Marriage is Murder

John looked at Brian and nodded that he understood what he had been told. Cassidy ruffled his hair and he looked at her then back at Brian as he spoke. " I won't go dark, that I will promise. " he said as he finished his cookie " but working with a wheasly sounds hard work and I'm going to do it , what ever I'm asked, even if its cleaning out stinky nests of old shells I'll do it" he said as Cassidy gave him another cookie. Steven looked at John and smiled.

" as long as you learn and realize life isn't a free ride and there are dark forces that could harm you out there and your own stupidity could harm you too, its learning these lessons that make you a man. " he looked to Brian " we all have learned them now its your turn John, stay strong and do as your told " he said and John nodded his head.

The next day, Robert knew that John would be leaving for a week in wintery Romanian mountains. He took it for granted that Steven would equip him, probably overly so, and then Charlie would probably taken half the gear and put it in storage and make John make do like the others. But that was not anything Robert was getting involved in. This morning, he and Brian had gotten up earlier than usual, about 4. They'd gone to the gym and they'd started a very meticulous tai chi routine with very advanced techniques. It was good for both of them. Brian had merely let Khaat sleep in, but he'd left her a note, just in case she woke up without him there.

She had awakened about 6. She found Brian gone, and she showered and dressed,

Steven had woke early and taken John to Romania he'd given him the bear essentials as the others would have knowing Charley would give him anything else he needed or make him work for it . Cassidy woke showered and dressed heading down to breakfast finding Jack and Jess up already. "Your up early" she said and Jack chuckled.

"We worked out this morning " he said and Jess chuckled cassidy rolled her eyes " no in the gym we do ti chi every morning helps calm my anger and focus Jess" Jack said and Cassidy chuckled.

"Sounds a good plan " she said and took some cereal and sat at the table " Stevens gone to Romania with John he'll be back this afternoon" she said a she began to eat.

Brian and Robert went upstairs and showered and dressed. Khaat was dressed. She was feeling a high level of stress and she didn't know why.

"You," Brian said, as he rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, "are getting your powers back." She looked at him blankly. "Don't look at me like that. You're getting them back. You're picking up on your father's stress. He's staying off by himself a bit today. Unless you have some other reason to be tense that you're not telling me." She shrugged. She had no clue. "That is a seer's thing," Brian said. "Is it better now?"

"A bit," she signed.

"That's because he and worked out for a couple of hours. He's a bit better. Look, there are parts of his job that aren't easy but he does just fine. I wouldn't worry. Now--did you get any coffee?" She shook her head. He looked over. The morning coffee tray had not come. That wasn't like Angus.

"No matter," he said. "Lets just go get some downstairs." She nodded, and he took her hand and went to the dining hall with her.

Jess stood up and moved to the kitchen making up a coffee and tea tray Jack walked in behind her and lightly kissed her neck " I'll take that up to them " he said and picked up the tray and walked out into the dining hall " ow good morning, I was going to bring this up to you" he said and placed it on the table in front of them both. " your breakfast tray , Steven's in Romania he'll be back this afternoon " he said Cassidy nodded behind him as she walked in with her bowl in her hand .

"Thank you," Brian said. He handed a mug of french roast to Khaat. "Where is Angus this morning?"

"Dumb git," Michael laughed, coming in with a fresh bowl of fruit salad for the breakfast sideboard. "He had a mishap with a cleaver this morning. Bleeding pretty good. I'm going to go check on him to make sure he didn't bleed out. I told him to go to the infirmary, but he headed up to his room instead."

"Dumb git," Brian muttered. He put his own tea mug down beside Khaat. "I'll be right back." He headed upstairs, walking swiftly at first and then running upstairs and going straight into Angus room. Angus was in the bathroom and there was a trail of blood going straight through the room to the bathroom. Angus's hand was a bloody mess. "What part of going to the infirmary did you not hear?" Brian was livid, taking Angus's hand in his to start healing it.

"Its just a cut," Angus said.

"Shut it. You know better. Another few minutes and you'd have bled out," Brian said. "When I'm done with this, you can tell me why you've taken leave of your senses."

Jess listened and was about to go to Angus when Brian went after Michael she staid sat with Cassidy and Khaat Jack pored coffee for himself and Jess who turned back to drink it . " if they need you Jess they will send for you , Brian can take care of it" he added with a smile as he blew across the top of his cup as he sat with Jess who still looked at the stairs.

" Jess Jacks right , I hope Stevens okay, aperating with this bad weather, he might get lucky and catch a break in it" Cassidy said looking into her glass of orange juice.

Khaat couldn't really identify with the conversation about Steven and porting in foul weather. She didn't remember enough about that. But she did know Brian enough to know that if he had gone upstairs that quickly, it was important. She left her coffee beside Brian's and went upstairs.

It wasn't hard to find them. There was a blood trail all the way up to Angus's room. The door was open and she heard voices in the bathroom. She went in to see that Brian had his hands wrapped around Angus's, and blood was dripping into the sink. She had a flash of memory. She had done something like this before, and when she had, she hadn't thought twice about it. It had been normal back then.

She went over to them and saw Brian working. He looked up at her.

"This is deep. You might want to go find your father, Sweetheart," he told her. She pushed his hands out of the way, and wrapped Angus's hand on hers. She wasn't sure exactly what she was doing.

"Draw it off," her father's voice said quietly from behind her. "Use your own energy to pull it off and pull the skin together. Follow your instincts."

"Do you really think now is the time for a lesson?" Brian asked.

"Do you really think I'd let anything happen?" Robert asked calmly. "I think now is the perfect time, honestly. Give it a try, Khaat." She obeyed and did what he told her. She felt something shifting beneath her hand. When she drew her hand off, the wound was almost completely closed but it was scarring.

"Ah, let me do the fine work now," he said with a smile. "That was very good." He laid his hand on top of the wound, finished closing it and eliminated the scar. "So you do still have it. As far as I'm concerned, your retraining begins now." She looked at him, confused. "You still have your magic--your seers skills and healing skills. Your memory is irrelevant. Your retraining begins now."

Jess saw Khaat move to the stairs and she too followed watching from the doorway as she walked over to Angus and took his hand from Brian Jess smiled as she did as Robert told her. Jess had stepped to one side letting Robert enter the room but now stood watching again as Jack walked up behind her.

" I'm guessing that's a good sign? " Jess asked Robert hoping for Khaat's sake it would be knowing that she hoped she would regain her memory soon after she relearned her skills.

"Its excellent," Robert said. Khaat looked at him like he was crazy. What the heck was he talking about? She didn't remember much of anything, and he was saying the lack of memories was irrelevant? She thought it made a great deal of difference. Her father took her hand in his and turned it over to look at the palm. A cut that looked almost identical to Angus's was on the palm of her own hand where it had not been a moment earlier. She jerked her hand back, frightened. He calmly took hold of it again.

"I told you to draw it off, not to transfer it to yourself," he said. "There is a difference. Here. Watch." He drew the cut off her hand and a moment later showed her the palm of his own hand, which had no wound on it at all.

"How do you expect me to do that?" she signed, furious and frustrated.