believing that this girl is the reason that he got through the defenses of the Aelven.

Ari sighs heavily. "If I hadn't lowered the shield power you'd still be hammering away at it. I made modifications to the system that allowed weapons to go out while still raised. The Aelven loved that. It will all be on the computer if it doesn't get fried. You might consider taking the hard drives out and checking them else where. Sooner or later the magic will short the computers."

Ari lifts her face, "The magic grows stronger. Don't you feel it general?"

Ari lifts the knife that she'd created by the magic. "Would it be better to let my blood spill here on the ground or in one of the bathing pools? What do you think general?"

Ari starts cutting her arm hard enough to draw blood and Grey lets out an expletive. "What the hell?" He takes the knife away and holds the wound closed with his hand. The blood doesn't drip though. It seems to hover in the air then move off towards the trees that were recently planted.

Ari doesn't resist Grey in anyway. "You don't wish to end my life. I see no reason to wait for the pain to return. The poison hurts general. Torture wasn't any fun, it was painful, but not like the poison. I won't let that take my life. You won't and I don't trust anyone else."

"You'd trust me to end your life?" Grey isn't sure what to think of that.

"Remember the stories? I've done my research general. You may be a right bastard at times but your keep your word." They come to the castle doors. "Go to the back of the castle general. The kitchens are all along the backside of the castle. The store rooms are half the space the actual cooking area is the other half.

Grey wonders just what stories she's heard that she calls him a bastard. But the appellation fits him. He's called himself that more than once.

They reach the kitchens. It is huge and modern. "If I know what you are looking for I might be able to help you." Ari says with no trace of the amusement she feels at his amazed silence. "The Aelven liked their food."

Grey guesses that they did. "Vinegar, vinegar and baking soda if there is sufficient. If not just vinegar."

"Any preference of vinegar? There's a wide variety here or does it not matter?" Ari says pushing the chair over to a door. The pressure reopens the wound on her arm and the blood once more floats up and out to the trees. Grey watches in horrified fascination before he shakes himself out of the shock he's feeling and goes over to her.

He gets to the door she was heading towards first and opens it for her. Turning on the light he sees barrel after barrel of vinegar. Sounding lost he says, "White will work but so will apple cider. Either one will do."

Ari moves the chair in further and looks over the barrels. "This one is white, the other one there is apple cider." She maneuvers the chair back out so Grey can get to the barrels with ease. She is lost in her own thoughts now. Most of them not good ones.

To break the train of thought she distracts herself by watching Grey struggle with the barrel. "Where now general?"

"I need this taken down to the dungeon." Grey replies too distracted by his struggles to pay attention to his words. He nearly falls when the barrel is no longer there as he leans to move it. "Where'd it go?"

"I moved it to the dungeon." Ari says voice just above a whisper. She can't help the shaking that starts up. "There's a stairway down over there. It will take you to a wine cellar but if you keep going you'll come out just a short distance from the main corridor. From there take a right and you'll be at the dungeon."

"You don't have to go Ari." Grey says, he'll get Jeshua to look after her. Ari doesn't answer and Grey is worried about how hard she's shaking.

Grey calls Jeshua and they go to the main entrance to wait for him. All that time Ari is shaking and can't stop. When Jeshua comes up she cries out in fear, not seeing him but an Aelven. She gets hysterical and Grey is forced to hit her. He knocks her unconscious. "At the top of the stairs there's a corridor to the left. The room on the left in the middle was where she and her father lived. Wait for me there." Jeshua nods and picks up Ari. Already her chin was bruising where Grey hit her.

Grey follows Ari's directions and soon comes to the barrel of vinegar. He thinks about what he wants to do and realizes that he needs to get the rooms cleaned out first. He uses the magic to do it and sets it all out in the courtyard. Then he finds a water source and sends it through the dungeon as it goes by he adds the vinegar. He hears some rather vociferous and vicious swearing and knows that he's hit Sheila's room. He smiles evilly. This is one of those times when he would be considered a right bastard.

Although the vinegar smell is strong soon the smell of human waste is cleansed. Grey sends more water through this time warm water. He'd thought about using hot, but since Sheila is in the cell he thought that might be too much.

Soon the smell of vinegar dissipates as the water dries. As a secondary thought Grey sends some hot air through to dry things out. He doesn't want Sheila to get sick from being left wet and cold.

Things smell much better now that the dungeon has been cleaned. But even just that small amount of time leaves him smelling like the dungeon. He grimaces in distaste as he goes back up. He'll have to send Jeshua for clean clothes while he cleanses himself in the bathing pool.

He goes directly to the rooms he told Jeshua to go to. Once there he starts stripping even as he gives directions to Jeshua. "But what about Ari sir?" Jeshua says before leaving.

"You can stay in the bathing room with me or go with Jeshua which would you prefer?" Grey gives her the choice which shocks Jeshua.

Ari shrugs, "I guess I'll stay here. We'd just be coming back here anyway. No use making him carry me up and down the stairs more times than he has to."

"It's no problem you're a lightweight," Jeshua says laughing. He turns and leaves as Ari goes into the bathing room.

Ari sits on her vanity stool quietly. She doesn't have anything to say.

Grey cleanses himself vigorously then relaxes. Until Jeshua gets back he's not getting out. "I cleaned the dungeon. That's what the vinegar was for," Grey says wanting to end the silence.

"Good it needed to be cleaned," is all Ari would say. Grey finds himself kind of in a hard place. He doesn't like being made to feel like he's dirt but at the same time she hasn't said or done anything to indicate that's what she thinks.