"Still at it?" he asked, walking over to the counter.

"Yeah." I wiped the plate I was working on roughly with the rag. "Apparently it's all I can do to help."

He made a questioning face.

I shrugged. "I talked to Thoran about the Gaeln . . . sort of . . . He said it was just a myth and that I should stay out of it." I continued washing as Ikovos crossed his arms.

"And you're going to?"

My eyes narrowed down in consideration. "Yes." Then I looked over smiling. "I don't want to give him more to worry about."

Ikovos looked . . . relieved was it? Or disappointed . . . ? The space behind him was dark and ominous, the cafeteria long since emptied.

"What did you do tonight?" I asked, looking back down.

"Ah . . . I slept a bit. Checked on the guys downstairs." He shrugged, leaning his back against the counter. "Not much to be honest."

I set the last cup on the towel, switched the water off, then turned around, whipping my hands dry. It was so quiet now.

"Sophie said there was a meeting in the council chamber," I noted. "Did you go?" I asked it nonchalantly, almost distractedly, but he moved his gaze off of me right away.

"Umm . . . yeah. I went. Oh, actually I was going to tell you, I have to go back out on patrol tomorrow." I frowned severely. "Just till noon."

"I thought you were off for a couple days."

"So did I," he drawled, smirking humorlessly.

With a slight sigh I threw the towel down and walked to the counter next to him, leaning in the same manner. "Did anything else important come up?"

Again he seemed shifty. He didn't answer though, eyes turned down. My own narrowed.

"Ikovos?"

"You know," he sighed suddenly, lifting his gaze to me, "I never used to have a problem lying before I met you."

I pursed my lips. "Is that a good thing, or?-"

Voices coming from the hall interrupted me, drawing both of our heads over. I could see the light of a torch moving closer. Before I could turn back to Ikovos, I felt his hand on my wrist.

"Come on." He pulled me quickly, past the tables of the dark cafeteria and through a nondescript door in the back.

Out here we were sufficiently hidden from whoever had entered the kitchen. It was a small, dark, porch area with no windows heading back to the cafeteria and plenty of trees blocking the grounds ahead. Very windy tonight. He lit the nearby light with a match then turned back to me.

"What was that about?" I asked, somewhat humouredly.

He glanced out then, checking the forest. "If I'm going to be telling you things I shouldn't, we can't have anyone hearing."

"Things I shouldn't?" I repeated.

He moved closer to me, gaze following. "You know the meeting?"

I nodded.

"Thoran talked about you."

"About . . ."

"What you said about the Gaeln."

My brow narrowed. "I don't understand, I barely even got to say anything before he kicked me out."

"You didn't need to." Ikovos leaned to one side, looking around again. "He already knew about them."

"Yeah," I said, head bobbing, "he told me that. He thinks they're fictional, like you do."

Ikovos eyed me, smirk growing. "Now we're to the good part."

My head tilted confusedly, then suddenly a broad smile crossed my face. "They're not a myth?"

Ikovos's head went back and forth.

I bit my lip excitedly, rising up on my toes.

"I knew you would go crazy for that," he said with a chuckle.

I smiled again, pacing the wood slats momentarily, then I turned to him.

"But why did Thoran tell me differently? . . . and why weren't you going to?" I narrowed even further at the last bit.

"See, now we're too the not so good part." He put a hand up to scratch the back of his head as the wind blew heavily again. "You now the thing you said about going to look for the Gaeln to get them to help fight the Meoden?"

I nodded, moving closer.

"Well that's not a myth either. But as far as anyone knows it's supposed to be more than a little dangerous."

"Wait." I crossed my arms. "Has Thoran seen one then?"

"No."

"Oh. . . ." I thought about that. "Well then how could he know whether it's safe or not?"

After a second of him not answering I started to pace the porch again, this time stopping to look out at the rustling trees. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

"So why did you tell me then?" I asked, looking back at Ikovos.

He moved beside me. "Because, like I said, I don't enjoy lying to you . . . and . . ." I waited ". . . I knew what you would do about it."

This shocked me. My eyes widened immediately. "You mean you don't care if I?-"

"Oh, I care," he stated, putting a hand up. "I just also think it might the right thing to do.'

I bit my lip again, mind already running through how I would go about finding the Gaeln.

"Did they say anything about how you can reach them?" I asked. He shook his head right away, but the heavy wind whistling past sent a rush of fresh hope through my body.

"Something tells me they know . . . ," he allowed. "But they didn't mention it in the meeting.

"Could you-"

"They'd suspect something if I asked," he said, head shaking before I'd even finished.

Hmm . . . A thought hit me.

"I've got an idea. I could go see Adzamaruha about it." He gave me a deeply dubious look. "He is the one that gave it to me," I reminded him.

The light-haired boy looked out as if considering.

"When could you go?" he asked.

I thought about it, then nodded dutifully. "Tomorrow - when you're patrolling. It'd be the perfect time."

He considered it again, then nodded. "Alright. It's a start at least." Then he turned to me. "Just make sure you don't stay out long."

"Yeah," I nodded, then I smiled brightly to him. "I'm still surprised you're letting me do this when Thoran said it might not be safe . . . that's pretty unusual for you."

He crossed his arms and smiled, leaning closer to me. "Well, I never said I was going to let you do it alone." I turned down for a moment, then warmed, lifting my gaze back up. "Haven't I told you enough times that I'd never really let you that far out of my sight?"

I took a short breath. He smirked and chucked my shoulder.

"It's late, you better get to bed."

I obeyed, moving towards the door. When he wasn't following I turned back. "Aren't you coming?"

His head shook, hands still wrapped around his waist. He looked rather menacing in the darkness. "I'll go around out here. It's quicker."

"It's not a dangerous patrol, right?" I asked, freezing just as I was about to turn the handle.

The corners of his mouth raised a fraction. "Would you believe me if I said no?"

I considered this, then stuck a confident finger out. "Yes, because you said you don't like lying to me."

He moved closer, calmly folding my finger back with his hands. "I'll be okay."

I didn't know how assured I felt, but I smiled back anyways.

"Besides - you want me to go," he noted, letting go of my hand. Suddenly he had a devilish sort of smirk.

I narrowed skeptically.

"That way I can find out how Jaden's doing."

My heart hit a double beat. The statement wasn't so bad, it was the look on his face and the way that he'd said it. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to darken further at him or run away.

His grin just broadened.

I scrunched my eyes and opened my mouth to argue at least twice, wimping out every time. Finally I just made a threatening face, turned the knob, and spun to walk through the door.

When I got inside I had to stop myself from freaking out.

I wonder if he knows . . . My face contorted at the prospect.

Something about it felt painful . . . it shouldn't feel painful. Strange maybe, but . . .

I put a hand up to my chest, then started off.

The next morning I got up early to help Sophie prepare breakfast so that I would have time to visit Adzamaruha. I got to spend most of the morning with just Trevor and Nathan, which was nice because somehow I felt that if I ended up going after the Gaeln . . . I might not see them for a while.

Once Sophie seemed to have things under control. I downed a mug of black coffee and picked up an apple, tossing it into the air as I walked out to leave.

I almost barreled into Thoran at the doorway.

"Oh." He stopped, looking down at me. "Sorry, Evelyn."

When my eyes met his they were as piercing as ever. I suddenly felt like an eight-year-old that just got caught cheating on a test. I cleared my throat nervously. "Ah, that's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going . . ." I added the tiniest hint of a smile, but I think with my lowered brow it probably looked more like a wince.

Thoran regarded me oddly for a moment, then nodded and walked on.

I barely got out a breath before he stopped again.

"Evelyn?"

I looked back, expression innocent.

"Have you talked to Ikovos at all this morning?" His gaze was hard and speculative. Internally I was flipping out, he obviously suspected something. Thankfully I didn't have to lie.

"No. I think he's out scouting."

"Oh, that's right," he said, face relaxing.

I smiled. "Anything else?"

"No," he answered, distractedly. "That's all."

I walked off with his expression still contemplative. Jeez, could I have been more obvious. My head shook and I marched towards the closest exit dutifully.

By the time I'd finished my apple I was close to reaching Adzamaruha's shop. Still moving briskly, I looked up at the sky. There was something strange about it. It was probably too early to tell, but it seemed like one of those days where there were so many clouds in the sky that it didn't even look like there were any. Rather that the sky had simply turned silver and the sun had decided to take a sick day.