Lear could move very swiftly, when he wanted, and Poppy was saddled up in record time.

“Do you need help up?” he asked.

I blinked as I stroked my sweet pony's mane, “Are you calling me short?”

“A little.”

“Well, I’m not that short. Not really. I’m just shorter than you.” I swung up onto Poppy. “See?”

“Point taken.” he flashed a wickedly attractive, fanged smile at me.

“So…" I toyed a little shyly with the reins, peeking over at him, "you’re going to fly?” I had to admit, I’d been looking forward to seeing that, given I’d never seen anyone fly before. Not that it was a big deal for him, since he was fey, but it would be interesting for me.

“Yes, but you’ll need to take this.” he shrugged out of the cloak. “I’ll put it back on when I land. It doesn't have slits for my wings.”

“Oh, right.” I took the cloak.

There was a surge of magic, and Lear grimaced briefly, then suddenly, a pair of enormous, jet black wings faded into existence on his back. “There we are. This is all of me.” he bowed slightly, as if meeting me for the first time.

“I see why you keep them hidden! They're huge! How does that work though? Do they just disappear from sight or are they really not there?”

“They’re really not there. I can explain later, but we should get to Jedda's, right? That way we can go deal with the shadow demons for Paz in a timely manner."

"Yes, yes of course." I shook myself, tearing my eyes away from his lovely feathers.

“Alright.” he took a few steps back, flashed another grin at me, then leapt with seemingly little effort some ten feet up into the air. The enormous wings opened with a snap, and he shot higher into the air with a couple of powerful down-strokes.

I stared in awe. Honestly, it was ridiculously attractive, somehow. How was I supposed to not be attracted to the ridiculous fey man?! Gods, this really wasn’t fair.

“Don’t drool.” he called down, smirking. I hated to know that he was really just toying with me.

I shook myself, he was very well-aware of how attractive he was, and wasn't afraid to tease me with it and about it, “That’s really not fair.” I muttered, then nudged Poppy with my heels, and set her onto the path that would take me to Jedda’s house.

“I’ll take you up sometime, when it’s not so cold.” he called down.

I blinked, looking up and asking in a normal voice, “Can you hear me?”

“Yes!” he called, as he flew almost lazily above me and Poppy, easily keeping pace.

“Oh.”

“I have good hearing. My folk often do."

“Clearly! So I can’t whisper secrets to anyone with you around.”

“Who would you be whispering to? You’re only really around me.”

“I might want to tell Diana something!” I replied, sticking my tongue out at him.

His laugh was carried down to me on the wind. I’d have stopped to appreciate the view of that laugh, since his smile really was ridiculously attractive, but the wind was bitterly cold, and made me shiver instead. I huddled down into my coat, wishing I'd worn more layers.

“Put the cloak on if you’re cold.” his voice was now concerned.

“Oh, good idea.” I tossed the cloak I was carrying for him around my shoulders, and buttoned it. “That’s much better.”

“Good.”

“It’s kind of nice having company.” I mused aloud.

“It is.” he agreed.

“Are you usually alone?”

“Yes.”

“I know you were sent on a specific sort of mission this time, but do you not usually travel with other soldiers?”

“Very infrequently, these days. Though when I am back home, I typically coordinate other soldiers and train new recruits."

Given what I knew about how the military worked, that meant he wasn't just some enlisted man. “You're an officer?"

“Yes."

"What rank?"

"A captain."

“Interesting. My dad was in the military when he was younger.”

“Oh?”

“He wasn’t an officer, though, but he was proud to have served.”

“He should be. I’ve heard it’s an honor for humans.”

“Is it not for fey?”

“Not particularly. We’re a lot harder to kill, so it’s less of a noble gesture and more because we want to be violent.”

“I see.”

“Not that we don’t take our military service seriously.” he paused, “Or rather, I take it seriously.”

“Did you join because you wanted to be violent?”

My fey companion swooped low and hovered close to me, keeping pace with Poppy. “Would you think less of me if that was the case?” he cocked his head to the side, emerald green eyes trained on me.

“I don’t know.” I admitted.

Lear was quiet for a moment, then sighed, shrugging slightly, “I joined when I was a young hothead and wanted to fight. So yes.”

“Well, when you put it like that it doesn't sound quite as bad.” I smiled at him. “You can’t lie, but that doesn't mean you can’t sugar-coat, does it?”

“You’re not wrong.” he muttered, looking away, down the path for a few moments before asking, “Do you think worse of me?”

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It was my turn to think for a moment. “No, I don’t think I do.”

“Then it worked, I guess.” Lear’s beautiful green cat eyes flickered back up to mine, and it was now my turn to look away. His gaze was hard to meet, and that he wanted me to think well of him made my face heat.

“I’ve not made you uncomfortable, have I?” His voice was quiet.

I shook my head, not wanting him to feel bad for any reason, “No, no. It’s just hard to look you in the eye sometimes.”

“Sorry. I know my eyes are…different.” Lear grimaced slightly.

I was surprised, but also glad, that he hadn't taken the opportunity to tease me, because it had been pretty obvious that it was his gaze that had made me blush. “No. I mean, they are, they’re just intense. That’s all. Pretty, but intense.” he had to know that I thought his eyes were pretty already. After all, I’d probably told him as much while he was still a cat.

“Still.” he murmured.

We rounded a bend, and Jedda's farm came into view. “That’s Jedda’s house.”

There was a pile of ash, fragments of blackened wood, and scorched earth where one of the barns had once been, though nothing else seemed to have been damaged.

“And the remnants of the fire.” Lear frowned, pumping his wings and shooting up and away, towards the burned down building. He circled above it a couple of times, then swooped low over it.

As I approached on Poppy, I saw Jedda and a few of his farm-hands appear. They ran out to the remnants of the barn, shouting and waving their hands like he was some crow they could easily frighten away.

Oops, probably shouldn’t have let Lear go on ahead by himself. I was kind of used to his presence already, but no one else would be.

Lear stopped darting around in the air, and hovered, looking down at the group on the ground.

“He’s with me, Jedda!” I shouted.

Jedda’s head jerked in my direction, and he calmed his employees with a few words. He jogged to meet me as I rode up. “The fey person up there is with you?!”

“Yes, it’s a long story.” I sighed. “He’s just trying to get a look at the burned down barn. He’s promised not to cause any trouble.”

“And you believe him?”

“They can’t lie, Jedda.” I reminded him, smiling a little. “Besides, I’m helping him heal. His injury isn’t an obvious one, so he can be out and about.”

“I didn’t know you took fey folk.” my old friend tilted his head curiously to the side.

“I’ll take anyone who needs help who won’t cause me trouble.” I nodded.

Jedda smiled, “You’ve a kind heart, lass.”

“I don’t know about that. My gift is meant to help others.” I shrugged, then swung down off Poppy.

We walked closer to the burned down barn, where the farm hands were watching Lear suspiciously.

The fey man flew over, and landed easily beside me. “I’m sorry for alarming you.” Lear bowed politely to Jedda.

“I’m sorry we shouted. It’s…unusual for us to have fey folk around these parts.” the farmer waved away the farm hands, dismissing them back to their work.

“Jedda, this is Lear. Lear, Jedda.”

Lear nodded in way of greeting, saying, “Fey folk aren't nearly as uncommon in these parts as you all think.” He turned his iridescent eyes to the charred remains of the barn. “I suspect this was caused by one of us.”

“Oh?” Jedda looked taken aback.

“That’s why we came here.” I murmured, “Paz dropped by early this morning and said that some shadow thing had been bothering his sheep, he thought, and coupled with this…well, Lear thought they might both be caused by fey folk.”

“The sheep issue definitely is, just going by the description he gave.” Lear said, still studying the ashes. “But I’m pretty sure this is too.”

“That’s…that’s not good.” Jedda seemed deeply troubled.

“The sheep, yes. I suspect this could have been an accident, though. The kind of fey who live in the area seem to be mostly pretty peaceful beings, with few exceptions. They’re of the lower courts, and are what you’d usually think of as nature spirits and such. The higher courts consist of fey who are more like me, and are more dangerous. We’re also more likely to cause trouble for humans.” he smirked slightly. “Not that I’m here to cause issues.”

“So Winna tells me.” Jedda replied coolly.

“I am a fey of my word.” Lear bowed slightly again. “I don’t want to lose access to Winna’s magical assistance, so I will do as she asks.”

“You make me sound like I have some great power.” I snorted.

“It’s more than you give yourself credit for.” Lear replied mildly.

“You yourself have said I’m weak!” I rolled my eyes at him. I wasn’t offended, it was true.

“A human with magic, weak or otherwise, is pretty rare. I was lucky to stumble upon you, and even more lucky that you have skill as a healer, or I’d still be unable to change out of cat form.”

“Hang on a minute, you were the black cat!” Jedda exclaimed, then chuckling amusedly, “I see what happened! Winna, lass, you can’t go on taking in every stray that crosses your path!”

“Well, Lou didn’t turn out to be some powerful fey soldier.” I pouted, kicking the ground.

Lear snorted in amusement, and Jedda threw his head back and roared with laughter.

“I’m fifty-fifty regarding my track record for cats I’ve taken in, that’s not all that bad! And most will probably turn out to just be normal kitties!” I protested.

“Jedda isn’t wrong, though. You should be more wary about who you let into your home. Most of us can use illusion magic to disappear entirely, and some of us can make ourselves look less dangerous. Some of us can even look human, if we want.” Lear told me.

“Can you?”

“Normally, yes.” He nodded. The more I learned about what he could do, the more I realized just how much a hindrance the poison was to him, as far as his magic usage went.

I sighed, “Point taken.”

It was quiet for a few moments, and Lear turned his gaze back out to the burned building. “Will it upset anyone if I use my second set of eyes?”

“Do you need to see a heat presence?” I asked, confused, “The fire was put out days ago, now, and I doubt any critters are really rummaging around in it."

“Magic has a unique heat signature, and it lingers for quite a while.” he told me. “If it was used specifically to start the fire, I may be able to see remnants. I do sense the presence of fey folk here, but I’ll be able to better determine if it was purposeful or not, that way.”

“Oh. I mean, I don’t care. You could leave them open all the time, if you wanted, but I know you don’t.” I mean, it was a little disconcerting, because his heat-sensing eyes did remind me of just how inhuman he was, but I wasn’t going to hold that against him, nor tell him he couldn't open them when he wished, as long as he didn’t watch me in the bath, as we’d discussed the night before.

“Second set of eyes?” Jedda sounded confused.

Lear opened his other eyes. “These ones.”

“Oh! I didn’t notice them!” Jedda shook his head. “That’s useful, though.”

“They definitely can be.” Lear muttered, scanning the area. “Mm. No specific spells. I’d say this was an accident of some kind.”

“U-um…e-excuse me!” a small voice squeaked, making us jump.

Or rather, Jedda and I jumped, Lear merely smiled slightly, and turned, closing his heat-sensing eyes. “I wondered if you’d come out.”

A small creature, not more than a foot tall, stood there. It was very clearly some kind of bug-type fey. It was a fiery orange color, and had totally black, bug-like eyes on a defined head that sat above a body covered with a bulky shell. It had one set of legs, and two sets of arms, each with three clawed fingers on the end.

“You can tell it was an accident?” the creature’s little voice sounded slightly relieved.

“There was no definite spell used. That would indicate intent.” Lear knelt. “What happened?”

“My child was exploring the barn. He knows not to bother the humans, but I think he got excited, feeling your presence in the area, sir," he nodded at Lear, "and got a bit adventurous. He was playing around and fell from the hayloft and sparked because he was scared, then he ran because he was still scared. It was quite a fall, and he’s not a strong flier just yet.”

“I see. What are you called?”

“Tark.”

Lear looked up at Jedda and me, “Tark is a firebug. Peaceful creatures, but they do accidentally start fires from time to time. Not usually on purpose, though.” Lear addressed the firebug again, “Normally you all live in deserts or volcanic areas, I thought?”

“My wife likes forests. We’re normally very careful with our sparks. We don’t want to burn down our home here.” Tark looked over his armored shoulder, and said, “Pip, come here.”

A smaller bug flew up, his wings buzzing nervously even after he’d landed. “I-I didn’t mean to!”

“They know. We wanted to come and tell you, and to apologize, but…well, you’re not used to seeing us around here. We didn’t want to frighten anyone by appearing suddenly. It can be dangerous for us if we do stuff like that.” Tark sounded upset, but then smiled, “But when you showed up with Miss Winna, we knew we’d be able to.”

I blinked, “You know my name?”

“We live near your cottage, and are familiar with Pima and her family.” Tark replied, bobbing his bug-y head at me.

“Oh. Well, that explains it.” I nodded.

Tark turned to Jedda, “I am very sorry for the trouble and danger Pip caused.”

“I-I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to burn anyfing down!” Tears came to the little firebug’s black bug eyes.

I looked to Jedda, hoping his reaction would be good. He was a good man at heart, I knew, but it might be a bit much, even for him.