Tylene and the therapist left Bob soon after breaking the link, feeling it was for the best. He had to agree, as he felt they were the ones responsible for his sudden dour mood. He knew in his heart it wasn't their intent, and that it was Cecilia who requested he model for Tylene in her fashion show. But he wasn't going to blame the person he'd walk over broken glass to please, so Tylene was next in line.

Benjamin stayed a while longer, showing Bob how to make a fob. Bob found it comforting to be with a friend who appreciated him in a way not unlike his wife. Benjamin enjoyed it too, acting girlish while whirring with activity.

"Ooh! Use this one!" he exclaimed, picking up a bead of azure blue.

After Bob punched a hole in the fob he was making, Benjamin instructed him on how to tie the bead in place using a leather lace. When Bob fumbled a bit with the knot, Benjamin snatched it away.

"You turn it sideways in the hole," Benjamin instructed, "and that hides the knot. You see?" He stuck the fob in Bob's face for a second before pulling it back to work further. "You can also use a dot of glue, or some people use glue and no lace, because they find it easier."

Bob patiently waited for Benjamin to shut up and stop moving. After several silent seconds, Benjamin came to his senses.

"Oh," he said. "You should do this."

"Yes. I should."

Benjamin gave the fob back to Bob, then rubbed his hands on his knees, breathing deep and heavy. "And I should probably go."

Bob said nothing in reply, as he did like the big bear's company, if only for the laughs. He offered polite conversation as Bob worked on his fob.

"Hey. Does Seas ever talk about selling the bas relief?"

Bob concentrated on his craft. "What are you taking about?"

"The sculture in the trophy room, taking up the whole wall. It belongs to her, you know."

Bob stopped working on his fob and looked at Benjamin's face. "No. I didn't."

"You don't know it's hers? I mean, it's not mine, and we don't see… ah, the guy who made it anymore. So yeah. It's totally hers. I know it would sell for up to a hundred thou in auction, especially with the story behind it."

Bob spoke in measured tones. "No one is telling the story."

Benjamin blinked, confused. "Everyone knows the story."

"No one is telling it," Bob repeated.

Benjamin nodded profusely, his whole body bobbing up and down. "Ah. Got it. No story."

Bob tried to speak more kindly. "Just keep it, Ben. We don't want it. I mean, he left it with you. It's yours."

"Well, it didn't actually get left. I mean, Dean made it here."

Bob again used measured tones. "My wife modeled naked in that room while he made that thing?"

"Yeah. Well! Really, it was all in fun." Benjamin tried his best to shut his big fat mouth. "I mean, things can get wild around here, you know!"

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Bob took a slug of hazelnut tea and went back to making his fob. "No, Benjamin. I don't."

"That's okay! It can stay." Benjamin got up to leave. "I guess I don't even know how we'd get it out of there. We'd have to take a stone saw to it, and cut it into pieces."

"That sounds like a great idea. Take a stone saw to it."

Bob stopped working on his fob soon after Benjamin left. He found it relaxing to be alone inside his head. Cecilia had often left him alone in their house in the bright city, and the dark and peaceful night that Benjamin's backyard offered was a relaxing change of pace. While the party inside roared along, many untamed acres lay between the manor and his home. Trees and scrub grew thick just twenty meters from the portico, and all that could be heard from where Bob was seated were crickets and tree frogs.

He took another sip of tea and stared into the woods. The blinking lights of a passing plane traced a path on the stars. Looking up, he wondered how far away Cecilia was.

Something odd skirted through the dark between the manor and the woods. When it passed by again in the opposite direction, Bob heard it making noise. He got up to investigate, as it seemed no one else noticed but him.

"Who's there?" he asked the shadow, as it murmurred when he got close.

It stopped making noise at the sound of his voice, and stopped moving as he drew near. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out the shape of a woman. Strikingly tall and just as thin, her skin was so dark that all he could see were her eyes and a shimmer of metallic thread on her fluted sun dress.

Realizing she'd been spotted, the woman bared her teeth and growled, murmurring odd words.

"Can I help you?" Bob offered.

The woman opened her mouth wide and stuck out her tongue, making a monstrous sound before dashing into the woods. Altough Bob cold no longer see her, he knew she must be just out of sight, as she stopped moving and again made no sound.

Bob stood and patiently waited, seeing what might happen next. "It's kind of dark out here," he said. "You could get lost, or fall down and hurt yourself."

Out of sight, the woman hissed.

"Would you like some tea?" he offered. "Ben's got some great stuff to drink."

To her silence, Bob tried a new tack. "There's probably wild animals out there," he said as a warning. "Bears, or maybe coyotes."

"Maybe there are snakes."

The woman barrelled out of the woods, again making faces and growling. She glanced against Bob as she passed, knocking him off balance to guarantee her escape. He trotted after her as she ran into the manor, where she made a quick left and disappeared.

Bob stopped at the spot inside where he last saw the woman, looking to see where she went. Benjamin showed up soon after.

"Did you see a woman go by?" Bob asked. "Dark skin, shiny dress, sleeveless and fluted at the bottom?"

"Like, a black dress with silver threads and gold highlights on the top and hems?"

"I guess so," Bob replied, as he hadn't noticed the gold highlights. "Her skin was really dark, and so was her hair. Long with lots of curls, but not kinked or anything."

"That sounds like Mahui," Benjamin said. "She's really dark. Does she look like she weighs ninety pounds?"

"Yeah. She is super thin."

"That's her."

"She came running in here screaming, but then she disappeared."

Benjamin motioned at a door two meters in front of him. "I think she ran into the basement."

"What's down there?"

"Nothing. Stuff from when I fixed the house, like crown molding and old doors and things. But other than that, it's just junk."

Bob stepped up to the door and peered through a small window. Nothing could be seen but the dark, as no lights were on.

"Why would she go down there?" Bob asked.

Benjamin peered through the window with Bob and gave his big shoulders a shrug. "Mahui is kind of fiery. She a little whirlwind today in that dress."

"Should we go and get her?"

Benjamin gave a giggle. "There's no light switches down there until you get to the root cellar. I'm not going into the dark with her acting nuts."

Bob made an odd face. "She's a little girl."

"She's not little and she's not a girl. She'll kick in your sack."

Bob scoffed and opened the door. He stuck in his head and peered in the dark.

"Mahui? Are you there?"

"Let me get a flashight," Benjamin said, turning and preparing to leave.

Still growling, still baring her teeth and still running, Mahui raced up the stairs. With her nails clawed and her face contorted, she made a beeline for Bob's bombasted balls.

Calmly, he shut the door. Coincidentally, it was right in her face and, unfortunately she bounced off it and fell down the stairs.

"Do you think she's all right?" Bob asked, concerned.

Benjamin dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Ah, she'll be fine. Let me get that flashlight."