Jarla held my left wrist as we strolled through the city. Bunny lay in the crook of my right arm. I was entranced by the people milling around like ants, so many out to-day! The sights, tall glass and chrome towers, sounds... laughter, music. Today, everything was different. The very aura of the city was lighter. I was not a native of this area, and it was not often that I left the temple, but I still knew today was not just another day. The inhabitants bustled about more busily, some wore lovely and elaborate costumes. The streets seemed more colourful and were decorated. More than once I would squirm from Jarla's hold and curiously examine this or that. Jarla would scold half heartedly, "Plagued, you musn't leave my sight, it's dangerous if little girls are among strangers."

Again I escaped Jarla, enchanted with a craftsman's shimmering trinkets. Children ran by in brightly coloured clothes, laughing and singing. A group of them, about my age, engulfed me suddenly, and I froze, panicked. They danced a circle around me, laughing, one little boy pressing a fiery red flower into my hand. I held my bunny tight, hiding my face, and then they were gone. Jarla had shooed the children away, but was not cross at me for leaving her again. In fact, she seemed rather amused. I am not accustomed to children yet, especially not my size, so I was in a state of shock at the loud and boisterous ones which skipped by. I clutched Jarla's robes, terrified of the hysterical faces and swirling colours. She picked me up easily into her arms, walking away and whispering consolingly to me until I lifted my face from her shoulder again.

"What's that, Plagued?" She asked cheerfully, brushing her nose against mine. I twirled the crimson flower in my tiny hand underneath her nose.

"It's a flower..." I whispered wisely, "I don't know what sort though..." She smiled, and I did as well. Setting me down onto my feet again, Jarla tucked the flower into my hair. Red against black... it made me look exotic. "Jarly, I'm thirsty." I pouted slightly.

"Oh?" She stopped to consider the time, then changed directions, rearing back towards the sellers' quorum. Holding her hand, we walked into a place of delicacies - it looked horribly busy. "Let us eat in here... you look like you could use a rest." I nodded.

"Jarly, what's happening here?" I asked. The door opened for us. Inside, it smelled sweet, so sweet I was heady with the syrupy scents. Employees rushed by balancing trays piled high with desserts.

"They are celebrating, Plagued, it is the day of their king's coronation." she said as I climbed into a chair across from Jarla and placing Bunny in the chair next to me. She snapped her fingers at a slender blue-skinned lady and ordered ourselves a drink, mine a fruity nectar, and even a sweet cake for myself!

When the waitress brought our drinks and my small frosted cake, I piped up, "Where are you taking all those foods?"

The blue-lady laughed, "Why child, don't you know what today is?" I shook my head and peered at her from over my cup. "Today is a grand festival! There is a new king and we will sell those foods at the dances."

I sipped the pink nectar and swung my feet, "What do you do at the festival?"

She beamed and clasped her hands together, nearly bouncing, "Sing, dance, and make merry through the night!" She laughed and began walking away, glancing once at Jarla with a bit of fear. It's normal. Lots of people are afraid of of her... and Faethor... and Shaitan`, and GenOberst, and Arania.

It seemed as though we were to ourselves, each in our own world. The workers had their cares and worries, the man whom no one noticed and who was staring at us had his own thoughts, Jarla was so still... she must have been lost in her thoughts as well. I giggled, taking a small bite of my cake, trying to eat around the delicate decorations. No one paid any regard to anyone else, (save for the wierd guy I guess...) but I did not mind. I was quite cheerful with my sugared cake. I continued swinging my feet happily back and forth, Bunny stared at Jarla with his black-glass eyes. She massaged her temples; her cheeks rather flushed. I asked her with concern, "Jarly, are you ok?"

She moaned slightly, and looked at me with wretched eyes, "Jarly's fine dear... I think I need a bit of fresh air." She gasped slightly, and took a deep drink from her glass. Her head seemed to drop a bit, but she quickly regained herself. I think she was a little headache-ish. Jarla looked at me again, and smoothed her hand by my cheek, "Plagued?"

"Hm?" I looked up at her, my mouth smiling and full of cake.

"Can you wait here for me really quickly? Jarly needs to take a breather in the air... and maybe get a little checkies for my blood." I nodded and she leaned over to give me a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be right back okay?" She stumbled a bit, pulling herself up from her chair, then walking out with a hand to her head. I watched her for as far as I could as she walked out, and I noticed then that the man in the back of the restaraunt did too.

No matter how many people walked past and blocked my view of this man, he continued to fix his sight on me, smiling with a friendliness. He had long hair, light... tied back. He was garbed in a coarse brown robe with a white inner garment. I wiped my small lips slowly, eyeing this man as he stared at Bunny and I. He winked at me with amusement, but I just continued studying him with a steady gaze. I refused to break the hold we had with our eyes, even as others walked past him. He waved to me, and with great curiousity I thought, "I know him... but I do not." So I waved back and smiled a shakey smile which disappeared as fast as it had come.

He stood up and walked to me, briskly dodging the diners and employees with great ease and skill. Finally in front of me, he bowed and asked, "May I have the pleasure of joining my lady?" His smile was charming.

I giggled and nodded, so he sat with satisfaction in the chair which Jarla had been but a few moments ago. "Hullo!" I said, "Who are you? And why do you stare so?" I asked bluntly but faintly cheerfully. I lifted my cup to drink, not looking away from him.

He laughed, folded his hands and half nodded his head to me, "My name is Gam-Ett, and I stare because you're such a pretty little girl of course!" I smiled and giggled back, rather liking his comment. He tilted his chin slightly to Bunny and I, "What is your name, my dear? And your handsome companion's?"

"I'm Plagued!" and pulling dear Bunny onto my lap, I added, "This is Bunny. He's just Bunny." I bent my face to kiss the top of Bunny's velveteen head.

"Oh?" He seemed to quirk for a moment, I sipped my nectar. "Plagued... what a strange name for a child." He finally said.

"Indeed." I replied, nodding in agreement.

"Who was that woman, to leave you alone so?" Gam-Ett waved his hand in the direction of the door. His voice was calm and so soothing... like warm waters. One could easily be washed away by his gentle voice and gestures. "Is she a sister?"

"Oh no!" I laughed, "That was Jarly. She takes care of me... sort of." I shrugged, not being able to quite put Jarla to words. It wasn't as though she were my nanny, but it wasn't as though she were just another adult around me either. Shaitan` had ordered her to watch over me. "She's going to be 'right back' she said."

"Ah... I thought she wasn't your sister. She doesn't look a bit like you." We both laughed. He reached over and touched the flower in my hair, and waved his hand slightly in front of me as though he were going to perform a small illusion. The noise swelled around my ears, clatter of dishes, conversations, chairs being pushed in and out... then silence. If there were an 'on' 'off' switch for everyday noises, it had just been clicked. I looked around and saw that everyone was still hurrying about or doing whatever it was they were doing. Young adults in couples still flirted with each other, lips moving, cups still set heavily against the table, but made no noise... I could only hear Gam-Ett and myself. The world revolved around us now. I slowly turned to observe him, he was smiling softly as though there were nothing out of the ordinary.

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered. His hand passed once slowly before my eyes, and I felt that we were sinking euphorically underwater.

"What do you mean, Plagued? We're only speaking." He said pointedly. I nodded. We were only speaking afterall. "Do you know what today is?" He asked me as one asks a child a question which the child is proud to know the answer to.

My eyes sparkeled as they looked directly into his, "It's a festival! A coronation of sorts." I noticed something which diverted my attention... an ill tempered creature-chef was yelling at an employee. Well, at least I think it was yelling... its mouth was flapping wildly, arms and fisted hands flailing, vestigial wings beating fiercely, but I could not hear him. The poor worker-boy was on his knees picking up the scattered tarts which he had accidentally dropped from his tray. I thought, "I bet there was quite a noise when that platter fell... and I couldn't even hear it!"

Gam-Ett, who had noticed me absorbed in something else, also looked in their direction. Our eyes met again simultaneously. "Comical, aren't they?" He grinned.

"Yes." I smiled, but changed my tone to boredom now, "I find them rather amusing." I shrugged.

He watched me carefully for a moment, then asked innocently, "Tell me, child, where are you from? I know you are not of these parts."

I fingered the diamond solitaire hanging from the slim gold chain at my throat... nervously twining my slender fingers through it. "I am from home... that is... the temple."

"When you're here... do you miss home?" He asked simply, leaning forward a bit and resting his chin in his hands. I leaned back away from him.

"No. Not presently at least. I should like to stay here awhile and sing and dance and strew flowers about also." I reached up to pat the flower in my hair, cautiously making sure it was alright.

He chuckled and said, "Oh, you would miss your family?"

I looked at him with wonderment. "I always miss my family... but they aren't really my family." I played with the fork and pushed my cake about on my plate slightly.

"Plagued hasn't a Poppa or Mummy?" He asked as though he knew the answer, but wished for me reiterate. I could not feel any inhibitions to answering these questions... he asked so purely.

"No..." a small sigh escaped my lips, "I have'nt any Poppa or Mummy." I shrugged, my finger rubbing Bunny's paw, "Faethor killed them."

He looked disgusted for a passing moment, but quickly changed his expression so as not to alarm me. I smiled sweetly and patted his hand with great sympathy for him, not for myself. I was already quite content with the fact of my parent's and his lover's murder. "Who... kept you after that?" Curiousity seeped his question.

"Faethor did of course." I answered him matter-of-factly. "Because he thought I was a comical little poppet, and he sensed something in my blood. He was still going to off me, but decided that he ought to show me to Shaitan` and GenOberst first." I rolled my large eyes silly-ishly, smiling and on the verge of a giggle to comfort him. "Together they decided that I would live, and eventually they became 'family'. I was told that I am exsepshunal."

"Exceptional..." He repeated, raising an eyebrow, "Rather large word for a little girl like you." He smiled that tender smile of his.

"Shaitan` taught me." I informed him.

"Has he taught you many things?" his eyes seemed searching, as though he wanted to hear something in particular.

"Mmm... I learned things." I answered, leaving his question vague. He did not mind.

"Plagued... you said that you wanted to sing, dance, and such... like them?" He nodded out towards the window, where children were dancing in a ring, tossing flower petals into the center where a lovely girl child, probably my age, danced alone. I observed them quietly and coldly, fluctuating easily from happiness to gloom. "Are you like them?" He did not turn his face from the window, but he sat straighter. My face followed in a liquid motion to absorb the children... like a jet of colours and light. It would be something I would paint in the future. They skipped about, petals and silk streamers... long, bright, streamers attatched to silver batons, swung in great circles and twirls... eye candy. A few spun pirouhettes, some shared kisses and laughter, and little confections.

I solemnly looked back to Gam-Ett and whispered in a low voice, mixed with lonliness and rage, "No... I am not like them."

He took my hand, tiny compared to his, and would not let me pull it away. I relented. I do not mind being the one to make contact with people, but the only other persons I allow to touch me or hold me are the ones I constantly surround myself with. Gam-Ett was still a stranger, in a way. "Plagued, you can be like them! You can laugh, sing, and dance with them, with us. If you could just release your... sadness and the fury which is so easy to kindle inside of you." I did not even stop to wonder how he knew my personality traits so well.

"But you don't know..." I looked away, alarms sounding in my head.

"Yes, yes I do know, Plagued. You really are like them in so many ways..." He pointed at the children which were scattering away now. "But you have the potential to be so much more... if you perhaps.. encounter the right persons." Gam-Ett spoke as though he had always known me, his eyes widening with a sense of urgency. "My child, do y..."

"I'm not your child!" My voice rose to a higher pitch... I narrowed my eyes.

"Plagued... do you know what love is?"

I tugged slightly at my hand again, and he loosened his grip. For some odd and unknown reason though, I did not relinquish my hand from his. "Of course I know..." I hesitated, "Of course I know what love is!" I repeated with more conviction, simmering inside.

"Do you love everyone?" He gently asked me, calming me.

"No." I said with much spite, yanking my hand away from him and holding it as though I had been burned, "I do not." I brought Bunny's face up to mine and kissed it, not wanting to look at Gam-Ett. Grudginly I shot back with my small voice, "And neither do you."

He looked disappointed, and softly deliberated, "But child... I do not hate. Hate will burden you and may very well hurt you in the future." I looked down at the crumbly cake on my plate, no longer beautiful... just a pastry. "You hate very many people, don't you?"

"Dislike." I responded quietly. "There is a differance."

"But you hate them, don't you?" He looked sadly out at the remaining kids.

I watched them without emotion... apathy. "They aren't like me... and I am not like them." my voice so quiet and almost tremulous that it seemed a breeze would carry it away. I wrinkled my nose and glared, "They're annoying things anyways. Twits." I said icily, using the word 'twit' as Faethor often did.

"Oh but Plagued, you are like them. More than you can know..." He looked distressed for an instant, but the expression flickered to that warmth which he exuberated.

"I am Plagued. As far as I know, I am like me and I am the Only Me." I stated this as though it were a well-known fact which is taught in schools.

Gam-Ett's eyes burned intensely and he seriously asked, "Child, What are you plagued with? Plagued is not your real name, I know it isn't. Do you know your real name?"

I stared at him with shock. "I... I don't know you. I've never seen you before... now." I stupidly replied, wanting to hide a part of myself.

He folded his hands together, fingers weaving between each other like a devout prayer. He bent close to me, his folded hands on the table as though he were pleading, "But I have been searching for you... for such a long while now. Did you know, that I am your Poppa's friend?" He smiled assuringly, but the corners of his mouth twitched with nerve when he saw that I did not smile back... when I glared. "We.. we thought that the Dark Jedi who had killed him had killed you as well, but we did not find your body. We knew you lived, but with whom? I have a home for you child... we do, I can help you dispel that anguish you contain in that bottle of your heart... the sorrows."

I stared off, my mind filled with thoughts of life before Fae had taken me away. Coldly I said, "I haven't any Poppa."

Gam-Ett looked hurt, but continued on despairingly, "I can help you, you'll have great fun and be like the children there... many children for you to play with."

I felt a little badly for causing a pain in his heart, so I said gently, "Gam-Ett, I don't want to be like the others."

"Darling, it makes me sad to know that you're always engulfed in hate and despair..." He tilted my chin up with two fingers, "Not a beautiful child like you, it doesn't become you... this coldness." He smiled a rapturous smile which gave me a sense of security, otherwise I'd have turned my face away from him.

"Do you think I'm very pretty?" I giggled, my eyes lighting.

"Of course I do," he said, feeling more comfortable now, "Especially when you smile." He tapped my nose lightly and I wriggled it, moving away from him. Shaitan` was the only one who did that. He was slightly perturbed when I moved away, but asked me brightly, "Tell me, are you a fast learner?"

I shrugged and laughed, "I don't know such answers! You cannot ask me questions like that... no one can really discern if they are themselves fast learners or not!"

He laughed and nodded, "Yes, well I think you are." He resolved. "Let me teach you something," his face became very serious now, and so I also tried to look very solemn out of respect. "I want you to know, that as powerful as hate seems, Love conquers all." I blinked, staring at him blankly but smiling to be polite. "Has anyone ever told you that they love you, Plagued?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, turning Bunny's face to my chest. I was tounge-tied and had never in my life considered this. My mouth opened to counter his remark, but I could not even stammer. I took a little breath of defeat and closed my mouth again, holding Bunny like my only consolation. His eyes looked on me, taking me in... with pity. He pitied me! Though his liquid eyes were full of kindness, they were seeped with sympathy. I never felt so ashamed. And now... now I felt lonely in a different sort of way... it was a 'I am the only Plagued in the world, but who gives a damn?' sort of loneliness.

"I thought not." He said, regretting that he himself already knew. "I... I'm sorry..." He whispered, deeply wishing he had not even brought the question up. "I shouldn't have asked you that. You're 8 now aren't you?"

I wouldn't even look at him to grace him with a response. He had saddened me so, but still, I did not see him as 'the enemy' yet. He spoke warmly to me again, "Where we're from, we care for everyone. you could learn so much... your special, Plagued. Your Poppa..."

"He wasn't my real Poppa... was he?" I mumured from my Bunny.

It was his turn to think of a proper response. He resolved on the truth, "He was your father, but even if blood ties, only your heart can accept him as your father. Do you understand me?" I nodded into my Bunny. "He wanted so much for you to be taught in our ways, the last I remember... I came so far to find you, and I feared that I never would. I feared that when I did... you would already be a young woman... lost."

My large eyes sadly looked at him. He really didn't know. He didn't know how I felt that my 'father' had betrayed me, betrayed the dark side, and even the Jedi. How I thought him a worm. He couldn't possibly know that I was quite comfortable with my current 'family', and that my mind never dwelt on the emotion called 'love' (not to this degree) before now. He had uncovered things buried deep inside of my heart that I would've rather never unearthed. He leaned over to me as close as he could without rising from the chair, took my hand, and held it between his as though begging. "Plagued, come with me before you are consumed with this loathing I sense within you. Come with me and learn to live in a loving environment. I was allowed to search for you only because you are still young, and there is time for you yet."

My mind ran with the thoughts: "I despise you... how do you know so much about me? Why do you say things that make me yearn? I want to go with you... I hate you. Who loves me? Would Shaitan` miss me? I would never leave with you."

What happened next was a blur, but swift and clear as quicksilver.In a rapid motion, Gam-Ett released my hand, stood and tried to turn, his chair clattering to the floor. His right hand swung out from the left side of his waist, holding an object which at first flared blue, but disappeared... only a stickish thing in his hand, I could not place it due to the rapidity of which he had brought it out. Before I could take another breath, Gam-Ett was half turned, stood hunched over and gasping... hunched over Faethor's hands. It was silent now, but not because of Gam-Ett anymore... the eatery seemed paused and frozen in time, staring with open mouths and disbelieving eyes. Faethor, my mind finally registered, was in a lunge position afront of Gam-Ett, his arms forward and thrust out. I could not see his hands as Gam-Ett was so huddled. Gam-Ett let out a last wheeze or choke of sorts then his body lurched forwards. The object in his hands fell to the floor... a light saber. I could hear a strange sizzling noise, like water sprayed onto a hot burner. As Gam-Ett began falling forward, I noticed finally that Faethor's red light saber protruded through Gam-Ett's chest, out his back. As soon as I let out my breath, I heard a sickening sound, like paper shredding and steel sheening... the crack of bone; something splashed against my cheek near my eye. It was so fast, I did not even see Fae move. One second he was poised in a lunge at Gam-Ett, the next, his back was to the both of us, casually one arm up and bent at the elbow, the hand dripping blood. His light saber held loosely in his right hand which hung at his side... the tip of his light saber marred the floor of the restaraunt with its heat, then disappeared into nothingness. Gam-Ett collapsed to the floor in nearly two pieces. Apparently, the saber went in through his chest and out through his left shoulder in a clean sweep.

I slid off of my chair slowly, vivid-chartreuse green silk rustling. I bent onto my haunches next to Gam-Ett's body as Faethor's dark eyes moved to study me. My face was emotionless, Gam-Ett's a waxy mask of horror. Death was not kind to him. His flesh was charred at some places, but even a light saber did not close the wounds, no, not when stabbed through the heart... I could feel the hem of my dress getting soaked. Faethor's tounge tricked at the blood on his left hand, and he spat with revulsion on the corpse, "Fuck, Jedi blood is putrid." He placed the saber in its place at his waist and stepped to me. I didn't move... just knelt there, absorbing everything that had just happened. I think I would have been there for awhile had Faethor not scooped me up and grabbed Bunny from the floor under the table by its ears.

Instinctively my arms wrapped around Faethor's neck. He looked at me once with an evil grin before I hid my face in his shoulder, "Well Little One, what a mess you seem to be. Heh." I blinked, realizeing that my face was streaked with Gam-Ett's blood. He walked out of the establishment, and from my pirch in his arms I could see in through the windows of the restaraunt. Screams, tears... some were shaking... the people were back from their 'freeze'. When we passed by a reflective window, I glimpsed us... how odd we looked. Faethor constantly looked menacing, and how I contrasted him so... the window reflected him holding a doll in a blood stained frock, a bunny poppet in his hand. Faethor's black cloak, long dark hair, bloody hands, my face with that spray of blood going across my eyes and cheek in a diagonal line... pale. Red flower against my black hair, red blood passing by my black-brown eyes. My dress seemed darker than it was this morning... chartreuse, one of the brightest variations of green, stained and blotched with blood. Browning deep burgandy smears. The butter coloured sash around my waist looked as though it were trailing crimson, heavy and wet. I closed my eyes and held to Faethor tighter, trying to purge the day from my mind.

Inside the ship, Faethor sat me down into a huge chair (well, huge to me) a ways behind the pilots. "Jarla is not well, Little One. So you cannot go to see her okay?" I nodded slowly, not focusing up at him. Faethor looked very grave, but he did a good job of being 'soft-spoken'. "Take us back!" He commanded the pilots. Preparations for launch began, and I felt the shudder of the ship as it came to life. Faethor sat in one of the chairs next to me and produced a small cloth. He wiped my eyes and cheeks in rough strokes, I knew he was trying to be gentle. "Stop staring off into space like that, Plagued, Before I smack you."

My eyes lifted upwards to look into his deep-set dark eyes. "Heh... better. Here, I thought that perhaps you were used to such things by now... shock my ass." He set the Bunny onto my lap with a 'plop'.

I looked away, my heart heavy with all the things which Gam-Ett had told me that day. Faethor stopped wiping my face and sighed. "Sleep, Little One... you're tired." I wasn't tired at all really, but my eyelids began to droop, my head nodding....

Heavy footsteps... so familiar, the resonance. Gray... blur... each time I blinked, the blurs sharpened and cleared. I was moving up and down, but I was not moving at all. Footsteps... where was my bunny? I lifted my head and saw that things were moving farther away from me... the halls at the temple, I recognized it. No, things weren't moving farther away, and I wasn't moving up and down... Faethor was holding me as he moved through the corridors, only one arm. I looked down, his other hand had Bunny by its ears... He'll never learn to be polite to Bunny. As his arm swayed in time with his brisk steps, Bunny dangled like a dead animal on a string.

We stopped in front of Shaitan`'s study and he peered at me before entering. "Good, you're awake." The door slid open and he set me down, my footing unsure at first. Everything in the room was lush, very antiquated seeming, and we, the live ones, seemed to be phantoms lingering there. Shaitan` looked as though he had been pacing a bit, stood straight when we entered. He was still, reminding me of a statue covered with long black drapes... to keep the dust from marring an ancient surface.

"... Faethor..." Shaitan` began, then his eyes fell to me and it seemed that concern etched across his face.

"Ahh, the little sprite is fine. No poison in her blood... she looks like that because the Jedi I killed was right in front of her." He held the bunny in front of me and I grasped it silently.

"... Come here child..." I slowly walked to Shaitan`, stopping in front of him and looking at my feet. He reached to the side of my head and brushed something away. I saw a flash of scarlet on the floor... my flower. It was wilted now... dying, hapless on the ground. "... She's an absolute mess... how could you let her be so close to you when you killed it?..." Shaitan` spoke quietly as he usually did.

Faethor lost the wicked amusement which always danced in the corners of his eyes. "Shaitan`," He said quietly with a graveity, "She was speaking to him. Most likely for a bit longer than when we found Jarla collapsed in front of the hangar."

Shaitan` was silent for a moment and I could feel him watching me silently. My eyes were filled with the flaming petals of the flower on the ground, locked on the decay. "... I see..." Shaitan sat down into a damask arm chair with a sigh, "... Faethor, let me speak to the Little One alone..." Faethor nodded and straightened, then turned on his heel and left us. The silence rang for three eternal seconds before Shaitan` quietly spoke, "... Come..."

I looked up at him as though he were a stranger, bent to pick up the red bloom from the ground and slowly trudged to him. He hoisted me up onto his left thigh and I placed the flower gingerly onto the stand next to his chair, propping Bunny up there as well. With his hands balancing me at my waist, he looked down, nose touching my forhead, "... Go ahead, Little One... Speak... I know you are burdened with something..." His voice reminded me of the surging tides at night... much like Gam-Ett's, but colder. I did not move closer to him as I usually did.

I tried to put my feelings to words. I parted my lips, but no sound escaped. Sighing, my eyes looked down at the immortal sewn-smile my Bunny had. I lifted my face away from Shaitan`'s, a look of dissatisfication haunting my doll-like eyes. I searched his eyes and saw how patiently he waited. "Shaitan`?" I uttered, surprised to hear the sound of my own voice again.

"... Yes, Little One?..."

"I... I talked with the Jedi..." I began, not quite sure where I was going. Shaitan` waited for me to continue. "And... and..." I looked into his eyes imploringly and started again, my mouth feeling dry, rocks in my throat. "Shaitan`... do you love me?" I finally blurted, shocked at my own abruptness. I startled him, and it was his turn to look at me with confusion. His face usually always was complacent, or controlled to be, so this shock of sorts only shadowed his face.

When he spoke, I could hear that ever present control in his voice... but it seemed as though he were trying to mask anger, or may be frustration. He sounded grim when he asked back, "... What do you mean by that?..."

My face looked greivous, and I pouted slightly, feeling my cheeks burn and my eyes damming a flood. I whispered, choking on my words, "I mean... do you Love me?"

"... Why do you ask these things, child?..." Shaitan` seemed flustered in a reserved way. His eyes burned into mine whenever I looked up at them, and so I kept looking away.

"Be... because..." I sniffled, "I don't kn.. know... if.. if..." And one last time, I locked my eyes onto his, trying to sort the emotions which flitted by. I couldn't make it out.. not a bit of Shaitan`'s psyche could I ever latch onto.

My whole body trembled and the tears cascaded from my eyes. A cold silence passed, and I saw the tenderness in his eyes, but heard none of the words which I needed. I pressed my face to his chest and began sobbing loudly, bawling like a lost little girl.... Shaitan` pulled me closer to him, one arm wrapped around my waist. His right hand smoothed my hair as I wailed, not even able to finish my sentence. Bunny fell softly to the floor as Shaitan` rocked my small body gently, back and forth, consoling me and whispering, "... Shh, Little One... Shh..."