Man, this chapter was hard for me to write. I wrote and rewrote it at least 3 times, not to mention the countless number of rewrites I did mentally. It was originally going to be a really emotional chapter, and I think that that shows in the beginning. Then, as I wrote, I realized that last chapter or two have been somewhat filled with drama. So I decided to change it. But I still think that it turned out pretty well. Next chapter, things will kick off. I promise! Fortunately, the whole time since my last chapter wasn't a total waste, since I not only managed to get started on the one chapter that inspired writing this whole story, but I also took one of my original draftings, and will use that in a future (previously) unannounced fanfic, which I've ALSO already started. O.o Anyway, yesh. Sorry for the delay.

She felt her body freeze before the words even completely registered. What had he said? He was going to tell her that he had been married? Would he reveal the whole story? Or just the important parts? Would he tell the elf about her part in it? What she had done for him? Or would he leave that part out? She certainly hoped that he would only give her the overview. The last thing she wanted was the Night Elf to have any respect for her.

Suddenly aware of how loudly she was breathing, she forced herself to calm down, slowing her breathing in the process. While the chances of her being spotted, either by Ray, Illaria, or any of the guildies assigned to protect her were slim, she still didn't want to risk being caught. Originally she had followed the Night Elf with the intention of slipping a dagger between her ribs, the fact that the elf had stumbled upon Ray put a damper on her plans. So instead she had sheathed the dagger, and instead opted for gathering what information she could. Perhaps if she was lucky, Ray would leave, and her opportunity to assassinate the elf would arise.

Ya'Viri shifted as quietly as she could, and settled down to wait as long as it took.

Illaria couldn't believe what she'd heard. He was married. And yet he'd been flirting with her. Almost constantly, too. Before she knew it, she was on her feet, glaring down at him while he simply looked up. She was furious. She could feel her cheeks growing warm and her head beginning to swim as she replayed those five little words in her head again and again. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. It exploded from her in a way that she didn't quite expect. She slapped him as hard as she could, and was rather disappointed when he didn't bleed or make a sound.

Suddenly she realized what she'd done, and why this had mattered to her, and she brought a hand to her mouth as she gasped. She had begun to have feelings for him. But the fact that he was going to sacrifice his life for her had made it harder for her to see how she felt. But now that he was out of her reach entirely, it made her realize her true feelings. Numbly, she sat down again and stared at her hands, hoping to avoid eye contact.

"I assume that means that you're upset." He didn't sound upset or hurt. That was a good sign.

"A little bit, yes," she responded meekly.

"I don't know why," he said. "I mean, its not like there's anything you could do about the situation."

The situation? What does he mean by that? She looked at him, puzzled.

"Ah. I thought you'd heard a bit about her," he said as he turned to look at her. She could clearly see the pain written on his face, even in the fading light. "Ria, Trianna was my wife. I guess that that would have been more accurate."

For a few moments, she sat there, silent, processing what he said.

Ray sat quietly, waiting for her to say something. He knew that his admission earlier had shocked her. That much was obvious. But he couldn't help but wonder how she would handle this new bit of information. He couldn't help but note that she bit her lip when she was deep in thought. It was adorable. Just one more cute thing she did to add to the rapidly growing list of cute habits. Probably a habit that she'd picked up when she was younger, and she never quite shook it off.

He let the silence drag on for just another moment or two, just to make sure he had her attention. Somehow, it seemed important that she knew this.

She really didn't like how he was dragging this on. But still, she knew that this was important. So she waited.

Finally, he took a breath, as if preparing a battle. One which he knew would probably be his last.

"Ria, I was married. Her name was Trianna. She was a Druid, who specialized in the Feral aspects, like yourself. She took a month off of her training for our marriage and honeymoon. Her shan'do told her that things would be ok, since she was so far ahead of her peers. She went back to training just after they started walking the Emerald Dream." Illaria's eyes went wide as he mentioned the Emerald Dream, because she almost certainly knew when he was going to say next. But she kept her mouth shut, and let him continue with his story. "The day she went back, they were going to enter the Dream, and stay in it for a full day. Her mentor warned her not to stay in the full time. Only to practice entering and leaving the Dream, first. So that she could become acquainted with it. But naturally, she didn't listen. She was like me in that regard. Sort of cocky, and a bit too sure of herself sometimes," he smiled faintly, as if recollecting some long past memory. She wished she could see it with him, so that they could both share in the experience. But too soon the smile faded, and she knew that he was back to reliving that which cost him his wife. "She got the jump on her shan'do. Managed to mangle him up pretty badly before he was able to fight her off. So, following her animal instincts, she fled. I'm...not really sure why she returned to where she did. Maybe part of her was still alive in there. Or maybe she just stumbled across the house. I, uh, wasn't home at the time. But our house steward was."

He paused to take a breath. She couldn't blame him. His wife had gone insane in the Emerald Dream. It wasn't a common occurrence. But then again, it wasn't terribly rare, either. Those that lost themselves in the Dream typically took on one of their animal forms, and with it, the skills and senses. And even if they didn't take on a form, they were immensely dangerous. So much so that they were generally hunted down and killed, simply for the safety of others.

She couldn't imagine the pain he had endured, having his wife suffer such a fate. Silently, and with a sympathetic look on her face, she reached out and grasped his hand in hers. He looked down at it for a moment, numbly. After a few moments, he looked up at her and smiled, gratitude in his eyes.

"I came home and found his body. It had been partially eaten. I went to...um...I don't even know. To check it, I guess. Next thing I knew, I was face down on the floor. And for just a half second, time slowed down, and I knew that something bad was about to happen. And sure enough, it did. I felt this splitting, burning pain along my back. Do you know what it was?" He looked at her pointedly, as if expecting that she would know the answer. She had a haunting suspicion that she did, but didn't dare speak the answer, for fear that it be true. So instead, she shook her head.

"Sure you do," he continued. "It was her claws. She had pounced on me, and started to tear me apart."

"What...What did you do?" She asked quietly.

He smiled, bittersweet. "What any living thing capable of speech and feeling pain would do. I screamed. Somehow, for some reason, that got her to stop and back off of me. I flipped onto my back, despite the pain, to get a look at what had attacked me. Up until that point, I didn't know what it was. But once I saw her, I knew."

Illaria stared at him, perplexed. Nobody should really be able to tell one transformed Druid from another. Yet somehow, he had. She had to know.

"How did you know? That shouldn't be possible."

He smiled at her knowingly, as if the answer absurdly simple. "She had a special set of bracers, you see. They had a customized enchant, and a side effect was that they were visible in her animal form. Well, I caught sight of those bracers, and knew immediately what had happened. She'd spoken many times of the madness that the Dream could evoke, many times. It..." His voice choked, and he had to swallow several times to recover his composure.

She could see his eyes begin to fill with tears as he relived the moment. She smiled, hoping to reassure him as she reached out and squeezed his hand. His eyes met hers, and she could see the pain and vulnerability in them.

"Um...Yeah, anyway. Once I saw the bracers, I knew what had happened, and what had to be done. So as she lunged, I threw up my arm," he raised his left arm in a mimic of the motion. "She sank her teeth in deep. But while she was preoccupied with ripping my arm apart, I drew a dagger and sank it into her rib cage. That got her to release real quick, since she probably realized that I wasn't gonna just roll over and die. Or maybe the pain awakened some sane part of her buried within the madness. But when that dagger went in, she let out a howl unlike anything I'd ever heard, let go of my arm, and ran off.

I tried to get up, but found that I was too weak. So there I lay, bleeding to death. I passed out...I dunno. Shortly after. I thought that it would be the last time I closed my eyes. I awoke a few days later. Bog had walked in shortly after I had passed out. Fortunately Miyari and Monasti were both in Thunder Bluff. I'm just grateful that they are such talented, powerful healers. They managed to save my life. They said it took them nearly three days to stop the bleeding and close the wounds. Once I wasn't in any danger of the wounds re-opening, I had them stop and just bandage me up. I've carried the scars ever since."

"May I see them?" She couldn't help herself. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she immediately regretted the request. Fortunately, he smiled.

"I get that a lot," he said as he began unbuckling his gauntlets. After a few moments of work, he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. Her eyes locked immediately onto the spot. The wound was hard to miss. Two large spots, easily half an inch in diameter, looked like someone had gouged out a chunk of flesh. She leaned forward, trying to get a closer look.

"Did her teeth punch through your mail?" She looked up as she asked, realizing only then how close their faces were. This close, she could really see into his eyes, and she realized how much he was opening up to her. She could feel his warm breath on her face. Vaguely, she was aware that her breathing had picked up, and that they were both staring into the eyes of the other. She felt his fingers running through her hair, bringing their faces closer to one another. She took a deep, shuddering breath, & closed her eyes...

A twig snapped somewhere to her right, and her eyes flew open as she instinctively sought out the source of the sound. There, standing at the edge of the clearing, looking somewhat embarrassed, stood Taur.

"Ray," he said, his voice deep and grave. "It is getting dark, and this is still disputed territory. It would be wise for use to head back soon."

Ray nodded his head in acknowledgment. "You're quite right, Taur. We'll head out in a few minutes."

Taur bowed deeply and turned, stepping silently out of the clearing.

Ray coughed awkwardly, trying not to think of the spoiled moment. "So…" he said casually. Too casually, in her opinion. She smiled mentally, knowing that he was trying to dismiss what had almost happened. He stood and began brushing dirt off of himself.

"I think that we had better go before Taur explodes from worry." He extended his hand, offering to help her up, but she merely looked at it for a moment before shaking her head.

"Ray, may I see the scars on your back?"

He jerked, both mentally and physically, as a number of questions flew through his mind. Why did she want to see them? What would she say? Furthermore, what would she think? Could he even bear to tell her? Even now, years later, the incident was still immensely painful for him.

She must have sensed his hesitation, because she broke eye contact, and instead focused on her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was small and meek, as if she were embarrassed by her own request.

"I don't mean to offend you," she said. "I just want to see the pain that you endured at the hands of another Druid. Particularly one so dear to you."

He sighed quietly for a moment, making a decision he didn't really agree with.

"Alright," he said as he turned. "Just...Don't be shocked. They're pretty ugly." He removed his breastplate and grabbed his shirt, preparing to remove it. He paused for a moment as he took a deep breath, bracing himself.

He lifted his shirt and waited for her to say something. At first there was nothing. Then the silence began to drag on into what seemed to be infinity...

She reached out gingerly and brushed her fingers against the angry red and purple scars. They stretched from his shoulder blades, all the way down to his lower back. Ten large, angry lines followed the contours of his back, each gouge easily two inches wide and an inch deep. She focused slightly, probing the injury just below where it had healed over. Underneath, she felt his body screaming in pain. It was muted slightly by time, but it was still there.

Without warning, she felt a presence lurking in his injury. It was small and faint, and had definitely weakened over time. It sensed that she had detected it, and tried to hide. But she merely focused more, intent on finding out who or what had been hiding inside Ray's body. She was aware, vaguely, of Ray talking to her, but she was so focused that his words fell on deaf ears. The world began to shimmer and change color, a result of her entering the Emerald Dream.

Slowly, a figure began to overlay Ray's form. It was her height, but bulkier. Without warning, it lunged at her. At that close of range, there was no way she could avoid it. The figure dove into her, and for a fleeting moment, she felt herself falling into darkness….

He felt her hands leave his back. Assuming she was done, he lowered his shirt and turned, but found Illaria with her back to him, standing deadly still and silent. He stood for a moment, awkwardly unsure of what to say. But it wasn't he who broke the silence, because as he stood, contemplating how to break the silence, she spoke first.

"She loved you very much, your wife," she said quietly.

Unable to think of a response, he simply nodded.

"She told me to give you a message: 'a dangerous enemy at your front is safer than a traitor at your back.' Ray, I...I think you're going to be betrayed."