Later that night, when they had eaten and talked about a lot of stuff, Akascha had gone to bed. She lay in the attic, because there was simply no other room that was available. But that didn’t really matter, there was a soft bed with warm blankets so Akascha was satisfied. She was already half asleep when she heard footsteps on the stairs. She was too lazy and sleepy to look up and after a few minutes she felt Lestat lay down behind her so that she lay against him with her back. He laid one arm gently on her waist and softly called her name. ‘Akascha, are you sleeping?’ He smiled at the sleepy response of Akascha. She muttered a yes while yawning. ‘Sorry if I disturb you. But apparently I owe you an apology. Or that is what Alec said. I didn’t really react the way I was supposed to this afternoon.’

Akascha waited and said nothing, listening closely to what he had to say. He continued, a bit nervous because Akascha hadn’t said anything back yet. ‘So… I’m sorry. I hope you didn’t think anything bad like I don’t want you around, because that is certainly not the case!’ He waited for a response which came, though a bit hesitant. ‘That thought and others did cross my mind for a second or so.’ She said reluctantly, not wanting to hurt him when he was honest to her. She tried to keep her voice casual so that he didn’t hear the pain she felt when those thought had crossed her mind.

There was a loaded silence for a few minutes until Akascha asked: ‘What were you thinking then?’ She turned so that she lay on her back so that she could see his face and look into his eyes. He stroked a string of her hair behind her ear. ‘Well, I was thinking about changing the rooms because you can’t sleep in this dusty place for long, I was thinking about how I could get you adopted into this clan without much political problems. But I don’t think that would be much of a problem since you have bonded to me. Though we will still be looking for your own clan, they have the right to know what happened to you and your mother and they will be worried about you too. I was also thinking about a way to tire you down, since you obvious have an enormous amount of energy which has to be drained at least once a week. I was also wondering if you had magic, since you are female, and how strong it could be. You don’t know if you have it but…’

Akascha interrupted him. ‘But wait! You were making future plans about me living here?’ She looked surprised. ‘Of course I was thinking about that!’ He said a bit insulted. ‘What else should I think about, except how lucky I am for having an apprentice like you. I hope I’ll be a good teacher though..’ She bit her lip and said with a small voice. ‘I don’t know, I thought you were thinking about the quickest way to get rid of me or something like that…’ She avoided his gaze and looked down. Lestat didn’t say or moved for a few seconds before he lifted her head so she had to look at him. ‘Of course I wasn’t thinking about that!’ He said with a warm voice though he looked insulted. ‘Why would I think that?’ ‘I don’t know, I cause you trouble… you never asked for this, for me. I just appeared out of nowhere, you have your own family and things and..’ He hushed her softly and hugged her while kissing her forehead. ‘Silly girl, stop thinking so negative. You’re one of the best things a person can have, you understand?’ She smiled. ‘I will try to think more positively in the future. And one of the best things… I don’t know that for sure.’ She said joking. ‘But you have to do something about your facial expressions in such situations! Not so worried.’ He laughed softly. ‘Fine, I will.’ Akascha yawned. ‘I’ll let you sleep then.’ He kissed her forehead again and walked to the door. He stopped with the handle in his hand. ‘Oh, before I forget, Alec is sleeping on the couch. So if you wake up earlier than him, don’t be startled or anything. Maybe if you look cute enough, he could run with you tomorrow.’

He turned around and wanted to walk away but Akascha asked: ‘But why can’t I walk alone? I can find my way back to the village and I could stay away from people..’ His face turned harder. ‘No, I don’t want you to run alone, I’m sorry. Just go to sleep, we will talk about it some other day, alright?’ She didn’t want another discussion so she nodded and rolled up in her blankets while Lestat walked away. Peace and silence befell on the house again.

The next morning began quietly and calmly, just like every other morning. She stood up, got herself dressed, walked down to the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair. Her hair was usually one big mess since she had long thick hair which got entangled very easily. When she was finally finished with her hair, she threw some water in her face to wake up and walked down the stairs, making her way to the living room. There had been no waiting to get into the bathroom since Wade, who was always using the bathroom when she wanted to, wasn’t home. He was away on a family visit in the big city for a week or so. She walked into the living room, saw a big pile of blankets snoring and she then walked to the kitchen. Seemed like Alec hadn’t woken up yet.

On the kitchen was a note reading that Lestat and Shaniya where on a walk for a while and that Shaniya had made some food for both of them. She picked up something to drink before picking something to eat, this time a small sandwich and an apple. She walked back silently to the living room and sat down on one of the two couches. While eating her sandwich she was thinking about the past couple of days. She wondered why Lestat had such difficulty leaving her alone for a walk, perhaps I should ask Alec that, she thought. She was thinking about other things too, until Alec interrupted her thinking with a very loud snore. She could ignore it for a short while, but it became just annoying when he snored like that several times. She smirked before she softly threw her apple with a bow on his stomach. Alec jerked his head up and looked confused. ‘Sorry I woke you up,’ she said innocently ’but you were snoring pretty loudly. Can I get my apple back?’ She asked polite.

He muttered something dark about the youth having no respect for the elderly as he threw the apple back at her. ‘Didn’t your parents learn you not to wake a man in his sleep?’ he asked a little bit grumpy. Akascha smiled, she had a good excuse this time. ‘ No not really, with my lack of memories and all,’ she said as innocent as possible while trying to look apologetic about waking him up. He muttered something again which Akascha couldn’t hear and before she could ask what he was saying this time he asked: ‘Where are that little brat and his lovely wife?’ She smiled, Lestat was hardly a little brat. ‘They went for a walk, or so the note said. Breakfast is on the table. They didn’t say when they would be back.’ She smiled.’ I just woke up and found the food, that’s all I care about at the moment.’ She took a bite from the apple. He sat upright, stretched himself and then yawned lazy. ‘Shall I bring you anything, something to drink or to eat?’ she asked sweetly. He blinked and looked suspiciously at her. ‘Yes, some tea please. What do you want?’ He added with pinched eyes.

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She walked to the kitchen, not immediately answering his question. She heated some water and when it was done she made some green tea. She walked back with the tea and a sandwich to the living room, the sandwich was the only thing that was left of what Shaniya had made. She put the things in front of him on the table and sat down on the couch again. ‘Well, I woke you up a bit rash so I thought I would make it up to you by bringing you your breakfast.’ She continued eating her apple as Alec started to eat too. He asked between the bites if Lestat had come to talk to her. He was smiling a bit when he asked it. ‘Yes he did, thank you for the lecture you gave him.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I watched him grow up, I know he isn’t the most easy man on the planet, especially if you don’t know him too well.’ He took another bite. ‘But I have one question.’ Akascha said. ‘Why doesn’t he allow me to go for a run alone, in my wolf form I mean.’

He stopped eating. ‘Didn’t he tell you about his own little adventure when he was still a young pup?’ She thought back, he had mentioned something. ‘He did say something about him almost dying when he was out alone, when he was a bit older than me. But I don’t know more than that.’ ‘Well, that too. I won’t say too much, this is his story to tell, not mine.’ He sipped from his hot tea. ‘When he was young, he was captured in his wolf form by a man called Saman and was used as a fighting dog by him. Not the best thing to experience when you’re a cub.’ She looked a bit confused, not by what he said but by the name of the man. It made sense know. The reason why Lestat had said that he understood what she was going through when she came here, beaten up by that man. ‘You look deep in thought?’ he asked curious. ‘No, just a remark of his falling in place. You know that man is dead?’ He looked surprised when Akascha mentioned that. ‘He’s dead? When did he die and what happened? A shame that I didn’t get him.’ Akascha smiled. ‘Lestat said the same thing you know. I don’t know by who he was killed but it was about two months ago. And he was killed during a discussion with one of the town folks here, though I haven’t seen the man around…’ He muttered something in himself. ‘What did you say?’ Akascha asked curious, wanting to know more. ‘I said I was wondering why he came here, he knew a lot of people in this town hated him.’

‘ The reason wasn’t really difficult, he needed a place to stay and stack his heavy equipment before it would get too dark.’ She said casual, it wasn’t a secret or something. ‘How do you know all that?’ He asked a bit skeptical. ‘Since I was with him when he entered the town. Didn’t Lestat tell you? I was wandering around somewhere when I got captured, three weeks before I came here. When I came here, I collapsed because I was too tired and hungry to deal with so much pain. The next day I woke up and was here on the couch. Kind of attacked Lestat and was attacked with a spear by Shaniya and now I’m here for two months already.’ She summoned it up casual, it was behind her. New days had come.

They both fell silent for a while. ‘Well, that explains why I heard that Lestat demanded that you would be under his care though he didn’t know you were a human.’ ‘I guess so. Anyway, when he gets back I will make sure he will explain to me why I can’t go alone. Oh, that brings me to another thing… Lestat made the suggestion you could go with me on a run so I can go more often since Lestat hasn’t much time etcetera.’ Akascha told him now there were talking like this.‘ Still no rest huh,’ she added to tease him. He sighed lazy. ‘No rest for the old indeed. I wonder, can you use magic?’ He had a bit of an intense look on his face. ‘Sorry I look so eager, but I’m one of the group professors who try to come up with an idea to prevent our race from being extinct. After all, we are basically a slowly dying race.’ She nodded understandingly, she just had to put up with all the nonsense people said and wanted from her and try to make the best of it without stepping on too many toes.

She wondered how long she could take all that interest, before she would snap at someone. She then focused on the patiently waiting Alec. At least some people have the decency to let people think calmly. ‘I guess I can use magic, yes,’ she said reluctantly. She tried hard not to remember the first and last time she used her magic but the memory still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She used her magic once, only once when she needed it the most and it failed her. The magic had let her down and she resented it for it. ‘Why do you say it so reluctantly, didn’t it work or?’ he asked curious, studying her face. She bit her bottom lip to calm her down a bit. ‘Because it didn’t ... it didn’t work.’ She swallowed and took a deep breath. ‘It did no good, it only created more pain.’ Alec opened his mouth to say something but suddenly the door swung open and Lestat and Shaniya came through it, happily surprised that they were both awake. ‘Great you two are awake, now I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving you two behind without saying goodbye!’ Not noticing the depressed mood that hung around the living room, Shaniya hugged Akascha tightly and kissed her on the cheek and nose. Finally, releasing her, she walked to Alec and before he could escape he was hugged and kissed too. She disappeared again out of the door with a cheerful goodbye and an 'I will miss you all so very much!' And the silence returned abruptly.

Lestat sat down next to Akascha. ‘We have three weeks of rest, Shaniya is going on a trip to see her family, dragging Wade with her.’ He shook his head like he felt sorry for him but still happy he didn’t have to come alone. He then grew serious. ‘But what’s going on, such a grim atmosphere here, did somebody die or something?’ Alec shook his head. ‘No, Akascha was just about to tell if she used magic before, which she had. But apparently it didn’t work out?’ He let his voice sound questioning at the end, that was the point they had gotten to before the two of them interrupted. ‘Wanna share the story?’ Lestat asked with a soft voice. She sighed and wondered if she would even say it to them. But it wasn’t fair to them if she would hide things. She sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead for a moment and dealing with her inner dilemma. She suddenly got an idea. She didn’t have to tell it to them, which she couldn’t. She could show them. She stood up and pulled Lestat with her so he would follow her. He did, only with a confused look on his face. She reached out her other hand and touched Alec’ arm, dragging them into her memory with magic.