Juno took her time finishing her tea. It had been a lovely day where time was her own. Night beckoned, and her will would rule there as well. The absence of duties was pleasurable indeed. A new troop of the King's own were in town, and they had followed another equally large group that left the day before. The cursed had been busy since the last moon.

"Enjoying your day?" Floren walked into the kitchen with a hurriedness in her gait.

"Aye, Mother. I aim to do nothing, and later, do it again."

Floren laughed as she opened the dry-larder cabinet and inspected the grain stored there. She was counting on her fingers when Angilia walked in with a distressed look. Juno leaned back and brought the tea to her lips and sipped with a casualness. She could see another daily problem about to emerge from Angilia's lips. It was pleasing that Juno could listen and ignore.

"Mother," Angilia started.

"Aye," Floren responded, her fingers still counting.

"A man in the tavern has made a request," Angilia began. She looked Juno with sorrow in her eyes. "I told him I could serve, but he refused. He says he favors Juno and will see no one else."

"Then he will wait until tomorrow," Floren said without missing a beat. "It is Juno's day, and I'll not have it interrupted."

"He was informed, Mother. He insists on Juno and must leave in the morning."

"Then he suffers without," Floren said. Juno smiled and took another sip of tea.

"He is insistent, Mother," Angilia continued. She looked at Juno apologetically and opened her hand to show two coins. "Two gold for one night. He made me take them." Floren stopped counting and turned. Juno put her tea down.

"Two gold?" Floren said as she looked at the coin.

"Who would pay such a sum?" Juno asked. The Brethren had increased the tithe they demanded from the nighthouses. Her day or not, a sum of that magnitude would go a long way in relieving the burden.

"An old man, grey beard," Angilia said, her hand shaping a large imaginary beard under her chin. "He would not say a name. Only said you were most pleasing in the past."

"Juno..." Floren said, reluctant to ask. Juno knew what was coming. The house needed the coin more than Juno needed her day.

"For the house, I will go," Juno said with a sigh. "I have no memory of pleasing such a man, but I will try to do so again."

"It is a large sum," Floren justified.

"Too large," Juno said. "I will miss my day of nothing."

"It is the curse," Angilia added. She handed the coins to Floren.

"You will have another day soon," Floren offered. "After the soldiers leave, I will make sure of it."

"These soldiers grow like weeds, Mother," Juno said, knowing Floren meant to keep her word but may be forced to renege. "I fear we will all learn well the true nature of our curse before the next winter."

The tavern brought back memories each time Juno entered. It never mattered how often she performed her duties in its rooms. Every time she entered, the image of a certain red-headed boy found its way to the front of her mind. A pleasant thought to mask the task at hand.

"Finally," Naddi said. Her hands found her healthy hips and her rotund body wiggled in emphasis. "I will send up the stew and some bread. The wine already awaits." She waved Juno toward the stairs. "Last door on the left and don't dally."

"He intends to feed me?"

"And himself, fool. Hurry, he has promised a few new stories when the meal is done." Naddi looked about the tavern. There were only a handful of patrons. "Goddess knows I could use the help."

"Stories?" Juno said, the idea mixed with the beard. "Gossamer!"

"Aye, the storyteller," Naddi said, again waving Juno up the stairs. Juno took them two at time. She heard Naddi yell out orders, one of which was to tell the world a skilled storyteller would entertain soon.

"Ah, Juno," Gossamer said at the door. He wore a smile that threatened to take center stage to his beard.

"Gossamer," Juno said, then without thought, she wrapped the old man in her arms. Gossamer chuckled and hugged her back. It wasn't the reaction she would have thought to have. He sparked her memory of Kelton, and Kelton considered him a father. In turn, she found herself feeling the same. That he embraced her, furthered the dream.

"I'm having a meal brought up," Gossamer said. "I thought we could share some food and trade words." Juno pushed away from him, then slapped his shoulder.

"You did not tell Angilia your name. I thought my day wasted," Juno said with a smile.

"I'll have you know she struggled hard on your behalf."

"Had she said your name, you could have saved the gold."

"Then you'll be returning it?"

"My sorrows. It is in the house's coffer now. I fear you'd have to resort to murder to get it out," Juno replied. Gossamer laughed. It was a warm, happy laugh of a man who did not expect her to disrobe. Her day was still hers, and she couldn't think of a better place to spend it.

Naddi and Davos delivered a meaty stew as promised. A large chunk of fresh bread was included to sop up the juices.

"You promised stories, teller," Naddi reminded Gossamer.

"Aye, and I owe you more than that for your past discretion," Gossamer said. "After we finish this fine meal, I'll be down and spend a good part of the night telling some." Naddi smiled. Juno wasn't sure if it was coin Naddi was worried about. It may just be that Naddi enjoyed the stories herself. Naddi and Davos left to not delay the eating.

"I have news of our friend," Gossamer said. He then filled his mouth with stew and widened his eyes. Ever the storyteller, Juno knew he meant to build anticipation.

"You toy with me," Juno said, dipping a torn off piece of bread into the stew. She didn't place it in her mouth in case she needed to speak to urge him on. "Does he still live?"

"I can not answer that," Gossamer said. He paused after his cryptic response. Juno gritted her teeth and tried to give him the chastising look Floren had mastered so well. "No one here can answer. He is no longer in Aragonia."

"Gone? Where?"

"I know not," Gossamer said with a shrug, then he smiled. "And neither do the Brethren."

"And you know this to be true."

"Aye. The words come from someone I trust. Someone who knew of you through Kelton."

"Knew of me?"

"Aye." Gossamer chuckled. "You made an impression on the boy. He spoke of you often to those he trusted."

Juno knew she was blushing and didn't care. She felt lighter as if the curse had been pulled off her shoulders and thrown to the wind. Her fingers moved to her lips and traced where Kelton had put his. He remembered. And he was gone...

"It is why I have come," Gossamer continued. "He would have wanted you to know. It is the last thing I can do for him, so I do it gladly." His expression changed. "You are crying."

"He is safe?" Juno asked.

Gossamer nodded. "As best as I know."

"I think of him often." Juno wiped her eyes. "When the curse bears down, it is his memory that softens it. Am I a fool to wish he would return? Or more foolish to wish he remains away?"

"I feel the same," Gossamer said. "It is thoughts of him growing old that make his parting bearable. It helps that the Brethren run around looking for what's not there." Juno smiled at the idea. She wiped her eyes again.

"I am cursed and not worthy of him either way," Juno said. Gossamer reached out and clasped her hand.

"This I know," Gossamer spoke slowly with care. "Kelton never cared about any of that. It is beyond your control, and in our minds, not your shame." Juno smiled at him, then filled her mouth with the bread she had been dipping. There was no good response to his words. They were spoken kindly enough, but she knew them as meaningless. The non-cursed had no room for the cursed. They ate in silence for a while.

"He will be a good father," Juno said out of nowhere. She had been thinking of Kelton finding another. Someone who could love him as he should be loved. The family she could never have would be his to cherish.

"Aye. It is what I envision as well." Gossamer put down his wine and chuckled. "It is part revenge that I seek it. He was a handful growing up, always struggling to get places before he should be there." His eyes went far away. "I see him running about, chasing little ones this way and that, trying to corral them."

"He will be too kind," Juno said with humor in her voice. "They will run him in circles, they will." They began laughing together. Juno imagining Kelton being ruled by toddlers, jumping to their every whim. Her laughter slowed when her mind showed him holding the little ones, his smile made permanent. A faceless woman hugging them all. Someone would live her dream.

"It is best to see him happy," Gossamer said. "Here, he would have been hunted to misery. Now, I see him free of it all, where no one knows his past. A simple life away from King and Brethren."

"Mayhap, a farmer," Juno said, her smile returning.

"Mayhap, a storyteller," Gossamer said proudly. They thought on it a moment, then Gossamer sighed. "Alas, we will never know."

"It is best," Juno said, nodding her head.

"Aye, it is best," Gossamer said, then he brightened. "The law is clear, my lady. I have paid for a night, and I shall have it. Three new stories you will be forced to endure."

"Three?" Juno said, feigning pain.

"Three, and mayhap an old one or two." Gossamer rose and held out his hand. Juno took it. "I will demand Naddi keep you in wine. A foggy mind is easier to entrance." Juno laughed as he led her down the stairs.