"Grey we can't leave today, I'm sorry. There is something wrong with the car. The motor pool is looking at it and it looks like we'll have to get a part in from the nearest town. Which is half a day a way. They sent someone immediately but they won't be able to install it until tomorrow." Anna says when she enters. At first she doesn't see the sleeping girl on his bed.

"Keep your voice down Anna. That viper probably found a way to disable the vehicle. Very well stay then. Just stay out of the castle for now." Grey says stretching his neck trying to relieve the stress there.

That's when Anna spies the girl lying on top of Grey's bed. She looks at Grey and her eyebrows rise. "Replacing Sheila already Grey? She's not going to like this."

"No, Anna. This is the girl that is my prisoner. She is going to be tried in the world court." Anna shuts up with Grey's muted angry reply.

"Have you found any trace of your father Grey?" Anna says in a quieter voice.

"Nothing yet." Grey replies. Ari gasps. In the dream world or other world she had seen a fleeting look at Grey's father.

"Grey do you have an image of your father?" Ari says coming fully awake.

Grey doesn't think Ari can help him with this, his father would likely have been dead even before Ari was born. But he shrugs and pulls out an old photo of his father.

"Some of the Aelven would take a fancy to someone that came to court and if the queen allows it takes that person as their personal slave. If that slave becomes a favorite then when they die they are buried in a special location otherwise they are just dumped into an unmarked grave where ever." Ari says and watches both Grey and Anna's faces fall.

"One of the old ones of the court used to tell us of the man she made her slave. And she'd tell stories of him, ones that perhaps wouldn't be acceptable to tell children in the human world. She showed us his photo once, it was this man. I would think that since he was a favored slave she buried him in the special place. Those graves aren't marked but they are carefully placed so that the master can find the remnants should he or she be so inclined." At Ari's words Grey practically jumps over his desk towards her.

Ari shrinks back from him. She can't help it she flashes back to when Aelven would do that and corner her. She curls up in a ball on his bed shaking so hard that the bed shakes too.

Grey is sick at the state he put her in. He backs off talking to her softly. "I'm sorry Ari. I was just excited is all. I have been searching for my father for a long time. Your lead is the best one I've had in years. I know he came here but there is no record of him leaving. Please anything you can tell me will help."

Anna looks at Grey to the girl cowering on the bed. "Ari?" She looks at Grey and he nods. "Ari, it's alright I won't let Grey hurt you." Anna moves closer to the bed and the shivering girl. She starts stroking the girls hair but it doesn't seem to help.

"Ari, I'll leave if you wish, but please tell Anna what you know." Grey is actually begging her. He just wants to take his father home and bury him properly.

"No, don't go Grey." Ari manages to get out as she forces herself to straighten out and sit up. She's still shaking uncontrollably but she's doing her best to calm down.

"What do you want me to do Ari? My presence isn't helping." Grey says helplessly. He's never hurt a female intentionally before in his life.

"Just hold on Grey I'm trying to pull myself together. Her stories told of his sexual prowess. But to me it sounded like he was forced to do things to keep alive. As far as I am concerned your father was raped until he died. He may have been an active participant but he had no choice." Ari is now sick, she doesn't like remembering the stories. When she was younger she didn't understand, when she was older she understood all to well.

"The old one then showed us a bone necklace she had and said that she never wanted to let him go. Some of them did that, keep parts of their favorites. It looked to me like an entire hand now as I think on it, possibly both I don't know anatomy well enough to even guess. So even if we do find his grave don't be surprised if we don't find a whole skeleton." Ari feels sick.

Grey in uncertainty comes closer and kneels in front of her. He takes her hands in his and frowns at how cold they are. As he rubs them to warm them up, "Thank you, that is more information than I've been able to find out about him in years." Grey had already believed his father dead and had believed him tortured to death. After seeing what rape did to Ari, Grey isn't sure that he wasn't.

"Do you know where there might be information on where he is buried?" Grey manages to keep his voice down in his excitement but forgets that he is holding Ari's hands and crushes them.

"Ow." Ari says but doesn't try to pull her hands out, although she starts shaking again.

Grey immediately lets her hands go. And puts more space between them. Anna pulls her tight and holds her to help her but still it takes a longtime for Ari to stop shaking. And she never stops watching Grey warily.

Grey sees what he's done and regrets it. She doesn't trust him now. He sighs and backs up some more. "I'll leave for a bit. I'm sorry Ari, I seem to be doing more terrifying of you than protecting you today."

Ari wants to protest but she can't and when he steps out of the tent she finds that she can breath easier. "He is far more bark than bite Ari. He won't hurt you." Anna tries to comfort her.

Ari shakes her head. "Either he kills me or he will allow me to die painfully. Either way he'll hurt me Anna and he knows it. But this is all reaction I'm not really afraid of him, but his actions caused me to remember others that did similar actions. And they did mean me harm. I can't stop the reactions when they come. No offense but it's actually easier when it's him comforting me. When he holds me I know I'm safe. When he's crouching like he's about to spring, just causes more reaction." Ari can't explain how she feels.

Anna gets a wicked glint in her eye though. She'll make sure that Grey knows about this. She rather likes this girl and thinks that she'll make Grey a good wife.

Anna stands up when Grey comes back in. She takes Grey back out. "Next time that happens I'll leave and you comfort her. She says that they are memories of others doing the same thing to her, that's why she shakes like that. She feels safe when you hold her but it makes her feel like you're going to spring on her when you backed off. She's got PTSD really bad Grey. What the hell happened to her?"

"Let's just say that she has good reason to have PTSD. They hated her the Aelven did. I think the old one she talked about told the stories she did out of a perverse sense of joy. It's her story and she'll tell you if she wants to but I won't say anything else about it." Grey says and is relieved that she finds comfort when he holds her. He rather likes holding her. Far more than he should as her jailer.

They go back inside the tent. Ari wipes her tears and tries to hide the fact that she'd been crying. Grey hands her a tissue and she blows her nose. "Thanks. The old one has an apartment in the castle. I can take you to it if you wish. She might have some papers or something that might lead us to your father's grave."

Grey nods and Ari gets back in the wheelchair. She is feeling stronger but isn't sure that she could handle walking the whole way. "Personal effects aren't likely to be booby trapped like the queen did the console, but still it might be best if you let me touch things like drawers first any way." Grey frowns and Anna looks lost.

"I'm dying Lady Anna. It won't matter to me if something is booby trapped, but there is no reason for you or Grey to die as well. We'll need a translator Grey. Anything we find will be written. And she preferred the old languages to the new."

"We'll see if there is one apparent in her apartment if not I'll have the one found earlier brought to us." Grey had to get a new radio when they came out of the vault his other had completely stopped working. All the soldiers that had gone in the vault no longer had working radios. So the chances of the Aelven taking any thing electronic into the vault wasn't likely. He hoped.

It was a silent trio that walked the short distance to the castle. "Lady Anna? When I die I'm giving this land to you. Your country has been the one most despoiled by the Aelven it is only fair that you receive this land in return." Ari says unexpectedly.

Anna is shocked. "You can't do that Ari, this place doesn't belong to you."

"Well actually it does now." Grey is pleased. "Ari is the niece to the queen and since all others with any claim have left that leaves this land in her hands. Congratulations Ari."

Ari doesn't want the land or anything to do with it. That's why she is giving it to Anna. "I've changed my mind I want you to have it now. Get a lawyer to write up something legal so it will be yours before the vultures come looking for a piece of it. That's why the world court tribunal judges are coming here. They want to look over the land and decide what they want before they order my death." Grey frowns at that. The tribunal is in Stockholm.

"So sure are you that they won't look at the evidence and give you a fair trail then?" Grey says.

"I know they won't. At best they will wish they could be part of the rapes. They won't see me as a victim Grey. They want my blood and I'm the only Aelven about. It won't matter about anything else. Get the documents drawn up within three days or the tribunal will stop it. They want the land for themselves." Ari is positive that this is what will happen.

"I'll get right on it after we're done with the search in the old one's room." Anna promised.

Grey growls out his dislike. "Grow up Grey. Those courts are political. And most of the judges are as corrupt in their own way as the Aelven. They want this land and they won't let Ari go even if she was a victim of the Aelven. They will condemn her to death then take this land and fight over who gets what. Or they will claim it for someone that has bribed them to condemn her. They aren't impartial, not even a little bit. Many have given me overtures to the effect of giving me the land if I paid them.

"Ari is offering me what the judges wanted me to pay for and she wants nothing in return. I won't turn down the chance to double my land Grey. We've suffered too much at the hands of the Aelven, I can't." Anna says even as they come to the imposing front of the castle.

"Take the elevator to the third floor." Ari says she's feeling tired and doesn't know why. She'd felt so energized when she left the vault.

"Straightforward then the first left." Ari instructs as they leave the elevator. "Soon the elevators won't work and I won't be able to be much help. I feel more tired than before Grey, I think the poison is sapping my strength." Grey frowns at the news and Anna calms down.

"Why won't the elevators work soon?" Anna asks.

Ari looks behind her to Grey. Grey sighs. "Magic is returning to the land. It seems that magic and electronics don't mix."

"Magic Grey? I think you've been taking something that makes you believe in fairy tales." Anna say with scorn.

"Come with us tomorrow Anna. But if you want to use any of your electronics leave them behind." Grey says in invitation. Anna won't believe it if she doesn't see it. She never has and never will.

"Third door on the right is the entrance to her sitting room. The other two doors will only open from the inside for escape purposes." Ari says she feels like there's a drain on her.

Grey opens the door she indicated and immediately starts looking. Ari is too drained, she barely manages to make it to the couch before collapsing.

"Why does this old biddy have a bigger apartment then your father?" Grey asks.

"Father didn't see the need for more space. Said it was a waste. Probably thought it would be harder to corner me in a larger apartment." Ari shivers and feels herself blacking out.

"Dammit I shouldn't have said anything about her father." Grey says angrily even as he runs to Ari's side.

"Anna see if this biddy has any cloths that you can wet down will you?" Grey says even as he holds Ari in his arms.

Anna runs to the first door and throws it open. As she hoped it was a bathing room and there were cloths and water. She turns the water on as cold as she can and wets the cloth. Wringing it out she rushes back to Grey's side.

Grey takes the cloth and places it on Ari's head. He gently holds Ari in his arms. Ari starts to wake up several tense minutes later. "What happened?" Grey had been on the other side of the room when she came to the couch.

"You fainted." Is all Grey would say. Ari is rather disappointed. She'd hoped he was holding her because he wanted to.

"I'm sorry to cause you trouble. I'm keeping you from your search." Ari takes the cloth from her head and tries to stand but Grey wasn't letting her up yet. Ari stills when she feels Grey holding her back.

Grey immediately lets her free and Ari starts breathing deeply trying to get her heart beat back to normal. Grey tries to move but Ari stops him. "I feel safer with you like this than if you moved away. Please just give me a minute." Actually she felt safer with his arms around her but she couldn't say that.

Once more she tries to stand and this time makes it and walks back over to the wheelchair. "If you take me to the drawers I'll open them and then we can all search them." Ari says practically. She hoped it would be Grey that pushes the chair but it's Anna that starts pushing. Grey goes into the other room. A short time later he comes back out holding a translator. This is a different model than the one from this morning and Ari has to turn this one on as well.

"Well, if we find anything then we will be able to read it." Ari says happily. She hopes that they will be able to find something to help them. She wants to do something for Grey in thanks for his help. Even though he doesn't know how he's helped.

"There was a book by the translator. It looks like a diary." Grey hands her the book and she looks over the dates.

"It might be a diary but if so, it's not old enough to be of use to you. This has all happened this year. Look to see if you can find other diaries. That will be where we'll most likely find the information you want." Ari says.

She points to the bookcase against the far wall. "That looks like it's filled diaries to me." Before Anna can maneuver the chair to the bookcase Grey is there and starts handing them to her.

She looks at them and hands them back until she finds one with the date of her birth in it. Curious she looks it over and Grey hands her the translator. She smiles her thanks and starts skimming through from the date of her birth. She stops and goes back and reads more carefully.

She turns white but reads aloud. "This day Cowain came to me. He wanted to buy the plot of land next to the one I buried Gerren. He wants to bury his concubine in it. He said that it was only fair that they be reunited in death since he took her from them when she was fourteen, several years earlier. He said that brothers and sisters should be buried next to each other." Ari has to stop. She races from the room and makes it to the bathroom just in time. She starts vomiting.

Grey comes in and holds her hair out of the way for her. She's shaking so badly that when she's done Grey helps her stand so she can rinse her mouth out and wash her face in the cold water. Then he carries her back to the chair.

Ari picks up where she left off. "I sold him the plot next to Gerren's. It's three paces from the castle wall and ten paces east. I told him he was a romantic fool and he laughed."

"Cowain is my father. That grave plot he bought was for my mother. I know where your father lies buried Grey." And Ari cries silently.

Grey is excited but Anna understands, she picked up what Grey hadn't. She looks at Ari in awe. "Cousin?"