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Lucas sighed, he watched her there a moment, his arms down by his sides. What could he say? She evidently didn't want to be there with him, once her wing healed she said, she would leave.

Did he dare risk it? Did he risk hurting her, hurting himself? Did he want her so much that he was willing to throw away what it meant to be himself?

The answer he already knew.

No. He could never feel for a woman that way again, not after the last time, not after he had lost everything because of a woman he had thought he loved.

He could still hear the horses wicker as her father had combed the stables for her, he could still feel the cane beating down upon his head and shoulders, taste the blood from the broken lip.

Her screaming had been the worse of it, telling her father to stop, that it was nothing, just a silly little dalliance and that she'd never do it again if he would just stop.

It had been the surcoat that had saved him, the moon of blood on a black field. Then the lord had paled, and he had dragged him through the entire hall, shouting for his father.

The exile... That had been insult to his injury, for what pain was there to exile the outcast? He was a b*****d, what place did he have at court anyhow?

Shaking his head, he moved over and grabbed Tinania's sketch book from her and started to flip through the pictures, taking a moment on each one.

"What's this now?" He asked.

Lucas held up a hand and waved her off, flipping through until he got to the end. He stared at the final picture for a moment, just looking at it, letting it sink in.

He closed it when he was finished and handed it to her. "I'm sorry... I didn't know." He murmured, then turned quickly, keeping his face out of her sight.

He didn't want her to see his weakness.

The tears were starting to pool in his eyes, so he made way for the kitchen.

Gods be damned... He cried as he walked to the kitchen. How could she know...

I should have her destroy it... I will only destroy her... She sees me. Lucas calmed himself, it took some time, but he managed. Turning he looked at the clock on his wall. The duck would be fine... for now.

Leaving the kitchen he walked to where he had left Tinania, watching her with her book.

"Finish it..." He said finally, his voice cracked a bit. "Because... That is me," He smiled at her, his eyes a little puffy from crying.

"Tinania... Would... you... take a walk with me?"

Lucas smiled and took her hand, heading to the kitchen a moment to turn down the oven so the duck wouldn't burn while they were gone. Then he headed to the front door, heading out with Tinania looking around.

"This is my house, as you've seen before," He chuckled, as they walked up the way.

"Over there, is the Ranger's Guildhall, you've seen it before... Beside it is the inn..."

Lucas looked at her a moment and then nodded his head. He lead her outside the village, and down a well worn game trail, then suddenly he cut off the trail and into the brush.

They landed on a perfectly cleared path, and he kept walking, until they reached a small shack covered with leaves and branches, ducking under the door he lead her inside.

It was a small place, but there was room for two. A small bed was the only furnature.

"There are days... Where I would rather be alone, than half to deal with people..." Lucas said truthfully, sitting down on the bed himself. He was silent for a moment, looking far away.

One of the Fel Wolves entered the building not soon after, and looked up at Tinania, growling and slavering.

Lucas didn't break from his trance, he just lifted his hand and snapped his fingers sharply.

The wolf instantly stopped growling and slobbering, and whimpered, rolling on it's back and tucking it's tail between it's legs, looking up at Lucas. When he lowered his hand, the wolf came over and licked it, then lay next to his feet on the floor.

Lucas smiled to himself, then turned his head to her, he was silent for a moment, unsure on how to approach this. "Won't your family be worried when you don't come home?"

He needed to know something before he could say anything. He didn't want her to make the wrong choice, and if the answer what what he wanted, he knew what he had to do.

Lucas stood, his eyes were silent. Walking to her he took her hands, and lifted them, kissing both of them gently before looking into her eyes again.

His eyes said many things yet nothing. The right eye was black, the left gray, and both said too much and too little.

"Tinania..." He finally spoke, after being quiet for too long yet not long enough. "Stay if you will, go if you think you can... But I promise you this... Until the first snowfall, you will not leave Free Haven without me," Letting go of her hands, he took a step back, his face a mask.

"Free Haven is my home, I am sworn to protect it, that is who I am... You are an outsider, a possible threat..." Looking to the wolf at his feet now, he chuckled, a strange almost off sound. "Yet, I think, given enough time, I will betray that..." Looking at Tinania again, his eyes suddenly flashed with light and life, a cruel fire of intense feeling and repressed emotions.

"What's funny is I'm wondering when that happens, if I'll even care?"