The morning already was pretty advanced when Dawn left the hut she had slept in. She blinked and looked around the village sleepily.

Kharlins were bustling throughout the cave, busying themselves with crafting, preparing meals and tidying up after yesterday’s feast.

The rangers occupied a table at the edge of the communal area, immersed in an intense discussion. Dawn fetched herself a mug of tea, while she watched them out of the corner of her eyes and wondered if she should go and eat breakfast at their table or if they’d rather not be disturbed.

Chaos and Echo came bumbling over to her and mewled loudly, rubbing their heads on her shins. Dawn smiled and petted them for a moment, but that was not exactly what the mischievous twosome had in mind. Vigorously they clamored for their breakfast.

“Oh, you poor things! Did no one feed you this morning?” Dawn asked with a pang of guilt. She really should have cared for her charges better.

“Don’t let those beggars fool you.” Exclaimed the laughing voice of Nestor next to her.

“They have been fed already, and they cadged a lot of additional morsels from the people who ate their breakfast here. If they keep this up they’ll soon develop a bellyache.”

“So, and it seems you wanted to swindle a second breakfast out of me, too.” Dawn scolded softly, barely managing to bite back a laugh. The cubs just looked up at her with huge innocent eyes.

“You two are a menace.” Dawn stated, shaking her head and picking up Echo for a cuddle. The tiny lynx started to purr, her eyes slitting in pleasure and her claws kneading Dawn’s arm through her shirt. Barely a minute later she had had enough, however, and strenuously demanded to be put down again.

As soon as she reached the ground, the cubs were play-fighting, rolling around on the floor in a sand-coloured tangle of limbs. Several of the smaller children came over when they noticed them and pleaded loudly to be allowed to play with the cubs.

Ankou approached and sat down next to her radiating concern.

[The cubs are getting too close to people,] He said.

Dawn looked at him in astonishment.

“But you are close to me too? Is that a bad thing?” she asked hesitantly.

[I am grown and sensible,] came the emphatic reply. [I won’t regard all two-legs as my friends, because you are my friend.]

He stretched himself lazily, while watching the scene before him.

[But these two might think all two-legs are friendly. That would not be healthy for them.]

“You may be right,” said Dawn with a sigh. “But just try and keep the children away from these adorable little furballs.”

Ankou huffed.

[Of course I am right. They need to be taught.]

With these words the silver lynx bounded over to the cubs and halted their play. Growling softly he herded the disgruntled moppets to the exit of the cave.

Dawn called over to him:

“Do you want me to come with you?”

[Stay. Rest. Two cubs are quite enough trouble to watch over,] was his reply, which promptly caused Dawn to choke on her tea.

“I’m not a cub!” She shouted back indignantly to the amusement of the Kharlins in her vicinity, but Ankou and the cubs were already gone.

Piqued, she ambled over to the rangers and sat down at their table.

Nathan smiled at her mischievously, his eyes twinkling.

“Did you have a dispute with Ankou?” he asked.

“He seems to regard me as a cub,” she replied, disgruntled.

“And is that so bad?” laughed Grinna.

“I’m not a child that needs to be watched over!” Dawn protested heatedly.

“Well, for your parents you will always stay a child, no matter how old you are.” Grinna said, clearly amused.

“And Ankou obviously decided to play the part of a parent. Best if you simply accept your fate.”

She added, more serious now.

“We were just discussing the situation with Aaron. Nathan needs to decide what to tell Madden. If he returns to Atelang without any news of Aaron and his men, it’s going to spell trouble. The Reis is never going to accept him vanishing without a trace.”

“But it is not exactly without a trace. Nathan found tracks of him and his men in the gorge. Can’t he simply say the tracks led him to the abandoned city, but he couldn’t enter it because of the demons?” Dawn asked.

“I could do that,” Nathan said. “But then it is a given that they’d send a sizable force to the city to rescue him.”

“But that would be perfect. A force to be reckoned with that could fight against the demons and the queen. Isn’t that exactly what we wanted?”

“And what about the Kharlins? And you?” Grinna asked.

“I think the Kharlins are going to make themselves scarce when they are coming. They are used to hiding themselves after all.” Dawn shrugged.

“Of course, we should ask Halvar what he thinks. But no matter what you are going to report, it sounds as if they’re not going to stop looking for Aaron easily. It is better you lead them to the city and the demons directly, than if they searched for him in the whole wilderness. Safer for everyone.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully.

“As for me, I don’t know. You already know that I don’t want to return to Atelang. What do you think we should do?”

Nathan said slowly.

“I think Grinna should report that she found you in the wilderness. Dawn told you that someone had abducted her from the market in Atelang, and that she managed to escape from her abductor after a day or two in the wilderness. That much is true after all. Only, she couldn’t tell you who grabbed her, as her abductor was masked all the time. That way we avoid accusing Aaron, which would cause an uproar and obligate Dawn to return to Atelang to bear witness against him. Which would not be healthy for her, believe me. The Reis would annihilate her, one way or another.”

He pondered for a moment, then continued.

“And you Dawn, after your harrowing experiences with the demons and your abduction were only too glad to return to your family, of course. So Grinna and Teren accompanied you to the borders of your village, where you insisted on returning to your parents alone. You expected your parents to be furious, were ashamed by your actions and didn’t want any witnesses to your reunion with your family.”

He straightened, clapped his hands and said.

“So, what do you think of my fairy tale?”

“It’s plausible.” Teren said.

“Of course, Aaron gets away with his crimes, but as he is most likely already dead that is a moot point.” He nodded firmly. “Works for me.”

“For me too. I’m impressed. You found a solution for everything.” Dawn said.

Grinna chuckled.

“That’s because our Sage grew up in a noble family. He is used to the labyrinthine thinking that is an essential part of their politics,” she explained with a wry twist of her lips.

“But all three of you are going to have to tell a lot of lies. Won’t that be a problem?” Dawn wanted to know.

Nathan grimaced.

“I’m not exactly thrilled by it.” He admitted. “But neither do I want to see the Chamz’at decide a purification of the area is in order. They would see the Kharlins eliminated along with the demons and probably you as well.

They discussed it for a while and in the end all agreed that this was the best story they could come up with. Then they informed Halvar and his council members about Nathan’s plans.

As expected, the Kharlins in general were not enthusiastic about the expected human presence in the area, but Nathan explained that humans would search for Aaron and his guards no matter what.

“That means we have to hide and limit our hunting and our presence outside the village massively for who knows how long. That’s not something we like to hear.” Halvar stated, pacing restlessly.

“But yes, in the end it is better if one big group comes and as a benefit fights against the demons as well.” He agreed somewhat gruffly.

So it was decided and the rangers agreed that they would start their way back to Atelang early the next morning.

Dawn waited until the rangers and the other council members had left, then gathered her courage and asked Halvar with some trepidation if she could remain with the Kharlins at New Haven for a while.

The village speaker laid a clawed hand on her shoulder and told her.

“I owe you my life. As far as I’m concerned you can stay in New Haven as long as you want. But such a decision concerns the whole village and has to be agreed upon by the complete council. In any case, you can stay here for a few weeks and we can raise the question in the next council meeting.”

“And even if they decide against you staying, which I don’t believe for a minute, you can always stay with me.” The soft voice of Nuala sounded from behind her.

The old priestess took up Dawn’s hand and said.

“Let’s not forget that I owe you my life too. I will stay here at the village for the next few months as planned, but afterwards I will return to my own tribe with Nestor and Niko. And you will always have a home with me. There’s none who can stand against me in that.”