<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style></style></head><body lang=EN-US><div class=WordSection1>When the party arrived at the door, Julian was still standing before it dutifully, and he nodded when he saw Lucy approaching. He seemed surprised that she had brought both Balrog and Alex with her, but he nodded at her brief explanation. He offered to remain outside while they spoke with the amnesiac ermine, since the two of them had only met at the very beginning of the patrol. Lucy agreed, and then slipped into the room before the others. She returned shortly thereafter and beckoned to them before disappearing inside the small chamber once again.<o:p> </o:p>The two others stepped in behind her. While the room was small, it was large enough to fit a bed in the far corner, and that gave them just enough room to fit four people in the floor space without being too cramped. The ermine stood to meet them as they entered, the spare robe he wore making him look more like a scholar than a warrior. He looked at everyone present with a touch of cautious hope, but there was no immediate recognition on his face.<o:p> </o:p>A few moments passed in uncomfortable silence before Lucy spoke up.<o:p> </o:p>“You do not recognize them?” she asked, looking to Lois.<o:p> </o:p>He frowned severely, scratching nervously at his ear as he tried to remember. “I can put names to faces,” he offered. “Alex and… Balrog, I believe? I recall snippets of memory since I arrived in Metamor, but nothing from before my arrival.”<o:p> </o:p>Alex stepped forward slowly, a look of confusion on his face. “Weren’t you… taller before?” he asked in utter confusion.<o:p> </o:p>Lucy found the question odd, but she discovered as she looked at Lois that the lynx was absolutely correct. She had not thought to even check for something as odd as what he now suggested, but she remembered that Lois had stood a full head taller than her commander. Now, although the weasel clearly stood as straight as he could, he was still a half head shorter than his commander.<o:p> </o:p>After that unexpected revelation, however, Lucy noticed other things as well.<o:p> </o:p>“Your muzzle is also more pronounced, and your neck is longer…” She squinted, surprised as she noticed more and more that seemed off about his bearing. “It’s almost as though your human proportions have been completely replaced by those of an ermine!”<o:p> </o:p>“What are you saying?” Lois asked, his voice lacking any of the confidence that he had ever shown since their first meeting. He seemed genuinely frightened.<o:p> </o:p>“Is it possible that we might have failed to completely revert him?” Balrog asked Lucy.<o:p> </o:p>Lucy shook her head resolutely. “No! I am certain that we turned the Curse back as much as possible!”<o:p> </o:p>“I am standing right here,” Lois snapped. “Speak to me; what are you talking about?”<o:p> </o:p>“Whatever spell was on you before seems to have had some lingering effects,” Lucy replied, leveling a cool stare on him for his outburst. He barely noticed.<o:p> </o:p>“No! I am a man! I am no animal, no creature to be bantered about with no regard to its own feelings!” He took deep, heaving breaths. “I am not a beast; I am a man!”<o:p> </o:p>The outburst caught the others off guard. Balrog stepped forward resolutely. “Calm yourself, Lois,” he spoke softly. “We are friends; no one means you any harm.”<o:p> </o:p>“Then speak to me as a friend, not about me as of some animal in a cage!” The former assassin leveled a poisonous glare at the disguised lutin, but it was the shaking ermine who took a faltering step back towards the bed. He hissed quietly and bowed his head a moment later, his eyes darting away from those that stood in the center of the small space. “I am sorry, this is too soon,” he muttered. “I do not think I am ready for visitors.”<o:p> </o:p>The few assembled glanced among themselves, but Balrog took a single step forward. “Is it all right if I speak with you for a little while at least? Privately?”<o:p> </o:p>Lois looked at him warily. The man’s intimidating size made him seem threatening, but the kind demeanor and careful, measured tones with which he spoke made the ermine feel that he could trust him. He looked to the others briefly, but quickly returned his eyes to the large man.<o:p> </o:p>“Privately,” he confirmed. “I don’t want anyone listening in.”<o:p> </o:p>The others nodded, and began to file out slowly, leaving the two friends – now almost strangers – to speak by themselves.<o:p> </o:p>* * *<o:p> </o:p>Alex caught Lucy’s arm as they exited the room, ignoring the evident confusion on Julian’s face as he saw them leave so soon after their entrance.<o:p> </o:p>“Is it wise to trust the two of them alone?” he asked once they were a few steps away from the moondog. “We don’t know Lois’ allegiances or if they remain unaltered, and we have barely known Balrog more than a day.”<o:p> </o:p>Lucy nodded to his words. “It is a bit of a risk, I agree, but I am inclined to believe that Balrog’s intentions are good. I never thought I would say as much about a lutin myself, but he has already risen above any preconception I held against his people. Nothing that he has done seems suspicious at all to me so far. It is his commander that worries me, honestly.”<o:p> </o:p>The lynx winced. “He has been acting strange since before you even broke the spell. Do you have any idea what he might be after?”<o:p> </o:p>Lucy shrugged. She glanced at Julian, but he was dutifully guarding the door and did not seem at all interested in the subject of their conversation. “I am suspicious of him, but what I have heard from him could simply be well-founded concerns based on Lois’ past.”<o:p> </o:p>Her commander looked uncertain. “He gave no indication of knowing who Lois was on the first day. His arguments did not even begin until our second day working together.”<o:p> </o:p>“You are right, of course,” Lucy admitted. “The question is, what happened between the two days to so thoroughly alter his opinion?”<o:p> </o:p>“Perhaps nothing.” Alex’s voice carried a clear note of frustration to it as he made the suggestion. “For all of the arguments that he has made, he has also been quite helpful at times, even since our second day of efforts. It is possible that there had simply been no specific opportunity presented for him to express his concerns before the second day.”<o:p> </o:p>Lucy shook her head and paced a few steps to one side. “That doesn’t seem right,” she muttered. “If he knew about Lois’ past before it seems to me that he would have objected to the idea of helping him at all from the beginning. Perhaps Balrog only told him about Lois’ past recently.”<o:p> </o:p>“That seems rather an odd time to choose to reveal something that could change a man’s opinion so thoroughly counter to your interests,” the patrol commander commented.<o:p> </o:p>“I did have one other theory,” Lucy confided, lowering her voice even further. The lynx prompted her with little more than a raise eyebrow. “That power he claims, the one that led his company to Outpost at the start. Perhaps he received some revelation from it instead?” Scratching his chin, the lynx nodded slowly. “It is possible. Why would it bring him here to help us, and then place such a thing in his mind, though?”<o:p> </o:p>Lucy shrugged broadly and shook her head. “I do not claim to know anything about the workings of the supernatural,” she admitted. “I may serve the pantheon, but even their ways elude me more often than I would care to admit.”<o:p> </o:p>“Well, we can at least take precautions even if we are not certain of the cause,” he concluded. “As far as I am concerned, there is no reason for him to need to speak with Lois at all.”<o:p> </o:p>Lucy agreed wordlessly. “Unfortunately, I doubt that he will ask our permission before trying anything.”<o:p> </o:p>“Then there is nothing to do but keep Lois under watch.” He rubbed his muzzle a moment before changing the subject. “Do you have any idea what might have caused Lois’ form to be altered?”<o:p> </o:p>“No more idea than I have of why Lois was trapped as an animal at all,” Lucy explained ruefully. “Nothing has made sense magically since our investigation began, so it surprises me only slightly that we have found yet another oddity.” She shook her head slowly. “I can always examine him again later if it makes any difference.”<o:p> </o:p>“I just don’t want to be surprised when something else happens. I’ve had enough surprises already on this patrol.”<o:p> </o:p>The mage nodded. “I will examine him after Balrog has finished speaking with him, then,” she decided.<o:p> </o:p>The lynx nodded, but then his gaze was drawn to where the moondog was standing. Beside him was a short man, his Cursed form that of a large chipmunk. Both of them were looking towards Lucy and Alex, and the lynx’s heart sank.<o:p> </o:p>“Perhaps we will not have the time for that,” he whispered.</div> <table style="border-top: 1px solid #D3D4DE;"> <tr> <td style="width: 55px; padding-top: 13px;"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;" /></a></td> <td style="width: 470px; padding-top: 12px; color: #41424e; font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Virus-free. <a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=link" target="_blank" style="color: #4453ea;">www.avast.com</a> </td> </tr> </table></body></html>