Recap: "Yes, all of us", Ophelia said as a tear rolled down her cheek, "Isidore was my brother".

"Isidore was my brother but this is where the story ends today". As Brian opened his mouth to say something, Ophelia continued, "Until you bring the girl, this next part of the story is for her to hear too". "Now I think it is time for you to go", she said as the door opened. The Trio looked at the opened door and was once again reminded that the woman who had told them stories for the last few hours wasn't in any way human.

They stepped out in silence. "We must bring Aurora to her, we must get to the bottom of this matter", Brian said. "Yes, we must know what ties bind you", she pointed to Acacius "to our maid". Acacius just stood there dumbfounded, he couldn't believe that the old crone would have been alive at the same time his mother was. He wondered how truly old the old crone was and how ancient his mother had truly been. "We should go, Acacius", Brian said, "so that we can bring Aurora back to the old crone". "Yes, we should", Acacius replied then the trio took to the sky once again.

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By the time they made it back to warrior's peak, Aurora was long gone. They walked through the door calling her name thereby drawing the attention of Ilium who had been working from his father's study while waiting for them to get back.

"Aurora", Acacius called out as Freyja went out the back and also called out to her but it was all in vain. They came back to the living room as Ilium also stepped out to meet them. "She's not here", he said to them, "she must have gone out shortly after you all did, where did you go by the way and what is he doing here, what new trouble has he put himself in now", he said as he pointed to Acacius who stood glaring at him. "As I said earlier, boys, this is no time for you to measure your egos", Freyja said while going up the stairs. "We went to see the old crone, son", Brian said "No, it's not about you this time, it's something that could affect us all", he continued at the look on his son's face. "But for now, we must see Aurora".

"She's not here", Freyja yelled coming down the stairs as if she was in a hurry. "We can see that Freyja", Brian replied. "You don't understand, she's not here, her things are gone too", Freyja replied as she looked around the room. They all scrambled around trying to find the missing maid, all except Acacius who just stood in one spot. The only thing he said and kept saying was "She left......, I lost her again".

Ilium took pity on him ad helped him to sit. he wondered how the mighty had truly fallen. Acacius feared amongst all creatures, he had more enemies than friends but he was too powerful for even his enemies to not make peace with. The man who had the respect of all creatures was now crumpled on the sofa hugging his own chest and mumbling to himself. Ilium wouldn't have believed he would ever see him like this even if the crone had told him. The man who he had always believed his parents loved more than ilium himself was in visible pain over a maid. He wondered what connection he had with the maid. The girl had always smelled wrong to Ilium.

All creatures had a distinctive smell; angels smelt like pine, fades like cedar, wolves like apples and sometimes cinnamon, chameleons like hot chocolate, humans like ambrosia but the girl his parents had rescued, brought home, and kept for many years had smelt like nothing they knew. It wasn't that she didn't smell like anything, it was that she smelt like all the creatures at once. Her smell was overwhelming and addicting and welcoming and at the same time not something any one creature should smell like. A mere maid with no clear background had reduced Acacius to nothing, Ilium should be gloating but for the first time, he felt pity for the man he might have called brother if things had been different but alas they weren't.

Freyja looked at Acacius and said to her mate, "I think she broke him". "Don't be ridiculous, Freyja", Brian said then he looked at Acacius and wondered if Freyja was right and this was one pain Acacius might not recover from. "We will find her, Acacius, we will", he said as he knelt beside the couch trying to assure his foster son.

"Find her, you have to", Acacius said reaching out to grab Brian's hands and looking him in the eyes, "we will", Brian promised as he signaled to Ilium to join him outside. "Tell me, how she got out of the house without you noticing"' Brian asked facing his son. "Hey, I am not her bodyguard and when are you going to tell me exactly what connection Acacius has to our maid", Ilium replied. "That's not important for now", Brian said waving his arms around, "What's important now is to find the girl". Brian discussed further with Ilium and they resolved to spilt their resources to find her with them both leaving to call their security teams leaving Freyja to console Acacius.

When his team returned hours later with the girl nowhere to be found still, Brian realized that she had run while they had gone to the crone. "There are so many places she could hide", he said to himself.

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