Lily sat straight up in her bed as she awoke that morning. This time, her sheets were damp with sweat. She wondered if she'd made any noises during the night. She looked around the room...good, no one. Yvonne had already left for breakfast. Usually, she wakes her. Perhaps she tried, Lily didn't know. This one had been worst than the one the other night. The nightmares were not only getting more frequent now, but they were also worsening since she'd come to the Willows. It was time for her weekly mixture, but Anne wasn't there to make it for her. It had been almost two weeks since her last dose, and she didn't have the herbs to mix it here in this village. Lily wanted to be strong and not look like such a child in front of her sister and new friends, but she didn't know how long she could go on without her dream inhibiting tea mix. She rested her face in her hands, wiping the sweat from under her eyes, "Why can't I outgrow this childish habit! Can't I get past this?" Her sweat turned to tears, as she sobbed back into her pillow, "Why does he still haunt me?"

Cheerful to help her husband cook breakfast, Snow went out to the storehouse to get some more spices to refill her husband's spice rack, so he could watch the oven. Yvonne spotted her and anxiously approached, "Snow!" "Hi Yvonne! The wind has picked up since yesterday, hasn't it?" Yvonne nodded, although the weather was not what was on her mind. "Snow, can I speak with you for a second?" "Sure." Both of them stepped into the storehouse to escape the harsh wind, "Snow, it's Lily. I just thought you should know something." "What is it, Yvonne?" "Well, for the past few nights, anyway, Lily has been having bad dreams, I think. She cries out in her sleep and sometimes I think I can even hear her kicking at her covers. She doesn't know I'm telling you though...in fact, she doesn't know that I'm even aware of it, I don't think. I'm not trying to be a snitch or anything, I just thought you might want to know. I didn't know if something was bothering her. For the first four or five nights, she was fine. But every night since then, she's had nightmares. It's not so much bothering me as much as I'm concerned about her, you know?" Snow nodded in understanding, not knowing what else to think, "Thank you for telling me Yvonne. I'll keep your secret." Yvonne smiled and helped Snow bring in some of the spices. After breakfast, Snow approached her sister as she was toying with the tambourine, "Snow, you say you found this behind your cabin...just lying there, huh? I still can't get over the fact that you all find crates of supplies just sitting in the woods waiting to be found. It's just astonishing!" "Yes, it is, isn't it. Lily...um...you were so quiet at breakfast. Are you alright?" Lily sighed, "Yes, I was just hungry. I think it's terribly impolite to speak with your mouth full...at least for a lady." Snow thought Lily seemed very distant and closed off from her recently, more so than just a few days ago, "Are you sure? You seem like there's something you're not telling me. Is there?" Lily jingled the instrument, "No, I'm fine. What would I not tell you?" Snow tried to prod politely, "Well, I don't know. That's something you'd have to tell ME, now isn't it?" Lily rolled her eyes, and Snow's persistence grew, "Lily, please don't try and cover your feelings. Don't shut me out. Just tell me what it is. I'm a good listener." Lily set the tambourine down, "Did you just decide to come over here and grill me after breakfast, or what?" "Lily, you're my sister and I care about you. I just want to make sure everything is alright." "Well, it's fine. I'm fine. If you'll excuse me, I think I need some fresh air." Lily felt herself getting upset again and had to get outside. She just wanted to be alone. She trotted to her new place of solitude that she had discovered just the day before. She went out to the barn and crept into the loft. She hoped that the others didn't come up to the loft very often as she curled up in the corner, pulling her knees up into her chest. "Think happy thoughts, Lily." She thought back to Anne and Nika and her dancers. She closed her eyes and thought of her dance steps as she played the music of her gypsies in her head.

Awakened harshly during the night by a knocking, Mike threw on his robe and answered the door. Yvonne stood before him wearing a coat over her nightclothes and a very concerned look. "Mike, I'm so sorry to wake you two, but I must speak with Snow." "Of course, come in." Snow was awake and climbing out of bed. "Snow, it's Lily. I really think you should come and see her...talk to her...something." "What happened, Yvonne?" "She was positively screaming at the top of her lungs. I tried to wake her, but at first she wouldn't wake up. Then when she did, she was fighting so hard...she really scared me. I'm not even sure if she knows where she is. She wouldn't talk to me. At first she was calling for Anne, but now she just sits and cries. Could you please come?" "Of course. Mike, I'll be back soon." Mike nodded sleepily as Snow put on a coat and shoes and headed out the door with Yvonne. Snow found her sister curled up in a ball on her bed. She looked much like a scared child with her knees up to her chest and trembling. Her face was buried in her arms as Snow heard her crying tiny whimpers. "Lily, it's me. It's Snow...it's your sister. It's alright. You're alright." She lifted Lily's head to reveal her face. Her eyes were completely red from crying and her face was wet and stained with tears. She looked as though she'd been crying for hours. Yvonne threw a look of concern toward Snow and shook her head in defeat. Upon seeing Snow, Lily burst into tears once again. She wrapped her arms around her sister and cried heavily into Snow's shoulder, her body heaving from her gasps for air. "Lily, it's OK. I'm here...your friends are here. No one will hurt you. It's alright." Lily sat back up and tried to talk in between her sobs, "It's...I...dream...all the time...it won't go away. He...he won't go away! Why? Why does he haunt me, Snow?" Lily began sobbing again into Snow's chest. Snow looked over at Yvonne who wore a curious glance. "I'm taking Lily to the main hut. I think we should be alone." Yvonne nodded and gave Lily a coat. Snow helped walk with her sister over to the main hut. Yvonne shut the door to her cabin and muttered to herself, "What is it with this village and nightmares?"

Snow began to perk up the old fire. Lily sat watching...staring into the embers with a blanket wrapped around her. She was warn out and exhausted, but she dare not sleep. Snow came over and pulled her into her, cradling her. Her role had reversed, thought Snow as she felt her sister tremble next to her. She was now like the elder sister, more able to give comfort to her troubled twin than she would have been able to just a few short months ago. Perhaps married life had given her more than she thought...more responsibility, maturity. She wondered what it would be like to have a baby...a child to hold, as she held her sister in her arms. "It's alright Lily. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. You're safe." "I'm sorry, Snow. I'm so embarrassed! I know Yvonne must think I'm positively insane! I'm so sorry!" Snow rocked her sister back and forth, "Nonsense! She's worried about you just like I am. Nobody wants to see you upset. Now, you need to rest. I know you're exhausted...it's written all over your face. Please try and get some sleep. I'm a light sleeper. I'll wake you up if I see you're having a bad dream, OK?" Lily hesitated but finally agreed, as she felt her eyelids getting heavy. Snow thought it best to wait until morning to talk to Lily about her dreams. Who was this "he" that Lily mentioned. Why was she so afraid of him? Does it have anything to do with why she was uncomfortable around men? Too many questions swam around in Snow's head as she brushed her hand across Lily's hair...questions that would just have to wait until morning.

Being accustomed to waking to the sounds of imaginary bells, Snow was not used to this. She woke with a start to the sound of Lily screaming. "No! No! Let me go!" Snow shook Lily and called to her, "Lily, it's alright! You're dreaming. It's Snow! Wake up, Lily!" But it was no use. Just like Yvonne said, she wouldn't wake up. The more Snow shook her, the more Lily fought, "Stop it! Please, let me go! Let go! No! Stop!" Lily violently waved her fists in front of her whilst also groping at her clothes, in Snow's futile effort to shake her. She began kicking her legs, giving Snow no choice but move off to the side of her to avoid getting a strong dancer's kick to her stomach. "Lily! Wake up!" Lily was crying now, "Anna, help me!! Anna! Mama! Mama, where are you?" Snow began sobbing in watching her sister being tortured like this...by what? What was it? What had this hold on her sister? Snow watched in horror at her sister's fight with the invisible person on the floor of the hut. "No! Stop! You're hurting me! Stop! NO!" Snow fell back to the floor, stunned by Lily's sudden blood curdling scream. She was now crying harder and she just kept screaming. Was she dying? I have to do something, Snow thought. What? Snow peered over at a nearby table...no, I can't do that. Alright, fine...anything would better for her than this. Snow grabbed a candle from the table and held it close to Lily's arm. Her screaming became a 'yelp' as she woke, quickly jumping from the source of the pain...a different pain. "I'm sorry Lily. You wouldn't wake up. I couldn't think of anything else." Lily rubbed her arm and nodded in understanding. "I thought anything would be better than what you were going through just now." Snow came to her sister and took her teary face in her hands, disbelief in her voice, "Dear God, Lily...what did he do to you?"

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"What happened to you, Lily?" Both sisters were crying. Snow hugged Lily tightly. "I thought you were dying!" In a muffled voice, Snow heard her say, "I was." Snow pulled out of their hug to look at her sister with questioning eyes. "I was dying...at least I thought I was dead. For a long time, I wanted to. Nightmares every night, terrified every day, of...him. I just wanted to die." Snow brushed Lily's hair from her face. Through her sobs, Lily continued, "I'm sorry for not talking to you about it. I didn't mean to shut you out, Snow. It's just...it's really hard to talk about." Lily lowered her gaze to the floor. "Well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." "No. I really should tell you...at least you. I know you have to wonder what's wrong with me." Snow simply shook her head and smiled as Lily began, "I was fourteen. Our gypsy band was in Briar Patch village in father's kingdom. We'd just finished the last show of the day. Rumple was counting the money as usual. Anne and the girls and I were packing it in for the night. Suddenly this group of very scary-looking men jumped out of nowhere and started attacking us! I guess they'd been watching us during the show, because they went for the money first. They just picked up Rumple like a rag doll and slit his throat...no mercy at all. They were animals! They grabbed Anne as she yelled at the girls to get into the cart. I saw Nika come back out with a knife and she jumped on the man's back and began stabbing him. Anne pulled her off and they went back to the cart. She locked it shut. I ran for help. Anne didn't know I wasn't in the wagon. I was already in the woods when someone grabbed me and yanked me to the ground." Lily began crying again, her voice was high pitched and erratic, "I tried to fight, but he was too strong. I was only fourteen. He was laughing at me. Laughing! I was crying and telling him to stop...but he wouldn't. He just...he..." "Shhhhhh! It's OK." Snow didn't want to hear anymore. She grabbed Lily and pulled her in close. My God! How could this happen to my sister...to such a sweet and innocent young girl? This brutal action from a most uncaring and inhuman monster stripped her sister's childhood and innocence away from her...just like her birthright had been. Lily, I'm so sorry, Snow thought...too ashamed to tell her out loud. Ashamed that she has had everything...a loving mother and father, a beautiful childhood rich with material goods and blessings, the most wonderful and loving husband, who would just as soon die as to see his wife hurt in any way. In fact, news like this would probably make Mike positively ill. Snow has had everything, and here Lily... Snow couldn't bear to think about it anymore. She just sat and held her sister as they both cried through the night.

Mike entered the hut to find his wife and sister-in-law playing cards at the dining table using Mike's colored coffee beans as poker chips. "I'll see you and raise you two." Snow folded her cards on the table, "Nah...too rich for my blood. Boy, Lily! You caught on a lot faster than I did!" The ladies were startled by Mike's unannounced entrance, "What are you two ladies doing in here? Snow, you never came home." "I know, I'm sorry. Lily's really been having a hard time with nightmares, so we just decided we wouldn't sleep at all." Lily giggled, "I'm sorry, sis. I guess that means you'll be REALLY tired tonight!" Mike threw back his head in exasperation and made his way into the kitchen. Lily whispered back at Snow, "Oh dear. Now I feel really guilty...I've taken away Mike's wife." Snow gathered the cards, "Not to worry...he just needs to learn to share me for a while...that's all. I'll go talk to him." After a few steps she turned back to Lily and hesitated, "You know, I'll probably have to tell him about, well...you know." Lily nodded in understanding and gave a weak smile.

Snow found Mike in the kitchen banging pots and pans around in frustration. Snow closed the door behind her and leaned against it as she watched him. She'd never seen him like this. He almost seemed to be in a fury. "Mike, I'm sorry." Mike threw up his hands in surrender, "I know! I know you are. Not much we can do about it, is there?" "Mike, if you'd just give us a little more time..." "Time...how much time, Snow? Because in the meantime, I'm getting absolutely NO time with you, myself!" Snow was startled by his angry tone. She'd never been on the receiving end of it before. She swallowed hard before starting again, "She's been going through a lot. You don't understand." "What's not to understand? She's homesick, Snow! I'm really sorry, but that's just life sometimes. Her only other option is to go back and get killed by that witch. Gee, there's a tough choice for ya!" Snow approached her husband gently, "Please don't be like this, Mike." "Like what? Like a husband who desperately misses his wife? It's like you're still in that mirror, Snow. Even when you're here...you're not. Even since Lily has been staying over at Yvonne's, you're over there talking with her on the porch until late into the night. By the time you come home, I can't even say goodnight to you before you're already asleep, much less kiss you or touch you." Snow lowered her gaze to the floor as Mike continued, "I know this may sound selfish, Snow, but I feel very deprived. We're still newlyweds...but you'd never know it! How long is this going to go on? I've tried to be understanding since she is your sister, but I just don't know how much more I can take." Snow had a tremor in her voice, "What are you saying, Mike?" "I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying. God! I don't even know what I was going to do, my head is in such a clutter!...Breakfast! That was it." Mike began pulling eggs out of a basket and cracking them against the side of the skillet. "I have to ask this, Mike." "What is it?" as he threw an eggshell into the garbage with a force. "I want Lily to come back and stay with us again for a little while longer." Mike sighed in defeat, "Why does that not surprise me? Fine...whatever. It's not like I have you to myself anymore, anyway." Snow asked quietly, "Can I help you with breakfast?" Mike's reply was firm, "No. Go in there and visit with your sister. That seems to be all you do anymore anyway." "Mike, you just don't understand. She's my sister and..." "And I'm your husband! I suppose you've already forgotten that. It's so plain to see...watching you go off braving wolves, weather and witches to climb through a mirror to a period hundreds of years ago without even telling me! And then to not even bother to spend one waking moment with your newlywed husband during all that time. Yes, it's very easy to see how much I mean to you!" Snow began crying, "Mike, if you just knew what was going on. She needs me." "No...I need you, Snow! I do...not her. I'm your husband! If she is so 'needy' then perhaps she should go back to her gypsy band. I thought she was the older sister, Snow...not the baby. Because, that's just how she's acting...like a big baby! And I for one..." "She was raped, Mike!" Mike stopped suddenly, dropping an egg to the floor. He shuddered as he gave Snow a horrified look, "What?" In spite of her crying, Snow managed to sputter, "My sister was raped. It was that horrible...that brutal attack! She was only fourteen, Mike...fourteen! She WAS a baby. Don't you see? You didn't hear her...the screaming, yelling, the fighting and kicking. You didn't hear the pain in her voice, the torture...the fear, the sheer terror in her eyes. I saw it...I heard it! My sister...they did this...terrible thing...to my sister!" Snow began sobbing as Mike grabbed her into him and held her close. "Snow, I'm so sorry. I...I didn't know. God, I shouldn't have been so selfish." Snow's words were muffled into Mike's chest, "That's why she needs me, Mike." Mike rubbed Snow's hair as he pressed his chin to her head, "Of course she does. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I don't know what got into me. I guess I just missed you so much. But you're right. I think she should stay with us for a little while...as long as you want. OK?" He raised Snow's face to look at him. She smiled through her teary eyes and nodded. Mike then rolled his eyes as he realized, "Argh! Well, now I know why she clocked me good that first night. No wonder she was frightened. I had her in a squeeze that would have put a bear to shame!" Snow giggled and then shyly lowered her gaze...her tone changing sadly as she whispered, "This was our first fight ever, Mike." He took her face in his hands, "And it was totally my fault, Princess. I'm so sorry. I never want us to fight. In fact, if I ever start behaving that way again, I want you to hit me!" Snow giggled, "Oh, Mike!" "No, I mean it! I feel like such a fool!" Snow bit her lip and grinned at him, "But you have to look at the bright side of all this..." Mike looked dreamily into her eyes as he brushed her hair back, caressing her face, "What's that Princess?" Snow's eyes twinkled, "If you never fight, you miss out on the 'making up' part." Her words melted Mike's heart and his thoughts drifted to where he'd rather be at that moment. "Oh, and something else..." as Snow peered over at the stove, "I think those eggs would cook a lot faster if you had a fire going under the burner." Mike shook his daydreaming away as he glanced at the pan of raw eggs on the stove and then at the one splattered at his feet. He laughed at himself and turned back to Snow, "No matter...I won't be here for breakfast, anyway." Snow tilted her head and gave him a curious look, "You won't?" Mike scooped up the egg and shell with a towel and threw it into the sink, "No, and neither will you!" He grabbed Snow by the hand and burst back into the hut. "Snow and I have to go out for a while. Kahlua, please be a dear and finish the breakfast for me. I'll make it up to you...promise. Just set mine and Snow's plates aside. We'll be back in time to clean the dishes." As they reached the main door of the hut, Mike stopped and turned toward them, "Lily, our cabin is all yours, by the way. We'll be back later." The door slammed to the hearty chuckles of the men in the room, an annoyed Kahlua, and a very puzzled Lily.

Mike leaned Snow against a wall inside the barn and was kissing her neck, "I was beginning to think I'd never be able to be alone with you again. I thought maybe the loft...where we had our first date. What do you think?" Mike pulled back to give her a sly grin, when suddenly the smile was taken from his lips. Snow was crying. Her eyes were filling with tears, "I'm sorry my Prince. I don't mean to destroy this moment. It's just..." Her voice trailed off as did her gaze when Mike lifted her chin, "Just what, love?" Snow's lips trembled as she placed one hand on his fingers cupping her face and her other hand on Mike's cheek, "We have such a special treasure...a bond that's shared between us that none can break." Mike melted in the sincere love and tenderness in her eyes and the warmth of her smile as she spoke, "When you love me, it's a love that touches deep into my soul and then blooms like a rose in spring. It's a warm, tender, caring love that surpasses the moment and takes us to new wondrous places, safe places...to never-ending joy." Mike nodded and smiled, as he made a mental picture of her words in his mind. Snow's lips trembled once again, her voice threatening to crack into sobs, "I just can't help but to think that Lily has never known a love like that. The only relation to love she's ever known wasn't love at all, but a horrible, brutal crime. How can she ever place her trust in someone again? How can she ever feel able to give of her love, to give of herself to someone? I can't see how she could. If something like that had happened to me, I..." Mike hushed her with a finger to her lips, "Shhhh...Snow don't think about that. I'd never let anything happen to you." "But that's just it, Mike...no one was there for Lily, to protect her, to save her...to love her. I feel so helpless, so guilty around her. I feel like I've had everything--love, family, happiness...and she's had nothing but hurt, fear and despair. I feel so guilty...I wish I could do something--anything." "Princess, you know that none of this is your fault." "Yes, I know. But, with all that she has been through, it's no wonder that she feels the way she does...and the nightmares. Where I've been blessed with dreams of my handsome prince all these years, she suffers to relive the most horrible moment of a lifetime every single night through her dreams. How terrifying is that? I just..." Mike took his sobbing Princess and held her tightly as he offered, "All we can do is be here for her...be her family. We will have to be the love she has missed and rightfully deserves. If she can't get over this terrible moment in her life...our love may be the only love she'll ever have, or ever accept, at least." Mike caressed Snow's hair as she took his words into her mind. Gently, he stroked her shoulders and back, lovingly nudging his cheek to her head. Sniffing up her crying, Snow pulled back to look at Mike. She smiled tenderly and put her arms around him as she whispered softly, "My sweet Prince, your Princess awaits you. She longs for your love that touches her soul." Mike smiled and kissed her hand, then with that hand, he led her to the ladder leading up to the loft.

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Upon entering the main hut, Snow and Mike found the men sitting and chatting over after-breakfast cups of coffee. Mike proceeded to the kitchen as he ignored their 'winks' at him. He found Kahlua just filling the sink with water, "Mike, you're back! Just in time...I just finished clearing the table." "Thanks so much Kahlua. I'm sorry to have sprung that on you like this. I had to discuss something important with Snow. I will take your cooking duty next time." Kahlua, grinned a suspicious grin, "So you two were 'discussing', eh? Hmmm...now there's a name for it I haven't heard yet." She winked at Mike and went out the kitchen door. "Does anyone know where Lily is?" inquired Snow when she didn't see her sister. "Did she go back to the cabin?" "The gypsy child went weed picking, thank God. She causes such a fuss!" Snow threw Natalie a look of disapproval as Kahlua approached her to explain. "Lily said that she knows how make a mixture that will stop her nightmares. Poor thing...she said she doesn't want to be a bother to anyone any longer with her dreams. She was adamant about searching for the herbs to make her mixture." "Adamant...she down right threw a tantrum to be allowed to get the stupid things!" Kahlua gave Natalie a 'shush' look and continued, "We didn't have the herbs she needed, but she said she knew where to find them in the woods...quite a long list she had." "Sounded like a damn witches' brew!" Ignoring Natalie, Kahlua sidestepped Snow a few steps away from her, "Of course, we wouldn't let her go alone. Thomas said he knew where he had seen some of the missing herbs before and volunteered to go with her." Snow looked at Kahlua with concern, "None of the ladies went with them?" Kahlua shook her head, "No. Is that a problem?" Snow sighed, "No, it's just that Lily is not all that comfortable around men. It's a long story."

Since Dinger and Ivanhoe wouldn't be making their trek to that village beyond the Willows mountain until the day after tomorrow, there wasn't much of a fuss made about Thomas and Lily going out to hunt down her desperately needed herbs. As Tom led Thorn along the beaten path Lily and Nugget made, he watched as she intently inspected her environment, "Which herbs were you needing again? Karen said she had some of them, didn't she?" Lily slowly searched the woods around her for the plants she needed. She stopped to glance at her list, then handed it to Tom. He read off the list, "'Roman chamomile, catnip, lo...lobelia, scullcap, fleeceflower root, yarrow, jade pillow, and kava mixed with a little cream for calicum and vitamin D into a thyme tea.' Hmmm...quite a concoction. You said it's for nightmares? Have you been having them a long time?" Lily, not looking at him, nodded. Innocently, Thomas continued, "What are they about, if I may ask?" Avoiding his question, Lily grabbed back the list from his hands, "Karen said she had the kava, skullcap, and catnip. Of course, I'm sure Lasher wouldn't appreciate my taking all of the catnip, so we should look for that as well." She put the list in her pocket, "You say you know where some of the herbs were?" Tom motioned in the direction of the mountains, "Yes. Some of those grow wild over by the hills...in the rocks and crevices. It will be difficult to find them in the winter, if we can find them at all. Others grow nearer to the trees in the dirt floor of the woods. We can probably pick those up on our way to the mountains. This way." Tom helped Lily onto Nugget and then mounted his horse. He led her through the woods toward the Willows mountains. He hoped they could find the herbs Lily needed on this side of the mountains, as it would be more than a day's journey otherwise, and they just couldn't risk it.

It was just past lunchtime and the two decided to rest and have their sack lunches. Lily began to dig out her fruit, "Thank you again for your help, Thomas. I'm very encouraged. We've found just about everything except the Roman chamomile, yarrow and fleeceflower root. But you mentioned that we'd probably find the yarrow and fleeceflower near the rocks. So, all that's left is the chamomile." Tom bit into his sandwich as he thought, "Hmmm, chamomile. I remember searching for that one. Doesn't Karen have some of that?" Lily crunched into an apple, as she favored them just as her sister did, "She said she was out of it." After taking a swig from his canteen, Tom shook his head, "I don't know we'll have much luck finding it, then. We had a hard time locating any in the summer, and that was before the snowfall. You may have to do without it." A horror shone in Lily's eyes, "Oh, no. Anne said that the chamomile is the most important ingredient. All the others just act as the catalysts, of sorts. I have to have that one above all the others. We have to find it...please!" Thomas read the fear in her eyes, and he wondered what kind of nightmare would cause her so much fear. After she avoided his question on the matter earlier in the day, he decided not to ask it a second time. "Well, we'll do the best we can, Lily. I promise." His words seemed to bring a little comfort to Lily, although she was not exactly 'warming up' to Tom any more than she was when they left. So as not to stare, Thomas watched Lily out of the corner of his eye. Her movements were quick but precise, as though she was anxious about something. She kept him hustling throughout the morning, keeping a quick pace. Tom thought that would be natural of course, since she said she was a dancer. Although, he'd never seen Lily dance, yet. He was actually looking forward to the change of entertainment when Lily and Snow would put on their little "show" for everyone as they mentioned at breakfast the other day. As Tom tried to read her thoughts by her eyes, he considered Lily a very pretty girl like her sister, but the lack of sleep had taken its toll on her over the past few days. She acted friendly to others, but not so friendly one on one, except with her sister. Tom thought she seemed very closed off from people, especially the men. Later that afternoon, just as Thomas had said, they found the fleeceflower root and yarrow in the rocks near the base of the mountains. They still had no luck finding the Roman chamomile as they started back down the mountain. Suddenly, Lily heard what sounded like a whimper, like someone was crying in pain. "Hello?" Lily stopped to listen. "Yes, hello! Help me please!" Lily followed the sound to a young woman lying near the foot of the mountain and great with child. "Please, can you help me? I think I'm about to have this baby. I thought I could make it to the village, but I got lost." "What village, ma'am?" Lily asked wondering if the woman were headed for the Willows. "The one over this mountain. I ended up on the wrong side of this blasted rock! Ow!" Lily saw that the bottom of the woman's dress was wet and she knew right away that her water had broken. "Thomas! Come over here!" His distant voice bellowed, "Where are you?" "I'm up here!" Tom followed the sound of Lily's voice to where the two women were. "This woman is about to give birth. There's no way she can make it to the village. We'll have to deliver the baby right here." Thomas thought for a second, "No wait. There's a cabin fairly near here. We'll put her on one of the horses...she'll be alright." Lily gave Tom a very puzzled look, "A cabin?" "Yes, it's for emergencies. I'd say this would qualify. I'll get Thorn." Lily took the woman's hand and tried to reassure her, "My name is Lily. It'll be alright. I've done this before." The woman squeezed her hand, "I'm glad one of us has," she breathed heavily, "I'm Grace." Lily smiled sweetly, "Hello, Grace. That's a lovely name." Tom helped Grace onto Thorn led them to the cabin. Tom put the horses in the tiny make-shift stable next to the cabin, while Lily had Grace lie down on the small bed. "Take small breaths, Grace." As Lily covered Grace's upper half to keep her warm, Thomas inquired, "How far has she dilated?" Lily looked at him in wonder that he would know to ask that. He smiled in reading her questioning eyes, "My wife was a midwife." Lily prodded with casual curiosity, "You were married...any children?" Tom replied with a sad but tender tone, "Yes. A son. They're both gone, now." Lily turned back to Grace, embarrassed that she might have brought up a difficult subject for him. "No, it's alright, but I remember some of what she did as a midwife." Thomas looked on as Lily carried on with the delivery, helping as best he could. He watched with admiration at Lily's caring words and tenderness toward this woman. She acted as though they had been friends forever. Lily's bedside manner was wonderful, in fact reminding him a lot of Beth. Lily made Grace feel comfortable in spite of the less-than-perfect conditions. "That's it, Grace...just one more push should do it. You can do it. That's right...push!" With one last gentle pull, Lily had the crying newborn in her arms. "It's a girl, Grace! A beautiful baby girl!" The delivery went smoothly without complications. Lily wrapped the baby in a clean blanket and handed her to her mother. Grace was exhausted, but smiling from sheer joy at the sight of her new daughter. In a combination of tears and laughter, Grace held her baby girl, "I'm naming her Lily." She looked to Lily for approval, who simply smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek. Tom approached Lily and took her hand. Surprised, her first reaction was to pull it away, but she caught herself before doing so. "You did a beautiful job, Lily." Lily smiled shyly and looked over at the mother and baby, "Thank you, but she did it...she did a beautiful job." Lily pushed a strand of hair back up into her scarf as she went over and sat by the fire to let the woman and child sleep. Tom sat in a chair adjacent to her and watched as Lily appeared to be lost in her thoughts, "You're thinking of Anne, aren't you?" Lily looked up with a surprised smile at his intuitiveness, "How did you know?" "Well, I know that she taught you on being a midwife from your conversation at breakfast the first day you were here. You also mentioned how much you would miss her." Lily turned back toward the fire, the sadness returning to her gaze, "Yes. I do miss her...terribly." Thomas regretted bringing up a topic that would cause Lily such sadness, so he attempted to lighten the moment, "Besides, being an old married man myself, we husbands are trained to read woman's minds...lest we'd rather sleep in the barn at night." He chuckled out loud but noticed that Lily was not laughing. Forcing a half-smile, her thoughts continued to bring her visions of home...times of dancing with her friends, times with her Anna. "You know we'll have to stay here for the night. It's too dark to head back." Lily's thoughts were interrupted by Tom's words and she nodded. She looked to him and added, "Let's get to sleep early so we can rise at dawn...or as soon as possible anyway." Thomas knew that finding the chamomile was still what was driving Lily. He wanted to help her, but didn't know where else to look. They looked everywhere that he and Karen had found it before...but they had found nothing today. There simply was none to be found in the wintertime. He remembered that Lily seemed to panic at that thought and refused to stop looking. Lily stood and walked over to the bed, "I don't know what we'll do about Grace. We'll have to take her with us. That's alright, isn't it?" Thomas nodded in agreement. Lily ate a few of the raw herbs they fetched that day, since she wouldn't be able to make her tea for another night. The last thing she wanted to do was wake the new baby by screaming in her sleep. Grace had fallen asleep with the tiny Lily in her arms. Lily didn't want to take the chance of the baby rolling out of the bed in the middle of the night, so she gently picked her up from Grace's arms, re-wrapped the blanket around her and curled up on the floor with her next to Grace's bed. She smiled at the precious new life and kissed her forehead. Then she rested her head on her arm for a pillow and nuzzled the baby in close to keep her warm. Thomas stayed by the door and looked on as the little gypsy midwife and her patients slept. Seeing Lily with the baby reminded him so much of Beth and their own baby boy, it brought a tear to his eye. In just the same fashion, he remembered Beth curling up with little Thomas on the floor after the cradle had been knocked over and broken one particular day. Beth was afraid that little Thomas would roll out of the bed, so she curled up on the rug near the fire with him and slept. Tom smiled in his memories. Funny, he remembered that night was the first night little Thomas had slept through the night without waking. No wonder, Tom thought...he slept like a baby when he was in Beth's arms, too.

The next morning, Lily awoke to find herself alone in the cabin...no Grace, no baby, no Tom. Jumping up, she ran to the door meeting Thomas just coming in, "Where's Grace?" "I don't know. I woke up and she was gone. I just went out looking around...I didn't see her anywhere. I really think we should go and search for her. She just had a baby." Lily nodded and they gathered their things to go. Lily spotted a small bag by the side of the bed, "Wait! Tom, look. She must have left this." Inside were some figs, bread, a water cup and a small pouch. "I guess she was really in a hurry to have left this behind." Tom and Lily got on their horses and headed in the direction where they found Grace. Thomas rode up next to Lily and stopped after they had searched the base of the mountains for nearly three hours, "Didn't you say she was trying to get to the other side of this mountain?" "Yes, she said she had gotten lost. She mentioned a village on the other side." Tom eyes widened, "Really! I wonder if that's the village Ivanhoe and Karen spotted that day on the mountain. That's where Dinger and Ivanhoe are heading when they go on their journey this week." Lily looked to him with casual curiosity, "Really?" "Yeah. It's too long of a journey to cross the mountains, see...takes more than one day. It's quite dangerous to spend the night in the woods or on the mountain." Lily looked around one more time for Grace. She was worried about her friend and the new life that she brought into the world just the day before. "Lily, we have to head back if we're to make it to the village before dark. Lily nodded reluctantly as they started back to the Willows.

They stopped once in the early afternoon to fetch some water from the stream. They used Grace's water cup to drink from. Lily frowned as she fumbled with the cup, "I feel guilty for using her cup, but I guess we won't be seeing her again." This gave Thomas a thought, "Which also means that she won't be needing the figs and bread, either. God, I'm starved!" Tom pulled the food out of Grace's pouch and they were able to have a snack before making their way to the village. "I'm sorry we didn't find your chamomile. Do you think the other herbs will suffice if you just used them instead?" Lily sighed in defeat, "I don't know. Anne said that the chamomile is what really made the difference. I guess I can only try." The water was refreshing and the food tasted wonderful, considering how hungry they both were. Lily was fidgeting with the bag Grace left behind, when she pulled out the little pouch and began to roll it between her fingers. "I wonder what this is, anyway." She smelled of it's contents and squealed with delight, "It's chamomile! Tom, it's chamomile! Smell..." She offered the contents to Thomas. "I'd know it anywhere! Do you know what chamomile smells like?" Tom nodded, "Yes, that's what it is, alright. She probably carried it for morning sickness. Beth gave it to the women in her care all the time." Lily was startled by the name, "Beth?" "Yes, that was my wife's name." Lily shuddered and quickly put the cup and pouch back in the bag, "We'd better get going. They may be looking for us." Realizing, Thomas quickly stood, "Argh! You're right! They've probably already sent out a search party. Come...we must hurry. Hopefully, we can catch them in the woods before they get too far, so they can call it off." All the way back to the village, Lily found herself pondering what Tom had said. Beth was Tom's wife's name and she was a midwife. Oh, just a silly coincidence, thought Lily. Next thing you know, he'd be telling her that Beth had red hair like her mother, Elizabeth! Nah!...Lily chuckled at the thought.

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"How did you sleep?" "Splendid!" Lily said stretching, "First decent night's sleep I've had in a week, thanks to the tea. I'll definitely need to thank Thomas again for helping me. He is a very nice gentleman. Actually, I'm starting to feel better with the lads here in the village...well, most of them anyway." Snow giggled as if she knew exactly who Lily meant. "I really think I'll be alright to stay with Yvonne now. I don't want to be a burden on you and Mike any longer." Snow tutted, "Lily, you're not a bother. Mike doesn't mind." "Yeah, right! That was a pretty heated discussion you both had about the whole issue for Mike not to mind!" Snow turned to avoid Lily's gaze and fetched her clothes, "Oh. You heard that?" "Snow, Ben probably heard it down at the mine!" Snow spouted cheerfully, "The mine! That's right, you haven't seen it yet! I'm sure Ben is over his cold by now. When I went back to return Max and set the mirror down, he wanted to meet you, but was afraid he'd give you the cold he had. He shooed me out pretty fast myself. Would you like to go and see the mine today?" "That sounds like fun." Snow peered out the window, "Looks like such a lovely day. After breakfast, we'll just walk over. It's not too far."

Dinger and Ivanhoe had just left on their journey that morning. Lily wondered to herself if they would see Grace in their travels. After convincing Mike that they would stay together and be perfectly safe in the daylight, the two sisters set out for the mine. Of course, Mike seemed to be more convinced once she told him that Lily would be staying with Yvonne from now on. They took two packed lunches and Tweety with them. Snow pointed out the different landmarks on the way and places to find good nuts and berries in the spring. They passed the river where Snow mentioned that the fishing was good and that the men fished there quite often. Snow watched as Tweety flew from tree branch to tree branch as they walked, and she wondered, "Lily, do you ever...climb trees?" "Yes, I love to climb trees! I use them in my acrobatic training. Of course, without Nika here to show me, I guess I can only brush up on what I've learned so far. You climb trees, Snow?" "Yes, but I'd love to see what you mean by your acrobatics. Can you show me?" "Sure." Lily looked around for an adequate tree for climbing. She found one with a branch low enough that she could actually jump up to it. Snow was amazed at how high her sister could jump as she shielded the sun from her eyes looking up at Lily, "Wow! It's like you were pushed up there!" Lily raised herself up onto the branch and sat dangling her legs, "Nah! You should see me when I get a running start! Here, watch this..." Lily put her hands on the branch beside her legs and rolled herself off of the branch. Snow gasped as she watched her sister hanging by her knees and hands. She brought her legs off the branch and instead swung them underneath it, then flipped herself over letting go of the branch and landing on the ground, feet first. Snow applauded, "Wow! That was amazing! It didn't hurt, landing from so high up?" Lily brushed the snow and dirt from her legs, "Nah, I'm used to it. It's this snow I'm not accustomed to, yet! Brrrrr! Let's go!" As the girls walked, Lily told Snow of some the things Nika had taught her from back east. "That trick back there they call a 'skin the cat'...terrible name, huh? But it's really easy to do. I could show you how." Snow quickly raised her hands in opposition, "Oh no! You saw how terrible I was at dancing! I'm sure I'd fall and break something if I tried anything like that!" Lily continued to be persuasive, "Well, I'm sure I could teach you some of the self-defense moves that Nika showed me. A lady has to be prepared. Believe me, I know from personal experience." Snow could read Lily's tone and tried to sway the subject, "Did you learn how to use any weapons in your self defense, or just your...body itself?" Lily rolled her eyes, "Well, as a matter of fact, we were supposed to go over more of that next week, unfortunately. She was going to show me the best way to throw knives and even to use a sword. So far, we've only had the chance to go over one thing regarding any type of weapon...and that was just because it was her favorite." Snow tried to be helpful in offering, "Well, you know Ivanhoe is wonderful with a sword, and I think Nigel or Dinger could probably show you some things about knives." Then after a brief pause, she added, "On second thought, maybe you should just stick to learning the sword with Ivanhoe." Lily gave her an eye as Snow smiled weakly at the correction. "So what was the one weapon that Nika taught you about?" Lily hesitated, wondering if Snow would even be familiar with such an object, "Well, it's quite large--extreme, really...not something I would practice with anyone very nearby-not until I get better at it, that is. Nika's favorite pastime was...machete throwing. Of course, I don't have one to practice with anyway. It's kind of like a big sword." Snow was taken aback as her eyes widened, "A VERY big sword! I saw the men handling one once. You played with one of those?" Lily chuckled as she kicked the snow in front of her, "Yeah, Nika was a little 'extreme' herself. She always wanted to be different...take people by surprise. This was just one of her ways." Snow bit her lip as she tried to think of where the machete was that she saw that day, but she was afraid it was probably locked up with Dinger. "Are you good with one?" "Well, like I said, I wouldn't want to practice with anyone very close by...I'm a little 'wild' with them still." Snow stopped suddenly. She turned around and looked behind them. Lily looked at her puzzled and then turned and looked herself. There was nothing there. "What is it, Snow?" "I don't know. I thought I heard something. Did you?" Lily listened for a second, "No...nothing." Snow shook her head, "I just have this strange feeling...like we're being followed." Lily shrugged, "Maybe it's just Tweety." Snow gasped, "Where is Tweety? Tweety?" Snow began to look up in the trees and call around...nothing. "Now I'm worried, Lily." "Don't worry...I'm sure he'll show up. Probably just out hunting insects or something." Snow began their walk again, "Let's just get to the mine."

"Oh my God! You really are twins! Come on in!" Ben invited the girls in as he marveled over their similarities. "Boy, you two could really have some fun on a double date, couldn't you?" Snow giggled while Lily tried to ponder exactly what Ben meant by that. Come and have some ale. "Oh, you have try some of Ben's ale, Lily! It's really wonderful...and I usually don't drink ale." Ben poured the three of them some of the ale and they all sat by the fire. "Where's Max, Ben?" as Snow sipped at her drink. "He's been wandering off quite often lately. He's always beggin' to go outside, so I let him out. He'll eventually come back, but sometimes it's hours later...other times it's the next day. I can't figure him out, sometimes. Hey, Lily, you wanna see the mirror?" Snow's eyes lit up, "Yes, let's go down and see it. But we have to take Lily in the mine cart." Ben set his mug down, "Ah, yes. The mine cart." Lily looked at them both with apprehension, "What' s so special about the mine cart?" Snow smiled mischievously, "Well, I guess you'll have to wait and see!"

As Thomas worked, his thoughts drifted occasionally to thoughts of Lily. What was it about her that struck him? Ever since that day with Grace, he couldn't help but remember her gentle nature towards the young woman and her child. He could still see her at the cabin, lying with the baby and gently kissing her head. However, there was something that he couldn't figure out about Lily. Although she was kind and polite, she seemed distant at times, and unreachable. Why was she so closed off towards men? Surely, she was more used to being around men after almost two weeks, now. No, Thomas sensed that there was something else that bothered Lily...but how could he ever get her to open up enough to share her feelings with him? "Thomas!" His thoughts were distracted as Neville spotted him working in the woodshop. "What are you working on?" Tom shook off his daydreaming and proceeded to look busy, "Just this nasty lock for the jail. It's not as foolproof as I'd like." Neville smirked, "Really? So who's the fool?" He chuckled at his own joke as Tom looked at him with a questioning gaze. Neville quickly cleared his throat, "Would you be able to help me with something, Tom?" "I can try. Aren't you still staying in the surgery?" Neville added quickly, "Shhhhh! Yes, but I had to stretch my legs. I'm getting claustrophobic in there." Thomas grinned and shook and his head, "What did you have in mind?" Neville described the objects that he desired to have made. Thomas' eyes glazed over as Neville explained, "What in the world are you going to do with contraptions such as those?" Neville grinned as he shrugged, "Well, I guess you'll have to wait and see!"

Lily stumbled about, barely able to find her footing again as Ben and Snow pulled her from the mine cart at the base of the mine. Snow giggled as Lily stomped hard on the ground to be sure it was solid beneath her, "What did you think?" Lily grabbed onto Snow's shoulder as she again caught her balance, "I think I wish the world would stop so I could get off!" Ben laughed at Lily, "I thought you being a dancer would be able to handle a little ol' ride like this, easy! Well, we'll take the elevator back up, instead." Lily looked at Ben with fear in her eyes, "The 'elevator'?" Snow took her sister's arm, "Don't worry...it's not as harsh as the cart ride. It's just a quick way to get to the top. Come on. Let's go see the mirror." As they passed some stairs leading downward, Ben offered, "Down there used to be the lowest chamber. But it was flooded thanks to ol' Margurite." "Yes, she tried to kill me, but Ben saved my life." Ben turned to Snow in rebuttal, "Well, you turned right around and saved mine, too. Remember?" They both smiled at one another. Finally they came to the chamber that Ben and Mike had dug out by hand in order to rescue Snow. Ben eyed the dark walls around them, "I've been meaning to get these other chambers dug out, but ever since I've been sick, I just haven't gotten around to it." "Perhaps Mike could help you again?" Snow said innocently. "Yes, I'm sure Mike would be thrilled at your volunteering him to help me dig out mine chambers! But thanks for the thought." As the three entered the chamber, it's darkness became a dim light as Ben's lantern shown across the room. The artifacts still lie where Snow had remembered seeing them, including the mirror itself, as it rested on the ground where she had placed it. Something caught Lily's eye as she went to a bookcase and picked up an old goblet made from some sort of pottery, "Snow! Look at this! Doesn't this look just like the ones we saw in the cottage?" Snow squinted at the object in the dim light, "Yes, as a matter of fact it does. I'll bet it's one of the same." Ben stepped over to where the mirror lay and interjected in thought, "So Margurite came after you two again, eh?" Snow turned around in annoyance at the thought, "Yes. I don't know how she found us. I'm positive she didn't follow me, because do you know what I saw as I passed through the basement to exit the palace where no one would see me?" She leaned in to Ben as if she were about to relay a juicy bit of gossip, "I saw Margurite with a man in the basement...a man who was NOT my father. They were...well, you know...they were..." Ben chuckled, "I think I get the picture." Snow's angry tone continued, "I couldn't believe she would do something like that to my father...well, actually, yes I could...considering we are talking about Margurite! And with that Captain of the Guards 'Phillipe' character no less." Suddenly, Ben and Snow whirled around to the sound of something crashing to the floor. There stood Lily, at her feet...a broken pottery goblet and on her face...a look of almost sheer terror. Snow approached her sister with concern, "Lily, are you alright? You look rather pale. What is it?" Lily's gaze never left Snow as she continued to play Snow's words in her head, "Nothing. I'm fine, really." Lily managed a smile then looked down in realization, "Oh, I'm sorry, Ben. The goblet just slipped out of my hands. I'll clean it up." As Lily bent down and began picking the pieces off of the floor, Ben eyed her suspiciously, then came over and motioned for her to stand, "Nah, don't worry about that. You know, I never come down here anyway." The calm atmosphere of the peaceful cavern was suddenly interrupted by a rumbling and clattering. Ben shone his lantern back over to the direction of the disturbance...it was the mirror! Snow gasped, "It's Margurite! She's trying to get in. Maybe she hears us." Quickly, Snow rushed to the mirror and stood on top of it so that it couldn't be lifted by those on the other side. "Quickly, Lily, help Ben get something to put on top of the mirror to weight it down. The bookcase!" Ben and Lily scrambled to dump the bookcase's contents and drag it over to the mirror. All three helped to lift it up on top of the mirror. Snow stepped down relieved, "Boy, that was close. We can't let her in. We may have to bring the men down here and put something heavier on the mirror, like..." Snow stopped as she saw Lily slowing back away from the mirror and then cower down beside the cavern wall. "Lily, what is it?" Lily was tucking her knees into her chest and looking wide-eyed at the mirror, "Yes, we should bring something. We have to make sure they don't come. We can't let them in...we can't let him in..." "Him?" Snow was perplexed by her sister's strange behavior, "Lily, who do you mean by 'him'?" Lily began crying now, "What if she brings him with her? We can't let that happen..." Lily put her hand to her mouth to try to cover her crying. Snow came over and knelt beside her, "Lily...who?" Ben approached them curiously, "You mean that Phillipe guy? That's when you dropped that goblet, when Snow mentioned him. You turned white as a ghost." How intuitive Ben was, thought Snow as she watched her sister nod and then bury her face into her knees. "Why are you afraid of Phillipe Carver, Lily? He's the Captain of the Guards for the palace...has been ever since Margurite appointed him three years ago. Do you know him?" Lily's response was muffled as she spoke into her knees, "I wished I didn't." Lily raised her head and wiped under her eyes, "Remember when I told you that about a year or two ago I came to the palace. I was going to see Father and tell him who I was. I'd finally mustered the courage to come and see my father...and to see you. But then I ran away...but it wasn't because I was afraid to meet either of you...it was because of what I saw when I got to the palace." Lily couldn't help but to start crying again, "I saw him...Phillipe. I heard one of the guards say his name...the same name I'd heard him called before by the others...on that day. And then I heard another one call him 'Captain'. I had to leave before they saw me, before HE saw me." Lily looked up at Snow with her eyes overflowing with tears, "He's the one, Snow. He's the one."

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The three headed back up to the top of the mine via the elevator. In seeing that Ben was still puzzled by everything, Snow promised to fill him in on everything about Lily later. As they approached Ben's chamber, they heard Max barking and growling and carrying on. Ben went to him and patted his head. "What is it, fella?" Max continued to growl in the direction of the mine's main door. "When Max acts like this, it usually means he's spotted an intruder, like an animal or something." The band of three headed for the door led by Max. They found the door wide open, but no sign of an intruder. Ben patted Max, "Well, now we know how you got back in here, but who left the door open like this? I guess you scared 'em off, boy! Good job! I wouldn't trade this guy in for the world." Ben lovingly hugged the large wolf. He gave Ben a sloppy kiss in approval. "Yech! Well, I guess you gotta put up with some things." The girls giggled, as Ben wiped his wet face. Snow hugged Ben, "Thank you Ben for the visit. It was fun as always." Lily shook the dwarf's little hand, "Yes, Ben. It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry I was such a crybaby today...I'm not usually like that." Lily rolled her eyes at herself as Ben chuckled, "Nonsense...I'm glad you came. It was nice to meet you, too. I remember when Snow showed me the letter about you. There was nothing that was going to stop her from finding you, short of tying her to a chair. And I'm not even sure that would've stopped her!" The sisters smiled at each other, then bid Benjamin good-bye.

The mood in the village for the next few days was gloomy. It was the evening after the funeral, and no one had much to say at dinner. Snow didn't know what to say to Karen at all. She felt terribly guilty for ever calling Dinger a "barbarian" under the circumstances, even if no one else knew about it...Snow knew. That night in their cabin, Mike and Snow sat on the floor by the fire, with her head resting upon his chest. Lily rocked nearby in a wooden rocking chair as they silently relived their memories of Dinger in their thoughts. Mike brushed his hand through Snow's hair, "It's really difficult for me to accept this particular event...for all of the men in the Willows, I would imagine." Snow looked up at her husband, eager for his words on the matter, "See, all of us men here appeared in this village in ways none of us can explain. But for all of us, death has never been something we have had to experience. For Thomas or Duncan for example, they appeared in the village just before their demise back in their own times. If they hadn't been sent to the village at the moment they were, they would have been killed...same for Edward and Ribold. So I'm not sure what this means for all of us...what exactly 'death in the Willows' represents. It's never really been anything we've had to deal with. Rather than dying, the men were just sent here. For me, I was in my kitchen in my new apartment, with a fairly new job. I was grinding fresh coffee beans, when "poof"...suddenly I'm in a strange kitchen in an old fashioned village in the middle of nowhere. So the difference for me, I suppose, is that I wasn't about to face death before I was sent here to the Willows...unless my coffee grinder were about to fly out of control and 'grind' me to death." Snow giggled. "But of course, I doubt that highly." Mike began reminiscing, "I remember just standing there in my apron, looking at my strange new surroundings in the kitchen. I wondered if I were having some sort of hallucination from the aroma of some strange African Sumatra, when Dinger came through the kitchen door. Surprised to see me, his reflexes were still unfazed as he grabbed my arms, pinning me to the floor and yelling for the others. The other men didn't seem as surprised as I was that we all looked so much alike. Of course, that's because they were used to this fact. Dinger questioned me all night in the jail. I could barely keep my eyes open, while he sat wide-awake, puffing on that cigarette of his...as though there were some kind of magic 'stay awake' potion in its tobacco. God, I'm gonna miss that ol' bloke!" He pulled Snow into him tighter, as if to shield her from the very wolves that took his friend's life. Snow put her arms around his waist in response and hugged him back, "We all will, Mike. We all will."

The next day, the village mood still seemed so sad. There must be a way to try and put the village in better spirits, thought Snow. Then, the thought struck her. She grabbed the tambourine, "Lily, I have a new song that I thought I'd sing for you. It's a bit cheerier than the one we've been rehearsing with Stevie, and under the circumstances, I thought it may cheer up the village a bit when we perform it. I just don't know that Stevie would be up to playing the dulcimer just yet. He's really down. Perhaps we should make him part of the audience for this one. It would be a good tune for you to dance to I think, and the tambourine would probably go along nicely as well." Lily smiled with a raised brow, "Hmmmm. Well, let's go! The girls began to practice in a clearing nearby just inside the woods for privacy. Joined by a suddenly appearing Tweety, Snow sang a folk song with a fairly good dance rhythm that Lily thought perfect indeed to perform for the village. As Lily thought up steps in her head and jingled the tambourine in cheerful harmony to Snow's tune, their recent gloomy thoughts dissipated. Finally, after choreographing what Snow considered to be a lovely routine, Lily giggled to herself, "Now, we're in for the hard part." Snow cocked her head to one side, "What's that?" "We'll have to do this one all by ourselves, no instruments to back us up!" The two girls' laughed as they heard Mike's voice approaching, "Ah ha! I hear laughing. That means those two lovely girls are around here somewhere." Mike popped his head around the corner of a tree and Snow glided over and took his hand, "Yes, here we are. We were practicing for a song and dance we are going to do for everyone. Perhaps it will cheer up the mood in the village." "Can't wait to see it. I just thought I'd come and see what you were up to." Lily grinned, "Snow, you go and visit with Mike. I'll just hang around here and go through these steps some more. I know that I've stolen you away from your husband long enough." Mike shrugged, "That's alright." Snow looked back at her sister with Mike still holding her hand, "Are you sure you don't want to practice some more?" "Of course! You two go on, please. Maybe then I won't feel so guilty!" Snow smiled at her sister and then turned and left with Mike. After a few steps he squeezed her hand and whispered, "I have missed you all morning, not to mention all night last night! I think I'm suffering withdrawal from you, darling." Snow grinned, "Oh really? Well, maybe it will help your symptoms to know that since Lily hasn't been having nightmares now, she will be staying with Yvonne from now on." Mike stopped and looked at Snow, his expression was one of surprised delight. Quickly he picked up Snow and whirled her around as she squealed in his arms. As he set her down, he gazed lovingly into her eyes, "Sorry...I just had to do that. I haven't done it in so long. You're just too fun to hold!" She smiled at him suspiciously, "Hmmm...I can only guess what plans you have for us today." Mike raised his brow and clutched her tightly to him, "On the contrary, after the news you just gave me, I think we'll save that till tonight."

Lily went over the steps of the new dance a few times while humming Snow's folk tune. For one of her turns, she slipped on a patch of ice hurling her toward the brush. Her fall was broken by a figure stepping out of his hiding place just in time to catch her. The momentum was enough to bring him to his knees as she lay in his arms. Lily was stunned, unable to make a sound. It was one of them...the Willows men. Her first instinct would usually be fear, but as she looked into this young man's eyes she wasn't afraid. He was one of the clean shaven fellows and his hair fell carelessly but neatly along the sides of his face. His attire was plain, as opposed to some of the men's clothing styles, and covered with a short jacket, as they call them. His eyes met hers for a few seconds as though the man had willed it so. They were brown and warm and seem to twinkle in the reflection of the snow covered ground. He was actually quite handsome thought Lily...much like her brother-in-law, which of course she'd never admit to thinking such a thing to her sister. So which one of the men was this? She knew it would take her at least a month to get all of the names straight. She had never been good with names as it was. "Oh my goodness, I'm...I mean I guess I tripped." The man smiled, "Are you alright? Sometimes this nasty snow can be very slippery," he offered as he helped her to her feet. Then it occurred to Lily...how is it he just happened to step out of the brush just in time to keep her from falling flat on her face, unless...he'd been hiding there. Hiding...why? Had he been spying on her, watching her dance? "Excuse me, um...?" "Neville." "Yes, right Neville. I'm terrible with names, really." He was going to help brush her off, then changed his mind, "It's alright. I'm sure it will be a while for you to learn everyone's names. I'm actually faced with the same problem," he chuckled slightly. Lily's tone remained sober, "Yes, quite. But Neville, if I may ask...why were you hiding in the brush?" Neville blinked a few times and stepped back a step, "Hiding? I wasn't hiding, I was just..." Lily folded her arms, "Spying! You were spying on me!" "No! I'd never do...I was just watching you, I mean you dance so..." "See...you WERE spying then!" Neville found himself speechless as Lily's stern look awaited an answer. He sighed and hung his head, "Yeah, I guess I was. It's just," he returned his gaze back to the lovely yet annoyed girl, "that you dance so beautifully. I really enjoy watching you. But that's no excuse...I shouldn't have been sneaking around like that. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry." "I thought you were staying in the surgery? You must not be all that sick if you're sneaking out to spy on people!" Lily squinted at him in thought, "You were here the other day, weren't you? You were the crow I heard in the brush." Embarrassed, Neville rolled his eyes, "Caw, caw!" he repeated the sound of a crow in a rather life-like manner. Lily stared at him in wonder for a few seconds in remembering that she really did think he was a crow in the bushes that day. As hard as Lily tried to look angry, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. Relieved, Neville also joined in laughing, "You're not mad, then?" Lily paused a second and looked at him, her arms still folded, "No, I'm not mad," she sighed. "But next time if you really want to see a dance, please just ask me...I don't mind. OK?" Neville gave an embarrassed grin, "OK." Lily continued, "That way, I can be sure and not slip on patches of snow and what have you." Neville winked at her, "Yes, but then you wouldn't have fallen into my arms. That was the best part." Lily suddenly felt uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say to such a statement. That was what Nika would have called a "come on". Lily's response to such situations in the past was always to shy away and become suddenly too busy to talk to the man. But this particular moment was different, thought Lily. She didn't want to feel a discomfort every time a gentleman spoke to her...especially a rather nice-looking one like this handsome fellow. But old habits die hard, and Lily averted her gaze to the nearby tambourine on the ground and began quickly over to fetch it, "Actually, it's difficult to dance without music. I have absolutely no faith in my singing, so perhaps another time when we have some music." As Lily started to leave the clearing, Neville gently grasped her arm, "Please don't go. Maybe we could just talk, then?" Startled, Lily resisted her first instinct to pull away from him and instead noticed the look in his eyes once again. It was almost a pleading look, perhaps a desperate attempt in not wanting her to leave his presence. She then wondered how many times this man had watched her practicing in the woods in the past week and a half or so. Lost in Lily's blue eyes, Neville finally caught his tongue and continued his thought, "I mean since we're the 'newcomers' here, I'm sure we'd probably have lots to talk about." Still not moving her arm, Lily inquired politely, "Like what?" "Well..." After a second as he released Lily's forearm, he triumphantly came up with, "So what do you think of ol' Natalie? Quite a character, isn't she?" Lily smiled as the man heartily chuckled. Seeing a harmlessness in his warm brown eyes, she added, "Yes. She is." Neville spotted a large log and started over to it, "She flirts with everyone...well, all the guys, that is." Neville sat down on the log and Lily beside him, "I'm not really sure about her. I don't think my sister is, either." Neville leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting them upon his knees, "So for years, you've had a sister and father, but you couldn't do anything about it...couldn't go tell them who you were. Did you ever try?" Lily fumbled with the ribbons dangling from the tambourine, "I tried once." "What happened?" Lily kept her gaze on the ribbons, "I just changed my mind." Neville shook his head in wonder, "Wow, I can't imagine knowing you have such close family out there and not being able to do anything about it. It must have been hard." Lily nodded sadly, instead thinking of the adoptive family she left behind. "Hey!" The couple jumped at the sudden voice of a visitor. They hadn't even heard anyone approaching when the small dwarf suddenly stood before them. "Lily?" She nodded and was proud of herself for remembering this fellow's name...Ben. "Do you know where your sister is? I have to show her something. You should come too." Ben looked at Neville, "OK...now I feel like an idiot. I don't remember your name." He smiled, "Neville. I just got here a short while back." "Oh good. Well, at least I don't feel like a total idiot, then. I've been sick the past couple days or so...caught a nasty cough. Let's go and fetch Snow. I need to show her something at the mine."

Lily, Neville, Snow, and Mike all followed Ben to the mine. As they entered the rock face, Ben appeared excited, "I finally found out why Max was acting so strangely. Just wait till you see!" As they walked down the hall, they could barely hear tiny faint noises coming from ahead. The foursome entered Ben's chamber to find Max sitting proudly over by the fire. Next to him on a blanket was another wolf...a female wolf. Just below her was the source of the tiny yelping sounds. There lying on the blanket were five adorable baby wolf cubs. Snow gasped, "Puppies! Oh, they are so cute!" Ben chuckled, "Yeah, Max came in here today and dragged me over to a hollow tree by the stream. There they were! I put them in the wagon and brought them here. The mother is remarkably gentle. I guess Max told her not to be afraid of me in 'wolf talk' or whatever, since she didn't try to fight me. So that's what's been up with Max...he's a daddy!" Mike squeezed Snow's hand at the 'daddy' comment. But when Snow looked at him, he couldn't think of what to say except a stammering, "Cute, huh?" Lily squatted down for a better look, as the mother seemed unfazed by the visitors, "I sure am glad dogs don't need midwives...I've never delivered puppies before." Ben patted Max on the head, "When they get old enough Snow, why don't you take one...or take as many as you like. I don't know what I'd do with them." Snow squealed with delight, "Really?" Snow whirled around to look at Mike as a terrible thought came to her, "But the men have been cooking the wolves lately whenever they've attacked. You don't think..." Mike squeezed her hand again, "No one would hurt a puppy...besides, it's my kitchen and my rules!" Snow gave a sigh of relief and sat back down with her sister. Neville leaned over to Mike while the girls were ogling over the cubs, "Considering they are wolves, we'd probably better check with the others first, right? We don't want them to lose their heads over this or anything, eh? I hear they have a tendency to do that." Mike chuckled lightly and nodded. However, the thought did occur to him that a wolf, even a puppy, would never be welcomed into the village given what happened to Dinger. They may have to re-think the idea.

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"Thank you, Snow! It's lovely...just like yours!" "Except this one has your name on it." Lily admired the colorful coffee bean bracelet that Snow made for Lily from Mike's expertise. On separate beads of the bracelet was her name carefully painted in White, 'Lily Beth White'. The beans were darker in color so that the white name would show up better. Lily hugged Snow, "See, you're becoming more like Mike all the time...so creative!" Snow smiled at the thought of acquiring more of her beloved husband's creativity. "Oh, and I almost forgot...here is some more kava from Karen. She said she had just misplaced her larger container of it, and she asked me to give you a little more now that she found it." Snow handed a small vial of kava extract to Lily. "Thank you! I'll just put this away right now, before I forget." Lily walked to Yvonne's bookcase where Lily kept her tea ingredients. She had adopted the little purse that Grace left behind at the cabin by the mountains and stored all of her tiny herb pouches and extract vials in it. As Lily approached the bookcase, she frowned. The purse wasn't there. She began sliding the books to and fro, "Hmmm." She sat back, puzzled. "What is it?" as Snow came and crouched beside her. "Grace's purse with my teas...it's not here. I know it was here last night, even this morning. But it isn't here now." She sighed heavily, "Maybe Yvonne moved it. I'll ask her later. Oh well, at least I won't need it for another week or so. Thank goodness I don't need the tea nightly or I'd be out herb-hunting every week!"

"Here you go, Neville." Thomas handed him two pairs of boots with a metal blade contraption on the bottom of each boot sole. "I hope you know what you're doing. If you wear those anywhere, you're likely to fall and break something, much less try to slide around the ice with them." Neville picked up the two pairs of homemade ice skates and eyed them approvingly, "You done good, Thomas! These will do great!" Tom shook his head as he watched Neville put the larger boot up to his shoe to compare the size, "So who is the extra pair for? Don't tell me you know of someone else in the village who can do this 'ice walking'..." "Ice skating." Neville corrected. "Alright...ice skating. Who is going to take the big risk with you?" Neville smiled very big and said proudly, "Lily." "Lily!" Tom was horrified and grasped for the first excuse he could think of, "But...she wouldn't know the first thing about walking on these contraptions. You could get her leg broken, Neville." "Nah...been there, done that. She's not gonna break her leg. She's a dancer...I'm bettin' that she takes to ice skating like a fish takes to water." He smiled as he pictured her dancing style on the ice in his thoughts, "She's gonna be absolutely lovely on the ice, Tom. I can't wait to see her. Hopefully, we still have just enough cold weather left to not melt the ice too soon. Well, thanks for makin' 'em for me. Gotta go make my date, now. Wish me luck!" As Thomas watched Neville happily stride away, he plopped down in his chair. Furious, he muttered to himself, "If I'd have known this whole thing was about flirting with Lily, I never would have agreed to make the infernal things." Or once more, thought Thomas, perhaps he could have made Neville's shoes defective at that. Suddenly, Thomas caught himself in such a horrible thought toward his new Willows brother. Even though Neville wasn't present, he apologized out loud to the man, then pondered what possessed him to think such a thought. Lily? Was he actually feeling jealousy over Lily?

"Ice skating? What's that?" Lily looked at Neville with raised eyebrows at an activity she had not heard of before. "Well, you wear these..." he pulled the skates from behind his back, "And you glide on the ice on the metal edges." He demonstrated by pushing the skate's metal edge along the palm of his hand. "See, back where I come from, they have these big tournaments with folks doing ice skating." Neville thought about the great English pair skaters Torvill and Dean, but quickly brushed away the thought knowing he was no Christopher Dean. "They do jumps and leaps and turns...it's a really hot sport where I come from. And with you being such the wonderful dancer that you are, I just knew that you could probably take to skating faster than anyone." Neville could see the less-than-enthralled look on Lily's face, "C'mon...give it a try, eh? I'll be there skating with ya. I've done it a few times, I can help ya." Lily's suspicious gaze switched back and forth from Neville to the strange shoes he held in his hands then back to Neville, as he tried to convince her to engage in this foolhardy sounding 'sport', as he called it. To glide on ice by using shoes balanced on nothing but metal edges seemed quite preposterous to Lily. "I think I could do better barefoot Neville, if it weren't for the ice being so cold. Those things look down right dangerous to me!" "Just give it a try, and then if you don't like it, we can go...I promise." Lily wasn't sure if she was more nervous about trying to glide on ice with metal blade-bottomed shoes, or simply going and doing an activity alone with this man she barely knew. She just didn't feel like she could take that chance, "Can Snow come along? Being twins, we wear the same shoes. I'd kind of like to see how she does on the ice, myself." Neville's heart dropped. He was so looking forward to having the opportunity of getting to know the little dancer without company. But alas, it was better than having one of the men go with them. "Um...sure, I suppose...if you don't mind switching your skates around. I only have the two pair, and mine are quite a bit bigger." Lily smiled, halfway relieved, "Great. I'll go fetch her." Lily made her way to Snow's cabin as she pondered the idea of people having 'tournaments' of this ice skating sport. How interesting, thought Lily. Then another thought occurred to Lily, 'Did Neville just ask me on a "date", as Kahlua called them the other day?' Though flattered at the realization, Lily was then even more glad that she were bringing Snow along.

For probably the twentieth time, Snow found herself sitting on her backside on the ice once again. "Ouch! OK, I know I'll be bruised tomorrow...that's for sure." Neville stopped at the edge of the small shallow pond and whirled around on his blades, "I don't think Mike will appreciate my bruising up his wife's ar..." "Snow can you get up?" Lily watched her sister struggle to stand up on the ice skates, "Each time I fall, it's even that much harder to get back up the next time. Just like the dancing thing--put a fork in me...I think I'm done, as Mike would say." Lily slid out onto the frozen pond in her sandals and helped up her sister, "I'm sorry...my fault. I guess I thought you'd like it. I should have remembered the dancing thing." "It's alright, " as Snow rubbed her backside, "at least this way, you can have the skates back. You were looking like a real natural out there." Lily helped pull Snow up onto the bank, "Yeah, I caught on faster than I thought I would. Perhaps you could sit and watch for a while?" "On the contrary, I don't think I'll be able to sit...not on my rump, anyway." The pain throughout the lower part of Snow's body seemed to overshadow her remembrance of Lily's fear of being alone with a man. "If you don't mind, I'll think I'll go on back to the village. Would you be terribly upset?" Lily hid her concerns about being alone with Neville, "Of course not. You go on and rest." Snow gave a smile that she hoped wouldn't show the pain she felt in her backside as she turned to leave, "Have fun, Lily." Lily sat down and put on the ice skates as Neville glided casually around the pond. Their skating surface was a shallow extension to the Willows lake that jutted out into a semi-round pond-like structure. Where it attached to the deeper part of the lake, Neville carefully placed logs and branches so that they wouldn't skate onto the thinner portions of the ice. As Lily laced up her last skate, she watched Neville on the ice. His strong legs seem to glide his feet across the smooth cold surface effortlessly. As tall as he was and as broad as his shoulders were, Lily was surprised that his balance was so good. She remembered him mentioning that he played a lot of water sports, none of the names of them Lily could recall at the moment. So since ice was frozen water, Lily figured, that was why it seemed so easy to him. She actually wasn't sure. One thing Lily was sure of though, was that Neville was very physically active and therefore, strong...yet, she wasn't as afraid to be there at the pond alone with him as she thought she would be. Just as she'd noticed before, Neville was quite handsome...perhaps even the most handsome of all the Willows men in Lily's opinion. And also, he was quite nice, and not to mention attentive...especially to her, lately. But still she held that continuing nervousness in the back of her mind that reminded her that this was supposedly a 'date'...whatever that entailed. That was what concerned her the most. So, even out of sheer habit, she kept up that 'guard' of hers that she'd clung to with such urgency all these years...never allowing herself the weakness that comes with being attracted to someone...either physically or emotionally. "You ready Lily?" Her inner banter back and forth in her mind was suddenly halted by Neville's sliding to a halt in front of her. The icy spray of the blade's effects danced lightly upon her arm, "Sure." Knowing that he was better at this activity than she, Lily trustingly took Neville's outstretched hand as he led her once again onto the pond's surface, this time with no sisterly cheering section on the sidelines. The breeze blew through her long skirt and jostled the little tufts of hair she had jutting out from her gypsy scarf. Very rarely did she ever let her hair down for others to see. In fact here in the Willows, it had only been roommates Snow, Yvonne and brother-in-law Mike who had seen her dark shoulder length locks with their red-dye streaks. "How do you feel about this, Lily? Is your balance steady? You think you've got it pretty well down? A little while ago you really seemed to be tearing it up out there." 'Tearing it up'...Lily assumed that this was a complimentary term and she smiled at him. As she looked at him this time, Neville's countenance seemed to be different. Before, he was watching as if he were a teacher, prepared to help if she or Snow were to fall. But now he seemed to look at her differently, as though he were more an admirer never taking his eyes from her gaze nor letting her hand leave his own. She began to take a little more comfort in his attentive behavior and kindness and was actually enjoying this new thing called 'skating'. "I like the gliding part...it's a very graceful feeling. You're right in that it's similar to dancing, but smoother. You can feel the breeze on your face and never have to lift your leg to take a step. It's amazing...almost like flying!" He turned them both around in one sweeping motion. "I would like to get better at this Neville...I really do enjoy it. Too bad you can only skate in the winter time." Neville smiled and whirled her about as they came to the pond's edge to repeat their circle around the ice, "Only here, that is. Where I come from, they have indoor skating rinks where they have special freezers under your feet that can keep it frozen all year long. You can go ice skating in the dead heat of summer if you want to. Of course, I'm usually surfing rather than skating in the summer." 'Surfing'...that was the name of one of those water sports he'd talked about before, Lily thought. "So what were all the water sports you said you liked and how do you perform them?" Neville grinned proudly, happy to be able to discuss subjects that he knew so much about, "Well, in surfing, you see, you get on this smooth board about like this wide." He lifted up her hand and used his other hand to span an area in the air of about a foot and a half. "Then you ride it into the ocean on your belly and ya paddle out to where the waves are comin' in, right? Well, then once you see a big wave comin', ya stand up on the board like so and just ride that puppy in!" He mimicked standing on a board with his arms outstretched as if he were balancing on the ocean, moving them up and down with Lily's hand still in his. The moving of their arms caused them both to become off balance rather than in balance, and Lily started to slip forward. Using his quick reflexes, Neville caught her in his arms, bringing them very closely face to face. He was suddenly mesmerized by Lily's icy blue eyes and peachy complexion. Although, he'd felt guilty spying on her dancing practices all those many times, he wasn't sorry he had. Already drawn to her graceful dancing, he now found her appearance stunning. He couldn't help but imagine how she would look with her two-tone hair draped softly around her cheeks and brushing lightly against her neck. Lily was stunned briefly, as her gaze was captured by Neville's. His brown eyes seem to warmly convey to Lily his attraction to her as his strong arms continued to hold her close to him. Though he rather enjoyed the flirtatious nature of Natalie at times, being here with Lily was altogether different. Once again Lily began to feel the inner battle within her own self. One part of her was starving for the tenderness she'd never had from a man...the tenderness she thought she saw there in Neville's eyes. She could almost envision a time that she longed for...a time where she would no longer be afraid. Someday she would find a comfort in the arms of someone who could wash her fear away like a spring rain, that someday she could actually be...loved. When would that day be? Could it be...now? Her guarded half was suddenly reminded that she barely knew this man, and no matter how handsome he may appear to be, he was no different than the strangers in the audiences she performed for. As always, her weaker side longing for tenderness succumbed to her inner guardian, who was too cautious to allow any man to offer that tenderness to her. But her inner struggle threw her usual guarded ways off. Where she would normally make a cool and casual remark before slipping away quickly, Neville's caring expression turned her words into a stuttering collection of nonsense, "S-so would the waves ever throw your guard off like that...I mean your balance?" Although it was difficult, being the gentleman he was, Neville resisted the urge to kiss Lily. In seeing an uneasiness in her eyes, he gently released her onto the ice and chuckled, "Oh yes, all the time. Sorry about that. I get a little carried away sometimes when it comes to surfing. I suppose that's what brought me here in the first place...surfed through some sort of time portal, or something. You were lucky...at least you knew you were coming! Me...one minute I'm enjoying the sun and surf and the next minute I'm freezing my blasted arse off!" Neville's openness made Lily laugh, which felt much better to her than her usual guarded ways. Neville enjoyed hearing Lily laugh. He could see the uneasiness in Lily release, as she enjoyed the freedom of gliding on the ice. A twinkle lit itself in Neville's eye as he watched Lily glide about, enjoying the smooth sensation of 'flying', like she mentioned. The words came to him as his eyes followed her around the pond, "She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories, where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky. Now and then when I see her face, she takes me away to that special place, and if I stared too long...I'd probably break down and cry. Oh, sweet child o' mine. Oh, oh, sweet love of mine." Lily blushed at his singing to her, "Did you come up with that just now?" Neville briefly looked around, and after a second in thought offered, "Yes, just for you Lily...a sweet gypsy child." He took her hand and kissed it, then brought her in front of him facing outward, putting one hand gently on her waist, and leading her hand with his other one around the ice, "She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they thought of rain. I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain. Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place, where as a child I'd hide...and pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by. Oh, sweet child o' mine. Oh, oh, sweet love of mine." She felt his soft warm breath close to her ear in combination with the chilly breeze on their faces as they skated. With him leading their direction, Lily closed her eyes and lost herself in the quite literal 'frozen' moment in time. Neville's song sank into her thoughts to where she began to meditate on the words too much. 'Could he really see pain in her eyes to write it into a song like that? And could she perhaps appear as a child because of the fear others see in her eyes? Was she really that transparent?' Suddenly, Lily felt very vulnerable, and it frightened her. Her fear quickly overshadowed her pleasure in skating with Neville and she pulled away, "Neville, that was lovely, really. But I think we should head back now." Neville was stunned as Lily quickly glided over to the bank. He gently caught her arm, "Lily, what is it? Did I say something..." "No, of course not. I've had a lovely time. Perhaps we can do it again another time." Neville liked that idea, but he couldn't help but be puzzled by her sudden urge to want to leave. He hoped it wasn't his singing. As he joined her on the bank to change into their regular shoes, he couldn't help but fear just that...it was his singing.

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"No, sorry, Lily. I haven’t seen it." Lily sighed as she peered over at the bookcase one last time. "I know it was there just yesterday. You remember what the purse looks like, right?" Yvonne nodded, "Mmmhmm. Tan…filled with pouches and vials. But I know I didn’t move it." Remembering the horror that Lily went through before she found the tea ingredients, Yvonne put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I’m sure it’ll turn up soon. You were probably just thinking of something else when you put it away and forgot where you put it, that’s all." Lily smiled at her and then went on outside. Dinner would be ready soon, and she knew that her sister was helping Mike in the kitchen. Not wishing to bother them anymore, Lily contemplated practicing her dancing with that wonderful contraption that Snow introduced her to called a ‘boombox’. What was even more curious was the new style music Snow said most of the Willows folk favored. What was it she said it was called? Oh, yes…’rock and roll’. She thought it had quite a cheerful beat and was good to dance to. She was able to transfer her traditional motions into a more ‘up beat’ paced dance style, especially for the Mardi Gras celebration that Jennifer was planning for the Willows. She and Snow were cooking up a special number for that. Maybe she could get Stevie to join in for this performance as their instrumentation on the dulcimer, because she just felt so guilty practicing to the sounds of the boombox since the source of its power was so limited. What were they called again? Batteries? Curious objects. So instead, Lily headed over to the barn to say ‘hello’ to the horses when she was hailed by a familiar voice…of course all the men’s voices seemed familiar to her. "Hi Lily!" It was Thomas. He was stepping out of the woodshop, smiling. Lily gasped, realizing that she had forgotten to thank Tom for all of his help with the herbs the other day. She had been so wrapped up in making the tea when they returned, she had all too quickly rushed off before thanking him properly. "Tom! I’m glad you’re here!" Cheerfully, she skipped up to him and kissed Tom on the cheek. Taken totally by surprise, he couldn’t even get the words out before Lily offered, "That is to thank you for helping me fetch all those herbs the other day. I’ve been meaning to thank you proper. I just wasn’t at my best that day…hadn’t had much sleep and all." Tom produced a goofy smile as he couldn’t help but notice that she most definitely seem to appear like she was at her best, now. She wore a cheerful disposition and a healthy glow on her face. Tom turned back to the table in the mill so as not to be caught staring, "Well, you’re very welcome…anytime, Lily. So, I hear you went ice skating with Neville." He tried to sound positive about it, but couldn’t help but feel he’d failed in his attempt. Lily didn’t even notice, "Yes, it was lovely. I really liked it. How did you know?" Tom quickly looked up, then thought himself foolish for actually thinking Neville would tell Lily where the skates came from, "Oh, well…er…Neville had asked me to make the skates, and I was just hoping that they were adequate enough to suit the purpose." "You made the skates? How wonderful! You do metal work?" Tom shrugged, "Some, yes." Remembering back to her conversation with her sister, Lily suddenly fashioned a mischievous grin, "I know that Ivanhoe is going to be out of commission for a while. So…could you possibly make something for me?" Tom lifted his head proudly and smiled, "Of course, love. What did you have in mind?"

After dinner that evening, the folks in the main hut made themselves comfortable relaxing before the fire. Yvonne sat with Lily and Kahlua giving them both lessons on the finer points of knitting. Karen sat by the fire reading a book on natural herbs so intensely, you’d have thought she was reading a murder mystery. Anything to get her thoughts off what had plagued her that week. Stevie was toying with some Mardi Gras beads Jennifer had brought back from her trip. Lasher was playing with them as well, and decided to turn it into a tug-of-war. Stevie’s resisting and giggling seemed to encourage the cat all the more. Jenn watched him smiling as she sat on Ribold’s lap, his arms about her as if he’d never let her go. "Oi, Jenn!" as Stevie continued his game with Jennifer’s cat, "Are ya gonna start dec’ratin’ the Willows for Mardi Gras tomorra?" Jennifer smiled as Ribold gave her a squeeze, "Sure, Stevie. Ya know we’ll need all th’ help we can get. I hope everyone is up ta pitchin’ in." Kahlua still eyeing her knitting, nodded, "Sounds like fun." "Sounds like a bore," uttered the dark-haired witch hunter under her breath. But her words didn’t escape Jenn’s keen sense of hearing. "Hey, anyone for cards?" Sitting at the dining table, Neville pulled a deck from his pocket and began to shuffle them in his hands. "What’s your game?" Stunned, the folks in the room looked in Lily’s direction in wonder of where she heard such terminology. Lily smiled and silently thanked her sister for educating her on card playing. Not phased at all by Lily’s statement, Neville confidently spouted, "Blackjack 21." "Nah… Five card draw!" Lily excused herself from the knitting lesson that she was relieved to escape from, as she laid down her tangled mess of string and headed over to the table. "Count me in, too." Thomas headed over to the game and promptly sat next to Lily, as if to keep an eye on Neville. Neville was oblivious to Tom’s intent, as he was about to deal the cards. "Whoa! You gotta have more than three players." Natalie also decided to invite herself to the game. She took her time in her stride to the table as she wriggled in a chair so close to Neville, it caused him to have to move his chair over a little. He tried to act as if he didn’t notice, although the nervousness was becoming evident in his voice, "Alright then…now we got four." As Lily rearranged the cards in her hand, she raised her eyebrows thoughtfully, "You know, I wish that we could find some other source of power for that ‘boombox’, since the batteries are so limited. I think that skating to music would be lovely…" "I think it’s a waste of time, personally, " Natalie interrupted. Thomas resisted the urge to laugh, seeing as how he had felt quite ‘hostile’ toward the ice skating excursion under the circumstances. "What are you betting, man?" Thomas asked as Neville’s blank stare toward the wall gave him the inclination that he was not in the game at the moment, especially when he blurted, "Another source of power?" Natalie gave him a puzzled look as she set her cards down, "Earth to Nev…hello? You playing or what?" Neville shook himself from his daze, "Oh, sorry. Yeah, see ya and raise ya two." The most interesting idea popped into his head, and his mind was no longer on the game after that. Natalie seemed to take advantage of the situation and cleaned him out. Of course it didn’t go unnoticed by Lily that whenever Natalie would deal, she appeared to deal her cards from the bottom of the deck. No matter. Had they not just been betting coffee beans, Lily may have been more inclined to mention it, but she simply waved it off as ‘typical Natalie’, as Kahlua would say. Lily strolled over and picked up her knitting again. While Neville was distracted with Natalie’s flirting, Tom took advantage and went over to sit with Lily. He hesitated before speaking, wondering why his tongue seem to be in knots all of a sudden, "I wanted to tell you, Lily, how wonderful I thought you were that night with Grace and the baby. You really seem to have a gift. Midwives really need that gentleness in order to excel, in my opinion. And you have a very gentle way about you." Lily looked up from her poor attempt at knitting and smiled gently, "Well, thank you Tom. That means a lot coming from someone who’s own wife was a midwife herself. Beth, right?" Tom smiled thoughtfully and nodded. Lily sighed in frustration at her futile knitting project, "Well, this is really going nowhere. I suppose I should just stick to music." She set down her knitting and looked back at Thomas innocently, "So tell me, Tom…do you play chess?" Thomas smiled and winked back at her. "Hey!" Jenn’s sudden holler made Ribold jump, "I have an idea! Les put all th’ guys’names in a hat an’ draw fo’ who’s gonna be th’ ‘King of the Willows Mardi Gras’! Tradition says th’ King of Mardi Gras is always a fine an’ prominent businessman of high community standin’. So since you’re all fine…" she secretly squeezed a bit of Ribold’s side still sitting on his lap, "…and prominent, I would think all y’all should be up for th’ drawin’." The other ladies heartily agreed and put all of the fellows’ names in Nigel’s hat. Jennifer gave Stevie the honors of drawing out the name. "Oi! It’s Raif! Raif’s gonna be the King ‘a the Willows Mardi Gras!" Jennifer squealed, "How absolutely hilarious! See, th’ King of th’ Mardi Gras is always referred to as ‘Rex’, or Latin fo’ ‘King’." In Stevie’s excitement, he was practically jumping up and down, "Oi! Raif…you’re Rex! Bugger me! I’ll bet ya set this whole thing up, eh? Nah, jus’ kiddin!" Stevie lightly punched him on the arm while Raif looked dumbfounded at the whole idea. "‘S’ ow’d ya do that, Raif? No, no…it’s Rex, now! Yeah, it’s Rex! We gotta call ya Rex for the whole Mardi Gras!" Chuckles began around the room both at Stevie’s obvious excitement, but more so at Raif’s puzzled and fearful look at the whole idea of being ‘King’ of something called ‘Mardi Gras’…which he knew nothing about. "Now we gotta have a theme!" Jenn continued, "Anybody got any suggestions?" Stevie kept his excited tone, "Wha’ ‘bout music?" He looked over at the sisters and they shook their heads and blushed at the thought. "I guess ‘sex’ is out of the question," Nigel sneered as Kahlua rolled her eyes at him. Ivanhoe stepped closer into the light as he rubbed one of his bandaged hands, "No, even better…what about a tribute to the women of the Willows? I think it’d be the least we could do to show our thankfulness that they arrived here with us." He gave a quick glance at Karen, who smiled politely, but then lowered her gaze with a slow sadness. "I second that!" came Mike’s boisterous voice of approval as he gave Snow’s hand a loving squeeze. "I think we have a winner…," as Ribold pulled Jennifer into him a little tighter, "…looks like the theme for this year’s Mardi Gras is ‘A Tribute to the Women of the Willows’."

"I have a surprise for you!" Snow giggled as she helped Mike with the dishes in the kitchen after the Mardi Gras ‘King’ and theme had been chosen. "What is it?" "You’ll have to find out when you get back to the cabin. But you have to give me a head start." Mike stopped and eyed her curiously, "Hmmm. Sounds like my kind of surprise already. Can you give me a hint?" Snow grinned and dried her hands on a dish towel, "Well, it’s something I made..." Mike nodded, "Sounds interesting." "…to wear, " she finished. Mike gave her a huge smile, "Well, don’t let me keep you, then." He grabbed the towel out of her hands and began to push her towards the kitchen door, "Off you go, darling!" Snow headed back to her cabin giggling at her husband’s antics, when she felt her cloak snag on something. As she turned around, she saw that it was actually Tweety tugging on it, as if trying to pull her in another direction. "Tweety, what are you doing? Come on, I’ve got to get to the cabin. Besides it’s cold out here." But the bird was determined to get Snow to follow him. Reluctantly, Snow sighed and followed her little feathered friend to one of the other cabins. "Tweety, this is Natalie’s cabin. I’m not going in there." Tweety began pecking at the door so forcefully, that Snow was afraid he would put a hole in the wood that Natalie would notice, so she proceeded to go in. To her surprise, it was unlocked. Immediately, Tweety flew over to a small table in the corner of the room and landed next to an object that made Snow gasp when she saw it. Quickly, she walked over and picked up the tan purse that Lily had so desperately been looking for. "Lily’s tea! What is it doing here?" Snow looked at Tweety, "Now why would Natalie take Lily’s dream tea?"

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"Snow, did you say you found the tea at Natalie’s?" Snow nodded at Yvonne’s curious gasp. Lily clutched the purse in her hand as if she dared anyone to try and take it again, "Is there anywhere I can lock this up?" Yvonne nodded, "Jennifer can lock it up for you. Under the circumstances, I would highly recommend it, in fact." "Shouldn’t we say something to the others?" Lily looked at her sister in thought for a second before answering, "No. Let’s wait. I’d like to find out WHY she took it, first. If she is some kind of ‘witch-hunter’, then I’d sure like to know what her quarrel is with me. I’m not a witch. If she wants to fight a witch so badly, maybe we could shove her through that blasted mirror!" Lily noticed concern in Snow’s eyes at her apparent anger, "Don’t worry Snow. I’ll be careful. I won’t go picking a fight or anything." She put a reassuring hand on her sister’s shoulder as a wave of relief came over Snow’s face. "Come on. Let’s go out and help Jennifer. They’ve already started decorating for Mardi Gras."

Travis took a break from all the decorating hustle and bustle and came into the main hut. As he spotted Neville sitting at the table while on his way to the kitchen for some cider, he stopped. Something caught his eye that forced him to take a second look at what Neville was up to. Sitting on the table in front of him was Neville’s waterproof wristwatch…battery out, and two copper wires. One end of each wire was attached to two nails, and the other ends Neville was fastening to the two positive and negative terminal clips of the wristwatch. But what made Travis stop, were the items the two nails were sticking out of…two potatoes. "Neville…um…what are you doing, making a watch casserole?" I’m tryin’ to get this watch to work." Travis looked on him snidely with raised eyebrows, "Well, why don’t you try putting the button battery back in?" "Because I’m conducting an experiment, Travis. See, when I was in school, we made a digital clock work by hooking it up to two potatoes…it was wild! They say it could also work with a lemon. I’m just trying to see if there are ways to power up our battery powered appliances when our batteries run out, you know? I just wish we had those rechargeable kind of batteries…ah ha! Look, Travis…it works! I got me watch runnin’ on ‘potato time’, now!" Travis nodded in approval at the now working wristwatch, "But Neville, if we had rechargeable batteries, what power would we charge them with?" Neville looked up at him for a second, then back down at his watch in defeat, "Oh, yeah. Never mind." "You know Neville, those potatoes give off enough voltage to power that small clock, but they’d never be enough to power up anything else. What are you wanting to run?" Neville spouted quickly, "The boombox." Travis chuckled, "There’s no fruit or vegetable in this world that would give you enough power to run that thing! But let me ask you this. I’ve been thinking of a related theory myself, and…in hearing your idea, I think we may be able to come up with something. We can at least try, right?" Neville looked up at Travis’ most thoughtful grin, "What are you cooking in that overly-educated brain of yours, Travis?" "I’ll have you know I studied at one of the finest universities in Berlin. Physics…among other subjects." Neville blinked in surprise, "Physics?" "Yes…so I know what I’m talking about." Neville turned to rest his elbow on the back of his chair, "OK…so what did you have in mind?"

"So what do you think, Thomas? We need your expertise at the mill, since you’re familiar with the way things work down there. You with us?" Thomas pondered Travis’ words as he eyed Neville wondering why he would ever be part of such of an ‘educated’ experiment, "Let me get this straight. You want to use the water power of the waterwheel at the mill to run some kind of machine?" Travis put his foot up on the chair next to Tom as he began his explanation, "Right. See, the waterwheel at the mill is a type of ‘hydropower’. It of course runs the gristmill in order to quickly grind food…but it ALSO can be used to run a generator. If we hook up an electric generator to the waterwheel, we can get electric power. We’d just have to figure a way to get the power from the mill down at the river back here to the village. We could look into laying down some wire possibly, but first, we should see if we could get it to work." Thomas rubbed his chin and took another glance at Neville who was nodding happily, "So where are you going to get this ‘generator’?" "Well, we’d have to make it." Travis grinned slightly at his next thought as he continued, "Jennifer’s out there decorating for Mardi Gras. I’ll ask her if we can use some of the parts from her truck. With a few belts and some parts from the engine, we should be able to make it work. I did a similar experiment back at the university years ago…if I can remember it. It’ll be fun, anyway. What do you say?" Thomas shrugged, "I suppose it couldn’t hurt. Maybe we could get some power for the village out of it. This generator would be ‘electric’, eh? I’ve heard about electric power from the others, but I’ve never seen it in action." Travis raised his hands in demonstration, "Well, in general, electric current is created by moving an electric conductor, like a copper wire, through a magnetic field. So if you move your conductor thorough a magnetic field by using the hydropower of the waterwheel, the electric current will pass through your conductor, or wire as it be. The generator in Jennifer’s truck, for example, would use this same principle…only it’s not powered with water. All we have to do is convert the power to be moved by the waterwheel, like with a handmade crank and a belt from her truck’s motor, and then send the electricity to the desired appliance we are trying to run." Thomas smiled and shook his head in amazement, "You make it sound really easy Travis. I just hope you can make it work."

The women were bustling about getting things decorated for the Mardi Gras celebration they had planned for the Willows. Since no one really knew much about Mardi Gras except Jennifer, she was unanimously voted the supervisor for this particular celebration…and Jenn was quite the expert when it came to Mardi Gras. She had brought back with her to the Willows all kinds of Mardi Gras decorations…of course, only in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold. She brought back many different kinds of baubles and beads. Stevie was mesmerized at some of the different varieties Jennifer handed him as he cheerfully hung them on the float he was preparing. Kahlua and Mike were busy inside the hut discussing and planning what flavors to put in the ‘King Cakes’ that Jenn told them about…"Ya can’t have Mardi Gras without a ‘King Cake’, ya know!"…were her exact words to them. "They can be jus’ ‘bout any flavah ya can think of…chocolate, cream cheese, pineapple, strawberry, cherry, apple, blueberry, or even lemon. We can jus’ use the canned fruit fillin’s we still got left in th’ storehouse…should be plenty since we haven’t been using as much fruit lately as we have meat an’ potatoes…ya know?" Of course, the jambalaya would only be prepared by Jennifer herself. Snow and Lily were helping Stevie with the float outside as Raif strolled over to admire their work. He had grown just a bit haughty after winning the drawing for the ‘King of the Willows Mardi Gras’ the night before. In his endless pursuit to try to get the best of their gypsy newcomer by making her blush in some way, he smiled at the thought of his next devious statement. He could no longer try and make Snow blush, lest he wanted Mike’s fist in his face, so he moved onto the other ‘White’ sister. "So Lily…are you going to follow the true traditions and have Mardi Gras beads thrown to you from the parade float?" Lily looked at Raif curiously, "I suppose so. I think the beads are beautiful. I’d love to get some of them thrown to me. What do the traditions say I have to do for them?" Raif smiled deviously as Jennifer gave him an evil eye, "You have to show us your ‘hooters’ of course." Lily stared at him blankly, "I have to do what?" "Show us your ‘hooters’, your ‘melons’!" "My what?" "Your ‘tits’, Lily! You know, your…" Raif stepped toward Lily as if to demonstrate just exactly ‘what’ Lily would have to show when Jennifer tripped him with her foot sending him hurling to the ground with a thud. Lily backed up a few steps, surprised. Covering, Jenn added cheerfully, "Raif, ya know what? Tradition says that th’ King ‘a Mardi Gras has to wear somethin’ special while ridin’ on th’ float." Raif stood up annoyed at having been knocked to the ground and brushed the dirt from his pants, "So just what would that entail?" Jennifer smiled with a gleam in her eye, "Oh, not too much. Jus’ ride in th’ float and throw th’ beads out…wearin’ a bra." Raif looked at her with widened eyes, "A what?" Stevie also looked at Jenn in wonder, "I don’t remember ya saying nothin’ ‘bout the King havin’ ta…" She cut him off, "Oh yes, Stevie! It’s tradition fo’ th’ King! Ya gotta wear a bra, ‘Rex’. Ya know, dressin’ in drag? It’s a Mardi Gras thang!" She turned to Lily and winked, a bit of satisfaction twinkling in her eye.

After the three men lugged the parts of the truck engine to the mill that Travis said they would need and attempted for three hours to assist him in assembling his generator, the three men were exhausted. Neville stretched his back, "You did ask Jennifer before you stripped her truck, right?" Travis looked blankly at Neville for a second remembering that she totally ignored his presence that afternoon…then smiled heartily, "Of course I did! What do you take me for…a thief?" Thomas toyed with the belt after getting it fastened to the waterwheel and crank, "Well, I don’t know what to tell ya, Travis. You’re the expert from here on out. What’s it supposed to do?" Travis finished tightening a bolt in the engine’s generator, "Neville, didn’t you want to test it out on the boombox?" "Yeah!" "Did you bring it?" "Yeah…right over ‘ere." Cheerfully, Neville bounded over to where he’s set his duffel bag in the corner and produced from it the Willows boombox." Thomas chuckled, "All this was to listen to music?" Neville smiled back, "Oh no…it’s just a test to see if we could get another source of power to the Willows. But I wanted to be able to play music on this thing without worrying ‘bout the batteries dyin’, you know? That way, me an’ Lily can skate to music now. I know she’ll really love that." The smile disappeared from Tom’s lips at the thought that all of this hard work and his volunteering was to merely help Neville spend more time with Lily. Suddenly, he felt his face heat up and he decided he should head back to the village before the other men noticed. "You know, I really need to get back. I can come and help you guys out some more later, like tomorrow, but I really have to finish a project I was working on down at the woodshop before dark." Travis jumped up to shake his hand, "Hey, thanks for helping us out, man. We really appreciate it. You’ve done more than enough, really." Thomas smiled weakly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Neville smiling at him, totally oblivious to Tom’s rising annoyance…which is how Tom wanted to keep it. So he left the mill and headed back to the village.

Just before dinner that evening, Lily stopped by the mill to see how Thomas was coming on her request. "Hey, Thomas!" Whirling around from his project, Tom was happy to see Lily, yet unhappy that Travis and Neville had taken so much of his day that he had hardly been able to work on Lily’s request at all, "Lily, hello. I’m really glad to see you…but, I’m afraid I haven’t had much time to work here at the shop today. I was busy most of the day with Travis and Neville helping them on a project down at the mill." Lily’s eyes shone with curiosity, "The mill? What kind of project?" Thomas made a concerted effort to swallow his annoyance at the thought of their entire effort going for Neville’s attempts to impress Lily, "Travis is attempting to make a contraption that will generate power so as to save on our batteries, or for when we run out." "Really!" she squealed with delight, "I wonder if it would work to run that boombox machine. I would love to be able to play it more often." Tom turned back toward his tool bench so Lily wouldn’t see any disappointment that he may try to hide, but fail. Hearing her mention the very subject that Neville wished to impress upon her made Thomas’ stomach turn. Surely, Neville would see this as a sign that they were ‘made for each other’. He had to brush the thought away knowing supper was nearly approaching and he didn’t want to lose his appetite, "I’ll definitely make yours the next project I finish, Lily. I promise." Sensing an unsettling in Thomas’ voice, Lily was afraid she may be appearing too demanding in her request, "No, that’s OK…no rush. I just wanted to say ‘hello’. I’ll leave you to your work. See you at supper. Tom turned to say good bye to Lily, but she was already halfway to the barn in her usual quick pace. Kicking himself for not being more friendly, he muttered, "Damn that good for nothing ‘beach bum’!"

Lily entered the barn and shut the large door behind her quietly. Knowing that food supplies were low, Lily wanted to help the Willows in any way she knew how. She devised a plan that she had to keep secret from the others, else they’d be repulsed at the thought. Growing up as a gypsy, she and her friends had fallen on hard times quite often. She decided to use some of her past experiences to help her new friends. Everyone had quickly grown tired of the wolf meat they had been eating…not to mention the bad memories it always drums up. She thought maybe everyone could use a change of flavor. She crept into one of the horse’s stalls and pulled the small wire cage from the hay piles she carefully hid the trap with. "Gocha!" Inside the trap, a very large rat. "Can’t resist Mike’s cooking either, eh?" She pulled the traps from the other stalls, finding only one of them empty. "Darn! Smart rat! Got the scraps but didn’t set off the trap. Guess I’ll have to start setting out a few good old-fashioned mouse traps as well." Lily had taken food scraps from the garbage and laced the traps inside the barn. There were plenty of scraps nowadays with poor Brutus meeting his demise. Since the traps had worked out so well, she thought that the kitchen may be a good place to set out some more. Of course, that would give Lily her next challenge…getting Mike to agree with it.

Adding the last of the duck meat Edward had fetched while hunting, Mike looked into the stewpot, "Not much meat for this soup, but it will have to do." He was also trying to add a variety to their recent meals consisting of nothing but wolf. In a brief flash in his mind of what horror that final moment of Dinger’s must have been, he was startled to hear a rapping at the back door, "Lily, come in." Lily whispered as she stood outside the back door, "Are you alone, Mike?" Confused, Mike nodded, "Yes, please come in. It’s cold out there." Lily’s voice remained a whisper, "Alright, but you have to promise not to get upset." Mike halfway chuckled as he closed the door behind Lily as she entered with a metal cage of some sort, "Get upset? What would I get upset about?" Lily turned around to face Mike. In her hand was a cage full of dead rats. Mike’s chuckle became a shout of disgust, "Eghad! What the hell are you doing with those in here?" "Dinner, Mike." His look of disgust became even more evident, "Dinner? You’ve got to be joking?" Lily set the cage on the floor, "No, I’m serious. When I was living as a gypsy, there were hundreds of times where all we had to cook were rats. They taste just like chicken you know. They’d probably go great in Jennifer’s jambalaya. Although, I don’t know how she’d feel about that. You probably should just tell her it’s chicken or something, maybe." Lily witnessed Mike wincing at the sight of the dead rodents in the trap. "Look, Mike. Things are getting desperate, especially with the big celebration tomorrow. Now, we don’t need to tell the others…in fact, I don’t think we should. But it’s better than using up more of our precious livestock, right? They already think you’re the greatest chef ever…why not also let them think you’re a miracle worker for being able to stretch our food supply a little further. Hmmm?" Mike gave his sister-in-law an ‘eye’ in knowing that she were trying to play on his ‘male ego’ side, "Well, I suppose…if YOU will help me clean them. OK?" Lily smiled and reached for the trap, "Gotcha!" Mike quickly touched her shoulder, "Oh, and you cannot under ANY circumstances tell my wife I let her eat RAT meat!! Is that understood?" Lily giggled and nodded.

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It was ‘fat Tuesday’ and the whole day and evening were dedicated to the Willow’s Mardi Gras festivities. The float was lovely, all decked out in remnants of materials of purple, gold and green that the ladies had not yet made into clothing, and also in the beads and baubles that Rex, the ‘Mardi Gras King’ would be throwing later. Jenn and Yvonne made sure they put someone up on the float with him, so the ladies could still get beads thrown at them without having to ‘flash’ anything…so they chose Eddy. Why not, they thought? He’s a king, too. Along with the beads to throw, Snow and Stevie were able to make up a few ‘doubloons’, or silver coins from the empty aluminum cans they found under the seat in Jenn’s truck. Lily was sure to set aside some beads and a few doubloons for Kahlua, since she wouldn’t be able to participate in Mardi Gras. Lately, Lily had felt quite close to Kahlua, engaging in friendly conversations with her regarding modern ‘dating’ customs and practices as opposed to what she was used to seeing in her own time. Even though she’d never dated herself, Lily admitted there was quite a difference in the two types of behaviors. Before she left, Lily had shared with Kahlua the ‘dating’ experience she had with Neville just before Valentines, as much as it was. But she didn’t get to show Kahlua the Valentine’s card Neville made for her. The situation made Lily quite nervous. She was still uneasy about the whole idea, and not sure she was interested in being more than just friends. Lily really thought that it would be best to start out that way for certain. She just wasn’t too sure how a modern ladies’ man like Neville would feel about that. Lily was somewhat disappointed that Kahlua wasn’t here for her to ask her these kinds of questions now…guess her questions would just have to wait, thought Lily, as she petted Thorn. Assigned to pulling the Mardi Gras float, Thorn was also dressed in beads and Mardi Gras colors. Riding him was one thing, but adding decorations was something else. So of course, he would only allow Jennifer to do his dressing up. A large yell of protest came from Jennifer when Travis tried to dye Lasher green and purple for the occasion. Natalie snidely winked at Travis, knowing he’d do anything to get Jennifer’s attention…even vandalize her cat. Stevie, Snow and Lily were all masked for their musical performance that day. Snow wore her mask from the All Hallow’s Eve festival in October and in turn made one for Lily. In an unusually upbeat and jazzy tempo, the trio was able to get most everyone on their feet and dancing. Stevie was virtually flawless on the dulcimer. Lily was so proud of him. He’d been practicing around the clock. The musical performance was a hit. Even Karen seemed to be having a good time. Ivanhoe managed to conceal from the others his disappointment at not being able to dance with Karen, as he softly cursed at his bandaged hands. Funny enough, it had been difficult to get Raif, or Rex as they call him for Mardi Gras, to wear the bra that Jennifer insisted was tradition for the ‘King’. So the men had to souse him up a bit with festive dyed purple cider. Finally, when they got him on the float, he immediately began tugging up on the bra motioning and yelling at the ladies, "Show me your tits!" as he grinned with a dyed purple smile. That’s when Nigel triumphantly shouted back, "I thought you said Rex was the ‘King of the Willows Mardi Gras’? He looks more like the ‘Queen’ to me!" Jennifer’s Polaroid camera was a hit with folks snapping choice pictures of the festivities. Edward had to get one of Raif simply for one purpose…if Raif ever had an urge to refer to him as a ‘queen’ again, he could simply show him the picture of Rex in a bra and purple lips! Snow and Lily had two pictures taken of the both of them…one for each sister, and Stevie insisted on a snapshot of the three musicians for himself. He was quite proud of his newfound talent. Around the village they had set out along with the decorations, flambeaux or flaming torches, so that the float and all the festivities could be seen well at night. Jenn mentioned that sometimes, they have people at Mardi Gras skilled enough to twirl the flambeaux, but of course there was no one like that in the Willows…that is until Rex in his drunken state decided to try it as ‘King’ of the festivities. It was a good thing Rex has short hair, or else he would have after that stunt. For dinner, Jennifer prepared her famous and delicious jambalaya, which everyone was very much looking forward to. With the spices in the jambalaya, you’d never even known it was wolf meat in the New Orleans dish. With Kahlua gone, Snow helped Mike with the King Cakes. She decided to take advantage of the situation and try and get better at cooking. Being happier than she’d ever been, Snow planned to spend the rest of her life here in this village with her husband, her friends, and she hoped, her sister. She wasn’t sure how Lily felt about staying here. She spoke often about Anne and Nika and her life back home. But Snow was sure that as long as the danger remained back in their kingdom and didn’t ever make it here to the Willows, she could keep her sister here with her. They only had enough filling for two good-sized King Cakes. They had one with blueberry and the other with cream cheese. For the cutting of the King Cakes, Jennifer explained that whoever ended up with the pieces of cake with the ‘King Cake baby’ in them, they were responsible for providing the cake next year. The biggest laugh came when one baby was found as Neville put a bite into his mouth. Pulling out the now badly deformed baby, everyone around the table chuckled knowing Neville had no clue as to how to make anything you can’t stick between two pieces of bread. Jennifer cleared her throat as she caught him trying to sneak the chewed-up plastic baby onto Mike’s plate instead.

All the jambalaya and King Cake was gone and everyone was either in the hut for after-dinner coffee or had already retired to their own cabins. Raif, or Rex as they’d called him all day, had finally been given ‘permission’ to shed his bra. Refusing any assistance, he had trouble unfastening the back and had to turn the thing around to the front so he could see what he was unhooking. He gave Nigel a hard stare warning him not to laugh. Nigel had to bite his tongue in order to keep from making some comment about Rex’s obvious lack of experience at unhooking bra’s. As Lily fidgeted with the lovely string of beads she obtained that day without having to ‘show’ anything, she began to hum the tune she’d had stuck in her head from the other day…the one Neville sang to her at the pond. In tune with Lily’s humming, Jennifer began bobbing her head side to side, "Good song, Lily. So ya managed to pry Stevie’s ‘Guns ‘N Roses’ CD away from him, eh? Evah since he found it in one of the crates, it’s been one of his favorites." Lily stopped humming and looked to Jennifer in confusion, "Stevie’s what?" "His ‘Guns ‘N Roses’ CD…the song you were jus’ hummin’, you know, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’." Lily’s eyes widened in amazement, "How did you know the name of it?" Jenn gave her an odd look, "It’s a song by the rock band called ‘Guns ‘N Roses’…isn’t that where ya heard it?" Lily tutted, somewhat confused, "No. Neville sang it to me while we were skating. He said he wrote it just for me." Nigel and Raif both couldn’t help but burst out laughing with Raif’s added comment, "What a wanker!" Lily threw another confused look in their direction, "A what?" Her reply caused the two men to now laugh even harder. Jennifer cleared her throat at the men and touched Lily’s arm to get her attention once again, "Sorry, Lily. I guess I shouldn’t ‘a said nothin’." Lily sighed in frustration, suddenly feeling red with part embarrassment and part anger, "No, I’m glad you told me, Jennifer. Otherwise, I’d have been a fool for even longer!" Quickly, Lily stood up and stormed out of the cabin. Over in another corner of the hut, Stevie held the picture of he and the two sisters in his hand as he thought back to the performance that evening. When they had finished the number they had worked so hard practicing for, everyone had clapped for them. But what Stevie remembered the most was when Snow and Lily pointed at Stevie, and the whole village gave him a standing ovation. Drops of water began to fall on Stevie’s picture. Snow was just coming out of the kitchen and spotted Stevie crying in the corner. She said nothing, but just sat down next to him and took his hand in hers. Stevie smiled at Snow then looked back at the picture. "It was so neat today, Snow. Evr’thin’…the music, dancin’. An’ evr’one stood and cheered for us. I jus’ wish Dinger ‘ad been ‘ere ta see it. He’d been proud of me. He would, wouldn’t he Snow?" Stevie sniffed loudly and wiped his arm across his runny nose. Snow rubbed his fingers in her hand, "Stevie, he is proud of you, very proud. He was up there watching you today, from heaven. And I know that right now he’s probably up there bragging about you to everyone he sees, to the people, to the angels…even to God. We’re all proud of you Stevie." He smiled as two more tears ran down his cheeks, "Ya think so? Ya really think he’s braggin’ ‘bout me?" Snow smiled and nodded as he looked back at the picture, "I jus’ wish I ‘ad a picture of the two of us. I don’t got no pictures of Dinger…jus’ the ones in me ‘ead." She squeezed his hand as her eyes twinkled remembering, "There was a candid shot of the two of you taken at my wedding. I don’t think you ever got to see it. It’s at my cabin. You can have it if you like." Stevie’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as more tears began flowing down his face, "Really! A pic of Dinger an’ me? Oi, thank ya, Snow!" He hugged her tightly, and continued to cry onto her shoulder.

Lily burst into hers and Yvonne’s presently empty cabin and grabbed her ice skates. "There’s still a little light left. I have to do something to get my mind off this or I’ll…" Lily stopped as she brushed the thought of strangling Neville out of her mind. Quickly, in order to not be seen leaving the village just a short time before dusk, she headed for the ice pond. She vigorously laced up her skates still seething from her anger at being played for such a fool, and then pushed out onto the ice. Since dusk was quickly approaching, it was more difficult to see the surface of the ice in comparison to the other day. As a result, Lily failed to notice a wet spot on the ice during one of her turns. She spun out of control, hurling toward the deeper part of the lake. Neville hadn’t been there to put the log barriers up to keep them away from the thinner parts of the lake. Before Lily knew what had happened, she was surrounded by icy cold water. She tried grasping at anything she could, but her hands couldn’t get a grasp on the slippery ice around her. The water felt like pins and needles were stabbing her all over her body. She tried to yell for help, but the cold took her breath away. The heaviness of the ice skates was tiring her out quicker than normal, or was it the cold water? Lily was frantic…she was coughing and grasping, but to no avail. Dusk was falling. She knew everyone was at the village and that no one could hear her, even if she could cry out. Gasping for air, she felt as if she couldn’t get enough oxygen, that is, when her skates weren’t pulling her under. Giving it a chance, she tried one more time to get her vocal chords to function through the blistering cold. With a large effort to gasp as big a breath as she could, she cried, "Help!" She tried desperately to keep her head above the surface. She could feel her body trembling. She was so cold. Her feet and her hands were numb…she couldn’t even try and grasp the ice around her any longer. The weight of the skates coupled with the piercing cold water took all of her energy. She was exhausted…why try anymore? It was no use. There was no one around…why would there be? She had taken such great precautions to be sure that she was alone. She silently wished she had been seen leaving the village and vowed never to be so thoughtless again, but was suddenly afraid she’d never have that second chance, now.

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"Dinner was delicious, wasn’t it?" Snow beamed. Mike smiled at his wife, "Yes. Jennifer can make a really ‘mean’ jambalaya. Would you like some tea, darling?" "Yes, please." Snow smiled then suddenly shuddered as a chill went through her. Mike poured their cups and came to sit by her near the fire, "Are you cold, Princess?" Snow rubbed her arms, "Just a sudden chill is all. Probably just the chill you get after dinner when your food is digesting, you know?" Mike lovingly wrapped his arms around Snow and held her tightly into him. "Darling, you’re shivering. Are you sure you’re alright? I hope you don’t have a fever or anything." Snow tried to answer but her voice was overpowered by a sudden feeling of cold. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t stop shivering. She felt incredibly cold, too cold for someone sitting directly in front of a fireplace. Something was wrong…very wrong.

Thomas’ curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he decided to go have a look at this ‘generator’ contraption that Travis and Neville were so intent on conjuring at the mill. After looking it over, he came to the conclusion that he had no clue as to how the silly thing worked, nor did he really want to know. He’d rather not have that in common with Neville, anyway. Dusk was falling as he headed back to the village. What made him stop in his tracks was a distant voice he heard. He could swear he heard a voice cry ‘help’…a woman’s voice at that. Grace? Could that have been Grace in peril in the woods, perhaps with her newborn baby? He rushed toward the voice, which seemed to come from the direction of the lake, "Hello? Grace? Is someone there? Hello?" He came to the small ice pond where he suddenly remembered with an annoyance that this was most probably the spot that Lily went skating with Neville. He looked around but saw no one. "Hello?" He was about to search another spot when he spotted something on the ice in front of him. It was a scarf…it was Lily’s scarf! Lily? He saw her wearing it at the Mardi Gras dinner that evening…why was it here? He carefully stepped onto the ice and picked it up. Quickly, he scanned the area. Straight ahead, he could see a large hole in the ice. It was getting dark, so it was hard to see. The hole was in the thinner part of the ice. He couldn’t see anything there. A sick feeling hit the pit of his stomach and he swallowed hard. What if? No, it couldn’t be. But he couldn’t just leave…he had to find out. He had to. He had to investigate that hole…at least to calm his fears, right? Against his better judgement, he succumbed to that part of himself that had to know…had to be sure. He carefully walked to the edge of the shallow pond toward the black hole in the ice ahead…still, he saw nothing. He sighed heavily, still fearing what he dare not fear. He got down flat on his stomach and carefully slid himself up to the ominous hole. Still, he saw nothing, but almost as if driven by instinct, he reached down into the icy water. Oh my God! There was something…no someone! Someone went through the ice! God, NO…not Lily! Sweet Lily! He felt the collar of a coat and pulled up. The water must have been just deep enough to submerge the person just over their head, or they would have been much deeper. As he pulled on the collar and brought up the figure, his stomach churned in his body. "Lily! God, Lily!" Frantically, he pulled her upwards, sliding himself back toward the shallow pond. Slowly, he managed to drag her out of the hole, despite the ice cracking beneath them, threatening to give way. Once on the shallow pond, he stood up and quickly dragged Lily to the bank. "Lily?" She gave no response. Remembering the lessons Karen once gave in the main hut in CPR, Thomas leaned his ear to her face…no breath. He closed her nose in the same fashion Karen demonstrated on Dinger, since he wouldn’t allow her demonstration to be done on anyone else. He silently cursed at Dinger, wishing he’d been able to practice the technique before having to perform it for real. Then he felt terribly guilty, of course, with the sudden remembrance that his friend was no longer with them to even defend himself. Lily’s lips were blue…a sight which didn’t set too well with Tom. Gently, he cupped his lips over hers and breathed life into the little gypsy. Nothing. He did it again. Something that under normal circumstances could be considered as sweet as a kiss, he didn’t consider so at this moment. To Thomas, this was in desperation, and he couldn’t possibly consider it sweet, like a kiss from Lily might be. Then, like music to his ears, coughing and sputtering from Lily actually made him smile, and he sighed in relief. Quickly, he flipped her on her side to help rid her lungs of the lake water. He then pulled her onto his lap, "Lily." No answer. She was breathing now, but still unconscious. Tom knew he had to act quickly, lest she go into shock. He had to get her warm, and fast. The closest shelter was the mill. There was a fireplace there for when they work in the wintertime or need to pre-cook any of the foods for canning. He grabbed Lily up in his arms and started toward the mill.

Tom was able to get a fire started quickly, but there were no blankets in the mill, except for a cotton dropcloth and the large rug on the wood floor. He removed Lily’s coat and ice skates and held her in his arms as close to the fire’s flames as he dared. Still unconscious, she was shivering violently. Her clothes were still wet and freezing. He was leery to do it, but knew he had to. He went over and vigorously shook the dust from the dropcloth and rug, then brought them over to Lily. He hesitated at first, then gently unbuttoned her cardigan sweater. Even soaking wet and shivering, she was beautiful, thought Tom, as he carefully removed the sweater. Quickly, he wrapped the dropcloth around Lily, then without looking, managed to slip off her skirt. He pulled her in tightly and wrapped the large floor rug around them both. Still, she was shivering so. Tom’s shirt was wet from pulling Lily from the lake and was making the dropcloth damp and cold. He took his shirt off and set it off to the side to dry along with Lily’s clothes. Then he pulled Lily in close to him. Her skin was clammy and she was still shaking. Along with the rug, he wrapped his arms around Lily and hugged her into him tightly, breathing warm air upon her small cold ears. It wasn’t until after she stopped shivering that Tom became fully aware of his present situation. Lily was feeling warmer now beneath his touch, as he rubbed her back and shoulders. Her skin was soft, and it suddenly occurred to Thomas how long it had been since he’d been with a woman, since he’d been with Beth. He missed her more than ever, now. In the few years he’d been in the Willows, right now seemed to be his most difficult moment. The feel of Lily’s warm soft skin so close to his, was so much like Beth’s own gentle touch. True, this entire situation was to save Lily’s life, to keep her from freezing…but Tom was still a man. And although he had been able to show more self-control than many of the other men in the village, it was still a difficult moment for him. Difficult to keep his thoughts from wandering, considering his feelings for Lily. Ever since that day at the cabin…watching her with the baby, and her gentle way with Grace…Lily was so lovely, despite her lack of sleep. Thank God it wasn’t someone like Nigel in this position, right now…God only knows what would happen. Tom shut his eyes tightly and kept his emotions and his thoughts in check. As he sighed deeply, he had to make a conscious effort not to dwell on the fact that their upper bodies were touching, tried not to notice that Lily’s soft breasts brushed against his. He combed his hand through her hair. How smooth it was. It occurred to Tom that he’d never seen Lily’s hair. She’d always had it tucked up in her scarf in a typical gypsy fashion. Feeling it’s softness, now it had begun to dry by the fire. He couldn’t resist…he had to open his eyes to see it. A beautiful sheen…in the flicker of the fire’s glow, how it shined, he thought. A sulky dark shine with the red-dye highlights…definitely Lily, thought Tom. A perky and unique flair, just like its owner. He brushed his cheek against its softness. "What have you done to me, Lily? What is it about you? I think about you all the time, yet I hardly know you. It’s like I need you…or is it that you need me? You wear such a sadness in your eyes…can I ever get you to open up and tell me what it is? Why you’re so uncomfortable around men…around me?" Tom didn’t know why he felt so close to Lily. If this had happened to any other woman in the village, Karen, Yvonne, Snow, Kahlua…he would have no problem at all. This would simply be something he needed to do to save her. But with Lily…it was different. Being so close to her now…he didn’t want to ever let her go. Would she be angry in the morning? Since she was so closed off from people, surely this predicament would be far too ‘open’ in her eyes. The last thing Thomas wanted was for Lily to be mad at him. It didn’t look good. Here they were…her sweater and skirt gone, him with no shirt, by the fire, and wrapped together in a rug. God! What about Travis and Neville? They may rise early and come to the mill to get started on that blasted generator! He glanced at the rusty looking contraption by the waterwheel gears. Then it occurred to him…Neville. A twinge of satisfaction ran through his mind as he thought of the look on Neville’s face when he saw Tom and Lily as they were. Gently, he pulled Lily in closer to him, scolding himself for even the thought of using this situation with Lily to his own satisfaction. He was glad she wasn’t awake…wasn’t awake to realize his feelings for her…his arousal. But how could he not be aroused at this moment? After all he was human, and he was a man…a man who had been without a woman for many years. Something he terribly missed. Not so much the sexual part, although that was always something he enjoyed. But more the tenderness and emotional response that comes from loving a woman…from being IN LOVE with a woman. There was just nothing else like that, thought Tom. To be part of her life, to be one with her soul. To have a child together…that their life would bring a new life into the world. He missed being married. He was so happy…to only be happy like that again, to be in love again. Tom covered her with the dropcloth, partially saddened that their bodies wouldn’t be touching any longer, but he knew it was for the better. It would be wrong for him to continue holding her close to him like that unless it was truly necessary. He halfway chuckled, knowing that someone like Raif or Nigel would consider him a fool. He looked down at Lily’s soft sleeping face, and reached up and rubbed her cheek with the back of his hand. Her face felt warmer now. He reached under the blanket and pulled out her hand and rubbed her fingers…they felt warmer, too. His fingers felt the beaded bracelet on Lily’s wrist. Tom smiled, "Did Snow make this for you? Or was it Mike?" As he gently turned her hand over, he gasped as he saw the painted words on the coffee beans, "Lily Beth White! Beth? Your name is Beth!" This can’t just be a coincidence, thought Tom…can it? At the sound of her name, Lily’s eyes opened slowly and looked at Tom. She was dazed, not knowing where she was. For the moment, though, she knew she was looking into the face of her captor…but somehow, she wasn’t afraid. In her confused state, she didn’t know what was happening, but the man’s face was familiar to her. His smile was warm and comforting. She had dreamed that she was cold, frightfully cold…but now she felt much warmer. The room was a blur, but the man’s face was crystal clear…his eyes and his smile. She had only remembered being in such a helpless position just once in her life…of course, a terrible memory. And at this moment, although she was again helpless within this man’s grasp, too weak to move at all, she felt safe…a feeling different than from all those years of feeling afraid to be helpless within a man’s power. Still dazed, she’d only halfway noticed that her clothing was gone, replaced by a thin cloth. The man’s clothing was apparently gone as well. But what she mainly realized was that she felt much warmer within his arms than just a while ago when she was freezing in her dreams. He hoisted her up a little further onto his lap so he could touch her face and whisper, "Are we meant to be, Lily Beth White? I would give anything for that to be true." She simply blinked and looked up into his eyes. It was Tom, she thought. Of course…now she remembered him. Thomas couldn’t resist his feelings towards Lily any longer. He had to at least kiss her…for real this time. He brushed her cheek with his hand and bent his head down to gently kiss her. In her weak state, Lily had no choice but to submit…only this time she wanted too, didn’t she? His kiss was so gentle…she’d never been kissed before. Such a personal and loving act, how could this be frightening? It wasn’t, thought Lily, even though her mind was still so cloudy. Why was this man being so gentle with her? Tom was so opposite of that monster, Phillipe. Quickly, she brushed the thought of the frightening image from her mind. Within these gentle arms of this man right now, she felt so warm. This thing called a kiss…this loving expression she was being shown at this moment gave her a warmth she’d not felt before…a warmth that twinged at her heart. What was this feeling? Could it be…love?

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