But when he opened them again, Aidan still knelt there, alive. David blinked in surprise. The woman lifted the sword from where her stroke had brought it to the ground, and the tip was bloody. But only the very tip. Aidan looked up at her, and put his hand to his neck. He shuddered, and then looked at his bloodied fingers. He had a gouge nearly an inch deep across the side of his neck. Had he been human it probably would have killed him, but she knew well enough that he was not.

"You really would have let me kill you," she said wonderingly.

"Yes," he answered simply.

She shook her head. "I guess you have changed then. Maybe...." she sighed softly, then smiled. "Maybe it's time for me to go home."

Aidan nodded. He climbed slowly to his feet. "Home... yes. I think it is long past time." Then Aidan turned to where David stood, and said "I have to go now. Good luck with your cause. I am proud to have aided you as much as I could. The cabin is yours now. Goodbye."

David stepped towards him, then suddenly ran and hugged him. "I'll miss you. I'll miss you a lot, you fruit."

Aidan laughed, a small, somewhat shaky sound. "I'll miss you too. Take care."

"You take care of yourself too," said David, "And don't do anything crazy like that again!"

Aidan looked over at the woman, who had a wry smile on her weathered face. He shook his head. "I make no promises. But... I need to go now. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," said David, stepping back reluctantly.

And then the woman held out her hand to Aidan, and his face lit up, completely transformed as he stepped to her and took her hand. Together they walked into the forest, and only seconds later vanished from sight.

David looked after them for a long time. He had a feeling that "home" wasn't just going to be just over the hills. Dawn was coming in less than an hour, and Aidan had no bolt holes that close, but he'd walked off without hesitation.

Suddenly curious, David followed their trail. Eyes and nose were enough to lead him through the forest, but it was only a few minutes before he came to a place, in the middle of a field, where their footsteps had crushed the grass and left an obvious trail, and the trail simply ended. No sign of back-tracking, and no reason to do so, it just stopped. He shook his head, not quite believing, but not really able to think of any other option. "Home" had obviously been somewhere very far away indeed.

End Part 2