Takoda wandered through the damp forest and thanked the gods for her cloak. It had just begun pouring down rain from out of nowhere and she had been hard pressed to find shelter. She had discovered a rather dry spot under a tall over hang and after the rain had stopped she had left and went on her way.

She walked silently, making not a sound on the soft undergrowth and began to sing to herself, a lilting melody of a lost wanderer. She sang and walked with a grace that succumbed the forest to silence.

Sanjuro was laying under a tree not to far off in the distance. He had traveled aimlessly in hopes of finding a warrior with a more suitable weapon, and a more dignified suit or armor then the ones he had taken from the Land of the Dead. With little success he grew tired and dozed off in the peaceful rain forest where his mind began sending him bits and pieces of his past. There was always a mysterious woman he would see in the back of his mind when he would meditate, but he could not remember her name, like the many others of his jaded memories. Each dream would end with him falling, a feeling that lasted forever. Be it falling from out of the sky, or even down into the underworld each dream ended with his horrific death. However he was awoken this time by something else on the outside –singing?! Sanjuro jumped into a state of alert and for the first time since returning to life he could feel his heart rapidly beating. What is that damned infernal racket?! he thought to himself as he heard the woman sing as she grew closer to him. From where he came from people were never really happy, they were always crying and in desperate situations of poverty or war. Wait a second, that’s not racket… It is a beautiful song, to good to be true! Perhaps it is a Siren trying to lure its prey, or maybe I was lucky enough to have a succubus invade my dreams. Oh how I would enjoy killing one of those. Sanjuro thought to himself still a little disoriented from lack of sleep, and not all together there in the head at times. He quickly brushed himself off and rose to his feet stealthy leaning against the nearby tree planning to attack whatever creature was making such a wonderful sound. The moment finally arose that the woman was in reach… Sanjuro then sprang to action leaping out from behind the tree, eyes like fire, and with sword over his head in a blaze of glory, “Rawr!” he cried! Then Sanjuro stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes focused on the singing woman and slammed his sword into a tree. “Bah!” he scuffled. “You are not a succubus are you?” He said disappointed, hoping he did not give the woman a heart attack. Sanjuro seemed to have a bad habit of jumping out and killing people without even as much as attacking. This was the second time today he had mistook an innocent bystander as a monster.

Takoda stopped singing instantly as something jumped out at her. She stepped back and threw a kinfe right at the creature with the fiery eyes. It barely missed him as it flew past and landed in the tree behind him. She had drawn her longbow and knocked and arrow straight after but stopped and cringed as his sword thudded into another tree as he spoke. She studied him warily and then took a step forward, lowering her bow.

"Last time I checked, no. I am but a human, sorry to dissappoint you so." she said in a whisper.

She smiled tentatively at the... male, as she discovered him to obviously be... with a little shiver.

"I am Takoda Frell, a bard and currently a saviour in training." she laughed softly. "Who and what are you?"

She kept a wary eye on him still, her bow resting casually in her hands ready to shoot if need be.

Sanjuro’s red gleaming eyes quickly faded back into dark empty eye sockets, he then sheathed his sword over his back. Who and what are you…? A question he never really thought about he pondered to himself and scratched his chin, which was pointless because he has no feeling in his skull face. “I am Sanjuro, a warrior of God.” He simply responded. “I have lived the life of a hundred men, and have a thousand tales. In those lives I’ve never seen, or heard such a beautiful creature such as you to be human.” Although Sanjuro was a very demonic looking and hostile creature, one thing was for certain, he kicked ass at dumbfounded flattery. He turned his head seeing the dagger sticking straight out of a nearby tree, he then grasped it and returned it to the lady. “Bah! I have succeeded today only in scaring women, and damaging the forest. Not the way I have had my quest set out in my mind. I sure hope this sillyness doesn’t make it into the history books… Are you sure your not some kind of monster in disguise?” He said skeptically.

Takoda took back the knife and sheathed it into place at her side. She then returned her bow and arrow, smiling at the compliment. Her interest was caught by his own reply to her question and she gave him a cursory glance up and down.

"You are too kind with words." she replied. "And I must say you intrigue me. You have lived many lives, you say? How many women have you caught with such flattering words?"

She raised an eyebrow with a lilting laugh.

"I can assure you I am no monster, except in the morning." she chuckled.

She looked at him with dark eyes that studied him with intense curiousity and wariness, betraying her outside calm.

As Takoda spoke, the words she instilled in his mind created yet another flashback. Each hit him like a bolt of lightning, this vision he saw was once again that of the mysterious woman who haunted his dreams. He knew he cared for her, but could not even remember her name. Just one… he thought to himself as a response to her question, then he snapped out of the day dream. “This land is new to me, yet in a sense very familiar. I have been sent on a quest, one that is lost in my jaded memories. So I’m aimlessly roaming the land in search of better supplies in the meantime. You are the second I have mistook for an enemy, this place seems all together too peaceful to be real. Enough about me, I do not wish to bore you with my trivial nonsense. Tell me why are you roaming this forest?” He asked in hopes of retrieving more of his lost memories by listening to her words.

Takoda smiled and shook her head.

"You do not bore me with tales of your past. I like listening to you talk. Your... interesting, unlike me." she said. "Why I am here is another question completely though."

She began to walk.

"Would you like to walk with me? I wouldn't say no to the company" she laughed. "You may roam aimlessly beside me if you wish and we can talk."

Sanjuro was puzzled by the fact this woman would not mind an abomination such as himself traveling with her. Normally he would refuse such an offer, but in this case he decided it might very well be in his best interest. “Agreed” he simply said to her, “Although I must warn you, wherever I go trouble dose seem to follow…”

Takoda grinned happily. She didn't mind being alone, but she had been wandering this forest for a while now and felt like someone to talk to.

"Trouble seems to be following everybody these days." she laughed. "But I am getting used to it. In answer to your question about why I am wandering the forest, well... I'm really just wandering. I did have a purpose but that seems to have been forgotten when the rain came. I believe I was looking for something."

She smiled over at the dark male and raised an eyebrow.

"I am Takoda by the way, do you have a name?" she asked.

Curiousity took hold and she studied his odd form again with the same wariness as before, not out of any kind of revulsion just a curious wondering of what he used to look like in the past before he came upon this body. She wondered if he had had it his whole life or in the other lives he had lived. But she had the patience to wait before delving into those questions.

“I am Sanjuro” he responded to her watching as she examined him. “I do not know why I was selected for this game the heavens have plagued me with, but each time I have lived through the eyes of another. I was not always a monster, I was once a man-” He started saying but stopped himself after his mind got yet another brief flash of what life had held for him in his past lives. He realized he was opening up to a stranger, something he had promised himself that he would never do. For Sanjuro knew that sadly the people he knew would eventually fade from his memories as time drifted on, and would never be seen again. “I will let you in on something, I have learned armor and swords will rust come a time, then crack and bend. The shores will wash away as the sea drifts on. And Memories will fade into the black and white of the forgotten. But love is something that lasts forever…” He said once again getting a flash of a mysterious woman he had seen so many times in his mind, but name he had forgotten. Sanjuro snapped out of his day dream and looked back at Takoda, “Would you tell me about this land, and about the people it bears?” He simply said to her.

Takoda looked at him for a moment out of the corner of her eyes as they walked, before answering his question. She wondered what made him stop and change the topic each time he got close to letting something out. She let the matter drop though and smiled.

"Hmm... let me see. How about I sing you a song?" she asked. "A song about my home which I learnt as a little girl from my mother. It is a nice song and I guess depending on where you are, explains a lot about this world and its people."

She looked over at him with a smile and a questioning look. She felt like singing again. She let her mind go back to his words earlier about being a man once and something about love lasting forever and mulled them over in her mind as she waited for his reply. It would seem he hadn't lived the best lives.

Sanjuro was silent for a brief while as they walked through the forest. He had pondered a hundred questions as his mind raced miles per minute trying to grasp some sort of reasoning behind whom he was, where he had come from, why he was here now, and most importantly what was he to do? “A song would be lovely…” He simply said hoping perhaps the music of this woman would clear his head. But even as they walked on he was haunted with the memories of lives forgotten, flashes of images that mean nothing to him would appear over and over again. He pondered how long it would continue hoping it would all soon end.

Takoda was now getting used to the simple short sentences Sanjuro spoke in and smiled as he accepted her offer of a song.

She sang quietly at first as the song spoke of nothing, only an empty plain with only air to fill it. It then moved on and became stronger as laughter filled its openness and the sound of life began to resonate from across the four corners of its border. The mountains began to call out in echoing rythms as love began to fill its empty heart. The song wound down and began to tell of a darkness hiding in the shadows. That kept hidden and never revealed itself and the plains and mountains that were so full of life, ignored its presence, laughing and singing. Only one, a child, cried in the night, as the soft moons glow kept back the shadows night. A light in the middle of darkness, a symbol and reminder of love when darkness would take hold.

As the song finished Takoda sighed, remembering her parents and how she had been so happy with them until the fire took their lives. She had been too late. She shook the sadness away and smiled at Sanjuro.

"So, what did you think?" she asked.

Sanjuro could not put into words the emotion he was feeling after listening to the Bard’s song. It wasn’t a feeling of pain or hate towards her, but rather it was some new and strange emotion he hadn’t remembered having before. “I think you seem sad on the inside, and you hide it through your beautiful songs.” He blurted out. “I know this because I have similar feelings, although I have chosen a different way of hiding it…” Sanjuro was then quiet and continued walking with her in the forest in no particular direction. “I sense there is a reason you are roaming this land, are you hiding from your past?” He asked her now trying to reach out to her.

Takoda looked at Sanjuro in surprise. She had not expected him to react so. After a few seconds she smiled sadly and turned her head away, looking at the path ahead. She sighed softly.

"My parents died when I was young when our house burnt down. I blame myself for their deaths for I was not quick enough to save them. For two years I did not make a sound or smile at all. My parents had been my life and I had lost that in one day. It seems to haunt me still, but I know I cannot change the past." she replied. "What about you? What are you hiding from in your past?"

She was trying to draw the conversation away from her. Sanjuro seemed to be able to see inside of her and she was frightened by that. She didn't let people in so easily, althouh she seemed to, it took more time than people realised to get to know her fully.

The words she spoke made his blood run cold, for hearing her accept that she could not change the past caused him to have a violent flashback of one of his past lives. Armed troops marched into a peaceful civilian castle executing both men and women alike, until they found their target. The woman that kept appearing in his dreams, she had died a few moments before he could save her. In each one of Sanjuro’s lives he had wished he was brought back to that time just before it happened, he knew that if he was given a second chance he could save his past from becoming this twisted future. “You should be happy for your parents. There is no defeat in death, it is only another chapter to be written in the afterlife where they will one day await your arrival.” Sanjuro said to her, not believing the people she had just described would end up like him, cursed to roam the earth until the end of time. “All I can remember is how to be a solider… I was not blessed with the gift of song, however I am knowledged in the field of combat. Perhaps I hide my past through my actions of violence. I have killed one hundred men in battle, but I feel no pity for any of them, nor do I mourn their deaths. I know there is one enemy that I have that must be defeated, and her name is Fate. However it is a difficult task, as each one of my lives seem to end the same way, and every time she laughs at me, and we play the game over once again…”

Takoda listened as he spoke, letting the words sink in.

"Thankyou for your kind words, it is nice to know people still care in this world." she whispered. "Although it is sad to hear that all you know is death. Have you ever lived a life apart from it? You should be glad you are still able to appreciate music. Even though you have not got the gift, you listen. So you are not completely lost."

She looked at him with a smile.

"Fate is always hard to face. She is niether real or unreal. She can be all in the mind but her fingers stretch out and seem to turn your world around with the flick of her elegant wrist." she replied. "Her mind plays out stories in her head and spin webs of intrigue around innocent wanderers. She can give you everything... or leave you with nothing."

Sanjuro was silent for a while thinking about what the bard had said to him. He really couldn’t remember a peaceful time in his many lives. As a matter of fact the time he had been spending with her this very moment was the first time he could remember not being engaged in mortal combat, or someone’s life in peril. Although Sanjuro did not much care for song it had taught him a new lesion in one of his many lives. Sometimes people do not need to kill one another as means of vengeance, living well peaceful and haply might very well the best revenge one could hope to achieve. “I have learned something from you that I have not known for hundreds of years. Living well is the best revenge.” Sanjuro said to her as they continued there hike through the forest. He had not known how to put into words what he was collecting from her, perhaps revenge wasn’t one that fit this time. However one like Sanjuro has come only to know things such as peace and happiness as just theories. These doors were all closed to him. “There is nothing you can learn from someone like me…” He said to her knowing he would find wisdom in the innocence of someone that was just like her.

Takoda smiled at Sanjuro glad that she had helped him in some way.

"Living well is the only way to live." she laughed. "For death is no life and never can be. Searching for it is futile for it is unavoidable, a mere fact of life that cannot be changed. So, do you plan on following our lady death or are you ready to face life and take up her challenge?"

She gave him a quizzical look wondering how he had come to live this life of death.

"My challenge to you is to let me learn from you." she whispered.

As Takoda whispered into Sanjuro’s ears his mind jumped into a flashback of yet another time period in his many lives. A woman had whispered the exact words to him once before, he now saw her face, but he could not remember her name. She was different then the woman who always appeared to him in his dreams, he had felt a strong feeling of friendship towards her. What was it that she wanted from me? Ah I remember now… She wanted me to teach her to become a soldier. Sanjuro thought to himself. He couldn’t exactly remember what had happened to her, but he was sure these jaded memories were going to tell him the important details. Indeed he had trained her before the times had grown dark for him, before his actual death. He would meet this woman again in a band of rebel warriors fighting what they believed to be injustice. Although he had taught her well, the hand of death wasn’t as cruel to her as it was to him. Her life was taken in battle, and she would come to die in Sanjuro’s very arms, for he was able to teach someone how to take a life, but he was unable to save a life. Perhaps this was another way fate decided to play games with his mind. Sanjuro’s body jumped as his mind snapped back out of the flashback, although it only lasted seconds these memories of his felt like they dragged on an eternity. “No… I can’t do that to you… Your mind and spirit are pure. There is nothing I can teach you, besides how to become a killer. Although even with the intention of training being used for the justice or self defense, it is a dark knowledge that will grow hungry as time passes on. One day you will be put into the position of having to take a life, maybe even to save your own. You will use that knowledge and you will take your first life, and then it won’t be long before you take a second. As time passes on you will become like me, where killing gets easier and easier every time, then before you know it you will be on a battlefield taking ten or twenty lives a day. The rush you get will feel glorious at first, you might think your doing good by taking out the bad element, but this is a feeling of false power that will consume you. I realize now my presence here will only bring harm to you, although it saddens me perhaps we should part ways for your own safety. I have now come to realize I am but a tool for Death, harming anyone I make contact with by means of a cursed faith. If I could be so bold I would ask you to teach me what it means to live, but for the time being I advise you to remain happy and defeat the evils of the world through peace and song…”

Takoda felt like she had just been burnt and stopped to look at him with disbelief in her eyes. She stared at him, shaking her head over and over again.

"No!" she cried. "No... you... you can't. You can't just leave me. I won't let you!"

She wanted to learn more. She wanted to see what lurked in the darkness of his soul. She wanted to see what he was trying to hide from her.

"Why?" she asked. "What are you trying to hide from me? Just tell me! I can help!"

He had been avoiding her unspoken questions the whole time they had been walking and she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to help.

"Why does death follow your every footstep? Why do you embrace her like a lover? Why do you court the darkness as if she can save you?" she cried. "Why can you not let me see you? Why are you running away?"

As Takoda spoke Sanjuro was once again hit with another flashback, but grasping his head he forced the thoughts out of his mind shaking it off. “You are correct in a sense, for I do chase Death, and she indeed is my lover…” He said as the mysterious woman flashed before his eyes once again. “Know this, we are not alone in this world, there is what I imagine and believe to be hundreds maybe even thousands of worlds, and different realities all spun on different hour glasses of time. Something has to turn those glasses as the sands of time run out, maybe a group of men, or women, or monsters perhaps. Among them are ones we call Fate, Death, Peace, Hate, Love, and Evil just to name a few. Nor man or woman has control over their own destiny, they need nothing in this world, except six feet of land to be buried under upon their death. I made the grave mistake of fooling myself with the ideals of serving out revenge rather then die a peaceful man. In my first life I was a soldier, but the world was corrupt, although my memory is hazy I remember the face of a woman, perhaps she is the face of Death, but I believe she is my lost love who Death stole from me upon her assassination. I was destined to die on that day as well with her, but when Death came for me I refused to look at it, so I foolishly made a deal for my life. All I had to do was live long enough to get my revenge for her murder and I would repay the Heavens. When I opened my eyes I was still alive, and Death was gone. I served my revenge, and died for the first time shortly after, now I had to live up to my end of the deal. It sounded so simple all I had to do was carry out a small mission. However in every life the task was extremely difficult if not impossible, and by Fate all of my lives repeat themselves in a similar way, so I have been destined to die over and over again. To keep me confused I am only given fragments of my past memories so I can not break the chain, and will be rejected by Death forever…” Sanjuro explained to her releasing the grasp he had on his head trying to block the jaded memories from forcing their way in. She was the first person he ever remembered telling his tragic tale, and he hoped that she would not take that knowledge with her to her grave, for he feared anyone who made contact with him was destined to be caught in the horrible chain of fate he was trapped inside.

Takoda stared at him in wonderment. Her head tilted to one side as she gazed at him with a slight smile that twitched uncertainly.

"That was not what I was expecting." she replied after a while. "You must have loved her a lot to do such a thing. To live your life over and over again, each time knowing that you'll live to die again if you have not completed your task."

She paused. Looking at him with uncertainty.

"I can help. I want to help." she whispered. "You cannot do it alone. I know people who could help you as well as me. Please... "

She pleaded with her dark eyes, trying to make him see that she could help him.

Sanjuro pondered to himself why this mysterious woman would be so eager to help a man she had just met. Or in his case, why would she be so eager to help an abomination like him that she had just met. Sanjuro really was clueless to this land, or even what this all powerful mission of his even was that must be carried out for his deal to be completed. So perhaps in the meantime it would be of a benefit to him if he traveled with her in the time being, although he still feared for the safety of her life. This might be a way for me to challenge fate, and break the circle… He thought to himself, although he was not thrilled with the fact in order to do so he had to gamble with another’s life. “Alright… If you wish we shall continue.” He started saying to her. “But know this, if in the event Death does come for you, don’t let it pass you by, or you may forever inherit my curse of roaming these lands forever.” He concluded, but in the back of his mind he secretly was hoping in the time spent with her she would teach him how to finally live.

Takoda grinned as he accepted her offer. She didn't know why she wanted to help, it was just something that was always nagging at her, this never ending will to help others.

"I'm glad." she said. "And if death comes I will accept it as my time and leave, I promise. So do not worry."

She turned and began to walk again.

"I know exactly where to start as well." she grinned happily. "But I am not going to tell you. Unless of course you have something else in mind then I will tell you and change your mind."

Sanjuro was puzzled that Takoda claimed she knew where they had to go, for he hadn’t even known where he was as of now yet. Instinct told him they were going off to the local shops to stock up on armor and supplies before setting out on a life altering quests of some great extremes. However judging by the person Takoda seemed to be, he very much doubted that was what she had in mind. So indeed he was stumped on where she would take him, although he felt some strange new emotion that wasn’t quite happiness, but more of a relief that he wasn’t going to be the one leading the way to another grave yard. “By all means lead the way, ladies first of course…” He said steeping over to the side motioning with his arm for her to lead the way.

Takoda was delighted and grabbed his hand without thinking. She pulled him along in her excitement, leading the way through the forest. They came to an open glade and she let go of his hand and dissapeared into the trees. She untied a rope and there appeared a ladder, falling from the canopy. She returned with a smile and curtsied beside it, indicating him to climb up first.

"Dare you climb and see the roof of the world?" she grinned wickedly but her eyes were laughing as she watched him.

She waited nervously, to see if he would climb and began to doubt whether he would. He didn't seem the type to just go along with a spontaneous act such as this. But still she waited, looking at him expectantly.

She hoped he would loosen up and accept that she was not afraid of him. He was still human, she could see it. She just couldn't figure out how to show him.

Sanjuro looked up at the ladder, and then back at Takoda puzzled at why she would want him to climb up it. Scratching his head he debated with himself on what he should do in this situation. Sanjuro then of course remembered he was going to let her lead the way, and if this was the way, then so be it.

Grabbing a hold of the ladder Sanjuro began to ascend higher and higher, each step put him in the mind of one of his former lives, in which he remembered he was afraid of heights, although at this point he refused to show it. He peered down looking for Takoda for reassurance she wouldn’t leave him there, he simply told him self this would probably be the closest he got to heaven to overcome his fear of falling down below.

Takoda grinned happily as Sanjuro climbed the ladder and began to follow him up. She noticed him look down and smiled.

"Don't look down! Its bad for you!" she laughed. "I am not going to run off on you, if thats what you think! I've managed to gain your trust thus far, I don't plan on losing it anytime soon. Anyway, this little trip might just do you some good."

She continued to follow him up, but had to wait till he got up the courage to keep going. She could tell by the subtle way he looked down and had hesitated that he wasn't sure about heights but she said nothing.

(OOC: thanks for the mirror! *grins*)

Sanjuro finally reached the top, and pulled himself up. He then turned to extend his hand for Takoda, but suddenly his mind was overcome by some kind of madness. In his mind the sky flashed in only shades of grey, and there was no bottom to the earth. Sanjuro had often had dreams of falling, for strangely he had died from, or shortly after falling from a very high place in all of his past lives. He remembered falling into a pit of spikes, not strong enough to pull himself up and out of them, and the demon messiah whispering the words Game Over, taunting him as he died. In his dreams he often fell for what felt like forever down into the bowels of the underworld. Sanjuro discovered this was not fear that had overcome him, it was more of anticipation, one that would not defeat him. Sanjuro simply shook his hand snapping out of the illusion and extended his hand to Takoda like he had planned to help pull her up on the last step. It was a mannerly thing to do, and the key to defeating his fear…

Takoda smiled reassuringly up at Sanjuro as he extended his hand to her. She had noticed his flicker of fear and wondered where it had come from. She took his hand and let him help her up and grinned happily as she sat down on the wooden planks that had been set up high in the tree at the very top. She stared around her, eyes glowing in awe as she looked upon the roof of the world. It was filled with the tops of trees and seemed as if it were never ending. A dark green ocean of leaves. She looked up into the sky and called out in a high pitched whistle and laughed as she saw a golden eagle circle above.

"Have you ever seen the roof of the world before, in any of your many lives?" she asked as she looked over at him, her eyes glazed over in pure joy.

She smiled as if in a daze, looking as if she were not truly there but soaring with the eagle instead. The eagle sailed lazily down and landed on a near by branch that sat just above them, as if left there on purpose. Takoda reached out a hand to pet the large bird, whilst she waited for Sanjuro to answer. She let her fingers glide lovingly over the soft feathers.

Sanjuro didn’t seem very impressed at first, for to him beauty was very hard to find. Although when she asked him if he had ever seen such a sight, his mind raced back through time once again, back to a very different place… Sanjuro realized he had never seen as many trees or life then he did at this very moment, nor did he ever stop and take the time to look. For in all of his memories when he was looking over the horizon then was only the dim dusk sun, lighting the dark baron and shattered earth he had come to know. The images of people dying in the empty streets in a great deal of agony were replaced by birds, and other such animals. There were no explosions, and there was no fire, for it was all replaced by green leaves. Could this place actually be real? Sanjuro pondered to himself. Perhaps this is heaven, and this woman I have met is some type of angelic creature. No… I still have that empty feeling, and they don’t let monsters like me into heaven… Sanjuro thought reassuring himself.

“In my many lives I have seen chaos and destruction of the battlefield, under a red sky. This is like some sort of dream, for this entire land is like nothing I’ve ever known, it is practically a paradise.” Sanjuro took out his hour glass peering into it seeing Takoda through the glass. “In my memories I have remembered some of my forgotten arts, magic such as illusion. I can now show you my world, although I highly doubt it is a sight you would want to see…” He said to her, and if Takoda took very close notice the image of Sanjuro’s face was that of a human, not a skull while looking through the glass reflection.

Takoda watched Sanjuro with a smile as he looked around him.

"This is no paradise, it is life." she laughed, as he got out an hour glass.

She looked at it with curiousity and an intense interest. He held it up to his face and looked through it and Takoda swore she saw an actual face looking at her, with eyes and skin. Not a skull, but a face. She reached out a hand tentatively to touch him, but pulled back afraid to break the illusion. She smiled uncertainly, unsure of what to make of the hour glass and the illusion.

"You want to show me your world? Why, is this not your world too?" she asked. "You are here, and so am I. Both in the same place, same time. This is your world as much as it is mine. The view may have changed but underneath it is the same."

Takoda lifted her hand to pet the bird beside her once more.

*Ally, what do you make of Sanjuro and his hour glass? I cannot see clearly if the illusion is true or not.* she sent to the bird. *Is that him I see?*

*Yes, I believe so.* she replied, her words echoing in Takoda's mind.

Takoda stared fascinated by the image, but blushed and turned quickly away to stare out at the sea of trees to hide it. She knew that he would not have heard the conversation between her and the bird and nor could he read her thoughts but she knew all too well what was going on in her mind.